Greetings from the Warhaven dev team!
We hope you enjoyed the sneak peek into Warhaven's upcoming early access changes in Dev Log Vol. 05 and the IGN interview!
We're going to keep the revelations coming by sharing some new details about the maps, game modes, and Relics that players will experience in the early access build!
Maps & Game Modes
5 maps will be available in early access: Moshabarg, Gella, Podden, Sihan, and Hwara.
There are 5 game modes as well: Dominion, Onslaught, Arms Race, Team Deathmatch, and Reclamation. Altogether, players will be able to play in 13 different game combinations!
12 vs. 12 matches will take place on the original maps, while 6 vs. 6 matches occur in condensed areas for intense close-quarters fighting.
🏰 Mode Descriptions
(Detailed descriptions of each mode will be shared in future videos.)
🚩 3 Foothold Dominion (Previously Skirmish)
⊙ A game mode with 3 footholds where each team competes to control more footholds than the other team.
⊙ Moshabarg: A battlefield focused on intense combat to control footholds, where fallen players can quickly rejoin the fight.
⊙ Gella: A wider battlefield focused on squad tactics with a Respawn Foothold and Siegebringers.
🚩 1 Foothold Dominion (Previously Skirmish)
⊙ A game mode where each team fights to control 1 main foothold.
⊙ The mode has additional Support Footholds players must capture with a flag pulley.
🚩 Onslaught
⊙ A mode where players push the front line into enemy territory by controlling contested footholds.
⊙ Onslaught is focused on team-wide tactical maneuvers, capturing the atmosphere of charging out onto a battlefield.
🚩 Arms Race
⊙ Escort a War Machine into enemy territory and destroy the enemy team's totems.
⊙ Hwara: Players can use a glider to quickly traverse the different elevation levels of this map, leading to dynamic and mobile combat.
When Arms Race was showcased in the global beta test, there were 3 footholds and up to 6 War Machines, which made each match unfocused and needlessly complicated. The revamped Arms Race mode for early access streamlines the match around 1 War Machine that players fight to move back and forth. We hope you look forward to trying it out!
▲ The early planning for Dragonstrike
▲ Dragon Strikes in Armrace
🚩 Team Deathmatch (6 vs. 6)
⊙ This game mode has the standard rules of a team deathmatch, where each team's objective is to defeat the target number of their opponents.
⊙ The number of team lives decreases when a player becomes a Bloodstone, (-1) but recovers if they are resurrected (+1).
⊙ The simple ruleset allows players to demonstrate their skill and allows the fun of this mode to shine.
▲ The
icon will display when the number of team lives decreases and the
icon will display when it increases.
🚩 Reclamation (6 vs. 6)
⊙ A Capture the Flag game mode where both teams fight to capture Divine Stones that spawn in the middle of the map by transporting them to an allied foothold.
⊙ If a stone carrier dies, they will drop their Divine Stone and other players can pick it up by interacting with it.
⊙ Hwara: Players will respawn while gliding through the air, just like in Arms Race.
🏰 16 vs. 16 → 12 vs. 12
We understand the concerns raised by reducing the previous 32-player battles (16 vs. 16) to 24-player battles (12 vs. 12).
Rest assured that we've made sure that the 24-player game mode still maintains the thrill of large-scale combat with your allies and breaking through the enemy lines by incarnating as a divine Immortal.
The core of what makes Warhaven a great game remains, and we hope players will look forward to the additional improvements that come with the 24-player matches.
▲ The same thrill and intensity of battling at a large scale!
Combat Duration Adjustment
The time players spent fighting each other before one emerged victorious, or TTK (Time-to-Kill), increased in the SNF version. We've adjusted the game's TTK value to fall between the SNF and GBT builds.
⊙ From a game design standpoint, having a longer TTK is better for designing offense and defense in combat.
⊙ On the other hand, the shorter the TTK value, the more thrilling combat feels to the player.
Compared to the GBT build, gameplay has been kept dynamic while still having enough room to enjoy a back-and-forth struggle. Compared to the SNF build, there may be more instances of beginners winning a fight with a lucky hit.
Player Speed Adjustments
Warhaven favors a more casual large-scale battle experience, so we've worked to refine the gameplay balance to keep the game's current fast pace.
We've made sure to keep the speed of the action the same, and maintained that sense of combat speed.
⊙ Increased the player's sense of their movement speed by increasing the camera's field-of-view (FOV).
⊙ The character start-up animations have been tweaked.
⊙ After spawning, players will rapidly accelerate to max speed when they start moving.
Designated Relics
Ice Stones, Ignition Stones, and Respawn Tents have been classified as Designated Relics, and can only be utilized in set locations.
We've implemented this change in order to make Relic usage more strategic while also balancing the impact different Relics have on a match. In the process of creating and adjusting new and existing Relics, some maps have Relic summoning locations near their Respawn Footholds, increasing their battlefield utility.
We hope this change will allow players to use Relics creatively in ways that best fit the situation on the battlefield.
▲ The summon location for designated Relics in Moshabarg's Onslaught game mode. This location changes for each map and game mode.
Pre-Match Battles
Players who are waiting to find a battle through matchmaking will now be able to join a quick brawl against other players or bots.
Since the perks that players set for each character in the barracks are also applied, pre-match battles can be used to practice different character configurations against other players.
▲ Press Fight Now while waiting for matchmaking!
Terrain Transparency
To address issues where player vision was obscured by nearby terrain when using particular camera angles, we have increased the transparency of walls, which should alleviate the problems players were encountering.
Additional Optimization
We have optimized the game even further ahead of the early access build.
The official minimum requirement specs have been lowered to GTX 750 Ti (released in 2014) for NVIDIA graphics cards.
For reference, the previous minimum requirements were:
⊙ Pre-Alpha Test (2021): GTX 1060
⊙ SNF (Early 2023): GTX 960
Spotlight Camera Improvements
The previous spotlight camera showed off dynamic moments like an action movie, but could obscure the spotlight player's amazing skill with camera effects.
Now the spotlight camera's point of view is closer to the player's perspective, and a cinematic effect will only apply during the final climactic moment.
Team Voice Chat
Previously, voice chatting was only available between squad members (including parties). That squad voice chat has been replaced with team voice chat.
Entire teams will be able to coordinate strategically now. Of course players still have the option to turn off voice chat, or block/report abusive individuals.
This concludes Dev Log Vol. 06!
We hope the changes we laid out today will give players an even better gaming experience, and we hope to see you during early access!
Thank you!
The Warhaven Dev Team