Warhammer: Vermintide 2
A Parting of the Waves is Live Now! Patch 5.4.0 + Hotfix 5.4.1Apr 11, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHotfix 5.4.1 - 11th of April This patch fixes a common crash and adds various fixes to the new map, A Parting of the Waves. Fixes Fixed a common crash related to the Chaos Warrior with Shield's animations. A Parting of the Waves Fixes: Fixed so you cannot slap in the barrels at the rock wall or in the factory until you have been at the blighthouse. Fixed the light from the lighthouse not disappearing after you guys blow it up. Fixed some lighting issues where certain objects were darker than they should be. Fixed some areas where parts of the map could visually disappear. Fixed a spot where players could get stuck near a tome. Fixed instances where the intro cutscene would not play. Fixed a spot where players could get stuck on a tarp. Fixed some issues with fire particles throughout the level. Added a fence to block off an inaccessible spot that looked accessible. Changed the water depth at the end area, near the exit. Fixed a couple of LoD issues with some objects throughout the level. Shrunk a misbehaving wall a bit. Fixed an issue that caused there to be multiple copies of the same lantern running about. Fixed a levitating pickup item. Added some planks near the ship players can enter in the harbor. Added some materials to make the escape a bit clearer. Heroes! The fourth and final part of the Karak Azgaraz saga - A Parting of the Waves - is out now on PC, free for all owners of Vermintide 2! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2445960/Warhammer_Vermintide_2__Karak_Azgaraz/ Join our Heroes on their bonding exercise, as they try to work through their quarrels and chase the fleeing Skaven to a gloomy whaling village, ravaged by storm and something sinister… In addition to the new map, this update sees the introduction of a brand new enemy: the Chaos Warrior with Shield! This new enemy will show up alongside in any mission with Rotblood's presence. Developer Stream - April 12th! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/30503110/e9acd71b2db183581915b1996d0eb760ca7f6e85.png We’ll also be hosting a developer stream on April 12, at 16:15 CEST! Join Community Manager Catfish, Art Director Joseph, and Design Director Joakim as they do a deep dive on the A Parting of the Waves update! Without further ado... Patch 5.4.0 Patch Notes New Features Added a brand new map: A Parting of the Waves This map is considered the 4th and final entry in the Karak Azgaraz saga for Vermintide 2. Includes its own set of Okri's Challenges and rewards! New paintings and portrait frames! Added a new enemy type: Chaos Warrior with Shield. Sigmar preserve us... Balance Changes Outcast Engineer: Increased the Cooldown of the bomb generated by 'Ingenious Ordnance' to 180 seconds (up from 120 seconds). Outcast Engineer: Decreased the starting bombs from the 'Bombardier' talent to 2. Fixes Fixed an issue with Outcast Engineer talent 'Linked Compression Chambers' not increasing fire rate properly. Fixed an issue with Necromancer not being able to see her Chaos Wastes potions when checking her inventory....Rat smashers stay winning as Warhammer: Vermintide 2 gets another free update—a whole new map and enemy typeApr 10, 2024 - PC GamerWarhammer: Vermintide 2 might be seven years old, but it's still getting free content updates. There's that long-awaited versus mode, of course, though that's still in testing—in the meantime, says Fatshark, here's a free map and a new enemy type, because why not?.. Read more.Huge Warhammer Vermintide 2 update adds new enemy, map, and it's freeApr 9, 2024 - PCGamesNWarhammer Vermintide 2 is getting a brand new map and enemy type incredibly soon, as Fatshark closes out the Karak Azgaraz storyline with a free update for all. If this has you incredibly excited, don't worry; we've only got a few days to wait. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Warhammer Vermintide 2 versus mode test "successful" after big turnout Warhammer Vermintide 2's new versus mode will start public tests soon The best sword games on PC 2024 A Parting of the Waves, releasing April 11th!Apr 8, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHeroes! 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. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/30503110/7c3648962c24b62c4dd8bfeaeb6554b0d629a7a2.gif 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. Warhammer Vermintide 2 versus mode test "successful" after big turnoutApr 6, 2024 - PCGamesNThe new Warhammer Vermintide 2 versus mode is proving hugely popular, with a big turnout for its first open alpha test on Steam, which ran across the sixth anniversary event for the beloved co-op Warhammer game. The new mode brings in that classic asymmetrical multiplayer of the likes of Left 4 Dead 2 and Dead Space 2, allowing players to step into the roles of both the Heroes and the Skaven. Following on from an earlier closed alpha, the Fatshark team says it's very happy with the feedback from players, which ranged across a much broader playerbase, with DLC characters and a new map included this time around. