World of planes update 2.00. Wargaming has released the most global update for World of Warplanes

On a closed test, fresh changes are already being rolled in, whether this will change the state of affairs in this game, we'll see. Now let's take a look at the patch note and the leaked video. There is a lot of text, below is an extract.

- "Conquest" mode.
All-new Conquest game mode. In it, in order to win, teams of players will have to attack fortified and defended key areas on the map in order to gain a tactical advantage over the enemy. Control over each such territory brings the team a certain number of Influence Points per unit of time. The first team to reach the required number of Influence Points wins. In most cases, Influence Points are awarded once every 5 seconds based on the number and type of territories controlled by the teams. In the event that one of the teams owns all sectors, the “Superiority” event occurs, at which the frequency of the accrual of Influence increases significantly.
* Key territories
Each territory in the area of \u200b\u200boperation gives one or another advantage to its controlling team:
Airfields

* Capture territories
At the beginning of the battle, all key territories in the area of \u200b\u200boperation are neutral and controlled by local forces.
In order to establish control over the territory, the player's team needs to destroy targets within it (ground objects, aircraft of the defenders, aircraft of the enemy team), earning * Capture Points.
To capture territory, you need to gain 140 HP before the enemy team does it. In order to recapture territory from the opposing team, you need to gain 160 HP. The progress of capturing territories can be seen on their icons. When a territory is captured, all further attempts of the enemy to recapture it are blocked for 30 seconds.

- Within the framework of closed testing, the approach to firing from forward-firing weapons was changed. The look-ahead point is removed first. This decision is explained by the fact that shooting should focus the player's attention on the enemy aircraft, and not on the interface element. In order to accurately shoot at the target, the player must carefully monitor the enemy's aircraft in order to predict his maneuvers, correctly choose the approach trajectory and anticipation when firing. It is also necessary to constantly adjust the fire on the tracers, leading the sighting. Since the projectiles of offensive armament in the game have a finite velocity, the lead mechanic has been preserved. In order to effectively hit an enemy aircraft, it is necessary to adjust the fire, taking into account the direction of its flight and speed - to the point at which the enemy will be at the moment the bullet hits.
General principles of firing forward-facing weapons.
Choosing the moment of opening fire.
Depending on the caliber and type of forward-facing armament, the effective engagement distance differs. An indicator that the target is at hitting distance is the appearance of a bar of its strength above the aircraft marker. This means that this enemy can be fired upon.
* Choice of aiming point.
In all cases, except for frontal convergence and shooting at the tail, it is optimal to aim at a point located slightly
ahead of the enemy. To facilitate zeroing, tracers and flashes of hits on the enemy aircraft were made more
bright. This allows you to see the trajectory of your projectiles and the point at which this trajectory intersects with
enemy.
* Maneuvering and avoiding shelling.
Standard evasive maneuvers are still effective and avoid some of the damage. However, it is necessary to start execution immediately when the enemy attacks your plane.
* Modification of the damage model.
The damage system has been improved and now allows you to target damage to individual large parts of aircraft. It has become much easier to inflict critical damage on the desired component of an enemy aircraft. This will fully manifest itself in the destruction of large aircraft with high survivability: bombers and attack aircraft.

- Graphic arts.
* Flight
The game camera has been completely redesigned. Firstly, now it more effectively and clearly conveys the state of the aircraft in battle, and secondly, it allows you to more comfortably concentrate on the situation that is directly played out in front of the player.

During turns, the plane now moves freely across the screen. This helps to better concentrate on approaching the target and keep track of the enemy in turn combat. As the speed increases, the camera gradually moves away from the aircraft, providing a greater view. In addition to the camera, a lot of visual effects have been added to emphasize the flight speed.
* Shooting
The visual effects of shooting and hitting aircraft have been significantly changed. A critical hit on an enemy or its destruction has become much more noticeable. Now, when shooting at a target, you can immediately notice whether damage has been inflicted on it, which helps to adjust fire and aim.
* Receiving damage
Added screen effects for events such as receiving damage, receiving critical damage, falling strength to a critical level. It is now much easier to determine the state of your aircraft in the heat of battle.
* Maps
For the "Conquest" mode, 8 maps have been significantly modified. On their basis, areas of operations were created with a different combination and location of key territories.

