Batteground Europe

[Svt40]

Just curious to see who has heard of the upcoming re-release of Battleground Europe (World War II Online)? I would also like to see who is interested in it and get some opinions of what you expect to see in the game. If you already play I want to know what you think of the latest patch 1.19?

Here is a link to some screenshots for those who have not seen it.

http://www.wwiionline.com/scripts/wwiionline/media.jsp

Here is the main page for the website for your perusal.

http://www.wwiionline.com/scripts/wwiionline/index.jsp

I look forward to some opinions. One thing I will say is that this is one of the few games where the developers actually play the game and listen to their player base for ideas on ways to improve the game and what direction to take it.

[Simon O.]

I've been playing WWIIOL for almost 4 years now so i guess i'm pretty well qualified to comment.


Now WWIIOL isn't everyone's cup of tea, you can't really compare it to any other WWII based game as it's all on it's own. It's not the kind of game where you can really just log in for 15 minutes and expect instant action (unless you're experienced and know where to find the action). To get the most out of this game you need time, patience and to be with a good squad of players.

One of the biggest issues CRS, the developers have been trying to address with this patch (overhaul) is getting players, especially new players, into the fight quickly. Previoulsy new player retention has suffered because they simply didn't know what to do, where to go or who and how to talk to people so many gave it an hour or so and gave up in frustration. I think most agree that the key to this game is getting with a squad from the get go, needs to be a squad with enough players in your time zone so that there's a good chance of a few guys being online at the same time.

I can say, hand on heart, that over the years i've had some great times with this game but almost all of those have come from having fun with friends in game. If you ask many year 1 players what's kept them in the game this long i think most would say their squad and the friends they've made there. Most squads use some form of voice comms BTW, like Teamspeak, which makes things much easier within the squad but harder for new guys not in squads and the lone wolves as most communication happens on voice.

So if anyone reading this is thinking of giving WWIIOL a try when the new version hits the stores (late summer i think it is) then do yourselves a favour and get with a good squad from the get go.
I play Axis ( now there's a surprise) and am with a squad called the 116 Panzer Dvision "Windhund"
http://www.windhund.org/ we are one of the larger squads in game with around 50-60 active users at the moment. My game name is Dietl (well it would be wouldn't it) so anyone from WA wanting to try the game out please feel free to hook up with us.

It's also worht mentioning that the average age of players in this game is quite high compared to many, i think overall it's around 30+. In our squad it's probably around mid 30s though we have a couple of teens and a few guys in their 50s.


Now, 1.19 . It would be wrong to review Battleground Europe on the basis of the current patch release, after a while in open beta testing this version has only been live a couple of weeks and is not the version that will hit the shelves, this will be 1.20 (iirc) the developers are very much working on the feed back generated by 1.19 in order to tweek and adjust the game prior to release. They've completely redone some key aspect of the game, one of the biggest being the so called 'Brigade spawning' which is in it's infancy and will thus change, anyone reading the games forums will see the discussions going on about that.


One of the other things that has kept me going with the game is the lengths the developers have gone to in order to try, within the limits of the software, development time and resources, and create weapons and equipment that behave as acurately as they can make it. No crappy 'hit points' when firing at vehicles, they've modelled tanks with correct armour thicknesses and properties, rounds of ammunition with balistics, penetration properties and explosive properties. This means that a PAK36 really is pretty useless against a thickly armoured Matilda, that the mighty German Flak36 88 really is king of the battlefield when deployed in a good location.

The game isn't perfect, nor is it finished, in fact as the developers say, it will never be 'finished' as there's always new technology coming along and new ideas to put in.