It's that time when the wonderful Roadmap is presented! It's a bit longer because there are lots to say we recommend checking out the video within. This roadmap showcases all of the upcoming plans we have underway, addresses some existing priorities that are being worked on, and helps lay out a course that focuses greatly on enhancing "gameplay" with a fair dose of content being added. This roadmap also offers a survey that enables every player to have a serious vote in the top three priorities for Production & Development plans - your feedback matters! (See the full article for the survey)
IMPORTANT NOTES BEFORE GETTING STARTED
You can watch the live stream recording on YouTube (here) ~ highly recommended.
Roadmaps are designed to be "Goals" and CRS reserves the right to make adjustments as needed
Unless otherwise stated, CRS will aim to add previous goals not fulfilled to the top of the new Roadmap to complete
Campaign 186 has come to an end, congrats Allies for your victory! Campaign 187 has started!
Roadmap Unveil Event 2/22/22
Please sign up below for our "Roadmap Unveil" hosted by Zoom Webinar this coming Tuesday February 22nd, as we will do our first live roadmap unveil. Start time is 4PM PST (GMT -8), which is 6PM Central, 7PM Eastern and 12AM GMT (Sorry to our Euro guys). We have a lot of really great things that we'll be talking about and in addition to that we are working to make this one of our most community-inclusive roadmap sessions as we will have a survey for you to fill out, which will help us gauge what is most important to you and help us prioritize features and fixes.
CRS over the past several weeks has been having marathon meetings as we discuss and review 2022 items. The initial first pass has been completed so there are several more meetings scheduled as we look into the year ahead. As Xoom indicated via Discord, you as gamers will have some input into what our focus will be for 2022.
Meanwhile CRS listens to your feedback across all of the platforms associated with the game and as such, we have tweaking several aspects for the current campaign #186.
Tiers are scheduled to change at 9-day intervals. Note - this is subject to change WITHIN the campaign dependent on various factors.
New Tier Added. We now have 5 Tiers (Tier 0 , Tier 1 ,Tier 2 , Tier 3, Tier 4) - Tiers 1 thru 3 will have the normal combatant nations of the Allies and Axis. The introduction of the Americans will occur in Tier 4 representing 1943-1944. Note - CRS continues to evaluate and review each campaign and tier. There could be future changes based upon various factors.
Ground garrison supply numbers have been reduced from 0% to a maximum of 20%; depending upon the number of pieces of kit within the garrison. More abundance pieces of equipment will be impacted while few pieces of equipment or infantry classes will be nominally or not impacted at all.
Air garrison supply has also been reduced
Steam DLC players will see an increase in low-tier aircraft
NO SUPPLY REDUCTIONS to moveable units (ground, air, or sea)
the 10sec despawn time is set to "0"
Where's the Roadmap / upcoming updates? For your awareness, CRS has been heavily engaged in planning this year's roadmap and fine tuning all of the pieces, quite a bit more heavily than we normally do to make sure we have solid estimates and clear expectations with you. Very soon we will be publishing our official roadmap (near the end of this month) and it will contain important details of what's to come this year. It will focus on WWII Online, WWII Online 2.0 and of course WWII Online: Chokepoint plans. And for the first time ever, WWII Online will be reaching out to you - our valued players - to help us add weight and priority to which items are most pressing to get done first from your perspective.
Community Management Team (CMT)
We are here to serve and engage with YOU!
IMBRUTUS (joint Training Command) imbrutus@corneredrats.com
KMS (Axis) kms@corneredrats.com
SIDEOUT (Allied / Joint Training Command) sideout@corneredrats.com
TEX64 (Texan) tex64@corneredrats.com
TREVOR8 (Axis) trevor8@corneredrats.com
Community Safety reminder: Follow these steps:
Press F9 to capture the in-game chat or Print Screen on your keyboard for outside of WWIIOL
Use .report to notify the GM team
Contact your CMT via CRS email or use agm@corneredrats.com and attach screenshots
S!
