By Jim Rossignol on October 14th, 2009 at 8:49 am.
Dawn Of War 2′s 1.8 update is out [Later today, Jim - RPS], and that includes the new game mode Last Stand. You can check out a video of that mode below, but essentially it’s one hero against many waves of enemies. I believe it can be played co-operatively too, so it could be you and chum versus many waves of enemies. The update also includes loads of tweaks, two new multiplayer maps and new wargear. The full patch notes can be found here.
That clip actually makes it sound like it HAS to be played cooperatively. Can anyone confirm or deny that? is there a minimum number of players?
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On their forums it says there are definately no bots for Last Stand, but they don’t seem to know if you can play it solo or not. Mine isn’t updating yet either, so I can’t find out myself.
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The thing I found with Dawn Of War 2 is it disproves something I’ve always held dear to my heart.
That graphics do not matter.
But turn off the goods in DOW 2 and it becomes less of a fun game. It’s bizarre as hell but those whooosh bangs don’t seem so…well pwning.
Granted it’s not a game where you put your nose up against a wall to show off the high res textures to your mates but without the whizz bangery the games seems ridiculously mundane, where as with it? Awesome.
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Apparently we’re going to see a “totally new race” somewhere in the Last Stand. Probably Chaos methinks.
Probably worth noting, it’s not out yet. Soon.
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Chaos Space Marines and additional campaign missions are coming in Chaos Rising, supposedly due in Spring 2010.
This is just a new game mode, some new lewtz and more MP balancing
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Yes but the video says there will be units from a whole new army in this mode, and it doesn’t say they’ll be playable (though it also doesn’t say they won’t be, I’m assuming that’s implied because…) what it does say is you’ll have to fight them. I also think an early intro to the chaos units is likely.
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Maybe the Tau? They are mentioned in the campaign (Captain Angelus’ last crusade) …
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It will be Chaos because they are already workin on them – so its just copy-paste (sorft of ;)
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I have nothing to offer but blood , toil tears and sweat .
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Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee, this looks like a new bucket of awesome! Shame my weekend is not booked up… wait a second :D
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The update is not out yet, is it ?
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Ok I checked and it is fact not out yet.
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Dawn of war 2: another rts game that I purchased and found that I am not made for that genre :(
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I’m normally not a fan of RTSes, but DoW 2 has been garnering my interest…too bad it’ll have to wait until my love for FPSes dies down with Borderlands and L4D2.
By the way, last I remember, DoW 2 had support for Steamworks, right? That’s a boon (vs. GFWL).
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Unfortunately, it actually uses a bastardization of both. It completely supports Steamworks, but GFWL is used for the matchmaking. You don’t need to be signed into either to play single-player, but for multiplayer you need to be connected to BOTH GFWL and Steamworks.
It’s a lot less noticeable than it sounds: you basically sign in once and forget it. But it can be an extreme pain if you are having connection issues with one or the other service.
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Max, was that patched in recently then? Back when I played my single player DoW campaign it wouldn’t let me start until I logged into GfWL (and said login didn’t work for a whole sodding week!).
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the whole dow series has that problem, really, dow1 starts to feel pretty dull unless the screen in crammed with bullets and explosions
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“I believe it can be played co-operatively too, so it could be you and chum versus many waves of enemies.”
My understanding is that it can ONLY be played co-operatively. You need three people, no more and no less. It’ll operate using the GFWL match-making thingy like normal multiplayer games. One of the devs mentioned that this was because they didn’t want to have to spend time working on an AI for the heroes, although they may work on it later if they find the mode is sufficiently popular and the demand is there.
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Thanks for that Garg, it’s what I really wanted to know about this. It’s also a real shame, if it had been a single player/ two player co-op option I’d actually have gone out and bought DoW2 for it. Since instead it’s three player, it’s a mode I’ll never use. Oddly, adding a mode that’s useless to me makes me LESS inclined to buy DoW2 than I already was. It’s weird how psychology works sometimes.
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I’ve noticed there’s a few rumours about that they may have added in a singleplayer, although I haven’t seen anything from any of the DoW2 mods. The patch has just gone live though so can find out soon enough.
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I’d be really interested in knowing if you find out, especially given that DoW 2 is on sale today for 50% off.
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So why would Chaos be hard, basically copy paste space marines with new models/textures, add a daemon or two and viola
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Why is the tag for this “Dawn of War 2?” with a question mark? Is it a reference to the starcraft-journo incident?
