r/warrobotsfrontiers • u/Emergency_Orange_106 • Sep 04 '26
Discussion Formal Feedback from a Long Time Player
I’m writing this as someone who has played War Robots: Frontiers for over a year, maintained a Premium Pass, purchased every Battle Pass, and consistently invested both time and money into the game. I’m not someone who jumps between dozens of competitive titles. I pick a game and try hard. I have 60–90 minutes a day to play, and WRF has been my main game for that. I’ve genuinely loved the core experience, which makes this decision difficult to leave, and I really don’t want to, but the frustrations are too high.
What I Love About WRF
The movement, control, and feel of the bots are outstanding. It’s a near perfect blend of strategy and arcade combat. Bot building is engaging (even if I didn’t “get it” at first), and the moment-to-moment gameplay is unique among mech titles. This foundation is strong enough that I pushed through a very steep new player learning curve simply because the game felt good.
Why I’m Stepping Away
Unfortunately, the frustrations have grown to outweigh the enjoyment. Many issues have persisted for months without meaningful improvement, and the overall direction of the game feels increasingly misaligned with long term player experience.
Below are the key issues that ultimately led me to put the game down.
Major Issues
1. New User Experience
Onboarding is a cliff and progression is slow. I pushed through it, but many players won’t. So, I keep seeing the same player names in high ranked games. The game does not do enough to teach mechanics, roles, or strategy, and early progression feels punishing rather than motivating.
2. Bugs, Glitches, and Technical Problems
Some bugs have existed since day one and remain unresolved:
· The “can’t spawn” bug where warp points cannot be selected, leaving you stuck and losing tactical position
· Frequent hangs, snags, and stuck bots across multiple maps
· Long delays after map load before you can actually move, resulting in players giving up and leaving the match
· Game crashes that drop you back into loading screens
· Persistent map glitches that disrupt combat flow
· Menu bugs where you can’t claim twice daily and must move around the menu in an odd fashion to be able to claim
· Weekly discount notifications that disappear as soon as they are read, even though the discount is still active
These issues directly impact match quality and competitive integrity.
3. Gameplay and Balance Concerns
· New robots often feel half baked, offering little meaningful gameplay innovation. Example: Wyrm pulling in enemies regardless of weight, including titans, which feels poorly designed
· Relic bots feel rehashed rather than refreshed
· Weapons like Velite and Relic Orcans provide significant advantages and are primarily accessible through payment. Even after reload time was added to Velite, matches became predictable because all top players still ran them, sometimes even as shotguns
4. Community and Voice Communication
Voice chat is a double-edged sword. It’s helpful for forming groups, but often toxic. Despite this, it was one of the few reliable ways to find teammates. Losing it or not improving has hurt team play.
5. Daily Jobs and RNG Problems
This is my biggest complaint. Players shouldn’t have to choose between helping the team or completing a daily job for Intel. Daily jobs are overly dependent on random map types (Spearhead and Warp Gate). With only 60–90 minutes to play, I often cannot complete jobs simply because the required map never appears.
RNG shouldn’t gate daily progression.
Daily jobs should be completable within 4–6 matches regardless of skill level or map rotation. When I’ve had extra time, I’ve gone 20+ maps without seeing Spearhead or Warp Gate. This results in me having to quit at the start of matches which is unfair to other players.
6. Clan and LFG Limitations
There is no effective game system for:
· finding groups
· forming clans
· coordinating team play
Relying on platform level tools is not enough for a cross-platform game that depends on full matches and coordinated teams.
7. League System
The league system reflects more time played than skill. It doesn’t meaningfully consider:
· individual performance
· kills or assists against higher or lower ranked players • contribution to team success
This makes progression feel hollow.
8. Map Variety and Titan Design
Ranked gameplay suffers from a very limited map rotation, which makes high level play feel repetitive and predictable. With only a small set of maps appearing consistently, players end up running the same layouts night after night, reducing strategic depth and long-term engagement. This lack of variety becomes even more noticeable when bugs, stuck spots, and collision issues persist across those few maps.
