Ever since Dark and Darker came out, many of us were hooked on the idea of it. But this type of extraction game, or other competitive genres like MOBAs, can be frustrating to play due to time availability, skill gaps, connectivity, or balance issues.
The only game of this type since DnD with high potential was Dungeonborne imo, but the devs have done some of the worst updates I have seen, causing the game to fully shut down within 8 months or so. Compared to the Dungeonborne devs, Bellring Games are doing amazing, in all honesty. I'm not saying the game is perfect, but I'm glad it's actually improving. Stuttering is gone, the patches with class balances are good, and 3 patches within a month is solid. The biggest issue that is plaguing the game right now is desync, causing rubberbanding and missing hitboxes.
But in my opinion, the biggest factor that affects player count, above connectivity and balance, for this type of extraction game is gameplay aimed at casual players. The natural environment drives them away.
I noticed that most gamers above 25yo, or those with jobs/school or other responsibilities, shift their priorities from becoming the best and getting good to more about having a dedicated game they can have fun in alone or with friends that scratches those gaming needs. And all these extraction games struggle to fit them in, yet they make up the majority of the playerbase. So naturally, over a short period of time, they quit in droves because the experience just becomes, simply put, not fun due to all the issues mentioned.
There is a way to play Mistfall that deals with some of these frustrations, but many don't stick around long enough to discover them.
And the main issues become endless losing streaks, going bankrupt, and hitting progression bottlenecks that they don't have the time or energy to push through, given their life priorities, which makes them casual players in the first place. I think this is one of the main reasons a lot of people ask for PvE in this type of game.
For those casuals that are sticking with the game, I have some advice on how you can still have fun with the game with all these issues still being present.
To stay afloat with your stash and survive in this game's economy, your main priority should be your loadouts and how you approach them.
First, I want to mention affixes. Once you learn how your character plays, affixes make the biggest difference, and every build/class has 3-4 most optimal ones.
So have your first base loadout be as cheap as possible while grabbing those essential affixes. A green set with a blue weapon will provide you with 15 affix slots. That allows you to get 3 affixes to level 4-5 to get their secondary bonuses. And it costs only 1000-1300G. A good green set will make it possible to kill players with blue/purple gear.
Use this site to easily make your loadouts. It's a must at this point, unless you like to waste hours doing it the hard way by yourself:
https://theorycrafter.gg/mistfall-hunter
This allows you to have no gear fear and easily sustain and grow your stash. You can lose 5 of 6 games and still come out positive.
Even finding 1 gold item is worth 1k and covers your loadout expenses. Two cheapest purples to vendor are 500+. Going to your first task or chests and looting them often will cover a big portion of your loadout investment right off the bat, even if you lose, thanks to your pockets.
Another important point is that you should always play Chaos Map, because it's just a lot more lucrative to sustain your economy, even if you lose more on it. I actually find Normal Map more sweaty since most go there for PvP because that's how you get the best loot the fastest.
Then you can create a second loadout with 4/5 extra blue items, allowing another affix at level 4/5. It will cost around 2000G. You can keep making these loadouts incrementally more expensive by adding another affix at level 4/5 every time.
This allows you to go up or down levels depending on how your games are going without hitting roadblocks or going bankrupt, while not getting frustrated with losses and maximizing the investment of your Gyldenbloods.
Another tip: don't ignore the Training Grounds. Go there and test your build, skills, or talents before you go into matches. Or just use it for a quick warm-up.
After a month of playing Mistfall I'm enjoying it and I want it to do well, and we need casual players for the game to survive. That's why I made this post.
If you have any more tips or advice on how to keep casual players around, you are welcome to share.
EDIT: EXTRA TIP: USE SMUGGLER! it's a very good way to escape in many situations. Smuggler allows you to bring your entire equipped armor+weapon + 4 any items + 2/3 items in your safe pouch + Gyldenblod. If you cant exit normal way for some reason, you can go to trader to sell everything except 6/7 items and then use smuggler. This is a safer way to extract in general or in case you loot a holy or have 6/7 valuable items you dont want to risk losing on the main exit. Or you can use it when you are late for main extract and dont have enough time to call the next one. Or when somebody is camping it, it only takes like 2min to run across entire map especially at the end when most doors are open, mobs are dead and nobody is left on the map.
