The next big step for World of Warships is coming in Update 0.4.1. New game features and maps, better graphics and balance, as well as Ranked Battles.
Ranked Battles: Get more serious!
In Update 0.4.1, those players who wish to find the right match, both among allies and rivals with no extra effort, will find what they are looking for in Ranked Battles.
Ranked Battles is a season-long event available to all players not enlisted in divisions, with Tier VI-VII ships and Level 9 accounts. All you need to do is pick a ship, select “Ranked Battles”, and join the Battle! Ranked Battles are slightly different from their standard counterparts: each team can have no more than 7 players, and the maximum number of aircraft carriers and battleships is limited to one and two respectively.
In addition to XP and Credits, all Ranked Battles participants will earn stars for every victory. When a player gets a certain number of stars, they move to the next rank, which demonstrates their ongoing achievements. All ranks are divided into three groups. The first group is intended for beginners taking the first steps on their way to naval glory. It has milder conditions for reaching higher ranks.
As opposed to the two senior groups where each defeat results in losing a star and, perhaps eventually, a whole rank, the first group doesn’t threaten the player’s progress. The second and third groups involve higher competition among players, reaching its climax in the top ranks. Speaking of competition…
Players get into battles only within their group of ranks. In fact, players are grouped based on victories. When players achieve certain ranks, they are awarded in-game resources. In future, the development team is planning to introduce some unique awards for earned stars.
It goes without saying that the first season of Ranked Battles, which is scheduled for a couple of weeks after the update release, will be a test run. We will scrutinise the gathered statistics and feedback from participants, follow their progress and plan further development of Ranked Battles.
New maps: Jungle calling!
As if the summer this year wasn’t hot enough (at least in most parts of the European continent), in update 0.4.1. we are taking you and your fleet to even warmer climes in two new great maps that are being introduced into the game.
- The Strait map was inspired by the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Theatres: here you can enter the battle near the Italian coast where the British Fleet defended Malta and carrier planes led the first ever swarm attack against heavy ships.
- The second map, Solomon Islands, is a representation of part of the archipelago of the same name, which saw one of the major military campaigns of World War II—the Battle of Guadalcanal.
While exploring the new maps, you might have noticed that the landscape in World of Warships has become more vivid – now there are trees on islands! Forests and jungles will grow on all maps with a suitable climate and in the vicinity of the Port if you set Graphics Quality to at least Medium settings.
Aviation: No more single-click commands
While bombers and torpedo bombers are more effective with skilful manual control, fighters are mainly used by players on a “launch and forget” basis. Update 0.4.1 fundamentally changes this approach. Now you can order your fighters to use barrage fire by specifying an exact zone on a map, just the way you do for bombers and torpedo bombers. By using this technique your fighters will spend most of their ammunition but, if used properly, this will significantly thin out the enemy formation and help you get the upper hand.
Matchmaker: On the way to equality
The matchmaker is responsible for assembling teams for battle, so it is little wonder that any shortcomings of the matchmaker receive negative feedback from players who might find themselves in a disadvantageous position from time to time. Now that we have received enough statistical data to resolve some issues with the matchmaking, you will be able to see the first results of our work in this update.
For example, aircraft carriers are now distributed in the teams strictly symmetrically, both by quantity and by Tiers, which will significantly even the balance.
Ship balance changes and other improvements
Balance corrections are undoubtedly one of the most important and sensitive subjects of any major update. They always provoke a hailstorm of both positive and negative emotions from players, depending on changes made to their favourite vessels. Be that as it may, these corrections are vital for polishing the gameplay. The development team can’t afford to simply “leave it alone” just to please a small fraction of their audience. Below you will find a list highlighting the most important upcoming changes – stay tuned for detailed notes in the future!
- The precision of Battleship’s primary guns have been considerably increased at a range of up to three kilometres.
- The Premium pre-order vessels Sims and Yubari have been improved. The former gets a new set of torpedoes (slower, but with a longer engagement range) and the latter receives a “Defensive armament” consumable boosting its anti-aircraft capabilities.
- Many Japanese and American ships have been rebalanced – more information coming soon!
The developers have also improved different parts of the game, such as game client performance (it requires less disk space now), sound, music, the interface, and some controversial gameplay techniques – the drift enthusiasts using the map’s edge to their advantage will now be targeted properly.
Stay tuned for a more detailed and structured list of all the major (and minor, less visible) changes in the upcoming release (patch) notes.
Please keep in mind this version is still under development and therefore any information, screenshots and gameplay mechanics are subject to change. We have also omitted all the minor changes which will be detailed in the upcoming release notes.
