A free new update is coming to PC on April 11, containing a new map: the conclusion of the Karak Azgaraz storyline! This fourth, final map is not a remaster of a Vermintide 1 mission, but a brand new, stormy mission!
A Parting of the Waves
Those who have followed Lohner’s Chronicles recently might already know, but our Heroes are not on the best of terms right now. After Sienna picked up Necromancy and started raising the dead to fight the onslaught of Skaven and Chaos better, things have been… tense. Distrust slowly surged amongst our heroes. Today, the Ubersreik Five are on the verge of falling apart.
That’s when jolly ol’ Kruber had a fantastic idea! The Five should group up and set sail, chasing after the Skaven ships fleeing after being routed in Khazukan Kazakit-Ha! Slaying rats is what got them together in the first place, surely it would help bring them back together.
Only, the seas might not be so kind. As they chase the scurrying Skaven to a whaling village, the storm is getting dangerous, the waves are roaring, and the guiding light of the village’s lighthouse seems more ominous than comforting…
We’re excited for you to explore the final chapter of the Karak Azgaraz storyline on April 11.
New enemy type: Chaos Warrior with Shield
More dangers are lurking in A Parting of the Waves than just rain. A brand new enemy type is coming with this update: A Chaos Warrior armed with a shield and mace. This foe is mighty and tough. It’ll take some mighty blows to fell these soldiers of Chaos, or a cunning hero able to expose their weak spot.
The Chaos Warrior with Shield will be available in all maps with Rotbloods presence.
Developer Blog: Versus Alpha Test
Greetings Heroes and Pactsworn,
Hope you had a great 6-year anniversary! My name is Joakim and I’m the Design Director for Vermintide 2. In this dev blog, I’ll provide an update on the Versus game mode by following up on the recent Open Alpha Test. Actually, we dubbed it the Great Open Alpha Test, or GOAT, as it was preceded by the Closed Alpha Test, or CAT. Tradition now mandates that we can’t have a next test before we decide on a good animal acronym. Suggestions are welcome.
First off, thank you everyone for playing and supporting the game! The GOAT was active at the same time as our Anniversary event, from March 7th to March 17th, with Versus being available from the (new-ish) PC main menu. The test saw some polishing and balancing, it featured a new Versus map - Righteous Stand - and supported our DLC careers.
All in all the test was successful, but unfortunately, it was quite unstable in the first days of play, requiring five hotfixes to resolve the stability issues. After 6 years Vermintide 2 consists of a lot of moving parts, and as the previous test had been on a separate beta app the integration of the game mode into Vermintide simply proved trickier than anticipated. Apologies for all the inconvenience it caused for your Quiet Drinks - but hopefully this should have been one of the biggest production hurdles, and we expect things to roll out smoother now for any future binging in Helmgart.
With that, cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the rats of statistics!
The GOAT saw just shy of 24000 players fighting across 39529 rounds in 9345 games, compared to the 3600 players in CAT. The tweaks to balance and scoring were successful in reducing the number of games ending in draws on both maps - only 0.4% compared to nearly 7% in CAT. With Righteous Stand we also wanted to test a longer, three-section map over Screaming Bell’s two sections, and we saw match times averaging around 30 minutes toward the end of the test. Overall you seem to approve of both the map and the longer playtime compared to the previous test, and we’ll take that into consideration going forward.
The balance tweaks and the introduction of the DLC careers had a definite impact on the Hero meta, with the top ten most-played careers shifting slightly as a result:
Grenades and sniping weapons continue to be the core of the weapon arsenal against the Pactsworn; handguns, crossbows, longbows, and bolt staff are in the lead, while brace of pistols seemed to perform well, specifically for Saltzpyre.
From a Pactsworn perspective there was little change in terms of pick rate and longevity compared to the CAT: the Globadier still outperforms as a safely hidden damage dealer whilst the Warpfire Thrower could do with more buffing to increase usability and appeal. The Gutter Runner saw a slight uptick in picking, which may be a result of the general open layout of Righteous Stand, and the Packmaster players were probably having the times of their (short) lives, happily lurking by the cliff sections in the third set (or in the second set’s labyrinthine sauna spots).
With the GOAT being available to so many players we saw lots of good feedback on the forums and in our social channels, all of which is much appreciated. The survey made an appearance in the launcher as well and we got a great turnout of over 1500 responses. Huge thank you for all your responses and feedback, it makes all the difference going through your answers and tracking how things are improving over different tests.
