Tell me about WWII Online

Cafe Society
1

When I first heard of this game, I was very excited- fight in Europe in a 1/3 scale version of the continent! Continuous battles online! Wow! But then I heard the downsides from some people-

-Lag
-Not beginner-friendly controls
-Elitist community

Many people complained that they went so far into realism with that game it took away from the general fun factor- sure some people LOVE struggling with a fifteen speed manual transmission in a Panzer IV tank, but the majority of people want a balance between realism and playability. The more people that play and like it, the funner the game becomes as the battles get larger. Another problem was closely-knit groups ‘clans’ which often formed aerial squadrons which became so highly skilled above their counterparts/allies that it was very difficult to LEARN how to do well when you are constantly getting killed in ways that are hard to prevent.

I’ve played a few other games that were similiar to this game, Planetside and Battlefield 1942.

Planetside- Another massively-multiplayer first person shooter. It had a TON of potential- you could participate in firefights among hundreds of other soldiers. But the game has tons of technical issues still being resolved a year after launch. In addition, after you ‘max out’ your character at Battle Rank 20 and Command Rank 5, there is not much. Asshattery abounds in that game, with TKing, people calling down orbital strikes to nuke their OWN BASES :mad: and deliberately knocking out the power in bases.

Battlefield 1942- A very fun WWII themed game, with lots of vehicles and weapons. As updates came in, so did newer maps, including my favorite map: Battle of Britan.

WWII online seemed a mesh between these two games. I looked back at it, but the graphics are rather dated. I don’t know if anyone still plays it, and there are some things about it I’m not crazy about (you spawn AS a vehicle- the driver can’t embark/disembark) but the scale seems very cool as well as the potential to strategize and organize bombing campaigns, reconnaisance patrols, etc.

2

WWIIOnline is the greatest online game EVER!

As you can tell I’m a little biased :slight_smile:

Yes, it has its problems and you hear about them. That’s part of the problem. What you don’t hear about is its strengths.

Will you like WWIIOnline?

  • Does the idea of playing an online game that strives for historical accuracy in equipment intrigue you? There are no hit points. The game strives for real life physics and models its equipment based on RL data.

  • Do you like Player vs Player (PvP)? If playing against other people intrigues you…WWIIOnline IS PvP. It is very PvP. It is wickedly, nasty, in-your-face, WICKED PvP. There are no AI soldiers. Nearly everything you see is another player. If you go out as a rifle and kill 2 enemy soldiers and return to base alive…you did good! People who need to mow down tons of enemy to feel successful will have their ego handed to them.

  • Do you require skill sets and ‘leveling’ in your games? WWIIOnline has no skills…no +5 Lebel rifles…it is all YOU. Believe me…when you start you will die…and will die often. While there are no official skills in this game YOU will develop skills. Give it time and you will learn how to survive on the battlefield. As for getting pwned…it will happen but if you persist and think and learn you will quickly overcome and kill your fair share. I am not a flyboy and so that will be harder to learn…but there are a billion flyboy games out there. Play WWIIOnline as a ground pounder…as a grunt…that is fun and a less steep learning curve.

  • Do you like to zone out when you play or like to always keep your head around you? WWIIOnline rewards planning and/or stealth. People rushing off and running around everywhere get killed. Surviving on the WWIIOnline battlefield requires more thought and planning. However, because action is not nonstop…people act more with a fear of death. It provides a more ‘realistic’ experience.

  • Do you require instant gratification? Again, WWIIOnline has no AI soldiers for you to fight. It’s PvP baby! People needing constant action with little planning may not like the game. However, when I play City of Heroes or whatever…you may get a rush…but it is NOTHING like WWIIOnline. There are many times where after an action I will be shaking afterwords. I have never experienced the kind of adrenaline rushes that I get from WWIIOnline in any other game. During one month of aggressive German action and bombing I actually think I was suffering some form of shell shock. :slight_smile: Great stuff.

  • Do you need really snazzy graphics? WWIIOnline is one server, one world. You can go anywhere. You routinely engage targets over a km away. You can look km’s away. There is a real perspective of ‘distance’. Therefore, the graphics will not be as snazzy…but I think they do fine.

I need to go now…but I love WWIIOnline. There is nothing else like it anywhere. It may not be for you but if it is…you are really missing out.