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Might be worth bearing in mind Steam is in the middle of a THQ sale, so it would make sense for DOW II to get a nice price discount to coincide with the last stand, when it arrives.
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I’m going to guess that it will be Steam’s weekend deal this time around.
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Yup, and I was actually planning on buying it, too. If Last Stand had a two player mode, I still would, but as it requires three I find myself so irritated I think I’ll pass completely. Weird.
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By “nice sale” I understand something like 80% off, since in Europe it’s 74 dollars on Steam and you can find it for 30 at retail…
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Actually Steam price is 40€ (i.e. about 60$)
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You can get dow for £12, sod a dow2 steam deal unless its 75% off.
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I picked up DoW2 last week for £13 from HMV, delivered :)
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=924368&affiliate=td&lpgrp=network&tduid=70eec07f4b510ffbd6b1b89588f00c5b
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£9.99 on steam today.
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You can sign in in offline mode. I think that's presented as a separate account in GfWL.
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I do know that, in some waves, you’ll go against Imperial Guards, but I don’t know if you can count them as “new”, since there were some in the campaign.
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the multiplayer patch notes for this are fantastic, they fixed alot of stuff that really needed fixing. should definately fix up multiplayer.
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Does it make 3 on 3 matchmaking stop pitting two rank 3′s and a rank 1 against three rank 50′s? ‘Cause that’d be nice.
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Rank doesn’t mean anything, TS is used for matchmaking.
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After being incredibly disappointed with DOW2 and dropping it after a week’s effort to get into the game this patch has me incredibly excited. I look forward to mowing down waves of enemies with an Eldar Farseer. Here’s hoping that it’s as good in game as it sounds on paper.
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Look at the video near the end, there’s a big glowy blue button that says SINGLE PLAYER. Maybe that means there’s a tempered SP mode?
Regardless. More maps, more fixes, new game mode, more co-op. Relic’s taking Valve’s idea and running with it.
Elated.
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Jesus christ, why do they keep nerfing the Marines? They’re already borderline useless against blobs of melee units, even with devastators .
Might as well just call them the scout marines at this point.
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The problem with balancing Space marines is that they are the “go to” race for those who are new to the game, so a lot of people who play as them aren’t that good, and so moan if they can’t win by just building lots of tactical squads. However those who were really good at marines managed to really be quite powerful, without resorting to tac spam.
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Disagree, the nerfs to plasma were necessary, and this is coming from a guy who primarily plays Space Marines. The problem with SM is the lack of melee counter, which I’m hoping the new suppression on scout kncockback will fix.
But getting back to plasma, it’s extremely powerful. Once you’ve manged to get to T2 and plasma, a critical mass of 3-4 squads will literally be wiping out entire melee squads in seconds, before they can even get in range.
As for heavy bolters, I’d advise against using them against most enemies. They’re usually sitting ducks, especially if you’re facing an enemy with Warp Throw or similar.
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psycho, you apparently dont know how to player space marines.
The nerfs were needed because tac spam would hit critical mass and couldnt be stopped. The fact that they buffed alot of factors for space marines also seemed to blow right by you.
1. scout with shotguns now suppress and knock back, they also cannot be knocked down in combat anymore. So they will blast back a blob of melee, and suppress them so they cannot charge right back again.
2. Tactical marines flamers got a 25% damage buff against sluggas and hormagaunts. So now when you blast them with a shotgun, and they get suppressed, you can then burn the hell out of that blob dealing some serious aoe damage.
3. Assault marines are great means of keep blobs off you also. Shotgun blast, then while the are suppressed you wait a few seconds and follow up with a jump knocking them all down again.
If you ask me, that is a long time to let your weakass sluggas and hormagaunts take a beating. esp since the shotguns, and the flamers will be doing aoe damage to them all at the same time. Hell if you have an apoth, you can even throw a grenade and pretty much instantly wipe 3-4 squads instantly with that above combo.
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Or chain knockbacks with purification rites + ASM jumps. That’s a long time stuck on the floor whilst the enemy takes pot-shots at you.
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Scout shotguns dont do aoe damage. They removed that and gave them higher singletarget damage last patch, remember?
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It’s on, and yes, they’ve knocked 50% off the price. All the old school DOW stuff is half off too.
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It’s said in the dev talk trailer that the new race that will appear in this DLC in completely new to the DOW universe. That rules out anything you mention from DOW1 like Tau and Chaos. Im thinking more like Enslavers? Could be a fun gamplay consept aswell if of of the heroes could be “possessed” until the other two finish off the Enslaver.
