Wardogs developers decided to strengthen the blue "loser team" – in season two its members will get more money and experience

Bulkhead used the Season 2 patch notes for Wardogs to take on faction balance. The blue team, Lonestar, remains the least popular side, so the studio added targeted bonuses to lure players in. The developers themselves call it a "social experiment" in game balance.

Bulkhead acknowledges that Wardogs "is a game that isn't supposed to be always perfectly balanced." Still, the running gag about blue team, bolstered by legitimate gameplay concerns, has started to materially affect many matches.

"One team had a notoriously lower win rate than the other two teams. There are valid complaints around Lonestar's uniform visibility and certain spawn positions which we have been watching and addressing. However – sentiment around the blue team is the largest driving factor for players not wanting to play on that team."

The fix is an old-fashioned one: throw money at the weak side. For Season 2 only, winning as Lonestar earns bonus cash and XP, and teamplay actions come with cash and XP multipliers.

Beyond the financial incentives, the update includes several other changes:

• Lonestar uniforms are now "more desaturated to stick out less compared to other factions."

• All faction spawns have moved on Bakurani to offset spawn imbalances.

• Players on a losing team that is at least 40 points behind second place get a new 20% vendor discount. Bulkhead clarified that it is "relevant to all teams, not just Lonestar."

• Once a team is more than 10 points ahead, players who join it can't switch teams for 15 minutes. The studio wants to stop late switching from deciding matches.

• Anyone who switches teams or joins a match in progress will have their map obscured until they reach the control zone for the first time. The spawn vehicle is also off limits until then.

Despite the experiment and the willingness to live with imbalance, Bulkhead still wants to keep things reasonably fair. According to the studio, the changes "are intended to increase friction for team switch abusers, whilst still allowing for you to join the team of your friends if needed."

For similar reasons, the developers promised that community server hosts "being seen to exploit the faction bonus" added to Lonestar "will be punished."