One word of advice…find a good squad. Playing with a squad is the best way to play IMO. Lone wolves look for action. Squads MAKE the action. Also, play Allied :slight_smile: C’mon…BEF or French (FRENCH!) in 1940…cmon…that’s the man’s choice :slight_smile:

If interested let me know and I’ll hook you up with a good squad of your nation choice.

3

Oh…my handle is Murf64. BEF 2nd Armor Brigade. Specialty is artillery mainly AA and AT guns (Anti-air and Anti-tank).

Don’t hesitate to look me up/email me in game.

4

I was checking out some of the WWII online forums, namely the aircraft forums.

I really like Battlefield 1942- the air combat makes planes easy to fly, and there is a variety of planes to use. But the flight ceiling in that game is rather limited, as well as the armament (its just machineguns/bombs…there’s torpedo bombers but most people are too stupid to use them properly). The ‘flight ceiling’ is also really low (ditto for Planetside) which sometimes makes you feel like you’re dogfighting in a cardboard box. In fact flying in both of those games is only hard because you’re more likely to crash into a tree or hill than get shot down, since they don’t let you fly that high up :stuck_out_tongue:

I can tell the game is very realistic from watching some people’s videos. I also observed a lot of complaints about players regarding the AI system- apparently there are AI controlled AA guns in towns? The main beef was that people would bug out of a dogfight and skim over a friendly town, so the pursuer either gets torn apart by AA fire or has to turn away.

I really like the idea behind having actual ‘sorties’ in the game, and being able to organize flak traps and stuff. Its too bad there weren’t any strategic bombers (no Ju88 or Liberator in that game unfortunately :frowning: ) but its cool how you can shoot off an enemy plane’s wing, or lose an engine and still manage to limp back to your base. Sounds VERY cool :slight_smile:

5

Well, the launch was disasterous enough to take the heat off Anarchy Online.

I played it for a while, way after launch. It was a semi-enjoyable game, but I found most of it consisted of sitting around, waiting for a truck/vehicle to ride on/in, and then riding out to get shot/die along the way. Wasn’t much of a fan, though it’d probably be more fun if you were organized in some way. I’ve heard the Axis is very organized while the Allies are more chaotic.

6

While woefully out of date, I cannot help but bring in Lum the Mad’s beta review of WWIIOnline. Don’t take it as a valid critique anymore, but it IS highly amusing.

Money quotes

[21:16] <@Lum_> I WILL TAXI TO VICTORY

[21:16] <@Lum_> I DROPPED A BOMB!
[21:16] <@StackedMidgets> lol
[21:16] <@Georgi_Zhukov> You dropped the bomb?
[21:17] <@Lum_> I only had one bomb
[21:17] <@Lum_> I guess I dropped it

[21:22] <@Lum_> I AM GOING TO DRIVE A TRUCK NOW
[21:22] <@Lum_> let’s see if I can drive a truck
[21:22] <@Lum_> DO I HAVE TO UNLOCK THE TAIL WHEEL?
[21:22] <@Lum_> it won’t start
[21:23] <@Lum_> it’s making a funny noise
[21:23] <@Lum_> OK it started
[21:23] <@Lum_> I HAVE TO SWITCH GEARS
[21:24] <@Lum_> I AM NOW DRIVING A TRUCK
[21:24] <@Lum_> I HAVE SUCESSFULLY DRIVEN A TRUCK
[21:24] <@Lum_> gosh this is exciting
[21:24] <@Lum_> whee
[21:24] <@Lum_> I am driving a truck
[21:24] <@Lum_> yep yep

7

There is some AI emplacements around towns. The ones affecting ground are weak and easily avoided. The AA AI is more effective. It was done because a large number of people like to fly and it gives some annoyance to fly boys. However, this token AI is not huge and there is movement to get rid of it both by the company and the players.

As for flak traps/flyboys…I don’t fly but I have heard that some flyboys when they get in trouble will ‘dive to the AA guns’ for safety. This includes the towns AA AI. Since I AA gun quite a bit I am involved in these flak traps. You call out that you are an AA gun and your position so that flyboys will know where you are at. When they get in trouble they fly to your position and hope you can take the heat off. Many times we will set up 3-5 AA guns and have squaddies in the air. They will then attract enemy air and bring em over your position to be blasted out of the sky. Great fun.

If you are new and hop in an airplane…there is a very good chance you won’t be able to get off the ground. :stuck_out_tongue: Yes, you have to so things like lock and unlock your tail wheel…use flaps…etc. I can take off and land and maneuver somewhat in the air but really am just a target. I haven’t given flying much time because being a ground pounder is so much fun.