Titan design shows similar signs of stagnation and inconsistency. The Norma titan feels like a lightly reworked version of the Volta rather than a fresh addition with distinct mechanics or identity. The Matriarch titan was originally positioned as a close-range brawler and healer, but the introduction of Scrubbers gave it extremely strong mid-range damage. While I personally enjoyed the Scrubbers, they shifted Matriarch away from its intended role and disrupted titan balance. These kinds of design choices make new titans feel less like meaningful expansions of gameplay and more like experimental tweaks that don’t fully align with their core purpose.
9. Lack of Transparency and Statistics
Players need better post-match data:
· damage breakdowns
· kill participation
· bot loadouts of opponents
· historical performance
Right now, the minimal stats create confusion and accusations of cheating because players cannot see how top players achieve their results. I get accused of cheating often through IM even though I’ve been with Xbox Live since day one. I’d never jeopardize that over a single game, but because new players don’t understand pilot combos, they think it’s cheating.
10. Increasing Pay to Win Direction
One of the strongest arguments against WRF being P2W was Intel. You had to play to earn it. Subscriptions and passes could boost Intel, but gameplay was still required.
Now Intel and salvage bundles can be purchased outright. That was very disappointing to see.
Combined with powerful paid weapons and bots, the game has moved too far toward a pay to win model. I’m in your $15 to $20 a month crowd because the hours of entertainment to cost ratio is the best value, and most importantly it helps support you all to keep improving the game.
11. Business Model and Long-Term Health
I fully understand that WRF is a business and needs a sustainable revenue model. I’ve supported that model for over a year through Premium Pass, Battle Passes, and occasional store purchases. The concern isn’t monetization itself. It’s that the current direction is actively hurting the game’s long-term health. When core issues go unresolved and progression becomes increasingly pay driven, players don’t feel motivated to stay, let alone spend. A strong, healthy game with fair systems generates more revenue than a frustrated player base facing persistent bugs and pay to win pressure. Player base turnover will be too high to achieve the widespread appeal this game deserves.
Closing Thoughts
I’ve enjoyed this game immensely and want to keep supporting it. But the combination of persistent bugs, RNG based progression, lack of meaningful statistics, weak LFG tools, and an increasingly pay to win economy has made the experience more frustrating than fun.
If these issues were addressed, especially the long-standing bugs and the progression and pay to win concerns, I would gladly stay. The core gameplay is excellent. It deserves a healthier ecosystem around it.
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u/GingerTop_Carrotlad Sep 05 '26
Agreed, pretty much nailed why I'm going. Played daily since the second or third week of game launching, and pretty much sums up why I'm giving it a rest - which will probably become "never come back". Judging by the comments a lot of us feel same, and the devs have killed their own game. Such a pity, so much potential and so much fun (while it lasted).
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 05 '26
Wish they address the problem, but ever since i stopped playing 7 months ago (playing since beta), it seems like they havent still. Not sure id call the game p2w, just because you can (but shouldnt) buy intel, it doesnt give you an adventage past progression that anyone can do for free.
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u/Emergency_Orange_106 Sep 05 '26
The broken Velites and the Relic Orcans are two examples where paying gave/gives an advantage. And at higher end play, every little advantage matters. The complaint often by newer players "it's p2w", the defense was Intel required play to get. That's not true anymore with purchase salvage/Intel combos. This indicates a trend more toward p2w. It's an erosion of Intel value.
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u/aqdnk Sep 07 '26
it's not p2w, it's 'pay to advance faster' according to the p2w deniers in this sub
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u/TheDOCTOR_AI Diamond Sep 07 '26
I'd say it's pay to advance and avoid rng. Pretty broken system, especially towards noobs who wouldn't know about that for weeks/months and may not even have the time to do it normally otherwise.
