Update 2.0.7

World of Warplanes Update 2.0.7

An entirely new game mode appears in Update 2.0.7 — Bomber Escort Mode! Players from one team will escort strategic bomber waves through enemy territory, while the other team will try to intercept and destroy them. Firepower and close coordination are especially important in this game mode as solo players cannot cope with the entire formation of steel giants.

Heavy October clouds are torn apart by the powerful roar of an armada of bombers, which are the main characters of the new "Flaming Shores" event. The warring parties will clash again in a protracted battle that will last for 4 weeks. Each week, the battle will take place in a different game mode and have a particular global goal for all participants of the event. Pilots will be awarded with valuable prizes for their courage and persistence. As usual, the main prizes will be new rare airplanes:  two German bombers and one attack aircraft, a rapid British fighter de Havilland Vampire F.1, as well as Dornier Do 335 A-1 and Gloster Meteor that are already familiar to many players. These aircraft will be available once accomplishing Operation Orders that players can find in Special Supplies gained in battles. 

One of the major changes in Update 2.0.7 is the increased functionality of all paint schemes, nose arts and emblems which now provide various economic and gameplay advantages. Moreover, the update includes balance adjustments for the Conquest Mode, some sectors, bots, and AA guns, in addition to improvements for the matchmaking system that should shorten the Queue Time and make teams more equal in battles. And finally, the new "Cold Peak" map.

New Aircraft

New promotional planes added

• Junkers Ju 86E — German Tier III bomber;
• Henschel Hs 129A  — German Tier IV attack aircraft;
• Heinkel He 111 H-2  — German Tier IV bomber;
• de Havilland Vampire F.1  — British Tier VIII fighter.

“Flaming Shores” Event

A new global event “Flaming Shores” will run from October 3 to October 26. The event will be divided into 4 stages, during which the players will have to fight in battles in the all-new Escort game mode as well as in Conquest and Attrition game modes.

Players will receive Special Supplies for active participation in battles. Inside these Special Supplies, a variety of valuable awards can be found, including Premium Days, gold, consumables, equipment, materials for enhancement and calibration, and hangar slots. The most valuable and rare prizes among others are Operation Orders for obtaining 6 premium aircraft: Junkers Ju 86E, Henschel Hs 129A, Heinkel He 111 H-2, Dornier Do 335 A-1, Gloster Meteor, and de Havilland Vampire F.1. During the period between event stages players can accomplish the missions from the Operation Order to get these planes in their hangars for free. Moreover, each stage and every phase will have a Global Goal, which can be achieved by players’ joint efforts. For example, the Global Goal of the first stage will be destroying strategic bombers and anti-aircraft guns. When the Global Goal is reached during the phase, the players will receive twice the number of Special Supplies. 

Game Modes

Bomber Escort Mode

Bomber Escort Mode is a new asymmetric game mode, which is divided into 3 phases. In each phase, waves of strategic bomber flights are sent from the attacking team’s side. These flights need to be escorted to the opposite side of the map, and the defending team needs to prevent this. Strongholds appear in the path of strategic bomber flights. Strongholds are well protected territories with powerful AA guns, designed to effectively attack bomber flights.

Every aircraft type will have a role in the escorting group. The fighter aircraft’s mission is to protect bombers from enemy attacks and escort 10 of them to the appointed target. Attack aircraft and aircraft with outboard weapons will have to ensure the safe passage of their bomber flight waves through the defense line of the intercepting group. They will be busy attacking and destroying the AA guns of enemy Strongholds. AA guns are powerful enough to destroy a whole wave of bombers, which is why breaking through the air defense system is one of the main tasks of the escorting group. Capturing the first Stronghold will allow players from the escorting team to respawn over it — much nearer to the core battle without the need to catch up with the formation from the very edge of the operation area. The intercepting group cannot recapture a Stronghold.

The intercepting group consists of fighter aircraft only. Their global mission is to prevent 10 strategic bombers from reaching the appointed target. For this purpose, the intercepting group needs to not only attack and destroy the bomber formation, but also protect the Strongholds, as their fire support is essential for winning.

• Added new aircraft type-specific missions for the Bomber Escort Mode. Missions are connected to destroying strategic bombers, attacking aircraft, AA guns etc. 
• Added new achievements for accomplishing new aircraft type-specific missions.
  
• Added new map layouts for the Bomber Escort Mode:
• Sea Gate: Bastion Towards the Sun — Tiers IV–V;
• Peripheral Mission: Formidable Challenge — Tiers V-VI;
• Asian Border: Cataclysm — Tiers VI-VII;
• Archipelago: Test of Endurance — Tiers VI-VIII;
• Plateau: Ultimate Stakes — Tiers VII-VIII;
• Cold Peak: True Calling — Tiers VIII-IX;
• Road to Rome: Culmination — Tiers IX-X;
• Albion: Rolling Thunder — Tiers IX-X.

Conquest Game Mode Changes

• Map layout "Albion: Trump Card" has been reworked. Now it is completely symmetrical.
• New map "Cold Peak" and 4 new map layouts for the Conquest Mode for Tiers V-VIII have been added:
• Cold Peak: Walls of Stone
• Cold Peak: Trial by Fire
• Cold Peak: Cornerstone of Control
• Cold Peak: Gem of the Mountain
• "Superiority" now has less impact on the gameplay: the speed of gaining resources is lowered but still depends on the overall number of sectors on the game scheme.

