Finally playing BETA and have some initial observations...

[stucarius]

First let me say I am every bit as impressed by this game as I thought I would be. Thanks to everyone for their assistance in what kind of rig to build. I am getting 60+ FPS no matter the situation in maximum settings at all times. My GPU, Proc and RAM are all staying nice and cool also. I will gladly share how I built the machine with anyone who wishes to know. I spent about what a new xbox one would have cost. No more.

1. The AI loads torps too fast it seems. Cannot say for sure but I hear it complained about a lot in game and I have experienced a ship I use myself reloading torps much faster than I can when playing it if its controlled by the AI.
2. There are too many reloads. 2-3 reloads was all ships had with out tremendous risk and only Japanese for some DD's and CA's had fast reloads. The rest had to be man handled. I honestly think they should consider limiting the reloads. I say that as some one who is tearing it up with tops. Not a victim.
3. There need to be night battle scenarios with floodlights. Not having them is a glaring gap in the over all ambience of the game.
4. There are some confusing things in the interface as a new player. One is that it is not obvious how to join a Division that has been formed once you are invited. More than one person I was playing with got very frustrated over this issue. It needs fixing. 
5. It needs to be more clear how the tech tree works, how you accumulate the different things required to advance and how toy spend them. For those familiar I am sure its super easy. However War-games would like enjoy having lots of new gamers and this rather opaque mechanics are obstacles to people committing.
6. I am not sure if it is because its BETA but you should be able to easily see how many games you have played total, how much time you have spent etc etc....I can not find where this is possible. If it is, it is not clear enough.  It might be a good idea to hire an H.I.D. (Human Interface Designer) Not an engineer who thinks they can do it but some one who's only job is understanding how people interact with software and how to best make an interface intuitive. It's a HUGE deal. To no small degree Apple is the worlds largest corp right now because they get that. I was not a WoT or WoWp player so I am coming at this from a fresh perspective and I can tell you there are issues here.
7. Because of the nature of this kind of combat blue on blue fire is SUPER easy. War-games needs to look at some ways of calculating with in the game when fire was careless and caused unnecessary blue on blue kills and when it was in fact the victims stupidity that caused the incident. The punishment is harsh and very often it is the victim chugging around and not paying attention to whats going on. There must be some kind of way to figure this out. For example the game should track how many times a person has been the victim and how many times they have been guilty of firing in a blue on blue. If a person is consistently getting killed by team mates the penalty to the person firing should be lessened as the person getting hit is obviously careless and has a track record. Not a hard thing to track I would bet.
8. It is a real issue in battles that some people severely hurt their team by laying back and not engaging but out let their team mates get slaughtered then come in and clean up on killing wounded ships. A particular problem with BB and large gun CA's that can fire at long range. This needs to be stopped and I see people complain about all the time in game.
9. The map variety and challenges need to be improved. I am sure this will happen but right now the only thing I find becoming tiring is the redundancy of the maps and missions.
10. There needs to be better instruction on the use of CV's. Lots of players seem to be completely lost when it comes to playing carriers with a small handful becoming ninja masters. I know one of my friends who just got a CV said the change was difficult because there was not a good tutorial on how to use planes.
11. Players who are playing from inside their ships are at a terrible disadvantage when it comes to awareness. Some kind of radar popup showing the area with in the crews visual range should pop up when a player is using gunsights or playing zoomed in. As it is you pretty much have to play in 3rd person or you are terribly hampered.

 

Well those are my first observations after somewhere between 75 and 100 battles. Don't know exactly as I can find no battle counter anywhere

I hope this helps out and if I am missing something that is there take into account that I should have known it was there as the player so it it is not clear enough even if it exist.

 

GREAT GAME!!!! I will be recommending it to anyone who will listen. It is everything I had hoped and more!!!!

