Today, we have deployed the first set of updates of major progression/balance changes, to make the game more engaging and interesting to play throughout. Mostly these changes will be noticed by new/“early game“ players and those who’ve reached the latest most stages of the game. The first set of changes is affecting only BootCamp! WarZone will be getting major changes as well, but due to the nature of it it requires more testing and fine-tuning to ensure we do not „break“ the existing experience for anyone, so changes there will be deployed next week.

After gathering statistics, feedback and a lot of testing these were the main issues we wanted to improve in BootCamp:
Too fast progression made things hard to follow/understand for most new players, as well as going through some early/mid game progression obstacles too quickly, and making the game feel “too easy”.

Super Late game was too uneventful with too slow progression and taking just too long before doing anything major again in BootCamp. Note that this is hard to balance and build “too in advance”, especially because any low/mid game changes affect the late game as well. So we first had to tackle with early/mid game, before taking that as a basis for further late game improvements. We’ve deployed the first set of late-game improvements and will be adding more in the following weeks slowly, as it’s a delicate balance we could easily break without enough testing for each.

 

In short, here’s the list of changes made (we’re happy to answer any further specifics or clarify something further, this is a general overview of what was changed):
First thing we wanted to improve in BootCamp was tackle with the Daily Voting for boosts. It made any other upgrades/boosts insignificant, and since it is not controlled by us if the votes work, it is something that could ruin your progression/experience. Votes basically were required for “ideal progression”, which we realize should NOT lead the game experience, as it’s something you might not want to do. So we have narrowed down the voting options from 7 sites to only 3, and each giving a 1.2x production multiplier instead of 1.5x. To make up for the boosts these votes gave, we have added a number of upgrades mid and especially late game to “make up” for the ~x17 total boost the votes were previously able to give.

Furthermore, to make voting far more convenient we have extended the boost the give from 24 hours to 36 hours.  You will now also be able to extend the voting bonuses BEFORE it runs out – specifically after 12 or less hour of a bonus are left you will be able to vote again (as it’s a new day)  to re-extend the bonus to 36 hours. This will allow you to not have to worry about voting exactly every 24 hours (especially in case the voting site does not work properly at that time), and give you some much-needed freedom

 

Trainer costs (just basic which are bought with PowerPoints) have been increased, along with initial unit costs have been increased to adjust for a better new user experience. Consequently, unit prices will affect game unit prices throughout the game. i.e. if a unit’s base price has been increased from 1 to 4, that would mean that it would cost 4x as much at any point in the game. But due to the exponential nature of the game, this will hardly affect mid/late game progression, its main purpose is to improve the early game experience.

 

We made some adjustments to unit milestones and Renown thresholds as well to make them more consistent with what we had in mind with them. i.e. WarLord is now at e120 where it was previously at e90. Note: If you already achieved a renown previously, you will not get its reward again once you pass e120.

 

We did quite major changes with upgrades in BootCamp where we reduced some of the boosts and removed some of the upgrades in early/mid game, but we added a lot of them in late game (mainly e90+). Due to the way upgrades are implemented, changing/adding/removing upgrades results in users seeing them differently once you get back into the game.

 

For example, you might notice you have lost a few upgrades you previously bought, or on the contrary actually gained new ones without buying them. Please note that actually you still own the same amount of upgrades you bought, but they just might be different ones, meaning that your gain per cycle for units might be different (higher OR lower) than before this update. Furthermore, especially at later stages, you might be able to buy tons of upgrades (some you owned previously already, but now they’ve been pushed back by others you own instead of them) immediately once you get back into the game, which should result in a sizable increase in your PP gain compared to before.

 

Please note that these changes you might notice in unit pricing, PP gain and specific upgrades you owned are deliberate and although it might for some of you appear weird/different at first, it will result in a better progression balance and overall improved experience of your future progression

 

We have done a lot of testing at various levels in-game with actual live account copies, to ensure we didn’t break anything for anyone, at any level. Just that first experience & some gains/upgrades/costs changed might be slightly different than some of you remember, and those with any significant changes (late game) will see a much better progression just minutes after getting back into the game!

 

If anything is unclear for anyone, we’ll be happy to expand further on it, just let us know, we hope you like the changes!

Also, in the following days we will be releasing more info on the upcoming WarZone progression changes as well as some cool new addition to the game – customizable profiles and information on upcoming Country Invasion rework – so make sure to check back