July 11 from 09:00 to 13:00 (MSK) the game server will be unavailable due to the release of the update - version 2.1

Update size from the previous version: SD - 748.41 MB, HD - 396.18 MB (in addition to SD)

New aircraft

Added premium aircraft available for purchase in the in-game store:

• Avia Bk-534 - Czechoslovakia (Europe), Tier III fighter;
• PZL P-38 Wilk - Poland (Europe), Tier III heavy fighter;
• Avia S-199 - Israel (Europe), Tier VI multirole fighter;
• SAAB J 21RB - Sweden (Europe), Tier VIII multirole fighter.

Added promotional aircraft:

• Avia B-534 - Czechoslovakia (Europe), Tier III fighter;
• Yak-7 M-82A - USSR, Tier V multipurpose fighter;
• P-82B Twin Mustang - USA Tier VIII heavy fighter.

United Europe

Due to the addition of aircraft of new nations to the game, the France tab in the tech tree has been transformed into the Europe tab, which now contains premium aircraft from France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Sweden and Israel.

Airplane nation switching

For all European aircraft (including French models that were previously available), the ability to switch the aircraft nation to any of the main ones (Germany, USSR, USA, Great Britain and Japan) and back is now available.

Thanks to this, these aircraft can be used to develop the crews of other nations, or use already trained crews in them.

Equipment

Added new equipment, available only for aircraft of the III era - Anti-overload suit. It fits into the cockpit slot and increases the maneuverability of the aircraft at high speeds, sacrificing the pilot's susceptibility to critical damage. The equipment is available for purchase with credits in the client.

• Anti-overload suit - maneuverability at high speeds + 6-14%, pilot's resistance to injuries -3-10%. Bonus properties: pitch maneuverability + 0.5%, accuracy for moving targets + 5%, pitch maneuverability + 1%, maximum height + 4%, maneuverability at high speeds + 3%, maximum height + 6%.

Added new unique equipment:

• Japanese special project: Lightweight power plant - yaw maneuverability + 3-12.6%, pitch maneuverability + 1.5-4.7%, engine damage resistance -2-10.4%. Bonus properties: cruising speed + 0.5%, acceleration without afterburner + 1%, cruise speed + 1%, acceleration with afterburner + 1%, acceleration without afterburner + 0.5%, acceleration with afterburner + 0.5% ...
• Special project of the USA: Reinforced bolt frames - the length of the line of forward-firing offensive armament + 3-35%, the accuracy of forward-firing offensive armament -2-10.4% Bonus properties: rate of cooling of offensive armament + 5%, rate of fire of offensive armament + 2%, rate of fire of offensive armament + 5%, rate of cooling of offensive armament + 10%, firing range of offensive armament + 3%, rate of fire of offensive armament + 3% ...

Personal ratings

By participating in battles and fulfilling the conditions for getting into the rating for each of the weeks, players will be located in one of five divisions and on Wednesdays they will receive prizes corresponding to their effectiveness - unique equipment that can only be obtained in this way, gold, equipment and other valuables. Each will run for six days from Thursday 19:00 UTC to Tuesday 23:00 UTC.

Interface

• Fixed a bug due to which the lock icon was missing in the territories inaccessible for capture.
• Fixed a bug due to which the changes in the characteristics of the aircraft selected in the carousel caused by the equipment installed on it spread to the information panel about other aircraft in the Hangar. This error did not affect the actual performance of the aircraft in combat.
• The capabilities of the aircraft characteristics panel in the Hangar have been expanded. Now it correctly reflects the influence of the skills of the crew in the plane on its flight characteristics, and also shows how the characteristics of the plane will change when installing other modules, if you hover over them. In addition, hover tooltips have been added to explain the sources and meanings of effects that affect aircraft performance.