Last time we did the survey, for CAT, we ended up with a majority of Legend and Cataclysm player responses. A goal for GOAT was to get more responses from Recruit, Veteran and Champion players, and/or players with <60h playtime, and we… mostly accomplished that. To our 8 Recruit players; thank you, but we need to make sure even more of you find your way to the survey next time.
In general, all of you seem to have a really good time in Versus, with 84% of you rating the game mode between 7-10 in “fun”, and with Cataclysm players being overwhelmingly the most positive to both Versus and playing Pactsworn. Looking at the mid-to-negative responses, the majority of these mention balancing and stability as the biggest issues we can improve on.
So what do the feature requests look like at this point? Well, nothing has really changed from CAT, with the most common requests being balancing the teams further (special shoutout to Warrior Priest and Life staff this time!), adding Pactsworn talents or abilities, designing a training area for Pactsworn and implementing both some form of matchmaking and private game options.
Oh, and also to add a playable boss. But we’re working on that, so don’t you worry.
We’re also aware of frustrations with getting a random Hero when joining into a game, as well as having too many Globadiers around at the same time, and we’ll look into these things as well. The next test, Animal Name Pending, will be a fun one I reckon.
Appearances aside, we are working on other things aside from Versus. For instance, we are finally working on a loadout system and hope to have that out together with the next test. But what about the Ubersreik 5, you may ask? What’s in store now that Karak Azgaraz is saved (again), Sienna has a penchant for the undead and Lohner is receiving unexpected guests? Whale, we can’t reveal anything about the future just yet, so you’ll just have to wait and sea what it holds for oar heroes.
But not for too long, we expect.
Thank you for these past 6 years and for your continued support. In a year we’ll meet up again to try to find that door to the Obese Megalodon (though if Queen Kerillian was a door - she’d be the best door, obviously).
Joakim, and the Vermintide team
Lohner’s Shoe Emporium of Wonders
Never one to pass up an opportunity to keep the old war funds flowing, I reckon it's time to take the Emporium of Wonders in a whole new direction, namely shoes, boots, sandals, sabots, and clogs - a festive festonery of footwear. I mean, some folk might say that an army marches on its stomach, but wiser heads know that it's the feet that make the magic happen. Gotta look after them, is what I'm saying ... for the right price. Now, who wants what?
Do you wonder to wander? Searching for the boot for your route? A shoe to break your blue? Dare not to leave your toes bare? Maybe Ladrielle has asked you to step up your footwear game?
Lohner’s Shoe Emporium of Wonders offers those wandering among us (looking at you, Kerillian) a place to keep your toes dry. For the price of a couple of shillings, your Hero can wear the most dashing and daring of sole-full accessories and receive Lohner’s grateful toe-ken of appreciation.
A store full of sole is walking your way.
Coming after the release of Bardin’s Songbook.
Versus map changing back to 'Righteous Stand'.
Heroes!
The Versus map will be changing back to Righteous Stand from 10:00 CET for the remainder of the Alpha Test. Just a reminder that the Alpha Test ends on 17th March 23:59.
Thank you to all those who have played so far!
Hotfix Megathread 5.2.x
Heroes!
This announcement will catalogue all the hotfixes we have released for patch 5.2.0 that came in with the 2023 Rebalance patch, and will be kept current with the latest hotfix release added to the top of the patch notes.
Hotfix 5.2.3 - February 6th
Balance changes
Reverted the monster damage nerf to Dual Daggers and instead applied a 15% damage nerf to Shade's career skill, to follow along with the general nerf to monster killers in patch 5.2.0
Increased the base crit chance of Dual Dagger heavy attacks by 10%
Reduced the base crit chance of Sword & Dagger's second heavy attack by 10%.
Outcast Engineer: Increased "Ingenious Ordnance" bomb craft time to 120 seconds.
Outcast Engineer: reduced the bonus crit chance from "Perilous Overclock" to 8%
Falchion, Crowbill, One-handed Flail: Reduced stamina cost for pushing to 1 (half a shield)
Reduced the Masterwork Pistol's damage modifier vs monsters by 22%
Chaos Wastes: Reduced Grudge Mark bonus health modifier by 16%
Fixes
Fixed issue where some Gifts of the Wolf Father illusions were not showing up in the crafting menu for certain players.
Fixed the issue that caused Frame generation technology to not work.
