Hello

I wanted to address the identity crisis of weapons and classes that is undoubtly going to hamper replayability of Space Marine 2.

​Build diversity is really lacking. After 180+ hours of gameplay I find myself pretty much at the end of build variety.

There simply aren't enough option to give you several possibilities to explore.

It's also for me personally a big contributing factor to replayability, so in that regard limiting the option to explore different builds is a pretty questionable decision honestly.

​It's not only the fact that build variety makes maps feel different. No also enemy fights feel different. Boss fights feel different.

Which is why limiting build variety is such a downer for me personally.

I can't help but feel that some of the perks have not been well thought out and rushed honestly, with not that much consideration put into the inner workings of perks, how they synergize with eachother or generally give perks certain identities based on the current weapon you are playing.

Most of the perks on classes are either flat damage boosters, damage boosters with a specific condition, ability cooldown or dodge/parry abilities.

This doesn't leave much room generally for a bigger scale of variety in terms of build options.

The identity crisis of weapons:

In SM2 right now I feel indifferent running a chainsword on Vanguard, Tactical or Assault.

There is only 1 perk. Which is Duallist (Vanguard) that makes a chainsword feel slightly different but that's it.

All other classes just add either flat out damage increase or damage increase against certain enemy types.

Note: I chose chainsword here because it's the only weapon shared among 4 different classes and the best candidate for comparison but I could have done this with other weapons as well. For example the Combat Knife feels the same on Sniper and Vanguard (except with Vanguards Duallist Perk - gives the weapon a somewhat unique feel but questionable to what extent)

There is also no difference for example whether you run a Plasma Pistol on Bulwark or Heavy. It's against just a flat damage increase across the board.

Heavy has 2 perks that make weapons feel abit different but again it's just a damage boost tied to a condition. (which is fine. I don't hate perks being tied to certain conditions):

Thermal Boost:

When a Ranged Weapon is 50% Overheated, Ranged Damage increases by 15%.

And the second Perk:

Versatility:

After switching Weapons, your Secondary Weapon does 20% more Damage. The effect lasts until reloading or switching back to your Primary Weapon.

But what about Bulwark. He has like no single perk that compliments his specific weapon choice.

And yeah I get the argument that he is a melee focused class but for the sake of the argument his melee weapons don't feel different either.

I think the upcoming Lethal difficulty will satisfy this lack of diversity only for a little while and will probably fade after 1 months or 2 (unless the Lethal is completely different to Ruthless)

I could have picked any bolter in this case as they feel the same across all the classes equipping a bolter.

Does anyone feel any difference between a Bolt Carbine equipped on Sniper Tactical? I personally don't.

Identity crisis of classes:

Sniper:

Which bring me to my next point Snipers lack of ability and it's synergy with anything other than Single Shot Sniper Rifles.

Pick Stalker Bolt Rifle or Bolt Carbine and you will feel completely out of place. Like the weapon aren't even meant to be in Snipers arsenal. None of his core perks complement any sort of Rifle. They are all complimenting Single shot bolt rifles. Right now there is no reason to run either of those 2 afformentioned Rifles on Sniper.

Tactical:

Tactical feels somewhat OK right now I just feel like there needs to be more than just damage increase perks.

I am not kidding. The majority of his perks are damage increase perks. I wish there was a different perk to complement his vast weapon arsenal but it's rather lack luster.

Honestly the most well balanced and thoughtout Class seems Bulwark right now. It complements his melee playstyle on several different levels. You can go damage increase or spec on dodge and parry combined with shield bash damage increase. The variety is there so why do noone of the other classes have such a variety of perks.

Looking at other similar games in the genre they do a better job at leaving certain build choices up to the player.

Examples of other Games in the same Genre:

If you look at Vermintide 2 for example: the game has tons of customisation options.

While even there weapons are limited to certain character but the perks and abilities of each character adds a depth on it's own.

Every weapon feels slightly different on each character.

Another example is Aliens Fireteam Elite: they also did a pretty good job with leaving a variety of options to combine certain perks and weapons.

It feels fun to revisit the same maps in these games because each build makes runs feel slightly different.

This is completely is something that Space Marines 2 has not been able to do.

I can maybe see myself put 500 hours in at this point with Lethal and Horde mode coming up opposed to Vermintide 2 where I have 5k hours.

I wish Space Marine 2 was a more engaging and complex game.