WARDOGS has had two patches since it launched into Early Access on 10 September: Launch Stability Hotfix #1, pushed the same evening for players who couldn't join servers, were being kicked mid-match or were stuck in the login queue, and Patch 0.11, which went live on 14 September and reworked the server browser. Neither changed an XP value or a vendor price. If your levels or prices look different from the beta, it's the Season 1 changelog that shipped with launch, and BULKHEAD published every number in it. This is that list, explained, followed by what the two patches did.

Everything below is quoted from BULKHEAD's Season 1 changelog, the Hotfix #1 notice and the Patch 0.11 notice on Steam. Where our guides carried a beta-era figure that this list moves, they've been corrected.

The one-line version

BULKHEAD's own summary: "slow levels down around 10 to 20, and flatten the curve from 35 onward. This means our median players, at 20 to 25 hours, will be around level 20, and those wanting the big ticket items, the top 5%, will need to grind." Artillery moved to Career 90, the heavy tank to Driver 35, and the FOB and Large Hammer got dearer "to make them more of a choice".

XP curve: what each level costs now

Cumulative XP to reach each level, beta to Season 1. Below level 6 is unchanged.

  • Level 6: 8,750 → 9,250 (5.7% slower)
  • Level 10: 25,000 → 35,000 (40% slower)
  • Level 15: 54,750 → 110,000 (101% slower)
  • Level 20: 111,500 → 250,000 (124% slower)
  • Level 25: 192,000 → 325,000 (69% slower)
  • Level 30: 293,750 → 400,000 (36% slower)
  • Level 35: 416,500 → 500,000 (20% slower)
  • Level 40: 551,250 → 650,000 (18% slower)
  • Level 45: 689,500 → 800,000 (16% slower)
  • Level 50: 838,000 → 1,000,000 (19% slower)

The shape matters more than any one row. Levels 1-9 are as cheap as they were; the wall is 10 to 20, where the cost more than doubled; above 35 it eases back to roughly 20% slower. Two consequences for how you level: the six-classes-to-10 plan is even better value than it was, because the levels it uses are the ones that didn't move - and a single class from 10 to 20 is now a 215,000 XP project, so pick the unlock you actually want before you commit to it. BULKHEAD also says each season will have "a different XP curve with different item orders", so none of this is permanent.

XP events: two payouts cut

  • Player kill using an air vehicle: 300 XP → 250 XP. Gunship kills still pay Pilot, a sixth less.
  • Supply crate item sold under $75: 25 XP → 1 XP. This is the one that changes a loop. Under the beta, every cheap item a teammate bought from your crate paid a flat 25 XP, which was farmable with $10 supplies. Now the purchase XP scales with the item's value - the curve was "rescaled from 25 to 250 down to 1 to 200" - so build supplies pay almost nothing and ammunition and real kit pay properly. If you're running crates for Pilot or Support XP, stock what the front line buys, not what's cheapest to fill a pallet with.

Prices: every change, in one place

Per-life vendor prices (what you pay each spawn):

  • Forward Operating Base: $2,500 → $7,500
  • Large Hammer: $1,600 → $2,400

One-off unlock fees (paid once, at the level gate):

  • Career - Artillery Tank (SPH-2): $400,000 → $500,000
  • Recon - 6-10x MRAD scope: $25,000 → $40,000
  • Recon - 6-10x MOA scope: $30,000 → $45,000
  • Support - Medium Hammer: $10,000 → $25,000
  • Support - Large Hammer: $25,000 → $75,000
  • Pilot - Small Armoured Supply Crate: $5,000 → $10,000
  • Pilot - Little Bird with miniguns (AH-6M): $25,000 → $50,000
  • Pilot - Z20 Lakota: $50,000 → $35,000
  • Driver - URAL: $50,000 → $35,000
  • Driver - Dune Buggy: $35,000 → $25,000
  • Driver - Kodiak Flatbed (Pickup): $15,000 → $35,000
  • Driver - Music Tape H: $5,000 → $2,500

The pattern: building got expensive (a FOB tripled, and a Support player who wants the Large Hammer now pays $75,000 to unlock it and $2,400 a life to carry it), the big Recon glass went up, and the vehicle ladder was reshuffled so the transports you need early (Lakota, URAL, buggy) are cheaper and the armed and armoured ones cost more. Every figure is on the unlock costs page and the loadout cost guide.

