Update 1.2

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:

• New Units
• Rivals Champions
• Experience System
• Player Level Update
• Economy Changes
• Daily Featured Unit Crates
• Map Changes

War Dogs

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.

Widowmaker

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

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.

Experience System

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:

• Playing a match – players earn a small amount of XP for every match. You earn slightly more XP for winning than for losing.
• Battle Bonus – bonus experience for the first 10 battles of the day
• Completing Bounties
• Progressing to a new Division
• Donating Cards in your Alliance
• Training and leveling up units

Player Level Update

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.

Player Level Migration

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.

Unit Unlock Order Updated

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:

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.

Landing Page Changes

We continue to improve the landing page, to make it more intuitive to use. In this Update, we have made the following changes:

•  The Free Crate has been moved to the Crate tab in the Store
• The navigation buttons that were located on the left side of the landing page have moved to the bottom right of the page.

Unit Training and Level Up Costs

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.

• Training costs have been normalized for the three rarities.  Epic and Rare units used to cost more to train.  This is no longer true.
• Training costs have increased for Common units levels 11+
• Training costs have decreased slightly for Rare units level 4+
• Training costs have decreased slightly for Epic units levels 6+
• Card costs have decreased for Common units levels 7-13
• Card costs have decreased for Rare units levels 7+
• Card costs have decreased for Epic units for all levels

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.

Other Rewards

With the launch of our Player Level update there are many changes coming to the various reward systems in the game:  

Bounty Rewards

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.

• The bounty reward starts at 60 Credits at level 1
• The reward increases by 20 Credits every 3 levels until level 16.  It then upgrades by 20 Credits every 6 levels until level 58, where each bounty is worth 300 Credits

Victory Credits

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:

• We are increasing the amount of Credits earned per victory.  Players level 1 earn 40 Credits per victory.
• This amount increases by 5 Credits every 5 levels, maxing at 100 Credits per victory at level 60
• The number of eligible victories has decreased to 10 wins from 20.

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.

Alliance Donations

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)

• Players at max level can earn up to 1500 Credits per day from donating (down from 2000).  All other donation related values at max level are the same.
• Due to the change from 20 Player Levels to 60, the number of cards received and max credits earned per level increase differently over time than before.

Crates

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.  

Daily Featured Unit Crates

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

• Moved the single Tiberium spot. It is now the first destination that a Harvester chooses automatically.

Battlefield

• Moved the rocks inward to allow for 2-on-1 attacks into the chokepoint

Canal Row

• Removed two rocks from the bottom of the map and changed two rocks to lakes to reduce chokepoints

Center Rally

• Redesigned the map to help reduce stalemates

Middle Oasis

• Changed the first Harvester destination to the middle Tiberium

Peaks and Valleys

• Removed some of the blockers from the middle of the map to open up cross point combat

Tiberium Stripes

• Moved blockers and Tiberium fields to open up the bottom of the map

Two Fuses

• Changed to 4 hex capture points to reduce the number of stalemates

Stonewall

• Moved Tiberium to allow for double Harvester play and open up pathing on the bottom of the map

Slashed Fields

• Moved Tiberium to reduce late game Harvester kills