Graphic arts

Updated lighting system at all locations. The game now uses the atmospheric light diffusion system, which makes the image on the screen more realistic.

Other

Game modes:

• All game schemes of the War of Attrition, Escort and Invasion modes have been added to the training room.

Bots:

• Fixed a bug due to which a bot could be sent to defend itself with a quick command.
• Increased the minimum distance at which a bot on an attack aircraft could be assigned to defend a player's aircraft.

Major update of World of Warplanes * 2.0. In fact, this is a reboot of the game. The rules have been changed, the graphics have been improved, and the pilots now fight not only with each other, but also with AI-controlled fighters.

We spoke with a company representative to make sure that version 2.0 deserves the attention of new players and will be pleasant for old-timers. It is clear that not everyone will like such radical changes.

* World of Warplanes is a session-based shareware game in which players split into two teams and fight in aircraft from World War II. Mechanically, this is an arcade flight simulator that was developed by the Cypriot company Wargaming.net in cooperation with the Ukrainian studio Persha Studia. The game was released on November 12, 2013, but it was not very popular. The developers had only two choices: either to close the project, which at the best of times collected several thousand users online, or to "reload" it, which they have now tried to do.

- Start over. What is the World of Warplanes reboot?

- However, while I see the same thing ...

Come on?! We are introducing a new game mode with improved graphics, a new class of technology "bombers", with manual control of onboard arrows.

The old game mode was interesting, it had its own loyal audience. Statistically, 50% to 70% of the players who currently play World of Warplanes came to the game in November 2013. Four years in a shareware online game is very serious.

- But if you evaluate the overall success of the game against the background of World of Tanks ...

If we evaluate the success of any game against the background of World of Tanks, then ... the conclusions are obvious. Yes, World of Warplanes has a smaller audience than World of Tanks. Yes, it is less than World of Warships. Nevertheless, we have a loyal audience, and for them, as well as to attract new players, we are introducing Update 2.0.

The mechanics themselves are completely changed. Winning conditions are changing. All game locations have been reworked, and sectors appear on them. They can be completely different. It can be a factory, an air base, a command center. Each of these sectors has its own unique game mechanics.

For example, if the allied team owns an airbase, then it gets the opportunity to choose an aircraft if the player loses his car.

- And what does it mean, "owns"? How can an airplane "own" something on the ground?

Historically and in reality, aviation is an auxiliary class of troops, the purpose of which is to conquer airspace and, if possible, help ground forces. This is how we will implement everything in the new game mode.

Each sector is initially neutral. It does not belong to my team or the opposing team. Airplanes fly over it. They are neutral and white. These are defensive planes. A sector is a complex of buildings: factories, workshops, and so on. The task of the teams at the beginning of the battle is to capture these sectors.

To capture a sector, you need to score a conditional number of points. They are given for the destruction of defensive aircraft, ground targets, plus, of course, enemy aircraft arrive to capture the same sector. Shooting down enemy planes over the sector, we also get capture points. Accordingly, the one who first collects the conditional 170 points becomes the owner of the sector, and the mechanics of the sector begins to work for this team.

There are sectors that call bombers, and those controlled by artificial intelligence fly to bomb the enemy sectors, helping to capture them. There is a mechanic, when a military base starts to shoot FAU-1 missiles at enemy sectors, destroying ground targets.

All sectors are worth victory points. There is a scale that fills up. The more sectors, the faster the full scale is gained and the closer the victory is.

In addition, so that the battles do not drag on for a long time, after six minutes (perhaps this time will still change), the "thunderstorm front" event turns on, which turns off the ability to respawn and turns the game into a team battle. Whose team will kill enemy planes, she will win.

The next key feature is the complete overhaul of vehicle class roles. If in the old regime fighters played a key role and the whole process was built around the so-called "dogfight", when fighters met and fought at one point in space. Interrupted - the end of the battle. In the new game mode, we made it so that all vehicle classes were equally useful and effective in battle.

