Creative Assembly has now shared the long-awaited Total War: Warhammer 3 roadmap, detailing the updates and new content coming to the grand strategy throughout the years following its official launch.
Total War: Warhammer 3’s roadmap was detailed after the trilogy’s final entry had a slower growth than past entries. Although some features, like the Immortal Empires combined map and blood DLC took longer to arrive, we now have a clearer picture of what we can expect in the future.
Total War: Warhammer 3 Roadmap
Total War: WARHAMMER III - Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs is now available on Fanatical for £16.39/$17.99.
The first stop on Total War: Warhammer III’s roadmap comes in late May 2022 , when patch 1.2 went live. It focusing on a good number of issues players have identified since launch.
These included AI rebuilding towers too quickly, flying units becoming stuck when attempting to attack land targets, snow being too bright, as well as players getting stuck in Slaanesh’s realm.
Also slated for patch 1.2 were auto-resolve improvements that reduced the feature’s difficulty scaling and shifted it to be determined by the chosen battle difficulty. Improvements to unit reactivity – which the developer describes as a “long-term project” – were also implemented alongside technology tree reworks, a leaderboard reset, as well as the addition of new Regiments of Renown.
These stronger variants of existing units were previously added alongside DLCs but, while that won’t change, Warhammer III’s “first few updates” included free Regiment of Renown units for each of its core races.
Q3 2022
Q3 2022 was an even busier period on Total War: Warhammer III’s roadmap.
Patch 1.3 promised improvements to Grand Cathay’s formation attack ability, which made the faction more potent in frontal engagements.
The skill tree reworks continued while Tzeentch and Slaanesh had their unit replenishment rates adjusted.
Another goal for it was to increase the frequency of field battles, while further improvements to unit responsiveness and battle interactions were also planned.
Arguably the highlight of Total War: Warhammer III’s Q3 2022 roadmap is patch 2.0, which was when the Immortal Empires combined map, slated to launch in August, was made available as part of an integrated open beta available across all platforms.
In this initial phase, the developer focused on “balance, map, races, and other areas where we can continue to make adjustments based on player feedback.”
Update 2.0 also brought a much-needed rework for the Warriors of Chaos faction alongside the divisive Blood for the Blood God DLC.
Q3 was also when Warhammer III’s first Lord Pack was set to launch, expanding the game’s roster with four new playable characters.
The Total War Assembly Kit was also slated for a Q3 release giving the community all the tools it needed to continue creating awesome mods. It launched alongside patch 2.1, which was slightly bumped up from its initial Q4 date.
Q4 2022
As 2022 came to a close, more content was planned for Total War: Warhammer III’s roadmap.
Patch 2.2 brought a new set of changes based on player feedback received following the launch of the Immortal Empires campaign.
Aiming for an October 18 launch, it introduced adjustments to reduce the frequency of settlement battles, a new endgame crisis, character experience rebalance, new Regiments of Renown, and more.
Patch 2.3 was the final update the game received in 2022. It focused on bug fixes and balance changes that didn’t make it in patch 2.2 alongside a couple of other additions, like landmarks and 10-slot settlements for Immortal Empires.
Total War: Warhammer III 2023 Roadmap
We had to wait a bit before Total War: Warhammer III’s 2023 roadmap was extensively detailed, but more updates and DLC for the grand strategy game did, nonetheless, roll in throughout the year.
Update 3.0 went live in Q2 2023, accompanying the Chaos Dwarfs DLC while ushering in multiple balance changes and more.
In a video from early February 2023, embedded below, Game Director Rich Aldridge shared a few more details about what we could expect to see coming to the grand strategy game throughout the year.
The developer was “finishing up with [the] final touches on [the first piece of new content],” which it shared with us in April 2023.
“Two more exciting experiences” were then slated to go live in summer and winter respectively. Aldrige didn’t provide specific details about these “experiences.”
He also said that “this is not a concrete plan,” mentioning that “things can change” as development progresses. Plans did, indeed, end up shifting, due to fans became more and more dissatisfied with the developer’s decisions as each month passed.
