24 October: BULKHEAD publishes the progression data behind its response
BULKHEAD’s first THE HOTZONE podcast says Season 2 retained a more experienced audience: the top quarter progressed 2.4× faster than in Season 1. Driver participation rose from 9% to 44% on day one after the earlier tank unlock, while fewer than 400 accounts used the Driver exploit. The studio distinguishes that exploit from the much wider effect of experienced returning players and says the current Career/role-track relationship is fundamentally broken. These are aggregate studio readings, not a per-player XP rate or a replacement progression table.
15 October backend update: Driver was progressing too fast
In a launch-day studio update, BULKHEAD says Driver progression had run around 40–50% faster than the other role tracks in its Season 02 data. It applied a temporary backend correction that moves logistics streak spacing back toward Season 1 while preparing a further hotfix for the progression setup and an abused Driver exploit. This does not reverse the lower total XP requirements for every role in the 14 October notes, and no replacement streak table or per-action rate is published.
Current progression is XP; Intel now has a Q2 2027 target
Today’s system is still the six XP tracks and account-wide Career ladder described below. In THE HOTZONE, BULKHEAD says it is targeting Q2 2027 for Intel: a paced seasonal resource used to unlock equipment without forcing play through a specific role tree. Role XP is still intended to feed persistent role skills. “Looks like Q2” is a development target, not an exact release date; the studio still publishes no XP conversion formula, Intel rate, allowance, cap or complete skill tree. Do not spend or grind as if the future system is live.
Update 0.1.2 closes named XP and cash exploits
Revive validity checks are now server-authoritative; vehicle fly-through rewards are capped; buildable-destruction rewards scale with build progress; and off-zone FOB pallet deposits pay reduced rewards. BULKHEAD says caught exploiters or real-money traders had cash and progression reset and warns repeat economy abuse can now bring a permanent ban without warning. It publishes no detection thresholds.
Launch weekend: the six-role XP split
BULKHEAD’s official graphic says role XP is based on item usage rather than fixed classes. The publisher release reports Support 21.42%, Assault 20.54%, Medic 19.97%, Recon 18.66%, Driver 10.57% and Pilot 8.70%; the graphic calls the rounded 20% role Infantry rather than Assault. These are shares of aggregate earned XP, not per-action rates or a ranking of which role levels fastest.
Patch 0.11 can reset exploited progression
BULKHEAD’s Patch 0.11 notice says repeated cash-exploit abuse can bring a timed ban plus a reset of cash and XP to zero. It separately says spending more than a few minutes on a server identified as XP farming can lead to a permanent ban. These are enforcement consequences, not a change to the normal XP bands below, and the announcement publishes no list of flagged servers or detection threshold.
Season 1 replaces the beta curve
BULKHEAD slowed levels 10–20 and flattened progression from 35 onward. The published level-20 XP band changes from 111,500 to 250,000. Artillery Tank moves to Career 90, Heavy Tank moves from Career to Driver 35, and Deagle moves to Career 85. These are official launch changes; the beta sniper examples below remain historical.
Read the item in this order
Editorial checklist for interpreting the current progression screen:
- 01
Find the required track
Read the track named on the item. A level on a different track is not evidence that this requirement is met.
- 02
Read the level and unlock condition
Note the exact condition displayed. Check whether the screen also shows an unlock payment.
- 03
Separate unlocking from buying
Record an unlock fee separately from the price to include the item in a loadout. Do not assume paying one pays the other.
- 04
Keep a usable balance
Before an optional unlock, budget the kit you still need to deploy with. A newly available item is not useful if you cannot fund your next purchase.
A concrete beta example: sniper rifles
The cited sniper guide describes a condensed closed-beta track. These examples help explain the fields; they are not instructions to grind these exact levels in Early Access.
