Fatshark's co-op Ogryn party simulator Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has been in preorder beta for just under a week, and in that time players have been pointing out various issues. Chief among those issues: crashes. While I've been lucky enough to only have Darktide crash on me twice, plenty of others have found it to be less stable.
The patch notes for version 1.0.7 identify six different types of crashes that have now been purged: matchmaking crashes, cutscene alt-tabbing crashes, falling-out-of-bounds crashes, crashes caused by starting a mission with a specific feat equipped, crashes caused by certain weapon traits, and multiple crashes caused by the Beast of Nurgle. As if we didn't have enough reasons to hate Beasts of Nurgle already.
Fatshark says that, while many of the causes of crashes have been dealt with, "there is one big category of crashes manifested as 'GPU-hangs', that probably still will show its ugly face at times. That said, we are on a good trajectory to have a stable game at the time of release due in large part to the many players that are helping provide us with the required data to help address these issues." Together we all do our part to serve the Graphics Card Imperium.
As for new features added by this update, the big one is Oska Krall the Barber-Chirurgeon. This blood-spattered member of the Mourningstar's crew can be found in the hub, where he offers the chance to go back into character customization and tinker with your face, hair, scars, and tattoos. If you're starting to regret that droopy moustache or want to roll a full-blown Ogryn-Orson Welles, now you can finally get rid of it. Though Krall mentions a cost, it's currently free to modify your appearance.
This update also brings with it a big honking block of text in the top-left of the screen that says "Pre-Order Beta Test November 17-29, 2022." Presumably it's there to help out the many players who preordered Darktide so they could play the beta and then were confused by the fact it's a beta. Emperor preserve us.
As for balance changes, the Psyker continues being reworked after a nerf from the initial beta was poorly received. The latest change removes the Peril cost of pushing with the force sword, while slightly reducing its range. "Peril cost is still there on the push follow-up, though," Fatshark says, "which should help to balance its ability to ignore the stagger reduction."
Some weapons have been improved, making infantry autoguns, shredder autopistols, and Ogryn bully clubs more worthwhile choices. The attack attributes of ranged minions have been adjusted, and the pacing of spawns as well. Now, Fatshark says, "Locking the forces of chaos in melee should be a bit smoother while clamping down some of the more insane spikes in the pacing."
Finally, being rescued or revived will now be shown in third-person, and a bug I'm kind of sad I never saw that caused "various issues where if you look straight down, the third-person character's head will twist and rotate 180 degrees" has been fixed.
If you'd like to read more, here are the full notes:
- Stability/Bugs/Fixes
- Fixed a significant amount of crashes - matchmaking crashes both on server and client.
- Fixed “stuck in position 1” queuing issue
- Addressed many of the lack of XP in progression issues
- Fixed crashes that could occur when tabbing out while watching a cinematic
- Fixed crashes when a player fell out of bounds
- Fixed issues in the credit store where it was impossible to buy things with in-game currency
- Fixed issues where the third-person camera would follow the player when falling out of bounds.
- Fixed issues where the Tigrus Mk II Heavy Eviscerator damage stat did not work as intended, damage defaulted to 50%. Now should scale damage properly.
- Fixed issues where the start animation of a heavy attack with the Thunder Hammer could get stuck.
- Fixed multiple crashes caused by the Beast of Nurgle.
- Fixed crashes that could occur when leaving the Mourningstar to head on a mission when having a specific trait equipped.
- Fixed crashes that could occur with certain weapon traits.
- Fixed issues where a player could complete the 'Up Close and Personal' Penance without meeting the appropriate criteria.
- Fixed issues where Veteran Sharpshooter's 'Covering Fire' did not work correctly.
- Fixed issues with Zealot's talent descriptions not matching what they actually do.
- Fixed various issues where if you look straight down, the third-person character's head will twist and rotate 180 degrees.
- Fixed an issue where players would sometimes spawn with both weapons in hand.
- Fixed an issue where the Ogryn's Grenade Box collides with the primary weapon on block.
- Fixed an issue with the Armory where the stock may occasionally be refreshed prematurely before the timer should have elapsed.
- Added codes to be displayed alongside errors.
- Fixed an issue where "Toughness damage reduction" effects didn't work vs. melee damage. (both talents and coherency effects)
- Fixed an issue where Zealots "Regain toughness while in melee" talent didn't trigger properly.
- Rebalancing/Gameplay tweaks
- Veteran talent balance pass, bleeding.
- Zealot talent balance pass, toughness, and bleeding updates.
- Ogryn balance pass and grenade amounts adjusted.
- Ogryn club, attack combo adjusted. Damage values increased against certain enemy types.
- Ogryn shovel increased mobility
- Adjusted pacing w/ enemy characters, hordes, and spawns
- Additional Psyker gameplay adjustments, including removal of a 'push' charge cost for the Force Sword
- Bump up for autoguns and autopistols
- Ranged Minions attack attributes adjusted
- Player Interactions
- Changed revive/rescue/pullup states to be 3rd person
- Deepening Customization
- Added Chirurgeon of the Mourningstar
