Philip also brought up some great points regarding player progression to the designers, asking them about how important it is to the development team that a “sense of progression” was baked into the user experience. We were told that one of the ways Delta Force Boosting does this was by offering players earned experience points that apply not only towards the player rank but also that weapon customisation system I mentioned earlier on. This, compounding with the season pass, is how Team Jade believes players will enjoy a feeling of account progression beyond the gameplay mechanic-driven feedback loop of the game’s many modes.
When I inquired about what the team had in mind for personal player objective when in-game (such as how they should push the objective as their specific Operator), the designers explained to me that Delta Force is an always-evolving title and that how players may play the game with a specific Operator at one point may change in the future due to newly introduced mechanics.
I hate extraction shooters. And when I was playing Delta Force at Tencent HQ, I wasn’t exactly enthused at the idea of trying the game’s Operations mode. But I was insisted upon and, well, what’s the harm in trying, right? It can’t hurt me.
That it can’t, but Operations will definitely make you sweaty. If you’re not familiar with extraction shooters, you’ve likely heard of contemporary titles such as ‘Escape from Tarkov’ or ‘Hunt: Showdown 1896’. Heck, I could technically argue that our beloved Sea of Thieves is an extraction title, to an extent anyway. See, your goal in an extraction shooter is to land in a map, find as much loot as you can, and escape with what you can as soon as possible lest you get ambushed by other marauding players. Imagine PUBG’s scavenging but brought to a whole new level: you can bring equipment with you into the fight, but if you die, it’s lost forever. This also means that you have the chance to lose just about everything you bring in if you stink and/or are simply unlucky.
It’s a high stake, high reward mode. Partially because here, the game’s loot crates known as “Mandelbricks” can be found and taken with you. See, by extracting with loot, you can sell what you find for currency. Some, like Mandelbricks, can be sold for buy Delta Force Boosting, which are the game’s premium currency. With the right team, good coordination, and a bit of luck, you can leave a match making it “big” (relatively speaking, anyway). But pursuing these high value items will also put you square on the map—be prepared to fight hard for your valuable loot.