Game release: first impressions and questions

[BolliBomber]

Its an old Version. The upcoming Patch for the game has it all.

I have tested an inofficial patchwork only for the digital copy (full version 1.02 or 1.022.1) from gamersgate.

Here is the edited posting from me.

You can download my Version here.

Tip: You can make a copy of your MoW original Installfolder and paste it to another place, then take the files above (without localization.pak, when you are no german) into it and start the new multiplayer with the "outfront_mp.exe" from there. When you do it in your original folder, your singleplayer wont work when the new .pat files are in it.

[Silentspy]

anyone else experiencing wierd spikes when using the inofficial?

[BolliBomber]

thx dude ^^

do you know when te "upcomming patch" is released

DMS announced the patch during next week.

anyone else experiencing wierd spikes when using the inofficial?

yes sometimes. because there are a lot of russian players with bad connections.

[sc123]

After having played 1.11.3 for a few days and the MP Beta, two versions of the single player demo and previous versions of the retail release I have formed a few opinions that I'd like to share with the community. These opinions are going to be strictly relegated to multi-player - I'll reserve my thoughts on single player until after the patch is released this week.

The lobby
The MoW multiplayer lobby can be a bit confusing, and many features don't seem to work. For example, some players have a game history but there are no records listed in the "Hall of Fame". Things that should probably be buttons - like "New Game" - are just words and I've seen people get confused by this. The top right corner of the screen seems to be pretty much wasted. It would be nice if there were version numbers for all versions, instead of leaving the column blank if they are at your version. The NAT icon that appears sometimes makes people think the person hosting behind NAT may be unreliable or slower, which has never been the case in my experience. I'd just remove that NAT icon to reduce confusion. Finally, the filer options are limited to single buttons that just automatically removed games you can't join, rather than actually allowing the player to decide what to filter. Does anyone know what the greyed out "Recruitment" link does on the right about "New Game"? On the positive side, the lobby is simple but effective in finding a game and loads quickly. As of patch 1.11.3 you can see and join any game, no matter the language of the host, and it just works.

Finding a game
It can be hard to find games in MoW, even now as the game is becoming more popular. This isn't becausee people aren't playing - it's because most of the people playing are European or Russian, so they are at least six hours ahead of the East Coast of the United States. So more specifically it should be said that it is hard to find a game if you have a job and live in the United States. Filtering is important during peak hours (around 2PM EST - 7PM EST) because the game list updates so quickly it can be hard to actually click and join a game. Once you finally join a game, you may have to wait a bit for it to fill up as people bounce in and out of games a lot before they are launched. I have given up on finding all English speaking games for the time being.

Setting up a game
You host locally or using a server, but I'm still not quite sure why hosting using a server would be preferred over hosting locally, unless the server hosting is the only way records are kept - which don't seem to be working at the moment anyway. As many have mentioned, it would be nice to have a USA based server. Most of the options given when hosting a game aren't documented in the game or in the manual, so you pretty much have to ask around or guess. Though they are vague, there are a lot of options which means you can play just the kind of game you want to - which is really great.

Playing a game
Actually playing the game is great. When the stars align and you can get a full game with no one lagging or dropping out or just sitting there doing nothing, MoW can't be beat in the RTS multiplayer genre. It's unfortunate that the stars don't align more often, but hopefully as the community grows they will. There are times where I wish people couldn't pause in multiplayer, as it doesn't seem to help anything and just confuses people. I'd also like to see a simplified resource indicator rather than the split between reinforcement points and command points.

Game balance
The biggest problem MoW faces right now is probably either the lack of players (especially in the USA), or unit balance. I will say up front that MoW is one of the best balanced games on launch that I've ever played - and I've played a lot of games. However, the Soviets seem to have a clear advantage with their tanks despite it being well known that historically the Germans had the best tanks all around. The Soviet T-34's absolutely demolish most other tanks, and when a T-34/85 single shots your King Tiger you'll know what I mean. The one word I find myself saying over and over again when playing online is "unbelievable". The phrase I say most often is "no way". I say those things when I shoot a Sherman three times with a medium German tank, only to be one shotted through frontal armor. AT-guns seem very weak as well, because they never fire at an enemy tank until that tank has already closed in and fires first - which is usually too late.

