Perf

One addition peaking my interest coming to DMZ in Season 1 might be Resupply Runs. Hunting down specific loot items across different POIs and exchanging them for valuable equipment like Self Revives and 3-Plate Carriers is exactly the kind of depth that I think will help this game long term. It will give ordinary loot more purpose, encourages exploration, and creates another reason to approach each deployment with a goal beyond simply accumulating cash. It would be cool to see this evolve into a barter system with rotating recipes, weapons, individual weapon attachments, and other valuable equipment. More reasons to loot and explore. This is the kind of depth I'd love to see DMZ continue building on.

One week into the new DMZ and there are a few things that I think could make the experience more enjoyable and approachable, especially for the casual player, without sacrificing the depth or difficulty of the game. 1. Bring Back the Plea System Player interactions feel almost nonexistent compared to beta. Pleading created opportunities for negotiations, unlikely alliances, betrayals, and some genuinely hilarious encounters. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a huge part of what made DMZ special. 2. Make Weapon Attachments Craftable & Lootable Allow us to craft attachments using materials collected in-game. Let us remove attachments from extracted weapons, store them in our stash, transfer them to other weapons, or sell them. This would give looting more purpose, add value to extracted weapons, and create another layer of depth within the economy. 3. Rework or Remove Possum If Possum is going to stay, I’d love to see it function strictly as a second chance to survive and extract. Once activated, you can fight AI, but you can no longer engage enemy Operators. If your squad gets wiped, the winning team shouldn’t have to worry about you coming back to retaliate. You’ve lost that fight, but you still have an opportunity to escape with whatever you have left. 4. Bring Back Cash Drops From AI The cash economy needs a little help. I’ll spend 15 minutes looting only to realize I’ve accumulated only $200 - $500 in actual cash. Allow some AI to drop small amounts of lootable cash again. Nothing excessive, just enough to help players gradually build their bank through normal gameplay. None of these changes would fundamentally alter what @InfinityWard is trying to build. They wouldn’t eliminate risk, wouldn’t make PvP easier, or remove the importance of progression. They’d simply make the experience a little more rewarding, encourage more player interaction, and hopefully give casual players more reasons to keep coming back. I think there’s a fantastic game here. I think these few adjustments would go a long way to keeping more players engaged.

After about 25 hours into DMZ, I’m starting to wonder if Infinity Ward has inadvertently made one of the best parts of DMZ too expensive. Player interaction. Think about it. Weapons are expensive. Operator recovery is expensive. Everything you loot might be needed for progression down the road. So what’s the logical response? Avoid unnecessary risks. Avoid other players. That unpredictability is what made the original DMZ so special. The proximity chat. The negotiations. The unlikely alliances. The betrayals. The hilarious encounters with complete strangers. Removing the plea system only seems to limit those opportunities even further. And that’s where I’m struggling a little with the new DMZ. They’ve added more depth, more progression, and more consequences. All things that, in theory, should make for a better extraction shooter. But have they inadvertently created an environment that discourages the very interactions that made DMZ so memorable? I think there is plenty of potential here, but I just can’t help but wonder if, in trying to make DMZ a better extraction shooter, they lost sight of what made it such a great and unique gaming experience.

The new Possum perk in DMZ has me scratching my head a little. The idea that an entire squad could potentially come back from full wipe just doesn’t sit right with me. Once you’ve eliminated an entire squad, that engagement should be over. But Possum also raises a bigger question for me about DMZ’s overall direction. Yesterday I questioned the Operator recovery system and the additional financial punishment it places on progression. On one hand, we’re making death increasingly punishing. On the other, we’re introducing mechanics that make death less consequential. I’m genuinely confused by the design philosophy. It almost feels like DMZ is trying to appeal to two very different audiences simultaneously, and I’m not sure that’s sustainable long term. I want DMZ to succeed, but I think there’s a legitimate question worth asking here: What exactly does DMZ want to be?

