[40K] Tabletop Battles Hot Take: The October 14 Warhammer App Updates

194

u/Valynces 7h ago

Yeah, we got a real monkey’s paw situation with the whole digital rules thing didn’t we?

On the one hand, we’re getting more frequent updates and that’s awesome.

On the other hand, the way that GW is rapid firing out undocumented, unreviewed rules changes would make any “real” gaming company die of embarrassment. I don’t understand why they think it’s acceptable to change all of these aspects of the game without any kind of document that shows what those changes are. It’s bewildering.

72

u/JMer806 7h ago

What makes this whole thing even stupider is that GW already freaking had both a balance dataslate and a designer’s commentary document specifically to have a consolidated change log. Other than intentionally sabotaging digital rules - which is a legitimate possibility - there is no sensical reason for them to abandon those practices.

41

u/torolf_212 7h ago edited 7h ago

Right? At rhe end of 10th the way they were handling balance patches was really good, and then they got to 11th aand thought "you know what would be good? If we completely shat the bed."

14

u/Tearakan 7h ago

Yep it's kind of insane how they end up with a decent system at the end of one edition and then just ignore everything they learned less than a month into the new one

-10

u/SalaryWooden5346 5h ago

End of 10th...

So Victrix spam and Defiler spam and C'tan spam were balanced? Because those all defined the end of 10th. And those were all introduced in the "balance" patches. So I strongly disagree that 10th did anything well in this regard. Nor do I think 11th is actually any worse. It's just continuing what was already very present.

7

u/torolf_212 5h ago

No, you misunderstand my comment. The way they were releasing the updates was really good.

We all know GW likes to mess with the balance of the game to get people wanting something fresh at the end of each edition, see also 8th, and 9th editions being a complete shitshow at the end

16

u/c0horst 7h ago

GW seems just unable to carry forward good things from one edition to the next, even when they'd make sense. So many things from 9th edition were lost in 10th that were added back in slowly... like the concept of doing actions for secondaries. Remember when they didn't define an action and anyone eligible to shoot could do it, so assault weapons really just let you do actions better?

And now with 10th to 11th, the relatively well documented rules releases have been replaced with this piss weak dribble. :(

1

u/wallycaine42 5h ago

Whether or not you find it sensical, there is another, easily grasped reason to switch: speed. Having a PDF published requires someone to do layout and editing on the PDF, on top of translation into other languages and making sure those PDFs are set up properly. Which means someone else has to get hands on it before its ready to publish, which means more lead time, which means changes need to be locked down earlier, which makes it harder to do things like monthly updates. Putting it straight into the app and only the app cuts that step out, which means releases can be faster and theoretically more responsive. Whether that trade off is worth it to you, or even noticable outside of GW walls is another matter, but it does exist as a reason.

2

u/Ginko37 1h ago

I get what you are trying to say but it's not like the pdfs they'd have to release require some overly complicated format. Translations are still being done for the app I assume, so it's just a matter of writing a script that dumps it into a pdf. Hell, it's 2026, you don't even need a pdf, it could be a section on the MFM, or just a separate page, which once you've done it requires 0 formatting or maquetation. People have independently made a changelog for the app to solve this already, from their home, in their free time, for free. They could have done it in house, but they haven't. A company reporting 50m in profits should not be struggling to find solutions to something as trivial as this. Every software company has been doing it since releasing software is a thing.

2

u/whydoyouonlylie 3h ago

The way they're doing it now makes their codex even more redundant than ever. Before with the faction packs you could know what to change in your codex for it to be up to date. Now you have no idea. Instead you just have to use the app to ensure you have the most up to date rules. And even then you can't be sure because they've made so many mistakes in the app that it's not clear whether what's in the app is intentional or something they've messed up.

38

u/SteelCode 7h ago

In this particular case, some of these changes are corrections to fix prior changes that they threw out... Miracle Dice each turn broke Triumph because no one in their balance team thought to look at each Sororitas unit and make sure it works properly?

19

u/Ignis_et_Azoth 7h ago

I really don't get why they are so bad at keeping central documentation of their rules in general. Now, I'm not much of an app person, but it's kind of silly that I'm relying on Wahapedia to keep everything in one place for me, on the go or when I want to look something up quick on my desktop.

They have the MFM website, they could just put all the rules and changelogs there, and use Warcom to advertise these changes. Like, the infrastructure is in place.

10

u/Tearakan 7h ago

Yep every other major gaming company literally issues patch notes when they do changes and literally announces to everyone and makes the changes clear.

Oh and their rules are free

2

u/Tomaskraven 1h ago

Thats the main issue here. They want to keep selling their physical rule books like this is 2004 but want to treat the game like an online tactics game where they throw balance patch updates every 2 weeks.

