Space Marine 2 New Update 1.004.001 Deployed for Patch 4.1 and Brings Balancing Changes

After the big Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 4.0 patch last week, the community was up in arms over some balancing changes that was deemed to be a tad too much. Saber Interactive aims to resolve that today with Space Marine 2 new update 1.004.001 or also known as patch version 4.1 released this October 24.

This new title update for the Warhammer 40K franchise reverts the weapon changes made and then some. The game’s director, Dmitriy Grigorenko explained the reasoning behind the changes as well, which we’ve compiled into an easier read below.

Space Marine 2 New Update 1.004.001 Patch Notes for Version 4.1:

Gameplay and Balancing Tweaks – Operations mode

AI director and enemy spawns

Grigorenko Notes: With Patch 4.0, our aim was to tweak enemy spawns to increase the overall number of enemies rather than reverting to buffing their Health. Unfortunately, this had an impact on the easier difficulty levels as well.

For example, the win rate on the easiest difficulty dropped slightly after Patch 4.0, from 95% to 93%. This may not look like a lot, but numbers aren’t everything. Your feedback made it clear that the game had become more intense and stressful on lower difficulties, and this was never our intention. As I’ve personally emphasised in interviews, Space Marine 2 is all about the power fantasy, and Patch 4.0 negatively impacted it for many of you.

This is why we’re rolling back these changes. Extremis enemies’ spawn rates in Minimal, Average, and Substantial difficulties will revert back to their pre-Patch 4.0 levels and will be significantly reduced in Ruthless difficulty to hopefully strike a balance between how hard the game was at launch and how “easy” it became with Patch 3.0.

Minimal, Average, and Substantial Difficulties:

• Reduced spawn rate of Extremis enemies to match pre-Patch 4.0 levels

Ruthless Difficulty:

• Significantly reduced spawn rate of Extremis enemies

Weapons (only in Operations mode)

The Bolter family has been buffed given they were underperforming across “all difficulty levels” according to Grigorenko.

Grigorenko Notes: The percent Damage increase is based on which classes have access to which kind of weapon and how the Bolters compete with the other options available.‎

• Auto Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 20%
• Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 10%
• Heavy Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 15%
• Stalker Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 10%
• Marksman Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 10%
• Instigator Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 10%
• Bolt Sniper Rifle -> Damage increased by 12.5%
• Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 15%
• Occulus Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 15%
• Heavy Bolter -> Damage increased by 5%

Difficulty

Ruthless: Player’s Armour is increased by 10%

Grigorenko Notes: We are partially rolling back the change from the previous patch on Ruthless difficulty following your feedback. With Patch 4.1, we’re hoping to find the right compromise between how easy Ruthless difficulty felt after Patch 3.0 and how it felt after last week’s Patch 4.0.

Also of note, Grigorenko states that despite how the last patch notes listed a decrease in Armor in Substantial difficulty, the change was not actually implemented in the last update, and this is why it’s not mentioned as being reverted as part of today’s patch.

Lethal: “Tight Formation” system is removed

Grigorenko Notes: This system was also designed as a first step towards the introduction of gameplay modifiers down the line, both negative and positive—something World War Z players will be familiar with—but your feedback showed that the proximity requirements felt too restrictive. Classes like Assault and Vanguard felt especially penalised as playing them effectively requires a certain freedom of movement.

As a result of the feedback, Saber has removed the system entirely. The studio says they will continue to work on modifiers until they’re ready.

AI

• Bots deal 30% more damage to bosses.

Grigorenko Notes: We already improved allies’ behaviour in Patch 3.0, and we hope this additional buff will help solo players complete their Operations.

• Zoanthrope: Shield swap cooldown with another paired Zoanthrope is increased by 10%.

General Fixes & Tech

• Fixed a bug that caused roll distance to be shorter than before.

Grigorenko Notes: This was probably the most impactful and annoying consequence of Patch 4.0. While i-frames were the same, the distance difference made it much less effective versus ranged attacks. With this bug fixed, you should feel a great improvement in your fights against ranged enemies and bosses.

• Fixed bug with unlocking Lethal difficulty rewards decals.
• Crash fixes and general stability improvements.

What’s Next for Space Marine 2’s Balancing Changes:

Saber Interactive has taken the feedback from patch 4.0 to heart, and has announced that they are establishing Public Test Servers. This will let the community test out major balancing changes, and have their voices be heard before these said changes are pushed to the public branch of the game. Expect the Space Marine 2 PTS to be available in “early 2025.”

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This is a good move by Saber and clearly shows the dev team is listening to the player base. For more on Space Marine 2, go read up on our interview with Grigorenko and the other Saber devs on their development process for the game and more.

[Source: Focus Community]

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