I keep coming back to one question about DMZ’s Operator recovery system. WHY? You already lose your weapons, gear, and loot when you die. That’s the risk. That’s the extraction shooter experience. So what exactly are we accomplishing by also charging players 20, 30, 50k plus dollars to recover an Operator they’ve progressed? What does it improve? What does it prevent? Because right now, all I see is an unnecessary punishment for progression.

Saved loadouts are officially coming to WARDOGS. Interestingly, BULKHEAD intentionally left them out to encourage players to experiment with different weapons. They’ll eventually be unlockable with in-game cash. Personally, I think this is one QoL feature that can’t come soon enough.

WARDOGS Season 2: 280K+ concurrent players. ✅ Lonestar actually winning games. ✅ Someone on the internet admits they were wrong. ⏳ The universe might be healing.

WARDOGS might become the biggest victim of timing in gaming. Season 2 looks promising, but COD bringing back DMZ is a massive attention magnet. As a DMZ diehard who's genuinely enjoyed WD, I'm conflicted myself. I know where most of my time is going, and that sucks because I genuinely want to play WD as much as I can. These developers deserve a ton of credit for what they've built and how they've listened to their community. If player counts dip, you can already hear the room-temperature IQ crowd screaming "DEAD GAME!", while completely ignoring the circumstances. Not every game that loses players is a dying game. Sometimes it's just competing with a giant. I really hope WARDOGS continues to thrive. It deserves to.

WARDOGS is a refreshing reminder of what happens when games are made by gamers, instead of corporate executives staring at spreadsheets. Season 2 patch notes show a team willing to listen, adapt, and address community feedback. Credit where it's due, @BULKHEAD

#WARDOGS Blue Team has become the guy on Tinder who has to put his salary in his bio just to get a match. Offering extra cash and XP to get people to swipe right. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Lonestar to the Moon!

Today will be my final stream of OG DMZ before the new game arrives. Bittersweet, honestly. Nearly 4 years of incredible moments, hilarious bullshit, friendships, memories, and the best community in DMZ. For all its flaws, there's a reason we've kept coming back long after the updates stopped. One last ride. See you tonight. 🍻 #DMZ

There's a special breed of WARDOGS player who spends 20 minutes motionless in a bush next to a landmine waiting for one unsuspecting driver to or from HQ. Research has shown this is the only way these virgins can get anything to explode.

WARDOGS got a lot right in Season 1, but there’s definitely room for improvement heading into Season 2. Weapon and attachment progression is near the top of my list. I love having things to work toward, but some unlocks just don’t feel appropriately balanced. What’s at the top of yours?

I'm excited for DMZ, but cautiously optimistic to see how RICOCHET performs. Keeping cheaters out is obviously critical, but more so is making sure legitimate players aren't getting shadowban bc someone got salty and spam reports them. The only thing worse than getting your game ruined by a cheater is getting your game ruined by the system that's supposed to stop them.

Of all the DMZ news we’ve gotten this week, Infinity Ward confirming NO Armor Piercing rounds or equivalent field upgrades might be my favorite. After 3 years of getting deleted by that broken nonsense, I can’t believe we’re finally free. Good riddance. #DMZ

As a lifelong #DallasCowboys fan, I’ve never been closer to finding another team to root for. 20 years of of mediocre coaching (Phillips, Garrett, McCarthy, and now Schottenheimer.) @realjerryjones win or lose, fire Schottenheimer tonight and call Tony Romo to see if he wants to be head coach tomorrow. Romo’s football IQ is higher than all four of them combined.

Tomorrow is the "final intel" day of DMZ week. And somewhere out there, thousands of grown men have convinced themselves that @InfinityWard is about to announce a surprise beta weekend. I am one of those grown men. #DMZ

Motherfuckers bitch about a $100 video game that they will proceed to no-life for 6 months putting over 1,000 hours into it. That's 10 cents an hour. Meanwhile you'll blow $100 at a bar, not get laid, wake up hungover and spend Sunday wondering where your debit card is. #MW4 TO THE MOON 🚀