Hey guys. so i've seen this game before but nothing really caught me eye until i just recently looked a bit more into it. so i have a couple questions..

What is the game population like? What games do you think you can compare it to?

Are the sides imbalanced? (i.e more allies then axis or vice versa)

How realistic is this game? Is it actual planning out offensives/defensives take time, etc or is it more of a Counter Strike/CoD deal where you run in, kill as much as you can and then respawn and run right back in. Is there a realistic amount of things like armor and aircraft? Do bullets actually hurt/kill and not take 30 shots to kill someone?

How balanced is the gameplay? Are infantry automatically screwed if a tank rolls up on them?

I very much like realism, i currently play Arma 2 quite a bit but am looking for a bit of the World War 2 era as well.

Last question, How friendly/helpful is the game's population, i read around that the game has a pretty steep learning curve which im willing to deal with but it would be cool to join a nice unit that can help me get into the game, show me the ropes, etc.

Thanks for any help given,

regards.

fyi: i played for 4 years, last time 2 years ago in EU-timzeone, so info below might not be 100% accurate anymore.

1. Realism.

Generally: 1 good shot = 1 kill.  Infantry can be wounded, but cannot be healed.  Likewise, vehicles can be damaged (eg. track shot off. So immobilized, but gun still operational) but not repaired in the field.  A basic infantry rifle can kill any infantry if aimed well, under the right conditions (obviously target has to be in range etc...).  In any case, you don't need a headshot at all to kill the enemy with 1 blow.  Close combat (<50m) could be frustrating due to lag effects causing simultaneous deaths or allowing the opponent to shoot after he was already dead (according to your client at least).

Amount of available planes, armor and men depends on:

- supply (is the town in supply = attached to friendly hinterland)  -> this could have been changed with brigade spawning??

- Factory output.  This depends on whether the friendly factories have been damaged by bombers or not.

- Player run high-command decisions regarding production and research options.

Terrain: expect forests to actually feel like forests (huge, providing aircover), cities like cities (easy to get lost in the bigger ones).  Elevation plays a role in tactics & strategy.  Strategy (attack and defence objectives) is decided upon by the player-run high commands.  Cities used to be very ugly though, with cardboard walls.

There is anti-tank infantry (AntiTank rifle, sapper) that can kill or damage armour.  There is a ballistic model that takes into account distance, projectile velocity, angle of impact , ammo type, armour thickness etc.. Each vehicle has it's weak spots.  There are websites with pictures of these weak spots.

You cannot choose or customize your weapon loadout.  Instead you choose the type of unit at spawn (also depending on availability) and will have to do with the weapons until you die.   Exception is ammo, which can be obtained from others, without having to respawn yourself.  Infantry can board or ride upon vehicles at any time, but not take over control.  If you want to (multi)crew a vehicle, this has to be done at spawn.

So, supply of infantry, armour, airforce is not unlimited, but restocks at time intervals.  Back then, supply was linked to towns, so you could try to organize resupply runs from other towns (few volunteers for those kind of missions).  I think that's no longer the case and supply is handled by brigade instead.

There is a day-night cycle.  At night, watch for muzzle flashes and use surround sound to locate the enemy.  If I remember correctly, a night lasts about 1 hour realtime.

2. Balance.

Back when I played axis had more players.  I estimate max 100-150 players online per side.  Minimum 30-50 a side.  I was regularly in battles of about 60 armor and infantry on our side with about 10-15 airforce-support.  Max 2-3 battles ongoing at the same time due to AO-restrictions.  I always felt it could use more players :-)

3. Community.

Best I ever encountered in any MMORPG.  Generally mature and no smack like I see in my current game EVE.  Of course maybe that's because there are no common channels, except when you just shout or say something in "local" chat, which is garbled to the enemy anyways sicne germans don't understand British and vice versa :-)

I intend to come have a look when trinity 1.5 is released, and I would definately only return to a squad which uses voice comms.  The high-commands used to have a teamspeak server, but i guess the address changed since I cannot log on any more.

There is a general "help" channel in which you can ask questions.  Not all veterans read it though.

4. Comparability?

The game "feels" a bit like operation flashpoint (- helicopters ofc).  Also, even though in concept it's quite simple, getting proficient at it (especially the flightsim-part) requires practice.

The game's population is pretty big. It's no where near other MMOs (into the hundreds of thousands+ active members), but there's still a decent size. If you're into the army side (infantry/tanks/other land vehicles), you can always find a battle going on. With the airfield, the amount of enemy planes is an iffy. There are sometimes huge, epic battles.. yet sometimes you might fly for an hour and only come across one or two other planes. It really depends on what hour of the day it is. And the Navy I can't really say as I do not play that side. ~ It really comes down to learning where the major battles are at. They have a list to choose from so you can see what's getting the most action.. it's not like they just randomly drop you in a fight.

