What WolfTeam needs to do to be 'good' again

If you've ever heard of WolfTeam or played it, the impression the game gives is fresh and something unique that you wouldn't normally see in a FPS title. It provided a different approach to playing the game as both human and werewolf. Transformation to a werewolf would happen by press of a button and you'd become near unstoppable wild animal that tears the enemies a new. You could opt into being a human and shoot enemies from a far with various weapons available.

By design, this game was definitely fun to play and at the time, a really good game for free. It had the recipes for success and could be more internationally. Turkish version of WolfTeam especially has been, surprising to me, very popular and it is even an esports game! Internationally this could have also been achieved but something had come to claim the game as a victim and the released content would eventually be the doom of this game.

"A map that is known as Scent. Can be found on WolfTeam Joygame Pinterest. Click here".

So what happened internationally for WolfTeam and why is the game viewed negatively nowadays? Below are videos that show the history/evolution of WolfTeam from closed beta to now.

 *Credits go to the creator of the video - Evolution List

This video goes the time periods of 2007-2020 as shown in the thumbnail, which, I think, 

shows in the video well. This is a broader showcase of the history of the game and represents the state of the game well enough to what it is now.*

As you can see in the video, it is around 2011(video shows 2014 in this case, but my personal experience is that after 2011 it started to slowly die) onward when things start to go south for WolfTeam as a game when the developers introduced some more overpowered items to fuel the needs of players getting to a point of being near unkillable or massively oppressive. Specialized wolfs and characters, including also weapons were tearing the game from inside out and, what was known mostly in AeriaGames' WolfTeam as a slow and composed game-play, became a chaotic slaughterhouse where you would only stand a chance if you had some of the imba items in-game. Skill barely added much of a counter play and vice versa: A 'skilled' player with disgustingly strong items was just overbearing. Personally, whenever I used overpowered gear I would suffer from a decrease in my mechanical skills as OP items made me play more carelessly and my aiming would suffer, probably a mental restriction since I was on the mindset of hating on overpowered items at the time.

*A video by Noobszle(GameClanOnline), looking at the history of WolfTeam in 2007-2014.

This video has condensed and descriptively accurate presentations between the time periods. In this video there are also some interesting screenshots when discussing about the game-balance.*

So what are some of the key areas that WolfTeam's developers did, which eventually started to kill the game's popularity and cause a decline in the player-base?

1. Bringing out special characters with oppressive statistics that were difficult to deal as a free-to-play player. As to compensate, players were in the latter few years given some free items through playtime events and log-in rewards, etc. Personally I don't like this but it was in AeriaGames' version probably the best option they could have done.
2. Introducing weapons that were way too superior in stats (Cash/AP weapons), therefore rendering most of the known best weapons at the time almost meaningless.
3. Flat out doing massive sales to encourage players to purchase oppressive items just to "enjoy" the game and a right amount of money would get you permanent items or other things. Basically a cash-grab to milk out a game that was slowly dying. Surprisingly, this has been what has kept WolfTeam from essentially dying but in reality the player base has suffered in AeriaGames the most. I have no information about other versions but Turkish version is still very populated.

These are in my opinion key parts of WolfTeam's decline. 

As for the other things that made the game not enjoyable or took the fun out of the game:

• Bugs(in-game and lobby)
• Hackers(various ones, such as wallhackers, inventory hacks, aimbots, wolf hacks in human v human mode, etc.)
• Broken parts of the game, such as gold shop's rental prices, descriptions(proof-reading), etc.
• Ranking (you can purchase rank experience with cash, therefore making the ranking ladder kind of pointless)
• Meta shifting towards players being a "hulk-like"tank and rifle combat turning into chaotic spraying a la pay to win was now more favored.
• Wolf Tattoos being overly strong to the point it would take almost a magazine of just body-shooting to kill a wolf.
• KDA system changed to % (made no sense and while this is sort of a meaningless change per say, it still made looking at the statistics of your K/DA so weird for me).

While there may be more reasons what caused WolfTeam to suffer a slow decline, these thoughts come to my mind when thinking about my past experiences with the game. Statistically speaking, 2011 was probably the peak year for WolfTeam in terms of popularity, 1,2 million players, more or less(source: Softnyx Wikipedia). This also was the game's inevitable descent.

Various werewolf types in WolfTeam. From left to right: Power Wolf(?), Ghost Wolf 2, Guardian Wolf, Berserker Wolf(center), Smart Wolf and Ghost Wolf 1

Changes that WolfTeam need to make the game more appealing

While it is most likely impossible for WolfTeam to ever return to its glory I would like to spread out some ideas or thoughts how the developers could try to make WolfTeam more attractive.