General Balance Changes

Air defense aircraft and AA guns

• AA gun balance has been reworked, damage models have been changed. It has become easier to dodge AA gun fire, the time for the player to respond to the threat has increased. The influence of randomness on the AA gun fire spread was decreased. At the same time, damage to a straight-flying aircraft has increased and now depends on size, aircraft type, and speed. Thus, AA guns and their number on different types of sectors is still an essential factor, though maneuvers for evading their fire have become more effective.
• Added accurate AA gun models and their effects.
• Reworked AA gun sounds.
• Added armored AA guns for sector Stronghold.
• Added the influence of some paint schemes to the damage received from AA guns.
• Decreased damage from certain air defense aircraft models, the heavy Beaufighter model in particular.

 «Command Center»

• The flight trajectories of attack flight bombers on all map layouts have been changed: now they fly off from the side of the battle entry point of the team controlling the Command Center.
• The speed of attack flight bombers has been slightly decreased.
• The number of hit points of attack flight bombers has been slightly increased.
• The damage of attack flight bombers' gunners has been slightly increased.
• Attack flight bombers’ gunners prioritize damaging certain aircraft types. As well as AA guns, they will try to damage the most dangerous target.
• Attack flight aircraft are no longer a target for high-altitude AA guns of sectors near which these aircraft fly.
• The marker system for attack flight bombers has been reworked. Their display on the mini-map and radar has been improved.
• Positions in attack flights are now spread across different altitudes.

«Stronghold»

• The Stronghold icon has been changed.
• The number of Capture Points needed for capturing a Stronghold has been increased from 140 to 150 CP (neutral) and from 180 to 220 CP (enemy).
• Ground targets’ compositions have been changed, their overall armor has been increased.
• The number of AA guns has been increased to 14.
• Stronghold AA guns are now armored.

Economics

• Changed algorithms for calculating credits reward to balance income for players of varying skill levels. This change involves all aircraft in the game. Average reward for battles of all Tiers will remain the same. Advantages of premium aircraft will not change.
• Based on statistical analysis income ratios for several aircraft from the tech trees have been adjusted to correspond to other aircraft from their Tiers. Reduced income rates for: F5U, Il-40, Me P.1099 B-2, Me P.1092, Yak-30, Il-40P, Me P.1102 B, Me P.1101. Increased income rates for: P-72, Swift, Fw 252, F7U, F-84F.
• Restored rewards with Tokens for achieving Ace, Thunder or Winged Legend service awards once a day.

Matchmaking System

Matchmaker settings have been changed to decrease the Queue Time and improve balancing:

• PvE arena will be launched when waiting time exceeds 100 seconds for all game modes.
• Aircraft type imbalance no longer leads to increased Queue Time. The Matchmaker will make team compositions equal by adding AI of corresponding aircraft types.
• AI aircraft tier correlation has been changed. Now 70% of AI are on planes one tier below the overall tier of the battle.

AI Changes

• The skill levels of AI at different battle tiers have been changed:
• Tiers I–III — all Beginners;
• Tiers IV–V — all Warriors;
• Tiers VI–X — all Veterans.
• Heavy Fighters’ priorities have been changed. Now they won't hunt bombers all battle long but will attack sectors: Military Base, Command Center, Airbase, and so on.
• Now ground attack aircraft will be less distracted by air combat.
• The influence of distance on strategic priorities has been increased — now bots attack the most distant sectors with a lower probability.
• The influence of the number of aircraft on sectors has been slightly reduced — now bots can focus on one sector with a large number of planes. The situations where a bot doesn’t act according to its strategic priorities if its priority sector has too many planes will appear less often.

Paint Schemes and Decorations

New gaming and economic advantages have been added to all additional (not stock) paint schemes:

• Seasonal paint schemes — concealment bonus has been increased from 10% to 20%, +10% resistance to AA gun damage has been added, +5% resistance to gunner damage has been added. As before, seasonal paint schemes work only on corresponding maps.
• Universal paint schemes — +10% concealment and +5% resistance to AA gun damage have been added. Bonuses work on all types of maps. Before, these paint schemes gave no advantages.
• Special, unique, and rewarding paint schemes have received different additional bonuses according to their purpose. There are bonuses to crew experience, aircraft experience, cruise speed, and so on. 

All emblems and nose art now provide an economic advantage. Emblems have +2% bonus to crew experience, and nose art — +3% bonus to crew experience.

The cost of all decorations has been revalued according to the period the aircraft belongs to.

Specialist Missions

• Discount for early accomplishment of Specialist missions for Tokens has been added. It depends on the degree of accomplishment for main and secondary missions and may reach 50%.
• The winning condition for the main Specialist missions has been removed. 
• Secondary Specialist missions for multirole fighters now include destroying air defense aircraft and AA guns.
• The relative progress (as a percentage) of Specialist missions has been saved on all players accounts. 

Interface

Battle Interface

• In the manual turret control mode, blind zones are now more visible.
• The bomb load display and bombsight form have been changed for bombers dropping several bombs at a time.
• The bombsight marker at large climb angles (more than 20%) is no longer displayed. 

Equipment

• The "Reassemble" button has been moved to the main panel next to the buttons for "Enhance" and "Calibrate".
• The reassembling interface has been changed.
• A special icon will appear if there are enough materials for enhancing equipment mounted on the plane.

Hangar

• The values of integral characteristics can now take values greater than “100” taking into account equipment, consumables, and pilot skills.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issues with incorrect propellers on SB, Hurricane Mk. IA and Hurricane II.
• Fixed most issues that caused white artifacts in the center of the screen in battles.
• Fixed an issue that caused aircraft filters to reset when creating or closing a training flight room.
• Fixed an issue that caused black screen to appear in some cases after pressing "Battle!".