The most common complaint I’ve heard from people who don’t like WWIIOnline is the down time. It is not non-stop action. Successful attacking involves planning. However, when I look at time-on-mission, we are not talking a huge amount of time here. In a hot area you can be back in action within 5 minutes usually. If you require instant, non-stop action where you mow down enemies then WWIIOnline is not for you.

You have to understand that this game is different. It is not EQ or City of Heroes and the like. The game experience is different. Instead of running around killing hoards of bad guys accumulating loot and experience…you play WWIIOnline FOR the experience. Your standards of success are different. You want to rifle? Going out in the thick of the fight, killing 3 enemy soldiers and returning to base is a good success. That is fun and what you feel good about. Ambushing a column of panzers with your AT gun, setting 3 on fire and retreating to harass them again 10 minutes later…THAT is fun. Driving your tank as part column during a squad action attacking an enemy town…that is great fun. Scouting out the enemy to report a huge attack forming and then seeing it decimated because of your scouting…:slight_smile:

You play WWIIonline for the experience, the situations you find yourself in. What makes it more great is the interaction of Infantry, tanks, bombers, fighters, artillery, ships and boats…the all interact. It is a completely different game and I think that throws people for a loop in this EQ dominated culture we are in.

8

And what other game out there lets you play a 1940 Frenchie driving his Somua (S35) tank into battle against the Wehrmacht.

For that reason alone the game is great :stuck_out_tongue:

9

I followed the game closely up to it’s release as well but never tried it. The release was a mess but I always thought it had the coolest concept going. I just wasn’t sure the internet was up to the task. Can you give some feed back on these questions

What is the average server load now? The plan was for 5000-10000 initially. Would be cool, but hard for me to believe you can support an fps type game with that many users.
What’s the war cycle like? Sides reset every few months, has it progressed to later years, or still in 1940?
Is it stable now or still pretty touchy?
How’s the finanicial health of the company? enough subscribers to keep it going?

They still offer a free trial?

10

Server load? Like most Online games they are very touchy about releasing numbers. However, someone has a site where they take other information and use a formula to make a guess as to how many are on. I’ve seen his work and it is probably pretty accurate.

Sadly…the numbers are not that high. During hot prime times there is probably 800-1000. During ‘normal’ prime times probably 600-800. During off times it can drop to 200-400. This may sound like alot but it is a HUGE map…Belgium, part of Holland and a part of northern France at half scale. Also, since Spring and good weather has come numbers seem to have dropped somewhat so right now it is lower than normal. I personally have also been taking a break.

Side cycles last usually from 2-8 weeks with 4-6 being the norm.

The Axis side usually wins mainly because they are more dominant during ‘off peak’ times were there are lower player numbers. This game has a significant number of European players. England and French players usually play Allied but all other countries seem to play Axis…hugely so. Almost every Nordic player plays Axis. Allies used to have this sort of time also with Australian/NZ players but that went away long ago with some going Axis and more Oriental players who seem to almost exclusively play Axis.

To me, this is the biggest problem of the game. It is hard to really ‘care’ about the overall map situation when the vast majority of towns lost are when you are at work and are lost not because of Allied play but because a majority of the players play one side during non-U.S. prime time. Why CRS (the company that makes the game) did not implement a side-balancing system from the get go…I just don’t understand. I, personally, find this behavior “un-manly” and “unsportsmanlike” but there are many that disagree and this is a subject of HUGE debate on the forum boards.

Fortunately, the game is not the map situation…to me anyway. The game’s strength is as I’ve said above in the other posts. It is the tactical situation and the game experience. Nothing like it man!

If you play during U.S. prime time which is evenings 6-11 CST and weekends (especially Friday/Sat night) you will usually see the Allies having the initiative. Since numbers are more heavy there will be good fights with Allies usually slowly gaining ground. If you play off prime time (especially U.S. workday) there will be thin numbers and most people playing Axis. Many towns can be lost in a short time. Some people really enjoy playing Allied at this time but many get disenheartened from losing towns.

The game is very stable to me…more so than City of Heroes so far (not that CoH is bad).

The company is small and you know they are struggling but they are still around. I hear they will be offering a free trial soon but don’t have the details.

Again…and I cannot emphasis this enough…the game is best played with the attitude of enjoying the experience as it is happening. Yes, it is nice to take towns and such…but keeping a grunts perspective and relishing the situations you are in is best. YMMV.