By the numbers: Review of 2021
From our President XOOM:
Happy New Years to you all! As 2021 draws to an end, I wanted to take sometime to reflect on the accomplishments of this year and help you all see the tremendous work that the team at CRS is doing to keep WWII Online moving forward. Of course all of this is made possible by your continued patronage as a subscriber, so as you review this we can only encourage you to keep it up and encourage your fellow player to step up to the paid subscriber ranks. All in all, it has been a great year (and 20th anniversary) filled with a good balance of features and fixes, incorporating player feedback into the development pipeline and getting things done. Let's dive into the update.
2021 was a big year for WWII Online, with the acquisition of WWII Online: Chokepoint and the announcement of our intention to move into the Unreal Engine (5) as our mainliners, followed by some good developments, and almost double the fixes this year compared to the prior - you could say we're definitely moving WWII Online forward.
Ultimately you should take note that Playnet/CRS remains a remote based company, with contributors (mostly compromised of volunteers) from across the world. The fact that we are doing these things is a remarkable achievement in pure effort and passion by these folks, and the technology that we incorporated pre-pandemic to develop this environment to have very limited to no impact on our operations. We are very blessed and fortunate in that regard, and we hope you and yours are healthy and hanging in there.
We also saw some new folks join our team and said goodbye to a few who are no longer with us (we are grateful for them, their time and contributions). This happens but we're still moving strong and we are poised to have some exciting developments yet ahead in 2022+. We also had some minor changes in our organizational structure which has helped consolidate things and make them a bit more efficient. And now the leadership team at Playnet/CRS is experimenting quite successfully with being in the Metaverse using Facebook's "Horizon Workplace" to start conducting remote meetings which has improved collaboration, productivity and team bonding. Since we're remote and can't meet up in an office place daily, this has really helped create the best conditions possible to maintain safety during the pandemic and break geographic barriers.
Playnet-CRS metaverse office
And before we get to the stats portion of this segment, I would say #1: If you support what we're doing here and want to see the project go further, subscribe. It is crucial so we can purchase more developer time and get done the things you want. And finally #2: If you have skills as a 3D artist or C++ developer, we're always open to discuss volunteers stepping up. Reach out to us at http://www.wwiionline.com/volunteer to see what other positions are available.
UPCOMING DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
Please note that we typically release our WWII Online roadmap around February and will plan to do that again this round. This gives us some to recover from the holiday, get our team back to full operational status and iron out the working plans.
There were a couple of items we didn't get done in time like we had hoped for, namely the Ju-88 and the Wellington Bomber - though these are at the height of the priority list and it will get done as quickly as we can - and rolled out as soon as each vehicle is ready. We also had things like the Bomber Loadouts and Mission Target Change which were temporarily added to the game but had some issues that required them to be withdrawn pending fixes. We'll look to incorporate those back in as soon as we can.
2021 Developments
7 game releases shipped
110 bug fixes delivered
112 features delivered
9 new vehicles delivered
10 roadmap items completed
Total Deliveries: 248
Global Statistics
Kills: 2,702,381
Captures: 213,641
Sorties: 4,183,417
RTBs (Return To Base): 1,509,949
New squads created: 20
Number of .reports logged: 7,142
Number of .bugs logged: 4,374
Number of Campaigns and their length in days
Campaign 178: 3 days
Campaign 179: 20 days
Campaign 180: 40 days
Campaign 181: 27 days
Campaign 182: 87 days
Campaign 183: 34
Campaign 184: 71
Campaign 185: 60+
Top 10 Killers & Their Kill Count
Stromy: 35,924
Fusco50: 32,394
Stankyus: 17,146
Choad: 15,894
Mcafeed: 14,397
Skee53: 14,029
Slamen: 13,208
Rohmu: 12,887
Jwrona: 12,792
Dfire: 12,758
Top 10 Cappers & Total Captures
Doctorit2: 5,313
Elli0t: 5,049
Mcafeed: 4,011
Stromy: 3,804
Sgthenning: 3,382
Skee53: 2,658
Che644: 2,597
Fusco50: 2,324
Choad: 2,205
Rpochman42: 1,889
Top 10 Players with Time on Mission (TOM)
Gatorr: 51,159
Aomercy: 32,859
Stromy: 27,106
Bludngut: 21,352
Googs: 20,984
Gipper: 17,597
Bullvyne: 17,474
Mycat: 17,001
Lok0: 16,820
Fusco50: 16,073
Top 10 Areas Most Spawned From + Number of Spawns
Acremont Airfield: 34,938
Antwerp Airfield: 25,330
Gilze Airfield: 20,455
Fliegerhorst Airfield: 20,050
Schilde Armybase: 18,983
Tienen Armybase: 18,924
Butte de Montfaucon Airfield: 18,559
Elesmes Airdrome: 17,567
Ciney Armybase: 17,192
Leuven Armybase: 15,296
Top 5 Vehicles with the highest kill count
Submachine Gunner (MP40): 165,286
Rifleman (Kar98): 121,401
Light Machinegunner (MG34): 110,647
Submachine Gunner (M1928 Thompson): 90,242
Submachine Gunner (Mas38): 85,080
It should be noted those are all Tier 0 weapons available throughout the war entirely. Does not count for kill death ratio.