Why these figures carry a beta date →
| Weapon | Reported requirement | Recorded weapon purchase price |
|---|---|---|
| Mosin Nagant | Recon 10 and $50,000 unlock | $4,500 |
| SV98 | Recon 19 and $100,000 unlock | $5,200 |
| MK22 | Recon 25 and $150,000 unlock | $6,400 |
If an item is still locked
Troubleshooting checks:
| What you see | What to compare |
|---|---|
| Your level looks high enough | Compare the named track as well as the number. |
| You paid but cannot equip it | Read the purchase price and any remaining requirement shown by the current vendor. |
| A guide lists a different level | Compare its build/date; the closed-beta progression was condensed. |
| The UI gives no explanation | Capture the item requirement, relevant track and build number for a correction report. |
Roles and currencies
BULKHEAD describes player-defined roles supported by equipment and XP. Its launch-weekend graphic explicitly names Infantry, Medic, Recon, Support, Pilot and Driver and says role XP follows item usage rather than fixed classes. Career/WARDOG progression is a separate account-wide ladder in the Season 1 notes. Cash funds equipment; the February Top Questions post describes exchanging profits for gold bars for Gold Market cosmetic unlocks. A complete current unlock list or exchange-rate table is not established here.
What needs a current-build check
We still need captures showing the complete track list, an item before and after unlocking, and the corresponding wallet changes. Without those, neither an exact grind time nor a launch unlock-cost table is established.
Levelling the track itself
Everything above is about reading a requirement once you have it in front of you. The other half of the question is how the number on the left of that requirement goes up, and the answer is not a class you pick: BULKHEAD's launch-weekend graphic says role XP is awarded on item usage, so a track levels from the kit you carry. The role page collects the six tracks, the Season 1 unlock levels for each, and — as plainly — the rates nobody has published.
What a gold bar costs, and the chart behind it
There is no fixed price to quote, by design. In its “Early Access & Beyond” video of 7 April 2026, BULKHEAD says you will be able to optionally exchange banked cash for gold bars during a season, that gold bars are the end-game currency for cosmetics that unlock permanently on your account, and that “the exchange rate of cash to gold bars will fluctuate daily” — so every time you log in the choice is whether to “invest now” or “buy in the dip”. The Gold Exchange panel shown in the same passage puts that on a chart with 1-week, 4-week, 12-week and 52-week ranges, a current rate line and a slider that turns an amount of cash into a whole number of bars. The dollar figures on that panel are mock-up values under a “Representative – not final” caption, so none is published here as a rate.
What happens to cash and gold bars when a season ends →
- The exchange is optional during a season. The plan also converts whatever cash is left into gold bars automatically when a season ends.
- Gold bars and the cosmetics bought with them stay on your account across seasons, per the same plan.
- BULKHEAD has not documented the Gold Exchange in the current build — on 11 August 2026 it said the metagame had not been delivered yet — but players have shown it working since Early Access began; see “Gold bars at the end of Season 1” below.
- Not established: any actual cash-per-bar rate, or the price of any Gold Market cosmetic.
Gold bars at the end of Season 1
The Gold Exchange is in the game now. Creators trade banked cash for gold bars at a rate that moves, and spend the bars on cosmetics. One tracked it falling from nearly $3 million a bar to about $300,000 by 2 October. That is a player's reading of the client on one day, not a published price, and the rate has moved since. What changes on 15 October is official: BULKHEAD's Road to Season 02 devlog says the end of Season 1 resets cash and progression, and converts whatever savings are left into gold bars automatically.
What Season 02 changes on 15 October →
- Official: leftover cash converts into gold bars automatically when Season 1 ends, and gold bars stay on your account (Road to Season 02 devlog, 9 October 2026).
- Official: the cash-to-gold rate moves by design. BULKHEAD's April plan says it “will fluctuate daily”.
- Players: the exchange, the Black Market and the Vault are all in the client. Two creator walkthroughs from September and a Steam thread on 6 October show them.
- Not established: today's rate, and whether the automatic conversion uses the rate at the moment of the reset, a daily close, or a rounding rule. BULKHEAD has published none of these.
