Update August 9, 2017: Creative Assembly have released more details about how they plan to revitalise the old races in Total War: Warhammer, bringing them up to fighting strength against the new players.
In a post on the Total War blog, the developers reveal that all the old Legendary Lords will get bonus campaign buffs and new, extra skills trees.
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“The Empire, under AI control, starts with an entire province, giving it a much stronger start,” Creative Assembly explain. “The Warriors of Chaos have a whole slew of tweaks and changes, increasing their campaign momentum and enabling easy vassalisation of Norscan tribes. And Wood Elves finally have new followers (Yay!).”
We’re promised the changes will be extensive, so it should feel like a completely rebalanced game when you wade back in. It’s reassuring that they’re still providing a reason to play the original when there’s a sequel on the horizon.
You can check out the full patch notes at that link (there’s a lot).
Original Story August 8, 2017: Power creep has been a concern among the Total War: Warhammer community, as developers Creative Assembly get ever bolder and more imaginative in the design of new races added as DLC. They’ve now recognised this, having announced a balancing patch that tunes and expands some of the original game’s earlier races.
Check out the video above for a rundown of what’s getting changed or added in the forthcoming Old World update. The full patch notes are due tomorrow according to CA’s announcement on Steam, so we’ll update this story then, but based on the video, headlines include:
- The Warriors of Chaos have had a few buffs to make their conquest of the Old World easier:
- You’ll find it easier to vassalise the Norscan tribes – awakened tribes will become vassals rather than allies when defeated, and their personalities have been tuned to be much more loyal.
- Defeating Norscan faction leaders will make them much more susceptible to vassalisation.
- Encamped Chaos forces have a greater upkeep reduction, and replenishment bonuses have been added to the tech tree, which should make it easier to sustain your conquering momentum.
- The Wood Elves get two new followers for their Lords on the campaign – one adding leadership, the other adding armour at the cost of movement speed.
- There are wide-ranging changes to many of the original Legendary Lords:
- For example, Karl Franz recruits new Lords at level three rather than level one.
- Ungrim Ironfist gives a 10% boost to all infantry, faction-wide.
- Azhag the Slaughterer gives a 10% boost to the Greenskins’ research rate.
- Grimgor Ironhide gets +1 fightiness when in enemy lands.
- Archaon the Everchosen gets -20 to diplomatic relations with all factions.
- Skill trees have been revised as well – Heinrich Kemmler, for instance, has got a new skill tree that buffs Krell.
- The Empire gets a consolidated province when under the control of the AI, to help it last a little longer in the campaign.
- Finally, units are also getting tweaked: Minotaurs get a cost reduction, and Dwarfen cannons and bolt throwers get a bonus against large targets.
This is just what’s mentioned in the video – the full patch notes should go into more detail and discuss some bug fixes as well.