We're happy to finally be able to release patch V13.0 to the Beta Branch.
The patch will be available on the public beta branch until it's moved over to the live branch in about 1-2 weeks. That figure is dependent on bugs/feedback/changes. Some additional stuff was held back from this patch because we really want feedback from the community on how the changes deployed today feel in actual gameplay before stacking on more changes- like adding a second friendly AI. A lot of under the hood stuff has been tinkered with in order to change fundamental mechanics in the game and existing AI.
To access it, right click the game in your Steam library and hit properties. There you will find a BETAS tab, select BETA and launch your game as usual. Please read the entire patch note post-not just to see what changed, but to see what type of feedback we are looking for in regards to this patch. Note that ANY post on Steam related to the beta must be marked as beta-whether you’re posting to Bugs, Feedback, or Suggestions-be sure to include a [Beta] tag in your title. Also be sure to post in the relevant sub forum(s), as our Mod team will be removing/moving posts that are incorrect as always.
Let’s dive in!
Enemy AI
The nighttime horde event has been removed from the game. Feedback on it seemed to fall into two camps; the folks who weren’t interested in it at all (who turn vambies off) and the folks who felt like it was obnoxious & boring instead of challenging. A new elite vambie- referred to here as a miniboss- has been added to the game. They’re a beefier version of the vambies you all know & love- and they’re ready to break into your base to get at you! They have more HP than a traditional vambie and the only home defense that’s effective against them is the new barbed wire because they demolish traditional spikes. This should provide a shift in gameplay.
This miniboss (MB) can be found in two different groupings of vambies. Group A-is a daily spawner that brings in the MB and 2-4 attendant vambies. Group B- is a roaming pack of one MB and 1-3 vambies, kinda out & about doing their thing.
Don’t want to put in too many details on the nitty gritty of their spawning patterns here for those that prefer to figure things out on their own, but you’ll be able to check our Wiki later in the week as our Wiki Minders update the pages.
If you’re worried about the MB, the new vambie groups, or not keen about fighting the Vambies at all-don’t worry! You can change/tweak vambie settings via the updated UI- increasing or decreasing their damage against the player (P) or buildings (B).
Developer Note: If you prefer to play without any Vambies at all-continue on! If you were a fan of the Horde night or having Vambies attack your base- be sure to play around with the new settings for the enemy AI and let us know what you think of the new setup via our Feedback sub-forum on Steam or via a Ticket on our Discord Server. (These are the only two spots we will be collecting Feedback and Suggestions.)
FRIENDLY AI
It’s long been requested to have some type of helper AI and this patch implements the first of your new AI pals; Mike!
Developer Note: AI development and implementation has taken the bulk of the time when it comes to this patch, because of all the changes that have to be made under the hood. Currently the friendly AI cannot engage in any combat-this feature is planned but it’s still undergoing work and we’re waiting on supplied animations. We’re going to give a small breakdown of the AI down below but we’re actually going to leave the nitty gritty details on our Wiki page out of the game. The reason for this is that we’re looking for feedback from players on how intuitive/easy to puzzle out the entire process is of getting Mike situated, healed & back on his feet, and integrated within your day to day play- all from within the game/using the supplied hints or common sense puzzling in game. The notes on the wiki will just be to help folks that might be stuck on things. We’d also love to hear how useful - or not!- folks find having an AI, since additional AI are planned. And please remember to leave feedback via our Feedback subforum on Steam or via a Ticket on our Discord Server. (These are the only two spots we will be collecting Feedback and Suggestions.)
Mike will be found out in the world as the player explores- and while you’re able to find him from day 1, it may take you some time to get everything together to be successful in adding him to your home. Some new items were added to the Itempedia that are relevant to recovering and using the AI. He’s a bit under the weather when you find him, so may need a hand on locomotion. Mike’s willing to help out around your base and can assist you with your plants (harvesting, planting, watering), refilling your log stands, and repairing damaged items. You can even give him a priority list to work from so that he’s always working on the most important task. While you won’t need to pay your AI, he does have needs-namely he can’t work without food! In fact you may even find that Mike just flat out won’t work if he’s hungry. We recommend checking out your new AI related placeable list to get him set up and ready to live with you.