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: Warhammer Vermintide 2's new versus mode will start public tests soon The best sword games on PC 2024 Warhammer Vermintide 2 update makes big changes for the holidays Developer Blog: Versus Alpha TestApr 5, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsGreetings 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: CAT GOAT Mercenary Mercenary Battle Wizard Ranger Veteran Ranger Veteran Waystalker Waystalker Warrior Priest Witch Hunter Captain Iron Breaker Bounty Hunter Necromancer Handmaiden Handmaiden Ironbreaker Footknight Footknight Pyromancer Unchained Bounty Hunter 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 incre...Lohner’s Shoe Emporium of WondersApr 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsNever 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? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/30503110/fb0d03ff05d8d0600ff3c3760231290cfa2a59df.png 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'.Mar 15, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHeroes! 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!Versus map changing to 'Screaming Bell' until the 15th MarchMar 12, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHeroes! Thank you for all your incredible feedback on the 'Righteous Stand' map so far, we will now be swapping map to 'Screaming Bell' from 13:30 CET 12th March - 10:00 CET 15th March. We will swap over gradually so it may take some time before you start to queue in to the 'Screaming Bell' map. For those who played or watched during our Closed Alpha Test here are the changes we have made to 'Screaming Bell' for this test: Increased enemy presence (including enemies triggered by certain events) Reduced pickups / health Added a Reach objective stage after the Bell event (before the Bridge of Shadows) Hotfix Megathread 5.3.XMar 11, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHotfix 5.3.5 - 15th of March Fixes Fixed a consistent crash when completing an Essence Weave objective. Hotfix 5.3.4 - 14th of March Fixes Fixed players being booted to the main menu upon being disconnected, they're now booted to the Keep. Fixed various crashes related to the chat window. Fixed a crash when starting a Back to Basics deed while having an Outcast Engineer with the Gromril Plated Shots talent. (Versus) Fixed the last sub-objectives being counted twice when completed (Versus) Fixed a softlock when using controllers in Versus. (Versus) Fixed a bug that allowed firing while in ghost mode as Warpfire Thrower and Ratling Gunner. (Versus) Fixed a bug that allowed Pactsworn to spawn from ghost mode on top of Heroes when using the Catch Up feature. (Versus) Fixed players crashing when trying to use the emote wheel (default: U) as Pactsworn. Hotfix 5.3.3 - 11th of March Features & Tweaks (Versus) Added an 'exit ghost mode' button as a rebindable keybind, instead of only being bound to M2. (Versus) Increased the Warpfire Thrower's health, close range damage and overall damage. Added some extra support for certain legacy sanctioned mods. Fixes Fixed the recent 'Access Violation' crash that's been the most prevalent in patch 5.3.X Fixed a crash when hotjoining and an object was in the middle of being despawned. (Versus) Fixed rare crash when using "Catch up to heroes" more than once and using it once again the moment between a player leaves and a bot replaces them (or vice versa). (Versus) Fixed a crash when pinging near a pactsworn right as it dies. (Versus) Fixed a crash when a player hotjoins inbetween round transitions. (Versus) Fixed crash when brining up the social wheel while switching teams in versus (Versus) Fixed a potential crash when players attempt to play Pactsworn. (Versus) Fixed an exploit where the hookrat could grab Heroes while in Ghost mode. Cheeky buggers. (Versus) Fixed Necromancer Sienna being able to send her skeletons after invisible or ghost mode Pactsworn. Fixed player talents and equipments sometimes being reset when switching between game modes. Fixed various crashes Fixed an issue with enemies not becoming visible properly in Shadow/Ulgu Weaves. Fixed an issue where the illusions for the Soulstealer Staff would still be locked even for owners of the Necromancer Cosmetic Upgrade Re-Sanctioned mods Numeric UIUnfortunately, the Numeric UI mod was still causing crashes after this fix and has been unsanctioned again. We'll keep tinkering to fix these issues. Hotfix 