 

-STUCARIUS-

[ClockworkSpectre]

point 1:  I can't say I have experienced that, but I don't play co-op anymore. 

point 2:  Not going to happen, limiting reloads would destroy the destroyer class, some times realism has to be bent for the sake of the game.  Though it is worth mentioning that as you get higher into the tiers, torp reload speed gets much longer. 

point 3:  Weather and different effect like night may be coming down the road, but there is too much on WGs plate atm. 

point 4:  I haven't really messed with the division mechanic myself so I can't comment. 

point 5:  Not sure what you are talking about, the tech tree is pretty clear. 

point 6:  You can see your stats in game in the profile tab in the dock, then the summary tab from within the profile screen.  Also from the world of warships website(not the forums the actual site for the game).  When you are logged in your name will be in the upper right, click on it then click profile, though its not immediately updated, takes a bit of time. 

point 7:  They just recently added the Team Killing penalty system, I'm sure they will work on it more.  There was lots of concern raised, even before it was added, about punishing people for other peoples stupidity. 

point 8:  There isn't anything that WG can really do about that.

point 9:  I agree, there aren't near enough maps yet.  The game could also use another battle type. 

point 10:  A tutorial may help, but there are also lots of youtube videos up about how to use them.  Also I would recommend to anyone that they play a bunch of battles in co-op mode with CVs until they get used to it as learning to use a CV in pvp is aggravating at best. 

point 11:  You can right click with your mouse when in binoc mode to give a quick look around you from 3rd person.  Also, getting used to paying attention to your surroundings is part of getting good with the game. 

 

Edit, checked your profile, you have played 64 battles all in PvE mode.  There is all sorts of info on your performance there if you are interested. 

[stucarius]

point 1:  I can't say I have experienced that, but I don't play co-op anymore. 

point 2:  Not going to happen, limiting reloads would destroy the destroyer class, some times realism has to be bent for the sake of the game.  Though it is worth mentioning that as you get higher into the tiers, torp reload speed gets much longer. 

point 3:  Weather and different effect like night may be coming down the road, but there is too much on WGs plate atm. 

point 4:  I haven't really messed with the division mechanic myself so I can't comment. 

point 5:  Not sure what you are talking about, the tech tree is pretty clear. 

point 6:  You can see your stats in game in the profile tab in the dock, then the summary tab from within the profile screen.  Also from the world of warships website(not the forums the actual site for the game).  When you are logged in your name will be in the upper right, click on it then click profile, though its not immediately updated, takes a bit of time. 

point 7:  They just recently added the Team Killing penalty system, I'm sure they will work on it more.  There was lots of concern raised, even before it was added, about punishing people for other peoples stupidity. 

point 8:  There isn't anything that WG can really do about that.

point 9:  I agree, there aren't near enough maps yet.  The game could also use another battle type. 

point 10:  A tutorial may help, but there are also lots of youtube videos up about how to use them.  Also I would recommend to anyone that they play a bunch of battles in co-op mode with CVs until they get used to it as learning to use a CV in pvp is aggravating at best. 

point 11:  You can right click with your mouse when in binoc mode to give a quick look around you from 3rd person.  Also, getting used to paying attention to your surroundings is part of getting good with the game. 

 

Edit, checked your profile, you have played 64 battles all in PvE mode.  There is all sorts of info on your performance there if you are interested. 

 

Thanks Very Very much for the info. I am not familiar with WG's system so I am coming at from the POV of a true noob. The stuff that mentioned is confusing to me and as it happens to the 3 friends of mine who are very much like myself in being new to their system. The tech tree itself is clear but the way Gold, Exchange Credits Converted XP, XP, Elite bonuses and all that looks very convoluted from the POV of a new person. Something to help make that more approachable would o nothing but help WG attract and keep new players like myself. I would think.

 

They do lots an lots of great videos. Having a very in your face link to a "How the World of 'World of" works" would be a beyond great idea. Just explaining the their system, how gold works, where to find information about yourself as a player. What you told me above is literally the first time I have heard that and I have been watching the YouTube channel and lurking the forum for a while now. Plus posting. I had no idea I could get that information from the website. As opposed to when I first started playing WoW 15 or so years ago Blizzard was very much on top of telling the player base how to find information and how the community works. 

 

Personally I don't see why you would ever not be in 3rd person. If you notice the vast majority of my initial comments are oriented toward things that have to do with WG's interaction with players and accessibility to the games features. This is the one grip that occurs consistently with developments outside the USA or UK. It can do nothing but help WG to make it easier for new players to understand the mechanics, features and interface for their game. I LOVE THIS GAME....I want to see it do as well as it is humanly possible to do. SO as a BETA tester I am just giving my honest heart felt observations as an experienced gamer who is new to their series of games. There is a great deal about this game that is daunting to learn as a new player. The great rule about app and web design hold true to games. Nothing should ever be more than 2 clicks from the users ability to access it.

