Patch 19 has been deployed. Patch notes upcoming.
Hello everyone!
The patch on the UAT server (test server) right now is scheduled to go out with minor modifications so if you have tried it out and seen what's in there, you might have run into good performance, wargear and new weapons, bugfixes and such - you should know what's coming and was detailed in this post last week:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/375230/announcements/detail/591478020304268608
The main difference is that Orks are not part of this patch as they are still in development and unapproved. Again, we are going through the work creating a player controlled faction which there isn't much precedence for in a shooter. Note of course, they have been used as NPCs but that is a very different type of work.
Tyranid PVE however will get one map in this patch. This means both will you be introcuded to the work in progress on our take on PVE, AI and an entire NPC faction but also give feedback and be part of the direction we take.
Those of you that are familiar with game development or played the co-op PVE focused multiplayer games, will notice that there is a certain direction of modular rogue-light element to our PVE and that is our long-term goals. Simple things such as multiple objectives can extend, you have an "elevator" after which, the next "room" can have a mix of new objectives and different map.
At launch we will focus on a certain dynamic element but post-launch, you might notice that we can extend with more rooms, more room objective, add more types of Tyranids (we're not even close to using them all). If everything goes to hell, we'll just create "Tyranid Go" on mobile. That seems to be the thing today.
What we have deployed on UAT and coming to Early Access does not include a lot of work from a number of our dev teams that's just waiting to get out, such as more wargear, weapon modifications, visual customization, tons of weapon variations and such. They were simply arriving too late before we created this build about 2 weeks ago.
The following patch with far more goodies after next weeks patch will have all that in, including the never seen before weapons modification. Well, it's there but we need to get it on UAT and put it into our massive balancing effort that is ongoing.
We'll give you more information on date of deployment of this patch and what it contains but as always, we want you to bask in the light of transparent and player inclusive game development. And sometimes the 9 circles of hell of transparent game development :D
My beard and hair is still ongoing till the Space Wolves and Iron Warrior, I'm turning Wulfen and this is anything but pleasant. I really hope they'll be making their appearance and we're almost there, as they are still both suffering from 1 last thing getting fixed.
We are also changing strategy with Early Access and UAT. We've tried combinations of the rapidity of updates, every 1-week, 2-week and 3-week etc. and as perception is reality, it has give the perception that you are somehow playing an remotely finished game. This is wrong.
Ruthless is the name of the new strategy both for UAT and Early Access. It's time that we spend less time on polishing intermediate versions of the game and we get real transparent and ruthless in deploying the less that perfect versions of the game. You will now feel more than before, the ruthless momentum of game development. Development seems slow but this is because we haven't been ruthless enough in putting out work in progress and thinking that bubblewrapping the future warriors of the 41st millenium was a good idea.
Prepare a new big patch. Prepare for Ruthless. Prepare for really feeling that this is a game in full development by up to 100 people at a given time and when so many people are putting something into a game daily, it does affect bugs and stability and performance. Now you will feel it all.
Thanks everyone, we wouldn't be here without you. OK that's not entirely correct, we'd make this game whether you want to or not a dedicated to 10 years of massive war in the far future. This is why our April 1st joke wasn't really just a joke, it has a hidden meaning in many ways.
Nathan Bastardsson
Senior Producer of always ending up in the warp somehow
Warhammer 40,000 - Eternal Crusade