5.3.2 - 8th of March Fixes Fixed a number of miscellaneous crashes Fixed an issue where the chat message target did not switch back correctly when changing between Adventure and Versus modesMods temporarily de-sanctionedAs of this hotfix, we've also temporarily de-sanctioned the following mods: Numeric UI UI Tweaks Loadout ManagerThese mods were disabled because they were causing crashes and some exploits, but these are only temporary measures while we indeed...Vermintide 2's Versus mode is real, currently in open alphaMar 10, 2024 - PC GamerVermintide 2's Versus mode was first announced in 2019, after which developers Fatshark went dark on it. After four years of the usual suspects harvesting upvotes by whining about the absence of Versus mode and how they'd been lied to, it was finally confirmed as still being in the works last year, with the announcement of a closed alpha test. That closed alpha is now complete, and has been followed by an open alpha anyone can join directly from the Vermintide 2 main menu... Read more.Vermintide 2 Six Year Anniversary, Versus Alpha Test - Now Live!Mar 7, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsPatch notes for the hotfixes after this patch can be found in our Hotfix 5.3.X Megathread Heroes! It’s time! The Sixth Anniversary event for Vermintide 2 has started and is now live on all platforms! It will run from today March 7th to March 18th, so make sure to enjoy it while it lasts! Six years, huh? That’s quite a while! We said this before, but we really wanna hammer it home: We are SO grateful to you guys that this community is still going strong after all this time, having fun and enjoying the shenanigans of the Ubersreik Five. Here’s to many more years, here’s to all of the content coming in the future! There’s still a lot in the works, and not just the Versus Game Mode! Developer Stream: 16:30 CET / 10:30 EST We’ll be hosting a stream with Joakim our Design Director, and Erik our Product Owner today at 16:30 CET / 10:30 EST. Tune in to chat about Vermintide and all the years that led us up to this point, the Versus test that’s happening during these weeks, and watch developers play a round or two of Versus themselves! Link to stream. A Quiet Drink As always, the celebratory map of ‘A Quiet Drink’ will be re-enabled during this anniversary event, letting you go out partying with your friends as the Ubersreik Five look for another place to drink! Access it through the Weekly Event tab in Adventure Mode Matchmaking! New Portrait Frame Complete the anniversary map ‘A Quiet Drink’ during the event to earn a brand-new anniversary portrait frame! Another Round {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/30503110/c8b671aa54c6078171f5b2accb860f834d5bf0ab.png Double XP For the new players joining us, this’ll be a treat! We’ll also be doubling the XP earned from all matches for as long as the Anniversary event lasts! So, time to power level if you’re not maxed already! The Great Versus Alpha Test Of course, that’s not all! For the entire duration of the Anniversary event, you’ll also be able to try out Versus! Available to all owners of Warhammer: Vermintide 2, you’ll get to hop onto the Versus-specific lobby from the main menu. We had a ton of fun (and a ton of feedback!) from the Closed Alpha Test we held early February, so we’re really excited and hopeful to see that and more during this one, where everyone gets to participate! What is Versus? Versus is a free new Game mode for Warhammer: Vermintide 2! It’s an asymmetrical PvP+E pitting up to 4 Heroes against our AI enemies and up to 4 special players, what we call Pactsworn. A match will take place over several rounds, with each team swapping places between playing the Heroes and the Pactsworn each round. To simplify, each round the Hero team must play a regular game akin to Adventure mode, while the Pactsworn players have to stop them. In case you missed it, here’s a link to our latest Dev Blog, where we go over our thoughts and takeaways from the Closed Alpha Test: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/552500/view/4139441932569145653 For those of you who have participated in the Closed Alpha Test, or just those cur...Vermintide 2’s 6th Anniversary event starts on March 7th!Mar 4, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHeroes, It’s been six years! You’ve been slaying rats, northlanders, goats, and sometimes each other (More on that later, eh?) and we couldn’t be more grateful that you’re still around, having fun with our game. At the end of the day, this game wouldn’t be worth making if it wasn’t for you guys, so from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of this great community! The 6-year anniversary event will start on all platforms on March 7 and finish on March 17. As always, our heroes will be able to