Vermintide 2 - Experimental Beta Weekend

[Fatshark_Hedge]

Heroes!

Hope you’ve had a groovy week. We’ve not got it all right have we. But hats off to you for letting us know where we misstep. We genuinely appreciate it.

Today we’re putting an Experimental Beta out to Steam, available for all owners of Vermintide 2, but with particular emphasis on the Beastmen available for Winds of Magic enabled lobbies.

[BETA ACCESS DETAILS ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST]

You’ve fed back to us that there seems to be a disproportionate amount of Beastmen in your Vermintide. For some time now we’ve been fettling with Beastman presence throughout the game on an internal version, and are ready to bring those changes in to a beta for your feedback. There’s also changes to Ungor and Gor attacks damage triggers, we’re hoping these are more in line with their animations so there’s less chance of them getting off cheap shots.

We also heard that we really shouldn’t be fixing the Heroic Deed exploit that some folks used to spice up their Deeds before we have improved the Deed system for players. And yep, we agree that removing that was tone deaf (feel free to blame OP!). In the meantime, we’ve reintroduced that to the game.

2.2.1 Experimental Patch Notes

• Changed how enemy faction populations are determined in the missions. Skaven and Chaos now have a higher chance of appearing in a mission compared to Beastmen. Should mean less Beastmentide across the board.
• Beastmen can no longer spawn in Blood in the Darkness. They don’t like being inside spooky castles.
• Polished Ungor and Gor attack damage triggers. Should now feel more fair with the attack animation.
• Added an exploit that allows players to customise their Deed difficulties and map choices.
• Fixed a crash in the dialogue system when a client joins an on-going game.

Access Details

To install the 2.2.1 Experimental beta, please:

• Right-click Vermintide 2 in your Steam library sidebar
• Select ‘Properties’
• Select the ‘Betas’ tab
• Expand the dropdown and select:
  2.2.1_experimental

A 12mb download for the patch Experimental branch should then start downloading. If the download does not start automatically, please restart the Steam client. It’s also around 12mb to switch back to the LIVE version.

PROGRESS WILL BE PERSISTENT BETWEEN THE TEST AND LIVE GAME

Feedback and Bugs

If you’re playing the experimental beta and wish to provide feedback or report a bug, please do submit those to the dedicated categories:

http://forums.fatsharkgames.com/c/V2-Exp/EXP-feedback/60
http://forums.fatsharkgames.com/c/V2-Exp/EXP-Bugs/61

Fatshark Streams

Join Tim, Tom and Tuva over on Twitch today at 13:30 UTC where they’ll be talking about the Experimental Beta.

[Haiken]

Thank you so much for listening and adding back the option to choose deed difficulty and map. Really happy about that. ^^

[Adelion]

Hm, for a moment I feared that Beastmen would be further gimped. With 12 Mb it is really easy to change between the two versions, that is good.

If Beastmen will appear less often and the attack animations now coincide more with the actual damage trigger, is it then possible to up the Beastmen in difficulty again, mainly the re-introduction of the Ungor Spearman behaviour we had at the relase of 2.0?
Because currently they do less damage than a Skaven Slave Rat and there actual interesting gameplay has been omitted.

Any words on Ranked Weaves Public Lobbies?

[DatDing15]

Thank you for the update!

[Fatshark_Hedge]

@Adelion

If Beastmen will appear less often and the attack animations now coincide more with the actual damage trigger, is it then possible to up the Beastmen in difficulty again, mainly the re-introduction of the Ungor Spearman behaviour we had at the relase of 2.0?

We’re aren’t averse to this, but we’re going one step at a time.

@Adelion

Any words on Ranked Weaves Public Lobbies?

The fix is made and seems to be working, I hoped it would be in for this weekender, so I’ll chase up where it is

[Jaffawer]

@Fatshark_Hedge

But hats off to you

[KaelusVonSestiaf]

@Fatshark_Hedge

If Beastmen will appear less often and the attack animations now coincide more with the actual damage trigger, is it then possible to up the Beastmen in difficulty again, mainly the re-introduction of the Ungor Spearman behaviour we had at the relase of 2.0?

We’re aren’t averse to this, but we’re going one step at a time.

Good to hear! It was very interesting to have enemies that were tough not because their damage and health were high, but because they used different tactics. Long range attacks, dodging backwards, the like.
If their main issue was that people couldn’t see their attackn coming because they were tiny compared to Gors, maybe have them scream like crazy bastards as part of their startup animation or something.

