[HO] Warhammer: Vermintide 2

Welcome to the beta test of version 1.2 - Shadows Over Bögenhafen!

In order to join, you will have to right-click "Warhammer: Vermintide 2" in your Steam Library. Select "Properties", then the "Betas" tab. In the drop-down, select the "Beta" branch. This will prompt Steam to download the 1.2.0 beta, which is around 9 Gb.

Here's what 1.2 has in store for you:

Explore the city of Bögenhafen with two new missions - 'The Pit', and 'The Blightreaper'.
There will be plenty of new Okri's Challenges that involve these new levels.
There will be Weekly Quests - for those of you who own the DLC. These Weekly Quests, along with the new Challenges, will reward you with Bögenhafen Strongboxes, which include a hat, a skin, or a weapon illusion.
These are brand new cosmetics and only available if you purchase the DLC.
The Weekly Quests and new Challenges will be available when 1.2 launches on August 28.
For this beta, you will be able to freely play the two new missions.
Any progress and loot you obtain on the beta branch will be yours to keep.


This is also our biggest release, by far, in terms of bug fixes. Do know, we're not done adding spit and polish and will continue to fix, adjust and tweak based on your feedback going forwards. With these bug fixes and balance changes we now have a stable base for future, grander balance changes.

As always, feedback is very welcome and it really does help us a lot! Please share your feedback with us on the dedicated subforum[forums.fatsharkgames.com] and through our official survey.


Optimizations

In this version, we're bringing over all performance improvements that we did for the XBox One version of Vermintide 2. Together, these optimizations will have a large impact on all types of PC systems.

Level unit complexity reduced and assets are reworked and combined to reduce draw call counts. Improves CPU and GPU performance by reducing draw call counts.
Level occlusion improvements. Improves CPU and GPU performance by reducing draw call counts.
Level lighting optimization pass. Removes and reduces the ammount and size of local light sources througout the levels that didn't affect the visual result. Increases CPU and GPU performance.
Removed particle spawned lights and replaced them with manually spawned light units and code controlled flicker lights. Reduces the amount of lights created and destroyed each frame. Improves CPU performance for all particle effects that previously spawned a lot of lights.
Particle rendering culling. Improves CPU and GPU performance significantly due to reduced overhead in drawcalls.
Particle simulation culling. Improves CPU performance significantly by only simulating particle effects that are needed.
Moved blood effect spawning and pooling from Lua to C++. Improves CPU performance when spawning a large amount of blood effects and decals.
Horde enemy pooling. Resurrect dead enemy units and put them in a freezebox to be reused instead of spawning new ones when spawning a large amount of enemies during hordes. Improves CPU performance during horde events.


Audio

Sounds have had a major overhaul. We've made changes to how Specials - like Gutter Runners, and Vortex Sorcerers, will play sounds when they appear, to make them more audible. These changes includes increasing the range at which you can hear these sounds, and making them higher priority. The obstruction of a sound take in account how important that sound is. For example a Packmaster will be heard better behind a house than a Clanrat.

We have also migrated to a new version of the sound engine with many new features and optimisations, as well as the risk of some bugs as with any such migration, so keep an ear out and let us know your experiences!

The Gutter Runner will play its "stinger" (the sound it players when it spawns) earlier. This means that you won't have situations where you hear the stinger as the Gutter Runner pounces.
Backstab sounds will play more consistently now.
Interesting conversations between charactes will play more often, and more consistently - not being as easily interrupted.


Levels

All levels have been worked over to resolve issues where players would get stuck, positions where bots wouldn't properly help you when players fall off ledges, and places where players fall through the world.
We have made some changes to all Lord arenas. This involves bug fixes where the Lords could move into positions where the players couldn't reach them, or they push players into stuck positions.
Boss doors will now spawn for all bosses further into the level. You need to defeat the boss before proceeding. Also fixed issues where boss doors didn't despawn after the boss was defeated.
Fixed an issue where Skarrik Spinemanglr would wait longer than intended during his defensive phase. Moved some of his attack triggers to better match his animation. Slowed down animation time on his dual-wield normal attacks.
Fixed so that Gatekeeper Naglfahr still transforms to a low health Chaos Spawn if he dies during his transform animation.
Fixed an issue on 'Against the Grain', where the barn door sometimes opened too early. Made sure the trigger for the door isn't activated until the Boss spawns.
Fixed a crash that could occur if Rasknitt got staggered whilst having no target and being mounted.
Fixed so that Naglfahr doesn't open the gates until his blessed form is also dead.
Fixed a situation where clients could get disconnected near the wagon event on 'Hunger in the Dark'.
Fixed an issue that could cause clients to disconnect. Occurred frequently on 'Convocation of Decay' but could also occur on other maps.