Rats & Kill Death Ratios
Rat Name Kills Deaths K/D Ratio
CORN 102 25 4.08
JCD 1719 525 3.27
OLDZEKE 820 292 2.81
BLKHWK8 2961 1220 2.43
WAVER 3773 1613 2.34
MANDRILL 2338 1212 1.93
TR6AL 23 13 1.77
KEMPI 9050 5191 1.74
TMAN 324 195 1.66
XOOM 710 464 1.53
SNIPER62 29 25 1.16
CHIMM 620 663 0.94
JAMES10 56 63 0.89
ZEBBEEE 262 366 0.72
WESTY91 552 778 0.71
PILOTMC 1056 1751 0.60
OHM 32 57 0.56
IMBRUTUS 15 28 0.54
B2K 175 359 0.49
TEX64 367 832 0.44
KMS 6 14 0.43
MIKEMUDD 54 193 0.28
SUBSCRIBE TO SUPPORT THE FUTURE OF WWII ONLINE
WWII Online is 100% fueled by player support. As Playnet / CRS seeks to build The Future of WWII Online with some aggressive goals, we need your help to make this possible. Please consider subscribing to help us accelerate game development, the future is now and your support as a subscriber has a direct impact on mission success. Go to our Premium Store page and subscribe now!
Connect to our Social Media to get more updates and help us gain visibility to grow the community and reach new players to play with:
We've unlocked all Paratroopers and Paratrooper Transport planes in WWII Online as we prepare for the big launch of "Welcome Back Soldier (WBS)." WBS is when we unlock all past subscribers accounts and provide full access to Free Players too, whether you already have an account or just decided to join. Expect things to be very busy, and with the new WWII Online game update - it's poised to be a great WBS!
There is no obligation to subscribe, just download the game, sign up for an account and login to the WWII Online Campaign server. For assistance, join discord at https://discord.gg/wwiionline or while in-game press F6 for the HELP channel.
It's that time of year again - PATCH FEVER - Merry Christmas boys and girls! New vehicles, game play changes, fixes and a whole new look at WWII Online's snow are inbound tonight at 6PM Server Time (at which point we will activate the new snow for the remainder of December). This is one of the biggest patches of the year and it's loaded with goodies! Mark your calendars as Welcome Back Soldier" will be activated December 20th - 27th, be sure to pass the word and get those vets back in-game! Did you know they can enter right now with Free Play access?
It's now time to find out what Santa Xoom and his Crafty Elves have been doing these last few months - so buckle-up and keep reading to see lots of great screenshots and game play changes!