Season 02: level 20 in less than half the playtime
BULKHEAD’s Season 02 patch notes, published 14 October, cut the XP each role track needs at every published level. Its reason: levels 10 to 20 were a slow grind and many players stalled before unlocking the gear that defines a role, so reaching level 20 “now takes less than half the playtime it did in Season 1”. The table is the total XP the notes print. Their Season 1 column for level 25 and above is higher than the figures the Season 1 changelog published — 365,000 against 325,000 at level 25 — and this site quotes each announcement as written rather than guessing which is right.
The full Season 02 patch notes →
| Role-track level | Season 1 (per the Season 02 notes) | Season 02 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 35,000 | 25,000 |
| 15 | 110,000 | 54,750 |
| 20 | 250,000 | 111,500 |
| 25 | 365,000 | 206,600 |
| 30 | 500,000 | 318,200 |
| 35 | 750,000 | 525,000 |
| 40 | 975,000 | 712,500 |
| 45 | 1,225,000 | 920,850 |
| 50 | 1,500,000 | 1,150,000 |
Season 02: what each track gains, loses and moves
Most attachments move to earlier levels or onto new tracks, so players who never reached them can try them. The notes also move whole roles: Assault becomes the base-attacking track, taking C4 and the new Molotov, and the SPH-2 artillery moves from WARDOG level 90 to Driver level 31. New items, by track:
Every level and cost change, track by track →
- WARDOG: Three supply pallets that used to be free now unlock on this track, and the Judge and GGX 17 swap places.
- Assault: Now the base-attacking role: C4 and the new Molotov move here, the AK74 is free and the TCX-SPR takes the M4’s level-20 slot.
- Medic: The Medical Bag arrives at level 14 instead of 24, the PP-19 Bizon is free and the MP5 drops to level 4 — the biggest reshuffle of any track.
- Recon: Recon gets the M14 and its attachments, the BMR-308 drops to level 20 and most scopes swap levels.
- Support: Support gets the Evo-3 Ultra; the PKM moves down to level 15 and the M249 up to 20.
- Pilot: The minigun Little Bird unlocked too early for its strength, so it now comes later and costs more.
- Driver: Armed vehicles before the L2A6: the armed Wolf-110 at 16, T-72B3 at 20, Gepard at 25, and the SPH-2 down from WARDOG 90 to Driver 31.
| Track | New in Season 02 | Moved onto this track |
|---|---|---|
| WARDOG | Compact P-1 Red Dot (Level 21 · $12.5k); Music tape “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” (Lonestar only) (Level 29 · $25k); Gold Market (Level 35 · $150k) | Tricon 1.5x Compact Prism Scope (Level 26 (was Assault 12)); Spitfire 3X (Level 31 (was Assault 26)) |
| Assault | Molotov Cocktail (Level 13 · $25k); TCX-SPR + 28-round magazine (Level 20 · $100k); Cross Rifle Muzzle Brake (TCX-SPR) (Level 32 · $35k); Clutch Lok Muzzle Brake (TCX-SPR) (Level 37 · $37.5k); SRD762TI-QD Suppressor (TCX-SPR) (Level 40 · $40k) | Remote Detonator + C4 Charge (Level 4 (was Support 2)); 2.5x Combat Optic (Level 17 (was WARDOG 26)); Four Reticle Reflex (Level 22 (was Medic 6)); 3x Tactical Prism Scope (Level 33 (was WARDOG 31)); RVG Vertical Foregrip (Level 38 (was Medic 16) · $10k → $25k); Spectr 4x (Level 43 (was Support 21)) |