Fighters help capture sectors by eliminating defenders. Fighters feel great when defending their sector (they can be re-captured). The bomber class has been implemented with its own unique gameplay. The possibility of manual control of the onboard switches has been implemented.

- And what does it mean?

Here is a gunner sitting, who shoots at an enemy plane.

- Is one person flying the plane, or is one player piloting and the other is firing?

It is operated by one person. By pressing the "T" button you switch to the gunner mode and are already shooting back at them, and the plane continues to fly in the direction you left it.

All bombers have side shooters. In addition, in the future, we will add bombers with more gunners to the game. This will allow you to control the entire rear hemisphere and shoot anyone who gets on your tail.

- Air fortresses?

Yes, that's right. We also completely redesigned the graphics of the game.

I remember when World of Tanks "completely redesigned the graphics", the fans were not very happy, because the system requirements immediately increased.

This is an absolutely correct and pertinent question. Our rule of thumb is that the system requirements for the new game mode must match the requirements of the current version of World of Warplanes. A player who was comfortable playing the old version of the game should also be comfortable playing the new one. And this despite the redesigned render, a large number of new objects at locations, the participation of defensive aircraft, and so on.

Process optimization is ongoing. There are plans to develop streaming textures and many other things that will allow you to play comfortably even on fairly weak computer configurations.

One more question about artificial intelligence. The fact is that there is already one game in which AI-controlled fighters intervene in player gunfights - it's called Titanfall. For many people who love multiplayer shooters, AI interference is just infuriating, because it is not clear who to shoot at. A bunch of people are running around you, but only one of them is an enemy player. Will it be about the same here, as I understand it? There are several planes in the sky, but only one of them is a player?

The defenders of the territory are marked in a special way, they have no name, and the signature indicates whether this is a light or heavy aircraft. By holding down the Alt key, you will immediately see that this is an inanimate player.

- I would like to know if a focus group tested this mode?

Yes, of course, more than once and more than once.

- Did people like it, did you have any questions, problems, for example, disorientation?

While redesigning the controls, we knew that newcomers would come to the game, and made it so that they could comfortably fly the aircraft. Plus, they can choose from five classes of technology, where there are classes that are quite demanding on the skill of the player, for example, fighters, which constantly spin in the sky, make vertical turns, horizontal. There will be people who will find it difficult.

I mean that disorientation when it is not clear who to shoot at. The player will have to decide which target is more important now, a flight of fighters controlled by an AI, or a fighter controlled by a human. How dangerous are AI fighters?

They are dangerous enough. Defenders have a lower vehicle tier than players' vehicles. In other words, they are initially weaker than the player's plane. And how good they are as fighters ... They play a little worse than they could. We've experimented with AI, and if we want to, we can create a T-1000 that even an experienced player will have a hard time defeating. However, taking into account our priorities, defensive planes will rather be "feed" for fighters, they will not cause a serious problem.

Of course, with the increase in the levels of battles, the defenders will already fly on more advanced aircraft, and their intelligence will also be more serious. On the other hand, experienced users come there, who will definitely cope with them.

- In the end, you tried to create the feeling of a dynamic single player campaign, but in multiplayer.

Yes, that's how it looks like. Each battle is a small section of the front, and the goal of the players is to capture strategically important sectors. They have different factories, air bases, and the task of the team is to become their owner. Whoever could, he won the battle.

Respawns within the same combat will make it easier to perceive mistakes or communication problems. Previously, after death or disconnect, you had to return to the hangar, choose a new aircraft, and queue up for the next battle. Now - wait 10 seconds, and you're back in the game. But at the same time, each new revival costs more in time, and the destroyed aircraft needs to be repaired after the battle, therefore it will be very economically unprofitable to fly-crash, fly-crash.

- What about the redesigned graphics? Models, textures were reworked ...

The models were not reworked, they were originally created in HD quality. But the effects, textures, especially the textures of the surface of the earth, factory complexes, they were drawn from scratch.