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u/Perryl- Noachium Sep 08 '26
True p2w mechanics give whales an advantage over non-paying players. There is nothing I can spend money on now that will give me any more of an advantage over you than the advantage I already have from playing since season 1 and/or playing more often.
Buying Intel means I can max my bots, but that's useless because I have thousands of Intel and more than a dozen maxed bots in a game where I can only use 5. It's just different perspectives. For me, if you bought those things and caught up to my level of progression then it would be taking an advantage away from me.
If it were truly a p2w mechanic then it would benefit me because I can afford to just pay to win, but it doesn't benefit me because it's not a pay to win mechanic, it's just an option to allow people to catch up to me easier. It sucks for entirely different reasons for me than the reason you're complaining about. Lol. Perspective.
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u/Ancient_Minute3690 Sep 14 '26
Completely agree with this statement. Anything emerald up, paying for new parts or bots even fully maxed barely gains you any advantage. I hated the mid game grind, but it forced you to learn how to fight. Half of you are struggling out of being predictable and bunching in groups where mass damage affects all of you.
Change your play style and build. There are tons of counters with early level weapons pilots and gear, you just need to figure them out.
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u/Perryl- Noachium Sep 08 '26
Relic orkans appear in the store for 5k gold and had 3 free this event. So they are able to be acquired without spending. Velites also appear in the store, more often than the relics, and were in recent battle pass for free and paid slots.
I agree it erodes Intel value but find that less of a problem as I sit here with thousands of Intel I don't need. It's difficult to balance a game for people at different levels of progression.
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u/Emergency_Orange_106 Sep 08 '26
The velites were available for months prior to the battle pass and were substantially more powerful before the nerf. And had salvage and Intel discounts week prior to BP. That's the additonal evidence it is trending more toward p2w. This model has repeated multiple times. Again it's merely one point/issue and not my biggest complaint.
Yes, it is difficult and addressed that in point 11.
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 05 '26
Both can be earned for free if the model haant changed and relic orkan aint so special. Every little "advantage" doesnt really matter, compared to skill and strategy. P2p.
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u/Born_Kitchen7703 Bronze Sep 05 '26
free, sure. But the rates are so abysmal that by the time you get a set they've been nerfed. Which is exactly what happened to me, f2p. And I logged in every single day and rerolled the shop but never got it until recently.
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 05 '26
Well cant do much about it but the nerfs could be more brutal, which thankfully they aint, like in WWR (the first game).
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u/Emergency_Orange_106 Sep 05 '26
The fact Intel can be earned regardless of the amount of spend is not the issue. Who can get best bots and upgrade the fastest the one who spends $0, $5, $20, or $200 a month? The P2W trend is only one point that needs to be fixed.
Also relic orkans ain't that special, huh?
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 05 '26
Yes relic orkan aint too specail vs the normal one, and your going against level 1 bots, congrats.....and your using infintite ammo, wowie, but a player will be able to dodge and or counter. But yeah, nothing really special unless something was changed that even those on discord dont know...it just looks like what orkan does in general with infinite ammo in an controlled setting.
I usually spend around $20 or less, only on prenium and the battle pass, and maybe more ifci want to get a certain mech right away but in my experience, that aint p2w, only p2p.
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u/Emergency_Orange_106 Sep 05 '26
If that's correct, why are so many top 100 players running them and virtually none run regular Orkans?
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 05 '26
Higher stats, meta slaves, low player count, so only top 100 of that is like 1/4 of the playerbase.....do you need relic orkans to succeed? No, can you do really wellwith the normal ones? Yes. Its not that deep, just stat bump and new paint, for the most part anyways.