Q1 2023
Patch 2.4 dropped out of nowhere on February 16.
It marked the full release of the Immortal Empires mode alongside a change in its ownership model, which granted owners of Warhammer III access to a “core experience” even without owning the previous two games in the series.
Q2 2023
Update 3.0 was slated to go live on April 13, bringing more changes to the game.
It accompanied the Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs DLC, which saw the Dawi-Zharr entering the fray as a playable race.
The DLC launched with three legendary lords and a legendary hero.
Alongside it, all owners of Warhammer III wouldget access to two pieces of FreeLC. One introduced legendary hero Ulrika Magdova to the rosters of both Kislev and the Empire, another added the Mirror of Madness DLC, developed in collaboration with Intel.
The developer had clarified in the lead-up to the Chaos Dwarfs DLC’s release that its approach, which involves three legendary lords and a new legendary hero, “is the path we’ll be following for future releases.”
When sharing the update 3.0 patch notes, Creative Assembly also confirmed that update 3.1 was due to launch “in a few weeks.” It later narrowed down its launch window to May 25.
Q3 2023
Summer brought with it yet another DLC, called Shadows of Change, which did, indeed, change things around even more, albeit not entirely for the better, due to launching with less content than its peers despite being more expensive.
Rather than focusing on a single race, it explored the stories of Tzeentch, Cathay, and Kislev, introducing three new Legendary lords, one new legendary hero, and new units.
It was accompanied by update 4.0, which promised race and AI updates, alongside more settlement battle improvements.
Q4 2023
As 2023 drew to a close, update 4.1 acted as a smaller interim patch, bringing bug fixes and necessary gameplay updates. Siege battles now benefited from linked capture points and more barricade positions. Homing projectiles are considerably more reliable, while several races have received balance tweaks.
Total War: Warhammer III 2024 Roadmap
As mentioned above, the fan backlash surrounding Creative Assembly’s decisions through the second half of 2023 led to Total War: Warhammer III’s 2024 roadmap suffering a set of changes.
The Thrones of Decay DLC missed its late 2023 launch, and the developer promised to update Shadows of Change with additional content early in the year.
The latter months remain a little nebulous as the year starts, but we should learn more as we step into the second half of the year. Below, you’ll find a detailed breakdown of what has been confirmed so far for the trilogy’s final part.
Q1 2024
Thrones of Decay, a DLC that further explores the stories of Nurgle, the Empire, and the Dwarfs, was intended to add three new legendary lords, a new legendary hero, new units, and more, although plans have shifted in the meantime.
Following the community uproar caused by Shadows of Change’s content-to-price ratio, the DLC is set to receive a free update in the second half of February 2024, labeled patch 4.2.
Aside from expanding the content offering for existing and future owners, in an attempt to better reflect its higher price, it also reflects the number of units and lords we can expect from future DLC.
Q2 2024
This effort to improve the quality of Warhammer 3’s post-launch content plays into the delay of the Nurgle-themed DLC until 30th April, 2024, as Creative Assembly works to “make sure that we don’t repeat our past mistakes.”
Update 5.0 launches alongside it, bringing race updates, the Nemesis Crown – a new legendary artifact similar to the Sword of Khaine – and various other changes.
It was originally meant to be followed by update 5.1, which again targets bug fixes and fixing any issues that arise following the prior update’s release, although it’s possible that the developer’s shifting plans and promised higher cadence of fixes may end up affecting its launch in some way.
Late 2024
Originally set to launch at some point during spring 2024, update 6.0, which promises yet another free legendary hero, race updates, and other features will likely end up pushed to later in the year.
Although it’s yet to be confirmed, the original roadmap image shared by Creative Assembly seemingly teases a Slaanesh-related DLC, given the pinkish-purple hues of its final section. It, too, will likely not launch during its original window. The developer will share updated plans at some point over the coming months.
Content will hopefully not end here, and we’ll update our Total War: Warhammer III’s roadmap article as we learn what’s in store for late 2024 and beyond.
Total War: Warhammer III is out now on PC. You can grab it from Fanatical, other major storefronts, as well as Xbox Game Pass.
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