On the official Warhammer 40k: Darktide forums, a new Dev Blog goes into more detail about what to expect in the new Party Finder feature coming later this month in the “Unlocked and Loaded” update. The new feature, formerly called Group Finder, was announced late August with the rest of the At the moment, Darktide will randomly queue you with other players looking for your mission.
In the Dev Blog, Jonathan, supposedly the Game Designer responsible for bringing this change about, explains that the idea came when devs noticed players were increasingly turning to the Fatshark forums, third-party social media sites, and group chats (such as Discord) for party-finding.
Obviously, Party Finder eliminates this extra step, allowing players to just find other people in-game. Bringing in a Party Finder option also means more general socialization as players look to find other like-minded teammates.
Upon launch, there’ll be four different criteria players can search with: Game Mode, Difficulty, Language, and a splattering of “Assorted Tags” such as “Quickplay,” “Hardcore,” and “Contracts.” Of course, “Penances” will also be an option for the Assorted Tags, as the blog notes players were especially seeking out others who would join to fulfill the Penances after they were revamped in the “Path of Redemption” update.
Dropping September 26, Darktide's upcoming “Unlocked and Loaded” update also includes an itemization overhaul and a new mission called “Rolling Steel,” a “shorter high-octane mission in which players’ strike teams are the only thing standing between a barreling freight train and Tertium,” which has its own dev blog out already.
