WW2: Steamy Nation on Nation Action

Hello friends!

In this blog we will discuss the changes we are making to the account progression system in Kards. By account progression system, we mean the permanent progression you have for playing the game, as opposed to the temporary status progression you can have in the ladder rank system that resets every month (which is also changing, as discussed in another blog).

We will start by going over why we are making this change, then describe the new system in more details, namely the progression mechanics and rewards. We will then end up by briefly going over what is next on the horizon for this system.

This blog is part of a series to inform you about all the upcoming changes:

• High-level overview blog
• Wildcards
• National Progression and Achievements (this blog)
• Non-nation specific seasonal ladder
  
• Transition to the new systems or "What happens with my stuff?"

(Edit on Feb 8: Above image has been updated with the latest in-game example screenshot)

[h2]Achieving Nothing[/h2]

The current account progression system is mainly tied to the achievement system. We have never been fully satisfied with the achievement system, for several reasons.

1. It is very hidden and hard to grasp for new players, thus difficult to use as a goal setter.
   
   
2. It scales badly, with a clump of early achievement followed by very sporadic achievements later on, which reduces its value in giving a good sense of progression.
   
   
3. It makes it very hard for new players to focus their efforts in order to build a competitive deck in a specific nation, both because currently rewards are too rarely nation focused and just too few on the whole. As Kards grows older, with more and more cards added, it becomes increasingly difficult for new players to get into the game and compete with other players at a similar skill level, but with vastly larger collections.

The solution of course is to demote the current system and promote a new and better one - a better one that is more friendly to new players, shows players better how they are progressing and giving them greater control in the process. In short - a brand new progression system that in one brilliant stroke will fix all the wrongs with the current system and quite possibly all the wrongs of the world (we at 1939 are nothing if not ambitious).

Before we dive into the details it is worth noting that the current achievement system will be removed from the game as a part of this update. See a transition dev blog later on for details on how we are compensating you players for this.

[h2]Illusions of Grandeur[/h2]

The new progression system focuses on your progress in each of the five main nations. When you battle with them, you will gain experience in a traditional leveling system. You will always gain experience, regardless of the outcome of the battle, though winning generally gives you a little bit more. The best thing? Every time you gain a new level you gain a reward! (More on this later). You will receive full experience in Battles and Draft, and 20% in Training, Campaigns and Challenges.

New players start at level 1 and for the first few levels will reach a new level pretty much every game. The leveling will slow down slightly as you go higher, but even at high levels you are still gaining a new level every 3 or 4 games, so your sense of progress will be frequently reinforced. You can climb to level 250 for each of the five main nations. Note that you only gain experience in your main nation, no experience is gained for the ally nation. This of course means there is no progression for the minor nations at this stage. We will look into doing something for them at a later date. Note that existing players (that is you, in case you’re wondering) will be adjusted to a higher level, based on how far along they already were on the national achievement track. See the transition blog at a later date for more information.

Various rewards for German national progression.

[h2]A Bacon Shaped Button[/h2]

Finally we come to the meat of this blog - rewards! Juicy, juicy rewards. Admit it, that is why you are here, right? For some it is enough to brag to their parents about being a level 250 Brit, but for the rest of us, it’s all about that sweet, sweet reward that feeds us endorphins and strokes our ego all at once.

As stated above, each national level gives a reward. The rewards at each level are not equal - some levels have better rewards than others. You can see 50 levels at a time, and their rewards, for each nation. So at start you can view levels 1 through 50, then 51-100 and so on.

Here is a list of possible rewards, the key thing to remember is that all cards and wildcards given out are always nation specific - so if a level gives you a gold card it will be a gold card of the nation you are leveling up, for instance.

• Gold
  
• Specific card (this is only for levels 1 to 7)
  
• Wildcard of a specific rarity
  
• Random card of a specific rarity
  
• Random gold card of a specific rarity
  
• Random pack (base pack from any set packs can be bought from)
  
• National pack
  
• Emote (these are the same as can be unlocked in the current achievement system, with a couple of new ones sprinkled in).
  
• Card back (the same two per nation that can be unlocked currently).
  
• Draft Ticket

Taken together, the rewards in the new system are greater than the total rewards of the achievement system.

[h2]This is the End[/h2]

That is all, just a few more things before we sign off. The new system is designed in such a way that it is easy for us to add more levels on top of the existing 250 ones. It is likely we will do this at some point in the future once enough veteran players are at or near the top. So, to some extent, the new system can be thought of as an infinite reward system.

As you may have noticed levels 1 through 7 give out specific cards as rewards. These specific cards are solid higher-rarity cards for each nation that are good for new players to acquire. The reason for this is that we are working on redoing the current unlock system new players have to go through and this new system will move them through the first 7 levels. So the setup anticipates this change, which comes later this year.

That is all, please give us your thoughts and feedback on these changes, we really appreciate it. See you on the battlefield!

Provide feedback!

Stay tuned for more blogs about the upcoming changes and for the Bunker Chat, where we cover all these changes and more, on the 29th of January at 16:00 UTC on www.twitch.tv/kardsccg