Updated: Additional patch deployed Feb 28th. It addresses the timeout in matches, and a series of minor fixes to cosmetics and bugs. (See notes below)

Amazon services were down on the 28th which prevented Warhammer from working correctly. We are still monitoring the situation. Today's hotfix was to address a server crash, which felt like a disconnect.

You also received 20,000 Rogue Trader Credits as part of the upgrade path to the new paid packages you are already buying. There are more gifts to come as a thank you from us. The rest arrives when the free limited progression version goes live.

The long wait is over after only setting out a big hotfix this month. We usually have 3-4 per month, and this one has a real reason for the extended time. It's a Content Update that's part of Tactical Escalation, with months of work in it.

The release candidate is now on UAT; we will probably build another candidate based on what we found today so deployment is when it's ready.

Since Fortress Ronan is behaving badly, we will not release it till it performs well. A Fortress performing badly is no reason to prevent a patch from going out; it will be added a bit later as part of this Content Update.

We'd also like to thank everyone for joining our client/server/networking performance and balancing test every Tuesday and Thursday at 15:00 EST. It's been an immense help as we were able to track down issues in our development environment which is not possible on live servers.

We've also had a group of great people helping us by submitting bug reports on our Support website. These reports have been extremely helpful after we significantly increased the frequency of updates to UAT as well as the organized public tests. Thank you!

Content Update 1.3

These are only the highlights of this update. As usual, Steam can not fit all our patch notes. I will update as more information becomes available.

The purpose of the balance changes:

- Bring pen/toughness in line so that penetration is only useful against targets that have improved their toughness. For example, a chainsword and a power sword now do the same damage against a target wearing standard power armour and wargear.

- Make classes more unique in their roles – health has gone down on support/jump classes and up on ground melee classes. However, support classes now have more options, are more free with their LP, and certain options have been strengthened to double-down on the role.

- Make loadout selection more interesting – diminishing returns has been removed so a small amount of health/armour is now more expensive, but you can get more than before. You must now make a more concerted choice between survivability, lethality and tactical/maneuverability options.

- Address issues with the fast and thin Eldar classes being so hard to kill – Eldar now have lower effective health than everyone else, but they have had boosts to other areas to allow them to play more as intended.

General Gameplay & Balancing

Update on Feb 28th

- Pre deployment phase shouldn’t kick out players or have players wait forever (+ display loading icon for upcoming players)
- Couple of rare client crashes fixes
- Couple of minor server and client optimizations
- Reloading while in brace mode
- Leader receive XP when orders are achieved by members
- Reduced LP cost on Requiem Heavy Bolter, Da Heart Stoppa, Croneblade
- Added Plasma Cannons back to the Space Wolf advancements.
- Reduced Duellist Blade damage.
- Increased Electro-Knuckle penetration to 120 (previously 110).
- Reduced delay time on pre-deploy phase after acquiring enough players to 30 (previously 60).
- Updated looks on all Storm Shields, CSM Plasma Guns, and the Skip Launcha.
- Set Servo-Skull to calculate line of sight from the skull’s position, rather than the base.
- Fixed a number of labels in the advancements.
- Set axes/mauls to once again not have an interrupt window on fast attacks
- Reduced Chain-Choppa damage.
- Increased Big Shoota damage and turn speed while shooting.
- Removed tier indicator from supply drops.
- Added fire mode indicator to Solar Flare (Sunrifle).
- Flying no longer counts as an evade for the purposes of accuracy penalty.


Update Feb 22nd

- There are no longer any Presets. Instead, you start with 7 default loadouts (including anti-vehicle) that can be fully modified because you own all the items in them from the start. Also, you can now take 7 Battle Loadouts.
- Toughness and penetration have been rebalanced across the board so that 100 is the baseline on all weapons and characters.
- “Always Hold Aim” and “Always Toggle Aim” keybinding options now work correctly on non-pistol weapons (for those of you that hate two-step aiming at pistols).
- Damage has been decreased on SM/CSM/Ork melee weapons slightly to more closely match the attacks-to-kill before the revamp.
- Rank XP requirements have been changed, so that early ranks take less XP than before, and later ranks take slightly more. Note that the total amount of XP to rank 6 remains the same.
- Standard Reward Boxes have had their Requisition cost reduced to 500. Superior Reward Boxes have had their Requisition cost reduced to 3000.
- There is now a gold melee weapon in the store for each faction, costing 500k Requisition/Teef.
- There is now a “Challenge Token” in the store for 500k Requisition/Teef that makes you take 50% more damage and features unique vfx. Only take this if you want a challenge.
- Vehicle stagger effects (Power Fist, Power Klaw, Haywire Grenades) once again correctly stop vehicles already in motion.
- There are now new faction-specific backgrounds for the Hub.
- Loading screens and in-game maps have had a huge facelift.
- Character creation has been changed, and there is now a new starting area in the Garrison to demonstrate the gameplay basics.
- There are now new spawn points in the Garrison.
- Give item distance (such as for Narthecium or Ammo Share) has been increased from 200 to 350.
- Standard weapons have been removed from Reward Boxes (you can now only buy them directly with requisition).
- Defender lives in fortresses have been reduced from 300 to 270.
- Slow weapons (fists, klaws, axes, mauls, clubs) now have a larger vulnerability window while strong attacking.
- Certain items are now veteran-only, such as Iron Halos, Sigils, Burning Runes and Mega Gobs.
- Boltgun, Shoota, and Avenger Shuriken Catapult mods have all been reworked, including adjusting sensitivity on scopes and changing LP costs.
- All Meltabombs have had their LP cost increased.
- All knives & spike knuckles have had their back attack damage multiplier reduced to 1.5 (previously 2.0).
- All grenade bundles have had their LP costs set to twice the cost of the single version (previously they were ~3x).
- Weapons/wargear/mods that affect Warp Charge have been rebalanced.
- Getting hitched up on stairs should be rarer than before.
- It should now be harder for grav-tanks to insta-kill while moving at a slow speed.
- Lots of new store items, including SM/CSM backpacks!