In terms of immersion in the game, we did some serious work on the camera behavior, trying to convey a sense of speed.

In addition, we redesigned the interface so that without Alt-mode, without additional tinkering in the settings, the interface was minimalistic, so that the player would not be distracted from the process itself. If necessary, it will be possible to enter the settings, enable additional interface elements - the artificial horizon, the height scale. Separately, you can configure what I will see on the screen by pressing Alt.

- Will it be possible to play with the joystick for flight sims?

Yes, absolutely. Anyway, this is a flight simulator, many players use joysticks. They were very worried about whether the new version will support joysticks. Yes, you don't have to worry, the joysticks are fine.

The fact is that on BigWorld * it is very difficult to support the joystick, since this engine does not understand the third axis at all, it was created for games, the action of which unfolds in one plane. But in the Kiev studio there are very smart guys who were able to support the joystick, and they did it based solely on the wishes of the players. We have kept all the positive developments in the new regime. Joystick, gamepad, mouse, keyboard - control whatever you want.

* BigWorld is a game engine developed by the Sydney company of the same name, which was acquired by Wargaming.net in 2012. World of Tanks, World of Warplanes and World of Warships are based on this engine.

- And what about the improvements to physics? How does it manifest itself?

Flight physics, object physics ...

A little more accurate? For example, in car simulators, when the developers rework or change the physics, it is immediately felt.

You about such details ... With the release of the new mode, we expect a serious influx of new players and the preservation of the current audience, so the physics is rather simplified. It lacks a number of elements that are found in serious flight simulators: there is no spin, no fair stall.

The maximum task sounds like this: the player must fight in battle with enemy aircraft, and not with his own. So our game is not about how to get the plane out of a spin. Therefore, the physics in the new version of the game is mostly from the old version. According to the reviews of players who have flown a lot in the same "Il-2", it is "appropriate". This is a cross between an arcade and a simulator, the quality and character of this or that car are quite well developed here.

This does not mean that we will not have branches of bombers, there will be more than one. While these are the first three swallows. However, with the release of the update, we will include a very interesting promotion, where the player will have the opportunity to win a bomber for free. To do this, you will need to collect it from pieces. Completing certain tasks, among the prizes for the battle, you can get a chassis from a bomber, and so on. I think players will love this idea.

Hit or miss. MMO-action World of Warplanes, despite active PR and eminent developer, did not gain much popularity among players. Wargaming decided to rectify the situation and released the largest update since the release of the game 2.0, which is designed to seriously change the gameplay and add new content

What's new

First of all, it should be said about the new game mode "Conquest", such KVG pleases extremely rarely. In fact, we have a classic point control with the revival (!) Of downed aircraft. Each player will fulfill their role in combat, in accordance with the class of the fallout (which, by the way, have been revised and rebalanced). In addition, a new one was added to the original upgrade branches - it was the branch of bombers, high-altitude aircraft with a large margin of safety, long afterburner and a large bomb load. The bonus will be a redesigned economy, a changed shooting system, improved graphics and sound. (I'm sure I don't read the War Thunder changelog?)

Will take off or not (IMHO the author)

A similar rebalance 2.0 was recently arranged by one of the competitors of WoT - Armored Warfare: Project Armata of Mail.ru corporation. The situation is also similar in that both projects were very loud at the start: WoWp was a game by Wargaming, the creator of the legendary "tanks", and Armata was in trouble that was developed by the equally legendary Obsidian, and also on the CryEngine engine, which provided cutting-edge graphics at that time ... In both cases, a large-scale PR campaign was launched, involving well-known bloggers and the media, but both projects failed miserably and soon lost their audience. After that, patch 2.0 followed (along with a powerful wave of PR, of course), the funny thing is that the patch notes are very similar: a new mode with revival, total rebalancing, adding / removing a vehicle class, just the word "tank" was replaced by "aircraft", the story is absolutely identical ... So it won't take off, you can't bring back old players, and new ones are busy with more attractive projects.