NeverWinter OnLine free to play - open BETA starts today

Today, (I do not know the exact hour) looks like ~16:00 GMT, the open BETA phase for NeverWinter OnLine will start.

NeverWinter OnLine official portal

Here's a cinematic video to get your curiosity tingled:

Neverwinter is a free, action MMORPG based on the acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. Epic stories, action combat and classic roleplaying await those heroes courageous enough to enter the fantastic world of Neverwinter! 

Explore and defend one of the most beloved cities from the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting as it rises from the ashes of destruction. This immersive MMORPG will take you from the besieged walls of the city to subterranean passageways in search of forgotten secrets and lost treasure.

If you so wish, you can already start the client download to have it ready. The client weights at 3.61Gb.

Links from the official site:

• direct download
• torrent download

this is how the login screen looks like

Races: 

(from left to right and top to bottom) - human, half-elf, elf, drow, dwarf, thiefling

Human
Humans are a many varied race, not only in the way that they look, but also in the way they choose to live their lives. They are a very adaptable people, capable of surviving in many different climates. This adaptability allows the human race to excel in most any condition, and while most human adventurers tend to become Fighters or Rogues, some chose to devote their lives to the study of the arcane, or the pious life of the clergy.

Neverwinter began as a human settlement, and now houses many human refugees who fled to the city for protection after The Cataclysms and Spellplague ravaged the countryside.

Racial Traits: +2 Constitution, Versatile Defense


Half-Elf
Descendants of both human and elven parentage, half-elves combine the best traits of man and elf alike. Many half-elves suffer from a strong sense of wanderlust that prevents them from staying in one place for too long. This makes them natural adventurers, with many finding them to be excellent allies and steadfast friends.

This tendency to seek out adventure has drawn many half-elves to the city of Neverwinter, as they come to the city seeking a new chapter of their story.

Racial Traits: +2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, Dual Heritage


Elf
The long-lived elven people are a slender, athletic folk who tend to live in heavily wooded areas. They have watched as much of the natural beauty in Faerûn faded from existence, but they do their best to preserve and restore the natural wonders of The Forgotten Realms.

Some elves have come to the city of Neverwinter realizing that without this bastion of humanity, the surrounding natural beauty will soon fall prey to time as well.

Racial Traits: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, Elven Accuracy


Drow
More commonly referred to as Dark Elves, drow have characteristics similar to their elven kin, but can be easily identified by their midnight black skin. A matriarchal society, drow tend to live in the Underdark, where they serve their evil deity, Lolth. However, some drow choose to reject this way of life and flee to the surface of Faerûn, where they seek to show that not all of their kind is inherently evil.

Branded traitors and outcasts by their own people, some have come to Neverwinter seeking acceptance on the surface world and protection from what lies beneath...


Dwarf
The short and stout dwarven race claims to have been hewn from the very rock they call home. They are a strong, hardy and dependable people with deep respect for their ancestors, gods, and friends. An incredibly pious people, they revere Moradin as their creator, but honor the different gods who oversee various aspects of their lives. Dwarves make excellent Fighters and Clerics. For them, there is no greater honor than to stand by and protect an ally in battle.

Many dwarves may be found in Neverwinter, some seeking the wealth to be found rebuilding the city and others the glory and honor of battle.


Tiefling
Burdened by their race’s past, tieflings walk through life haunted by their dark and sinister bloodline. Their devilish appearance has prevented many from earning the trust of their human neighbors. Thus, many tieflings have come to rely on cunning and guile in order to survive, making them excellent Rogues. Their infernal heritage also allows them a predisposition towards magic and many tieflings become powerful Wizards.

Many tieflings call Neverwinter their home, and they will fight fiercely for her and the chance to finally earn the trust of their fellow citizens.

Racial Traits: +2 Charisma, +2 Intelligence, Bloodhunt


Classes:

Devoted Cleric
The Devoted Cleric is a devout healer, committed to preventing injury, restoring health, and a faith in the devine. The Devoted Cleric is capable of controlling the battlefield with a combination of territory control and righteous holy damage.
Class Features: Astral Change, Healing Word, Flame Strike, Religion


Guardian Fighter
The Guardian Fighter is courageous and stalwart, superior at defensive maneuvers, and no stranger to hand-to-hand combat. Heavy plate armor and a shield make the Guardian a durable mainstay on the battlefield.
Class Features: Block, Enforced Threat, Fighter’s Recovery, Dungeoneering


Trickster Rogue
The Master of stealth and misdirection, the Trickster Rogue maneuvers across the battlefield and strikes from the shadows with paired daggers. The Trickster dodges in and out of melee, inflicting massive damage on foes with a flurry of deadly blows.
Class Features: Stealth, Bait and Switch, Bloodbath ,Thievery

Wizzard
 - no data -

World of WarPlanes - mouse input delay issue revisited

First time I mentioned the lag input delay was in this article, now, with update 0.4.2 recently released (today) I had to revisit the issue.