BMBM and Mkw are working on the artwork of the Wellington, turning the proverbial wrenches to get the construction solid and updating the textures, polys and everything in between. Today we'd like to show you a bit more of the exterior and continue to mention that this vehicle is a high priority item for CRS to get completed along with the Ju88 for the German forces (which needs a flight model next). The Production team at CRS is finalizing some bits and pieces for a pretty significant release coming soon (sorry, had to do it) focusing on implementing Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs). Reminder: All of your subscriptions to WWII Online go to support developments like these and keep services operation, please consider subscribing for only $9.99/month
ALLIED WELLINGTON BOMBER
We've been asked why we've focused on the Wellington as the Allied bomber, and we wanted to let you know we've selected this because not only is it going to be available throughout the entire war, but because it directly competes with the Luftwaffe's Heinkel 111. Much like why we're adding the Ju88 to the Luftwaffe to compete with the A-20 / Boston / Db7, etc. Our objective has been to fill in some gaps in game play and level the playing field a bit more - not perfectly, but certainly giving the same opportunity to each side. When this option exists, CRS will work to achieve it, though perfect parity is unlikely to exist, hopefully you can see through this initiative our intent to do so.
As we announced in our recent Rat Chat in October, it is our intent (and we are presently on schedule) to get both the Ju88 and the Wellington out before 2021 concludes. That being said if our APC release has shown us anything sometimes things take a little longer than expected, even when we add some additional artists onboard to help supplement those efforts.
One thing remains sure is that the WWII Online player base has made their request clear: We want these as soon as possible, but we want them READY and FUNCTIONAL. We couldn't agree more and we're going to stay accountable to you and continue to mention these things and stress that our team had advanced their knowledge of the inner workings of these newer vehicles, which can be verified by a continuing to increase the complexity of assets introduced. That said your grace and patience has been noticed and we want to thank you for continuing to support the cause. Can't say it enough, if we say we're going to do something we intend to deliver on that.
Please note that the following images are a work in progress, only designed to demonstrate effort taking place, not a final product.
Here's a birds eye shot of the Wellington. Hope you like the paint job!
In case you were wondering if the Wellington Bomber could be multi crewed, the answer is YES! If you're being an astute observer you'll also notice that this aircraft has our first true tail gun position.
Fun Fact: Tail Gunners were routinely trained to call the locations of targets in reverse to their positions so the Pilot / crew facing forward could instantly know what the tail gunner meant. I wonder what sort of struggle that posed later in life. Your military left! Dude, that was my military left!
Allied Victory & FREE PLAY intermission
Congratulations Allies!
Intermission will begin around 3pm US Pacific time (server time), and will be extended until Sunday 31st Oct so our highest ranking players (Lt. Colonel) are introduced to the High Command Tool set.
Free access to all units has been unlocked for everyone!
As announced at our most recent Rat Chat, the time has come for all WWII Online players to rise to the occasion and ensure that the game will continue to be player-driven. In accordance with that goal, we are planning to issue all premium players with the maximum player rank of Lt. Colonel a special subscription enabling the in-game High Command toolset. This will inject many veteran players and squads directly into the strategic component of WWII Online after many years and ensure we have players with operational tools online during all time zones. We also have plans to add Squad AOs. Please continue reading to fully understand how this came to be and the implementation plan.
BRIEFING / OVERVIEW
The rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Rank #13) represents the top rank of our veteran non-HC players. Every player at this rank will be eligible for an Allied or Axis High Command subscription, which will be automatically applied (with no OCS requirements) to your account. By doing this, we issue HC tools to hundreds of players on both sides and bring squads back into the fold relating to strategy, and ensure as best as possible - no dead periods where HC players are not online.
HC numbers will therefore be buffered like we have not seen in years and we're certain many players are going to learn and participate in the strategy of the game. These new LTC's will have access to all HC tools, one exception being the .Allied / .Axis command and other higher level ranks and responsibilities available by signing up to the regular HC program (which will continue to coexist alongside this initiative).
Akin to the "mission leader" as being part of routine game play, we're looking at this as a way for us to cultivate newer and better game design and ensuring we maintain a player driven WWII Online.
