WARDOGS Preload Is Live Ahead of Season 1’s Slower XP Curve

BULKHEAD's Season 1.0 changes will go live with Early Access on September 10, adding report tracking, vehicle adjustments, performance fixes, and slower progression through several levels.

0 19 5 minutes read

WARDOGS soldiers cross a river near an industrial tower in a wooded battlefield.

WARDOGS preload is now available ahead of its September 10 Steam Early Access launch, giving players time to download the game before Early Access begins. The game itself is not live in Early Access yet, but BULKHEAD’s Season 1.0 changelog lays out what will change when the launch arrives.

Progression receives the sharpest adjustment. Levels 10 through 20 will take longer to complete, the curve will flatten from level 35 onward, and Artillery will move to Career level 90 while Heavy Tank moves to Driver level 35. Reaching level 20 will require 250,000 XP instead of 111,500, a 124.2% increase.

Moderation, voice chat, vehicle handling, performance, and server browsing are also receiving changes. The new report tracking system will weigh repeat and bad faith reports less heavily, while cheater bans will be announced in servers when match termination is disabled.

What changes with the September 10 launch

BULKHEAD’s notes also adjust several unlock tracks and prices. Some Driver vehicles become available earlier, while Artillery and Heavy Tank move much later in progression. The Forward Operating Base, Large Hammer, scopes, weapons, vehicles, and supply crates all receive price changes as part of the Season 1 economy pass.

On the technical side, players can turn off DLSS Frame Generation without restarting, dropped items will no longer affect navigation, and multiple crash paths have been addressed. Voice chat will also recover from failed joins more cleanly and display a visible communication status.

WARDOGS Season 1.0 Patch Notes

Exploits

Fixed an exploit that let players reach an unintended position on the church roof.

Reporting and moderation

Added a new report tracking system.
Reports are now weighted so that repeat and bad faith reporters carry less influence.
Cheater bans are now announced in server when match termination is turned off.
The kicked from server message now only appears if you were actually banned.

Server browser and front end

Reworked server browser filtering.
Fixed community server images scaling incorrectly.
The Host a server button now links straight to the hosting page.

Voice chat

Fixed voice cutting out permanently after a failed join. Stale channel rejoins, push to talk targeting and re-login all recover properly now.
Improved voice reliability under load, and added a visible communication status.

Gameplay and vehicles

Blackhawk balance pass, and a fix for sluggish pitch.
Helicopter input damping now applies to every input device.
Vehicle turrets now have a maximum operator rotation speed.
155mm, 122mm and flare deployables now take up more room in your loadout.
Fixed a DPI issue affecting tank aiming.
Brought the Blackhawk chase camera rotation rattle down by 6 dB.

Performance and stability

DLSS Frame Generation can now be turned off without restarting, and the render target pool is configurable.
Reduced shadow cache refreshes, which cuts hitching when you take control of a character.
Fixed two crash paths in the frame generation pipeline.
GPU crash reports now carry more detail, so we can act on them faster.
Removed a legacy graphics dependency.
Shadow quality is now clamped to Low on high benchmark scores rather than being switched off entirely.
Fixed a crash caused by network calls scheduled off the game thread.
Fixed a crash when closing a chatbox entry tooltip.
You can now only join a session through presence if you are friends.
Fixed a crash involving buildables.
Fixed a crash when firing a weapon whose owner had left.
Dropped items no longer affect navigation, which claws back a little performance.
Improved startup reliability, with clearer messages when something fails early and a route to recovery.

Balance changes

Looking at the data we have decided to slow levels down around 10 to 20, and flatten the curve from 35 onward. This means our median players, at 20 to 25 hours, will be around level 20, and those wanting the big ticket items, the top 5%, will need to grind. Artillery moves to Career 90 and Heavy Tank to Driver 35. Driver has also been rejigged to give a satisfying escalation through attack vehicles. Forward Operating Base and Large Hammer vendor prices have gone up to make them more of a choice.

Levels 10 to 20 slowed down, with the curve flattening from 35 onward.
Artillery moved to Career level 90, and Heavy Tank moved to Driver level 35.
Forward Operating Base and Large Hammer vendor prices raised so they are more of a choice.

XP Bands

Previously our balancing was designed specifically for weekend long beta tests. Now they will be in-line with where we believe they should be. Each season we will have a different XP curve with different item orders.

Below level 6: unchanged.
Level 6: 8,750 to 9,250, 5.7% slower.
Level 10: 25,000 to 35,000, 40.0% slower.
Level 15: 54,750 to 110,000, 100.9% slower.
Level 20: 111,500 to 250,000, 124.2% slower.
Level 25: 192,000 to 325,000, 69.3% slower.
Level 30: 293,750 to 400,000, 36.2% slower.
Level 35: 416,500 to 500,000, 20.0% slower.
Level 40: 551,250 to 650,000, 17.9% slower.
Level 45: 689,500 to 800,000, 16.0% slower.
Level 50: 838,000 to 1,000,000, 19.3% slower.

XP Events

Player kill using an air vehicle: 300 XP to 250 XP.
Supply crate item sold under $75: 25 XP to 1 XP.

Economy Changes

Every price change in one place. Level moves stay with their track.

Vendor, Forward Operating Base: $2,500 to $7,500.
Vendor, Large Hammer: $1,600 to $2,400.
Career, Artillery Tank: $400,000 to $500,000.
Recon, 6-10x MRAD scope: $25,000 to $40,000.
Recon, 6-10x MOA scope: $30,000 to $45,000.
Support, Medium Hammer: $10,000 to $25,000.
Support, Large Hammer: $25,000 to $75,000.
Pilot, small armoured supply crate: $5,000 to $10,000.
Pilot, Little Bird with miniguns: $25,000 to $50,000.
Pilot, Blackhawk: $50,000 to $35,000.
Driver, URAL: $50,000 to $35,000.
Driver, Dune Buggy: $35,000 to $25,000.
Driver, Kodiak Flatbed: $15,000 to $35,000.
Driver, Music Tape H: $5,000 to $2,500.

Rebalanced the role track XP curve from level 6 upward. Level 6 moves from 8,750 to 9,250, roughly 5.7% slower, with a larger increase at level 10.

Rescaled the supply crate purchase curve from 25 to 250 down to 1 to 200, so low value items are priced sensibly and cannot be abused.

Season 1.0 Unlocks Career

Sports Parachute: level 36 to level 35.
Large Backpack: level 56 to level 55.
762x54mm AP: level 83 to level 82.
556mm AP: level 85 to level 83.
Deagle: level 90 to level 85.
Artillery Tank: level 55 to level 90.

Season 1.0 Unlocks Medic

PP-19 50 round drum magazine: level 33 to level 29.

Season 1.0 Unlocks Support

Large Hammer: level 7 to level 8.

Season 1.0 Unlocks Driver

URAL: level 4 to level 3.
Kodiak Assault: level 8 to level 6.
Dune Buggy: level 10 to level 8.
Kodiak Flatbed: level 2 to level 10.
Large Supply Crate: level 20 to level 16.
URAL Covered: level 30 to level 18.
Music Tape H: moves from Pilot level 28 to Driver level 23.
URAL Attack: level 40 to level 25.
Humvee with minigun: level 35 to level 30.
Heavy Tank: moves from Career level 35 to Driver level 35.

Will the slower progression make Season 1 feel better paced, or will the higher XP requirements create too much of a grind? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

Wardogs is a tactical all out warfare FPS where one hundred players split across three teams fight over the control zone. Set in the derelict industrial mountains of Eastern Europe on a destructible battlefield where teamwork pays and cash is king.