Wardogs’ early access launch gives us our first taste of its metagame mode, which aims to complement its tactical first-person action with systems that not only impact matches themselves, but provide a dose of replayability that makes regularly returning worthwhile.
Wardogs’ metagame mode has several moving parts that not only help us enhance our characters with skills and equipment but also allow us to secure endgame cosmetics, which we then show off when heading into matches. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of its features, as shared by the developer before launch.
Wardogs Metagame Mode
Cash plays a significant role in Wardogs’ metagame mode, and one use of it will be exchanging it for in-game gold bars, the currency used to secure endgame cosmetics. Doing so permanently unlocks said cosmetics for our accounts.
The exchange rate of cash to gold bars “will fluctuate daily,” according to the developer. At the end of a season, “your cash and XP progression will set with cash auto-converted into gold bars,” providing a level playing field for newcomers and veterans.
Much like any unlocked endgame cosmetics, gold bars also permanently remain available on our accounts across seasons.
Wardogs metagame mode also includes a series of player skills that offer “a meaningful way to build permanent account value across seasons.”
By simply playing and ranking up, we earn skill points that we can invest into “the roles that match our playstyle.” Furthermore, there’s a challenge system that provides “extra short-term goals” that encourage exploring different playstyles.
Challenges earn us additional resources that we can spend on the Black Market.
“We want you to be able to spend your earning in more interesting ways outside of your match,” the developer explains. “That can mean bribing an arms dealer to smuggle you weapons or ammo overnight or […] placing wagers betting you can kill ten enemies in one life in the next match.”
We can also invest in “side-hustle businesses” that can yield items while offline, being described as “the true endgame”.
“Buying out a weapon or a vehicle manufacturer will enable you to produce custom loadouts and items that you like to use the most, cheaper than the in-match vendor.”
Since Wardogs is a “100% player-driven sandbox” this opens up opportunities to sell high-level items to players via supply crates and make a profit.
Developer Bulkhead describes the Black Market part of Wardogs’ metagame mode as “entirely optional” while noting that “for the players who want to min/max their cash spending and time spend in and out of the game, there’s a real potential to profit more over a season compared to someone only buying weapons and vehicles from the in-game vendors.”
Lastly, the vault stores items obtained from the Black Market, making them redeemable for free in future matches. The size of the vault is “capped but upgradeable permanently,” making it another endgame goal to work towards.
It’s worth keeping in mind that Wardogs metagame mode will evolve through early access, as the developer receives player feedback.
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