World of Warships: Update 0.8.8 – The Fourth Anniversary!

World of Warships blows this month its fourth candle and Wargaming are spoiling us a bit with supercontainers, a new port that looks amazing and much more! (including a completely bugged audio rework).

The Update 0.8.8

General Informations

The update size is 2.9 GB.

Yet another year has passed on our voyage, and we’ve been busy getting ready for the celebrations dedicated to World of Warship’s Fourth Anniversary!

Join the festive frenzy, and enjoy new Directives, Victory Bonuses, and an extraordinary new Port! So, what’s on offer in our celebratory Update?

• A new discount coupon applicable to those Premium ships that can acquired for doubloons in the Armory
• Two new Ranked Sprints
• Clan Brawl in a 3 vs. 3 format
• Further audio and graphic enhancements
• And much more!

Please note: starting from Update 0.8.8, the commencement of each new “game day” will be shifted from 04:00 to 07:00 CEST (UTC+2). At this time of day, the daily combat missions, bonuses for the first win of the day, Daily Shipments, Directives, and other in-game activities will be reset and refreshed.

ANNIVERSARY!

As we pass the threshold of our fourth year, we’d like to mark the occasion by offering you an array of gifts and fresh in-game activities. The first win with each Tier X ship while Update 0.8.8 is live will bring you a supercontainer, and after successfully completing all four Directives—a container with a randomly selected Premium Tier VI ship will be yours.

Join the celebrations by entering the brand new “Designer’s Table” Port. There, you’ll find a ship model in the spotlight, soaking up the cozy light of a lamp amid perfectly creative chaos.

Victory Bonus

Throughout Update 0.8.8, you can expect enticing gifts for the first win on many of your ships. Take a look at the ship carousel to find out which: ships with a Victory Bonus will be marked with a special symbol.

One Gift container holds five special signal flags of one particular type: Dragon, Red Dragon, Wyvern, Ouroboros, Hydra, Basilisk, Scylla, or Leviathan.

You can get a bonus for each ship only once during Update 0.8.8. Victory Bonuses will also appear on ships purchased, bought back, or obtained from containers in Update 0.8.8.

If you have used the Research Bureau and reset a branch of ships prior to Update 0.8.8 going live, you will receive the Anniversary Victory Bonuses for all Tier V–X ships of that branch automatically. Moreover, any ships of the reset branch that you buy back can bring you Anniversary Victory Bonuses once again in accordance with the general rules of the event.

DIRECTIVES

A total of four Directives will be available, each comprising 10–11 missions. You can start progressing in the next Directive only after completing seven missions from the previous one.

Opening dates for Directives 2, 3, and 4: 07:00 CEST (UTC+2) September 24, October 1, and October 8, respectively.

Rewards

• By completing missions of the Directives, you can earn credits, Coal, and up to 20 Gift containers, among other rewards.
• Complete the first three Directives—get a supercontainer for each of them.
• Completing the last Directive will reward you with a container that drops a randomly selected Premium Tier VI ship.

The container with a randomly selected Premium Tier VI warship can drop one of the following ships:

•  VI Admiral Graf Spee
•  VI Aigle
•  VI Anshan
•  VI Arizona
•  VI De Grasse
•  VI Duca d’Aosta
•  VI Dunkerque
•  VI Gallant
•  VI Huanghe
•  VI Molotov
•  VI Monaghan
•  VI Mutsu
•  VI Perth
•  VI Prinz Eitel Friedrich
•  VI T-61
•  VI Warspite
•  VI W. Virginia 1941

Ships will be added with a Port slot and a Commander with 10 skill points and a specialization for the obtained ship.

Rules of compensation

• If you open a container that drops a ship you already have in your Port, you’ll receive another ship from the above list.
• If you already have all the ships from the list above in your Port when opening a container, you’ll receive an amount of doubloons as compensation that corresponds to the cost of the ship which dropped from the container.
• In addition to the compensation for the ship that you already have in your Port, you’ll also receive a Port slot and Commander with 10 skill points. If you don’t have a vacant place for this Commander in the Reserve, you’ll receive one free of charge.