Why are we still doing this? Ok, you want to be greedy... put your updatable rule book system on an app and charge a $6.99 subscription or whatever and keep every single updated rule there. No need for physical codices. No need for F.A.Qs, no need for erratas, no need for MFM.

Everything can get updated at one place. They already have the app in place, just use it. You make a change? Throw a changelog screen at the main menu. Easy. Every single rule at one place where you can edit and fix easily.

1

u/Tearakan 36m ago

Yep. All of this has been solved for decades by other companies

3

u/KindaHeart3dArtisan 6h ago

It's to make it harder for the third party rules aggregations to update. They want to force us all to pay for the app and codexes

3

u/PregnantNacho 7h ago

They have too much money, they should do better but won’t.

5

u/SalaryWooden5346 7h ago

See, I strongly disagree this is "awesome". If we're going to be stuck with broken rules no matter what then at least let us have time to adapt and adjust. I'll take edition-long broken features over something new getting broken every time they patch the last broken thing. At least when the breakage lasts all edition I can just adjust my list accordingly.

1

u/WarrenRT 2h ago

Exactly. If something is broken for months, that at least gives the community (likely led by WTC) time to come up with a standardized house rule to paper over the issue.

Whereas if something new is broken every second week, there's no real solution to it. We just have to hobble along with broken rules.

If GW can't stop releasing broken rules, it should slow down releases.

40

u/LibFozzy 7h ago

The app REALLY needs a change log page so it’s possible to see what’s changed. If they do that we are truly in a digital first rules world.

-13

u/LGSolidSnake 7h ago

They sort of do, each codex and index has a section called FAQ and one called Updates and Errata, these would be perfect for these updates but they don’t. Looking thought the Ad Mech one and Imperial Agents, those sections have not been “updated” since August and September respectively.

40

u/c0horst 7h ago

Adeptus Custodes: Superior Creation now Once Per Battle, Per Army.

You only live twice.

We're done here, pack it in, it doesn't get better than this.

25

u/Mister_Oddity 7h ago

To clarify on the Firing Deck rule: weapon keywords still apply but extra effects that the embarked unit has like reducing BS or movement don't, correct?

18

u/Mushwar 7h ago

What you read on the gun you use in firing deck. Everything else: on the ability section, enhancements, leader buff etc etc you ignore.

14

u/AshiSunblade 7h ago

And buffs on the vehicle affect its Firing Deck-acquired guns too, yes?

10

u/Throwaway02062004 7h ago

Yes, you treat it as if the vehicle was given those guns.

12

u/torolf_212 7h ago

Correct, for example a melta gun will still have [melta] and a flamer will have [torrent], same for things like blast, rapid fire, sustained etc that are physically on the weapon profile, not the unit datasheet ability

16

u/ch4ppi_revived 7h ago

Man we had a guy make a complete edition rulebook PDF on here, we have the website tracking changes, we have these guys explaining changes to us. Why can GW not hire all of those guys and get it over with...

Ah and maybe some new management for the rules office

21

u/vonphilosophia 7h ago

Belial can now lead Assault Terminators, but it’s a shame he’s still got the only marine Strom bolter without rapid fire

7

u/SmashingSnow 7h ago

Maybe they'll add rapid fire when the Dark Angels get their codex

9

u/vonphilosophia 7h ago

Maybe that's when Deathwing Terminators will unlock a teleport homer, too

3

u/RichardDulle 7h ago

Hopefully they will give non unique units the Dark Angels keyword too.

1

u/SmashingSnow 7h ago

Hopefully.

3

u/Mulfushu 7h ago

I'm still not 100% sure how the Thunderbuss for Orks work. The enhancement says "This model has the following weapon"..so can I fire that with Firing Deck or not?

5

u/King_of_Speds 7h ago

Yes it would

5

u/PermissionRight6574 5h ago

GW is like a politician. They always fail upwards while anyone else in their position would be fired and out on the streets if they did this corpo crap.

2

u/Fair-Chipmunk 6h ago

Eldar agile manoeuvres is a buff/fix, the old timing was after pile ins had already happened

2

u/NoLunch1 7h ago

Huh, no mention of the Thulia's FAQ change.

1

u/McWerp 2h ago

Victrix banner and champ are still not epic in the app. Means you can take them in every victrix unit, and give the unit upgrades.

They are epic in the codex tho....

We wanted digital rules, but not haphazard and scatter shot like this.

-10

u/Routine_Past_720 7h ago

So eradicators no longer get rerolls for firing deck?

24

u/kevinsrednal 7h ago

They never did. But they clarified a few edge cases with enhancements/upgrades that were somewhat poorly worded.

4

u/RealSonZoo 7h ago

But vehicle-based Ironstorm rerolls would still apply to this unit via the Impulsor, is my understanding.

40k Analysis [40K] Tabletop Battles Hot Take: The October 14 Warhammer App Updates

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