The latest Update introduces a new time-limited game mode - Rivals Champions, two new units, an updated player level system based on experience, adjustments to unit training and level costs, changes to Credits earned from bounties, Alliance donations, and victories, and map balance changes. Continue reading to learn about all the exciting changes coming in Update 1.2!
Table of Contents:
GDI War Dogs are an evolution of a quadrupedal chassis that was built for a 1/200th scale prototype of the Mammoth Mk. II walker. Although that chassis design was unworkable at Mammoth scale, GDI scientists found it to be an excellent platform on which to build a light autonomous scout vehicle.
The Widowmaker is designed to defend high cost Temple units from infantry and airborne threats. It’s fearsome looks are backed up by a dual flame-thrower and an abdomen mounted missile battery. The Widowmaker went through many iterations but the final arachnoidian design was selected by Gideon Raveshaw himself for its “sense of style and class.”
Read the full details, including tips and tricks, here.
Rivals Champions is a signature in-game competitive experience modeled after the incredibly popular FUT Champions mode in FIFA. Essentially, you get to go on a run of matches in a unique Champions matchmaking pool, and the better you perform, the bigger rewards you earn -- this is on top of the standard rewards for playing battles. You also get to make a name for yourself on Rivals Champions leaderboards.
Find out more about Rivals Champions here.
With this Update, we are introducing a new Experience (XP) system. Players can now earn XP from a variety of in-game activities. It is not possible to lose XP, so your Experience can only increase as you play Rivals.
Ways to earn Experience:
Player level was linked to Medals. As you earned Medals, your player level increased and as your level decreased when you lost Medals. We’re changing it so that your player level depends on the experience that you earn for playing the game. This means that your player level will only increase over time.
New units and Commanders will continue to be unlocked and available in Crates with increasing player levels. In addition, we are introducing level specific rewards that players will automatically receive when reaching a new level. These rewards will vary with player level. After reaching the maximum player level, players continue to earn experience to receive a repeatable reward.
We want all players to enjoy the rewards they would have received. Players will receive all rewards from player level 1 to their current level.
With this Update, the maximum player level changed from 20 to 60. Player levels have been adjusted for all players to accommodate the increased maximum player level. These adjustments were done to ensure that most players had access to the same units as before the Update. The unit unlock sequence for players below level 9 has changed; see below for more details.
In the Update, we made some changes to the unit unlock order. These changes are to help players learn new mechanics and ensure that key unit counters are in place. For players below level 9, several units have been removed and others have been added. If the unit unlock level has increased, the new unlock level is noted.
Unit unlock levels that have been updated:
Previous Player Level | Unlocked in the Update | Locked in the Update |
4 | Orca Talon Drone Swarm Flame Troopers Tick Tank | Inferno (now unlocks at level 58) |
6 |
| Disrupter (now unlocks at level 30) Giga-Cannon (now unlocks at level 20) |
7 |
| A.P.C. (now unlocks at level 34) |
8 | M.L.R.S. Chem Warriors | Chem Buggy (now unlocks at level 32) |
Players who previously unlocked and earned a Card for one of the locked units can still use that unit in battle. Cards will no longer drop from Crates for those units until players reach the new unlock levels.
We continue to improve the landing page, to make it more intuitive to use. In this Update, we have made the following changes:
We continue to monitor how units of different rarities level up and have made some changes in our past few updates to help Epic and Rare units stay in line with Common units. With this next Update, we are making some major changes to the amount of cards and credits it takes to train and level up units.
For levels that have had credit and/or card costs reduced, we will be reimbursing your accounts with the credits and/or cards you spent to reach that specific unit level. For example, the cost to upgrade an Epic unit to level 7 used to cost 4 cards. In this Update, that same level-up costs 3 cards, and anyone that has upgraded an Epic unit to 7 will be granted 1 card of that unit to their inventory. This reimbursement will apply cumulatively to all unit levels that have been reduced this Update.
With the launch of our Player Level update there are many changes coming to the various reward systems in the game:
The amount of Credits earned from bounties has been slightly rebalanced with the Player Level update. At max level, we realized a higher percentage of your Credits were coming from bounties than from Crates, and so the amount of Credits earned per bounty at max level have been reduced and have been reallocated to the Common and Uncommon Crates earned each day from consuming Fuel.
We understand that earning Credits from battle is an important source of income for many players. We are happy that some of you love the game and show that devotion by playing a ton of battles each day. There is also a large group of you that love this game but are unable to play as much. And, through looking at data and via feedback, we realize that the Credits income of players that cannot play as much is greatly suffering. Thus, in this Update, we are making some changes to how Credits are earned:
For those of you that play a ton of battles each day, we understand this change may feel counterintuitive. We are constantly monitoring both data and qualitative feedback, and this is a part of the game we are passionate about making feel good to all players.
Being able to target specific unit cards or earn some extra credits is important to training and upgrading your army. One thing that stood out to us, however, was that players at max level were earning too many Credits per day from donations when compared to other credit sources. Donations is still an important source of Credits, but has been reduced at max level (level 60 compared to the old level 20)
As with the previous level structure, all Crates will increase in value as you increase your player level. We have, however, made changes to the growth algorithm of Crates so that they are more in line with the growth of your available units as you level up. This means that when you gain access to a new Rare Unit, all crates will drop more Rare Cards; and this is the same for Common and Epic Units as well.
We have also made some changes to the Epic and Colossal Crates, because we heard that fewer, larger stacks of cards feel better when opening Crates. These Crates used to drop cards for 7 and 8 different units, respectively. With this Update, the Epic Crate drops cards for 6 different units, and the Colossal Crate drops cards for 7 different units.
We have added a new option to the Crates tab of the Store starting at Player Level 9. Many of you gave us feedback that the faction-specific Crates in the Store did not feel compelling. Thus, we have created the “Daily Featured Unit Crates”. These crates combine a faction crate with 5 extra guaranteed copies of the Epic Unit featured in your Daily Cards for each faction. For example, if your daily Nod Epic card is Cyborgs, then the Nod Daily Featured Unit Crate will grant 5 additional Cyborg Cards plus all the contents of a Nod Crate.
The following maps have been updated:
Battle Quadrants
Battlefield
Canal Row
Center Rally
Middle Oasis
Peaks and Valleys
Tiberium Stripes
Two Fuses
Stonewall
Slashed Fields