4.3 – Big Changes and Dreamslaying Takes

I was shocked when I saw the new changelog for War Robots.

Obviously, since quite a good number of people have started to agree with my opinions as of late, I don’t think that I can name this column “Unpopular Opinions: X”.

Needless to say, it took me one whole evening to digest the changes.

Here are some rapid thoughts about the big patch that will bring back War Robots to a tank-based metagame where robots know their place in the hierarchy…

The Big Changes

• Tarans are now more powerful. Who said that they were being nerfed? The net change is that it will take one second longer for Tarans to engage, which is the point of using a non-burst weapon anyway…
• Expect more and more people to use Tarans at different levels of War Robots.
• Burst weapons like Orkan and Pinata are about to see their slow demise as it is clear that Pixonic isn’t favouring them in the new metagame.
• The Falcon now has three heavy slots. Someone should start researching about the best setup that takes into account the new metagame, as well as the new buffs that the robot has received…
• Another small nerf to the Hydra is being contemplated. Much-needed, to be honest…besides, now that the Spectre is about to be nerfed, I don’t think that Pixonic wants to give Hydra users a silver platter…
• No more Haechi, Bulgasaris are easier to break and Spectre’s about to lose its main part of the combo (less stealth, less Orkan damage, less Shocktrain damage, less chance to push out damage) – so, goodbye Dash, Descend, Kill) and go get a life!
• Arbalest gets basically a double buff. Budget Dragoon incoming…or to put it more frankly, Budget Zeus with near-unlimited range!
• Magnum, Molot and Molot T get some more love. While the light plasma weapon might become viable again, the sniper people using Molot can now feel safe knowing that they can keep up a bit with their big brother (Tempest), which has received a substantial increase in utility and damage by the way.
• The Lancelot is slowly making a comeback through its various buffs. Let’s see if we can finally see the old and new generation of players finding a common ground – will you, as a veteran player, dust off your old maxed Lancelot setup? Or will you continue to pursue new stuff?
• As for the other changes, I personally consider them to be standard and more in line with Pixonic’s new philosophy of “making everything viable in one way or another.”

If you haven’t seen the preliminary sheet (which is updated every five minutes on this link, here are the latest pictures):

Dragoon Bulwark? What? What?

Apparently, the refined Bulwark is going to be one of the main attractions of the new metagame.

I don’t know what made Pixonic give the red carpet treatment to the Bulwark…but mark my words, it’s going to be a new form of oppression, though not as cancerous as the Shocktrain and the Spectre combined. The few players who handle Fury Dragoons and Bulwark Dragoons are already having a field day running these setups in this “one-shot, one-kill” metagame (and many of the players I’ve met have called these setups ‘the hidden ace (Fury) and dark horse (Bulwark) of the metagame’, so this tells a lot about the current effectiveness of the said setup. (Sure, this won’t work well at close range, but let’s face it – you are supposed to know which bots to drop, how to negotiate that setup at close range, etc.)

This blog has already talked about the Dragoon, both as a personal experience and in detail. With that being said, the Bulwark is going to be one scary beast.

As an added personal opinion, even if it lacks the firepower of the Fury Dragoon, it’s going to take one hell of an effort to take down this beast on the field.

Remember the days when someone sported a fully maxed Tarancilot and then everyone just hunts it in order to just remove that “X” factor? That’s what the Bulwark Dragoon would become.

In fact, I would like to call it Bullywark Dragon or Bullywark FRAGoon or Bulwark FRAG ON or Bullshit Dragon – though as I said, this kind of metagame is more palatable than the one that we have at the moment.

In the Practical Game

These buffs and changes would mean that we would see more people use different setups now, instead of having a hangar full of five Spectres (or three Spectres with the occasional Pursuer and/or Dragoon carrier).

Also, these changes mean that there are more options to play now. And yes, stealing directly from the Pixonic status update:

To carve a space for more methodical, team-oriented play style we are giving multiple buffs to Weyland and Bulwark. Lancelot, Fury, Natasha and Ancile/ECU shields will also become stronger. This should give you more reasons to team up and protect each other instead of always going for the kill.

Yes, War Robots is slowly gaining back its old identity.

Yes, less one-time, big-time pushes and expect more people experimenting with different setups as it is clear that there are many winners…and no outright ones, apart from the ones who already come from a strong position in the soon-to-be-previous metagame (like the Dragoon and its related platforms). The above changes mean that there are different ways to approach the game now, as long as one plays with the team – there is no excuse for mediocrity, selfishness and whatever negative behavior that players do on the live server.

This also means that people will play more differently across all game modes (except for FFA, where quick damage has always been the name of the game anyway), as there will be more different playstyles to deal with right now.

Want to run five Pursuers? Go for it! Gust has been balanced, which means that all the pilots of War Robots would acclaim you for using a ton of skill at once?

Want to have a relaxed game? Use long-range setups, while at the same time not forgetting to give your home and side beacons some attention and love!

Want to be an old-school brawler? Go get the new robots, team up with friends and raid to your heart’s content, all the way to the enemy spawn!

Implications

Pixonic has finally realized late in the day that having a metagame based on one or two weapons is not a healthy, competitive metagame at all. With these changes, Pixonic hopes to go back slightly to its roots: a diverse, tactical game where weapon strength isn’t the sole measure of a player’s power.

In addition, Pixonic should have finally realized based on their numbers that they have to keep a competitive advantage and give more reasons for players to stay in the game. With games such as Battle of Titans and Mech Wars slowly building up their momentum, the company knows that it can’t afford to lose its status as the premier mobile mech game on Android.

This should also serve as a lesson to those heavy spenders out there: Don’t spend for the latest craze or the most overpowered weapon out there. If you’re going to invest money into War Robots, make sure that the weapon will withstand the different changes and patches that Pixonic will push out every now and then in order to change the flavour of the metagame.

Guys, if you ever played Warhammer 40K (the tabletop game), War Robots is basically that game right now, except that instead of having physical models that you can stare at for a lifetime, you only have digital models that would only last as long as the game is alive.

Yes, Pixonic is making big changes to War Robots – and this time around, they seemed to have finally seen the big picture after months of botched content updates and lacking promises.

War Robots is going to have an interesting future ahead of it, mark my words.