The addition of cosmetic-only Weapon Cards has allowed us to begin reworking a number of our existing systems. In this news post we’ll be detailing some of the changes you can expect to see early next year.

Giving each Default Loadout Card three Augments from the start



Removing all future Lead/Iron Loadout Card drops and providing slightly more Fragments instead

As for changes to the new Weapon Card system we’re looking to implement:

Recycling of unwanted Weapon Cards

Polishing of Weapon Card “Finish” levels

Trade Up of Weapon Card rarity

Changes to Loadout Cards

Default Loadout Cards

The main driver behind this change is wanting to make sure that players are always on a more level playing field, even from their very first match.

Up until this point, players have needed to get Bronze Loadout Cards to have access to the full compliment of three Augments, with this update even the Default Loadout Cards will come with three Augments.

This will give new users a slightly better chance in their first matches, and ensuring that all players are on an even footing, regardless of playtime or money spent.

Prime Loadout Cases

With this update, we will also be removing all Expert Cases ($2.49 for Bronze Loadout Cards and above) and Elite Cases ($4.99 for Silver Loadout Cards and above) from the store permanently. Any cases you have purchased up to this point will not be affected.

In their place, we’re happy to announce that we will be introducing a Prime Loadout Case for each Merc, which contain a Gold or Cobalt Loadout Card for that specific Merc. These will cost $5.99.

This means that, unlike before, if you’re spending your hard-earned cash on a single Loadout Case, you’re guaranteed to get a Loadout Card for the Merc you want!







Prime Loadout Case

Cost – $5.99 Chances Gold 85% Cobalt 15%





These cases can be purchased individually, however Bundles of x5 and x10 Prime Loadout Cases will include all Mercs for a large discount.

Removing Lead and Iron Loadout Cards

This change has been discussed for a long time behind closed doors. However, the recent addition of Weapon Cards is finally allowing us to make this change. There are a few bits of information to explain regarding this change though:

If you have Lead and Iron Loadout Cards in your inventory you will not lose them. This change means they will no longer drop and no longer be available in the store. You’ll still be able to recycle these for Fragments and still be able to equip them in-game should you wish.

New In-Game Drops

Instead of dropping Equipment Cases every few games, we will be dropping Fragment Cases which include bundles of Fragments.

Additionally, we will also be dropping new ‘Loadout Cases’ occasionally post-match. These will include a random Bronze, Silver or Gold Loadout Card for any Merc with the following changes:







Loadout Case Chances Bronze 75% Silver 20% Gold 5%





This does mean that Cobalt Loadout Cards will no longer drop in-game, however they can still be crafted for the specific Merc you want and the crafting costs will remain the same.

Buying Cases With Credits

Equipment Cases will be replaced in the store with the new Loadout Case, giving you a random Bronze, Silver or Gold Loadout Card for any Merc.

These will cost 5,000 Credits each; a significant saving over the 8-9 Equipment Cases you would have to buy, on average, before you got a Bronze Loadout Card.

Daily/Weekly Rewards

The cases you receive as part of the Daily and Weekly Reward track will also no longer contain Iron or Lead Loadout Cards. Instead these cases will now drop either 20 Fragments (5 more than a Lead Loadout Card) or 50 Fragments (5 more than an Iron Loadout Card).

Existing Mk 1, Mk II and Mk III Cases in your inventories will not be updated. This change will only apply to cases going forward, and will mean more Fragments for everyone without the hassle of manual recycling.

Arsenal Crate Update

We are also updating the contents of Arsenal Crates, since many of the items include content that provides Lead and Iron Loadout Cards.

Existing Arsenal Crates in your inventory will not be affected, but all Crates you receive going forward when levelling up will be updated.

Weapon Card Changes

With regards to our longer term plans we wanted to take a moment to explain how we’re going to be evolving the Weapon Cards system starting early next year.

As we’ve mentioned this includes introducing Recycling, Polishing and Trade Up mechanics, so the rest of this post talks through what these are. We will explain these systems in even more detail closer to the time of release.

Recycling

As with the Loadout Card system, we’re going to be introducing a system that allows players to Recycle their .

Rather than giving generic Fragments however, these will be Weapon Fragments which will be specific to that Rarity of Loadout Card (Recycling a Gold Loadout for Gold Fragments) and higher Finishes will provide more Weapon Fragments, bringing back a tier to tier progression system.

Polishing Weapon Cards

Once you have these Fragments, you’re going to need to have something to do with them. The main use of these Fragments will be Polishing up other Weapon Cards of the same Rarity.

That is, using a few of Weapon Fragments (and some Credits) to upgrade the Finish level of a Weapon Card from something like Scarred all the way up to Pristine.

This will give players the means to improve the Weapon Cards they really like, using other Weapon Cards that they don’t value as highly, or Weapon Cases they don’t have a Key for.

Another thing you’ll be able to do with these Weapon Fragments is to a new Weapon Card of the Rarity above.

That is, using a bunch of Bronze Weapon Fragments (and some Credits or Crafting Kits) to Trade Up to a random Silver Weapon Card.

We’ll also allow players to Trade In their Weapon Fragments for a Weapon Card of the same Rarity for a smaller cost, if they really want a Weapon Card in that Rarity.

We haven’t included any specific numbers here, as these things are still being tweaked as part of the overall economy, but we wanted to share the idea behind the system earlier than usual given the release of Weapon Cards.

These are the first of many big changes that are coming to Dirty Bomb. The inclusion of a cosmetic-only option means we can reexamine some of the fundamental systems that have existed in Dirty Bomb for a number of years.

We hope you like the changes! Let us know what you think on Reddit, our Forums or on Twitter or Facebook.