Last Friday we talked about our top priority directions of development.

Now it’s time to talk about our first milestone.

How the game plays

Game modes rotation

As you’ve definitely noticed, we’ve been experimenting with game modes recently. Different players prefer different modes but where're the majorities? Which game modes attract the most pilots? And how it depends on the league?

That’s why we’re gathering data and analysing it. And there are already some interesting insights to share. For example, low and middle leagues play all modes almost equally, without any drastic preferences, while higher leagues prefer Beacon Rush over TDM. And higher the league — the bigger this difference gets.

Note: Domination weekend is in plans.

A reasonable question is — why not make all modes separate. The main problem is matchmaking time. For example, for bronze or silver leagues waiting time could be 10+ minutes, on average. The higher the league — the longer the wait would become, for Expert league or higher it can grow up to 30 minutes or more. That’s why we experiment searching for the best solution.

New modes

We want to make modes that are fun to play. With 3.8 update two new modes enter the game, Free for All (FFA) and Skirmish.

FFA is no beacons, no teams, every player for himself. Each kill brings a token, multi-kills bring even more of them. Tokens can be used for returning destroyed bots back to the battlefield. Each additional recovery needs more tokens. A perfect mode for pilots who prefer personal skill over teamwork!

Skirmish, a mode with a pre-set hangar. Its main feature — any robots can use any weapons. How about Pattons with four Dragoons? Or a fight between jumping robots only? Or the most fragile robots with most powerful guns? Greet the most reckless mode!

Note: FFA will enter the game with 3.8, Skirmish will come a little bit later.

How the game feels

Fair play

A report system is in our plans so that players could mark abusive behaviour or cheating. The feature is still in development, as we work through different concepts and options but plan to introduce this feature in 2018.

In one of the nearest updates, we implement respawn cooldown. It’s done to motivate pilots to put effort into every robot, not giving up too soon

Supply Drops and Battle Rewards

We want to encourage league climbing — decent play should be awarded properly. That’s one of the reasons why we introduced Supply Drops and Battle Rewards. Update 3.8 will change the type of the rewards. More about it in the upcoming article, but looking ahead — it will be easier to collect latest robots and weapons.

How the game looks

In 3.8 update we add visible capture zones to the beacons. A circle area will appear around the beacon whenever it’s active or being captured (white\blue\red accordingly). This feature will be useful both for new and experienced players.

We also plan to change the hangar look. Being home for every pilot, hangars will be cozier and easier to use at the same time. Information about the robot or its equipment will be accessed fast and simple.

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More of War Robots milestones are coming in next WR Friday. Stay tuned!