After having logged roughly 109 hours into Vermintide 2 (with about 40 or so of that being on the game’s beta setting, for clarity’s sake), I feel as though I’ve seen enough bugs and issues to warrant a feedback post. I’ll do my best to be as unbiased and comprehensive as possible.
->) 1: Hitboxes and Enemies
Enemies in this game are capable of pulling off hits that would would surpass even a world-class fighter would struggle to make. Not only do specials like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors have an impressive (and also a little frustrating) habit of following players mid swing, they are capable of landing hits very, very far beyond their models actually show. At its very worst, I’ve seen Chaos Warriors nearly insta-down people on Legend from well over six feet away. It makes dodging feel extremely inconsistent.
This also applies to common enemies as well. Trying to evade a horde without placing a lead weight on the block key pretty much guarantees going down – no matter how far away you get, they’re still able to hit you without any difficulty. More often than not, this results in being bogged down and enveloped. Add on a few specials, and you’ve got a situation where only a select handful of people would be able to come out on top.
In all, it isn’t anything a good team can overcome, but it’s nonetheless noticeable and a hindrance on higher difficulties.
->) 2: Packmasters:
Skaven Packmasters are probably one of the single most frustrating specials to encounter on any given mission, and for a number of reasons. They seem much more resilient compared to other disabler-type enemies like Gutter Runners and Leeches, with the former being floaty enough in its jumps to either evade or kill well before it reaches its mark and the latter presenting a large enough profile to pick off once they nick a member of the party. Of course, this might be a decent-enough counterbalance if their hook wasn’t utterly broken. Not only are they easily capable of hooking someone through a horde of enemies, but their hook also completely ignores blocking and most instances of trying to evade.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more immersion breaking than trying to block a Packmaster with my shield as an Ironbreaker only to end up being grabbed anyways. It doesn’t make much sense, and this special alone is responsible for a large portion of failed legend runs because of its ability to ignore every obstacle under the sun (except terrain. Most of the time).
->) 3: Cliffs and Ledges:
This is only really an issue on a handful of maps, but they’re extremely prevalent. One of the worst is the Halescourge map. Fighting anything even remotely close to the canals or the landslide can result in your character teleporting through terrain to end up stuck on a ledge somewhere. Most of the time, this even involves burying the character’s model in the ground.
Another map where this can be painful is ‘Into the Nest’. The bridge and the towers where the first tome and grimoire are located are rather treacherous, though admittedly less so than the locations named in the text above.
->) 4: Pop-in and Field of View:
The game seems to spawn in and render enemies depending on how close players are to their intended locations. While most of the time, this results in a much less demanding (power wise) experience that flows well, it can also result in entire packs of enemies suddenly appearing in front of a party as they’re advancing – sometimes no more than fifty yards or so ahead. I had this wipe my group on War Camp legend run when our Sienna (Pyro) threw out her F, which hit a pack of Chaos Warriors that were invisible until just after the spell went off.
I believe this is also responsible for ‘silent hordes’ and ‘silent packs’, which can range from mildly annoying to a guaranteed party wipe.
->) 5: The AI Director:
This is just a bit of speculation on my part, but I think the AI director doesn’t have a clear-cut limit on how far away from active players it can spawn specials. I’ve had anything from Packmasters to Ratling Gunners spawn directly behind myself and other members of my party. Depending on the special, this can result in a disable or down without any way of reacting or stopping it. It’s especially bad when this happens to people who’ve been downed without a draught or medkit.
->) 6: Too Much Happening At Once:
Following through with the point about the AI director, there’s also an issue with just how much it throws at you on Legend. It seems a bit randomized, and can vary between manageable-but-tough to I-can’t-see-what-is-directly-in-front-of-me levels of hordes, specials and bosses. Say, going through the sewers on Convocation of Decay and finding a Stormfiend, a pack of Stormvermin, a Horde and then a pack of Chaos Warriors all start charging towards us.
Note: This only really becomes an issue at Champion and Legend. Champ is manageable most of the time, but I’ve still had games where two gutter runners, a leech, a packmaster, and a pack of Stormvermin were all attacking us at once.
->) 6: Friendly Fire and Hitboxes:
Player characters do not have collision physics with their fellow party members, which can allow for nearly all four people to stand in the same spot. On champion and higher, I’ve found that Sienna and Bardin (the former with a bolt or beam staff, and the latter with Drakefire Pistols) can very easily deal massive amounts of friendly fire damage to their allies without being able to see them. At all. I have had this kill people in my party before, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
(More to be added)