I'd compare this game to Battlefield 1942 (gameplay, looks, etc ~ should note that I love BF1942). I've always said it's part Battlefield and part simulator.

There can be balance issues.. but the way they balance that out is by having 'spawn delays'. For example, if the Axis side is over populated, they'll make them wait a certain time before they can spawn again. Nothing huge. But it does get real tedious. They also have a side lock which is similar to spawn delays. Where they'll make you wait before you can join that team. Usually about 5 minutes (something like that). It weeds out the players who just play the game to play.. they don't care about sides.

I can't say how realistic it is, as I'm not a history buff. So I wouldn't know a lot about that. You _could_ go in there with guns blazing and kill as many as you can... respawn.. and repeat the process. You'll definitely see a lot of lonewolfs in the game. But for the most part it's pointless to do that. Why? Because there will be camping machine gunners, snipers, ATG, sappers, etc. This game isn't anything like Counter-Strike. There is a lot of strategic gameplay.

It's pretty balanced. If you're infantry and a tank comes up, odds are you can hide until he leaves. Though don't think you can take him out.. unless you're a sapper or an anti-tank gun class, won't happen lol. Tank vs tanks, obviously there will be tanks that beat other tanks.. but it comes down to who spots who first lol (unless you see a newbie who doesn't hit you in the right spot). Same with planes and boats.

And the community is very helpful. Join a squad and they'll definitely show you the ropes.

I'd like to add that there is a trial, so before forking over money.. see how that plays for you.

Originally posted by VykkDraygo

The game's population is pretty big. It's no where near other MMOs (into the hundreds of thousands+ active members), but there's still a decent size.

...

I'd like to add that there is a trial, so before forking over money.. see how that plays for you.

What I used to found lacking is the use of voice comms by squads.  I checked the allied ts server yesterday and population was dissappointing.  There used to be squads which used their own teamspeak. and I know most players in the game don't use voice comms at all, but still...

I noticed there is a free trial (for new players only), but you can also just install the game and launch it in offline mode to check out the sound and graphics.  That way you can test all vehicles, set all controls the way you want and tune gfx and sound for performance.

Originally posted by Corto

Originally posted by VykkDraygo

The game's population is pretty big. It's no where near other MMOs (into the hundreds of thousands+ active members), but there's still a decent size.

...

I'd like to add that there is a trial, so before forking over money.. see how that plays for you.

 

What I used to found lacking is the use of voice comms by squads.  I checked the allied ts server yesterday and population was dissappointing.  There used to be squads which used their own teamspeak. and I know most players in the game don't use voice comms at all, but still...

I noticed there is a free trial (for new players only), but you can also just install the game and launch it in offline mode to check out the sound and graphics.  That way you can test all vehicles, set all controls the way you want and tune gfx and sound for performance.

You have to remember lots of people switched to there own TS when the Allied TS was going to go down. I know the Allied TS was saved but many of us have stuck with our own comms.

I just resubbed last night.  Feels good to be back!

Something tells me that with 1.31 the population is going to increase.  Like many, I'm an on/off subscriber.  last time was 1.5 years ago.  I've already downloaded the current client just to get my feel back so I'll be ready for 1.31.

The ONE thing that has always turned me off about WW2OL was the lack of feedback when you make a kill.  Whether it be a tank or infantry... you just never really ad that suspension of disbelief... when you killed a soldier, they just lay down.  Very unrealistic.  Looked like shooting stick-men.  Hopefully the rag doll will bring some of that much needed feedback to combat kills.

Originally posted by chiege

The ONE thing that has always turned me off about WW2OL was the lack of feedback when you make a kill.  Whether it be a tank or infantry... you just never really ad that suspension of disbelief... when you killed a soldier, they just lay down.  Very unrealistic.  Looked like shooting stick-men.  Hopefully the rag doll will bring some of that much needed feedback to combat kills.

By reading all the V 1.31 stuff i couldn't resist the temptation and already resubbed yesterday. 

I played a little of the intermission before map reset and i noticed you got notification of kill credit in the chat window.  At some point I noticed some hostiles on the first floor of a building.  They hit me, but I could duck away behind a low stone wall.  I was too badly wounded to make it far, and because they didn't get any "kill credit notification", they quickly moved in before I could prepare my final ambush :-)

Fortunately, once the campaign started, this "kill credit notification" seems to have been turned off.

