Warhammer: Vermintide 2 News

An absent-minded man of mysteries, Franz Lohner relies on his bulging journal to keep track of occurrences, intrigues and arguments around Taal's Horn Keep. Sometimes his notes are even useful, believe it or not. The Franz Lohner Chronicles are extracts from that journal.



Well, I finally did it: I got Kerillian to open up a bit about her past. I mean, not all the way, and she had a funny look in her eye, but it’s a start, right? And it’s not as though her eyes don’t look funny all the time.

Seems Athel Loren’s a bit of a melting pot. Most bloodlines stretch back to the times before the Sundering. You know, before there was dark elves and high elves, and there was just, well, elves. Or as Kerillian puts it, ‘pure’ elves, untainted by that big old civil war the rest of the pointy-ears are always embroiled in. But over the years, the forest’s also become a refuge for outcasts from Ulthuan and Naggaroth, and though they’re sworn to leave old ties behind, for some it ain’t that easy. Leads to some … well, let’s call them ‘suspect’ choices.

Turns out, our merry lass stumbled on one of these suspect choices right as it was being made. A mage walking parts of Athel Loren no mage should be walking, if you take my meaning. And it wasn’t just him alone. Whole bunch of them there were, midway through a ritual dedicated to Hekarti.

Now, elf gods are a mixed bunch, but Hekarti definitely sits on the bleaker side of the ledger. She’s the mistress of all that’s corrupting and terrible in the Winds of Magic, so it follows that those who worship her ain’t exactly looking for the wherewithal to bring peace and solace to this world of ours.

I’ll spare you some of the details I wish Kerillian had spared me, but let’s just say this was not a nice ritual. Seems this mage – Etrian Dunderhead, though I suspect Kerillian may have editorialised his surname – was petitioning Hekarti for sorcerous mastery, and offering forest spirits as collateral. Sadly for him, it all goes to a dog’s breakfast when Kerillian makes her entrance.

To hear our lass tell it, Etrian’s accomplices scarper at first sight of her. The thing about waywatchers is you can never be sure that the one you see is the only one what can see you, and with this lot being involved in some very mucky business, they weren’t planning on waiting to discover the truth. Etrian’s made of sterner stuff, or maybe he’s more afraid of Hekarti than Kerillian’s arrows? More fool him, as it turns out. Kerillian leaves him dead among the moss and goes about her business, job done and a righteous fire burning within.

Only problem is, Etrian’s a popular chap, and his mates raise hell at the next council of kings. Accusations of murder are levelled, and our Kerillian has no witnesses to prove her side, and plenty arranged in opposition. She’s cast out, and hasn’t been home since.

So that’s her tale … but I don’t know that it’s the truth. Not sure why I doubt her. I mean, apart from the fact that it’s Kerillian, and Kerillian’s an elf. Maybe it’s the way she was watching me all the time I was speaking, as if she was using my expression for a guide as to what she should say next? Could be.

Still, I reckon there’s some truth there. Or at least a little bit.

Maybe.

I hate elves.

• Fixed a crash that happened when a peer started a mission vote while a shop popup was open.
  
• Reverted experience refactoring for prestige levels
  
• It's once again possible to cancel host migration.

Welcome to Patch 4.1! This updates comes with a slew of fixes and a couple of tweaks.

Critically it also includes additional telemetry capture so we can identify where and how lobbies are being affected by the networking changes that came with the last major update.

For some players, there will have been no notable effect as a result of those networking changes.

However, we do appreciate that for some players, often from more isolated regions (in terms of distance to Steam servers), as well as players who play together from within the same household, there have been some notable degredations in networking quality, and our hope is to learn more from the telemetry included in this update so we can look to negate it where possible, or at least minimise the impact of the changes.

• Fixed the Grail Knight talent "Virtue of Knightly Temper" not giving temporary health when using "Lady's Wrath" when triggering an insta kill.
  
• Fixed the Piston Power buff sticking around after swapping out the talent in the Keep.
  
• Fixed a visual bug where it didn't look like player got all experience they should.
  
• Fixed a visual bug where it looks like you gain extra levels quicker than you actually do.
  
• Fixed the "Have at thee Varlet!" challenge not being able to be progressed without owning the Grail Knight DLC.
  
• Fixed a glitch on the first frame of the Crossbow 'on-wield reload' animation.
  
• Fixed an animation bug for the Repeating Handgun when reloading while firing the first quick shot.
  
• Fixed an interaction between Bardin's Ale and Speed Potion's that could cause attack speed to be increased indefinitely.
  
• Fixed crash on first startup for some players.
  
• Fixed crash when client gets disconnected while being affected by a buff that grants invisibility.
  
• Fixed Outcast Engineer's 'cranking talents' not being removed while swapping talents of the same row.
  
• Fixed Grail Knight bots sometimes getting stuck in an ability stance when he tries to use it while players are disengaging from enemies.
  
• Fixed some situations where the bullet trails from Outcast Engineer would originate from a fixed position in an environment and not from the player.
  
• Fixed the fire rate of the Crank Gun ramping up if you quickly released the fire button on first shot and hold again.
  