@Fatshark_Hedge

We also heard that we really shouldn’t be fixing the Heroic Deed exploit that some folks used to spice up their Deeds before we have improved the Deed system for players. And yep, we agree that removing that was tone deaf (feel free to blame OP!). In the meantime, we’ve reintroduced that to the game.

Oh boy! So that practically confirms a deed rework is, well, in the works! That’s great to hear!

[thod.lamprakos]

I just want to say I am so happy. You guys have stepped up your game so much in the last months. From bugfixing, to 2 amazing maps, to better communication with us, to well, everything! I have been playing since VT1 and there have always been ups and downs and I will admit that I wasn’t crazy about weaves either, but I really haven’t found another game that satisfies me so much. Can’t wait for the final chapter of Drachenfels, also hoping for the dwarven maps from VT1 to come even as in the way the Back to Ubershreik maps did. Or maybe Bardin takes the party to his Dwarven family Hold to seek vengeance ?

[anon75893681]

Would it require alot of work to make it so you can only glitch the deeds, on maps of the deeds current difficulty or higher only? If the reason to remove it was so players can’t exploit it anymore by playing them on recruit, why not remove that, basically make a feature of the exploit, so veteran players can still play deeds on dlc maps or on cata, but we can’t exploit them on lower difficulties anymore. (I’m assuming that was your reason to fix it, might be wrong) @Fatshark_Hedge

[alsozara]

Ok this is a pretty great surprise. Thank you for listening.

[Palesz]

@Fatshark_Hedge

Changed how enemy faction populations are determined in the missions. Skaven and Chaos now have a higher chance of appearing in a mission compared to Beastmen. Should mean less Beastmentide across the board.

I much better liked what you did with Old Haunts, where beastmen are region-appropriate. They only show up in the woods/mountains and not in the city.
Old maps should have this too, where they only show up in certain areas - they might be fix or with a higher chance there. This is better in line with what was was hinted in the original design, that they don’t show up everywhere.

[souI23]

@Adelion

If Beastmen will appear less often and the attack animations now coincide more with the actual damage trigger, is it then possible to up the Beastmen in difficulty again, mainly the re-introduction of the Ungor Spearman behaviour we had at the relase of 2.0?

Honestly I don’t agree… I mean, I feel them definitely stronger than Chaos and Skaven. We need a pure and simple nerf… with a buff too, I’m afraid the situation will not change. At least not so much.

Anyway just my idea, we will see it deeply testing this beta.

[souI23]

@anon75893681

so veteran players can still play deeds on dlc maps or on cata, but we can’t exploit them on lower difficulties anymore.

Legit enough, but we should still be able to apply the QP bonus.

[TmanDW]

Thank you so much for listening and responding to feedback on stuff like the whole Deed map selection exploit thing. Really appreciated. Now nobody can claim that FS as a devteam doesn’t listen anymore, either. Going to try the Beta now to see how the beasties are. Thanks!

[AntiLoop]

I’m not getting any of the “now comes the horde music” Complete silence while under attack.
This was on into the nest.

Also no notification of being hit from behind

Edit: These happened only once but immediately after upping for the beta. Can’t get a duplication.

[Imnrk]

This has been happening to me since the last update as well. Not sure if it’s beta exclusive.

I really like these streams, Tim and Tom have a nice dynamic! Looking forward to seeing how the beta plays out, although I’m hoping for some more substantial tweaks at some point. The Beastmentide fix in particular should make the game feel a lot better.

[Don_Kanaille]

Sounds pretty good. Thanks for the update, again, its very welcome!

[Slacker]

@Palesz

I much better liked what you did with Old Haunts, where beastmen are region-appropriate. They only show up in the woods/mountains and not in the city.

I also found it appropriate to encounter Beastmen in the wilderness there, which sadly seems to no longer be the case. Wasn’t their presence lore appropriate or were they mistakenly cut from that part of Old Haunts in the experimental beta?

[Slacker]

@Fatshark_Hedge

If Beastmen will appear less often and the attack animations now coincide more with the actual damage trigger, is it then possible to up the Beastmen in difficulty again, mainly the re-introduction of the Ungor Spearman behaviour we had at the relase of 2.0?

We’re aren’t averse to this, but we’re going one step at a time.

Wish Wargor got buffed some. He’s far from formidable now compared to when introduced in the WoM beta.

[Palesz]

I don’t think the wargor was ever formidable, just a SV with better armor that is standing around while his cohorts get slaughtered until the banner drops.