Benefits for new Lt. Colonels receiving HC Subscription:
Eligible to earn "Colonel" Rank #14
[C] Command symbol in-game
HC channel for side-wide comms
All essential in-game HC tools (Excludes .allied/.axis which is eligible for full HC officers only)
CURRENT HIGH COMMAND OFFICERS
All current High Command officers listed on the official Allied or Axis orbat(s) will be considered "Ranking Officers" while online and they're requested to help support the new players learning these tools as gracefully as possible. The HC structure(s) that we have will continue to be operational and its primary mission is to execute the overall strategic component of the theater in and out of the game, manage and recruit new personnel into its orbat (order of battle / roster) and of course to help educate these new Lt. Colonel's learning the ropes of their new tools.
ADDITIONAL ATTACK OBJECTIVE ADDED FOR SQUADS
In an effort to support both HC officers and Squads, we are adding +1 extra AO for any AO threshold above 2. Each extra AO is to be 100% designated to Squads online to do what ever they wish with. The original AO availability is to remain at the discretion with the HC officers. Of course working together may result into quick - strategically significant - decisions which help everyone.
Current AOs > New AOs 1 -> 1 2 -> 3 3 -> 4
MODERATION At the outset of this initiative, we expect a level of controlled chaos of new officers joining, wondering what to do with their tools and "who is in charge." In the event of a player abusing their tools (which can be defined as not allowing squads to have an AO, or being disruptive / not a team player) all officers / players are advised to take a screen shot (F9 key) and type .report to inform the GM team of the issue.
Our game moderation team has been briefed in advance and is prepared for handling these sort of issues, and the Community Managers will also be supporting for any issues like this.
Please note that this initiative does not qualify as a right of service. The regular Terms of Service will be in effect. Losing your toolset will be based on TOS violations accrued.
IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE At the conclusion of Campaign 184 (the beginning of this next coming intermission), we will be issuing HC Tools to all Lt. Colonel's. You will start Campaign 185 with full tool capabilities. Each HC program should be preparing for this influx accordingly.
EXTENDED INTERMISSION FOR TRAINING
We will have an extended intermission lasting from 5 to 7 days where we will ask as many players to show up and train on these new tools as much as possible. CRS will also be conducting two all-inclusive HC tools training events on Discord during intermission. We are also working on a cheat sheet guide for basic tool usage, though all of that will be available by typing .help and then .help command.
IN CONCLUSION
We have great confidence that the player base will rise together to this occasion and work towards the health of the game and their respective side. It's important to proceed with a general understanding that more hands make for less work and stress. This is a perfect opportunity for you and your squad to get done the work on the frontlines that for along time, too few have shouldered. To all of those HC officers, thank you for your efforts and we hope you look forward to the extra assistance.
Campaign 185 isn't too far away, and it's sure to be unlike any we've seen in awhile. GET READY!
Thanks for your support on this everyone, Salute!
Join our our social network channels for more information and community interaction!
The M3 Halftrack is receiving its final touches from the Production team and today we wanted to share with you some additional screenshots, mainly from the internal (crew member) perspective. Continue reading for some more information how armored personnel carriers will be introduced, their affect on game play and see the current work in progress views. Thanks for your continued subscriptions making efforts like these possible. S!
This armored troop carrier is well equipped with an M2 .50 Caliber machine-gun mounted on top, and 10 seats for troops to sit in. It is also capable of towing light-medium anti-tank / anti-aircraft gun, much like how the 251 Halftrack for the Germans do today.
We have been thinking (though not confirmed) of eventually making the APC's of WWII Online (M3 HT for the US and French, Universal Carrier for the British, and 251 for the Germans) be the primary vehicle deploying mobile spawns. Respond with a comment to let us know what you think about this idea.
How do you think having Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) will affect the WWII Online game experience? Which APC are you most looking forward to? Please comment below and let us know your thoughts!
Special Event: OPERATION DYNAMO 19 Sep, 2021
The chance for YOU to rewrite history will be the next World War II Online Special Event: OPERATION DYNAMO. Join the Axis in an attempt to rout the British Expeditionary Forces at Dunkirk before they can evacuate. Join the Allies and hold out as long as possible to allow your countrymen passage back to the British Isles to fight another day. Better yet, flip the script completely and launch a massive counterattack to breakout of Dunkirk! The special event will be held on September 19th at 11:00 a.m. server time/U.S. Pacific Time.