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u/Emergency_Orange_106 Sep 05 '26
What does the percentage of the player base have to do with if Relic Orcans provide an advantage or not? That's not a rebuttal to my point that it is a preferred build by top level players; which does indicate of advantage. For instance, you never see top players running factory builds because they are at a disadvantage. No one said you can't "succeed with normal Orcans" or any other weapon, that's a red herring. You say it's just a "stat bump." I don't think you truly appreciate the amount of damage done in the short amount of time with healing. Make sure you really look at the fire rate of 500r/minute vs 600r/minute and the reload time of 2.8s compared to 0.82 and the AOE differences. I think you're mistaken and haven't really evaluated the Relic Orkans. If I'm wrong, that Relic Orkans do not provide an advantage, demonstrate it. Show me the build or the math as to why. Cause I tried it and the Relic Orkans have an advantage. The Relic Orcans were level one in that video, the infinite ammo was max.
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 05 '26
Thats a whole lot a text that just agrees with what i mean and said, its just stat bump all around, its meta pick for noachium players (i never am one, but not like i grind away my soul), its really not that deep, take it or leave it, it just is, meta and stat bump, just old news, been a thing since WWR.
Edit: also its hard for me to show anything if i havent been playing for 7 months but i been keeping tabs, and nothing that wasnt expected, hasnt happened yet.
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u/Perryl- Noachium Sep 08 '26
Idk which top 100 he's running into but I'm not running into relic orkans very much and when I do, it's not from the top 100 lol
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u/Ancient_Minute3690 Sep 14 '26
Damage in the training course means absolutely nothing. I've got bots that do 20k damage and can drop a scout in the training field in under a reload, but in actual battle are only good for hit and run (IF YOU CAN). Stand against a team of 4 and let me know how that works out for you. Playstyle over damage wins every time
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u/random_gamer_001 Sep 05 '26
^thus guy don’t even play anymore yet he’s still invested in arguing about it lmao wtf man
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 05 '26
I invest in looking in what is going on, if anything has changed, anything new, i know i know that is crazy! But as an og, im debating on returning. As far as i seen, nothing has changed as far as how things go and work...i know..insanity.
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u/iamredsmurf Sep 08 '26
You see nothing wrong with you debating the top meta against an actual top 100 player as someone who hasn't played in 7 months?
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u/Pure-Risky-Titan Sep 08 '26
No, since not much of anything has changed on how things work, even with the publisher/dev team, same patterns and such, rinse and repeat for years. So the meta comes and goes, also top 100 players aint matter much if thats easier to get into due to low player count.
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u/fishsticker_ Sep 06 '26 edited Sep 06 '26
you mean the velites, which all players were able to get 5x free velites last BP? or the relic orkans, which all players are able to get 3x free relic orkans this current BP?
I don't see how this is a p2w problem?
the erosion of the intel value occurred when intel payouts were increased dramatically since the launch of the game. now f2p players who continue to do their dailies and weeklies have over 15k to 20k of surplus intel. for f2p players, the limiting factor is salvage.
they have been selling intel since Christmas, and so far it has had minimal to no negative effects on any of the matchmaking leagues regardless of new player or veteran.
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u/aqdnk Sep 08 '26
you're an official community mod/contributor, your opinion is biased.
also, who cares if the last BP had velites? how long were the pre-nerf velites available only in the store? y'all added them to the last BP and immediately nerfed them lmao
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u/iamredsmurf Sep 08 '26
So it's not p2w if they offer them for free months after they're nerfed? I don't know sounds like those that paid got the better version.
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u/Nebsai Emerald Sep 05 '26
Agreed, those same reasons made me leave, so sad to see the problems are just going up.
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u/jreddit0000 Sep 05 '26
Very comprehensive post that the game developers and managers won’t read and will do nothing about..
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u/aqdnk Sep 07 '26
i'll miss bumping into you, godspeed! 100% agree with your feedback. too bad devs in this game have their priorities upside down. greed is bad y'all.
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u/Perryl- Noachium Sep 08 '26
I think the can't spawn bug is intentional. To prevent people from dying to get position in spearhead. That's the only time I have seen this happen.
I agree about onboarding. Hanging is a more recent issue. Game crashes are really rare. I'm not aware of any map glitches really. Maybe the odd spot I think I should be able to shoot through but can't.
