Highlights

  • XDefiant players are frustrated with slow weapon progression, requiring excessive kills to level up weapons.
  • Some players feel the grind for weapon upgrades is too intense compared to other games like Call of Duty.
  • A developer clarified that it should take no more than 35 kills to advance one weapon level in XDefiant.

XDefiant players are reporting that the FPS game's progression system for leveling up weapons is painstakingly slow. As a consequence, they are barely making progress towards the next weapon level in XDefiant despite reportedly having tens of kills across several matches under their belt.

Since being announced in 2021, XDefiant has faced multiple delays throughout its development process. After going through different test sessions last year, the free-to-play FPS finally rolled out for everyone on May 21. As more players experience its 6v6 game modes, the community is gradually finding out the good and the bad about the game. A recent issue that is irking the player base has to do with weapon levels taking too long to upgrade.

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On social media outlets, such as Reddit and Twitter, players are voicing their annoyance towards XDefiant's allegedly slow-paced weapon progression system. It turns out that, among those who aren't troubled by the matchmaking error in XDefiant, there is another facet of the game that is bugging them. To be more precise, a majority of players are echoing the same concern that revolves around not getting enough XP points in return for racking up dozens of kills in each game.

XDefiant Players Criticize its "Slow" Weapon Level Progression System

Based on certain user complaints, the rate at which a weapon levels up in XDefiant seems antithetical to its fast-paced action gameplay. Despite the allure of the various weapons and factions in XDefiant, some players have found it hard to ignore the game's slow weapon progression, which is making them grind relatively harder than rival games, such as Call of Duty: Warzone. A Twitter user described the experience of leveling up guns as a "nightmare." Another user on Reddit said that the long grind for upgrading to the next weapon level incentivizes players to buy boosters, essentially making the game pay-to-win.

While many players expressed disappointment at XDefiant's slow-paced weapon level progression, others explained why they thought the long grind made sense. On Twitter, a user opined that the relatively more intense grind that players require to max out a weapon would make the achievement "more rewarding." They further shot down the comparisons with the relatively faster weapon progression in Call of Duty games by highlighting that, unlike CoD, XDefiant won't be a yearly release but is instead an ongoing game like Fortnite.

In a tweet, user PATTYP, one of the devs behind XDefiant, clarified that it takes 3500XP to level up one weapon and each kill gives 100 XP. In other words, it should take no more than 35 kills to advance one level. They added that putting assists into the equation can further chop down the time it takes to upgrade a weapon. Further, they speculated that there may be a tracking bug in some players' cases where their kills aren't translating proportionately into XP.

xdefiant
XDefiant

Ubisoft's XDefiant is an online PvP shooter that focuses on fast-paced team-based gameplay. Taking inspiration from the publisher's popular IPs, the game features factions and characters that represent franchises like Splinter Cell and Far Cry. Available on most modern systems, XDefiant is a free-to-play project.

Platform(s)
PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
Released
May 21, 2024
Developer(s)
Ubisoft San Francisco
Publisher(s)
Ubisoft
Genre(s)
FPS