The problem is that the new patch introduced even more lag (delay) than was previously. Now it's at 500 milliseconds (!) vs 300 ms previously.
I cannot understand what happened ... in the patch notes (that I currently cannot quote because the WoWp domain is under maintenance) they say they worked out input delays in various control schemes, and instead they added more?!?! This is baffling to say the least.

It takes 30 frames for the plane to react to the new heading, at 20 frames mark, the planes starts activating the ailerons and only 10 frames later the aiming reticle starts moving:

the original was shot at 60FPS and I slowed it down to 1 frame per second

Aiming in this new patch, with mouse control scheme, became even more difficult than it previously was.

I have no idea what the developers are thinking, but it's not good at all.


PS: I might be wrong, but I have a strong feeling WoWp is preparing for open BETA really really soon. The main portal has been, and still is, under maintenance for a very long time.

MWO forums - what to do when community is upset?

WEll, you could do as PGI did with MWO's forums, fragment the fuck out of it so no one has a clue where their topics went or where to create new ones.

Here,

there used to be a section titles "general discussion", now it no more? Reason? none from PGI.
I can think of one: they want to silence the upset community and they devised a plan to do it, fragment the section to a degree that makes it impossible to have criticism.

Instead of dealing with the issues raised in many of the topic in that section, PGI decided it's best to just delete the whole darn thing.

Where did the topics from this section go? most of them, you guess it, in the "off topic section". But how come, since they were very on-topic.
Yes, I know a lot of topics in the section did not belong, but that's moderator's job.
Doesn't matter to PGI.

This move also makes it hard to new players to find info or have a general discussion with the more experienced players, not anymore they won't.

PGI made it clear to the community that they do not listen to the forums and they also have switched to announcing stuff on twitter ... no more "news" where the news should be, on the game's website, the front page.
Perhaps they should move the forums to twitter as well.

Why PGI did this? only they know, but I bet it has something to do with the "news" that got delayed. With the forums shift, this can't be good news.


To some, this may be familiar, it is! HellGate: London forums ring any bells?

Sad day in gaming's history - GearBox Software acquires HomeWorld licence

Homeworld Acquisition and Plans:

Gearbox Software has prevailed as the highest bidder in the acquisition of the Homeworld franchise from THQ. Brian Martel, Gearbox Software's Chief Creative Officer, has great love and respect for Relic's brilliant, fun and innovative game and personally spearheaded the acquisition. 

Brian intends as first priority to direct Gearbox's interest to preserve and assemble the purest form of the original acclaimed and beloved games, Homeworld and Homeworld 2, with the intent of making them accessible on today's leading digital platforms. 

Please visit the Gearbox Software Forums to share with us and Brian what you think should be done with Homeworld moving forward. And, please try to get our attention if you have capability and interest to join the effort in developing or enabling Homeworld's future.

This is a sad day in gaming. A company notorious for delivering bad products, see recent Aliens: Colonial Marines and Duke Nukem Forever, has bought the licence of HomeWorld from now defunct THQ.
I was hoped SEGA would win the auction as they previously acquired  Relic studio.

In GearBox's history they have never dealt with an RTS. In fact, their only success is the BorderLands series.

How will they build an RTS game, with what? Will they even build and RTS or make it some BorderLands clone ...

I'm so disappointed and mad.

HomeWorld, you will be missed.

SWToR and free2play limitations

I've come across a lot of people saying that the limitations on free to play and preferred accounts aren't so bad, because what lacks can be bought from GTN (Galactic Trade Network).

The reality is very different. prices on GTN for unlocks is exorbitant and unreachable for most item even by preferred account owners, because they sell it above 350K credits.

Last week I found someone willing enough to sell me a "artifact equipment unlock" for my toon for 350K although he had listed it on GTN for over 900K credits. I explained to him the situation and he understood.

Today, I reached 350K credits again, and I wanted to buy a "Section-X (account)" unlock for the entire account. Keep in mind that the prices in CC (Cartel Coins) for the above mentioned item and this one is similar if not exactly the same.
I made my case to the seller, and he refused saying he'd lose 500K credits if he would sell it to me.