Compared to 2 years ago, nothing much seems to have changed (only played infantry yesterday), so that was disappointing.   Paras now have different loadoud types.  Even though my gfx card is now a gtx280, fps doesn't seem to have improved: I get about 30-40 in cities and 70-80 around firebases with about 50-60 friends close by and a dozen planes above.  That's with most bells and whistles turned off!

Any way, I had fun and there were very nice battles yesterday.  I also found some squads which mandatorily use (their own) TS so might join one of those.  Allied side was overpopulated with about 7-13 seconds spawn delay.

Ill be back after 1 and a half years when the new patch comes out :). Cant wait!

 I have a question too:

How come the forums are locked? I cannot register... 

The forums are only open to subscribers.

 Ah ok, I`m still trial, thanks for clearing that up.

Originally posted by rendus

I just resubbed last night.  Feels good to be back!

Annnnnd just unsubbed last night.  

After all these years the infantry gameplay still feels the same way, clunky.  I still get stuck going on stairs, I still get hung-up going from prone to a run across berms, still plagued with simultaneous kills, still can't tell if I've killed AA and AT gun crews, plain unkillable BOFOR crews.  Tanks can still see you from too far too easily.   Most of the time I  was trying to find the out of place pixel in a treeline.  The concussive effects are waaaay too strong.  Maybe the next patch will fix some of that, but all I hear about is ragdoll and weather.

The airwar is still dominated by the Allies, yes, after 8 years, still.

Armor combat seems to be about the same.  I played 4 solid years of almost 100% armor on BE, and it feels pretty much the same now as it did then.  It's a CRS strongpoint.  The addition of ammo resupply was nice.  

Infantry play was the deal breaker though.  It's simply too repetitive and the faults too glaring for me to enjoy for any real length of time anymore.

Still playing RO (Red Orcestra) for that reason, the inf gameplay.  Same idea, realistic combat, but without the lag and limitations.  BE is certainly going in the right direction for me though, starting to get interested again.  LIke the new graphics, like the FPS is not dying, like the new inf animations.   With some immersion coming back in, can overlook some of the other issues.

I'd certainly like dirtier optics for the tank instead of SO much cover for the inf.  Got so crazy with inf just running in the jungle.  Killed ATG use as so easy to just walk around.

I'm curious about how the inf animations work with the lag though.  I'm assuming Utube vid it was some server test.  One of the issues with the inf gameplay was the heavy lag causing lots of dual kills.  So either those animations will occur when the other player actually dies (like now, means a long delay) which will look weird.  Nice death animation a second after he's shot.  Or it will be a soon as you hit him (locally determined by your PC) but which means you'll see his death animation while he's really turning around and shooting you.  That will mean one of those wtf killed me moments.

Yep, the dual kills are a game-breaker for me.  I can see it happening every now and then.   But over and over again night after night?  Add to that, half the time the enemy's gun isn't even pointed at you!  Which is something I forgot to add to my post above.  There have been times when I took my time lining up a shot thinking the enemy wasn't aiming at me, only to be killed by him anyway.

hate to concur but unfortunately pretty much all you say about the infantry game is true. I was killed the other day playing trying to get down the stairs. The game has had the same feel and texture to it since pretty much day one. I played it for the interesting things. I played Axis for years and then switched back to Allied as I never flew any of the later tier Allied planes or tanks. So it seemed new and refreshing. The devs keep working on weird things like rain and three screen monitor views. I know for the hard core gamer this is something they would look forward to but for the Wargammer this is just fluff. Being a wargammer I had always thought this game was a cut in the right direction but of course it has just turned into another cheap video game like all the other sims on the net.

One of the most exciting things about this game was the grand scale it could have been yet less than 1/8th of the map has ever been developed in 10 years of development work. There is no Norway to invade or Paris or London even though they are on the Map as blank land masses. The naval aspect has never been developed at all which could have been the most exciting frm a wargammer point of view.

The game has had a huge effort years ago toward wargamming with brigade movements then the brakes went on. The devolopement work for the last year has been the China Project. It is hoped that they could make money there and maybe they will. What is interesting is that in the Chinese forums they are comparing the art work to other great small room games and seeing it lacking. The Chinese customers have little interest in the historical aspect that attracts so many Western gameplayers and wargammers. In fact the Chinese version does not even have the country insignias just different color shields with swords. The game lost it niche as far as I can tell there so again hope it works out.

The biggest dissappointment has been the apparent lack of dev work that is commonly being called by the active playerbase on Team Speak channels as a milking. Players living with a decent enough wargame that becomes repetative because the content developement has stopped over the past years and Chinese characters with simplistic training scenarios for new players has taken over. The fact is nothing is complete even that.