CHANGED
Meat dropped from animals has been decreased
Removed Fish Oil from town loot tables
Food will no longer restore HP
Electrical relay now costs 1 Iron and 1 Copper Ingot
Added
Repair kit
Watermelon crate and Pumpkin crate (No perish time will pass while items are in the crate)
Two new AI specific houses were added to the Itempedia
Small Medkit
New Wire Pole
New Barbed Wire Fence
Frogs
Antibiotic
Bug Fixes
BUGFIX- Fixed the inability for the player to pick up dead animals under the water. BUGFIX-Placeable objects such as stands and gates for example would damage spike if overlapped. BUGFIX-Fixed bug where some placeables would consume an entire stack of oil cans even when half the quantity would have refilled it. BUGFIX-Stone Grinder bug where it would not restart automatically if players removed sand/fragments from it. BUGFIX-Deleting the Jack O Lantern would not return the pumpkin correctly, the pumpkin was placed in my normal inventory as an invisible 1x1 item and should have been spawned on the ground BUGFIX-When upgrading to cement, the corner ceiling said it required 5 cement but it took 6. BUGFIX-When upgrading to bricks, the corner door frame said it required 10 dry bricks but it took 6. BUGFIX-When upgrading to bricks, the corner window wall said it required 14 dry bricks but it took 8. BUGFIX-AI Health setting for goats did not, the default value was not getting overwritten by the players selection. BUGFIX-Oil Lamps could not be placed on the outside of Corner Window Frames. BUGFIX-Moving furniture and placeables would result in lamps not being able to placed on them. For example, the oil lamp could be placed on a newly created table but not after the table was moved.
Darvo Deals has returned to the Origin System, this time with a sinister Infested twist!
From August 3 at 3 p.m. ET to August 10 at 3 p.m. ET, save 25% off all Items available under Darvo Deals in the Popular section of the in-game Market.
Add the deadly Nidus Warframe to your Arsenal along with Infested themed Weapons and other Customizations like the Mutalist Cernos, Phage, Zymos, Lesion and much more!
Elevate your Infested Fashion Frame with bold Cosmetics and Armor including the Mucusk Syandana, Iliac Ankle, Shoulder, and Chest Plate.
Be sure to hop in-game and add these discounted items to your collection before Darvo realizes how good these deals are! Sale ends August 10 at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Soundfalls Free Summer Update contains 22 of the hottest new tracks of the summer! Update your copy today and blast baddies to the beat while you beat the summer heat! Update available for free for all Soundfall players.
I've Found My Way - Hallman feat. Elwin
Did It Again - oomiee
Murmansk Underground - OTE
Wanna Level Up - Vincent Vega
Lobster Polska - Rune Dale
Raise Your Swords - Trabant 33
Settle Your Regrets - Non-State Actor
Misery, Killing Me - No Sons of Mine
Bass Station (bLiNd v Sonik Mix) - SonikBuster feat. bLiNd
Deep Space Samurai - Forever Sunset
Space Out - Vincent Vega
Jubilation - Jules Gaia
Zoo Zoo - Martin Landstrom
The Happiest Days - J.F. Gloss
Twisty Roads - Sight of Wonders
Bioluminescence (Late Night Nostalgia Mix) - SonikBuster
Bit Fight - White Drift
Inner Stress - Autohacker
Beholder - Ruzer
Dancing with the Devil - Bonkers Beat Club
Get Out of My Way - Tape Machines feat. Vicki Vox
Wasn't Even Close - Velveteen feat. Astyn Turr
Added new quests associated with Song Pack 1
Added a “Featured” tab to the Free Play menu that showcases newly added music
Enable FLAC support for importing songs
Changed Extreme and Lethal intensity unlock quests to remove the story completion requirement
Added Ping display to Multiplayer menu and Pause menu for non-host players
Added "Replay Mission Dialogue" option to Options Gameplay tab to allow players to disable replaying of dialogue when replaying missions
Added a simple “Teleport to Teammates” keybind action that teleports a player to an area near their teammates if they are having trouble getting through an area
Prevent the Tutorial level from confusingly granting a mission reward medal
Fixed reset to default keys to correctly re-add secondary keybinds
Stop score/kills/etc from updating in UI after mission complete as it won't affect rewards
Fixed Smasher’s Fissure knockback not respecting players’ knockback resistance
Several miscellaneous fixes for level stuck spots and potential progression blocks
As you know, Playnet/CRS is actively working to modernize WWII Online and bring it to modern-day standards. In addition, we are continuously developing WWII Online 1.0 and providing new features and fixes routinely - with 11 releases shipped and an all-new game server giving the best ever European ping times over this last year. Then we have our WWII Online: Chokepoint project which is creating the basis of WWII Online 2.0 infantry and new content.
On our 20th anniversary, we made a commitment to reduce our price point in an effort to acquire more players for the game. We warned that this was a risk for us to do, but it was worth a shot. Unfortunately what we have seen is players jumping off of their higher-paying plans to the lower price point. We understand how this makes total sense from a consumer point of view, but it has now put us in the position to restore the prices as they were - which we said would be the case if required.
