When the new update goes live Monday, May 31, you’ll find a few new tab on the Gang UI for Gang Wars.

We’ve completely revamped the Gang Wars system to now feature 5 vs. 5 battles set up by gang leaders. The gang leader selects his five-player team, then sets up Gang Wars through direct challenges or open offers.

In a direct challenge, a gang leader can select a rival gang from the eligible gangs list to challenge. The rival gang leader can accept the challenge, and then the two work to select the game mode and map. If the gang leaders can’t agree, the mode and map will be randomly selected from the options they selected. In the same window, each gang leader places a wager from their gang bank on the match. The winning team gets the wagers deposited in their gang bank at the end of the match.

Open offers are listed on the Gang Wars Manager. A gang leader can inspect the available open offers, choose his team of five gang members and accept an offer or set up an offer of his own. To set up an offer, a gang leader selects the game mode, map, required amount of money to bid and the number of times the offer will be relisted after a battle ends. Open offers start automatically once a rival gang accepts and the offer re-posts upon completion until the relist parameter is reached.

In addition to the new features we’ve gone over this week, there are also a number of bug fixes and feature updates that will be detailed in the patch notes going up on Monday. The patch process will begin at 8 a.m. server time, 4 a.m. EST, 1 a.m. PST and it is expected to take 2 to 3 hours.

One of the features that you guys have been consistently asking for over the last few months is Clubs, and we’re very close to getting them in game! Clubs are currently in testing for the next update that will be coming very soon.

What makes Clubs special? Each Club can be unique with four themes as the base and a ton of customization options ranging from furniture to vendors to strippers. That’s right, strippers!

Clubs can be purchased for Gold Bars by a gang leader and opened up as a separate area attached to the gang hideout. The gang leader can make the Club closed so only gang members can get in, or open, so anyone can join the party. A gang has to be level four to have a Club and the purchase is made through the Secretary in the gang hideout. Once purchased, the gang leader or anyone in the gang with the right permissions can use the Club Manager inside the Club to customize the Club look and the party setup.

The four themes are Underground, High Tech, Classic and Modern. Underground clubs are the least expensive with Classic clubs the costliest. Customization options include rare clothes, boosts and weapon vendors, furniture items such as tables and chairs, sofas, armchairs and more where players can sit and hang out and pole dancing girls. These customization options are sold for Gold Bars. The Club can also have a bar with a Gold Bar vendor who sells specialized boosts that increase XP gain or loot chances.

Once the gang leader is satisfied with the look of his club, it’s time to get the party started! To start the party, the gang leader chooses Open or Closed. If the party is Open, the gang leader can set a ticket price. This admission price, charged in in-game cash, is deposited in the gang bank whenever anyone pays to get into the party.

In addition to the rare item vendors, the Bartender, social areas and dancing girls, there’s one more feature coming in Clubs that will get everyone talking: The VIP Room. In this private room, accessible through the VIP Porter/Bouncer on the dance floor, partiers get a one-on-one dance with a random girl or one they design themselves. Players are charged in Gold Bars to visit the VIP Room.

Clubs are rented for a one-month period, after which they can be renewed at the gang leader’s option.

Hey guys,

There’s a new game update just around the corner and we’ve got some features coming that fill some of the holes you’ve been asking us to take care of while also adding and expanding existing content.

The update is currently in testing and on track to go live soon! The new content includes two new features and two updated and expanded features. The new features are player-run Nightclubs and the Capture the Zone game mode. The updated/expanded features include a new interface for Gang Wars and Weekly Tournaments.

Later this week I’ll be back with details on clubs and Gang Wars, but today I want to tell you about the Weekly Tournament and Capture the Zone.

Weekly Tournament
Weekly Tournaments are an expansion on the daily tournaments currently in game. The Weekly Tournament will be played on Sundays at 6 p.m. server time and all players who want to take part will be required to have a Ticket. Tickets can be won by placing first in any Daily Tournament or purchased for 2500 in-game cash from new vendors, Ivan Petroff in Downtown, Anna Coolagina in Oceanside and Dan Strick in Midtown.

Weekly Tournaments run in a format identical to the Daily Tournaments, but the prizes get a nice little bump up with first place getting 10,000 in in-game cash, rare set items and an in-game title.

Just to run it down, four-player teams will compete in Shootout matches on three maps, Olympia Mill & Lumberyard, Isopach Oil and Othello Sky Bridge. Warm ups are 1 minute with each match lasting 10 minutes. If the two teams are tied after 10 minutes, the match will go into a Sudden Death phase. This 2-minute period will continue until one team is eliminated or time runs out. If time runs out, the team with the most players still alive wins. If both teams have the same number of live players, the team that scores the last kill wins. If neither team scores a kill, both teams are eliminated from the tournament.

Capture the Zone
This new game mode is playable on Delosville. It’s similar to a king of the hill game, but there are three large zones that must be captured and defended.

This mode is for up to 32 players. Capturing a zone takes 2 minutes for a single player, with each additional player in the zone reducing that time by 20 percent. To capture a zone, no enemies can be inside. Once captured, the zone scores 5 points for the team every 10 seconds. These points accrue until the zone is captured by the enemy.

I’ll come back Wednesday to talk about Nightclubs, then on Friday I’ll unveil the new interface for the Gang Wars.

--KevinB

Hey Guys,

We're extending the 2-A-Day Tournaments out for another week, starting on Monday, May 24 through Friday, May 28.

If you didn't get in on the action last week, this is your chance. We're watching participation to determine if we want to keep 2-A-Days on as a permanent addition to our tournament lineup or if it will be an occasional addition to the schedule, so let us know if you want to keep them around by voting with your guns!

This week's 2-A-Days will run at the same time as they did last week, at 1 a.m. GMT, 9 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. PST.

--KevinB

If you've been keeping up, you already know about tomorrow's Super Cash Tournament. To build on tournament popularity, we're doubling up on daily tournaments!

Two-a-Days will kick off on Monday, May 17, so get ready to double your carnage and double your fun! The first tournament will continue at 2 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. server time, with the second tournament at 9 p.m. EST, 1 a.m. server time.

Check here for more details on the tournament system.

Calibrate your sights and sharpen your knives, this Saturday we’re giving away big cash prizes for the daily tournament winners in each of the three divisions.

Winning team members will each receive $100 real world cash, payable at the winner’s option through gold bars, PayPal or a Visa gift card.

Get your teams together and be ready to kill the competition in the Super Cash Tournament at 6 p.m. server time Saturday, May 15.
 

Hey guys,

The dev team recently updated the server and database to deal with a DB check that we found to be the source of the lag many of you experienced in lobbies.

If you're still experiencing lag, please use the ticket system to enter your issue so we can investigate and fix any problems.

--KevinB