I summoned the Fourth Scourge in Warhammer

Chapter 41 Preparing to Welcome the New [Death Seekers]

Ruan Wenbo was being tightly protected by the players at the rear of the group. He was like a fragile and precious object, and he was only allowed to advance a short distance with the main force after the scouts at the front confirmed that there were no threats in the passage that stretched for tens of meters.

This situation would undoubtedly be incredibly frustrating for commanders who prefer to be on the front lines and fight alongside their soldiers. However, for Nguyen Van Bo, it wasn't all bad.

At least, being in such an absolutely safe environment for an extended period gave him ample time and energy to consider things crucial to the development of those destined for death. For example, whether or not to plan ahead and establish clearly defined regimental and battalion structures; and to write a guiding paper on how players at each level can most efficiently utilize their merit points.

The former is not in a hurry. After all, before the strength of the "Death Squad" is truly expanded to the size of a battalion, no matter how comprehensive the plan is, it is just empty talk.

However, the latter is better the sooner it's released. A detailed guide to using merit points will help every player—whether a seasoned veteran or a soon-to-be recruit—to more efficiently utilize merit points to enhance their combat capabilities. And the improvement in an individual player's combat strength will ultimately be directly reflected in the strength of the entire company.

However, Ruan Wenbo knew very well that something so important couldn't be rushed. He had to ensure that every single passage was rigorously examined, logical, unambiguous, and completely correct—at least, correct at this stage of the game.

Therefore, it was necessary for him to inquire about and collect data on each player's experience using the equipment. Currently, the game is still in its early stages, and players' curiosity and desire to explore are at their peak. Various types of equipment are being purchased to try out, which makes it easier for Ruan Wenbo to collect data and avoids the awkward situation where some equipment is unused, leading to a lack of practical experience to support his assessment.

Just as Ruan Wenbo was immersed in his thoughts, outlining his thesis, the person next to him, whose name he hadn't decided yet, quietly nudged him with their elbow, immediately snapping him out of his reverie and making him instinctively wary.

"What happened?" he asked in a low voice.

Aside from the subtle movement between the two, the surrounding players appeared completely normal, maintaining their alert formation as if nothing had happened. After all, if they were to rush over now, it would be tantamount to announcing to any potential enemies lurking in the shadows through a megaphone: "Our commander is right here, focus fire!"
[Name? Haven't thought of one yet] Without further explanation, he simply said, "Company Commander, check the forum. The official announcement has been released."

Upon hearing this, Ruan Wenbo's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly opened the player forum on his retina interface. At a glance, he saw the red pinned post by the official planner [Bit]—"Necessary Announcement Regarding the Third Closed Beta Test".

Upon seeing this title, Ruan Wenbo's heart sank. Was the third closed beta test about to begin? They were still carrying out a crucial rescue mission in the game! Whether they could rescue that mechanical priest was paramount, as it affected the company's subsequent artillery support and equipment manufacturing. If the game were to force an update at this critical juncture, kicking everyone offline… the developers absolutely had to avoid messing with them at this crucial moment!

However, as soon as Ruan Wenbo's gaze swept over the main text, his tense nerves instantly relaxed, and he let out a long sigh of relief.

The announcement was clear and concise, mainly covering three points:
1. To provide a smoother gaming experience, this update will be performed without system downtime. Furthermore, starting with this update, all future version updates and content iterations will prioritize non-downtime updates.

II. To ensure a smooth integration experience for new recruits and maintain the stability of the current battle situation, the qualification distribution method will be modified. The 1,000 qualifications for the third closed beta test will no longer be distributed all at once, but will instead be distributed in batches of 10-20 qualifications per day based on Earth time, until all 1,000 qualifications have been distributed. III. To avoid qualification hoarding and waste, all players who have obtained test qualifications must activate their qualifications and create a character within 24 hours of receiving notification; otherwise, the qualifications will be automatically revoked by the system and returned to the distribution pool.

After reading the announcement word by word, Ruan Wenbo's worries vanished, leaving only a sense of joy.

It's safe to say that every single point in this announcement is entirely beneficial to the players. The non-stop update completely resolves their biggest concern: mission interruption. It ensures that closed beta testers can freely control their game time and no longer have to worry about being forcibly logged off halfway through the game.

The phased and small-scale distribution of qualifications minimized the potential chaos caused by an influx of new players. With only a dozen or twenty new recruits arriving at a time, it was well within the company's capacity to absorb them. Each squad would then assign one or two new recruits, with veterans providing hands-on training. By the time the next batch of new players arrived, the previous batch would have already become seasoned veterans familiar with the battlefield.

In this way, the suicide squad could smoothly complete its expansion, transitioning from a single company to a nascent infantry regiment.

At least it won't be like the beginning of the second closed beta, where the command system was basically inoperable and the game was held together by the players' invincibility.

The joy he felt from the announcement hadn't lingered in his heart for long before his gaze moved down to the end of the announcement, where he saw the specific time for the official start of the third closed beta test.

The announcement stated: The third closed beta test will officially begin on July 3rd, Earth time.

Based on the 3:1 conversion between in-game time and Earth time, the first batch of new players will arrive in a little over two days.

He glanced at the bottomless, dark tunnel ahead of the column, and was absolutely certain that this operation would not be completed in just two days. Given the intensity of the fighting and the pace of advance, it would be perfectly normal for them to remain out there for another ten days to two weeks.

Thinking of this, Ruan Wenbo suddenly realized a crucial question, and his face darkened – should the new players bring their own basic bulletproof armor and laser guns, or should the "Death Squad" provide them on the spot?
If it's the former, then everyone is happy, saving countless troubles.

But what if it's the latter? Given this game's consistently hardcore style and its emphasis on player community self-driven development, the latter possibility is probably quite high. The game developers might simply give new players a bare character and leave the equipment issue entirely to the players to solve collectively.

If it's the latter... then as a company commander, his merits will probably be greatly diminished.

(End of this chapter)