Space Marines

- Servo-Skulls have been added as a “grenade” option for Tacticals. AServo-skull drops down and scans a large area for ~60 seconds, causing enemies in the area to take increased damage when fired upon. They can be destroyed to end the scanning early.
- Ground Assaults now have higher armour by default. Apothecaries and Jump Assaults now have lower armour by default.
- The Stalker Bolter has been significantly reworked to be a new, separate weapon type. We’ll be adding more of them in the future, but it is a much more effective ranged weapon than before.
- Wargear and advancements have been significantly changed. Among other things, Tacticals can now spec for a great deal more armour regen.
- Increased Magno-Cannon snare rate.
- Narthecium vial changes; Adrenaline Vial - Increased duration to 40 seconds. Abiding Restoration Vial - increased to 10 pts/s, reduced LP cost to 150. Survival Vial - increased duration to 40 seconds, increased LP cost to 150.
- The Heavy Bolter has had its cost reduced to 300 LP (previously 400).
- Krak Grenades have had their timer reduced from 2.5s to 2.0s.
- Lascannon cooldown has been reduced to 2s (previously 3), and lock falloff is now slower.

Chaos Space Marines

- Blight Grenades have been added for Mark of Nurgle characters. These explode on contact and apply 66% poison in the area (one-off).
- Traitor Assaults now have higher armour by default. Aspiring Sorcerers and Raptors now have lower armour by default.
- The Mark of Nurgle now adds +20 Health.
- The Mark of Khorne now adds +20 Health, MeleeLifeSteal has been increased from 20% to 30%, and RangedLifeSteal has been increased from 10% to 15%.
- Wargear and advancements have been significantly changed. Among other things, Traitors, Havocs & Traitor Assaults now have significant options to increase effective health, and there is a new Aspiring Sorcerer health item that synergizes with Nurgle & Slaanesh.
- The Heavy Bolter has had its cost reduced to 300 LP (previously 400).
- Krak Grenades have had their timer reduced from 2.5s to 2.0s.
- Force Swords and Force Axes now have 100 penetration by default and have had their cost reduced by 100 LP. However, there is now a Force power that can increase the weapon’s pen & damage.
- Pistols can now be removed from an Aspiring Sorcerer loadout.
- Lascannon cooldown has been reduced to 2s (previously 3), and lock falloff is now slower.
- The Autocannon has had its spread per shot and recoil increased, and also now has a larger penalty when suppressed.
- Lash of Slaanesh has had its LP cost reduced from 150 to 100.
- Hysterical Frenzy has had its LP cost reduced from 250 to 200.
- Stream of Corruption has had its LP cost reduced from 200 to 150.
- Flickering Fire hasn’t been fixed yet… but it will be soon.

Orks

- Painboyz now have access to “Bloodrage Juice” which gives the target a 30% melee life steal.
- Sluggas now have higher armour by default. Stormboyz and Painboyz now have lower armour by default, although Painboyz has higher health by default.
- Wargear and advancements have been significantly changed. Among other things, Painboyz now has access to Poison Resist wargear, and class-specific Mega Gobs have been added.
- Sticky Stikkbombs have had their timer reduced from 2.5s to 2.0s.
- Waaagh! will no longer trigger on Fortress or Hold the Line matches if the Orks are defending.
- The Pokkit Rokkit Launcha’s charge time has been reduced to 1.5s (previously 2s), and its reload time has been increased to 2.5s (previously 2s).
- The Big Vial has had its LP cost reduced to 150 (previously 200).
- The Skip Launcha has had its minimum damage reduced to 70 (previously 100), and its reload time increased to 3s (previously 2.5s).
- Dok Bombs now take 50% more damage before being destroyed.
- The Dakka Deffgun has had its cost reduced to 300 LP (previously 400).
- Zzap gun cooldown has been reduced to 2s (previously 3), and lock falloff is now slower.
- The Napalm Deffgun now correctly applies Ablaze.

