At the start of Wardogs season 2, which launches next week, players will now be able to gamble on their own in-game performance. Wardogs operates with a cash-based economy, where every action rewards in-game money, and the new wager vendor will let players up the ante every time they respawn.
“Build a slip from actions (what you intend to do) and conditions (restrictions you accept in return for better odds),” reads the season 2 patch notes. “Conditions raise your payout but will fail the wager if you break them.” Additionally, a “live wager tracker” will permanently be above the minimap on your HUD, showing how much you’ve staked and your progress so far. In a press release, Bulkhead has stated that “this is the first pass of a very experimental early access feature we intend to expand over time and genuinely may add/remove from the game throughout the season if it becomes too exploitable.”
That isn’t the only significant change coming, far from it. The under-performance of Lonestar, aka the blue team, has been a well-documented phenomenon since the start of Wardogs, but for the duration of season 2, players will have more of an incentive to choose it. Lonestar will receive a cash and XP win bonus, and “teamplay action cash and XP multipliers,” to help dispel the sentiment around players not wanting to play on blue team.
In addition, “Lonestar uniforms will be more desaturated to stick out less compared to other factions,” because the visibility of blue team’s outfits was another common complaint. On Bakurani, all faction spawns have been moved and routes to the control zone have been “purpose-built.” On all maps, whichever team is losing — not just blue team — will receive a 20% vendor discount if it’s at least 40 points behind second place.
Speaking of teams, restrictions are coming to how often players can switch allegiances during a match. Once a team is more than 10 points ahead, you cannot switch teams for 15 minutes after joining one; whenever you do switch teams or join a match mid-way through, the map stays obscured until you reach the control zone; and the spawn vehicle cannot be used until you’ve reached the control zone for the first time. This is all done in an effort to prevent players from abusing the team-switch mechanics.
Season 2 is also bringing rain to Wardogs, with a new weather preset, and when the rain is particularly heavy, thunder will also occur. “It is loud enough to mask footsteps and gunfire, so use it strategically,” reads the patch notes. There are also four new weapons, four new vehicles, three new buildables, and Molotov cocktails.
Finally, there are myriad balance changes coming, too. Some of the highlights include:
- Level four armor and helmets now only reduce damage by 60% instead of 65%, and the super heavy helmet “now has muffled audio, a restricted field of view, and will fog over when you’re sprinting.”
- High-caliber rounds have had their base damage reduced, from -16% for .50 cal to -25% for .308 Winchester.
- The scout rifle has been buffed, ensuring headshots will one-shot kill targets with a level one helmet.
- Parachutes have been nerfed; they take longer to fully open, which means the minimum height to deploy has been raised. The price of a basic parachute has also increased to $500.
- Drills are now active for much less time and they cost more fuel to activate, in an effort to curb “multi drill rig builds.”
You can read the full patch notes on the official Wardogs website.