| Medic | PP-19 Bizon + 53-round magazine (Unlocked by default); AMP-9 + 15-round magazine (Level 20 · $75k (AMP-9 was unlocked by default)); AMP-9 20-round magazine (Level 25 · $12.5k (no longer unlocked by default)) | Holographic Sight (Level 6 (was Assault 22)); AFG Angled Foregrip (Level 11 (was Assault 14)) |
| Recon | PU 91/30 Scope (Mosin) (Level 10 · $12.5k); M14 + 10-round magazine (Level 25 · $100k); Leatherwood ART II (M14) (Level 27 · $35k); M14 Bipod (Level 29 · $25k); M14 20-round magazine (Level 31 · $27.5k); M14 30-round magazine (Level 36 · $50k); .30 Cal SS Phosphate Muzzle Brake (M14) (Level 37 · $22.5k); .30 Cal Steel Black Flash Hider (M14) (Level 42 · $27.5k) | — |
| Support | Evo-3 Ultra + Evolys 50-round box (Level 30 · $200k); Evolys Bipod (Evo-3 Ultra) (Level 33 · $75k); SL7i-BL Suppressor (Evo-3 Ultra) (Level 40 · $35k) | 4x Combat Prism Scope with Reflex (Level 21 (was Assault 43)) |
| Pilot | — | — |
| Driver | Wolf-110 (Level 8 · $50k); Wolf-110 [M2 Browning] (Level 16 · $125k); T-72B3 (Level 20 · $250k); Flakpanzer Gepard (Level 25 · $300k); Music tape “Dyshat’ – Baryber” (Level 33 · $25k) | SPH-2 (Level 31 (was WARDOG 90) · $500k → $350k) |
First unlocks after the reset: everything Season 02 puts at level 10 or below
When Season 1 ends, everyone starts the tracks again. These are the items the Season 02 notes add, move or re-level to level 10 or below — the first things you can reach on each track. It is not a complete early-unlock list: an item the notes do not mention keeps its Season 1 level and is not shown, and the order you buy them in is your call, not BULKHEAD’s. Two changes cut the other way: the Mechanical and Ammo Supply Pallets, free in Season 1, now cost a WARDOG unlock, and the Gold Market itself unlocks at WARDOG level 35 for $150,000.
What the Season 1 reset clears →
| Track | Level | Item | Season 02 change |
|---|---|---|---|
| WARDOG | 1 | Judge | Level 18 → 1 · $15k → $5k |
| WARDOG | 4 | Kobra Reflex | Level 21 → 4 |
| WARDOG | 5 | Mechanical Supply Pallet | Level 5 · $10k (was unlocked by default) |
| WARDOG | 6 | 5.45x39mm HP | Level 16 → 6 |
| WARDOG | 9 | Ammo Supply Pallet | Level 9 · $25k (was unlocked by default) |
| WARDOG | 10 | 9x19mm HP | Level 6 → 10 |
| Assault | Default | AK74 + 30-round magazine | Unlocked by default (was level 3, $10k) |
| Assault | 2 | Birdcage Flash Hider | Level 16 → 2 · $15k → $5k |
| Assault | 3 | T-21 | Level 3 · $10k (was unlocked by default) |
| Assault | 3 | STANAG 30-round magazine | Level 6 → 3 · $10k → free (comes with the T-21) |
| Assault | 4 | Remote Detonator + C4 Charge | Level 4 (was Support 2) |
| Assault | 5 | Hexagon Brake | Level 2 → 5 · $5k → $12.5k |
| Assault | 8 | 3 Prong Flash Hider | Level 24 → 8 · $20k → $7.5k |
| Medic | Default | PP-19 Bizon + 53-round magazine | Unlocked by default |
| Medic | 1 | Eclipse Flash Hider | Level 26 → 1 · $22.5k → $7.5k |
| Medic | 4 | MP5 | Level 15 → 4 · $75k → $25k |
| Medic | 6 | Holographic Sight | Level 6 (was Assault 22) |
| Medic | 8 | MP5 30-round magazine | Level 25 → 8 · $25k → $10k |
| Medic | 10 | Individual First Aid Kit | Level 9 → 10 |
| Recon | 6 | Deadeye Flash Hider | Level 9 → 6 |
| Recon | 9 | DTK-1 Brake | Level 6 → 9 |
| Recon | 10 | PU 91/30 Scope (Mosin) | Level 10 · $12.5k |
| Pilot | 8 | Little Bird AH-6M [Miniguns] | Level 4 → 8 · $50k → $125k |
| Driver | 8 | Wolf-110 | Level 8 · $50k |
| Driver | 9 | Dune Buggy | Level 8 → 9 |
Common questions
Is my overall level enough to unlock a weapon?
