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The first signs of of the approaching large-scale battle in the air appeared on the eve of the new 2012, when announcements of German, American and Soviet Tech Trees were published on the World of Warplanes official portal. They were the forerunners of the Global Alpha Test (GAT) – it was launched February 23, 2012. The word «global» meant that (unlike the initial alpha-test (AT) it was held in all three regions: Russian (RU), Europe (EU) and North America (NA). Participants of the previous stage go the status of Veterans АТ, new — GAT participants.
From the early Alpha stage it had received 2 maps: ‘El Haluf’ – small part of it coincides with the World of Tanks map of the same name, and ‘Novorossiysk’, later it was renamed into ‘Harbor’. There were about a dozen of planes of USSR, USA and Germany in the hangar. Actually, there were no hangars and planes were shown in the air with rotating propeller in the haze and clouds.
Within the period of the Global Alpha test period World of Warplanes got the third map — ‘Pacific’. For quite a long period of time it had been available only for planes 6-10 level, what caused players surprise as they over and over again were getting to this map on their favorite La-5, F4U and Bf.109G, which was the plane of the tier VI then.
In addition to cannons, machine guns and rockets… bombs were represented in the game, and the first planes who could carry bombs were Fw.57, Il-2(d) and F4U. Using the special aiming marker (bomb sight) sliding on the ground in the form circle with crosshairs, bombs could be dropped at sea and ground targets, which were divided into 2 types of targets: barrels and boats. However, very soon the most cunning test-pilots invented a method for killing the enemy planes with bombs if their enemies were too importunately hanging on the tail.
By the beginning of the Closed beta test stage barrels and boats were replaced by complex destructible targets, which were randomly appearing on maps. Hangar and the ability to repair damaged planes were represented, engines overheating, caliber indication for ammo slots, training missions and the most important — full list of planes for 3 initial tech trees.
Closed Beta Test (CBT) of World of Warplanes was launched on 30 May 2012. Over the summer the gameplay was supplemented with high altitude anti-aircraft guns, penalties for the destruction or damaging allies and a new maps with lots of gorges and canyons named ‘National Park’. Suspended bombs and missiles began to affect flight characteristics, and for the first time our players got the opportunity to research and mount modules, however via presets this time.
Extended adjustment of the mounted modules became available only in autumn of 2012 when ‘manual’ mode on modules mounting was introduced. The list of maps was supplemented with new maps for high tiers – they were ‘Lighthouse’, ‘Plateau’, ‘Asian Border’, ‘Arctic Region’ and ‘Bay’. ‘Pacific’ map got the first moving objects: transport and battle ships. Moreover, first premium planes were introduced in World of Warplanes (German Fw.56 and Soviet P-39Q), as well as test gold earned by players in battles.
It was decided to make an unlimited amount of ammunition on the aircraft (it is quite sad to be left without shells against several opponents at the end of the battle), which pleased amateurs of continuous firing but their freedom was restricted by the implemented guns and machine-guns overheating, which first interrupted shooting and subsequently slowed down the rate of fire and significantly impaired its accuracy.
Quite soon a new Japanese tech tree was added to a friendly World of Warplanes nations family. In addition, pilots of the “land of rising sun” came to the game together with the flights. Flight participants got the opportunity to coordinate their activities with help of the voice chat.
The update 0.4.0 became one of the most crucial moments in the development of the game. It brought extensive reworking of the client-server architecture, which allowed to significantly improve aircraft control response: freezes during navigating were greatly decreased, good perspective on further game optimization appeared.
New physics provided the opportunity to set and adjust aircraft easier and more accurately. A special assault mode convenient for ground target attack, as well as several different mouse control variants were introduced, and the flight model, lighting system, and graphics on Medium and High settings were improved.
Before the start of OBT equipment and consumables, crew training system (each pilot got his personal list of perks and skills) appeared, the number of aircraft significantly increased, render of game objects, sounds (true historical aircraft prototypes were used for sound recording), physical model as well as optimization and game balance were greatly improved.
The planes responses to player actions were improved, and the battle interface and planes research system were completely changed.
Players who preferred to play with joystick had the opportunity to adjust this device to function in a more convenient way, and the introduction of visual effects like tracers, explosions, rotating propellers and giant destructible objects added more realism to the game. Test pilots had the chance to check context pop-up tips and planes' comparative systems in the battle itself and its loading screen. The first awards for the game's achievements were represented as well.
The research and modules installation logic was adjusted to the tank logic. It removed unnecessary restrictions and became more user-friendly. For instance, earlier installation of a particular gun depended on the engine model and the letter one could be mounted on the specific airframe only. Such order was changed in favor of more diverse and comfortable game play.
Economic and balance game model setting, performance optimization and aircraft controls adjustment were the primary goals of the open beta test (OBT), which began on 2 June, 2013. In addition, the game balance was changing, old maps were reworked and new added: “Fjords” and “Western front”. New background military actions were added on the maps “Bay” and “Pacific Ocean”. Objects in all game locales were not only destructible but could be as well ignited with help of the whole set of ammunition: high-explosive, armor-piercing incendiary, high-explosive incendiary shells, etc.
The third branch of aircraft appeared in WoWp Soviet research tree. It was occupied by the legendary fighter aircraft constructed by the aeronautical engineer Alexander Yakovlev, later a British tech tree followed – another aviation power of the military aviation “golden era”.
The list of equipment and consumables was significantly extended, the system of crew perks and skills was changed, first game “Achievements” and solid training course for beginners appeared.
One of the most important achievements of the Open Beta Stage was the total re-balancing of the game research trees and the implementation of the unified economics for World of Warplanes and World of Tanks. In particular, the unified premium account for both projects.
World of Warplanes testers have become witnesses of creation of a new game project, all its numerous changes, new tryouts, rejecting redundant features and leaving only the best solutions, inevitably closing in to the release. The process of the game development will be continued even afterwards. But even now World of Warplanes is featured by:
World of Warplanes developers aren’t going to stop at this point. The rate of the game evolution won’t slow down compared to the tests stage. There are still lots of exciting events ahead that will be appreciated by gamers and military aviation fans.
See you in the skies!
