Update 0.3 – Winds of War Changelog

Hello, GZW Community,

Winds of War, the second major update for Gray Zone Warfare, will be released today.

Built on community feedback, this update brings fresh content and meaningful improvements for both PvE and PvP players. Experience deeper immersion with a dynamic weather system, take on new challenges across expanded locations, enjoy more variety with new weapons and gear, and benefit from a smoother gameplay experience through key quality-of-life upgrades.

We've been closely monitoring reactions to the Winds of War Early Preview and made adjustments based on your input to improve the final release build. Nevertheless, expect patches, hotfixes, and ongoing improvements as we continue to refine the game together.

Find the complete CHANGELOG below.

We’re dedicated to making Gray Zone Warfare the best it can be, and your feedback is vital in shaping its future. Share your experiences, thoughts, or any issues you encounter. Please report issues directly to Customer Care—we’re here to help. To engage with the dev team and community, you can also connect with us on Discord.

If you missed it, we’ve also enhanced the Gray Zone Warfare editions, unlocking essential gear and tools for a smoother start in the relentless open world while giving you a chance to support the game’s development. For more details, check out this article.

The storm has arrived. Will you rise with it?

Every Move Matters,

MADFINGER Games Team

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMPORTANT NOTE FOR NVIDIA USERS: We are currently experiencing a crash on startup on NVIDIA driver version 576.40 for most 50-series users. It is highly recommended that you stay on the previous versions or download a known stable driver version 576.28. We are working with NVIDIA to resolve the crash in the upcoming driver release. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

New features

Realistic weather system

• Dynamic weather conditions, including rain, storms, fog, and wind, both during the day and at night
• Rice fields fill up with water during rainy weather
• The weather forecast is shown on the map and in the main menu and is based on real weather data
• Player characters react to the changing weather conditions - hydration and energy deplete faster in a hot and humid environment
• NPCs are also affected - wind and rain affect their hearing, while rain and fog affect their sight

Conflict Zones

• Get alerted about ongoing PVP conflicts on the map
• Conflict Zones are created on the map when PMCs from different factions engage in a fight
• Conflict Zones stay on the map for a specific period of time, alerting players that a PVP fight is going on at this location
• Conflict Zones will disappear some time after the active firefight ends

Friend or Foe

• An improved system to detect friendly players in a fight and prevent accidental friendly fire
• Players of the same faction will have a visible armband on their arm to signal that they are friendly
• Enemy PMC players will have no armband visible, signifying they are an enemy
• An operator will warn players that a friendly player is in the area

Tracking Tags

• Purchasable trackers to help you track your gear.
• We are adding the tracking tags to the game based on community feedback. Thank you for sharing your suggestions!
• Tracking tags can be attached to equipment to track its position on the map - helpful in retrieving your body, for example
• If a player loots a piece of gear with a tracker attached, their position will be tracked as they move with the tagged equipment in their player inventory until the tracker duration expires
• Trackers cannot be removed from the tracked items, so be careful what you loot and watch your back!

Dragging bodies

• Drag your downed squadmate to a more favorable position before attending to their wounds in safety

Mortars

• Mortars make a comeback with a boom! Use them on the offense to support your attack run
• High-explosive mortar rounds can be found in the world or purchased from vendors, but they are very expensive
• Mortar strikes can be called to any location within a specific range (limited, so players cannot call mortar strikes at enemy FOBs)
• The time delay between the mortar strike being fired and the mortar shell landing is based on the distance
• Cannot be called to a location that is in proximity to friendly faction members

New vendor - Vulture

• This vendor is available at random at two of the major COPs to the faction that holds the outpost
• He sells items that have been lost by other players and despawned from the world, and some items that are not available at regular vendors

New weapons

• SVD
• MP7
• Sig MCX
• Beretta M9A1
• Colt Combat Commander

Experimental features

We introduce these features in their first iterations and want you to share your feedback - what you like about them, what you might not agree with, and what you would like to see improved.