 

I absolutely LOVE the DD class above all others and have had great luck with them so saying that the tops need to be limited stabs at my own heart but honestly I don't think it would kill them. What it would stop is people just cruising back and forth in smoke banks firing dozens of random tops hoping to hit something. The only thing I have heard so far consistently as games are being played is the gripping about torps. There seems to be an awful lot of smoke coming from that one aspect of the game. So maybe there really is some fire there that needs addressing. The idea that reload times get faster is CRAZY. Once again I LOVE DD's and will likely play them more than anything but that's crazy talk.

 

On point 8 I would think that it could be handled via a community censor feature. Let players tag other players who are bottom feeding. Get enough tags and you get a penalty of some sort. I have seen that work before in games.

 

In any case thank you very much for the information. I was completely in the dark about how to find this info.

 

-STUCARIUS-

[ClockworkSpectre]

 

Thanks Very Very much for the info. I am not familiar with WG's system so I am coming at from the POV of a true noob. The stuff that mentioned is confusing to me and as it happens to the 3 friends of mine who are very much like myself in being new to their system. The tech tree itself is clear but the way Gold, Exchange Credits Converted XP, XP, Elite bonuses and all that looks very convoluted from the POV of a new person. Something to help make that more approachable would o nothing but help WG attract and keep new players like myself. I would think.

 

They do lots an lots of great videos. Having a very in your face link to a "How the World of 'World of" works" would be a beyond great idea. Just explaining the their system, how gold works, where to find information about yourself as a player. What you told me above is literally the first time I have heard that and I have been watching the YouTube channel and lurking the forum for a while now. Plus posting. I had no idea I could get that information from the website. As opposed to when I first started playing WoW 15 or so years ago Blizzard was very much on top of telling the player base how to find information and how the community works. 

 

Personally I don't see why you would ever not be in 3rd person. If you notice the vast majority of my initial comments are oriented toward things that have to do with WG's interaction with players and accessibility to the games features. This is the one grip that occurs consistently with developments outside the USA or UK. It can do nothing but help WG to make it easier for new players to understand the mechanics, features and interface for their game. I LOVE THIS GAME....I want to see it do as well as it is humanly possible to do. SO as a BETA tester I am just giving my honest heart felt observations as an experienced gamer who is new to their series of games. There is a great deal about this game that is daunting to learn as a new player. The great rule about app and web design hold true to games. Nothing should ever be more than 2 clicks from the users ability to access it.

 

I absolutely LOVE the DD class above all others and have had great luck with them so saying that the tops need to be limited stabs at my own heart but honestly I don't think it would kill them. What it would stop is people just cruising back and forth in smoke banks firing dozens of random tops hoping to hit something. The only thing I have heard so far consistently as games are being played is the gripping about torps. There seems to be an awful lot of smoke coming from that one aspect of the game. So maybe there really is some fire there that needs addressing. The idea that reload times get faster is CRAZY. Once again I LOVE DD's and will likely play them more than anything but that's crazy talk.

 

On point 8 I would think that it could be handled via a community censor feature. Let players tag other players who are bottom feeding. Get enough tags and you get a penalty of some sort. I have seen that work before in games.

 

In any case thank you very much for the information. I was completely in the dark about how to find this info.

 

-STUCARIUS-

 

I would say that the UI in the docks is not finished yet.  It definitely needs more polishing and a little bit of expansion.  As far as times when you wouldn't be in third person, aiming at longer distances is much easier in binocular mode, you just have to be careful about staying in it to long.  And yes, at lower tiers, DD dropping torps rapidly does happen, but later on up the tiers this won't really be happening much.  Because of the slower reloads you will need to be more careful and plan your attacks.  So the whole issue with people just randomly firing torps hoping to hit something is really more of a low tier issue that does live for long as you move up the tiers.  