The Shade nerfs are meant to bring her in line with the nerfs to other monster killer careers without targeting the Dual Daggers and instead nerfing her directly. Since we've also received feedback that the dual daggers could use some love and that the Sword & Dagger are a bit too good, we've done a tune up there.
The Masterwork Pistol nerf is also part of the overall effort to reel in all monster killers.
Outcast Engineer is a tad overtuned which is why we're applying these nerfs to these two talents. We'll be monitoring the community response to these to see if these changes are enough or if more needs to be done to reel him back a bit.
The Falchion, Crowbill and One-handed Flail have been changed to go along with the general buff to one-handed weapons that was done in the initial balance pass.
Hotfix 5.2.2 - December 20th
This one is tiny, I promise!
Fixes
Fixed Bestigors and Minotaurs ending their charge early if they have to run around an obstacle.
Fixed an exploit where an Outcast Engineer with the "Bombadier" talent gained 3 new grenades when leaving and rejoining a game. Cheeky!
Fixed a bug where Outcast Engineer's "Superior Gaskets" talent did not provide power on clients.
Hotfix 5.2.1 - December 19th
Fixes
Fixed crash when bots use true flight attacks like Waywatcher ability or Necromancer "Lost Souls" which target enemies that get removed from the game.
Fixed a bug where a Sienna premium cosmetic item was missing its store icon.
Fixed a bug where "Lingering Flames" DoT stacked. Sorry, Battle Wizard mains!
Fixed a bug where Engineer's "Bombardier" talent did not give Bardin three bombs on first spawn. Engineer mains can now once again aim for the back of the elf's head!
Fixed rare crash where Mercenary's talent "Strike Together" could crash the game when the target ally was removed on the same frame as when buff was applied.
Fixed a bug where Warrior Priest's talent "Blazing Bright" granted him Fury when he was knocked down. You're not a Necromancer, Saltzpyre!
The Versus Closed Alpha Test Begins February 8th!
Heroes!
Ready for some mayhem? We're once again ready to go ahead with the previously announced Closed Alpha Test this week! We apologize once again for the previous delay but now we're extra ready!
To reiterate! On February 8th, we will send invites to over 10,000 of you to participate in this alpha; so keep your eyes peeled on your emails (and that pesky pesky spam folder)!
If you weren't selected as part of our alpha test this time, please don't fret; we'll have more opportunities for you all to test in the future!
Join the stream February 7th, 5:15pm CET/11:15am EST/8:15am PST to learn more!
Stay tuned for more details coming this very week, including a stream with Joakim our Design Director, and Erik our Product Owner on February 7th, 5:15pm CET/11:15am EST/8:15am PST! We'll hold a Q&A where we'll be answering many of the questions you've asked throughout these past weeks, alongside questions from the stream and talking about the test itself and the design philosophy of Versus.
You all will also see additional announcements and a further FAQ recap as we draw closer to our closed alpha launch.
Thank you all for your patience and support!
It's been a long while but we're so excited to finally see Versus in the hands of players at last!
Dev Blog: Versus Closed Alpha Test
Heroes,
Today, we sit down with Vermintide 2 developers—Joakim, our Design Director, and Erik, our Product Owner—about our goals and design philosophy for the closed alpha test for Versus happening in the near future.
Editor’s Note: As of this dev blog, the test has been delayed; but it is still sure to happen, and quite soon. We’ll keep everyone posted on new dates once we iron out this last wrinkle!
What is Versus and how can players expect it to work?
We see Versus as a casual asymmetric 4v4 PvP+E game mode that pits the Ubersreik Five against our AI enemies and up to 4 player-controlled Skaven specials (known as the Pactsworn). The gameplay is based off of our adventure mode maps, but split into multiple sections. Heroes progress through a map section, completing objectives as they go. For each objective they get a certain amount of points.
The Pactsworn goal is to stop the Heroes from getting points by killing or disabling them. When the Hero team has either reached the end of the map section or have been fully disabled, the teams switch sides, competing for points over multiple sections and rounds.
The team with the most points after a match wins.
The Versus game mode is definitely something that players familiar with the genre will recognize. We want to honor our predecessor in this space while adding our own unique melee-oriented flair to it that most of our players recognize us for.
Why are we working on Versus?
Ideally, we want to create a player versus player plus enemy (PvP+E) game mode that can be played alongside our co-op modes to hit that sweet spot for players of all types. We want to provide a fun, casual team experience but still scratch that competitive itch.