celebrate by having a proper night out in the ‘A Quiet Drink’ map, which will be enabled alongside the event. There’s also a brand-new portrait frame to go along with it, as well as double XP! But that’s not all! We’re doing something special to go along with this particular celebration…! Versus Alpha Test, open to all owners of Vermintide 2 on PC! You probably know this if you saw last week’s dev blog, but we’re holding another Alpha Test for the Versus Game Mode, this time open to all who own Warhammer: Vermintide 2 on PC! The test will run on the main game client and last for as long as the anniversary lasts! That means it starts March 7th and ends March 17th. Tell your friends! Tell everyone! It’s gonna be fun! We’re really looking forward to seeing you all play, share your thoughts and most fun moments, and tell us all your feedback! See you all during the anniversary! Thank you for sticking with us, and we hope to keep you guys entertained for more years to come!Warhammer Vermintide 2's new versus mode will start public tests soonMar 3, 2024 - PCGamesNThe new Warhammer Vermintide 2 versus mode is an exciting addition to one of the PC's most gloriously hectic co-op games, and its initial round of closed alpha testing has gone so well that you'll be able to give it a try very soon. First teased several years ago by developer Fatshark and finally on the brink of arrival, the versus mode follows in the footsteps of multiplayer greats such as Left 4 Dead 2 and Dead Space 2, allowing you to take on other players on both sides of the asymmetrical conflict between the Heroes of Ubersreik and the Skaven. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: The best sword games on PC 2024 Warhammer Vermintide 2 update makes big changes for the holidays Warhammer Vermintide 2's Geheimnisnacht is back, and it's 80% off Developer Blog: Versus Closed Alpha TestMar 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsGreetings Heroes and Pactsworn alike, My name is Joakim and I’m the Design Director for Vermintide 2. In this dev blog, I want to look at some findings from the Versus Closed Alpha Test and give you an update on the state of Versus. To kick this off I want to extend our deepest gratitude to all of you who participated in the Closed Alpha Test. From a developer standpoint, it is always a scary feeling putting things out to you players for initial impressions, but we came out of this with the feeling of overwhelming success. You seemed to have a good time, we got a ton of good feedback, the servers were fairly stable and we did not see any overly alarming crashes or issues preventing play. In short, we couldn’t have hoped for anything more. Now, on to some stats! The Closed Alpha Test saw slightly over 3600 players on PC participating in a total of 6056 rounds across 2093 games. The overall majority of those ended up with a clear winner, with 7% ending in draws, and with matches concluding in general within 20-30 minutes on the Screaming Bell Versus mission. For the Heroes, the top career picks were Mercenary, Battle Wizard, Ranger Veteran, Waystalker, and Witch Hunter Captain, with an overall meta solidifying around handguns and the longbow. For the Pactsworn the spread was fairly even across all specials but (not surprisingly) with a higher pick rate, playtime, and damage rate for the Globadier. More than a thousand of you also answered our survey, which together with the forum and Discord posts made for some (long and) great reading. Again, a big thank you to everyone who took the time to provide us with thoughts and feedback for the good and the bad. 94% of the survey respondents have played Vermintide for more than 60 hours, and 85% of those usually play on Legend or Cataclysm difficulty (with an additional 13% players on Champion). Naturally, this showed in the test as well: high-performing Hero teams were outplaying the Pactsworn early on, although we did see a shift toward the end of the test as players were getting more familiar with kill-slaying as Skaven. In terms of feature requests the majority of the feedback touched on the following: Balancing being too much in favor of the Hero side, with a low amount of AI-controlled enemies and an abundance of healing items and THP. Requests for playable bosses or elites. Requests for a training area for the Pactsworn specials. Requests for abilities or talents to deepen the Pactsworn gameplay. All of this feedback aligns with our current goals and we aim to bring you more news soon on our plans going forward. As for balancing, we're continuously tuning it and further tests will help us figure out a sweet spot where a majority of players can enjoy Versus. Given that the Closed Alpha Test feedback is skewed towards more experienced players though, we are hoping to get more Recruit and Veteran players into the next tests to get their input. Rest assured, we are tuning things for the next test to mit...Hotfix Megathread 5.2.xFeb 6, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHeroes! 