• Fixed the Masterwork Pistol triggering reload animations when picking up ammo.
  
• Fixed the reload animation not playing if a ranged weapon is wielded with an empty clip.
  
• Fixed the required number of headshots needed for Outcast Engineer's "Targeting Array" challenge. Previously this was 5 but is now 20 as intended.
  
• Made Sienna's Abandon talent not be affected by damage reduction.
  
• Fixed various miscellaneous crashes.
  
• Dark Omens: Fixed a spot where Bardin could space programme his way out of the map.
  
• Dark Omens: Fixed an issue where players could spawn behind a point of no return.
  
• Dark Omens: We've added a failsafe so additional standard bearers will spawn if existing ones are killed before planting their banners, until the requisite number of banners has been destroyed.
  
• Garden of Morr: Fixed a placement issue with a few enemy spawners.
  
• Garden of Morr: Fixed a spot where bots had a tendency to yeet themselves off the map.
  
• Garden of Morr: Fixed an out of bounds exploit.
  
• Garden of Morr: Fixed so that Grandmother Zingler's Bones is interactable in situations where it wasn't previously.
  
• Old Haunts: Fixed a softlock if you killed the Chaos Warrior prior to him opening the gate in the Gargoyle room. If this happens, the gates will open automatically after a short time.
  
• Old Haunts: Fixed a spot at the church where enemy pathing was squiffy.
  
• Old Haunts: Fixed a spot where bots could get stuck.
  
• War Camp: Added more spawners for hordes to spawn from.
  
• War Camp: Fixed a spot that bots would not traverse.
  
• War Camp: Fixed a spot that enemies would not navigate correctly.
  
• War Camp: Fixed a spot where players could get stuck.
  
• War Camp: Fixed a tent with no collision.
  
• War Camp: Fixed an out of bounds exploit.
  
• War Camp: Fixed some AI pathing issues.

An absent-minded man of mysteries, Franz Lohner relies on his bulging journal to keep track of occurrences, intrigues and arguments around Taal's Horn Keep. Sometimes his notes are even useful, believe it or not. The Franz Lohner Chronicles are extracts from that journal.

[h2]FRANZ LOHNER'S CHRONICLE - THE FATE OF GRUNGNI'S WHISPER[/h2]

Still no luck finding Bardin’s daughter, sad to say. It’s depressing, really. Time was, a goblin couldn’t sneeze within the bounds of the Old World without me hearing about it – if I were interested in greenskin nasal discharges, leastways – but nowadays it’s getting harder and harder to lay my hands on solid information. Getting old, that’s the problem. Spying’s a young man’s game.

Recent events don’t exactly help. World’s gone mad, and that’s trouble for those of us who pride ourselves on having a bit of sanity left.

So what do I actually know? Well, I’ve had word from Barak Varr that a Hedda Bardinsdottir took ship – as captain, no less – on the nautilus Grungni’s Whisper about a year back. Nothing since, not about the Whisper, nor anyone aboard. Mind you, that’s about standard for a nautilus. Sneaky little submersibles. I like ‘em. I tell you, if we had even one patrolling the waters of the Reik, this Rotblood bother of ours would be much less of a bother. Nothing says ‘get off my land’ better than a torpedo right in the supply barge.

But I digress. Might be that this disappearance is where the tale ends, but my twitching nose says otherwise. This don’t feel like an accidental disappearance, but something deliberate. The Whisper doesn’t want to be found, and likely neither does young Hedda.

I suppose I’m left with no other choice but to see if her mother has any ideas. Not something I do lightly. ‘Overprotective’ doesn’t begin to do dwarf lasses justice. You know how you never see their womenfolk in the battle line? That ain’t because they can’t fight. It’s because every dwarf knows that when you march to war, you leave your sharpest axes behind to defend your home, like Valaya tells you. If you’ve not heard that before, happen you’ll want to think on why that might be.

If the thought of charging a dwarf shield wall chills the blood, spare a thought for those who sneak into what they think is an abandoned hold when the menfolk are away. I’d sooner corner a dragon in its lair than chance the fury of a dwarf maid defending her clan’s beardlings and her ancestor’s tombs, so you can see why I’m wary of troubling Grelda Thrangsdottir about private family matters.

Still, I owe it to Bardin to try. Let’s hope I don’t regret it.

An absent-minded man of mysteries, Franz Lohner relies on his bulging journal to keep track of occurrences, intrigues and arguments around Taal's Horn Keep. Sometimes his notes are even useful, believe it or not. The Franz Lohner Chronicles are extracts from that journal.

[h2]FRANZ LOHNER’S CHRONICLE – THE WOLVES OF WINTER[/h2]
Well, if the icy wind and brooding skies weren’t enough of a clue, Mondstille’s upon us, and the end of the year close behind. Of course, some say the end of the world’s looming as well, but they always do around this time. Something about being forced to spend more time with their families, I reckon. Never understood it myself.

