Wardogs Season 2 is underway, and developer Bulkhead hasn’t been afraid to make some bold adjustments for its first major reset of the early access period. Some of those have been less than popular among the multiplayer game’s community, however, and the developer has already released a video explaining its two biggest problems and steps being taken to correct them. This includes the removal of Blue Team bonuses, temporary bans for Driver progression exploits, and the introduction of ‘limited servers’ with lower gear caps in a forthcoming midseason update.
“We were wrong, we fucked up.” Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer acknowledges two major issues with the launch of Wardogs Season 2. The first was granting Blue Team players a cash and XP bonus in an attempt to make up for its lackluster reputation. “This was an experiment – we thought we’d have this in for about a week,” Brammer explains. Instead, they’ve already been removed.
“Immediately people were going to Blue Team, and it was the people who were try-harding who were going Blue Team.” As a result, the once-maligned side has been winning “by far the most.” The actual numbers are 5% cash and 2.5% XP, so not a huge boost, but it was enough to swing the balance for the most dedicated grinders, who often tend to be the biggest difference makers.
“The only comment that annoyed me is when people say ‘They didn’t address the core issues [with Blue Team],” Brammer reflects. “Well, actually, we did rebalance the entire spawn setup for Bakurani, and we did test that out quite a lot and see that the difference had balanced out. We should have just stuck to our guns with that, really, but here we are – we tried [the bonus], it didn’t work, this is us holding our hands up.”
Additionally, Brammer notes that while Bulkhead actually sped up progression and unlocks slightly for Season 2, “we don’t think people are feeling that.” He pins this on the second problem – an exploit with the Driver progression track that allowed players to level up fast by setting a nearby FOB and making rapid trips back and forth. This let exploiters grab tanks extremely quickly, giving the impression that they were racing ahead of the curve.
Add in the slower but cheaper T-72 tank, and Drivers were able to dominate before other roles had unlocked suitable countermeasures. While a temporary fix is going in to curb this exploit and slow progression for that track, players who exploited the XP trick “extremely obtusely” will be hit with a 24-hour ban. Brammer estimates this totals “less than a thousand people” out of the hundreds of thousands who have logged in since Season 2 began.
Brammer also confirms that one new feature is on the cards for the mid-season Wardogs update 0.25, tentatively titled ‘limited mode servers.’ This will replace low-level servers with a set of rules that remove the likes of level-four armor, along with power weapons and vehicles like tanks and artillery, capturing the early-to-midgame experience so you have the option to play that way if you prefer. “All that stuff is going to be capped out of the game so you can continue to play level-two armor, have fun around that space.”
Ultimately, it’s a reminder Wardogs is still very much in the early access process. “Respectfully, we’re trying to test things,” Brammer reminds players. “This was a mistake, this one was probably us being a bit boneheaded. We stuck to our vision, our vision was wrong, so we go, ‘Right, we’re changing it.'”
In signing off, UX Director Howard Philpott adds one more reassurance for fans of all things Blue: “Just in case anyone’s concerned, that Eiffel 65 music tape is staying in the game.”