Read the exact track and condition shown on the weapon. The cited beta examples name Recon-specific requirements.
Are these Early Access unlock levels?
They are condensed closed-beta records. Check your current progression screen before spending or planning a grind.
Are unlock costs included in the Loadout Planner?
No. The planner estimates selected equipment purchases; it does not add one-time progression payments.
Does WARDOGS have a skill tree?
Not in the current published system: today there are six XP tracks and no points to allocate. BULKHEAD plans persistent role skills fed by banked Early Access XP, while Intel becomes the paced seasonal equipment-unlock resource. THE HOTZONE targets Q2 2027 for Intel, but publishes no exact release date, XP conversion formula or complete skill tree.
How much does a gold bar cost in WARDOGS?
No price is published, and BULKHEAD's plan says there will not be a fixed one: in its April 2026 “Early Access & Beyond” video the studio says the exchange rate of cash to gold bars will fluctuate daily. The Gold Exchange panel shown in that video carries dollar figures, but it is captioned “Representative – not final”, and whether the exchange is live in the current build is not established.
How does the WARDOGS gold bar chart work?
In BULKHEAD's plan, the Gold Exchange shows the cash-to-gold-bar rate on a chart you can view over 1, 4, 12 or 52 weeks, with the current rate above a slider that converts an amount of cash into whole gold bars. Because the rate moves daily, the chart is there to help you decide whether to exchange now or wait for a lower rate. The panel shown is labelled a mock-up, and the live system is not yet established.
Is the WARDOGS Gold Exchange live?
Players say yes: creators have traded cash for gold bars in the Early Access client since September, at a rate that moves day to day. BULKHEAD has not documented the exchange itself, but its 9 October devlog confirms that whatever cash is left when Season 1 ends on 15 October converts into gold bars automatically.
How fast can you reach level 20 in WARDOGS Season 2?
BULKHEAD says reaching level 20 on a role track now takes less than half the playtime it did in Season 1: the total XP required falls from 250,000 to 111,500. Level 10 falls from 35,000 to 25,000 and level 15 from 110,000 to 54,750.
What unlocks first in WARDOGS Season 2?
Per the Season 02 patch notes, the AK74 and the PP-19 Bizon are unlocked by default; the Judge moves to WARDOG level 1, the T-21 to Assault level 3, C4 and the Remote Detonator to Assault level 4, the MP5 to Medic level 4, and the Wolf-110 arrives at Driver level 8. Items the notes do not mention keep their Season 1 levels.
Sources & verification
The Season 1 changes, overall currency structure and launch-weekend role-XP distribution are publisher-stated. The 24 October podcast targets Q2 2027 for the future Intel overhaul, but it is not the current system and has no exact release date. The separate sniper examples retain their condensed-beta source labels.