Eldar

- There is now a new psychic power: Enhance. This is a PBAoE that applies a buff (similar to Embolden), but instead of healing, it grants a 20% mitigation bonus and a 20% ranged damage bonus.
- Eldar effective health has been reduced. However, compared to the other races a larger portion of their health is in armour (by default) to promote hit & run gameplay. Also, all Eldar have had their Toughness set to 100. Of the Eldar classes, Dark Reapers have the highest effective health now, and Warlocks/Swooping Hawks the least.
- Eldar now have a default 33% poison resistance.
- There are now new ammo mods for the Avenger Shuriken Catapult.
- Wargear and advancements have been significantly changed. Among other things, Banshees now have access to Lifesteal wargear, and there are now a number of options for increasing armour & regen at the same time. Class-specific veteran runes have been added.
- Stealth wargear for Striking Scorpions now has a greater effect (reducing the rate at which you become visible while moving).
- The Avenger Shuriken Catapult and TL Avenger Shuriken Catapult have had
- Witchblades now have 100 penetration by default and have had their cost reduced by 100 LP. However, there is now a Force power that can increase the weapon’s pen & damage.
- Pistols can now be removed from a Warlock’s loadout.
- Protect now mitigates 66% of incoming damage to the caster (previously 50%).
- Destructor’s damage has been reduced to 16/tick (previously 20), its penetration has been increased to 120 (previously 10), and its cost has been reduced to 200 (previously 300).
- Hawksear Grenades have had their damage and LP cost increased, but can only be thrown from the air.
- The Shuriken Cannon has had its cost reduced to 300 LP (previously 400).
- Plasma Grenades have had their timer reduced from 2.5s to 2.0s.
- The Fusion Pistol now applies 25% more heat to targets and overheats slower.
- The Reaper Launcher’s Starshot missile now overheats on each shot (although you can aim it while it’s cooling). You now move at normal speed while charging Starswarm missiles.
- The Warp Hunter’s D-Cannon’s charge time has been reduced to 2.5s (previously 4s) and its damage has been reduced to compensate.

Store updates (free and paid)

- Lowered prices of supply drops and more items added to the crates
- Challenge tokens are coming in
- MKIII, MKIV and MKVI backpacks for Chaos and SM
- Alpha Legion Scaly Shoulder
- Ossified Armour
- Bleeding Armour
- 4 golden prestige weapons
- Alternate Warlock Helmet with slightly larger horns
- New “kamo” Ork bandanas
- Runic MKVI legs for Space Wolves
- 5th company trim for Imperial Fists
- Astartes Champion Shoulder
- Relic Armour MKII
- Allow MKIII helmet on other CSM besides Iron Warriors
- Fixed names of Alpha Legion Scaly Legs, Black Legion Logo Legs, Night Lords Logo Legs, Word Bearers Legs, Heavy Aspect Armour Shoulders and Freebooters Pegleg

General Improvements

- Game Servers feature manual Geolocalization preference, meaning you can now set EU as preferred and is a preparation for further regions.
- Full re-spec of characters due to changes in Character Advancements. Protip for rebuilding your advancements: use the arrow keys and the enter key. It's way quicker to just do; down, enter, down, enter, down, enter, than it is to click with the mouse.
- Character creation/selection screens revamped
- Improvements to client performance, far more to come after public tests
- Fix for a vehicle being thrown in the air when hitting characters. Unbelievable.
- Fix for vehicle turrets detaching from the vehicle.
- Fix for characters movement issues when running up/down slopes.
- Improvements to loading times.
- Fixes for connection issues (fewer disconnections, better error messages, and logging).
- Fixes to various client and server crashes.
- Fix for campaigns double reward.
- Fix for frozen player preventing other players from joining PvE.

And I'm not even halfway through … and as stated earlier, we have some things we want to address which requires building a new release candidate.

The new versions of Eternal Crusade

This update also has the limited progression, class restricted free way to play the game that we're putting into testing. It is not accessible to anyone yet unless with a key from us, or one of our partners.

As current players, if you are subscribed to our newsletter, you can expect to get a key for the free version some day to give a friend or try it out yourself during our soft-launch.

https://www.eternalcrusade.com/newsletter

The $50 version is getting a bit of an upgrade and current players will get a nice gift from us when we eventually enable the new packages, as a thank you for enabling us to be here today and for your continued support.

On behalf of the entire team, thank you!

Nathan