Infantry are very powerful in MoW, and can be used to swing the tide of battle in your favor just by being smart and sneaky. I have no problem with the balance in the Infantry.

Artillery is one of the weakest types of units in the game, except for the high end rocket barrage units which are way too accurate and devastating - especially the Soviet Katyusha. Far too often I've seen a Katyusha devastate a massive area and even take down heavy tanks without directly hitting them. Even worse is the horrible inaccuracy of shell based artillery on all sides. Only luck will help the shell find a tank, and even hitting a building with a single shot isn't guaranteed. While the artillery does become a bit more accurate with several shots, it's not enough to compensate for the initial misses which give the enemy all the time in the world to move their units. Add to that the fact that the artillery range isn't long enough, and that means that you can't position your arty far enough away from the front to protect it from quick rushes. They also have limited ammo initially, which means tediously manually loading more rounds from supply trucks. Other than rocket artillery, I rarely see arty used effectively in MoW because of these issues - which is a shame because I think MoW is could be a great platform for arty lovers.

Conclusion
I am really enjoying MoW so far, despite all of my gripes. I'm writing this in the hopes that some of the issues will be addressed in future patches, and to get feedback from the community. MoW has a lot of promise and with time it could be one of the best WWII games out there. I'm looking forward to future patches and features!

[AniMauro]

Hi all,

I am new of this game...and I think this is fantastic!! very realistic and have a curve of learning very hard...

very HARDCORE rts!!

but...after few days of play, i see something...

- why is not possible to make a replay of match???
- Can you try to shot a american jeep with a squad bazooka?...I think there's a bug, because everytime I must shot 3 time to destroy a jeep...maybe a bug?
- Why is not possible to have a jpeg of all of maps?to set some strategy?
- I think that some map are too small and when I spawn the vehicle, is to easy to shot to the other side of map!
- mortars... are incredible powerful...and a mortar can shot a squad that run near it...possible??? Can you repair this?
- why some controls haven't a key?...an example "repair" not have a key...but this control is more important...
- there's an error in the game...if I do a sequenzial path to vehicle (shift+ numbers of clik of mouse) the vehicle start from first point and stop to second point... ...after restart the movement to third point and when it arrives, it stop again !!!....after he start, etc, etc...possible to mantain the movement of vehicle constantly with sequenzial orders??

I waiting your answer

thanks

Mauro

p.s.: sorry for my bad english...

[sgt_steiner]

i too noticed the problem with setting points for a unit to follow, and it really does add time to the journey of the tank/squad and even makes the unit an easier target if its in range of the enemy!
i cant say that ive noticed a map where anything can shoot from one side to the other tho!

[SomeBloke8895]

I think the waypoint issue is down to vehicle AI pathing. It has to think about getting to the point, fast and safely, but then it also has to think about the next point too.

[sc123]

-I'd like to have replay functionality as well, but that you can have using a third party program such as Fraps or XFire, so it wouldn't be high on my list.

-I agree regarding bazooka accuracy. I'd also note that I notice bazooka units often have trouble even firing if there is anything they have to navigate around, such as a rock or house. Many times I've had to move a unit into the open to get them to fire.

-I haven't seen any maps that you can shoot from your spawn into an enemy spawn, but some of them are somewhat close. Since artillery isn't very accurate and is slow loading, it hasn't been an issue for me.

-Mortars are a little overpowered, not to mention extremely accurate compared to other artillery.

-Repair key would be great.

-Finally, you're 100% correct on pathing. I tried Shift-clicking in the Beta and figured it was just bugged, but I guess not

[AniMauro]

no no...I am not explain well...I shoot with bazooka in open ground to Jeep near me 3 centimeters!!...I shoot 3 times! Only third time I destroy the jeep!...i try more time to control this bug...and everytime I destroy the jeep at third shoot...

about replay...I know that I can use xfire...but if I record the track, the games have lag!

[sintri]

Necro but anyways, there were some untextured entities that were in the release, any idea when they'll acutally be finished?