Play Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide for Free on Steam this Weekend

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Play Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide for Free on Steam this Weekend

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1325/1325163.jpgAlongside the new DLC for Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide comes a free weekend on Steam and a sale.

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/161284-] is an interesting game. Part Warhammer, part Left 4 Dead, Fatshark's foray into Ubersreik lets you shoot, stab, and immolate ratmen. If that sounds like your sort of thing, you're in luck - you can try it out for free this weekend on Steam.

The free weekend comes as Fatshark is releasing the new Drachenfels DLC [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167342-Three-New-DLC-Maps-Coming-to-Warhammer-End-Times-Vermintide]. This DLC offers three new maps for the game's adventure mode, including a dungeon map that adds traps to the mix of hazards players must avoid.

If you enjoy it, you can pick up Vermintide for 40% off during the free weekend. It's a pretty good deal for the game that we award the title of Best Co-op Game of 2015 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/165692-The-Escapist-Awards-2015-Winners].

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[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I've been having some fun with this during the evenings now. There aren't as many players as I'd like, sometimes finding a match can take a while, particularly if I want to do a specific map. I haven't tried the DLC yet....I'm not sure if I can play it with an owner or if I need to own it myself.

I just don't like the loot system. I *hate* RNG of this magnitude. I have no proactive way to work towards anything I want. I play Bright Wizard, but I still get shit for the other characters and the best I've gotten was ONE rare item, no legendary yet. So annoying. I hate it hate it hate it. Stop giving me random shit and let me save up for what I actually want. Raaaaggggh!

 

[Megalodon]

I've been having some fun with this during the evenings now. There aren't as many players as I'd like, sometimes finding a match can take a while, particularly if I want to do a specific map. I haven't tried the DLC yet....I'm not sure if I can play it with an owner or if I need to own it myself.

I just don't like the loot system. I *hate* RNG of this magnitude. I have no proactive way to work towards anything I want. I play Bright Wizard, but I still get shit for the other characters and the best I've gotten was ONE rare item, no legendary yet. So annoying. I hate it hate it hate it. Stop giving me random shit and let me save up for what I actually want. Raaaaggggh!

You can certainly play the DLC without buying it. I've done so. Although you might not be able to get a random game on one of the maps, as in my case a mate directly invited me, so I don't know if they show up on the level select screen properly if you haven't bought the DLC.

There's a couple of ways to improve your gear loot chances. Firstly, make sure you equip the relevant purple trinket, they increase you chances of getting loot for the relevant character. Additionally you can save for what you want rather easily, you only need one weapon of the correct type, then you get spend upgrade tokens instead of additional items to fuse you weapon at the forge into a rarer version of the same weapon. So if you have a green sword, you can spend 250-odd green tokens to automatically get a blue sword. The random shit's fine because you just salvage it into tokens to fuel the upgrades you do want. It's how I've collected most of my good gear, it's more of a slog than getting lucky on the RNG, but it is 100% reliable.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

You can certainly play the DLC without buying it. I've done so. Although you might not be able to get a random game on one of the maps, as in my case a mate directly invited me, so I don't know if they show up on the level select screen properly if you haven't bought the DLC.

There's a couple of ways to improve your gear loot chances. Firstly, make sure you equip the relevant purple trinket, they increase you chances of getting loot for the relevant character. Additionally you can save for what you want rather easily, you only need one weapon of the correct type, then you get spend upgrade tokens instead of additional items to fuse you weapon at the forge into a rarer version of the same weapon. So if you have a green sword, you can spend 250-odd green tokens to automatically get a blue sword. The random shit's fine because you just salvage it into tokens to fuel the upgrades you do want. It's how I've collected most of my good gear, it's more of a slog than getting lucky on the RNG, but it is 100% reliable.

I expect it requires an invitation. Just checked.....I assumed the issue might've been me searching for lobbies on Hard when I haven't done them on Normal yet. But just checked before, I can see listings for the three maps on Normal, but cannot join any. Most have padlocks displayed, but even those without I cannot join.

I have the trinket equipped, and it's marginally better than without. At best it might now be 50/50ish. I didn't realise you could use the upgrade tokens for fusing. Saying that, 250 is still a buttload. I don't know how much of the game I'm expected to play before I can actually play it with the weapons I'd actually like. Maybe the devs think that I am willing to spend 100s of hours "rehearsing" for the actual game I'd like to play. I don't mind progression and having things to look forward to, but I hate RNG and being at its mercy.

Please don't mistake me, I enjoy the match ups. The gameplay is good and when I'm in a good team it's exceptional. The loot isn't a huge part of it, but I loathe the system as it is. It won't change tho and I have to live with it. It's a big negative, but not enough that I won't play

 

[Megalodon]

I don't know how much of the game I'm expected to play before I can actually play it with the weapons I'd actually like. Maybe the devs think that I am willing to spend 100s of hours "rehearsing" for the actual game I'd like to play. I don't mind progression and having things to look forward to, but I hate RNG and being at its mercy.

Please don't mistake me, I enjoy the match ups. The gameplay is good and when I'm in a good team it's exceptional. The loot isn't a huge part of it, but I loathe the system as it is. It won't change tho and I have to live with it. It's a big negative, but not enough that I won't play

Oh yeah, and you can also use the tokens to generate new weapons at the Shrine of Solace (as well as changing the weapon traits and % chances on existing gear), you can go as specific as Melee or ranged for a specific character at a specific rarity (though it gets more expensive the more specific you are). Tbh, unless you're champing at the bit to play on Hard+ difficulties the gear level doesn't matter all that much. Even on hard, you can easily tackle many of the missions with white gear if you know what you're doing. So all you really need is one each of the weapons. I believe the gear you get when you level up is fixed, so you can get a bunch of different weapons that way. Iirc you can get most of the available weapon options in white before level 20. The only thing (aside from the new DLC weapons) I've not seen in a level up is the Drakefire Pistols for the Dwarf.

