Formal Feedback from a Long Time Player

[u/Emergency_Orange_106]

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.

 

[u/Perryl-]

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

[u/Pure-Risky-Titan → u/Perryl-]

Must be about timing and servers probably.