User Interface

There is now an option available under Settings to enable Gamepad Controller HUD and menu layout, while playing on the PC.
Added an on-screen indicator shown when losing contact with the host.
Updated all tooltips to show proper numbers when relevant.
Added a new Options setting for specifying Bot character spawn priority.
Removed the video option 'High Quality Fur', since it hasn't done anything since Vermintide 1.
Font rendering has been improved on non-english fonts.
Portrait frames no longer overlap the host icon.
You can no longer refresh a Daily Quest that has been completed.
Added subtitles for the 'Prologue' cinematic.
Added a hotkey for 'Okri's Challenges'. (O)
Tap (F) to favorite items in your inventory. Favorite items do not show up in Salvage selection. Favorite items show first in inventory screens.
Hats are no longer first in the Salvage selection of items.
Added server ping (in milliseconds) to each player in Tab menu.
You can now switch to the previous spectator target by pressing the right mouse button (B on controller).
Updated the presentation of Hero Selection.


Tweaks

Added a damage cap to 'Skittergate' generators, to prevent them being one-shotted by certain attacks.
All Career Skills, bar Huntsman and Shade, can now be cancelled by tapping the block button or reload button. There are now draw, hold, and cancel animations for weapon based Career Skills.
Many animations for weapons have been slightly tweaked to give them better readability.
Significantly increased the impact damage and damage over time of Incendiary Bombs.
Reduced the camera sway when jumping. Camera sway from jumping and landing is now turned on or off via the Camera Shake gameplay option.
When players join a party and replace a bot, they should now spawn closer to the rest of the group.
Trolls turned out to be quite hard to kill on higher difficulties, especially when facing them alone. To balance this, we have changed the passive regeneration of Trolls to pause for 3 seconds after taking damage.
Hats now have rarities of their own, so 'common' hats should drop more often than 'rarer' hats. NOTE: the colour scheme only has been applied to the DLC Beta, the drop chances will be altered when the DLC goes live!


Weapon Fixes & Changes

Single target weapons will now more consistently hit the target being aimed at.
Increased push radius for all melee weapons.
Increased push strength for all melee weapons.
Reduced stamina regen delay after pushing.
Reworked damage calculation for headshots minimum damage output. Headshots should now scale better on higher difficulties for weak armor piercing weapons against armored enemies.
Reloads have been overhauled. They should now more smoothly transition into other actions such as blocking after firing a ranged weapon, for example a longbow. This should fix issues where you would fire, switch weapon to try and block very rapidly and the block action getting eaten causing you to get hit by the enemies.
Made chain actions more reliable. Previously there were rare cases where inputs would get missed if very rapid inputs were given.
Fixed an issue where you couldn't switch weapons while aiming with ranged weapons that were out of ammo. Should now always allow switching weapons when out of ammo but block out aiming.
Fixed an issue with Dual Daggers where you could not use charged attacks after a push stab.
Fixed an issue with Cermonial Dagger where blocking inside and outside the block arc had the same stamina consumption. Blocking inside the block arc will now cost less, and out of arc now cost more.
Fixed an issue where area-of-effect damage from projectiles like the charged attack on Sienna's Fireball Staff, wouldn't affect surrounding enemies when it impacted on an armoured or shielded enemy.
Fixed an issue where Dual Swords and Dual Sword and Daggers push attack could chain directly into another push instead of going into block first.
Fixed an issue where Dual Swords and Dual Sword and Dagger push attack could recieve a dead input after the push attack.
Fixed an issue where in certain cases shooting at a door would significantly increase the range of the flamespray of Flamestorm Staff and Drakegun.