My question is, since subscribers get automatic access to Section-X, to artifact gear, who are these people sell these unlocks on GTN to? Back to the subscribers, because they're the only one without a limited wallet? Or was it intended to be sold to us, the preferred account owners and free players with limited wallets.

So, how one can lose 500K credits from something he won't sell?!

I've put a buy message on the char, but no one else replied. So, I used my credits to buy some other stuff. Once I get to lvl50, 46 now, I will try and appeal to people again ... hopefully someone is understanding enough.

I'm also appealing to you, if you read this and currently play, or have the possibility to create an account on french server "Battle Meditation PVE-RP" and you are willing to sell me an "Section-X (account)" unlock ...
Send me a message on Agent's-Orange - this is the toon I currently play and plan to stick with it because it's the only one (for now) that can use artifact gear.

My list of toons:

WarGaming EU moderators - Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti

Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti, a.k.a. KGB (Комитет государственной безопасности).
That's what WarGaming's moderators have turned into. When someone speaks against them or dears to get angry, some enthusiastic moderator finds a reason to ban you.

With the recent breach of security in WarGaming's database and releasings our credentials to god knows who, they found an easy way out, paying 300 gold for changing our passwords. So, they pay us a total of 1 Euro for their imbecility and total amateurism. HA!

Keep in mind this is not the 1st time a security breach happened to WarGaming. Let me quote you something very interesting from a recent Kasperky Labs analysis: Winnti. More than just a game

Kaspersky researchers first came across Winnti malicious activities in the autumn of 2011, when a malicious Trojan was detected on a large number of end-user computers worldwide. Infected computers were linked by the fact that victims were fans of a popular (unnamed) online game. (I will name it, it's WoT)
Soon afterwards it emerged that the malware used in the attack was spread as part of a regular update from the gaming company’s official server.

So, these fuckers knew ever since 2011 that their systems were breached, that their servers distributed and possibly infected god knows how many of their clients, and they said nothing, NOTHING!
They, WarGaming, kept quiet, and now they expect everyone to be content with the misery of what is 1 Euro in virtual currency.

And they are getting away with it, because everyone who speaks of this and has the right to question their integrity gets banned: http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/236176-important-information-about-your-account/#top

The warning you have received is for an infraction of a minor level and grants you 1 warning point and brings you to total of 13 warning points.

Considering the standing procedures and your record of continuous rule violations you are hereby issued 30 days read only status and a final warning prior to permanent suspension. 

Kind RegardsHunter1911

They didn't deleted my posts, they deleted other's people posts and have issued bans to them too. Here is what a friend of mine sent to me:

Ghici ce au facut labagii? Mi-au dat ban 1 zi ca i-am zis unui cretin care postase "OMG what a wonderful event 300g" ca ori troleaza or fumeaza weed. Cica e referinta la activitati ilegale... Asa ca ai grija ce postezi, ca au primit ordine sa ne inchida gura.

translated:

Guess what the jerks did? They've banned me for one day because I replied to a moron who posted "OMG what a wonderful event 300g", they're either trolling us or smoke weed. The reason they gave, references to illegal activities ... So, take care and mind what you post, they have orders to silence us.

Thanks for the warning mate, but they already banned me.

Hey WarGaming EU, UP YOURS!

WoT forums security compromised - change your passwords ASAP!

WarGaming's security got compromised to an unknown extent few days ago. Now they, WarGaming, inform and advise us to change our account(s) password(s). Source.

As a part of usual security practices, we recently became aware that some personal information may have been compromised due to a security incident.  We immediately launched an investigation into the incident and can assure you that no financial information was accessed. However, we believe that some password hashes and email addresses were affected by the compromise. 

The security of your account is very important to us at Wargaming. As a precaution, we are launching a global campaign to increase the security of your account. Please reset your Wargaming ID account password using the account management page straight away. 

Note: If you have been using your old Wargaming ID password on other sites, we strongly recommend that you change those passwords too. We appreciate your immediate attention in resetting your password and apologise for the inconvenience.

 You will also get 300 gold for changing your password.


There is something I noticed right away:

Since I have already linked my phone number to my account, why this extra security feature isn't working?
It supposed to prevent this exact thing, someone cannot change my account password unless it gets validated by a SMS code I receive.

WHERE IS IT!?

I should've gotten an validation SMS code when I changed my password but I didn't, why?


I submitted a ticket to support and I will keep you informed with a reply.

