Fellas, I'm leaving for work in 30 minutes and if any of you pass my progression I'm going to be REALLY MAD and will make a reddit thread complaining about it. It would be unfair for you to make progress when I can't!

After I get home from work, make dinner, feed my kids, pet my dog, watch the football game, drink 3 beers and take an evening nap I'll be on for a 2 hour period before I have to go to bed with my wife (who I hate), which I will be spending building the most raidable fobs ever seen. Only during that specific 2 hour window will it be acceptable for you to make any progress (but if you make too much I will cry about that too).

Signed,

The main character of the universe

Can’t get much play time during the week so last night was my first dive back into season 2. Played 3 games, had fun, got some kills, got killed. It’s not that bad guys.

Just to counteract the loud voices that do not represent every player, I want to say thank you for faster progression.

It feels good to unlock things quicker. It feels good to have access to counters more quickly against players that will ALWAYS be further along than me on the progression tree, no matter the XP curve.

At least now I can access counter weapons and I don't have to make Wardogs a full time job.

Are there issues with vertical balance? Yes, but faster progression helps, not hurts, the average player.

after loading up supplies and keeping the doors locked even tho he has 1 seat available 😐

The problem was never progression. It was always balance. The problem with last season, and this one, is balance.

Look at other games like Battlefield or Hell Let Loose. From the minute you open your first match, you have access to all the tools you need to play. You can access anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons immediately, the starting rifles and pistols are viable, and each specialty has equipment which allows it to perform it's role. As you progress you get access to weapons and equipment which fit certain niche roles better. As an example, in the Battlefield series you typically unlock the RPG automatically. It can be used against infantry, structures, tanks, or aircraft, but it's not particularly good at any of those things. Next you unlock the Javelin which is really good against tanks or other vehicles, but can't be used against these other targets and carries less ammo. It's a tradeoff geared towards developing niches, but at no time are you completely unable to counter certain playstyles.

The issue with Wardogs is that there are significant stretches where you either can't play a particular role or you lack meaningful counters. I am not saying that high-level gear shouldn't confer advantages, my point is that you should be able to play the game from the moment you open it. The main question should be "can a Level 1 player meaningfully contribute to a match" rather than what they seem to be asking which is "how quickly should someone get from level 1 to 100?". If the player has to drag their balls through glass to get to level 100 it really doesn't matter if that takes 60 hours of gameplay or 6, they aren't going to do it.

A great example of this is how many pieces of equipment go completely unused the second you unlock the next tier. A hopefully uncontroversial example of this is the hammers. No one purchases the small hammer the moment you unlock the later tiers. In order to unlock these later tiers, you have to run around wasting your teams resources building useless sandbag walls or hoping you can land hits on someone else's project. While you quickly graduate from this, until you do you're stuck in a position where you can't actually play as a builder/support and you're not contributing to the team. In fact, you're arguably a detriment to the team because the things you can do take resources away from useful projects. Adjusting how long you are in that state is missing the point. Unlocks should unlock niches, not essential functions. The other hammers should allow you to do something unique. Perhaps the base hammer can only build inside the FOB, but other hammers can build outside of it and in addition one of them can build faster, but at a greater supply cost or vice versa. Of course there should also be an increase in cost associated with these different tools. (These are just illustrative of my point, not necessarily specific recommendations). This same dynamic exists across most of the potential roles and their associated weapons/equipment in this game.

In my opinion, progression was never really the issue. The issue was that necessary equipment was locked behind a grind. As the disparity between the "haves" and "have-nots" grew, this was mistaken as an issue with progression. Give players access to at least the fundamental equipment needed to play the game and I think a lot of the complaints of late would be sorted out.

A common strategy I am seeing on day 2(!) of the patch is esports athletes dropping on towers with end game guns (DMR, FAL) and huge backpacks with ammo and meds, and they kill 10s of employed noobs below with objectively better weaponry.

Headshotting them is pointless because my shitty level 1 gun doesn't even two shot their heads.

What are we employed fodder supposed to do against these warriors??? Help!!!!!

think of it this way; the havoc pilot isn't gonna unlock a bigger havoc. he's at the end. he's peaked. there is no further power for him to wring out of the pilot tree.

you will always be playing some % of the time that the hypothetical sweatlord unemployed monster under your bed is. if he plays 5X as much as you, you progress at 1/5th the rate of him.

if he unlocks a havoc in 2 days, you would unlock it in 10. maybe he plays 10 times as much as you, so you unlock it in 20?

how long does it take you to unlock a maaws? (17 levels earlier than the havoc)

maybe you need a gepard to counter that havoc (15 levels earlier)

maybe you only need a tier 3 hammer to open up access to the CWIS (27 levels earlier)

whatever you think you need to play "fairly" against the havoc, how long does it take you to get it? how long is that gap between the 2 of you?

he gets a havoc on day 2, you don't get it until day 10. that is 8 days of havoc imbalance because progression is way too fast and this wipe is cooked.

so lets slow down progression, right? everything should take twice as long to unlock, that will surely solve it! he won't have his havoc until day 4! and you won't have yours until day 20. 8 days of havoc inequality just became 16.

we should quadruple it! oh wait... now we have over a month of havoc inequality...

we all play by the same rules; at least he hits a cap.

there's a million other ways to mitigate this issue; rested XP, weekly caps, just balance the game better...

but a blanket slowdown just makes the gap even wider unless the slowdown is SO dramatic that the havoc pilot doesn't get his havoc at all until close to the end of the season. in which case ok sure? enjoy your AK74 and nothing else i guess?

i'd personally rather get the unlocks out of the way and play with the toys. even if it means that guy gets to play with the toys first, rather than we never get to play with the toys ever and he gets them for a weekend at the end of the season?

downvote away gentlemen; but i sincerely believe that, all other things being equal, faster progression is better than slower progression. even for us working chumps.

This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I think the changes to the parachute were in the right direction, but I don't think they went high enough.

As a heli pilot I was expecting this update to force me to choose between landing or dropping people at hight and risk them getting shot or spotted on the way down.

I haven't really felt much difference. 50m isn't that high and most people still bring a parachute and jump put anyway. I generally fly quite low and I haven't seen anyone get injured from the fall.

Personally, I think the minimum you can open a parachute without getting injured needs to be higher still. 100m maybe.

EDIT: As a pilot, I like being told what to do. Give me an objective. You choose the risk. Want me to land in the HZ? Lets go. Want me to take you high above a tower so you can parachute on top? No problem. Not everyone is going to do what you ask but that applies to any role. Just communicate.

There is just no winning a gun trades with these damn thing pkm having recoil equivalent to getting kicked by a horse and taking 5 shots to chest against LVL 1 armor!! So stupid and very similar situation with Sks these changes had to have very little thought put into to them.

only real problem child’s we’re the FAL and on a lesser scale the mini gun birds but they fucked over dmr’s and lmg’s

I googled lakota tree and found out it's actually a thing lol.

"Enhance your landscape with Lakota Pecan Tree. Easy to grow and beautiful in every season—perfect for adding color, texture, and curb appeal."

Recovered this heli after btw lol. I just cut the throttle and it slided down but broke the rotors. Had to go to nearest fob for wrench, repaired it and continued logi lol.

NOT. I am having so much fun all over again. I do not fucking care if I'm behind, or if I'm technically a Battledad, or if I'm employed. IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER. Just like 95% of this subreddit's opinion. Stupid idiots thinking whinging on reddit all day will fix anything or make it better. You're to blame for the XP whiplash. You suck and it's very apparent. G'day.