Greetings commanders! As many of you will have probably seen, the Space Wolves are coming into the game! The spawn of Leman Russ will howl into the fray on the 23rd of October, unleashing their fury alongside a major update bringing big changes to the game.
Keep reading to find out what’s changing and an address to player feedback. This is a big one, so if you’d rather get the gist of it, you can check out the summarized version.
Skirmish is here to stay!
Fast-paced gameplay, tighter deck-building, and a more accessible experience made Skirmish an instant favourite for us, so we’re very happy that the community’s reaction matched our own. The last Skirmish event showed us just how much potential this mode holds, and while we’ll keep fine-tuning it in the future, we’re confident the current formula delivers a fun and competitive experience.
With the arrival of the Space Wolves on October 23rd, Skirmish mode returns permanently, complete with its own rankings and leaderboards. You’ll also be able to challenge your friends and alliance-mates to Skirmish matches, so gear up for lightning-fast duels and high octane conquest of glory (and bragging rights)!
Changes to the new player experience
Since the start of the first Skirmish event, the game mode has shown major potential to be more than a seasonal pastime. In fact, the reduced deck limit was received very positively by newer and casual players. After seeing the data from both events, we have decided to make Skirmish the gateway for new players.
After the update on the 23rd of October, new players will start their journey in Skirmish mode. The tutorial and early progression will be tailored to this format, offering a smoother, more approachable experience. The first faction selection for a new player will also be limited to 4 factions which we believe to be the better suited factions to start the game: Ultramarines, Orks, Black Legion and Sautekh Dynasty.
That said, this shift also allowed us to make a highly requested change, as is excitedly announced in the next header.
Starter decks are back!
Earlier this year, we moved the starter decks you could earn in faction campaigns to only be available for premium campaign holders. In exchange, the first many reward nodes of the regular campaign would grant additional bursts of random cards from that faction. This change was an attempt to avoid newer players feeling overwhelmed by the starter deck, suddenly receiving dozens of new cards they may have never seen before.
In the end, this change would grant players many more cards than a starter deck, but at a slower pace, aiming to allow players to meet a faction step by step. However, with Skirmish’s smaller deck sizes and easier learning curve, it’s the perfect time to reintroduce starter decks—now redesigned for Skirmish.
With the return of Starter decks we will also readjust the first nodes of all campaigns so that in the end it gives a similar number of cards than before. You will also see that some nodes that gave random cards will be changed for specific cards that make sense as options to tweak starter decks. With these changes, we hope that starting a new campaign will now feel more rewarding than ever!
Collector Level and changes to the core game
New players will not be able to see Classic mode from the start. We are adding a Collector Level to each player’s profile, which is increased by collecting and visually upgrading cards. Once new players reach a collector level milestone and have played some Skirmish matches, they will be able to access Classic mode.
When the update goes live, all players will get a matching Collector Level according to their current collection.
As part of this update’s shift to having Skirmish as the first mode players compete in, all Warlords’ base health will be reduced by 10, aligning with Skirmish rules. In Classic mode, Warlords will receive +10 bonus health, so don’t worry, your Classic decks will perform just as they did before.
Draft mode will also start following Skirmish rules! When you start a draft run, you will now build your deck by selecting your warlord and then 4 packs of 3 cards. In any match in which you are the second player, you will get a random defence card added to your hand. Drafts will now be faster than ever, but the rewards will remain the same, so get ready to draft your way to the top!
Faction leaderboards are coming back
Yes! We have read the threads, Discord messages and social media replies. We are taking a look at ways to improve the new scoring system, but for the time being, we’re bringing faction leaderboards back!
Skirmish will also have its own ranked ladder, with its own end-of-season rewards, including Skirmish-themed champion card backs for a season’s very top players to hold during the following season. The next season will also be slightly longer than usual, lasting from the 23rd of October until the 1st of December. Keep your blades sharp, it’s bound to be one Hel of a season.
Offence cards are going away
Some of the main aspects we have been trying to improve with recent changes have been match length and player mental load. Unfortunately, one of the features we were most excited by when first developing the game was also one of the main culprits making both of these aspects worse.
While we are very proud of the visual changes and twists they add to the matches, Offence cards ultimately slowed matches and added extra mental load to decision-making. So we’ve made the tough call: Offence cards are being removed from the game. The Forge will be updated to change each Offence card for a different reward. Players who already claimed their Offence cards when the update goes live will automatically be granted the new rewards in the background.
This, however, does not mean you will never see Offence effects and visuals in the game again. We are taking a look at ways to introduce these effects in the game in other ways, so stay tuned for more news. This change also motivated us to make a change to Defence cards.
