45 replies to this topic

[Gratius]

As an older player with more than 4 years of experience with WoWP, I would like to post here some questions to the devs about the game's future and their possible plans. Like many others, I've noticed disturbing trend of persisting and reocurring bugs, ridiculous MM and general drop in quality and quantity of updates. I will appreciate any feedback from WG team and support from players who are as concerned as I am with issues mentioned below.

 

Here are my questions to the devs,

 

1. Are you planning to add more variables to the MM, like number of battles played and general WR? Current MM is based solely on planes tier and tends to completely ruin balance of every match, with glaring differences in team members skills and experience.

 

2. Can we expect fixing squad/flight chat bug and bugged female pilots perks? Like all of us know, using squad chat is basically impossible now. Also, female pilot perks either work at random or don't work at all (tested with Russian and US pilots).

 

3. Are you going to introduce planes like F6F Hellcat, N1K Shiden, B-29 Superfortress or B-24 Liberator instead of obscure prototypes no one has ever heard about? And if not, what is the reason for omitting those (and other) planes?

 

4. Are you planning to introduce new  maps?

 

5. Can we expect any new nations in the game, like full tree for France or new Italian tree?

[Gratius]

I'm finding it hard to believe that WG team doesn't have some English speaking employees who could translate few simple questions. What would be the point of having EU and US forums then? My Russian isn't good  for anything but basic conversation. If there's someone here on forum who speaks both English and Russian and would be willing to translate this post for me, I will gladly accept help.

[GonerNL]

If you want news, just go to the CIS forum and use Google translate.

There's a developer there (Grenoli) who answers some questions and sometimes reveals what's coming in the 'Questions to developers' forum. EU and NA forums don't have that.

http://forum.worldof...12#entry2924612

 

 

 

 

[levlos]

Expect a tier X Blohm Und Voss Santa Klaus premium heavy fighter powered by eight Junkers 004FU jet engines, and armed with 16x 1000kg bombs with a rear gunner that farts glitter at enemies at a range of 1800 meters, with a critical damage chance of 300%. Oh, wait, it is in the Soviet Tech Tree, because the BvP Klaus prototype was not ready in 1945 and the Soviet OKB finished in in 1947.

 

It comes with a special "don't Hold Your Breath" livery giving you a 2% extra time you can stop breathing. This is a bonus, so if you already have it, you will not be compensated.

[Gratius]

GonerNL, on 30 December 2020 - 09:39 AM, said:

If you want news, just go to the CIS forum and use Google translate.

There's a developer there (Grenoli) who answers some questions and sometimes reveals what's coming in the 'Questions to developers' forum. EU and NA forums don't have that.

http://forum.worldof...12#entry2924612

 

 

 

 

I'm not interested in general news, only in answers to my questions. If you're trying to say that both EU and US forums don't have any official WG support/monitoring and I shouldn't expect any reply, what's the point of keeping servers in those regions running? Why not make WoWP into a RU exclusive title?

Anyway, CheefCoach's argument about WoWP "not making any money" is too ridiculous to even treat it seriously. It's still an official WG title, even if it's not as profitable as WoT or WoWS.

[GonerNL]

Gratius, on 30 December 2020 - 10:53 AM, said:

If you're trying to say that both EU and US forums don't have any official WG support/monitoring and I shouldn't expect any reply, 

 

There is official support in the person of 'blindfold', our local WG representative ... you could try to PM her here or on Discord.

 

Edited by GonerNL, 30 December 2020 - 10:27 AM.

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

Allow me to prognosticate based on what we know.

1. This year Victor Kislyi said that the game was being kept alive for "diehards" and that, having "streamlined and optimised" the WoWP team, it turns a small profit.
2. Apparently this small profit has allowed the WoWP to bring back the Attrition, Invasion, Conquest and Bomber Escort modes in an event after an extremely long period without such things.
3. It's also allowed the unexpected introduction of two new aircraft.

 

However,

1. The resurrected modes were brought back with no modifications from their previous appearance in the game.
2. The two new aircraft were clearly reworkings of aircraft already in the game.
3. The F-82E Mustang has appeared with a rendering bug (no tail or wings) if seen from certain angles whilst in game.

 

Therefore, my guess is that the game is headed nowhere.  Whilst it keeps making a small profit a little bit of work will be put into it, just enough to keep people playing and indeed buying things.  However, even at the level we've seen this year it's clear the WoWP team is hard-pressed to cope, so I doubt very much we will see any major developments in 2021.

[apartclassic]

I can give you one short answer (putting the issue of any work being done on it aside) - everyone is asking for more bombers (filling up the US line, new UK line, also Stuka line which supposedly has been already worked on), and WG will deliver eventually. Also, in the name of 'casual' and 'appealing', there will be more rebalancing towards mouse-wiggling and generic plane types that fly the same, but have different guns and different slots for specialized equipment, which should cover the 'diversity' angle (you take a plane, any plane, and depending on what gear you put in it, you will get a 'HF' or 'LF', or whatever; I am exaggerating, I know, but WoWP already feels this way now, compared to long gone complex and satisfying mechanics and plane balance).