| Source | Type | Read |
|---|---|---|
| BULKHEAD · 2 Million Copies Sold and Early Access launch-weekend stats, 15 September 2026Published on Steam at 21:44:58 UTC after the same graphic appeared on @WARDOGS at 15:00:01 UTC. The attached official graphic reports rounded aggregate cash, combat, support and objective totals and the earned-XP split across six roles. A separate BULKHEAD and Team17 press release supplies a clock range and more precise values. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-15 |
| BULKHEAD / Team17 · launch-weekend press release, republished by DLH.NET, 15 September 2026The verbatim publisher release says its telemetry covers 17:00 on 10 September through 05:00 on 14 September, without naming a timezone. It gives more precise cash, activity and role-XP figures than the official graphic. It calls the 20.54% role Assault while the graphic calls the rounded 20% role Infantry, so both labels are preserved rather than silently normalised. The release separately attributes the 428,666 all-time concurrency peak to SteamDB. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-16 |
| BULKHEAD · WARDOGS Update 0.1.2, 30 September 2026Published at 06:57:06 UTC. Schedules an 08:00 UTC maintenance window estimated at one hour and publishes the complete 0.1.2 change list: a fix for the recent KB5124010-linked WD-L020 crash, named cash and XP exploit changes and enforcement, a four-way Deploy flow, browser/admin controls, stability, Havoc, buildable, throwable, crosshair and localisation fixes. The maintenance window is an announcement, not a live recovery signal. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-30 |
| BULKHEAD · Scheduled Maintenance & Patch 0.11, 12 September 2026Published 22:26:39 UTC. Schedules approximately one hour of maintenance from 08:00 UTC on 14 September and details server-browser, community-server, crash, capacity and economy-enforcement changes. Planned features are explicitly not part of this patch. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-14 |
| BULKHEAD · Pre-Load Live & Season 1 Changelog, 9 September 2026Published 22:46:09 UTC. Records server-browser, voice, stability, progression and economy changes from beta to Season 1. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-11 |
| BULKHEAD · Press Conference 01: Road to Season 02, 9 October 2026Published at 20:01:03 UTC. The full 59:49 video and its English transcript were read. BULKHEAD calls the material a preview rather than final patch notes. It targets a six-week Season 02 without fixing an end date; previews the Mosin's 3.5× PU scope, Squad Intent, Molotov role, static rain, Bakurani spawn work and team-switch restrictions; and says a future season, not Season 02, is planned to introduce Player Skills plus Intel as the primary equipment-unlock currency. Hedged or contradictory live answers are not treated as final values. | Publisher stated | 2026-10-10 |
| BULKHEAD · “WARDOGS — Top Questions”, 18 February 2026The announcement that states the 2×2 km Control Zone sits inside a 256 km² map, and that the first team to 100 points wins. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-11 |
| Steam · WARDOGS – Supporter Pack store listingBULKHEAD’s own listing for the cosmetic pack. On 17 September the US store sold it separately for $12.99 and also listed the $49.99 Supporter Edition bundle; the listing is also where the three faction names, three weapon names and the Littlebird helicopter are published in official text. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-17 |
| Steam · WARDOGS official store listing | Publisher stated | 2026-09-11 |
| BULKHEAD · “WARDOGS | Early Access & Beyond”, 7 April 2026, from 02:39Read from YouTube’s English captions. States that at the end of a season cash and XP progression reset with cash auto-converted into gold bars, that gold bars and cosmetics stay on the account across seasons, and that the cash-to-gold-bar rate will fluctuate daily. A plan dated April 2026; the on-screen Gold Exchange panel is captioned “Representative – not final”. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-23 |
| BULKHEAD · “WARDOGS | 10 Reasons NOT to Buy”, 11 August 2026Says the studio has not delivered the metagame yet and that Early Access will focus on building it, which is why nothing here treats the Gold Exchange as live. | Publisher stated | 2026-09-23 |
