One of the main complaints about XDefiant has now been rectified thanks to a new update that went live this morning on all platforms.
XDefiant‘s June 18 patch notes explained how the game has now “sped up the process of unlocking weapon attachments by lowering the amount of XP needed to level up your primary weapon, from 3,500 to 3,000, and your secondary weapon, from 1,500 to 1,000.”
Excitingly, the change is retroactive, meaning weapon levels on all players’ guns will now be higher by default based on how much XP has already been earned, which should come as a welcome surprise to everyone.
But it’s not all good news. Weapon Mastery level requirements have now increased “to counterbalance this speedier access to performance-enhancing attachments.” If you’ve already unlocked a mastery skin, though, you will keep it.
XDefiant’s game director Mark Rubin spoke about the change on X (formerly Twitter), saying “people were unlocking attachments slower than we estimated.”
“The faster leveling is in response to that,” Rubin said. “Weapon Mastery on the other hand does not affect gameplay and is supposed to be something special that shows off your dedication to a weapon. And so the re-balance of levels was in response to that.”
Rubin said he knows “this change may upset some people,” but Ubisoft is “always willing to say we didn’t do the right thing and we need to correct.” He asked for players to give the changes “a fair chance” when speaking out the harsher goals for Weapon Mastery skins.
XDefiant’s season one will begin in just a few short weeks, adding new weapons, characters, and maps to the free-to-play Ubisoft shooter. This change should give players some more time to max out their current weapons before the new guns are added.