Combat Outposts - COPs

• New points of interest on the map that bring perks to the faction controlling them
• Guarded by neutral NPC guards until captured
• PVP implementation:
  • Players can capture COPs for their faction
  • Once captured by a faction, the COP is defended by the faction's NPC guards, who are hostile to other factions
  • Can be recaptured by another faction
  • Only one faction can hold it
• PVE implementation:
  • Any faction can claim COPs by defeating the hostile NPC guards
  • COPs can be shared between factions
• Two levels:
  • Minor COPs
    • Captured COPs can be used as respawn points instead of base camps (base camp respawn is still available)
    • Players can choose to respawn at the nearest COP or the base camp
    • Players can access the locker and vendors in the COP
  • Major COPs
    • Same as minor, but with heavier defenses, harder to capture
    • In addition, a special vendor (more info below) is available at two random major COPs on the map. The controlling faction will have access to his services.

Squad Strike Missions

• Strike missions are a new addition that offers players a new way to progress through the game and creates a dynamic and unpredictable gameplay loop outside of the main campaign progression
• Strike missions appear randomly around the map and must be completed within a time limit
• They require players to be in a squad to accept and complete

Localization

• We are bringing the game to new audiences by localizing it to the following languages:
  • German
  • French
  • Portuguese (Brazilian)
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Polish
  • Czech
  • Turkish
  • Chinese (Simplified)
  • Korean
  • Japanese
• As always, if you encounter something not quite right (if a line is not appropriately localized to your language, or the text doesn't fit a button perfectly) let us know via the in-game feedback form or on our Discord.

Other gameplay changes

Repair system overhaul

• Removed durability loss on coma and death
• Durability is now affected solely by use and is amplified when bullets hit the weapon
• New repair mechanics give you a choice in how you want to approach maintaining your gear
  • Slow repair is the more cost-effective way of preparing your gear, but the repaired item remains unusable during the process
  • New repair kits provide an instant repair but come at a higher price

Destructible light sources in the world

• Shoot out lights to gain an edge in night combat

Health system improvements

• Guts
  • Guts are now an organ in the lower abdomen, and will cause a coma if destroyed
  • Resolves the issue with AI surviving a high amount of shots to the lower abdomen due to a lack of vital organ placement in this area
• Updated health symptoms - sore arms, upset stomach, cramps, vomiting, tremors, and fainting
• More details about injuries on the health screen of the player and for enemies
  • Information about the damage source (knife, bullet, barbed wire, etc.) is displayed
  • If the source of an injury is a bullet, the ammo type, the armor penetration status, and the shot's direction are shown
  • A new bleeding effect - blood drops on the ground when you're injured
  • The fatal hit is highlighted

Tasks

• Tasks can be managed outside of the FOB
  • We are improving the game flow by allowing you to accept and finish selected tasks anywhere on the map. This change will also help with managing the travel time and easing the helicopter system
  • Task rewards can now also be claimed outside of the FOB
• Kill tasks have shared progression in a squad
  • Tasks that require players to kill a specific number of enemies now have shared progression for all members of the squad
• New tasks and reworked tasks, new task types
  • Updated tasks are marked to let players know they shouldn't approach them in the same way as before

Progression improvements

• Experience awarded for killing enemy PMCs (if the kill happens within a conflict zone)
• Economy rebalancing
• Changes to restocking
• Improvements to looting
  • New lootbox locations
  • New input methods such as keypads, padlocks, access cards, and safe locks
• Streamlined Starter Town progression
  • Starter Town quests were updated to make the progression to other POIs faster

AI

• NPC readability improved
  • New animations for NPCs - NPCs are checking their injuries, looking for blood when they sustain injuries
• New Limping animation for critically injured NPCs
• NPCs can be stunned
  • Headshot ricochet animation - When an NPC gets shot in the head but the bullet ricochets off its skull, players can identify what happened thanks to the new animation
• NPCs will be affected by flashbangs