I’ve been thinking of creating this (fingers crossed) series for some time now, inspired by @FatsharkJulia’s Off-Topic Fridays. Which i really, really liked, and also hope to reignite with this, wink-wink @FatsharkJulia (no pressure ).
The topics i’ll create are going to be random, but, to be different, are very On-Topic. They will most likely be inspired by things i experienced in game or think about regarding V2. Some might even be educational.
If someone has a good idea for a topic, just send me a PM, i don’t mind giving up the lead for a week (and don’t have to come up with one so often!).
I would also ask for a civil tone here.
So, without further ado: Why i play!
The gameplay is and will most likely always be No.1 reason why i play this game. I can’t think of any game that combines the brutal aspects of the Warhammer world with an awesome coop experience. It’s the End Times, and you feel that. Although i would wish for more NPC’s, in the keep as well as on maps, it also emphasizes how alone our heroes are in their quest.
Further, to be quite honest, cosmetics are the second most important reason i play V2.
Sadly, i’m quite unlucky with my drops, so this might go on for a while.
I sit at 2085 hours playtime and still need 3 regular and 15 red illusions as well as 22 hats (droprate of 1,54% ). Maybe Lohner’s Emporium might help with that, but my guess is it will only add more to collect.
The characters are a very close 3rd place. To see them and most importantly hear them interact is simply a joy everytime. Their great writing and resulting voice acting (huge probs to the voice actors) is supporting the gameplay in a way more should take an example from.
So my answer is kind of multi-fold. Why I started playing Vermintide, why I play it now, and why I continue to play it.
Why I started: Was somewhat bullied into it and kept playing because of the characters, the lore, and getting the chance to get new voice lines. Even though Verm isn’t played in a linear fashion, I adore the story and getting to know the characters and where they’re going.
Why I play now: Somewhere along the line I started playing a lot of modded content and fell into that and really grinding away hours trying to improve. Some days I absolutely question my choices and decisions, but overall I play to develop and try to play the best I possibly can, and it’s been an interesting experience to look back on where I was and where I am now and then look forward to where I want to be.
Why I continue to play: The community! There’s no community like the Vermintide community! There’s artists, writers, cosplayers, meta-theorists, lore-crafters, casual players, hardcore players. There’s those that play live, those that play modded, those that play with friends, and those that play with their family. It’s just a super colorful cast of characters that tends to be somewhat tightly-knit. Really can’t ask more from a gaming community than that!
Well, I’ve always been a sucker for Warhammer fantasy world and lore, so when I heard that there is a new FPS hack-n-slash game coming out (it was back in 2015 I guess?), Asuryan knows I simply had to try it out. Quickly fell in love with the combat system, story, characters and especially the mood.
It’s always cool to sit down with a Warhammer fantasy novel or an Army book, read through the lore and then hop in a game and experience the universe in a different way, be it through Vermintide 1/2, Total War Warhammer 2 or sometimes Age of Reckoning (Return of Reckoning atm).
I usually play with my two other friends, who are Warhammer enthusiasts as well but, Isha have mercy on their souls, one is Empire lover and the other… a Dawi lover (who unfortunately does not play as often as he used to), so you can imagine how our interactions look like.
Anyways, Vermintide is a very unique game with a unique community and I’m looking forward to see what FS has in store for us in S2 and beyond.
Top three things that keeps me playing Vermintide (in no particular order)
Warhammer Fantasy
The Ubersreik 5
The best first person melee combat I’ve ever experienced in any game
If I made a top four list I would also have included all the fantastic players out there who take roleplaying their chosen character really seriously. Rounds with some proper RP are the best rounds!
First, I really like co-op games (though more common nowadays than they were, they’re still relatively rare, especially good ones), and Vermintides (yes, both of them) are still some of the best ones, if not the best in my mind. There aren’t many that compete even close to the style of them, either (especially if you’re like me and don’t really care about zombies). No game has got even nearly the same amount of hours sunk in as VT2 (though Borderlands gets close when the whole series is counted). It wouldn’t interest me at all if it weren’t co-op, though.