Directives are available to players with access to combat missions in their Service Record. Novice players must have played 70 battles in any accessible battle mode to unlock them.

Hall of Fame

Once you’ve completed seven missions of the fourth Directive, you’ll gain access to the Hall of Fame. Here, you can cross swords with the best players, and rewards will be issued to every Commander who scores at least one point in accordance with the Hall of Fame’s special Rules.

After a week’s results are summed up, you can get an even bigger reward if you find yourself among the top 50%, 25%, 10%, or 5% best players.

• Players will get Hall of Fame rewards for the category they reach, along with all rewards for the preceding categories.
• At the end of the event, the top 100 players will be awarded a special achievement called “Leading 100.”

For more details, check out the rules for crediting Hall of Fame points which are available in the game client.

DAILY SHIPMENTS

Several maps and Ports have been updated to utilize the reworked lighting model. In Update 0.8.8, we’ve enhanced the following maps: Ocean, Big Race, North, Fault Line, Polar, and Islands, as well as the Philippines Port. The skies on these maps have been completely changed, too, in order to accommodate enhanced HDR technology that will add more contrast to the game’s graphics and create a more realistic look. Clouds drifting across the sky on the reworked maps will now cast shadows on the water’s surface, ships, and terrain. In forthcoming updates, we’re going to continue tweaking the game content to accommodate the new lighting system.

Apart from graphics, we’ve added enhancements to the audio system as well. In the new update, we’ve reworked the principles for sound reproduction:

• Introduction of a system of priorities and restrictions affecting the reproduction of sounds.
• Gunfire sounds have been “standardized,” depending on the number of guns firing and their caliber.
• Engines will now produce different sound patterns depending on their power.
• New sounds and music have been added.
• Ambient sounds have been enhanced.
• Greater stability and the fixing of certain issues that affected the audio system’s performance.

This change will apply to all sounds in the game, which might make them seem unusual at first. We’ll continue to enhance the sounds and sound reproduction system in the game.

Now, the thing is that currently, the audio rework is quite buggy. Wargaming are working on fixing it ASAP but for now, we don’t know when the fix will arrive.

For now, there is a way to limit problems by doing the following:

• Set all settings to the maximum volume;

• Turn down the game volume using the ” General volume level ” setting to a comfortable level;

• Turn down the engine volume by 20% using the “Engine volume” setting;

• You can also adjust the “Ambient sound Volume” setting to your preference.

RANKED SPRINTS

Brace yourselves for the upcoming two seasons of Ranked Sprint! Each of the sprints can bring you as much as 500 000 credits; combat, economic and special signals; and up to 10 000 Coal! Each season lasts for 12 days. Total number of Ranks: 10.

Season 8

Starts: Tue. 17 Sep. 11:00 CEST (UTC+2)

Ends: Sun. 29 Sep. 10:30 CEST (UTC+2)

• Format: 6 vs. 6
• Tier VII ships
• Game maps and modes: Trident, Archipelago, Big Race, and Riposte—Domination mode

Season 9

Starts: Wed. 02 Oct. 11:00 CEST (UTC+2)

Ends: Mon. 14 Oct. 10:30 CEST (UTC+2)

• Format: 7 vs. 7
• Tier VIII ships
• Maximum of one aircraft carrier per team
• Game maps and modes: Greece, Hotspot, Sea of Fortune, and Shards—Domination mode

CLAN BRAWL

Update 0.8.8 will feature two Clan Brawls with rewards including credits, Coal, Commander XP—and Steel! The Brawls will be held in an unconventional format with a reduced combat area on maps you already know well. Limited space on those maps will make battles more dynamic despite the smaller number of participants.

Each Clan will be able to select its preferred prime time:

• ASIA 13:00 — 18:00 CEST
• CIS 17:00 — 22:00 CEST
• EU 18:00 — 23:00 CEST
• NA 01:00 — 06:00 CEST

Third Clan Brawl

The Brawl takes place on September 21.