This isn’t the first time we’ve announced Versus; and our first reveal happened way back in 2019. We had run some small external tests with a select group of players during that time and weren’t completely happy with how things were running, so we put it on the shelf to marinate for a bit while we focused on other content like new careers and co-op game modes. We had worked on it a bit here and there with some tweaks to tighten up the foundational PvP+E gameplay, but it wasn’t until last spring did we decide, “Let’s actually do this thing” with fresh eyes.
What are our goals for players in this closed alpha?
First and foremost, we want Versus to be fun for our players, both for those who are new to Vermintide as well as for our veterans. We tried to have a good mixture of both when selecting those for this test. We want players to go in, play, and tell us their unvarnished thoughts.
One of things we’ve learned through our years of development is that our players deeply love and care for this game, and we want to learn from them and their feedback during this testing period. We’re aiming to take a co-creation approach with our players by opening up a closed test for a large majority of those who signed up, observe them play, analyze their feedback, and take that into our development process as lessons learned.
But we also want players to know this is our first time testing Versus with a larger number of players, so things aren’t completely final, and some things may be a bit unstable. We want feedback on this, too! The good, the bad, the ugly; we want to look at all of it and come back with takeaways to discuss and iterate upon to create something our players will be happy with.
Will there be other testing opportunities in the future?
Absolutely. We don’t expect this test to be a one and done type of deal, so we’ll be testing more in the future and soliciting feedback during those periods too! The closed alpha test is just one step in a multi-stage process to get both the team and our players feeling good about the game mode and how it plays!
We hope you all enjoy Versus, and we hope to see you in Helmgart soon!
The Versus Closed Alpha Test Begins January 18!
Versus is a new a player vs player plus enemy game mode for Warhammer: Vermintide 2. Featuring 4 vs 4 gameplay where players can fight as the Ubersreik Five and also join the dark pact as Skaven specials.
We’re super excited to announce our closed alpha will run from January 18-January 21.
We’re blown away by your support during our closed alpha signup period. In the coming days, we will send invites to over 10,000 of you to participate in this alpha; so keep your eyes peeled on your emails (and that pesky pesky spam folder)!
If you weren't selected as part of our alpha test this time, please don't fret; we'll have more opportunities for you all to test in the future!
Join the stream January 17, 4:30pm CET/10:30am EST/7:30am PST to learn more!
Stay tuned for more information on the alpha and what it will contain, including a stream with Joakim our Design Director, and Erik our Product Owner on Wednesday, January 17 at 4:30pm CET/10:30am EST/7:30am PST. This stream will feature a number of frequently asked questions that the community team has collected to prepare you for the alpha, what it will contain, and our design philosophy around Versus.
You all will also see additional announcements and a further FAQ recap as we draw closer to our closed alpha launch.
Thank you for all your support and we hope to see hero and Skaven alike in Helmgart soon!
Gifts of the Wolf Father and Patch 5.2.0
Heroes,
A Merry Mondstille to all of you! The Wolf Father is coming around again this year and shall be handing out some lovely gifts for all of you! We wanna take this moment to thank you guys for being with us throughout the years, and to express our hope that you continue accompanying us into the content that awaits us in the future!
This patch includes the activation of the Gifts of the Wolf Father calendar and a balance pass on careers and weapons to address some of the bigger pain points regarding balance!
Gifts of the Wolf Father
Starting from today December 13 all the way to January 7, log into Vermintide 2 each day to receive a gift from us! Most of these gifts are Premium Cosmetics, but there’s some other, equally attractive goodies in there that we hope you’ll like!
All players have a 2 day grace period to claim each of the items from each calendar day as they unlock (plus the day of release itself, for a total of 3 days), so even if you miss a day or two you won’t miss any rewards if you log in regularly!
Balance Changes
We heard your feedback regarding certain overperforming and underperforming careers and weapons, and so we’ve done a balance pass on some of the biggest offenders (Looking at you, Battle Wizard and Javelin!). In case you missed it, we released a dev blog going into the changes and the thought process behind them, check it out here.
And, if you’re interested in the detailed changes themselves, check out the patch notes below!
New Premium Cosmetics: The Frost Guard Collection
Perfect for this cold Festag, a lovely new collection of cosmetics has arrived for our heroes, with a new hat and skin available for the following careers:
Gifts of the Wolf Father and Patch 5.2.0 + Hotfix 5.2.1