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. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/30503110/44c448d406392d24a8b09cf0bddb80f1a46369af.png 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 talen...The Versus Closed Alpha Test Begins February 8th!Feb 5, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHeroes! 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!Left 4 Dead's ratty cousin Vermintide 2 is finally getting a Versus mode, with alpha tests in the "near future"Jan 18, 2024 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunWake up, mayflies! FatShark have detailed the closed alpha for Warhammer: Vermintide 2's long-awaited Versus mode, in which the doughty Ubersreik Five go up against four player-controlled Skaven Pactsworn (translation: ratty supervillains) in addition to the rank-and-file AI-controlled rodent hordes. The alpha will launch in the "near future", and sounds like just the dollop of rancid PvP shenanigans this lapsed Elven ranger needs to re-install one of the all-time great Warhammer adaptations, which unaccountably isn't on our list of the best co-op games or the best multiplayer games on PC. You got something against horrible giant rats, Ed Thorn? Read more 4 years after it was announced, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is finally making its versus mode a reality with a closed alpha: 'We put it on the shelf to marinate for a bit'Jan 18, 2024 - PC GamerWarhammer: Vermintide 2 is getting a versus mode, as announced four years ago at our very own PC Gaming show, no less. Except it's for real this time. A steam post by Fatshark outlines their mission statements for the mode's closed beta test on Steam... Read more.Dev Blog: Versus Closed Alpha TestJan 17, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHeroes, 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 d...Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Debuts at #4 on Steam with Almost Three Times the Players of the OriginalMar 14, 2018 - GitHypWith a new Warhammer game being released every other month, 2015’s Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide flew under most gamers’ radars. But that hasn’t been the case with Vermintide 2, which just debuted as Steam’s #4 most played game this week.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2’s launch set a new record for the series with an impressive peak of 73k players on Sunday. Stacking up almost three times the players, the ultra-violent sequel slaughtered End Times’ peak of 25k players that placed the original at #47 on Steam almost three years ago.
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Warhammer: Vermintide 2's Concurrent Players on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
Aside from all the improvements made by developers, the sequel’s success has also been due in large part to its growth in viewership on Twitch. The devs themselves took to the popular streaming service to promote the game’s launch and other popular broadcasters helped push Vermintide 2 to #3 on Twitch. And so far, the sequel has already been viewed 4.09 million times on Twitch compared to the original’s total of 1.62 million views.
Interest on Twitch has already begun to significantly die down, so it’ll be interesting to see how Vermintide 2 fares in its second week on Steam. The sequel isn’t likely to see its player base explode in growth much more than it already has, but still, for a franchise that most gamers have never heard of, debuting at #4 is a huge victory for the team at Fatshark Games and a sign of even bigger things to come.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2's Concurrent Players on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
Aside from all the improvements made by developers, the sequel’s success has also been due in large part to its growth in viewership on Twitch. The devs themselves took to the popular streaming service to promote the game’s launch and other popular broadcasters helped push Vermintide 2 to #3 on Twitch. And so far, the sequel has already been viewed 4.09 million times on Twitch compared to the original’s total of 1.62 million views.
Interest on Twitch has already begun to significantly die down, so it’ll be interesting to see how Vermintide 2 fares in its second week on Steam. The sequel isn’t likely to see its player base explode in growth much more than it already has, but still, for a franchise that most gamers have never heard of, debuting at #4 is a huge victory for the team at Fatshark Games and a sign of even bigger things to come.
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