Warhammer 40k Darktide patch makes challenges more team-friendly

pcgamesn.com:

Warhammer 40k Darktide patch 9 has arrived on Steam, and developer Fatshark says its new Darktide penances are designed to encourage “more cohesive team play”. The patch is also intended to update and remove penances that had the potential to be disruptive to the experiences of your teammates in the grimdark co-op game. There’s also a rebalancing of enemy unit spawns to increase the presence of melee elites, so read on for the full Warhammer 40k Darktide patch notes.

Darktide patch 9 is titled ‘Garbs and Penances,’ so you won’t be surprised to learn that they’re the main focus of the update. New sets of class penances have arrived that “provide more straightforward progression goals and are aimed at reinforcing the class roles, rewarding them playing well without disrupting the game.”

Several older penances have been moved to a ‘Redacted’ tab because Fatshark decided they were “trick challenges” that required the entire team to actively work together to complete them rather than pursuing normal gameplay, which “can be a lot of fun but should not be mandatory or forced upon unsuspecting teammates.” Other penances have received numbers tweaks to make them easier to complete as a solo player without disrupting the rest of your team.

A change to the game’s ‘pacing director’ has adjusted the spawn distribution, with a goal of providing “more variation in encounters by weighting away from ranged mobs and giving the melee guys more presence.” So expect to be able to get slightly more into the thick of things without being constantly pinged at by ranged Chaos troops.

Elsewhere, several less-used feats are getting buffed slightly, while the ‘Rev it up’ blessings will now last longer. There’s also a whole wealth of additional bug