Freaking WarGaming morons ....


Reply from support:

Nestor Menta Today at 18:43
Dear Tank Commander,
Thank you for contacting us.
Our Devs are currently investigating this issue and working to get it addressed as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Kind Regards,
Nestor Menta
EU Customer Service Team

STO Legacy of Romulus - 1st CBT impressions

I got a invite from Cryptic to Legacy of Romulus Closed BETA testing. And since there is no NDA, I can share a few things you you.

There is a new interface design, and if you read the STO dev blogs you would know more about it than I do.
The character creation is as extensive as we know it from before, but the only race so far I can chose playing as Romulan, no Remans?

The saga starts in a farming colony that is attacked by some one / some "things" (drones) working with or for the Tal Shiar.
Why the attacks? we learn that many other colonies suffered at the hands of the Tal Shiar, is still a mistery. I haven't progressed that much.

Here are a few screenshots I took:

new loading screen

new character selection screen - looks awesome

creating my romulan

town's market

now I go to the stars

colonists in distress

Tal Shiar warbird and an unknown ship/species allied with them

Navy Field 2 goes Open BETA in EU

For those who played the 1st installment of Navy Field, there is no need for introduction. For those who didn't, Navy Field 2 is a top-down real time tactics PvP on-line game. The PvP is arena type battle with up to 64 players in total, 32 vs 32.

Navy Field 2 is developed by SD EnterNET and published in EU and US territories by Nexon.

Starting today, Navy Field 2 has began it's Open BETA phase in Europe. Registrations are now open to everyone interested in the game. If you are interested, go to Navy Field 2 main portal.

There are 4 faction to chose from, with their own particularities:

The Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy has huge fleets and warship armaments. This led to severe tension between themselves and the western nations. Their powerful torpedoes, huge warship guns and highly trained naval battle abilities are a very big threat to their enemies. They are specialized in torpedo performance, their warships’ gunfire damage and their captains’ growth.

The Prussian Navy

The Prussian Navy was combined with the German Navy and thus formed the (KM). (Kaiserliche Marine before / during World War I, Kriegsmarine during World War II) The KM possesses superior scientific technologies compared to the other nations. They have superior abilities in Engine Manufacturing Technology and Warship Gun Stability. Their advanced submarine technology gives them a big advantage with surprise attacks.

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom, which once had an empire on which the sun never set, has prepared to conquer the seas all over the world. They want to achieve this objective with the help of advanced technologies and a powerful Naval Force. Solid Defense Organization and powerful Warships help to minimize the damage as much as possible.
They are specialized in Defense, Accuracy of Warship Gunfire and Anti-Submarine technology.

United States

United States: The Navy’s Patriotism and Pioneering Spirit based on Cohesion is their main driving force to victory.
Valiant Marines, Superior Air Forces, and Radar Technology which makes it possible to easily track down enemies, enable the players to launch pre-emptive attacks.
Specialized in Abilities of Base Occupation, Aircraft Performance and Long Range Battle (Range of Vision, Range of Naval Gunfire).

SWToR Rise Of The Hutt Cartel - bait and switch

Bioware - the dark side is strong in them.

Their latest move that caused me a lot of grievance is the release of exclusive content DLC called Rise Of The Hutt Cartel. I would care less if this was an subscription based game, but BioWare markets and advertises SWToR as an Free to Play model. Then RotHC happened ...

Back in November last year, Bioware took the game to a Free to Play model because it was heading straight into a black hole. Since then, they announced that F2P model was a success and saved the game from disaster. Now they're shoving their free players over the ledge.

I downloaded and played the game, to find out that all was not roses and the game wasn't free to play - more like free to try. In the following months they changed a few things here and there and they actually did made the life easier to preferred account owners. I started investing a few $ in the game with the genuine hope BioWare would eventually expand on the free2play model of the game.
I was dead wrong! Today, RotHC finally launched for everyone that did not had pre-ordered the DLC back in January.

Quote directly from SWToR Scum and Villainy Game Update 2.0 page:

CLASS COMBAT CHANGES

Take advantage of class combat modifications that make you more powerful at every level as well as new skills for every character at Level 51 and beyond!

The level cap increase to 55 is included with the purchase of the Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel.

Note: very important difference - Scum and Villainy is the game update and Rise of the Hutt Cartel is the DLC, don't mix them up.

So, where does it say the levels 51 to 55 are actually exclusively restricted to the DLC owners? it doesn't! And this is the problem - you can read it as lvl 55 cap is is included, but not exclusive (!) to RotHC DLC owners. Nowhere does it say the lvl 51-55 are exclusive content, NOWERE!

