WARDOGS Road to Season 3: what BULKHEAD said, and our take

Watch the video first

BULKHEAD published "WARDOGS | Road to Season 03" on 6 November 2026. It runs 14 minutes 22 seconds, it is a developer vlog, and it is the only source for everything in Part 1 of this page. Watch it before you lean on our notes: the team is candid, and tone does not survive summary. The speakers are the studio itself ("we"), and the captions carry no speaker labels, so we credit everything to the team. Our link into the video started at 6:57. That is inside the clip of the team taking over a boosting server, which opens the second half. The next section explains how we weighed the two halves.

Watch Road to Season 3 on YouTube → BULKHEAD's channel on YouTube →

How the video is built, and where 6:57 lands

The video opens by splitting itself in two: the first half is about Season 3, the second half is about cheating, exploiting and what the team will do about it (0:02). In practice the Season 3 plan runs from the start to about 6:30, and the enforcement and review sections run from 6:31 to the end at 14:22, so the halves are close to equal. The 6:57 link lands a few seconds into the clip where the team wipes the cash and XP of accounts on a boosting server (6:46 to 8:04). It is the most dramatic moment, but it is not the whole point. For a site about builders and squads, the Season 3 half is what changes how people play, so it gets the most room below, while the enforcement half gets its own section with every number as stated. Part 2 is our take.

What BULKHEAD said: why a quiet season

The team opens with a candid look back. Its reading is that Season 2 tried to answer negative reviews with actions rather than words (1:56). The patch notes landed well on paper, but once the season went live sentiment fell: it "ended up not feeling like a wipe", and reviews were being left over how fast other players were progressing (2:13). The changes removed part of what made Season 1 satisfying, the journey, and the team says it was too aggressive and that this is on them (2:28). The rule it draws from that is for itself: stop reacting to whoever is loudest in a given week, keep early access steady, and accept that player numbers always fall off after launch, as the team said before release (0:53 to 1:25). Season 3 is the first season built on that rule, which is why it arrives with no surprises. The team is also clear that it is not the update that fixes everything: early access is iterative, and the aim is steadier seasons so that bigger meta game updates can land through 2027 (3:37).

What BULKHEAD said: three-month seasons and multi-track unlocks

Seasons become three months long, with progression managed more in line with Season 1 (3:54). The team gives two reasons: more time for players to reach their personal goals before the next wipe, and time for the studio to build future content properly. Early to mid game progression is slightly longer (3:21). Behind that sits a larger promise: an entirely new progression system comes with the meta game in 2027, and the team says plainly that it knows the current one has shortcomings (4:09 to 4:16). For now there are multi-track unlocks (4:22). Items are no longer locked behind a single role track: if the ammo, armour or backpack you want sits late on the WARDOG track, you no longer have to grind roles you do not enjoy to get it. The team's example is a pilot who only flies the minigun Little Bird and wants .308 armour-piercing ammo: instead of reaching WARDOG level 140, they unlock it by playing pilot (4:41 to 4:57). "Play the role you enjoy and the unlocks will come to you." The team accepts there will be pushback until a long-term fix for rank disparity arrives in the meta game, planned for next year (5:03 to 5:14). The caption there also contains the word "intel", which may point to the Intel system discussed on THE HOTZONE, but it is garbled and we do not rely on it.

What BULKHEAD said: limited mode and the new map

Limited mode is the team's answer to power creep and uneven firefights, which it says can frustrate players with less time (5:28). It is an alternate way to play all-out warfare on a flatter field: limited weapons and ammo such as FMJ only, limited gear with tier 2 armour as the maximum, and a limited vehicle selection, for example no Havocs (5:50 to 6:01). Cash and XP earned in limited mode can be spent in default mode and the other way round (6:07). The full list is still being determined (6:12). If players like the mode it stays in future seasons, and the team asks us to tell it (6:21). The new map is described in three phrases: urban warfare, close quarters combat, and a totally new experience for everyone to learn at the same time (3:02). The team says it cannot recreate the feeling of the Season 1 launch, when every player was learning at once, but a new map, slightly longer early to mid game progression and a shared start make this the best chance before the end of the year to feel it again (3:21 to 3:37). The captions give no map name and no layout; the team calls it its best map yet (0:31).

What BULKHEAD said: cheating, the ban wave and the review request

The second half begins with enforcement (6:31). The team says it spent Seasons 1 and 2 gathering data on exploiting, real money trading and gold farming, and it shows a clip of itself taking over boosting servers: cash removed, XP reset to level zero, the match ended (6:46 to 7:48). Its stated results: every account on those servers banned, hosting rights revoked, purchases not refundable, and tooling that maps who connected and who played with them (8:04 to 8:19). On anti-cheat, the team says it analysed 187 million hours of gameplay with machine learning and AI (9:09) and is banning 185,000 players (9:25). It spells out what counts: external software that interacts with WARDOGS in ways that are not officially supported, such as aim or recoil aids or fire rate manipulation (9:21 to 9:37). It explains the timing: it let cheaters refine their tools so its models could learn (9:54), and with nearly four million unique players it chose to switch the extra layers on sooner than planned (10:09). The figures given: 4.89% of players globally were using external modification software, and 5.7% of copies sold in the EU had been flagged (10:27 to 10:44). The team does not promise cheaters will vanish: it expects a cycle of cheat, report, flag and ban in waves, and says a trust score that puts more control in players' hands comes next year (11:12 to 11:32). It closes with a request (11:58 onward). The team expects review bombing from banned accounts, notes that negative reviews can hurt sales, store placement and investment, and says it banned 185,000 accounts out of nearly four million players while the game has about 150,000 reviews (12:13 to 12:58). It says it is not asking for positive reviews: if you dislike the game or the decision, write that, and the aim is for honest reviews to outnumber those from banned accounts (13:02 to 13:33).