[Cocoa_Jin]

BBs are supposed to sit back, everybody else is supposed to push out and harass, screen and keep the other ships at arm's reach, while simultaneously looking to break the enemy's wall of steel to get within guns and torpedo range of the enemy's bug ships.  BB ain't  supposed to get into knife fights, they ain't supposed to act like a RPG tank and face hug the enemy for aggro.

 

Honestly, I can't even take this game serious if the devs are going to let this game get pushed into WoT/arcade gameplay and tactics.

[Moksie]

 

Thanks Very Very much for the info. I am not familiar with WG's system so I am coming at from the POV of a true noob. The stuff that mentioned is confusing to me and as it happens to the 3 friends of mine who are very much like myself in being new to their system. The tech tree itself is clear but the way Gold, Exchange Credits Converted XP, XP, Elite bonuses and all that looks very convoluted from the POV of a new person. Something to help make that more approachable would o nothing but help WG attract and keep new players like myself. I would think.

 

They do lots an lots of great videos. Having a very in your face link to a "How the World of 'World of" works" would be a beyond great idea. Just explaining the their system, how gold works, where to find information about yourself as a player. What you told me above is literally the first time I have heard that and I have been watching the YouTube channel and lurking the forum for a while now. Plus posting. I had no idea I could get that information from the website. As opposed to when I first started playing WoW 15 or so years ago Blizzard was very much on top of telling the player base how to find information and how the community works.

 

Personally I don't see why you would ever not be in 3rd person. If you notice the vast majority of my initial comments are oriented toward things that have to do with WG's interaction with players and accessibility to the games features. This is the one grip that occurs consistently with developments outside the USA or UK. It can do nothing but help WG to make it easier for new players to understand the mechanics, features and interface for their game. I LOVE THIS GAME....I want to see it do as well as it is humanly possible to do. SO as a BETA tester I am just giving my honest heart felt observations as an experienced gamer who is new to their series of games. There is a great deal about this game that is daunting to learn as a new player. The great rule about app and web design hold true to games. Nothing should ever be more than 2 clicks from the users ability to access it.

 

I absolutely LOVE the DD class above all others and have had great luck with them so saying that the tops need to be limited stabs at my own heart but honestly I don't think it would kill them. What it would stop is people just cruising back and forth in smoke banks firing dozens of random tops hoping to hit something. The only thing I have heard so far consistently as games are being played is the gripping about torps. There seems to be an awful lot of smoke coming from that one aspect of the game. So maybe there really is some fire there that needs addressing. The idea that reload times get faster is CRAZY. Once again I LOVE DD's and will likely play them more than anything but that's crazy talk.

 

On point 8 I would think that it could be handled via a community censor feature. Let players tag other players who are bottom feeding. Get enough tags and you get a penalty of some sort. I have seen that work before in games.

 

In any case thank you very much for the information. I was completely in the dark about how to find this info.

 

-STUCARIUS-

 

I had a very hard time understanding it also, the economic and advancement system.  To be honest, it took me embarrassingly long to figure it out when I started Warplanes.  I however have absolutely no desire to watch a youtube, but I do agree there needs to be on the forum, a detailed walkthrough guide explaining such concepts.  I didn't come from Tanks either, and from what I understand about the forum I wouldn't have gone there looking for valuable information.  Pretty accustomed to muddling my way through life though.

You made some pretty good observations.  And if you click portal in the top left of this page then go to top right and drop down your name and go to your profile you can see your stats.  There is a PvP and PvE tab

Some ships load torps faster than others but the bots aren't faster than you they have stock ships.  And not all upgrades are desirable, at times you want to digress from historical record to suit game changes like the torp spam and AA.

Can't address everything point by point, this forum has killed my attention span.

[Jakob_Knight]

In regards to reloads and realism in torpedoes, it should be noted the gun ammunition would also have to be limited, as this, too, was a finite quantity aboard ships.  As well, torpedoes in general, and the Japanese 'Long Lance' torpedoes in particular, had much longer ranges than that seen in the game currently (about twice as long), and no automatic warning about them incoming (what we have is essentially a close-range passive sonar proximity computer system keyed to the acoustic signature of torpedoes and rigged to the Bridge window HUDs....kind of advanced for WWII).