WolfTeam Classic

I'll touch on this briefly: The direction WolfTeam Classic is attempting to go is the right direction if you're looking to replicate a period where the cash items were not so overtuned/overpowered. Maybe when the global release is imminent I will do a closer review/blog about it if am still interested. I am, after all, skeptical about the game as it is. 

WT Classic aims to hit around years 2011-2012 with the modern content that has been available on other versions(sadly the armor is still in it). The game needs some changes if you want it to be 'classic' in reality or the feel of a classic. The content in it from what I've seen is not exactly representing that. 

The thoughts that are about to be written below could probably end up showing in the WolfTeam Classic, but best to not be optimistic about it. For me, WolfTeam Classic is still unknown since it isn't globally accessible unless you use VPN or live in a region where the game is available.

In general

I'm going to write out some of my thoughts I had written in the past that I think could be applied to the current versions of WolfTeam.

• As it stands, what is considered the strongest idea of p2w is a character with ludicrous armor items, weapons that surpass almost everything else(Legends) and tattoos for wolves, make the game really unfun and unbalanced. The game needs radical changes to its gameplay system and balancing overall. The way the developers have handled the items and balancing overall has been lackluster and they practically encourage players to spend vast sums of money to be practically "unkillable". One of my suggestions would be to have the cash special edition characters, etc have same static stats (I think 230 HP with armor stats that aren't super tanky, would be fine if you want to keep the characters overall relatively the same.). This ensures that people could still have the option to buy these characters. I think the regular cash characters that don't have these armor values but have to purchase armor seperately should have this same route taken.Or, you know, take the armor out and have them be a cosmetic look for the current characters in-game and have them still give their 30% gp/gold boost... Primarily the armor values should be toned down so they don't seemingly tank absurd amount of bullets, even from weaker weapons. For f2p players they should have these old basic characters that are now these "10th anniversary characters", be bought with the gold that the players have mustered up. These characters would provide half the gold and/or experience boost the cash characters provide, or less. There are obviously more approaches to this but personally i'd love something like this to happen. I've hated the fact that the developers insisted on bringing the old basic character models as a cash version when it originally was for everybody before being removed as a primary basic character. It was like a big flick to the forehead and opened up some wounds.

Comment(s) made by GM Dropkick and GS Mark (in 2009). 
At the time the game was pretty fun and balanced, and you wouldn't be gaining any massive advantages if you bought any cash items/weapons. At best the balance distribution between cash and f2p was probably close to 55-45, respectively. No real power imbalances. Screenshot from GameClanOnline video which you can find above. 

• When it comes to the wolves' side, it is a fact that currently available tattoos and wolf abilities, such as dash for instance, give overwhelmingly amount of advantage in normal game modes where human/werewolf transformation is available. Back in the days the tattoos weren't so tough to deal with: they gave enough resistances and some stopping power resistance. Currently the game is filled with these ludicrous tattoos that have immensive stats behind them, making you tank like Marvel's Hulk. For this it would be better to also tone down tattoos overall. 

• Weapons in the game currently from my understanding are very limited if we're thinking about diversity. The weapons currently prevalent are weapons such as Legends, Ultimates, Elites and Vempr. There are obviously some other weapons that pack a real kick in them and make the gameplay itself look like a splash of paint sprayed all over the wall without a sense of direction. I'll name this the 'meta' for this instance as the game has had specific styles of weapon choices in the past. Why is this a problem in the current state of WolfTeam? One thing is that it has been the developers decision to make the cash weapons be imbalanced enough that the level between free-to-play and pay-to-win has lopped to ratios 20-80 or 30-70(the numbers are thrown out as a reference for how I view the dynamic between F2P- and  P2W weapons). Skin-versions of the weapons also have secret stats sometimes added to them which tip the balance of the weapon to suit certain niches. For this I would suggest something like this: Weapons, both f2p and cash ones should not have a massive difference in their power. Let's not forget that cash weapons have a really low WP costs in them, or most of the cash weapons have.(WP stands for Weapon Points in WolfTeam or something akin to it). Just do not put some bullshit hidden stats in them. Weapon series should functionally be the same. One thing you could also consider is just rebalancing every weapon category so there's no real winner or cash weapons to have only a minuscule of advantage. You could also consider changing the WP System so it would better reflect the system and what weapons are at the moment, best.
• Skin-versions of weapons should also not have any stat boosts in them. Across many other FPS titles weapon skins were always just a cosmetic thing. Would that mean that if weapons with different variants become meaningless? No, I don't think that would be the case. I'm inclined to believe that people have used weapon skins since they look 'nice' and differiates the regular look of the weapon and it's more...'personal' I guess. The point is: Weapon skins should always be cosmetic first; People should be allowed to have the said weapon and then have the option to purchase a skin for it. Or, if you want to keep the weapons with their skins seperately from the original one, then you can do just that as well. 