| BULKHEAD · Road to Season 02 devlog, 9 October 2026Published at 15:59:30 UTC. At 02:42–03:45 BULKHEAD confirms the end of Season 1 brings the first full progression reset: cash and progression reset, outstanding savings are automatically exchanged into gold bars at their end-of-season value, and gold bars fund permanent cosmetics. The studio says it banks players' XP across Early Access for retroactive application to future long-term systems such as Player Skills. The video does not state the exchange rate, reset clock or which named unlock categories the word progression includes. | Publisher stated | 2026-10-09 |
| Moochy · “We NEED To Talk About Gold Crashing In WARDOGS”, YouTube, 2 October 2026Says the gold-bar exchange rate fell from nearly $3 million per bar to about $300,000, and shows a limited-time gold-bar Black & Gold AK in the store. A creator's reading of the in-game rate on one day, not a published figure. | Unverified | 2026-10-07 |
| INSTIGATOR92 · “LEARN WARDOGS VAULT SYSTEM!”, YouTube, 14 September 2026Early Access build. Opens the Vault from the main-screen button between cash and gold bars; shows Items and Vehicles tabs, a rotatable grid and Twitch Drop rewards inside; in a match, presses V at a vendor to take a stored item free, and shows a stored RPG still locked behind its Support level. | Unverified | 2026-10-07 |
| Forge · “WARDOGS How To Find Vault | Twitch Drops”, YouTube, 3 September 2026Recorded during the closed beta, a week before Early Access. Same main-screen button; reports 180 slots for vehicles and 180 for equipment, and a Black Market claim of five free bandages every 12 hours that land in the Vault. Beta figures, not confirmed for the shipping build. | Unverified | 2026-10-07 |
| Steam · “Buying the bandages”, WARDOGS discussions, 6 October 2026Replies from 16:31 UTC say the Black Market sells five bandages for $200 against one for $200 at the match vendor, that bought items wait in the Vault, and that a vault toggle at the vendor — or V — takes them instead of paying. One reply claims the Vault is not wiped; that is a single player's claim. | Unverified | 2026-10-07 |
| @WARDOGS · Season 02 backend balance update, 15 October 2026Published at 20:58:48 UTC with a 10:38 studio video. BULKHEAD says it is removing the blue-team cash/XP experiment, applying a temporary Driver-progression correction and fixing an abused Driver exploit. The video names the removed modifiers as 5% cash and 2.5% XP, says Driver had progressed around 40–50% faster than the other role tracks in its data, and previews later Limited Mode/‘Prim’ servers without high-end weapons and vehicles. No client download, downtime or completion time is published. | Publisher stated | 2026-10-15 |
| @WARDOGS · Season 02 progression response, 17 October 2026Published at 11:02:59 UTC. BULKHEAD says its deliberate Season 02 progression speed-up was the wrong call: some players reached Tier 4 armour and main battle tanks within days, so the reset did not feel like a fresh start. It rules out a knee-jerk reset that weekend, says it is considering bringing Season 3 and some of its content forward significantly, and promises more detail in a dev vlog the following week. It gives no Season 3 date, revised XP table or reset schedule. | Publisher stated | 2026-10-17 |
| BULKHEAD · THE HOTZONE Episode 1, “The Wipe”, 24 October 2026Published at 16:00:00 UTC through BULKHEAD’s official YouTube channel. The Atom feed titles it “The Wipe”; the watch page displayed the alternate title “Did we OVER react?” when its complete 70-minute English transcript was read on 24 October. The studio says retained top-quartile players progressed 2.4× faster than Season 1, Driver participation rose from 9% to 44% on Season 2’s first day, and fewer than 400 accounts used the Driver exploit. It says Season 02 will run four to five weeks instead of six to eight, monthly seasons are unsustainable, roughly three-month future seasons with a smaller mid-season update are under consideration, and Intel targets Q2 2027. These are spoken plans, not final patch notes: the episode gives no exact Season 3 date or reset time, and its IR-binocular discussion is explicitly introduced as raw and not gospel. | Publisher stated | 2026-10-24 |
| AllThings.How · sniper unlock guideCondensed closed-beta track; not a verified Early Access progression table. | Observed in a build | 2026-09-10 |
| BULKHEAD · WARDOGS Season 02 Patch Notes, 14 October 2026Published through Steam at 14:59:37 UTC on 14 October (Steam News API gid 1846651706674560; the complete 45,824-character post was read). It schedules maintenance on 15 October from 08:00 to 09:30 UTC — roughly 90 minutes of downtime before Season 02 goes live — and publishes the season's weapons, vehicles, buildables, balance changes, role-track XP and unlock changes, reward changes and a complete vendor price list. It does not use the words wipe or reset, and publishes no gold-bar exchange rate. | Publisher stated | 2026-10-14 |