 

Would it be possible to implement torpedo and gun ammunition limits on each ship in the game?  Certainly.  However, would that improve gameplay and be worth the time it would take to go through each class of ship, determine what the load of each ship -could- be, and then change the game to include both that aspect?  I'm not sure it would substantially alter the outcome of any battles, as the good players would still hit with their torpedoes and guns, and the only effect would be ships cruising around without anything to do but be targets when their ammunition ran out.

 

I guess that's for the devs to decide if that's the game they want WoWs to be. 

[Necoiocus]

 

As to torpedo reloads, historically there is usually only one reload if any per tube.   And  yes I understand this is a game so to make some ships viable you may need more.  You will note that as you move up the American tech tree fewer cruisers have torpedoes.  There is a reason for this as engagement ranges are extended by improved fire control torpedoes become less viable.  Also if you take a hit on the torpedo store, which is not well protected, it can cause a huge amount of secondary damage when they explode.  The Japanese would be extra vulnerable since they use oxygen in their fish.

 

Gun reloads.  Yes there are a limited number of round per gun, but in numbers 100 plus, even for  battleships, I don’t think you can realistically run out of rounds in one engagement.   

 

[stucarius]

BBs are supposed to sit back, everybody else is supposed to push out and harass, screen and keep the other ships at arm's reach, while simultaneously looking to break the enemy's wall of steel to get within guns and torpedo range of the enemy's bug ships.  BB ain't  supposed to get into knife fights, they ain't supposed to act like a RPG tank and face hug the enemy for aggro.

 

Honestly, I can't even take this game serious if the devs are going to let this game get pushed into WoT/arcade gameplay and tactics.

 

You are of course correct and if the game had a voice client built in that would work. In that scenario, which I hope and pray WG's does, the DD and CL/CA players could co-ordinate coverage from the BB Battle line as they launch their assaults. With out there being a voice app to facilitate co-ordination on teams BB's sitting back merely results in their serving just their own interest and not their teams interest at all. 

 

Before you say anything I STRONGLY believe this game should be scored individually but designed so the players work as a team in battle. If they succeed in does this WG might have a real shot at being one of the best games ever an be one that years from now we all look back on like Sim City, Quake, CoD, WOW etc...with out WG creating something like a voice client to allow team organization in battle I don't think WoWs can ever become the truly game changing (no pun) development it could be.

 

-STUCARIUS-

[stucarius]

As to torpedo reloads, historically there is usually only one reload if any per tube.   And  yes I understand this is a game so to make some ships viable you may need more.  You will note that as you move up the American tech tree fewer cruisers have torpedoes.  There is a reason for this as engagement ranges are extended by improved fire control torpedoes become less viable.  Also if you take a hit on the torpedo store, which is not well protected, it can cause a huge amount of secondary damage when they explode.  The Japanese would be extra vulnerable since they use oxygen in their fish.

 

Gun reloads.  Yes there are a limited number of round per gun, but in numbers 100 plus, even for  battleships, I don’t think you can realistically run out of rounds in one engagement.   

 

Battleship main gun rounds are surprisingly limited. Also tube life for the guns is extremely short. The Yamato's for example had a shockingly short life per tube. Shocking as in something like less than 100 rounds per tube before the rifling was blown out and the gun became a giant smoothbore musket.

 

In the Battle of the Philippine Sea The Musashi Did not fire her guns as part of her AA protection against the Intrepid's Avengers (Something that can be devastating to air attacks) because the captain was concerned about preserving the tubes for the surface engagement. It was not until she had taken ALOT of damage he finally released the 18" guns to fire at the torpedo bombers 

 

-STUCARIUS-

[Tears_of_Destiny]

20 minute match, first 30 seconds spend loading the first round, fire immediately afterwards for entire match and we see... Barrel usage 39 per for main guns on average, slowest will be 32 fastest (Once the Bismarck is released) will be 49.

 

Yamato had unusually short barrel life, Bismarck with older technology and light shells managed 200 before theoretical servicing was required, Iowa was 395. HMS Invincible with the 12 inchers had 4 of the 8 barrels replaced after 109 rounds when in the Falklands and that's about as bad as it gets with antiquated technology.

 

For the short battle durations we see now, even with literal non-stop firing, neither ammunition concerns, temperature concerns, nor barrel life will be an issue.

 

EDIT: My sources are giving 200-250 rounds of barrel life for the Yamato.