The game feels awesome to play, even with the bugs and despite the changes made. The combat feels very good, and it does it without huge complexity that some games’ systems have. It’s simple enough to get into it quite fast, but there’s a lot of stuff to learn and a lot of room for personal skill improvement - and for me, that improvement is also noticeable enough to feel worth it.
I’m not a huge fan of Warhammer unlike some others here (to me, it’s a well-made fantasy world, but nothing special), but bringing in a ready-made, well-known world and utilizing it and its lore is a good thing. The game could’ve been set in a generic fantasy world in a similar situation, but Warhammer has the whole setting built already, and a lot of things to give direction for character interactions, distinct visuals , enemies and so on.
All of this makes me quite sad to see how things have been handled with the game lately, from both the fans’ and the devs’ sides. While I haven’t played as much as I used to for a few months now, I still haven’t given up, and have no plans of uninstalling it - and I do want to check back whenever something significant happens.
My personal opinion is that you can’t have great good without great evil and vice versa, but there’s so much terrible in Warhammer that someone’s gotta kill thousands of Skaven in 20 minutes!
It’s a bad-ass, Co-op game where I feel like every move I’ve made is important: I’m important when I’m with my team; I’m important when I kill that CW about to smash my Waystalker; I’m important when I snipe a 'zerker out of a horde…
… and, in turn, I love seeing my team be so impactful, too! I love seeing our Iron-Breaker call out to get the team up while he taunts the boss; I love seeing our Sienna tear up 3 specials while we hold the horde; and I love seeing/hearing my friends whoop and holler and cheer over how we just conquered impossible odds.
In particular, like @EnragedFountain, I’m a sucker for roleplaying in the Warhammer universe, so playing the “Up to 8-player Mod” where we can all be Iron-Breakers with 2 Slayers and everyone is shouting Khazalid into comms makes me a happy camper!
EDIT: Though the thought has now come to mind that we could play an elite High-Elven team of Handmaidens, sent by Alarielle herself to relieve the war-effort. Time to go find 7 other players!
because its one of few first person melee games where combat feels satisfying without having to deal with super awkward character moveset that feels like i’m either walking in cement or have bricks tied to my feet/arms. thats why.
Those games where you fight tooth and nail for every inch, when the director throws the book at you, when it should have been a wipe multiple times but somehow the team clutched it out. Reaching the bridge of shadows after a run like that is a tremendously satisfying feeling, and ultimately that’s what keeps me coming back, Ratcheting up the difficulty and going head to head with the End of Times!
I knew nothing of Warhammer fantasy coming in, the closest I came to it was playing some Dawn of War 40k back in the day. I used to play a LOT of Left 4 Dead. one of my friends said “hey if you like that try out this game called Vermintide”, and I very quickly got hooked. I was just starting to dip into Cata in V1 when 2 came out, and I still play both of them - I think V1 nails the atmosphere and lore better, but I like both and the gameplay is so different that switching is a nice change of pace.
I like that Vermintide has true co-op. Not just four players who happen to be playing the same game, but four players who NEED each other. Then you have the first person melee combat, ive never found another game that just feels so GOOD. On the surface the controls are very simple, but you can do so much with them…
I also appreciate the high skill ceiling and “anything can happen” nature of this game. 850 hours in and I still have lots of room to improve. I’ve had my own clutches where I couldn’t believe I pulled it off, and I still see even more clutches by other people that looked downright impossible… but they did it, which means if I keep practicing I can get there too.
Started with VT1 because a friend invited me to play. I knew almost nothing of Warhammer before this. I enjoyed L4D and was captivated by the characters and visceral, randomized gameplay. The characters were quite unique and the amount of banter was something I’ve never seen done so well in a game. So many voice lines.
