World War II Online

A lot of the treads in our wee lil forum here on MMOPRG ask the same question, or questions similiar to it.

What does this game have, that others don't and why should I play?

So, I'll fix that issue by answering it here and hoping I don't miss anything.

I've played the game for only 9 months now (started in January) but have already mastered pretty much everything. Usually, I'm the type of person who gets a game, plays it for 2 months, gets bored and throws it away, maybe to return to it later or never again. But this game, there's always something new, if you max out rank in Infantry, you can goto tanks and if ya max out your rank in tanks you can move to air or the navy. By max out, I mean to say that after you reach rank 5, you pretty much have access to all weapons in whatever field you just ranked in. I.e. if you hit rank 5 in the Army, you can pretty much use all weapons. And then you can move onto the airforce or the navy if you wish, or be a ground pounder or whatever term you want to call the infantry.

The map is quite huge for sure, so you'll never run out of new scenery, there's even sheep for all you kinky people, you just gotta find them. Thought I'm sure if you asked someone will point you right to them >.>.

Also, here's the info on the map:

It goes from about 6 degrees West to about 14.5 degrees East longitude. From about 44.5 degrees North to about 61 degrees North latitude.

Ballpark: Oslo to Venice (North to South), Berlin to almost Dublin (East to West). About 1400 kilometers wide through Brussels.

But that is all the territory represented rather than the actual 'in game' environment. The territory represented is scaled down. It is 1:2 at the equator (not modeled) and 1:1 at the pole (not modeled).

This is a result of stretching those latitude and longitude borders, taken from a globe, onto a 2D rectangle.

Of this area, only a portion is developed, centering on Southeast England, Northwest France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Southern Netherlands and Western Germany. This area is approximately 230 kilometers wide about about 120 kilometers 'tall'. That is without regard for the territory represented.

How long it would take to cross depends entirely upon your velocity.

If you were going about 230 kph, it would take you about an hour to cross all of the developed area.

http://gophur.playnet.com/gallery/maps/mmogmaps_001

That is about 1/3 of the width of the terrain actually in the game, thus it is approximately 700 kilometers wide, and about 800 kilometers 'tall'.

Carrying on. The graphics aren't OMFG life like, but the game isn't all about graphics either, and, if they had graphics like HL2 or uh, Crysis I guess then no one could run it, there's no computer possible to do that the game is so big. It's not ugly though like Voyage Century or somethin xD.

Hmm what else....

Ah yes, the community...the community is AWESOME, there are ALWAYS people willing to help you (unless it's Christmas then they're all getting fat with family, or SHOULD be getting fat with family) in the help channel or the side channel which i'll add is for general chat too.

As for hackers and cheaters, the only kinda cheaters really are people who abuse the graphic engine by finding a way to hide in bombed out buildings and such, or by climbing on top of hangars that they're not suppose to be on.

Well, I hope I got everything..yea right I'm sure I didn't, so just ask any other questions ya have and I'll be sure to answer them.
 

Great Post and definitely like no other game I've ever played.

I still enjoy other games but after just a few weeks they lose their luster and I go running back to WW2. Cannot wait for Unity II (new graphics engine) to come next year.

I take issue with some of your statements.

The world is huge, but huge does not equate into fun. Most of the world is empty as all the action takes place around the cities and bases. The landscape is very repetitive. You see the same trees every few yards along with the same bushes and the cities and bases are exactly alike.

The graphics are about as life like as a Van Goht painting. The tanks look like boxes with boogey wheels and bolts painted on them. The infantry look like mannequins with gray or brown blobs stapled to them.

This being said the engine works. You are right if the graphics were updated to much the game would run like a legless sloth under water.

But CRS does need to fix the clipping issue. This game clips like a granny with the Sunday newspaper coupon section.

Now for what is right with WWII Online.

The community is great. They are dedicated players who are helpful and don't make fun of you when you get killed for the 5th time by the same sniper that they told you was in the church tower. They don't yell at you when you are hold up in the army base bunker crying for your mommy.... and you will cry for your mommy.

This game really makes your heart pound. The sense you are in combat is very visereal.

You don't have Space marine armor or +25 axe of "kill everything". It's just you with your puny rifle, with all that stands between you and players that can shoot really well is a shrub that would make a gardener vomit.

This game is for people looking for the thrill of combat and who are tired of mashing buttons  1, 2 , and 3 over and over till your fingers cramp or the "boss" is dead.

While the graphics aren't much the historicity of the game is great. You feel like you are fighting in the second world war.

What CRS needs to do is fix the clipping, add a little more variety to the landscape and then come out with volumes 2, 3 , 4 and 5.

So if you are a fan of the second world war(or historical combat) and tired of games that make you yawn while wishing your raids were of the air variety, play this game.

The 1 thing that makes ww2ol great is the amount of players in battles.

Most big battles have like 200+ players in them and its just awesome to fly in your plane to a town and you see like 15-20 planes all flying behind or in front of each other trying to shoot the 1 in front of him down

And a note:

The landscape is very repetitive, but every town is different so vets really know what the terrain is like near each town that is fought over often, their weakspots etc.

And now for a non-fanboy answer.

Yes the game is big, its not as big as most would think.

Rarely does any fighting actually take place in anyplace other than a town or a city, or even within 4Km of a urban area.    

Most battles are predictable, and generally turn into a camp fest after about a hour and change. 