With their move, BioWare screwed the subscribers, that paid hard cash - neither do they have access to lvl51-55 unless they buy the DLC.

I spent money on the premise that the game will stay free to play. Oh boy I was wrong!


This practice is called "bait and switch" - it's criminal practice

a sales tactic in which a customer is attracted by the advertisement of a low-priced item but is then encouraged to buy a higher-priced one - as defined by Merriam Webster

For example, in UK, this practice is banned under The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Do not forget that free players and preferred account owners are forbidden from creating and/or replying on the SWToR official forums.


My advice - stay the fuck away from Star Wars: The Old Republic, this is not a free to play game!
Do not spend a dime on this game, BioWare did with RotHC, expect that they will do it again with the next so called "DLC".

Wonder why EA got to be voted worst company in US two years in a row? this is why ..



This is the same tactic Piranha Games tried to pull with MechWarrior OnLine, by making ClanWars a subscription only feature. But they had the brains to back-up on their moronic idea, or maybe it was because the forums were on fire hearing the "news".

StarWars The Old Republic - Game Update 2.0 launched, what to expect

So, BioWare was hard at work last night, and aprox 4 hours ago, Game Update 2.0 went live. Also known as Scum and Villainy this new content update is centered around a new planet, Makeb, and the conflict surrounding the control of this planet by the Hutt Cartel.

If you're interested in the full content of the patch notes, head to SWToR page.

What does this mean to us, the non-subscription people and to those who did not purchased the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion?
Well .. I'm still searching for stuff but, the most obvious are:

• new level cap, 55 I was horribly horribly wrong about this, lvl cap for F2P and preferred status players is still lvl50 !!
• all your skill points are reset; (wanted a free respec, here's your chance!)
• planet commendations are aggregated under a single pool
• new legacy wide achievements
• players in guilds will now earn a +5% bonus to experience gain
• priority transport terminals have been added to the Fleets, which will speed up travel between daily mission areas such as Section X, The Black Hole, and Makeb

Gathering all planetary commendations under same pool is a brilliant idea that allows you to use those old low-lvl commendations you gathered so far. To use them you need to get to the vendor on the Republic/Imperial Fleet.

What you don't get, this is from the perspective of a preferred status player:

• planet Makeb is not for you, unless you purchase the DLC
• operations? no access, you need to buy a weekly pass
• flashpoints? still 3 item rolls / week, want more? buy a weekly pass
• warzones? still 5 / week, want more? buy a weekly pass
• space missions? still 3 item rolls / week, want more? buy a weekly pass
• want to post a topic on the official forums, or reply to someone? you can't ...

And there is one oddity, with the skill tree reset, if you had enough SP to fill a complete skill tree, now you may not, for example:

at lvl50 you have 41 SP but the tree has 42SP ....... The maximum skill points are 46 at lvl55. Some can be filled at lvl 51 while other classes and specializations, much later. Example Operative -> medicine tree, you need lvl 53 to max it!

Here is an updated skill tree calculator.

The good, the bad and the ugly:

There are new things to keep you interested and even make you come back to achieve lvl55. Besides flashpoints and PvP, there are locations you can lvl up, Belsavis bonus series heroic missions, Voss, Corelia, Black Hole, Illum and possibly Hoth bonus series.

[Update]
I'm not sure what to make of it, but as is now, free players, preferred status players and subscribers are still locked to lvl50. The very bad thing about it is the skill tree, before this update you could max out one skill tree and still have few points to spend in one other tree ... now, it's more like a nerf - this is absolutely horrible.
We shall see if this lvl cap gets unlocked once the pre-order exclusivity runs out. I'll you informed

The bad and the ugly? the still existing limitation on equipping advanced gear only if you buy an unlock .. that's dumb, and I will not pay for it; the limits on flashpoints space missions, PvP .. weekly passes? I will not buy!

As I said in my previous post regarding SWToR, if you plan to play as purely F2P, stay away! There are limitations that would make you climb walls. If you plan to unlock preferred status, do so, there are "life saving" unlocks that come with it, but be wary ... not everything is "pink".

Should you buy Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion? the ultimate decision is yours.

But if you ask me, don't! this update offers a single planet with quest chain that will not offer and extension to the main class quest, once you complete it with one of your characters, it will be the same for all the rest of them.