Level moves

Items that changed which level opens them. Career (Wardog level):

  • Sport Parachute: 36 → 35
  • Large (Ruck) Backpack: 56 → 55
  • 7.62x54mm AP: 83 → 82
  • 5.56mm AP: 85 → 83
  • Deagle: 90 → 85
  • Artillery Tank: 55 → 90

Medic: PP-19 50-round drum magazine 33 → 29. Support: Large Hammer 7 → 8. Driver - "rejigged to give a satisfying escalation through attack vehicles":

  • URAL: 4 → 3
  • Kodiak Assault (M249): 8 → 6
  • Dune Buggy: 10 → 8
  • Kodiak Flatbed (Pickup): 2 → 10
  • Large Supply Crate: 20 → 16
  • URAL Covered (Ural Defender): 30 → 18
  • URAL Attack (Ural Defender M249): 40 → 25
  • Humvee with minigun: 35 → 30
  • Heavy Tank (L2A6): Career 35 → Driver 35
  • Music Tape H: Pilot 28 → Driver 23

The Driver ladder now tops out at 35 with the tank, not 40; the six-seat Kodiak you used to get at Driver 2 is now a Driver 10 unlock, and the free-with-no-level Kodiak and Bobcat are the early taxis instead. The Driver guide has been updated.

Everything else in the changelog

Not economy, but worth knowing: a church-roof exploit fixed; a new weighted report system so "repeat and bad faith reporters carry less influence", and cheater bans now announced in-server; a Z20 Lakota balance pass with a fix for sluggish pitch; helicopter input damping on every input device; turrets capped at a maximum rotation speed; 155mm, 122mm and flare deployables now take more loadout room; a DPI fix for tank aiming; a long list of crash fixes; DLSS frame generation can be toggled without a restart; and voice chat no longer cuts out permanently after a failed join.

What Hotfix #1 did

The 10 September client update forced every player to restart, then re-admitted them to the login queue in batches. It targeted three things: players unable to join servers, players kicked unexpectedly mid-match, and extended queue times. No balance, price or XP changes. BULKHEAD said it would be "working through the night" on it, and a day later announced 1.25 million copies sold.

What Patch 0.11 did

Patch 0.11 was announced on 12 September and went live after a one-hour maintenance window on Monday 14 September (08:00 UTC). Most of it is the server browser, which BULKHEAD admitted had left community servers "underserved":

  • Separate Community and Official browsers. Filters were removed from Official, since there are no modified official game modes to filter.
  • Text search and more reliable filtering for community servers, plus a Show Empty/Full toggle.
  • Community server IDs now survive map changes and restarts, so you can join a server by its ID.
  • More server capacity in Asia.

The economy parts are short. "Various cash exploits have been fixed", with no detail on which. As an apology for the browser, community servers paid a 5% end-of-match cash bonus for the week after the patch; that has ended. No XP value, vendor price or unlock fee moved.

The notice also set out a new stance on economy abuse: a timed ban and a reset of "your cash and XP to 0" for abusing cash exploits, a permanent ban for content that tutorialises them, and "the most serious bans" for XP farming, which BULKHEAD says it detects by tracking which servers each account joins. Is WARDOGS boosting safe or bannable? covers what that means if you're thinking of paying for progression.

FAQ

Did either patch change prices or XP? No. Hotfix #1 was stability only, and Patch 0.11 was the server browser plus unspecified cash exploit fixes. Every economy change since the beta is in the Season 1 changelog above, which shipped with launch on 10 September.

Why is level 15 so much slower? Because that's the band BULKHEAD chose to slow: 10 to 20 more than doubled in cost, so the median player lands "around level 20" after 20-25 hours. Levels under 10 didn't move.

Is supply-running still worth it? Yes, but stock it differently. Cheap items now pay 1 XP a sale instead of 25; the pallet drop itself (750 Pilot XP) is unchanged, and higher-value items pay up to 200 XP a sale.

Will these numbers change again? Yes. Season 02 starts on 15 October 2026 (BULKHEAD's teaser gives the date and nothing else yet), and "each season we will have a different XP curve with different item orders", in BULKHEAD's words. We'll write up Season 02's numbers once they're published.

Want to skip the grind? GetRankd.GG offers boosting across a growing list of titles - see the Wardogs page for what's live.