Kerillian's Two-Handed Sword - Heavy attacks can now be held indefinitely.
Empire Longbow - Increased accuracy when zoomed in.
Executioner Sword - Slightly increased movement speed for heavy attacks.
Two-Handed Swords - New attack: Push attack is now a heavy cleave from above. Pierces armor.
Two-Handed Swords - Increased attack range of all attacks.
Two-Handed Swords - Heavy attacks now cleave through armored enemies.
Sword & Shield - Increased damage of push stab attack.
Sword & Shield - Increased movement speed of shield slam attack.
Hammer/Mace & Shield - New attack: Push attack is now a downward slam. Pierces armor.
Hammer/Mace & Shield - Increased movement speed of shield slam attack.
Two-handed Hammer - Increased damage multiplier versus Chaos Warriors from 0.75 to 1.1.

Fighting Monsters with melee weapons turned out to be very inefficient and unsatisfying for some weapons. We have increased the damage multiplier versus Monsters for these melee weapons:
Two-handed Hammer - Increased multiplier from 1.5 to 2.5 on light attacks.
Cermonial Dagger - Increased multiplier from 1.0 to 1.5 on all light attacks.
One-handed Sword - Increased multiplier from 1.5 to 2.0 on all slashing light attacks.
Flaming Sword - Increased multiplier from 1.5 to 2.0 on all slashing light attacks.
Sword & Shield - Increased multiplier from 1.5 to 2.0 on all slashing light attacks, 1.5 to 2.25 on stab attack.
Dual Swords - Increased multiplier from 1.0 to 2.0 on all slashing light attacks and heavy attacks.
Sword & Dagger - Increased multiplier from 1.0 to 1.5 on all slashing light attacks.
Rapier - Increased multiplier from 1.0 to 1.5 on all slashing light attacks and charged stab attack.
Flail - Increased multiplier from 1.0 to 1.5 on diagonal attacks.
Elven Spear - Increased multiplier from 1.5 to 2.25 on light attacks, 1.5 to 2.0 on charged stab.
Two-handed Sword for Kerillian - Increased multiplier from 1.5 to 2.0 on charged stab.
Halberds - Increased multiplier from 1.5 to 2.25 on light stab attacks, 1.5 to 2.0 on heavy stab.
Fixed the texture on Bardin's Crossbow "Warrior's Drekmakaz" to not be blurry and low resolution.


Bugfixes

Fixed an issue where buffs such as Zealots "Pleasure from Pain" would be permanently active and stack with further applications.
Fixed many issues involving enemies which would keep attacking players that go invisible during enemy attacks.
Fixed an issue where the "Last wound" visual effect would appear when getting healed while playing a Deed with "Sudden Death".
Fixed hit boxes on Fanatics' right arm to now better fit its mesh shape.
Fixed an issue where vines could become invincible when attacked by Shade Kerillian while under the effect of Infiltrate.
Fixed an issue where ranged weapons with magazines - such as Repeating Handguns and Grudge-Rakers, could get more than the maximum reserve ammo by picking up a cache of Ranger Veteran Bardin's Survivalist Ammunition.
Fixed an issue where the Barrage trait would not always register a successive shot in a series, and therefore not increase the power boost from the trait correctly.
Fixed an issue where explosive barrels picked up and carried by clients wouldn't explode when the fuse burnt out, instead exploding as soon as they where thrown. Exploding barrels will now correctly explode in the hands of a carrying player when the fuse burns out, regardless of being host or client.
Fixed an issue where the "Boon of Shallya" trait incorrectly healed wounds from the player using the Medical Supplies.
Fixed an issue where Raiders and Bulwarks dealt less damage than intended on higher difficulties.
Fixed an issue with the Deed mutator "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" - Elites now deal the intended 100% increased damage, not the unintended 300% increased damage.
Fixed an issue with the countdown timer getting stuck on screen when cancelling mathmaking while in the waystone bubble.
Added runed skins to the two Veteran items which didn't have them - the Halberd "The Gilded Glory", and the Repeating Crossbow "The Judge's Mark". When version 1.2.0 is live, all players that have these weapons will be refunded a corresponding Weapon Illusion in their inventory.
Fixed an issue that caused effects that triggered when out of ammo to stay until out of ammo if ammo was regained from a trait on the last shot.
Fixed an issue where pushing just before reviving would prevent you from blocking during the revive.
Fixed an issue where a player could create a ghost member in a lobby by cancelling the joining process before a real connection had been made.
Fixed so that Curse Resistance on allies is correctly displayed when playing as a client.
Fixed issue where Cooldown Reduction wasn't correctly applied to Career Skills when spawning into a level.
Fixed a crash that could happen when a last man standing player went invisible whilst Bödvarr or Skarrik did a defensive attack action.
Properly handle ammo indicators for party members who have buffed max ammo values.
Fixed issues where some text, in some languages, would stretch outside the user interface.
Fixed an issue where auto-aim projectiles sometimes targeted critters - like rats, instead of enemies.
Fixed an issue for Career Skills using a weapon, which affects Waystalker Kerillian, Ranger Veteran Bardin, Bounty Hunter Saltzspyre, and Pyromancer Sienna. These couldn't be activated whilst having something else than a ranged or melee weapon equipped.
Fixed an issue where screen space effects from the Career Skills from Ranger Veteran Bardin, Huntsman Kruber, and Shade Kerillian would get stuck on the screen if another instance of the skill were activated before the duration had run out.
Fixed an issue where players could start sliding backwards until a wall was hit if they got into a catapulted state (for example from a Rat Ogre swipe), and was standing in, or landed at, an upwards incline.
Fixed an issue where it would appear that a player got block broken twice if going into a catapulted state when fighting Bödvarr Ribspreader; once when starting, and once when ending the state.
Fixed a bug where players got undetectable after being grabbed by a Chaos Spawn at the same moment it got killed.
Fixed bug where "Ammo on Headshot" bonuses would not give the correct amount when near full ammo for magazine based weapons (i.e. if the bonus were to yield full ammo it would actually result in one less than full ammo).
Fixed an issue where blood splatters were spawned in the air, away from any hit enemy.
Fixed an issue where an explosive barrel would be dropped on the ground if a player carrying an oil jug were incapacitated (for example by a Gutter Runner or Packmaster).
Fixed a crash when taking damage from venting Overcharge.
Fixed an issue where temporary health could be higher than max health when carrying one or two Grimoires.