But this isn't all bad news. It is a special time for WWII Online and its history, where in real time a gaming community and dedicated development group is working to do something on a monumental scale - the porting of a 21-year-old MMO project onto a modern game engine. This is our primary mission, and Playnet/CRS requires funding to invest in talent, software, and resources and ensure that momentum carries forward.
At the outset of this migration to UE4 - which we've now decided to use Unreal Engine 5 because that makes sense and offers us the most bang for the buck - we said there were two major components that needed to be completed in order for us to ensure that this would be possible.
The first was to make sure we had an effective method of converting FLT (OpenFlight) assets which encompass all 3D assets in WWII Online - other than infantry. This has been completed.
The second was to create a pipeline whereby we could convert the game world to Unreal Engine 5. We have confirmed that this is possible and it is happening. We've successfully created an API to pull data points from our existing game and have created successful conversions to Unreal. Now we are working to do that on a mass scale, which is being done as we speak.
All of this combined represents what everyone in our community wants, forward progression, real innovation, and moving the game into the modern age graphically speaking. The game's design at its core has held up and we are blessed to have a community that has kept us going.
The increase in price comes out of necessity as mentioned before to ensure we keep this momentum rolling forward. We know that everyone's financial situation is different and a lot of thought has gone into this, we were hoping to see an increase in volume to make up the difference. I hope our goals of being transparent about this are well received and not our preferred choice - but it is the best for the game and the community's goals.
We know that when WWII Online is modernized it will be a massive game-changer (pun intended). At which time we will seriously reconsider this knowing that the number of people who will be there will hopefully be tens of thousands.
Effective now, WWII Online's premium rate has been reseted to $17.99/mo USD across all channels. All existing subscribers' billing information will be updated to that rate by 8/1/22 (Steam subscribers need to confirm this acceptance, follow the instructions received by email). Every paying subscriber will however receive a WWII Online: Chokepoint key - as of September 7th, 2022. This means you will be eligible for playtesting and checking out everything going on. This will be mutually beneficial to ensure we have the maximum number of playtesters and that your premium status is recognized not only with full in-game features in WWII Online, but access to our new WIP project and eventually full premium access on Chokepoint as well. Existing folks who kept their subscription rate at $17.99 will continue to receive builder benefits until November 1st, 2022 in recognition of their effort.
That means the following plans will be available at that time:
2 Week Free Trial followed by perpetual (limited) Free to Play
Premium: $17.99/mo
Hero: $29.99/mo, $49.99/mo or $359.99/yr (Not available on Steam)
In closing I'd like to repeat something from our 20th anniversary: The future of WWII Online is in our hands. We're it. There's nothing else like this on the market, and we are the best equipped to make it happen because we have the proven infrastructure, willpower, and community support to do it. This is not our preferred option but it is the right call to make so we can continue forward. We remain committed to the WWII Online franchise and its development and we will continue at full speed to share with you the progress we are making on all fronts. Consider this as a Patreon funding initiative, because these subscriptions are the primary lifeline in achieving these goals.
Notable items in development now for WWII Online 1.0 includes:
Mortar Carriers (81mm's on Half-tracks)
Artillery/Howitzers (105mm)
Integrated Voice Communications (approaching server test phase)
Gliders
This is a special time with serious work underway. Your support remains ever critical and pertinent to not only keeping operations going but enabling real innovation that brings us into the future.
Thank you from all of us at Playnet / Cornered Rat Software.
Exceptionally for this edition, the Warrior's Den has returned to a live in-person stream to celebrate Title Update 2 of the current season, Y6S2: Curse of the Scarab! TU2 is set to launch on July 28th.
In this Warrior's Den recap article, we will go over all of the Title Update 2 goodies: New Hero, Throwback Events, Hero Fests, Patch Notes, Testing Grounds Update, and a Competitive Update.
For a quick recap of what was covered in TU1, check out our June 9th article here
Free Week & Friend Referral Program starting July 28th
Starting July 28th for one week, players can try For Honor for free on Playstation, Epic, Ubiconnect and Steam. Players can preload the game starting on July 26th.
In addition, the Friend referral Program returns! This is a way for our For Honor players (aka Referrers) to earn in-game rewards and share their love for the game with new players (aka Recruits). By inviting new players to join you in For Honor, both you and your friends will earn rewards.
Year 6, So Far....
From the start of Year 6, Hero Skins were introduced - Lord Ramiel (Y6S1) and now, Bolthorn the Cursed (Y6S2). Two more Hero Skins will be introduced in next seasons - One in Y6S3 TU2 and the other in Y6S4 TU1.
