diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 785f624..3740d9f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,19 @@ Before any major/minor/patch bump all unit tests will be run to verify they pass
 
 -   [x]
 
+# [0.3.0] - 2025-04-05
+
+### Changed
+
+-   `-loglevel` flag is now of type string. It accepts any one of trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal or panic.
+    -   It defaults to warn.
+
+# [0.2.0] - 2025-02-03
+
+### Added
+
+-   If neither the interactive flag is passed or any command line arguments then a *rcon status* command will be run.
+
 # [0.1.0] - 2024-11-29
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 889a38c..488268c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ Arguments following the flags will be sent as rcon commands. You may send multip
 
 Pass `interactive (-i shorthand)` flag to enable interactive mode, for example:
 
-```
+```bash
 q3rcon -h=localhost -p=30000 -r="rconpassword" -i
 ```
 
@@ -123,16 +123,31 @@ Since you can include the q3rcon package into your own package you can easily ma
 
 ## Logging
 
-Log level may be set by passing the `-l` flag with a number from 0 up to 6 where
+The `-loglevel` flag allows you to control the verbosity of the application's logging output. 
 
-0 = Panic, 1 = Fatal, 2 = Error, 3 = Warning, 4 = Info, 5 = Debug, 6 = Trace
+Acceptable values for this flag are:
 
-[status]: ./img/status.png
-[mapname]: ./img/mapname.png
+- `trace`
+- `debug`
+- `info`
+- `warn`
+- `error`
+- `fatal`
+- `panic`
+
+For example, to set the log level to `debug`, you can use:
+
+```bash
+q3rcon -p=28960 -r="rconpassword" -loglevel=debug -i
+```
+
+The default log level is `warn` if the flag is not specified.
 
 ## Further Notes
 
 This rcon client is fully compatible with the [Q3 Rcon Proxy][q3rcon-proxy] package.
 
 
+[status]: ./img/status.png
+[mapname]: ./img/mapname.png
 [q3rcon-proxy]: https://github.com/onyx-and-iris/q3rcon-proxy/tree/dev
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cmd/q3rcon/main.go b/cmd/q3rcon/main.go
index 8058e31..9d5b85c 100644
--- a/cmd/q3rcon/main.go
+++ b/cmd/q3rcon/main.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
-	"slices"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/onyx-and-iris/q3rcon"
@@ -25,7 +24,7 @@ func main() {
 		port        int
 		rconpass    string
 		interactive bool
-		loglevel    int
+		loglevel    string
 	)
 
 	flag.StringVar(&host, "host", "localhost", "hostname of the gameserver")
@@ -38,13 +37,16 @@ func main() {
 	flag.BoolVar(&interactive, "interactive", false, "run in interactive mode")
 	flag.BoolVar(&interactive, "i", false, "run in interactive mode")
 
-	flag.IntVar(&loglevel, "loglevel", int(log.WarnLevel), "log level")
-	flag.IntVar(&loglevel, "l", int(log.WarnLevel), "log level (shorthand)")
+	flag.StringVar(&loglevel, "loglevel", "warn", "log level")
+	flag.StringVar(&loglevel, "l", "warn", "log level (shorthand)")
+
 	flag.Parse()
 
-	if slices.Contains(log.AllLevels, log.Level(loglevel)) {
-		log.SetLevel(log.Level(loglevel))
+	level, err := log.ParseLevel(loglevel)
+	if err != nil {
+		exitOnError(fmt.Errorf("invalid log level: %s", loglevel))
 	}
+	log.SetLevel(level)
 
 	if port < 1024 || port > 65535 {
 		exitOnError(fmt.Errorf("invalid port value, got: (%d) expected: in range 1024-65535", port))
diff --git a/internal/packet/request.go b/internal/packet/request.go
index 58f93a6..b77d0b4 100644
--- a/internal/packet/request.go
+++ b/internal/packet/request.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package packet
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+
+	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
 const bufSz = 512
@@ -29,5 +31,6 @@ func (r Request) Encode(cmd string) []byte {
 	r.buf.Reset()
 	r.buf.Write(r.Header())
 	r.buf.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf(" %s %s", r.password, cmd))
+	log.Tracef("Encoded request: %s", r.buf.String())
 	return r.buf.Bytes()
 }