Warhammer Vermintide II

[McNutt]

I only got to play the intro last night and didn't dive into any of the heroes. Did anybody give this one some time? How is multiplayer?

[Bad Demographic]

I played one mission with strangers and it went pretty well - good thing they were more advanced and had better weapons so we were able to complete the mission.
Brian, Blackhawk, my spousal unit and I played last night and never completed a mission. Between unfamiliarity with the maps and crappy starter weapons it was really tough. We nearly finished one mission - just guessed wrong about where to withstand a final horde while trying to figure out where the escape point was.

[McNutt]

Quick question: I have only a few missions of Vermintide I under my belt. Last night when I played the opening mission of Vermintide II I saw that my hero had a special ability bound to the F key. Are there special abilities in Vermintide I?

[Bad Demographic]

I don't think so, but I don't remember for sure. You could ask in the "Looking for Group" thread since we played the original Vermintide and have just started playing Vermintide 2.

[Blackhawk]

Nope, not in V1. Those are an addition. The closest comparison would be the special skill in Borderlands. Each 'class' has two, one passive and one active.

[McNutt]

I've only been able to play a handful of missions. Some with bots and some with random people. Last night was the first time I completed a mission. I'm trying to do my best at blocking. I have a LOT to learn. I really like what I've seen of this game. This has a lot of potential.

[Brian]

I've been playing as Kruber, the soldier, and my favorite loadout is sword & board with the sniper rifle for ranged.

The sniper is strictly for the elite and special creatures and the sword/shield is for everything else.

During horde rushes my usual technique is swing, swing, heavy swing then shield, shield, shove to gain some clearance then repeat as often as needed.

Edit to add: For the heavy duty Chaos Lords my tactic is to hide behind my shield while trying not to soil my pantaloons and let Blackhawk tank the bastard. Once the baddies attention is entirely on Blackhawk I will take a couple of swings and then run away while holding back the girlish screams.

[McNutt]

I am getting frustrated at trying to figure out certain things about this game.
1. What does power even mean? I know your character needs a certain power rating to attempt higher difficulty settings, but will I see a damage increase by upgrading from a 5 power sword to a 65 power sword? I honestly don't feel like I do more damage than when I was level 1. If I am, how much more? I'd like to have more than some ambiguous number to go by when I decide which equipment to use.
2. What does tagging do? My Witch Hunter had an ability where tagged enemies took additional damage. How much? I have no idea. I can still tag enemies now that I'm using the Bounty Hunter class, but is it doing anything?

The game is great, don't get me wrong. I just wish some things in the game were explained a little better.

[Isgrimnur]

reddit has answers.

[Blackhawk]

You can get a lot of detail about power if you hover over 'Hero Power' in the upper left of your inventory screen.

This game is primarily intended to mulitiplayer co-op. Tagging mostly serves as a communication tool. You see a health kit, you tag it for your teammates. You hear a poison wind globadier ('gas rat'), and the first person to see it tags it, letting the sniper characters take it out. You're fighting a boss and keep it tagged so that everyone can find it quickly, especially if one person ends up kiting it around during a horde.

[McNutt]

I've been playing QP with random people. I'm amazed at how quickly the game is created. Very impressive.

I've been tagging specials just out of habit from the Witch Hunter. Didn't know if it served any other purpose, so thanks for the advice.

I guess I must be doing more damage than before. I seem to survive most missions now whereas I survived very few when I was just starting. I was attributing that to me being better at the game, but I guess my character's power has a lot to do with it.

[McNutt]

I leveled my Witch Hunter to 7 and got my first taste of a separate class specialization. I really like the Bounty Hunter. It's a good fit for me. Plus that character is such a pompous butthole that I love playing him.

Next up is getting my Dwarf to level 7. I'm really excited about having him be sword an shield. Plus I already have a couple of ranged weapons that are only usable with the Ironbreaker class.

[Blackhawk]

I play the Ironbreaker almost exclusively, save for leveling up the bots. I love him. I get very few kills and do very little damage, but with human players behind me to do the killing, I can keep the hordes knocked down and the specials focuses on battering my shield while they mow them down, which keeps everyone alive and kicking.

[McNutt]

I got the Ironbreaker tonight and he is a blast. I have the dual fire ammo pistols and we were mowing through the levels. I think I have 7 stamina and can shield bash at will. It's great.

[Blackhawk]

I've been using an axe/shield combo, which I love. The axe's armor piercing is great. I use a sort of 'rotation' of strike, strike, push. Strike, strike, push. I run with the talent that increases stamina regen on a power attack, so I modified it to power attack, strike, strike, push, or only one strike if there are a lot of enemies closing in. I don't pay too much attention to trying to kill. That isn't my job. Keeping the enemies stunned or knocked down is what I'm there for.

[McNutt]

Vermintide II just dropped a patch that includes daily/weekly missions. These can be like "kill 25 monsters" or "collect 5 tomes." Each one grants an Emperor's chest. The loot boxes are dropping like crazy now and I have tons of new equipment.

I'm really impressed with the quality and staying power of this game.

[Blackhawk]

Vermintide II just dropped a patch that includes daily/weekly missions. These can be like "kill 25 monsters" or "collect 5 tomes." Each one grants an Emperor's chest. The loot boxes are dropping like crazy now and I have tons of new equipment.

I'm really impressed with the quality and staying power of this game.

Nice! I will have to check that out.

[McNutt]

There is a book in the main room that has all the quests. It even has career quests like complete Act I on Veteran. I think I unlocked 17 commendation chests tonight just through the career quests.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I discovered something interesting in playing Vermintide 2 with bots, which wasn't immediately apparent (at least to me).

I hadn't previously realised that you can order bots to pick up tomes and grimoires if you aim your reticle at such an object and use the 'tag/social wheel' command to bring up the social wheel. You then select who you want to collect it, and they'll hang on to it for as long as you can keep 'em alive. Previously, I was stuck always carrying 1 grimoire and 1 tome myself, and perhaps finishing with a couple of tomes if I was lucky and one of the bots decided not to abandon the tome they happened to collect (and by default, bots would never pick up a grimoire). But now, if I'm fortunate, it's at least possible to complete maps with both grimoires and all three tomes when playing with bots. Needless to say, this can be especially useful in terms of levelling up other characters.

[McNutt]

I didn't know that. That's a pretty big deal.

[Jag]

Not sure anyone is still playing this but I picked it up for $7 during the 3 year anniversary sale. It's pretty fun so far. Don't think it has much as an endgame but for the price, that's fine.

[Blackhawk]

If anyone's still playing this and has it installed, make sure you log in and go to Lohner (guy standing at the table - click 'Gifts of the Wolffather.) They've been doing giveaways since before Christmas, and they're all still available to claim. They gave away at least one full premium/cash cosmetic set - armor and helmet - for every character, a variety of other cosmetics, shillings, plus five red dust (which is a huge deal - it's the equivalent of scrapping five of the game's rarest and hardest to get weapons, and is enough to craft one of them from scratch.)

Between $40+ in cosmetics plus the red dust, it might even be worth a reinstall just to claim them.

(This is one I keep installed all the time anyway - it's always a good way to kill an hour, plus my son plays and we occasionally jump in together.)