Patrols

The patrol code has been almost completely reworked.
There are now three types of patrols. Patrols that walk back & forth, patrols that walk in circles, and patrols that walk a long distance and don't go back.
Patrols will now start patrolling as soon as they spawn, instead of waiting in silence for a duration.
Patrols have been optimized to use less CPU.
Patrols should no longer get stuck in terrain.
Patrols should now make their patrolling sound as long as they are patrolling.
Patrol paths in all levels have been updated to avoid situations where players can't avoid them.


Kerillian

Fixed an issue with Waystalker Kerillian's Talent "Ironfeather Flights" which wouldn't properly restores ammo when a boss was defeated, while playing as client.
Waystalker Kerillian have always had an ability to zoom using her ranged weapons, by using the Weapon Special keybind. This is now shown on Hero Selection as a Career Perk called "Asrai's Vigil".
Fixed an issue with Waystalker Kerillian's Perk "Asrai's Vigil" where the camera snapped back when zooming out.
Elven Shortbows now correctly have two zoom levels, down from three. (No zoom and zoom)
Elven Longbows now correctly have two zoom levels, down from three. (Zoom and increased zoom)
Waystalker Kerillian's Career Skill "Trueflight Volley" will now more reliably seek enemies.
Fixed an issue with Handmaiden Kerillian's Talent "Gift of Ladrielle", where the loss of perception was not refreshed if using the ability with the effect applied. Also added a buff indicator.
Activating Handmaiden Kerillian's Career Skill "Dash" sets her into a dodging state, which makes it easier for her to avoid certain enemy attacks - such as overhead swings.
Activating Shade Kerillian's Career Skill "Infiltrate" sets her into a dodging state, which makes it easier for her to avoid certain enemy attacks - such as overhead swings.


Bardin

Fixed an issue where Ranger Veteran Bardin's Career Skill "Disengage" would not end if he moved too far away from the impact position, when the talent "Ranger's Ambush" was active.
Fixed an issue with Ranger Veteran Bardin's Talent "Master Brewer" where Concentration Potions never spawned from defeated Specials.
Fixed an issue where Ranger Veteran Bardin's Career Skill "Disengage" wouldn't work on low performance systems.
Fixed an issue where Ranger Veteran Bardin's Passive Ability "Scavenger" ammo would sometimes spawn under the ground.
Fixed an issue with Ironbreaker Bardin's Passive Ability "Gromril Armour" to no longer be removed when hit by an attack that does zero damage.