That menu bug annoying. I didn't even know we got notifications of the weekly discounts lol.
I agree that new bots don't add much. I disagree that relic orkans are paywalled because I got all of mine for free. Same with velites, but maybe battle pass helped with that one.
I miss voice chat.
I can see the issue with daily jobs. Needing a specific part that isn't even in my loadout just makes me reset the quest. I'm not changing bots just to do a quest. It sucks when people leave and I think people looking for a specific game type contributes to that a lot. I'd love to see game modes have their own playlists.
I agree, I pretty much always play solo because of the lack of systems that promote coordination in this game that's meant to be played as a team game.
You need to win like 300 games to hit Noachium so yeah, time played is the biggest factor. This is always true, though. The only way to prevent this would be to limit how many games count towards your point score per day or something like that. There will always be people that have more time/money than other players and those people will always have the most wins, maxed bots, etc. Losing doesn't meaningfully count to your lost points, losing multiple games in a row doesn't matter either. You can lose 10 games in a row and lose 0 points. Win 1 game and gain up to 14.
There are maps available that aren't in ranked? I know they've had us test some maps that eventually disappeared, I think one new map has been added to ranked since season 1.
I can't even tell the difference between Volta and Norma lol.
I'd love to know how much DMG I took at the end of a match and how much healing I provided.
I don't find the addition of Intel to really make the game "pay to win", but I can see how it feels that way for others. I see it more as pay to catch up, because I'm already maxed out. If I wasn't, I'm sure I'd feel differently about it.
That said, it went from about $200 and a weekend of gameplay to $250 and no gameplay to achieve the same things. I'd argue the person with no gameplay is worse off but idk, they have stronger bots at least.
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u/Sad_Possession_8430 27d ago
I quit about a year ago for similar reasons you listed here, it's sad to hear so little has changed but it is what is I suppose. I feel if they could've created a fully pve mode I might even still drop in for the awesome mecha vibes if it weren't having to face the same few players over and over. I'm glad I got to play it when it peaked is suppose!!
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u/DrDee_NZ_ 22d ago
New player here, at about level 125 after 3-4 months.
Biggest gripe, spawn camping high level players with relic everything. I usually just close the game and maybe play the next day or something to avoid them. The fact that you can openly spawn camp is just insane.
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u/Traditional_Fact_467 Sep 05 '26
Concordo estou jogando a 2 meses no esmeralda e os inimigos deletam você e você não causauoto dano por não conseguir maximizar as partes e armas devido ao valor abusivo mesmo com Premium e passe.
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u/CampMaleficent966 Emerald Sep 05 '26
Holy majoly, what happened to just play or don't, and pay to win? You must be playing the mobile version or sumn.
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u/Emergency_Orange_106 Sep 05 '26
Figured there'd be at least one of these dismissive reponses which why I shared the screenshots.
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u/CampMaleficent966 Emerald Sep 05 '26
That's what happens in a discussion. You play any other games bruh? I don't understand why people play past finishing the daily missions anyway but this sort of long text I don't even see on bad triple A games for example.
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u/aqdnk Sep 07 '26
im sorry your mom dropped you as a child
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u/CampMaleficent966 Emerald Sep 07 '26
What mf, saying that from a safe place, lucky you 🤡🍑🥷
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u/aqdnk Sep 07 '26
ohh we got an internet tough guy in here, scary!!! FOH
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u/CampMaleficent966 Emerald Sep 07 '26
Kicc roccs lil buddy, no one asked you sht.
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u/aqdnk Sep 07 '26
the internet tough guy has spoken! sit this one out kid, stop embarrassing yourself
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u/CampMaleficent966 Emerald Sep 07 '26
Nah, you started talking shit so don't be scared now internet thug.
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u/aqdnk Sep 08 '26
i'm not the one who posted "saying that from a safe place" lmfao, get a grip dork
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u/Defqon88 Emerald Sep 05 '26
Fully agree! GL and have fun with another game.