We’ve had a sizeable pack of wolves take up residence on the mountainside south of the keep. I tell you, I’ve heard a lot and seen more, but their howls still send a shiver along my spine. Right nasty bunch these wolves are too, with a scar-faced leader who looks like he’s got a nasty bit of cleverness hiding in his noggin. One of Ulric’s own, I shouldn’t imagine. If ever there was a god who liked reminding everyone that he’s the big cheese, it’s Ulric, and he probably reckons we’ve been getting a bit uppity of late.

After the lurking lupines (as distinct to lupins, which are no bother to anyone, really) ate that messenger boy … poor lad … our old Kruber decided to resurrect an old Mondstille tradition. He’s been hunting ‘em down, skinning ‘em and nailing their pelts to fence, beam and signpost to warn off the survivors, and to let old Ulric know that we’re not about to let his furry children take liberties around Taal’s Horn Keep, thank you very much.

Never seen Kruber so happy, if I’m honest. I think it’s something to do with the fact that, for once, he’s not engaged in a life or death struggle with something unbelievably ghastly. It’s just man versus nature, and man’s bloody to the elbows. Then again, I’d be a bit cheerier myself if Kruber hadn’t taken to wearing the spare pelts and living out in the wilds. Worse, he keeps giving the wolf meat to Bardin, and we all remember ‘Stewed Fox Surprise’ well enough to know how that’s going to play out.

Still, I think the end’s in sight. Scar-Face is about the only wolf left now, and Kerillian’s insisted on joining the hunt to – and I quote – ‘put the lumbering brute out of his misery once and for all’.

I don’t think she means Kruber, but I’ve learned it’s best not to make assumptions where our elf is concerned. I might ask Sienna to tag along, just for safety.

[h2]Hello, [/h2]
My name is Alina, and I am a Visual Special Effects (VFX) artist at Fatshark.

I have been working at Fatshark for just over a year, and I help create the VFX for Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

What is VFX? It is all of the explosions, sparks, fire, gas clouds... I could go on forever.

When I am not working, I like to cuddle with my dog 'Buffy' and play DnD and video games. Some of my current favorite games are Hollow Knight, Hades, and Psychonauts.

Today I want to talk about the VFX I created for our newest career: the Outcast Engineer. If you don't know about the new career for Bardin Goreksson, I suggest you read more about it here.

[h2]The Idea.[/h2]
Before my job started with the VFX, we began talking about the idea that it could be interesting to have a ranged only career, and the new weapons and gameplay mechanics we might use for this career. Now we know that the Outcast Engineer is not a fully ranged career, but that is where we started.

The concept was an Engineer who essentially made his own weapons. One of the challenges for me was in differentiating the engineer weapons from the Skaven ones. The key was having just enough sparks to hint at a weapon built with cogs and machinations without confusing the player with the haphazardly constructed Skaven weapons.

[h2]The Search for the Perfect Effect.[/h2]
To create the perfect effects, I have researched how bullets travel through the air by watching videos, gifs, and any interesting bullet trail images I could find. Some of my favorite resources for this were slow-motion videos of bullets shot from various weapons. Another element I was interested in for this career were sparks, mainly from the friction of gears and metal on metal.

One of the effects I was focusing on was the bullet trail for the Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (Mk II), as it is the star of Bardin's new career. Something I found particularly challenging about making this effect come to life was the fact that while it has the physics or the general idea of a bullet-weapon, the weapon itself is steam-operated rather than dependent on gunpowder. In other words, the bullet trail needed to show that air is pushing the bullet as it is fired and leaves the barrel. This was important because it is not a gunpowder weapon or an electrical weapon that e.g. could create a beam. This took a lot of experimentation and continuously looking back to the reference material of how air moves around a fired bullet. If the trail was too shiny there was a risk of it looking far too sci-fi for Vermintide 2.

[h2]Teapots, Irons, Steam cleaners & Humidifiers[/h2]
Another fun effect I got to work on was the Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (Mk II)'s venting mechanism that happens when the ability bar is fully charged. We had to create a way of telling players that it was time to stop cranking. Here we thought more in-depth about the functionality of the weapon and how it would work in battle. It had to clearly show that the weapon was ready to be used again, fit with the Outcast Engineer's theme, and ensure that it helps with the pacing of using, recharging, and resting the MK II. There were several options we considered: would it overheat? A cog stuck in the mechanism? Pressure building?

We agreed that the steam-operated weapons’ pressure builds up and will need to be released in some way.

I looked into different items that produce steam in daily life. Some things I studied were teapots, irons, steam cleaners, and humidifiers. Sadly, those items are not steam-operated, but they helped me to better grasp how the effect would look when the steam vents more aggressively, how fast it would be, how far it reaches, and at what point it would dissipate into the air.



We eventually went for the concept of the pressure from the steam being too great and requiring venting. The overheating/venting mechanism also appears when a player has cranked for too long. Build up too much pressure in a machine, and it will eventually not be able to build any more pressure. This helped us create a mechanism where we force a break and limit how much a player can crank and, ultimately, for how long Bardin can use the gun.

Working on this career was so exciting and engaging, I hope you all have a lot of fun playing it as it was for me taking part in creating it.