In addition to Hero Skins, two Heroes will be added to the Outlanders roster- one in this upcoming Y6S2 TU2 and the other in Y6S4 TU2.
For a more indepth discussion of what Y6S2 TU2 has to offer, including the new Hero: Medjay, we encourage you to check out the Warrior's Den VOD
On the eve of battle, a great pharaoh whose name has long been forgotten once said: "Give me a dozen of my loyal Medjay over an army and I shall win the day."
The day the Cataclysm struck the world, the flourishing kingdom of Egypt collapsed. Its once mighty landmarks were destroyed, swallowed by earth, water and sand. Its significant achievements were forgotten, and its thriving people, no more. But not all was lost. The Medjay are the last survivors of this lost civilization. Warriors once tasked with protecting their homeland, they are now the keepers of their culture. The deserts they call home are filled with lost riches, and the Medjay have long fought back adventurers, explorers and would-be treasure hunters.
With no throne left to defend, the Medjay evolved into something else. Outside of the confines of their old responsibilities, the warriors developed a new, dual-wielding fighting style as they embraced a more offensive approach. With the path to Heathmoor now open to them, the Medjay see a new land in dire need of guardianship. Driven by integrity and honor, these warriors have a strong moral compass that never points toward corruption and dishonesty. They are willing to sacrifice everything to enforce what they believe is right - no matter where they are, or who they choose to fight for.
Medjay joins Pirate Queen as the second Outlander Hero in For Honor! The Hero will come with two sets, will be exclusively available for purchase starting July 28th for 7.99$ as a bundle that includes the Hero, one Ornament, one Elite Outfit, seven days of Champion Status and three scavenger crates. Players will also be able to unlock the hero starting August 11th for 15 000 Steel in-game.
There will be a free Event Pass: Medjay's Deliverance available from July 28th to August 18th. Play through the event to reap exclusive, limited-time rewards such as an execution, ornament, effect, and more
COVENANT GAMES: HORKOS MASQUERADE
The limited-time event, Horkos Masquerade returns! From August 18th to August 25th, play the special 4v4 game-mode, Carousel of Horkos. You must defeat all members of the enemy team at the same time to win the round! The limited-time event Battle Outfit, Ornament, and Effect will be lootable during the week. A note that there will be some content unavailable for the heroes, Pirate & Medjay. Horkos Grimoire Emote is also unavailable for the Kyoshin. All missing content will be available at a later date.
THROWBACK EVENT: BATTLE OF THE ECLIPSE
From September 1st to September 8th, play the limited-time 4v4 gamemode, Eclipse. Capture the Powered Forge to get the Draconite Scythe and defeat the enemy's Commander. The Battle of the Eclipse Event Pass will also return for the duration of the event! Please note that any hero launched after the release of Battle of the Eclipse event will not have the content retrofitted, however, players will be able to catch progression where they left it previously.
HERO FEST: ZHANHU & SHAMAN
A quick reminder that the Hero Fest is a week-long fest where one specific Hero will be accessible for free and on sale for purchase if you want to continue to play the Hero after the week is over. In addition, a unique execution will be released for that Hero. Players will also be getting two free symbols when they log into the game.
From August 25th to September 1st, there will be a Hero Fest for the ZhanHu. From September 8th to September 15th, the following Hero Fest will be for the Shaman
COMPETITIVE UPDATE
After the conclusion of the Dominion Series 2021, we have been taking time to look through our learnings and what can be improved. This time around for Year 6, we will be taking a small step back to focus on running community tournaments in order include more players and address feedback we have gotten. Don't fret- Dominion Series will return eventually, but for now we've decided we wanted to take this opportunity to continue building the foundation of our grassroots initiatives and explore different avenues.
TESTING GROUNDS UPDATE
Testing Grounds is our tool allowing you the players to test changes in a specific environment and give us your feedback before we potentially implement them in the platform. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In this case for the Guardbreak Vulnerability Changes TG, we've taken the decision to hold the majority of the proposed changes back and to not implement them in the platform. However, we have decided to move forward with bringing Dodge Attacks to heroes that do not have them. This change will be implemented at the release of Y6S3.
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback during this Testing Ground.
PATCH NOTES
The following were covered during the livestream:
PIRATE ARMOR VARIATIONS
Two Armor Variations of Pirate were missing from the release of S22TU1 - it will be added at the release of S22TU2. Two more Armor Variations will be released in S23TU1.
MATCH END FLOW IMPROVEMENT
STAMINA IMPROVEMENT
TARGETABLE FEATS
PARRY FLASH INDICATOR REMOVAL
For more information and other details, an article for the Y6S2 TU2 Patch Notes will be available on July 29th on our Website.