Update log
Full World of Warships update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Extracted changes
- Server
- Maps
- Gameplay
Captains!
Last May, we held a special Q&A session on the official World of Warships Discord server where members could ask their most their most desired questions on the topic of maps and game modes. We’ve compiled our dev team’s answers to your most popular queries right here in this article.
Want to take part in future Q&A activities and more? Sign up to our Discord by following the instructions here.
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Why are new maps so rare?
It's true that the rate of introduction of new maps used to be faster than it is now. The main reason for this change of pace is that shortly after release, World of Warships had relatively few maps, so we needed to expand the pool as soon as possible. Currently, since we now have a good number of varied maps (34, not counting those linked to temporary events), and since we are constantly updating existing maps according to newest graphics technologies (like updating maps to HD), the production of new ones is no longer as high on our list of priorities. Regardless, we will continue working on releasing new maps and are currently planning to release them at a rate of 1–2 new maps every year.
For example, Update 0.11.5 will bring Faroe Islands—a map with a visual theme that was chosen by players in autumn 2021. Also, in our recent roadmap publication showcasing our development plans for summer–autumn 2022, we announced another new map that will be developed this year.
Will Epicenter be reworked / reintroduced?
From our point of view, the main issue with Epicenter is not the pace of the battles, but the fact that all 24 ships converge on one point. This, in turn, significantly lowers the variety of gameplay and increases the density of interaction between ships, making this game mode unsatisfactory for the majority of players.
The ending phase of a battle in the new Arms Race mode is, in a way, the successor of Epicenter—players have to conquer one Key Area in the center of the map. However, Arms Race doesn't carry over Epicenter's gameplay issues—the Key Area appears only in the final stage of the battle, when players are already spread across the map, and the number of the ships still afloat has decreased significantly.
To answer your question, we do not currently have any plans to rework and bring back Epicenter. We are now focused on developing new game modes.
Are there any statistically unbalanced maps? What about Ocean?
The "Ideal" winrate for each spawn in Random battles is 50%, and on most of our maps, it's more or less what we have. For example, in the last month, the maps with the most significant winrate variation according to spawns are "Northern Lights" and "Ocean," where the northern spawn has a 51.8% winrate. However, such a difference in winrate is statistically insignificant because the winrate of a certain team is not carved in stone. Fluctuations according to certain spawns, even up to 2–3%, are within the norm in terms of game balance.
As for the competitive modes, the situation is not fundamentally different, and the fluctuation in the winrate of the different spawns is no more than 2% which is within the norm.
That's why we don't currently have any maps with one spawn in Random Battles having the upper hand. We will of course continue to monitor these stats and make changes to maps if it's deemed necessary.
Will the game’s engine ever be
Source