No the world map is not correct for the actual real world.   Example....  isnt there a river near Eindhoven?  Uh a Bridge to Far?!?!   Isnt Bastogne in the Ardenns forest?

As for the modeling, most of it is pretty good... as far as looks on par for the game environment.   But as for the actual playability of some of the equipment, well thats a matter for another discussion.  

As someone else said, "You dont have spacemarine armor, or a +25 axe that kills everything..."  But you do have the Char 1 Bis, Mattilda, Churchill 7, and Tiger.     Not including the Spitfire MkV which can do loops for ever.   Or the P38 (322 in game)  that is 1 the wrong model for the game and two can do propstands and hover in place like a Osprey.   

I am saying that the game is FAR from great, at one time it was good, but with recent events in the gaming world I say that has slid back down to a just OK.    

The only thing that CRS can claim for now is that they are the ONLY WWII online game out on the market.   And for good reason, the gameing community is getting burned out on WWII.   Where everyone takes a Light Machine Gun (Bren, MG34) and runs around like John J. Rambo and kills all the bad guys with a glorious hail of lead.  

And for these reasons is why I left the game, and a few others.

Originally posted by Hodo

And now for a non-fanboy answer.

 

Yes the game is big, its not as big as most would think.

Rarely does any fighting actually take place in anyplace other than a town or a city, or even within 4Km of a urban area.    

Most battles are predictable, and generally turn into a camp fest after about a hour and change. 

No the world map is not correct for the actual real world.   Example....  isnt there a river near Eindhoven?  Uh a Bridge to Far?!?!   Isnt Bastogne in the Ardenns forest?

One of the problems is that the size of the world hurts the game. You spawn, run or drive for 5 to 10 minutes, die then do it all over again. I don't care for instanced games like GW but really this might be a mechanic that WWIIO needs.

Geography is not the strong suit of CRS.

As for the modeling, most of it is pretty good... as far as looks on par for the game environment.   But as for the actual playability of some of the equipment, well thats a matter for another discussion.  

As someone else said, "You dont have spacemarine armor, or a +25 axe that kills everything..."  But you do have the Char 1 Bis, Mattilda, Churchill 7, and Tiger.     Not including the Spitfire MkV which can do loops for ever.   Or the P38 (322 in game)  that is 1 the wrong model for the game and two can do propstands and hover in place like a Osprey.   

I cannot speak to how historically accurate these machines are. But, if they are working as they did in the real world then this is ok. I feel that you can't be accurate and balanced at the same time, it is a either or situation. Either the game is balanced or historical.

One of the problems I see is the lack of real world tactics to go along with the real world equipment. To speak to your statement above about the battles being predictable I agree. From what I have seen the vet players know what is going to happen before it does. None of the leaders will make any changes on strategy because there is no need to. A randomized supply factor needs to be in place to make some cities important for one campaign and others for the next.

Reversing the map is not the answer.

I am saying that the game is FAR from great, at one time it was good, but with recent events in the gaming world I say that has slid back down to a just OK.    

WWIIO is a very niche game that cannot be compared to any other MMO or single player game. Many of the ideas in WWIIO would benefit other games. I know of no other game were the decisions of players effect the game world so much.

But some of the execution needs work.

The only thing that CRS can claim for now is that they are the ONLY WWII online game out on the market.   And for good reason, the gameing community is getting burned out on WWII.   Where everyone takes a Light Machine Gun (Bren, MG34) and runs around like John J. Rambo and kills all the bad guys with a glorious hail of lead.  

But this is one of the few WWII games that doesn't have alot of players running around Quake style blasting everything.

While the market is flooded with WWII shooters, WWIIO is at least making an attempt to offer something different than other MMOs or WWII shooters.

And for these reasons is why I left the game, and a few others.

In the end this game could be better in many ways. But since it is the only game of this type, with first person historical combat, WWIIO is unique in a field full of the same old fantasy button mashers or fantasy games reskinned to be "sci fi" with guns instead of swords and so called "psychic" powers instead of spells.

I give CRS points because they haven't made  infantry bullet soaking, chaingun wielding mutants, or made planes so easy to fly that anyone with two good arms can be an ace, in order to draw in more players.

For those disappointed with the changes that were made or game mechanics used I do understand. But maybe if more companies would take the same attitude as CRS and make more niche games then the MMO market would be a vast garden with a variety of flowers instead of a potato farm, in the rain, in December.

Olscholgamer,

I couldnt agree more with your closing statement.    The only real world problem with the execution of such games would be.   The gameing world is filled jam packed to the brim with Lemmings, and they want more of that reskinned joe generic MMO games.    Most players dont want to work to get to be the best, or good.    Just sit in some of the early betas and read some of the reports and requests that your fellow beta testers send in....  "Oh this quest is too hard, because I couldnt kill (whatever) in 2 hits with my uber axe of blasting fire balls."    Or ... " the flight model is too dificult because I cant figure out how to get off the ground with the planes... they just spin in place when I give them throttle."  - early days of WWIIOL,  Another from the early days of WWIIOL ,  "What do you mean I need a stick to fly?!?!? thats GAY!".

I had high hopes for WWIIOL back in 2001, and over the past 7 years those hopes have turned into pipe dreams.    And I have gotten to the point in my life I am not in the mood to chase dreams out of a company that obviously doesnt care anymore.    Purhaps, thats a bit harsh, I will say that differently....  Dont care about accuracy anymore.

But now I am just getting mean.