EVENT BACKGROUND Looking back at history there are many moments when a single decision by a person altered the course of history. The Battle of France had such a moment. The German Forces relentlessly pushed the Allied Forces to the brink of annihilation almost dooming Britain's ability to hold out and possibly ending the war in Western Europe. With a majority of the British Expeditionary Forces trapped around Dunkirk and their backs to the English Channel. On May 21, 1940, poorly coordinated and ultimately failed counterattack by British and French troops near Arras would have major ramifications. To prevent disaster, German General Erwin Rommel's last-ditch effort had any large caliber begin firing, including the 8.8cm Flak 36 on the British Matilda tanks. It would not be enough to allay fears of German leadership and Colonel-General Günther Von Kluge ordered a 24 hour halt.
This order was to consolidate the front line and allow supply lines to catch up. To the British the break in fighting opened the door to OPERATION DYNAMO, the incredible and daring evacuation of the British Expeditionary Forces. General Von Kluge's decision to delay the advance, unbeknownst at the time, would ultimately doom Germany's chances of winning the war in the West. The cascading affect contributed to the inability to invade Britain, rebuilding of forces, and a in 1944 staging ground for the largest seaborne invasion in history. Had the Germans pushed onward, could they have routed the British Forces at Dunkirk ending the war right then? Can the Allies successfully launch a counterattack and breakout from Dunkirk? Join the fight on September 19th to be a part of writing your history in World War II Online!
EVENT RULES
Event Start: 19 Sep, 2021 at 11:00a.m. Server Time/U.S. Pacific Time
Starting Position: Allied Forces will start the event encircled around the areas of Calais and Dunkirk
Allied Victory Conditions: Evacuate Allied Forces to England by holding Dunkirk; Continue the fight for France, hold Calais and Dunkirk; or Counterattack, holding Calais and Dunkirk and taking Boulogne Oostende
Axis Victory Conditions: Take Dunkirk
Supply Rules: Standard
Equipment: Tier Two (1940-1942)
This is your opportunity to relive one of the most pivotal moments. What decisions will you and your squad make to change history?
Campaign Update - #184
As of this writing on my Underwood Model 5 typewriter, the map currently rests at 23% Allies & 77% Axis (Day 26). The Axis rapid push westward has slowed as some very tough and dedicated Allied warriors have dug in with the recent reinforcements from the Americans as Tier 3 entered the campaign. Such sharp clashes bring forth strong emotions as each side competes. You know you are playing WWIIOL right when you get so fired up after being killed that you are tempted to spike your headset (I said TEMPTED!) and you know the needle is deep into you as you drive to work and you duck lower behind the steering wheel as you see a low flying aircraft instantly thinking that it's a Stuka or DB-7. The pure joy, anger, and fatigue of our game.
ONGOING COMMUNITY INITIATIVES:
Return of The Mailbag
The Community Management Team is exploring different ways for US to hear from YOU. We want it to be easy and efficient for our gamers to provide feedback or ask questions through the Forums, Social Media, and Discord. There will be future updates on this important topic. NOTE - The Mailbag is a great portal to discuss Community Topics but it is NOT a system designed to address, replace or augment the .report or .bug feature.
How to be Successful in WWIIOL
Our game is a difficult game to learn and master; however, at present and over the years some great content has been developed to show you how to be more effective in the game world AND to showcase how to enjoy yourself, too. Check out these links!
Your CRS Team is hard at work and as a recent new member to the team shared, "I had no idea so much was going on". We cannot always show what is being developed but I will strive as the Community Manager to share as much as possible. The team is working toward a daunting multi-year goal which will have its own share of triumphs and disappointments as do all projects. Remember the distance we have covered together these past few years when previous development was technologically stagnant. I cannot share what I know but I believe in our course, I see the effort and progress being made but as the wise man once said "Rome wasn't built in a day".
I am honored to be a part of the Community Management Team (CMT) and I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield and if I show up on your kill list . . . I was looking at my map!!