 

The title will not die, not as long as the other two are running. It may have the lowest priority, and be the ugly duckling, but is still turning some profit for WG. This is the good news. Unfortunately, I do not expect the game to become anything other than it is already - 'new' old planes are much easier to bring in than an overhaul of mechanics, and as for mechanics changes (including MM), I don't think WG is either capable at this moment, due to the arcane nature of old and cryptic code, nor willing - the latter being in part because of CIS server and the pressure to make RU planes more powerful etc. My hopes are only within the range of 'do not mess it up more please', and that's the best I can wish for.

Edited by apartclassic, 30 December 2020 - 05:11 PM.

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

apartclassic, on 30 December 2020 - 05:11 PM, said:

[E]veryone is asking for more bombers...

 

Whilst agreeing with all your other sentiments, this is certainly not the case so far as I'm concerned.  I'd rather see all bombers removed (won't happen) or at least the existing high tier ones nerfed considerably (not likely to happen).  With absolute conviction I say that the game needs no more bombers and that I hope very much we will never see any more of the dratted things!

[apartclassic]

RoyalFlyingCorps, on 30 December 2020 - 05:41 PM, said:

 

Whilst agreeing with all your other sentiments, this is certainly not the case so far as I'm concerned.  I'd rather see all bombers removed (won't happen) or at least the existing high tier ones nerfed considerably (not likely to happen).  With absolute conviction I say that the game needs no more bombers and that I hope very much we will never see any more of the dratted things!

 

Oh, let's make it clear - I would be a lot happier if the class was removed alltogether. I fear the day more bombers appear. The class in itself is not bad, and there is some measure of balance with low/mid tier ones, however the scaling of t8+ has simply thrown them all overboard. Note that the favourite toys for those that really HAVE to win every battle are either select bombers flown solo, or bomber/HF splittiered flights. This would not be the case, were not the upper echelons of bombers practically impervious to most LF and MRF, thus requiring a HF to be countered, thus dictating battles (more than any of the mythical 'specialization' or 'rigged MM' stuff). I don't think the class as a whole was envisioned when game was designed, and even if, they didn't appear until much later, sort of forcibly squeezed in - and when time came to fill high tier slots, things got out of hand. Everyone of us forumites can name a couple players who are 'bomber mains', who specialize in a bomber or two, and are happy as clams, bombing their way from victory to victory; I strongly believe it's because of the innate imbalance of high tier bombers, rather than some personal 'skill' (though I would say with certainty that being a successful bomber driver does require certain knowledge - of the map, of targets, of routes etc). Thinking of even more high tier bombers - like t8+ US ones, to complete the line - is just horrifying. Slow, lumbering 5k hp giants with a bazzilion of .50 cals, or (in t10) radar-guided 20mm turrets? No thank you, I'll pass.

 

I have 282 planes in hangar, and 5 free slots. There is a reason, for which - despite my completionist/collectioner OCD - I didn't fill, and possibly never will, any of those slots with B-17D, and out of almost all the planes in the game I didn't specialize majority of my bombers. Bombers? Omfg.... No.....

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

^ Wot he sed.

[Gratius]

RoyalFlyingCorps, on 30 December 2020 - 11:30 AM, said:

Allow me to prognosticate based on what we know.

1. This year Victor Kislyi said that the game was being kept alive for "diehards" and that, having "streamlined and optimised" the WoWP team, it turns a small profit.
2. Apparently this small profit has allowed the WoWP to bring back the Attrition, Invasion, Conquest and Bomber Escort modes in an event after an extremely long period without such things.
3. It's also allowed the unexpected introduction of two new aircraft.

 

However,

1. The resurrected modes were brought back with no modifications from their previous appearance in the game.
2. The two new aircraft were clearly reworkings of aircraft already in the game.
3. The F-82E Mustang has appeared with a rendering bug (no tail or wings) if seen from certain angles whilst in game.

 

Therefore, my guess is that the game is headed nowhere.  Whilst it keeps making a small profit a little bit of work will be put into it, just enough to keep people playing and indeed buying things.  However, even at the level we've seen this year it's clear the WoWP team is hard-pressed to cope, so I doubt very much we will see any major developments in 2021.

I guess you haven't been playing lately, mate. You'll be hard pressed to find any "diehards" on the server these days, most of players are complete newbies. Since nerfing from 1.9 to 2.0 destroyed the old community, WG spawned a new one, with more members willing to waste money on prem planes and such.

[GonerNL]

Gratius, on 31 December 2020 - 07:19 PM, said:

You'll be hard pressed to find any "diehards" on the server these days, most of players are complete newbies. 

 

I don't know in which category you are, but I see most of the guys here (even RFC) on a regular basis ... but where were you ??

