Creative Assembly has outlined its plans for Total War: Warhammer 3's next patch, and it seems the mid-March update will see a slight change in direction for how the studio approaches updating its fantasy strategy mashup. Patch 6.1 will bring a renewed focus on tuning what's already in the game rather than adding more stuff to it, starting with a rework of what it has deemed the most unbearable faction to play as—Kislev.
The changes were explained by game designer William Håkestad in a blog post on the Creative Assembly website. "One of the consistent messages we heard loud and clear from the community was that not enough attention has been given to the existing content in lieu of new content," Håkestad writes. "So we're taking a crack at equalizing that a bit now." The reason Kislev is the "headliner" for this adjusted approach is because the faction was "identified as the most in need of a deep review and rethink."
The changes, which Håkestad states are focussed on "uplifting the entirety of Kislev", are pretty radical. For starters, the supporter race, where the Ice Court and Great Orthodoxy compete to acquire supporters, is "no more". Håkestad explains that Creative Assembly "wanted to wipe the slate clean" with Kislev 2.0, which meant shedding the "baggage" of the existing system. In its place is a new system that still involves building support for Kislev's two dominant institutions, but with a "significantly changed" end goal:
"In the new system, you will accrue support for either side of the conflict via a variety of actions, including fielding relevant units, using thematically aligned agents, constructing buildings and dedicating your atamans," Håkestad writes. " As you raise your support, you will receive boons from these major factions, presenting you a secondary progression mechanic that lets you get powerful benefits." The main change here it's that gaining support is "no longer a race". Instead, supporting just one side will lead to an increase in populace unrest, so the system is now about balancing the support between the two factions.
This is far from the only aspect of Kislev's play undergoing renovation. The 'devotion' resource is being altered so that it is provincial rather than factionwide, now representing the fervour of the local populace. At high levels, it can be used to boost the local province or a nearby army, as well as giving them stronger resistances against climate penalties. "A core tenet of the Kislev approach is that they are strongest at home, and prefer well settled core territories," Håkestad points out.
In addition, the Kislev tech tree is being revamped to make it more flexible and "significantly open up your choices", while there's a bunch of changes coming to Atamans. Alongside getting a skill tree and a "unique battle loadout", Atamans are now exclusively used for commanding settlement garrisons. This means you can no longer recruit them permanently onto the campaign map, but they do get a new ability called "Garrison sally attack", which lets their garrison engage enemy armies within a limited distance of the settlement. Being able to use garrisons as short-range armies sounds pretty rad, honestly, and I can see what an advantage that would be to defending your home turf.
Retooling Kislev isn't the sole focus of the update. It also takes a second stab at Tzeentch's fragments of sorcery system. Håkestad provides a detailed rundown of this on the blog which is worth reading, but the key change is that it moves "the decision making to its own tab of the character detail panel". Finally, the patch will add two new free units. Cathay is getting Nan-Gau Grenadiers, a "relatively cheap grenade slinging infantry", while the update also throws in some gnoblar flingers for good measure. So it seems Creative Assembly hasn't entirely stopped adding new stuff to the game.
Nonetheless, a renewed emphasis on addressing existing issues will surely be welcome news for Total War fans. Creative Assembly is already working on improvements to the game's campaign AI, having discovered it overreacts to the presence of just one measly hero. This focus on existing content also comes off the back of a broader change in approach to how the studio makes and sells Total War games, having unveiled plans to ditch blood packs, early-adopter DLC, and the Total War launcher in December.
