This year we added two new game modes to War Robots. First one, the Beacon Rush, was a success both in popularity and reception, so we added it to the game on a permanent basis. Team Deathmatch was very popular as well (at least third of our playerbase steadily played it during its availability), but there still was a lot where we could improve and we pulled it back for improvements.
So what's coming next?
At the beginning adding new modes into game was pretty a terra incognita for War Robots — and even now there still a lot of unexplored land. We are eager to keep trying new ideas to see what else our (and your!) robots are capable of.
For now we’re sticking with 2 matchmaking queues: one for new experimental modes and one for proven ones. Once we’re sure that experimental mode “clicked”, we add it to the main rotation.
“Why not adding a separate queue for every mode?” — you might ask. The more queues we add, the more we segregate the player base and, consequently, the worse matchmaking time and quality becomes. Silver and Gold players are unlikely to feel the difference, as most of the player base is currently there. Other groups, however, are much more vulnerable to queue changes — newcomers and Champions especially: newbies haven’t yet reached the most populated leagues, and Champions are already far past them.
So in conclusion, sticking to less queues is vital for matchmaking quality. Either we stop introducing new modes entirely, or we go for a compromise. We went for the second option — at least, for the time being.
Next in the line
Team Deathmatch Overhaul
Update 3.5
Team Deathmatch scratched the same itch for many players: why bothering about beacons if all you need is killing?
In this next revision TDM we want to give more opportunities for people preferring close combat. Initially, they had a hard time keeping up with snipers on larger maps, so we're addressing this.
Spawn zones tweaks
On every map each team will have 3 locations to start from. More to that, everyone will be be able to choose the initial spawn location. If you’re a brawler — go ahead and start closer to the enemy, if you’re a sniper — spawn on the far sides of the map, and so on. We are also highlighting these locations on the map, so you will know where you opponents might appear.
More cover
When there are beacons to capture, vast open spaces make sense. They are dangerous, but you HAVE to cover them in order to reach the beacon and bring your team the points.
In TDM there are no beacons to care about and open fields simply become the places of no-go. So on large and open maps (think: Springfield, Yamantau and Canyon) it becomes very frustrating to play against snipers. To give knife-fighters more opportunities to shine, we added more cover on these maps. At this point — exclusively for TDM.
King of the Hill (KotH)
Winter 2018
After another TDM run we’ll be introducing King of the Hill. In this mode teams are fighting over one active beacon. As one team controls the beacon, it receives points, but each beacon has a limited amount of points in it. Once its reserves are depleted, this beacon shuts down — and another one becomes active. Match goes until one team has enough points to win or until the timer goes to zero
KotH already creates some very interesting dynamics. The team that grabs the beacon first receives a significant advantage, so fast robots are really useful here.
Once pushing the enemy away, teams have to hold the ground firmly. Long-rangers can help with that, thinning the enemy lines as they approaches — but have in mind that KoTH maps, just as in TDM 2.0, will have more cover overall, and when enemies manage to reach the beacons, snipers will have a very hard time defending. So don’t bank on snipers too much.
Playable on test server!
Sounds interesting? You can already try KotH on the upcoming test session and tell us if you like it! The test server will be open on December 09-10th from 7 to 10 PM in the following timezones: GMT/UTC (Universal Time Coordinated), EST (Eastern Standard Time), PT (Pacific Time)
Here you can learn how to join:
To stay updated on Test server news, follow this group.
Free-for-All (FFA)
Spring 2018
This is the simplest one to explain: everyone on the battlefield fight for themselves. It’s a chance to prove yourself and only yourself, as you don’t have to rely on your teammates in Free-for-All.
As this mode implies very different gameplay even by its concept, there are many very, very experimental concepts we want to try in it. We'll tell you more about what we have in mind closer to FFA release.
