WARDOGS Season 2 Removes Blue Team Bonuses After the Experiment Backfires
Bulkhead is also fixing a Driver progression exploit, wiping exploiters' cash and XP, and planning limited-mode servers for midseason.
Bulkhead has removed WARDOGS Season 2’s cash and XP bonuses for Blue after the faction began winning by a wide margin. CEO Joe Brammer acknowledged that the experiment had gone wrong, and the studio is also correcting a Driver progression exploit that let players reach tanks unusually quickly.
Season 2 went live on October 15, 2026, with broad combat and server changes, including faster role progression. The bonuses applied to Lonestar, WARDOGS’ Blue faction, and offered 5% more cash and 2.5% more XP. Bulkhead said median players saw little benefit, while top-tier players received much larger boosts. UX director Howard Philpott also said the incentives were affecting how players joined games and got matches started, taking the imbalance beyond the results on the battlefield.
We're holding our hands up and we got a few things wrong.
We are pushing a backend update:
▫️Removing Blue Cash & XP Bonus
▫️Driver Progression Fixes
▫️Fixing Driver Exploit Preventing lots of players from accessing tanks too early
▫️Coming Soon: Limited Mode Servers (No Power… pic.twitter.com/Od82Eolk5S— WARDOGS (@WARDOGS) October 15, 2026
Bulkhead says the revised faction spawns on Bakurani have helped and will remain in place. The bonus was a separate, short-term experiment, and removing it does not undo the spawn changes.
Driver progression created a different problem. Players could place a nearby forward operating base, then earn XP through repeated trips back and forth, unlocking tanks much earlier than other roles could access suitable counters. The slower but cheaper T-72 added pressure to those matches. A temporary fix will curb the exploit and slow progression on the Driver track.
Players Bulkhead identifies as clear exploiters will receive 24-hour bans and have their cash and XP wiped. Brammer estimated that fewer than 1,000 players would be affected, out of the hundreds of thousands who have logged in since Season 2 began.
Bulkhead also plans limited-mode servers for the midseason Update 0.25. The servers would exclude level-four armor, power weapons, and vehicles such as tanks and artillery, letting players stick with level-two armor and early-to-midgame equipment. UX director Howard Philpott also confirmed that the Eiffel 65 music tape will remain in the game.
What equipment restrictions would make WARDOGS’ planned limited-mode servers useful without cutting out too much of the game’s progression? Follow the season’s balance changes and server plans on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
Wardogs
Developed by Bulkhead