Kruber

Fixed an issue with Foot Knight Kruber's Talent "Glory Hound": Bonus power level is now properly applied when playing as client.
Fixed an issue with Foot Knight Kruber's Career Skill "Valiant Charge", when playing as client, it would not get the correct power level when combined with the talent "Glory Hound". This could cause your charge to hit fewer targets than intended.
Fixed an issue with Huntsman Kruber's Career Skill "Hunter's Prowl". Removed the zooming effect after community feedback. Replaced it with the former Hawk Eye trait (same as Kerillian Waystalkers "Asrai's Vigil" perk) for the duration of the ability.
Fixed an issue with Huntsman Kruber's Career Skill "Hunter's Prowl" where the current magazine were reloaded, instead of reloading the current magazine and giving an additional magazine. This will prevent issues of only being able to fire one shot if activating the ability with a single shot weapon with one ammo left.
Fixed an issue with Huntsman Kruber's Career Skill "Hunter's Prowl" where a reload animation would be played if activating the ability while zooming with a weapon, regardless of needing a reload or not.
Fixed an issue with Huntsman Kruber's Career Skill "Hunter's Prowl" where the "surge" colour grading would become stuck on the screen if the ability was activated, an enemy was hit by an attack, the ability was activated again, and the duration then run out while stealthed.


Sienna

Fixed an issue with Battle Wizard Sienna, where the trail of fire is now more reliably spawned when teleporting up or down ledges, and when teleporting through objects.
Fixed an issue with Battle Wizard Sienna's Passive Ability "Tranquility" to no longer reset the overheat buff when hit by attacks that do zero damage.
Fixed an issue where the Heat Sink trait did not correctly remove movement and attack speed slowdowns on high overcharge if the trait procced and caused the overcharge level to sink below the threshold.
Fixed an issue with Unchained Sienna's Perk "Unstable Strength": When playing as client, you would receive an incorrectly capped power level increase. And when playing as host you would receive double the power level increase.
Fixed an issue with Unchained Sienna's Talent "Dissipate" which wouldn't properly vent overheat while playing as client.
Fixed an issue with Unchained Sienna where, if you took fatal damage while on max overcharge, you would be revived in overcharged state and explode.
Fixed an issue with Unchained Sienna's Talent "Volcanic Body" where max health was not increased while playing as client.
Getting knocked down now vents all overcharge.


Saltzpyre

Fixed an issue with Bounty Hunter Saltzpyre's Career Skill "Locked and Loaded" where the spread of the blunderbuss attack had a too narrow spread. Now it will more reliably be able to blanket a horde, especially with the Buckshot Talent.
Fixed an issue with Bounty Hunter Saltzspyre's Career Skill "Locked and Loaded" which would get delayed if you held, then released the button with a very specific timing.
Fixed an issue with Bounty Hunter Saltzspyre's Career Skill "Locked and Loaded" where it did not zoom out correctly when activating it from an zoomed crossbow.
Fixed an issue with Bounty Hunter Saltzspyre's Career Skill, its animation sometimes played twice if you released the button during its wind-up animation.
Fixed an issue with Bounty Hunter Saltzspyre's Passive Ability "Blessed Shots" which would be reset when killing an enemy with the secondary pistol attack from Saltzpyre's Rapier.
Fixed an issue with the Bounty Hunter Saltzspyre Talent "Prize Bounty", where the initial reload with a crossbow would be very slow.
Fixed an issue with Witch Hunter Captain Saltzpyre, where the passive damage bonus on tagged enemies did not refresh if the target was tagged already.
Fixed an issue with Witch Hunter Captain Saltzpyre's Passive Ability "Witch-Hunt" which was sometimes re-applied when a enemy tag ended.
Fixed an issue with Witch Hunter Captain Saltzpyre's Career Perk "Eternal Guard" where block arcs where unreliable when playing as client.
Fixed an issue with Zealot Saltzpyre's Passive Ability "Fiery Faith", and Talent "Holy Crusader", so the effect can go beyond 5 stacks if you have a trinket with increased health.


Known Issues:

Due to some incompatabilities with the new version the Vermintide Mod Framework is not working at full capacity which could possibly cause instability in other mods that rely on this mod. Mod Options can only be accessed by its direct key shortcut (default F4) and is not visible in the ESC menu.
Slayer talent "Crippling Wounds" currently display 0.2% damage taken increase instead of intended 20%. This is only a display error and the talent functions as intended.
The animations for initiating and cancelling weapon based Career Skills are sped up to the point of looking instantaneous.
The option for UI scaling is kind of broken - be aware.