What gear are you trying to get?

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Tbh, unless you're champing at the bit to play on Hard+ difficulties the gear level doesn't matter all that much. Even on hard, you can easily tackle many of the missions with white gear if you know what you're doing. So all you really need is one each of the weapons. I believe the gear you get when you level up is fixed, so you can get a bunch of different weapons that way. Iirc you can get most of the available weapon options in white before level 20. The only thing (aside from the new DLC weapons) I've not seen in a level up is the Drakefire Pistols for the Dwarf.

What gear are you trying to get?

I haven't seen Sienna's fire longsword at all yet. I originally thought it was only super rare/high level but I've read that it comes in white, green, blue, orange, same as the normal mace and longsword I've had plenty of. I'd like to be able to choose between Sienna's different staffs and weapons so I can choose how to play each map. I don't have the gear for that tho, only one decent range and one decent melee so I always have the same loadout. It's not terrible, since I happen to like what I do have (tho I've read that it's all about the Beam staff at higher difficulties) but I'd like the option to change gear. I'd just love a way to proactively work toward a Sienna specific gear item period.

If I'm being honest, I can't imagine the upgraded stats making enough of a difference to matter. The minor increase in damage for example, it won't turn a melee weapon that takes two hits to kill into a one hit kill. As such the stats aren't so important. It's the bonuses on it that make the difference.

I'm playing on Hard atm; I'm done with normal. Apart from Black Powder which is crazy hard, Normal isn't so challenging but is a good introduction to maps and their objectives. I'd go back to normal to try new gear out tho, and to just blast things. I am tempted to try other characters tho after watching a very good Empire Soldier with a sword and shield stand solo against a horde wave and rescue the rest of us on White Rat hard. I expect the shield (and knowing how to use it) kept him alive since I would've gone down in 10 seconds against what he faced. Melee isn't the BW's fort

 

[Ravinoff]

Tbh, unless you're champing at the bit to play on Hard+ difficulties the gear level doesn't matter all that much. Even on hard, you can easily tackle many of the missions with white gear if you know what you're doing. So all you really need is one each of the weapons. I believe the gear you get when you level up is fixed, so you can get a bunch of different weapons that way. Iirc you can get most of the available weapon options in white before level 20. The only thing (aside from the new DLC weapons) I've not seen in a level up is the Drakefire Pistols for the Dwarf.

What gear are you trying to get?

I haven't seen Sienna's fire longsword at all yet. I originally thought it was only super rare/high level but I've read that it comes in white, green, blue, orange, same as the normal mace and longsword I've had plenty of. I'd like to be able to choose between Sienna's different staffs and weapons so I can choose how to play each map. I don't have the gear for that tho, only one decent range and one decent melee so I always have the same loadout. It's not terrible, since I happen to like what I do have (tho I've read that it's all about the Beam staff at higher difficulties) but I'd like the option to change gear. I'd just love a way to proactively work toward a Sienna specific gear item period.

If I'm being honest, I can't imagine the upgraded stats making enough of a difference to matter. The minor increase in damage for example, it won't turn a melee weapon that takes two hits to kill into a one hit kill. As such the stats aren't so important. It's the bonuses on it that make the difference.

I'm playing on Hard atm; I'm done with normal. Apart from Black Powder which is crazy hard, Normal isn't so challenging but is a good introduction to maps and their objectives. I'd go back to normal to try new gear out tho, and to just blast things. I am tempted to try other characters tho after watching a very good Empire Soldier with a sword and shield stand solo against a horde wave and rescue the rest of us on White Rat hard. I expect the shield (and knowing how to use it) kept him alive since I would've gone down in 10 seconds against what he faced. Melee isn't the BW's fort

You can get semi-specific gear using the Shrine of Solace, put in your character trinket and an amount of tokens, I think 40 for a random character weapon, 60 for specifically melee or ranged. As for staffs, having orange-rarity ones of 3/4 types, the most useful ones will be Embercage and Shrieker, depending on the mission. Embercage has full-auto fireball launching as the primary fire, and the alt-fire is an incredibly useful smart (self-guiding) firebolt that perforates specials and will do ridiculous acrobatics to hit multiple regular enemies. Shriekers are a bit more for crowd control (though their secondary works fine on specials), with a shotgun-like blast cone and a beam mode, the Regrowth (heal on hit) trait works nicely on them too.

As for melee? Shields do great at blocking hordes, yeah, always good to bring one. With most other weapons, it's best to learn the timing with your attacks, stepping back and forth instead of wading straight in. For the most part, melee weapons with crowd control ability are handier than ones like the maces, which do single-target damage. Sienna's longsword and burning longsword aren't all that different except for the minor burn DoT, which I believe only procs on charged attacks (which you'll want to use a lot on most weapons, particularly the two-handed hammers). I usually prefer the hammers over the greatswords for the pure knockback, keeps the pressure off a bit better.

Oh, and if you play Elf Waywatcher at all (or even if you don't) and have the Drachenfels DLC, go run Dungeons/Castle Drachenfels until you get a glaive. While I believe it would be more properly called a bardiche, what you call it doesn't matter so much as what it does, and what it does is RIP AND TEAR. I'm talking hacking 2-3 rats in half with one swing...on Cataclysm, where the greathammers take two hits to kill.