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

Gratius, on 31 December 2020 - 06:19 PM, said:

I guess you haven't been playing lately, mate.

 

Incorrect, of course.

For what it's worth, when Victor Kislyi referred to "diehards" I'm quite sure he wasn't referring to those still crying into their beer about the failed 1.x iterations of the game.  I'm not sure about your assumptions concerning the current crop of players, but if you are right and they are more prepared to spend money on the game, then Kislyi was right to bin the earlier version, wasn't he?  One man's waste is another man's pleasure, to adapt the old saw.  Whatever, you can console yourself on your own with your contemptuous and small-minded value judgements; I don't share them and neither do many others, it appears.



 

Edited by RoyalFlyingCorps, 01 January 2021 - 09:28 AM.

[levlos]

Gratius, on 31 December 2020 - 08:19 PM, said:

I guess you haven't been playing lately, mate. You'll be hard pressed to find any "diehards" on the server these days, most of players are complete newbies. Since nerfing from 1.9 to 2.0 destroyed the old community, WG spawned a new one, with more members willing to waste money on prem planes and such.

 

It seems our perceptions differ. I encounter three groups: veterans, newcomers/ 'sunday pilots'. All the groups are necessary to the game: the veterans are good and make the game fast-paced and challenging. The 'sunday pilots', as I call them, are the casual players that have been playing for hundreds of hours but are still rather clueless about the dynamics and meta of the game (they play in a fishbowl, that is, just doing their thing, oblivious to the other players). The newcomers, as disastrously inept they sometimes are, can only be blamed for climbing up the tiers too fast. They are the life and blood of the game though: only through them and their 'incorportation' into WoWP in the long-run can the game survive the slow erosion of the steady players.

 

The three categories I met a lot lately. They are alright, and games with them can be fun: all cannot be aces. The unequal mix is what sometimes makes my teeth grind. I blame impatience for the player that fires his tier 8 fighter guns on the plant, or 90% of the times crashes his heavy fighter on the same plant for releasing its bombs too late. It would be nice of they all -at the end- should come to understand the roles of planes: clearly many will not, because they play the game differently, just for the thrill of flying around and listening to the thundering of the guns. They would play single-player games if there was a similar free-to-play title. But they are completely indispensable to the "ecosystem" of the game: WoWP is like a balanced reserve where all players, super-predators or grazers, have to live in harmony. Wipe out one category, and the rest die.

 

I met the "diehards" you mention enough to remember their names and the way they play. And believe me, I never remember names, normally Knowing a player and cracking some jokes at the start of the game mitigates the pain of the spanking you get when you meet guys like prawie (or you, for the matter). It makes the game more personal, and it is nice, compared to WoT.

[zen_monk_]

Also some of the veterans fly with alt accounts.

 

I often do so, my alt account is apartclassic.

 

 

Edited by zen_monk_, 01 January 2021 - 05:16 PM.

[RoyalFlyingCorps]

"

zen_monk_, on 01 January 2021 - 11:02 AM, said:

[M]y alt account is aparclassic.

 

I'm Spartacus!

[Gratius]

GonerNL, on 31 December 2020 - 08:22 PM, said:

 

I don't know in which category you are, but I see most of the guys here (even RFC) on a regular basis ... but where were you ??

I'm not in Me P1101 on Xs, that's for sure. And yes, you'll encounter familiar players quite often, but how many of them are there? Few dozens? A hundred? All the rest is either completely new or, what's even worse, utterly clueless despite thousands of battles fought.

[Gratius]

RoyalFlyingCorps, on 01 January 2021 - 09:25 AM, said:

 

Incorrect, of course.

For what it's worth, when Victor Kislyi referred to "diehards" I'm quite sure he wasn't referring to those still crying into their beer about the failed 1.x iterations of the game.  I'm not sure about your assumptions concerning the current crop of players, but if you are right and they are more prepared to spend money on the game, then Kislyi was right to bin the earlier version, wasn't he?  One man's waste is another man's pleasure, to adapt the old saw.  Whatever, you can console yourself on your own with your contemptuous and small-minded value judgements; I don't share them and neither do many others, it appears.



 

As much as I understand WG's need to expand player base in order to keep the game alive and at least somewhat profitable, it shouldn't have happened at the expense of old community. We may agree to disagree on that but features like unlimited respawns and fast tier progress (Levlos mentioned that above) aren't exactly a good incentive for a new player to learn how to play tactically, don't you think?

[zen_monk_]

Gratius, on 01 January 2021 - 07:02 PM, said:

... in order to keep the game alive and at least somewhat profitable, it shouldn't have happened at the expense of old community.

 

Yes it should, "the expense" is the right word.

 

Here are two loudest moaners on unjust WG towards the old community.

 

 

Can you see why the old community, who used "you pay for gaming this? haw haw" as an insult, was of no interest to WG?