After a stellar start, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 endured its first major update as developer Saber Interactive rolled out sweeping meta changes it wasn't quite ready for. The studio showed its naivety in balancing a live game, and fans immediately rioted.
The game received negative reviews on Steam, vicious criticism online, and rightfully so. Its paid cosmetics rolled out without a hitch—as it always seems to with these things—but other updates almost all failed.
I voiced that frustration last week, and suggested that Saber do a few tricks to get fans back into the game. First, it should return changes like other live service games, and second, it should provide some form of compensation. Not necessarily expensive Dark Angels skins, but a Mk VI 'Beaky' helmet would have gone a long way to cheering up the fans. People are willing to give a lot when they are given free things.
Space Marine 2 Patch 4.1 has brought some positive changes
I got a lot of attention for my article detailing the issues with Space Marine 2 – for the course with this job – because it was written and published before the Saber changes were made, but many people read it after the Saber changes were made. they studied This can be avoided by reading the release date, but it requires too much common sense.
However, Saber has made some nice changes and it's worth highlighting. Zoanthropes are instantly forgotten, making one of the most infuriating enemies in the game (especially if you've played the combat class) a more satisfying challenge. In fact, the spawn rate for all Extremis enemies has returned to pre-patch 4.0 levels.
Dodge felt it was missing i-frames, confirmed to be bugged and fixed. You can read the full patch notes for every change, but the steps Saber is taking are positive and the game is much better as a result. Now it just has to keep going from here.
What does this mean for Space Marine 2?
Space Marine 2 game director Dmitry Grigorenko explained his reasoning for the changes in Patch 4.1's patch notes. I've quoted him here in full so you can understand the full context of his decision-making process.
Here's our reasoning before Patch 4.0: When the game was released in September, the Ruthless difficulty winrate was around 60%. A few weeks later, and with the changes introduced by Patch 3.0, we saw the same win rate rise to over 80% and we received a lot of feedback that the game became very easy – even on max difficulty (at the time).
With patch 4.0, our goal was to increase the number of enemies instead of going back to maintaining enemy health. “Unfortunately, this also had an effect on the easier difficulty levels.”
Saber took a big swing in Patch 3.0 and missed the mark. The game became so easy Saber reverted those changes in Patch 4.0 and more than compensated. It's not the best way to balance a live serve game, but you can see where the ideas and goals are coming from.
The hope for the future is that Saber has a finer touch when it comes to balancing the game. Instead of taking big swings and making Zoanthropes the enemies that the Warrior Titan is trying to destroy, hopefully it balances things out more slowly and thoughtfully. The manufacturer has made a promise that gives me hope in this regard.
What is the Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 test server?
The Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 test server is an environment for hardcore players to test new game changes. Before you can earn achievements, cosmetics, or points with a broken kit, Saber is here to test ideas before implementing them in-game.
Many live games use this feature, League of Legends is probably the most successful. This is a good way to test the waters on major changes that might be a little dangerous in a live environment. Not that the test server is not active. Just a little less than real live. Like trying out a formation in the League Cup instead of the Champions League. I have no comparison for you Americans, sorry.
Hopefully Saber will be able to get all of their fastest patches out on the test server, where we can simply pause the game and play the real game when things get overwhelming, simply stopping the game and going back to the previous patch. let's go back Saber will take note of our feedback, as will a large group of player testers, and hopefully improve the patch before the full release.
This could fix Space Marine 2's biggest problem. The cosmetics are great, the IP has never been hotter, and the gameplay is a throwback to yesteryear. Saber Interactive should keep fans on board by perfectly balancing the live-action elements of Space Marine 2. With a test server at its disposal, it can do this.
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