Complete patchnotes here: http://worldofwarships.eu/en/news/public-test/public-test-059/
A cooperative mode called Assault, built-in voice chat for Divisions, improvements to the visibility system and much more are coming to the game – come test them with us!
The Public Test will be running from 19 July at 18:30 CEST until 25 July at 15:00 CEST. Keep in mind that this is a testing environment and unannounced maintenance and patch deployments can happen at any time during the Public Test phase.
What to expect in Public Test 0.5.9?
Cooperative Battles
Since the earliest versions of the game, Cooperative Battles has existed as a lighter version of Random Battles. Despite the casual manner of these PvE battles (or perhaps because of it), a lot of you have enjoyed playing against bots, cooperating with other players rather than competing with them.
In Update 0.5.9, we are adding a new mode, called Assault, to the Cooperative Battles rotation, where you stand against superior enemy forces. Unlike regular Co-op battles, this mode has a few twists.
Available when playing with Tier IV-VIII ships.
There is a special scenario for each of the following maps:
- Strait (Tiers IV-VI): players attack an enemy base
- Fault Line (Tiers V-VII): players defend two bases
- Estuary (Tiers VI-VIII): players defend two bases
The future development of Cooperative Battles considerably depends on the feedback that we will receive from you. Don’t hesitate to let us know what you think about Assault!
Voice Chat In Divisions
To help you overcome great challenges, both in PvP and PvE, we have added built-in voice chat for easier communication when in a Division.
To enable voice chat, switch it on in the Sound options menu. There you can also adjust the volume, microphone sensitivity, and the activation method (always on or push to talk).
Visibility System Improved
The visibility system, spotting ranges, and how exactly smoke screens conceal your movement were difficult for players to to fully understand. For this reason, we have made a couple of major changes to the visibility system, with the overall objective of making it clearer and more logical for players.
We have added an option to enable the display of smokescreen edges on the surface of the water. This should help players see the real edge of the smokescreen and better plan their actions during the heat of battle.
A popular skill, Situation Awareness, which displays a notification about the detection of enemy ships, is being given to everyone by default and removed from the commander-skills tree.
This is intended to make the gameplay more enjoyable, as both beginners and more experienced players that would habitually pick the Situation Awareness skill for all their ships can now focus on other skills instead. The rules for compensation are as follows:
- If Situation Awareness is the only researched level 1 skill of the commander, it will be replaced with Basics of Survivability skill
- If the commander has other level 1 skills besides Situation Awareness, they will be reimbursed the price of the Situation Awareness skill (1 point)
Smoke screen mechanics have been made more stable and predictable:
- Smoke screen starts setting 2 second after the consumable is activated. We have also eliminated many unpleasant situations regarding sighting ships when setting smokes, which resulted in ships “blinking” while setting the smoke
If the smoke screen is being set while the ship is in motion and the enemies are straight ahead or on the side, then the ship will always be spotted in accordance with the following rules:
- If the speed of the ship is up to and including 12.5 knots: smoke covers the ship when it is in motion
- If the speed of the ship is more than 12.5 knots: smoke does not cover the ship when it is in motion
Aircraft visibility rules are now similar to those for ships. Now aircraft outside of the visibility range of a ship won’t be seen, but will still be displayed on the minimap.
Players will now be able to see shells and torpedoes spotted both personally and by allies.
As you may have noticeed, the in-game visibility mechanics have significantly evolved and your continued feedback on these changes is highly appreciated.
US Battleship Armour Revised
As part of improving the game, we are continually revising all the armour models within World of Warships. Our goal is to bring the models created at different stages of development up to the same standard of detail.
As part of Update 0.5.9, the in-game models of both the US Battleships and the British Premium warship HMS Warspite were refined. In some cases, this led to a redistribution of the inner part of the ship’s durability points (within a 5% limit).
We have improved the detailing of the bevels and lines of the model, creating additional conditions for AP shells to ricochet in some situations, especially when they hit the bow or stern of the ship. Armour interaction with HE fragmentation shells and bombs was not affected.
To see the old model, move your cursor over the picture.
Other Notable Changes
- In line with the wishes of the community, the minimap was improved. For example, we implemented the ability to save settings for each ship and added the ability to set the transparency of the rings on the minimap
- The account-level system has been improved: we added videos to the progression to demonstrate the new possibilities available with each level. The layout of the progression window was also changed.
- Several maps have went through gameplay changes, which are aimed at allowing players to get into the heat of battle faster
- The following ships are now available in the game client for testing by developers and supertesters: Nassau, Kaiser, König, Bayern, Gneisenau, Bismarck, Friedrich der große, Großer Kurfürst, and Dunkerque. These ships are not available for purchase or research, but players may encounter them in battle