Our take: stability suits the game, and our guides

We agree with the team's central call, and with the reason it gives. A live game that rebuilds its rules every week gives players nothing to master, and builders least of all: a base plan, a cost table or a drill layout is only useful if the menu holds still long enough to learn it. Our Season 2 building costs and building dos and don'ts guides are priced at the Season 2 menu, and each time a number moves we have to go back and check them. Three-month seasons and an opener with no crazy changes are about the best news a guide writer can hear, and good news for anyone who simply wants to get good at building. We also think the Season 2 admission was handled well. The first episode of THE HOTZONE had the team arguing about whether it reacted too fast; this vlog gives a clear answer and turns "under discussion" into "we are now committing" (3:54). A studio that says what went wrong and names the rule it adopts is easier to trust, and it is easier to write for.

Season 2 building costs → Season 2 building: dos and don'ts → Season 2 wipe: The Hotzone Ep 1 →

Our take: solo, squads and the progression changes

Multi-track unlocks are a smart fix for a real problem, and the example is well chosen. Most of us know someone who wants one specific round or piece of armour and has been grinding a role they dislike to reach it; the minigun Little Bird pilot should not need WARDOG level 140 (4:57). It is kind to solo and duo players too, who cannot always fill the role a full squad would. Players can now progress by playing the role they enjoy, which is the Play Your Way idea the team described on THE HOTZONE. If you fly, our Stingray tactics guide covers hunting spawn vehicles from the air. We look forward to seeing how the unlock screens show which items sit on which track. Limited mode is the part we are most curious to try. A flatter field with FMJ only, tier 2 armour at most and no Havocs is a sensible place for a squad with a free evening, a returning player or a newcomer to learn the game without being outgunned on day one, and with cash and XP carrying across both modes (6:07) the time is never wasted. The team is open that the list is not final (6:12), and we will tell it what we think when the patch notes land, as it asked.

Stingray tactics: a pilot's playbook →

Our take: builders, defence and the new map

An urban, close quarters map is a good test for what builders have learned. Our APC city keep guide shows a three-floor keep with an exit that is never on the ground floor, and our drill-first FOB guide argues for building fast and pulling points rather than building fancy; we expect both ideas to be worth trying in tight streets. We do not know the new map's name or layout, and the video does not say, so we will see it before we rewrite anything. Limited mode's vehicle list matters for defence. The team gives no Havocs as an example of what it could drop (6:01). Wherever helicopters stay, anti-air has the most to do, and the CIWS (said "C-Wiz"), as in our CIWS sunflower build, is the answer we know best. We look forward to seeing which air vehicles the final list keeps, and whether builds travel from one mode to the other. Once we know, we will label our guide numbers by mode.

APC city: build a keep for your APC → Drill-first FOB: build fast, pull points → The secret CIWS sunflower →

Our take: fairer lobbies, and where Wing Mait stands

We are players first, and we welcome the enforcement half. A base that took an evening to build, a squad that wins on skill and an economy that works for people doing the intended thing all depend on a fair lobby. Acting against boosting servers and cheats protects that. Sharing the data openly, 187 million hours analysed, the regional rates, the wave and the plan for a trust score, is something many studios would not risk (11:42), and we think the team deserves credit for it. We cannot verify the figures; they are the team's, and we report them as stated. The team is also honest that cheaters will return (11:12), which makes waves plus a trust score sound realistic rather than boastful. The review request is worth repeating, because the team put it fairly: it did not ask for praise, it asked everyone who has played to write an honest review, favourable or not (13:02). If you have played, we would add our voice to theirs and say write what you really think. Where Wing Mait stands: we are a screen-reading voice companion in beta. As in our earlier piece, we do not read game memory, and we make no claim that BULKHEAD has reviewed or approved us. The team says external software that interacts with the game in unsupported ways is bannable (9:21), and we will follow any guidance BULKHEAD gives on companion tools.

Wing Mait for WARDOGS →

What we look forward to seeing

1. The Season 3 patch notes, which the team says are coming soon (14:06), and the 12 November date holding. 2. What carries over into Season 3: the video does not say. 3. The full limited mode list, and whether FMJ only, tier 2 armour and no Havocs stay as the examples. 4. How the unlock screens show multi-track items. 5. The new map's name and layout. 6. The 2027 progression system and the plan for rank disparity in the meta game. 7. The trust score next year. We will update this page when BULKHEAD confirms any of it.

Sources and what we are unsure of

Everything in Part 1 comes from BULKHEAD's video "WARDOGS | Road to Season 03", published on 6 November 2026 (14 minutes 22 seconds). The channel and title were checked through YouTube. We worked from the auto-generated English caption track, so please watch the video for exact wording; times are where each statement starts in the captions. Part 2 is ours. What we are unsure of. The captions carry no speaker labels. A few words are garbled: the role track reads "Warog" and the rank disparity line contains "intel" (5:12). The new map has no name in the captions. Every figure is as spoken and unaudited, and we cannot confirm any of them ourselves. The video contains strong language and footage of the team's own actions against boosting servers; we describe both in plain terms. Thank you to the team at BULKHEAD for saying the hard parts out loud. Watch the full video on YouTube, and subscribe to their channel if it helps.

Watch Road to Season 3 on YouTube → BULKHEAD's channel on YouTube → Season 2 wipe: The Hotzone Ep 1 → Wing Mait for WARDOGS →