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It’s been 4 years of War Dragons with the same War System, and we’ve received feedback from players that Wars have become stale in this time. The Dragons team has been planning some updates to the War system, and will be bringing these changes to Wars with Version 5.02’s release next week! Read on below for all the details coming to Wars.

This week, tune in to the Facebook Live Stream for a Q&A session on the new Wars updates with Arelyna and PGEcho! The stream will happen at 2pm on Thursday, July 11th. Be sure to give War Dragons a like on Facebook to know when the stream is live.

Reflections on the Current War System

With Wars being an integral part of the game since its inception, we’ve noticed some key issues with our current system that we want to address with this redesign.

• One or a few high-level individuals can have a disproportionately large and undesired influence on War outcomes by being able to back every teammate.

• Most bases on a team feel unimportant because high-level backers make defending futile.

• Wars have been frequently ending in ties, which is an experience we want to avoid. Tiebreakers being based on total defenses is a less than fun objective.

Following these identified issues, we have a series of changes in place detailed below, including rotating buffs and the introduction of 6th and 7th flames.

An example of a rotating buff menu in-game.

Weekly Rotating Buffs

In an effort to make bases feel more challenging in Wars, we are adding buffs to all bases as well as weekly rotating buffs. Bases should be more challenging in this new system compared to previously, and players should expect that being able to solo with a dragon will be a more difficult affair.  We believe wars will be more exciting if players don’t expect to always easily plow through a base.

To help make bases more of a challenge, every base will have 10% increased Tower HP and Tower Attack while a War is active, which stacks on top of active Base Boosts and Rider Buffs. Additionally, the rotating buffs will add another level of challenge with 10% Base Resistance to Dragons of 2 different elements every two weeks. For example, week 1 and 2 may be a 10% resistance to both Ice and Fire element Dragons. During weeks 3 and 4, the resistances may be to Earth and Wind element Dragons, and so on.

Changes to War Flames 

Part of making everyone feel as though they are able to make meaningful contributions without having to have the same people need to always back everyone will involve changing the War flame system.

• Players score flames ONLY BY attacking through the War menu. War attack banners should only show up when attacks are launched through the War menu.

• Players are limited to up to 7 lead War attack attempts per war (where the player leads the attack). This discourages endless attacking or trying to draw out defenders too many times.

• Total possible Team flames in a War will move up to 350 from 250 to accommodate the addition of 6th and 7th flames, detailed below. 

The Contributions menu in an active War, showing the 6th and 7th flames scored.

6th and 7th Flames 

The existing 5-flame system will be retained, but the option for a 6th and 7th bonus flame are now being added onto the pool of possibility. This means high-level backers are able to retain their value and contribute just as many points to the team as before, but cannot contribute to the bonus 6th & 7th flame, putting the responsibility on the teammate that initiated the attack. Here’s how it’ll work:

• 1st - 5th Flames

  <ul>
  	<li>
  	<p>The same criteria are kept as today for obtaining these flames.</p>
  	</li>
  </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
  <p><strong>6th Flame</strong></p>
  
  <ul>
  	<li>
  	<p>The lead attacking Dragon (by the player who initiated the attack) must destroy <strong>35%</strong> of the base on their own to get the 6th flame. This flame is not able to be obtained if the lead attacking Dragon does not hit 35% before being defeated.</p>
  	</li>
  </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
  <p><strong>7th Flame</strong></p>
  
  <ul>
  	<li>
  	<p>The lead attacking Dragon (same as above) must destroy <strong>70%</strong> of the base to get the 7th flame. The flame is not able to be obtained if the lead attacking Dragon does not hit 70% before being defeated.</p>
  	</li>
  </ul>
  </li>
  

Current strategies of using high level players to follow War attacks will still get Teams up to 250 flames, and the lead attacker now has the sole responsibility to get the bonus 6th and 7th. in order to get any of the bonus flames, the final outcome of all Dragons destruction on the attack must be greater than or equal to 70%.

Adjusting the Tiebreaker System

Ties should be much more uncommon in this system, but on the rare occasion that they do occur, we will now break ties by tracking the fewest total attack attempts by the Team as a whole. In the case of a tied flame score, the Team with the fewest total attack attempts will win.

The updated Team War menu during an active war.

Interface Improvements

To incorporate some of the changes coming in the updated War System, the UI of the War Menu will change to reflect the introduction of these new features. Some of the changes include:

• Rules and active War buffs (and their remaining duration) will now each have their own tabs.

• Added in a counter to show how many attacks a player has attempted in the ongoing War.

• Added a new column to the Contributions to show the number of attack attempts made by a player.

• Players will now be able to sort by Player Level, Defeated By, Attack Score, and Base Status in ascending and descending order.

• Players will now see a 6th and 7th flame as obtainable in the Contributions page and the Battle Results page.

What are your thoughts on the new changes coming to the Wars System? Join the discussion with fellow Dragon Lords on the Official Dragons Forums!