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They said “new to the DoW 2 universe” not new to the DoW universe, they’re clearly talking about Chaos as a preview of the new expansion.
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Just checked the editor. It’s Chaos, alright. A Chaos Lord and a horde of Khorne Bloodletters. Can’t say we didn’t see it coming, but still! Chaos!
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this is brilliant.
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The Last Stand is surprisingly entertaining by the way. I can heartly recommend it with some mates. Too bad the Ranked games are now unplayable since there are, like always it seems, new bugs. Actually, some people can choose the Imperial Guard for instance! But when you do, the game crashes. Oh dear. Guess we have to wait for a new patch then. Oh well, I have to beat wave 9 with them banshees anyway.
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Having played it, can you confirm that there’s no single player and no ability to play with less than three people? I’m trying to make an informed decision, here. :)
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Yeah, Wave 9 is a bitch. Finally got past it by hiding my ork in one of the buildings and gunning down lots. Died on the next wave though, infiltrating scouts and tac squads all carrying plasma guns!
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Ridiculously entertaining. More than I thought it would be, really. But yes, I always seem to choke and die on Wave 9. I suppose I need to level a bit and get the right Banshee-smacking paraphernalia.
Vinraith, you CAN play by yourself or with two people, but only in the sense that the game keeps going if others drop. It’s not calibrated for that, and you will find yourself being grievously and bodily harmed. Sorry. I was kinda hoping for a SP mode too. Tell you what, why don’t we get on the forums and get a Last Stand social club running?
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@ChampionHyena
Thanks for the information. I think you should start a thread in the RPS Social Club to get some co-op going, but for now I don’t think I’ll be joining you. Without the new mode as incentive, I can’t see dropping $20 on this. I think I’ll wait for some more price drops, or maybe just pick up a gold or platinum pack down the road, assuming they add some modes or a campaign I’m interested in.
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Just bought this! (like just then for the THQ 50% off dealio :) Yays! Any other RPS people out there that are just starting/ want to destroy a newbie that doesn't even know the rules yet.
I'm excited. Was Chaos back when I was a braces wearing teenager. Now I can be chaos as a successful yuppie and no one will know….
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I always suggest finding someone to Co-op with through the campaign. As fun as the campaign is, the game really comes into its own in co-op.
Higher difficulties especially were really made for co-op, you each get control of two squads and it really helps to maximise the abilities of all involved.
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The Last Stand is pretty great, even if I do have to rope in pubbies at this point to play it (was, like Vinraith, really hoping it’d be two player-compatible, although I owned the game already). There’s a tension between score and life, and even at low levels plenty of interesting build possibilities.
I suspect this next bit will be unpopular, but… this is the sort of thing I wanted out of Left 4 Dead. Variety in characters, variety in enemies, levelling that doesn’t make for more raw power, just more tactical options. Granted, they could use some more randomization in what spawns when, and I’d love to see more maps and more characters – but that sort of thing is easy enough to add. Especially the maps.
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Is DoW 2 as mod friendly as the original? If so I’d expect you’ll see a flood of user created characters and maps.
Come to think of it, maybe someone will find a way to either scale it for fewer players or add bots. You never know, Relic’s user community is a clever and resourceful bunch.
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@Vinraith – Not in any way shape or form friendly, unless someone has produced some really good tools since I last tried to do anything with it. (May/June?)
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That’s really disappointing, the moddability of Dawn of War 1 was one of its greatest strengths (and gave us the phenomenal Dawn of Skirmish mod). What is it with developers screwing over their mod making fan base of late?
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They released a map editor for it a while back. Not really sure about other mods but the community website for it is http://community.dawnofwar2.com/forums/world-builder-and-modding/mod-discussions if you want to have a look.
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Bah!
Well, they do say the best things come to those who wait… for an extra week, when it is £3 cheaper.
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It’s one of the best patches of the year, Last Stand is incredibly addictive. That expansion can’t come soon enough since that’ll be the time when Relic will add more to this game mode apparently.
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You can just invite one friend and let the match making full the other slot, it works pretty well.
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Yeah, and since people want to level, most players are willing to help anyway. Not unlike some dumbarses I met during my Ranked games….
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Its really fun, but I just see so many lost oppurtunities.
Why only 3 players? Why not 1-4? Only 1 map? No item trading?
There’s not enough items either, be cool to have an element of randomisation in each game.
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