• Marketing is something WolfTeam has probably dropped its ball on heavily. That may be due to the fact that due to game's popularity decreasing internationally(except from Turkey and LATAM I think). The brand of WolfTeam as a game in the past would've been easily marketable with its game state at the time. The game has been painted out negatively since 2014 onwards because of how unbalanced the game has become. Pay-to-win element is really harsh for newer players and there's no real footing for free-to-play players to prosper unless they're handed out free OP items daily. Marketing is tied to community in the sense that the community and the developers should try to push content that makes WolfTeam appeal to new, younger audience as well as older players. The game has to be, however, in a state where the balance between f2p and p2w is tipped equally and there should not be any advantage on opting for cash items that give massive edge to a player. Community and developers should figure together what kind of events could suit the demand for appeal to the game: Why should new people try out WolfTeam? How do developers tackle the balance of the game so it doesn't become bland or unbalanced? What kind of events can be made in-game and how it will be marketed through platforms? What kind of contests can be held(tournaments, editing contests are often used but there could also be more interesting ideas that could be explored)?

• Item sets should be reviewed and individual items as well. Sets should provide player a good amount of tools for the player to play the game carefree and help them to push on grinding through the ranked ladder. Something the developers have succeeded in the past. 

• Ranking system should be revisited, especially due to the fact that players can currently spend money to gain experience towards rank, making grinding out the game not appealing. Ranking in this kind of environment is in my opinion unhealthy and really takes away the feeling of gaining a new rank by playing a game. Something I would suggest is rewards based on your rank. Obviously if you're within top 100 you get better rewards the higher rank you are( I think this may be currently on Aeria, monthly I think...?). We shouldn't however exclude out players who aren't within top 100. In reality players should get at least something based on their current rank, be it a small reward if you're a sergeant or a big one if you're a colonel for example in WolfTeam. Also - Please remove GP ticket-purchases, they're pointless and take away from the grind.

• A team dedicated in fixing bugs in game and preventing hackers with a proper anti-hacking security as well as communicating with the community of the players, listening to feedback and gathering ideas that could be implemented or be passed to a team that handles content updates, etc.

• Playtime events, login rewards, etc. should be continued as it is, although I would change what items are given out in the current game. Primarily these rewards or events should be aimed for f2p players(of course every player will get these rewards but I think the rewards should be f2p friendly) and on the side-track the balance of the game is also affecting this. If the game balance was modeled to be f2p friendly with the option for cash items, as in f2p-p2w dynamic be equal, rewards should then be reflective. Rewards should not be something that allows you to immediately get something from the in-game shop, or something ludicrously good. It is something that can be accrued in time. Login rewards should be scaling based on how often do you log in repeated amount of times. The longer the streak of logging in, the better the rewards scale. This, however, should be tuned so the rewards aren't exaggerated and resetted monthly.

• This is probably my personal opinion but: I never liked the idea of buying permanent items as it would defeat the purpose of paying up for something, although now it makes sense. You invest in something so you don't have to purchase something else then and you have a set of items already available as to when normally your guns would have expiration date. I still would think to have this permanent weapon/item thing be removed or at the very least have something to compensate it with. This is a big grey area for me so I can't really give any idea what could be done. I think that permanent items being a thing is here to stay for WolfTeam until it either dies or rises like a phoenix(which I think will be unlikely at the moment).

A blue soldier at Covolt Bridge(WolfTeam)

I think this covers some of the thoughts I would love to see in the current state of WolfTeam and hope to see in WolfTeam Classic in some form or another(minus the characters + armor). Overall, as a summary, the game needs a lot of changes and something reminiscent from the old days. As it is now, the game is only surviving due to sales and tiered spenders that offer valuable items permanently, etc. Content wise I feel like the game is very boring now and the games are practically just a joke, filled with op cash-item-players, leaving little to no chances for f2p players, unless they get cash items as a login gift or from forge, etc.

Finally, will WolfTeam ever become that top MMOFPS title again? It is unlikely considering how far the game has sunk and the developers seem to not try to improve or care for the game. There's no reason to ever think that WolfTeam will be as popular as it was in its hay-days but the team behind it can at least try to fix some of their mistakes and own up to it. The game was for many former players probably one of the best f2p MMOFPS/3rd-Person games to spend time on and it is sad to see it thrown to the wolves, ironically, and be treated horribly by the developers. The game deserved its spotlight at the time and it would be nice to see it rise again.

...

Or should it be laid to rest?