Kerillian is the most interesting and unique elf I’ve ever seen in fantasy and is the best elf I’ve ever seen, design wise. Every other game has really boring elves. They’re typically portrayed as snooty humans with pointy ears. Kerillian is humanoid, but different enough in both character and physiology that it makes for an interesting person. The subtlety with her tone and the delivery of her lines. The accent. The sarcasm and the humor with her lines. Plus I think this reflects a lot of the people who don’t like her: https://vocaroo.com/i/s0ttubSAr45K
The voice actors in this game do an incredible job. A lot of people just write a character like this off as mean, but that’s because they don’t see the layers beneath the surface. The devil is in the details and the writers and VA did a phenomenal job. All the characters are really well done.
The visceral combat brings something no other game offers. Each run is different and offers a mostly fresh experience. There are a lot of options for combat from talents/traits/weapons. There is something enjoyable for everyone and so many different ways to play. I love all the details with carving my way through enemies. The gore as you cleave through enemies, lopping off limbs. Decapitating them. Their guts spewing everywhere. The blood drenching your weapon. In VT1 you could pin an enemy to a wall with an arrow.
The ragdolls as you mow through these enemies. Bodies littered everywhere. Listening to enemies choke and gasp as poison takes hold and they grasp at their throats, dying. Lighting entire fields of enemies on fire and then listening to the music that is their screams as they burn to death. Watching them incinerate and turn to ash. Watching them claw at themselves so desperately as they’re cooked from the outside-in. These reasons are why poison and fire are so enjoyable to use.
And then the higher the difficulty, the more it throws at you. Then Twitch throws even more. And deeds even more. And you can kill more and more until the entire map is bathed in the blood of chaos. The skill ceiling can go higher and higher. The adrenaline rising. I could go on and on about every last tiny detail from the characters to the combat, to some of the levels and their designs. There isn’t a game out there that offers anything like this. Also, the shenanigans:
reason:
best combat for its style and gameplay, really it is just solid
killing and smashing at things and shooting things is also great fun
voice lines and banter make it fun to hear and play through the map
cuts out the quietness of the game if no one is talking
it is challenging to complete the map but more so now than before.
characters have unique abilities and keeps the game somewhat fresh to come back.
environment very nice to look at it
what I hate personally;
RNG on loot drops from vaults or even Champ emp chest for reds, please fix that. it will make everyone happy.
although beastmen was a cool addition, they seem way too tough on legend.
I can deal with them on champion but legend is a different mix bag
my ideas for additions to help make the game feel better
add more alternate attacks to weapons that are underused
add more options to regular gameplay
so instead of just twitch only options
for core gameplay
ability to adjust spawning %
ability to randomize items on the map
map filter player list option, filter list of options you want to play through only
Sry mate, but they did this once in the very beginning, and they will never do that again. They said that they are happy with the - since then - current droprates, and are not going to change them, to prevent people from hoarding chests for an eventual increase in droprates (a lot of people did that, and a lot of people have tons of unopened chests still lying around).
I know it’s a bummer, and i too wii likely never see all hats in my inventory (2.1k hours and only got 23/45 from commendations, so just over half), but i can very much understand the position they’ve taken on this.
This also plays into your other points.
If you are able to adjust the difficulty of a normal adventure map, if i understand ‘ability to adjust spawning %’ correctly, this would devaluate all previous played missions and therefore gained chests.
What do you mean by ‘randomize items on map’? Many items are randomized, only on very special locations, before events and some here or there (for example the medkit/healing potion on the tree fungus towards the end event of Festering Ground) will stay the same.
Anyway, if you want to play missions adjusted to your liking, you can do that by going into the modded realm using the ‘Spawn Tweaks’ mod. But no chests for playing on modded realm, fyi.
I began to play because a friend. I was new in Warhammer world but I love epic adventures with dwarfs, elfs and humans fighting together.
I still here for… Blood & Destruction!
).
). Maybe Lohner’s Emporium might help with that, but my guess is it will only add more to collect. 