Let's say you buy the DLC - 20$; but doing that will make you buy the Artifact Equipment authorization account wide, because you will need better rated gear - another 20$. and you spend 40$ for what? you don't get a continuation to the story of any class.

In the end is it worth it? I'd say no. When and if some real story driven DLC would gets released I will consider it. Until then, I'm quite happy with my preferred account status.

[UPDATE] MWO ClanWars - accessible only via subscription

Wait .. what!?!
Yeah, I know ... my jaw dropped to when I read it. I'm not making this up, here read it for yourselves.

We really want people who participate in this to be as engaged as possible. And we'll probably require them to have a premium time account, as a kind of dedication level.

Mr. Bryan Ekman, are you out of your god damn mind?

I can totally understand charging a fee when creating a clan, WoT and others do this also. But to demand that players should have premium account to play in Clan Wars .. this is nuts!

This has already sparked quite a backlash on MWO official forums.


So, PGI is not only splitting the community, they're fragmenting it to shit.
There will be segregated regional servers, out of those: 1st person players, 3rd person players, both; and out of those some will pay for CW while others won't - what the fuck! who is the moron who thinks of this stuff??


Expect a update to this, I "heard" there will be an official comment from the devs regarding this issue.


[Update 1]

Just moments ago, they have now closed the topic in question and created an "official" feedback topic: COMMUNITY CONCERNS REGARDING RUSS BULLOCK INTERVIEW


[Update 2]

Bryan Ekman posted this, 17 minutes ago on twitter:

To all those worrying about CW. It's not what you think.  I'll be more than happy to go over details later next week.

He can post on twitter that we are wrong, ok ... although it sounds extremely fishy on how exactly we're wrong, but I'll bite.
And yet he doesn't have 30 minutes to post a explanatory topic on the official forums, forums that are currently at the boiling point.
Sounds to me that they're backpedaling and searching a way to get on top of  this fuck-up they created.

[Update 3]

I had to go to sleep, but late last night, editor of the original article from Polygon was kind enough to reply to us on Twitter and get some things straight. He will also try to reach PGI and get a comment from them.

There was no misinterpretation, no misquote or taking a quote out of context at all:

[Update 4] 04-April

Bryan Ekman‏ @Druidika - I will be doing a series of posts over the coming weeks and months. It's a huge feature.


[Update 5] 08-April

Bryan posted today a clarification regarding the Polygon article and their monetization plans for CW:

No, we will not require players to have a Premium Account to play in a Merc Unit. 

Yes, we are considering monetizing aspects of Community Warfare. 

• A small one-time MC and/or CB fee to create a Merc Corp*. 
• Some aspects of CW will reward players with MC, we are considering a Premium Account requirement to participate in these rewards. This will not prevent non-paying customers to participate in all aspects of CW with their friends and teammates.
• If we decided to launch Private Matches, they will likely require a Premium Account to cover costs of hosting a match on our hardware.

* We are looking at ways to prevent/mitigate name reserving and parking. We may simply require players to have a minimum of 1 company or 12 active players to maintain a valid status. 

At this time no final decisions have been made.

WarGaming.Net lifts the NDA for World of Warplanes

4th of April 2013, Wargaming.Net lifts the Non Disclosure Agreement over World of Warplanes:

The time for Open Beta and full release of World of Warplanes draws closer.  We are pleased to announce that today, on April 4th, the NDA for the game has been lifted.  This means that closed beta testers can now share all their thoughts, screenshots and videos for the game with the world at large.

To mark this notable occasion in the game’s history, we have some special events planned!  The first of these will be a live streaming event in which community team members Flyiertank and Kabazabak will be taking to the skies in order to give an overview of the game.  Commentary and moderation will be provided by Pixyl, who will also be answering your questions during the stream. 

The livestream will begin at 19:00 CEST (GMT + 2) on Thursday April 4th, and will last for 1-2 hours.  Tune in on our World of Warplanes Twitch TV page to see all the action!

Source: WoWp EU portal



Knowing 1st hand the state the game is currently in, I think their move is rather rushed. I do not believe WoWp is ready for prime-time, but it's not my decision to make.

Lifting the NDA means that OPEN BETA is extremely close, and yet, the dev team has not addressed the numerous controls issues raised since last patch(es).

Since I am allowed to "speak", I will tell you that the WoT mouse control scheme has an induced input lag of 330 milliseconds - it's huge! and makes aiming a guess work.

Let me explain, each time you point your mouse in a new heading, the time between your mouse moved and the moment the plane reacts, it's 330ms.

So, each time you maneuver your plane, it will react 1/3 of second late.