Defence cards will be selected in deck building
Just like Offence cards, selecting your Defence card before each match added an extra step that slowed down the action. With Skirmish proving how great it is to jump straight into battle, we’re now bringing some of that immediacy to Classic matches too.
From now on, for both Classic and Skirmish decks, you’ll choose your Defence card during deck building, just like your Warlord. You can pick any Defence card you’ve unlocked for that faction. And if you try to enter a match with a deck missing one, the game will warn you in advance so you can make adjustments. This means that after the update you will start your Classic matches in the mulligan phase, and strike the battlefield as soon as both players have their starting hand ready!
Smarter missions
The current mission system has been a feature that we have wanted to update for a very long time now. In their current iteration, you can end up being asked to trigger obscure traits, force you to play in ways you do not particularly enjoy or head into practice mode to complete your missions before doing what you actually wanted to do. That’s not exactly a fun way to progress.
With this update, we aim to make missions smarter and more engaging:
- Trait-specific missions are going away. If you have one in progress when the update goes live, it will be auto completed and ready to claim.
- There will be a new batch of more generic missions that you should be able to complete with most decks.
- Missions that ask you to play specific factions will be less common for newer players, and will only show up if you have enough cards to create a deck for that faction.
Also, Practice mode will no longer contribute to daily mission progress. We know this mode was a handy tool for completing certain missions, but with Skirmish now becoming a mainstay mode and the upcoming improvements to daily missions, we’re confident that your completing your missions will feel more streamlined and fun than before, no matter if you’re climbing the ranks or just jumping in for a quick game.
Generic campaign points
Say goodbye to juggling campaigns! Long live the active campaign! With the upcoming update, daily missions will reward a brand-new currency: Generic Campaign Points. These versatile points can be spent on any campaign you want, giving you the freedom to chase the cards, rewards, or factions that matter most to you without the hassle of having to constantly switch between campaigns before you redeem your missions.
While there will be a limit to the amount of points you can stock up, the system will work exactly as it does now except with the added flexibility to spend these points as you wish.
Premium campaigns will still grant you faction-specific points, and whenever you spend campaign points, the game will automatically use those first, keeping your generic points safely stored for whenever you really need them.
Crystal cost change addressal
Last month, a change that increased the Crystal cost of visually upgrading cards by approximately 12% and slightly reduced Crystals awarded in Draft mode sneakily made its way into the game. These changes were intended for a later update, but were unintentionally included ahead of schedule.
Because of this, they were not documented in the release notes at the time. Once the issue was identified, we made the decision to communicate the change closer to when it was originally planned to go live (with this month’s update). In hindsight, this was not the right path to take, and we have already taken steps to improve in-studio communication and how these situations are handled going forward.
This change is part of a larger reviewing of the in-game economy. The Crystal balance has been in need of adjustment for quite some time, with many players eventually accumulating large reserves of them, with limited incentive to spend them. While we’re working on introducing new and more meaningful ways to use Crystals, we also needed to rebalance existing sinks to support a healthier long-term economy.
In summary
That’s quite a lot. Whether you arrived here by clicking the link at the start of the post or after wolfing down the beefiest web post we have ever written, here are the main points of what you can expect in the 23rd of October update besides the Space Wolves:
- Skirmish is here to stay, becoming a mainstay game mode and the first mode new players will be able to compete in
- New rankings and leaderboards for Skirmish mode
- You will be able to challenge friends to Skirmish matches
- The tutorial and early progression will be redesigned with Skirmish mode in mind
- First faction selection will be limited to 4 factions that we feel are better suited to start the game
- Starter decks are back! They are have been redesigned as Skirmish decks
- Player profiles will now have a “Collector Level”, which can be increased by collecting and visually upgrading cards
- All Warlords’ base health will be reduced by 10 to align with Skirmish rules. In classic matches, Warlords will receive +10 bonus health
- Draft mode will also start following Skirmish rules
- Faction leaderboards are coming back!
- Offence cards are going away. Players who claimed them will receive the new forge rewards automatically
- Defence cards will now be selected when building your decks
- Daily mission system update with better and more streamlined missions
- Practice mode will no longer contribute to daily mission progress
- Daily missions will now reward “Generic campaign points” to spend however you want.
What will come next
There is A LOT to process already in this publication, but we wanted to share where our priorities line right now. In the last road map we announced that one of our main goals for the second half of the year was to slow down the amount of new content in order to take a look at parts of the game that we were not happy with. Currently we are focusing our efforts on improving:
- Frequency of live events
- A new PvE mode
- Alliances
This is, of course, together with working on the next piece of content. But that’s a story for another moment. For now, sharpen your fangs and get ready to howl into battle at the command of the Space Wolves! For the Allfather!