Weapon Mastery Overhaul

Hello Players!

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about our progression content, such as Survival Mastery and Weapon Mastery. We know that many of you have maxed out on these since their introduction, and with so many new players joining also, now’s a great time to talk about what we have planned for this system going forward.

Progression is a critical fuel that motivates players to keep playing and striving for the next thing. With that in mind, we’ve come up with some updates and changes for Weapon Mastery that we’ve outlined below. Keep in mind that none of these proposed changes are final. We’re eager to get your opinions and ideas first before we put any plans into action. 

Let’s jump into it!

Changes at a Glance

Category As-Is To-Be
Max. Level 100 Levels Each time a player reaches the maximum level of 100, the Expert Level will increase by one. The maximum level can be reached repeatedly, and players will be rewarded with every Expert Level increase.
XP achieved by Defeat, distance of defeat Kill, kill distance
Level Up Rewards One Weapon Charms per 5 Weapon Levels Weapon Mastery medals are provided on every Expert Level up. Weapon Nameplates will receive visual upgrades on every Expert level up and will be displayed in the kill message.
Weapon Charms Weapon Charms are owned by weapons. The player now owns Charms, and they can be equipped on any weapon. Therefore, Weapon Mastery Charms will be retroactively rewarded based on the highest level weapon after the update and will no longer be provided as Mastery Rewards. We are thinking about making it possible to purchase in the store.
Weapon Stats Not provided by different game modes
– Total damage: Match high damage
– Total defeats: Match high defeats
– Total knockdowns: Match high knockdowns
– Total headshots: Match high headshots		 We believe that the current stats are inappropriate for measuring and comparing skills, so we plan to change them into more meaningful stats, such as kills, accuracy, average damage, time of ownership, etc. 

Details

Weapon Mastery Expert Level & Rewards

Upon reaching level 100 in a particular Weapon Mastery, players will now be able to reset their level in order to gain one Expert Level, earning a medal and an upgraded Weapon Nameplate along with it. 

  • Expert Levels
    • The most criticized point of the current Mastery Level is that it doesn’t take long for experienced players to reach the highest level. Therefore, we have created two different levels that allow players to continue leveling up a weapon for additional rewards, rather than a simple one-time level system. Please note that the name “Expert Level” is not final.
  • Rewards
    • When a basic account switches to a Plus account, Weapon Mastery medals are provided retroactively.
    • Non-Plus accounts can still have Weapon Nameplates according to their levels.
    • With the introduction of Expert Levels, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Plus players will receive Weapon Mastery medals on every Expert level up, in addition to an upgraded Weapon Nameplate. These are decorations that will allow a player to show off their Expert Level with that weapon. They will also receive visual upgrades to the kill message with every new Expert Level. Progressive weapons are not required for these.
  • Charms
    • Weapon Mastery Charms will be retroactively rewarded based on the highest level weapon after the update and will no longer be provided as Mastery Rewards. For example, if you have a level 50 M416 and a level 30 AKM, all Charms up to level 50 will be rewarded.
    • Charms can no longer be acquired through Weapon Mastery and instead can be acquired with BP or through other means.
    • Instead of being linked to the weapon you unlocked them with, owned charms can now be equipped to any weapon.
  • XP Count
    • We used the term “Defeat” as a way to track your knockdowns + opponents’ final death in Squads and a kill in Solos. As many found this to be a confusing term, we’ve just gone ahead and changed it to “Kills.”

Weapon Mastery Stats

Weapon Mastery records are completely reorganized for each weapon used in both Normal and Ranked matches. The current Mastery stats will no longer be updated. However, you will still be able to look up the old stats from a separate page. 

  • Intention
    • Current stats are a simple accumulation of records without comparing with other players’ stats. The new stats are intended to provide an advanced type of information. For example, rather than just displaying the number of kills, we also plan to show details like the time spent to achieve a kill. 

Weapon Mastery UI/UX

  • Weapons List

This menu displays the player’s weapons in kill order by game mode. Once the weapon category is selected, it will list the weapons by their number of total kills so that the player can easily see which type of weapons they are skilled at in combat. It will also show total headshots, total damage, total assists, and the time spent reaching these stats. Please note that Ranked stats are a PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Plus account exclusive feature.  

  • Kill message

A Weapon Nameplate that represents the player’s Expert Level will be displayed in the kill message. Upgrade your Expert Level to enhance your Weapon Nameplate.

  • Universal Charms

We wanted to provide a Weapon Skin-like UI/UX for the Charms, as the ownership has moved from individual weapons to the player themself. Therefore, we have moved the Charms under the Customization menu. 

Again, none of these proposed changes are final. Since game progression is an essential factor for PUBG, we want to listen to your feedback on our proposed changes and begin development in April. We will continue to listen to your comments as we work and hope to have the new and improved Weapon Mastery available for you all around the July update.

See you on the Battlegrounds.

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Team