New Update For Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Out Now On PC; Dev Looking To Remove Difficulty Spikes

In the short time since its release on PC, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has already accumulated quite the playerbase. Building on its momentum, developer Fatshark has already released a couple of updates--and a new one is out today.

Patch 1.0.3 is mostly a bug-fixing and performance-improving update, designed to work out any rough edges that have popped up since the game's launch. Although most of these fixes are run-of-the-mill, like boosts to CPU optimization and resolving an issue with Vaul's Quiver, there's one particularly notable bug fix in the patch notes: "Game no longer uninstalls itself after a particularly rare crash."

In addition to solving that pretty comical (but frustrating) bug, Fatshark also rebalanced several characters. Foot Knight Markus Kruber sees his Protective Presence perk tweaked so that it properly applies buffs modified by talents, while Unchained Sienna Fuegonasus no longer converts received damage into overcharge when she's incapacitated.

There are a ton more tweaks and balance changes, which you can see in the patch notes below. In other news, PC Gamer reports that Fatshark is aware of player complaints about the game's abrupt spikes in difficulty, and it plans on tweaking the game more to iron these out.

"We have... reduced the amount of elite enemies in each pack on Recruit [difficulty level], but we will of course continue to monitor and do adjustments," CEO Mark Wahlund said. "Watching streams of new players playing the game has been a very helpful tool for us to understand what [have] been the largest obstacles for new players."

In the meantime, be sure to check out the GameSpot team's gameplay of Vermintide 2 in the embed above. Further, Warhammer: Vermintide 2's great sales numbers could increase even further when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions launch later this year.

Patch 1.0.3 Notes

Fixes / Tweaks

• Fixed so 'Deeds' are able to change enemy types used in patrols as well
• Fixed Flamestorm Staff and Drakefire Gun triggering headshot HUD sounds
• The upgrade cost of an item now matches the listed requirements
• Headgear can now be salvaged
• Upgrading an item with an illusion will no longer result in salvaging the item
• Fixed an issue where Gatekeeper Naglfahr could transform into multiple Chaos Spawns
• Added more rain to The Screaming Bell level
• Fixed hole where player could fall under the bell platform on The Screaming Bell
• Fixed dinner bell interaction box on Hunger In The Dark being too small to use
• Fixed backtrack points out of the cellar on Fort Brachsenbrücke
• Fixed issue causing some players to not get their Collector's Edition character frames
• Fixed occasion where players would be incorrectly kicked for anticheat violation
• Added anti cheat panel for untrusted states to help resolving issues
• When state is not trusted--or when a player has been banned, we present them with detailed information
• Removed visible lines in the top and bottom of the screen caused by the outline shader
• Implemented additional functionality for vote kick system to combat griefing

Heroes & Balance

Kerillian--Waystalker

• Rejuvenating Locus: Fixed an issue where party members would receive no healing from Rejuvenating Locus if Kerillian was above half health. Party members will heal up to half health regardless of Kerillian's current health value
• Vaul's Quiver: Will now grant an amount of ammo based on your weapon’s maximum ammo. This means that a Swiftbow, with a larger ammo capacity, will receive more than a Hagbane Bow
• Also fixed an issue where Vaul's Quiver would cease to give ammo when Kerillian was above half health

Kerillian--Shade

• Ereth Khial's Herald: Fixed an incorrect tooltip showing 100% bonus to Murderous Prowess instead of 75%. The talent remains unchanged, this was simply a tooltip inconsistency

Markus Kruber--Foot Knight

• Protective Presence: Fixed to properly apply buffs when modified by talents

Markus Kruber--Huntsman

• Outdoorsman: Fixed to properly grant a stamina shield

Sienna Fuegonasus--Unchained

• Blood Magic: To avoid self-detonation, Sienna will no longer convert received damage to overcharge while being incapacitated

Stability/Performance

• Improved CPU optimizations for enemy and bot AI decision-making
• Fixed crash occurring when the Chaos Spawn tried to throw away a grabbed player after the rest of the team had wiped
• Fixed rare crash happening when a Chaos Spawn was finished smashing a player into the ground, but that player left the game the same moment
• Fixed Burblespue Halescourge who would cause a crash if a Globadier followed the players into the arena, and accidentally hurt the boss sorcerer. Bunglesnatch Humbledink then tried to retaliate against the poison cloud.
• Fixed a crash where a Skaven enemy tried to walk to a disabled interest point. (The interest point system handles interactions of enemies out of combat.)
• Increased stability when losing contact with Steam
• Fixed infrequent crashes that could occur on The Screaming Bell
• Fixed crash that could occur when firing the cannon on Fort Brachsenbrücke
• Fixed crash that could occur when a Warpfire Thrower hit a channeling sorcerer during the end event of Convocation of Decay
• Fixed crash that could occur when a player leaves the game
• Fixed crash when voting for a mission while a player vote kick is active
• Decreased number of access violations during start up caused by XAudio2
• Added an error message box when trying to launch DX12 binaries on any other OS than Windows 10
• Game no longer uninstalls itself after a particularly rare crash