• Format: 3 vs. 3 with one destroyer, one cruiser, and one battleship per team
• Battle duration: 15 minutes
• Tier VII ships
• Rewards: up to 2,500,000 credits; 100,000 Commander XP; and 3,500 Coal
• Game maps and modes: Hotspot, Mountain Range, Shatter, and Warrior’s Path—Domination mode; Two Brothers—Epicenter mode

Fourth Clan Brawl

The Brawl takes place on October 5.

• Format: 3 vs. 3 with one destroyer, one cruiser, and one battleship per team
• Battle duration: 15 minutes
• Tier X ships
• Rewards: up to 2,500,000 credits; 3,500 Coal; and 350 Steel
• Game maps and modes: Hotspot, Mountain Range, Shatter, and Warrior’s Path—Domination mode; Two Brothers—Epicenter mode

Clans will be able to replenish their Treasury reserves by taking top places in the final rating.

* Each subsequent position between 5–50 brings 250 Coal less.

MAPS AND MODES

In Epicenter mode, the number of points received for holding the outer, middle, and center zones has been changed from 3, 5, and 7 points every 5 seconds, respectively, to 5 points every 5 seconds for all zones.

On the Islands of Ice map, Epicenter mode will have zones of increased diameter, and an alternative Epicenter scenario without local weather conditions.

These changes are intended to increase the average duration of battles in this mode.

ARMORY

A new 25% discount coupon will be added to the Armory. This coupon can be applied to ships available for doubloons, and will work exactly like any other coupons in the game. Please note: you can use the coupon in the Armory only—it cannot be applied to any of the ships in the Tech Tree.

With the release of Update 0.8.8, Republic Tokens will be converted into credits at a rate of 1 : 12 000.

French Tokens and the Legion of Honor section of the Armory will be available until the release of Update 0.8.9. When Update 0.8.9 hits the servers, French Tokens will be converted to credits at a rate of 1 : 4 500.

New ships

British battleship  X Thunderer—available for 252 000 Coal.

Essentially,  X Thunderer is an alternative design of the post-war British battleship, Conqueror, equipped with 457 mm main battery guns. In World of Warships, this ship is placed at Tier X. Unlike her researchable “sister ship”, Thunderer boasts a larger caliber, greater damage and improved firing accuracy, combined with a shorter reload time, but fewer guns at her disposal. To add to that, Thunderer has a faster rudder shift time. The ship’s Repair Party consumable is not as effective as that of Conqueror, but comes with one extra charge.

Key features

• Eight 457 mm main guns with good accuracy, very high damage caused by their AP and HE shells, and a relatively fast reload time.
• Decent speed and maneuverability compared to ships of her type and tier.
• Her relatively weak armor protection is compensated for by lower detectability than her same-tier counterparts.

Players thoroughly enjoyed the 419 mm guns on Conqueror because of the high damage per minute that her HE shells could cause—a feature that perfectly matches the other operational capabilities of the ship. Instead of doing the same with the 457 mm guns, we’ve decided to mount them on Thunderer where these large-caliber guns will play a key role in shaping the ship’s specific gameplay. For that reason, the 457 mm/45 Mk II guns will no longer be available on Conqueror. If you’ve already researched these guns, you’ll get 35 000 Free XP. If you’ve already purchased them, you’ll get 2 500 000 credits. If you had those guns placed on the battleship, they will be replaced with the 419 mm/45 Mk II guns, even if you don’t have them in your Inventory.

American battleship  X Ohio—available for 62 000 Research Points.

 X Ohio is a project of an American battleship, a further development of the ideas embodied in Georgia. The ship carries eight 457 mm guns and has a strong secondary battery. In World of Warships, Ohio is placed at Tier X.

Key features

• Eight 457 mm guns that are capable of dealing significant damage with their AP shells.
• Her powerful and accurate secondary armament makes her an effective fighter at short and medium ranges. Having applied the appropriate upgrades, Commander skills, and signal flags, the range of her secondary armament can be increased to 11.3 km.
• The ship has decent armor, and anti-torpedo protection that reduces the damage from any torpedoes which hit the ship by 37%.
• The Repair Party consumable has a shorter cooldown time (you can also obtain the enhanced version, which has a cooldown of just 40 seconds).

Premium ships for doubloons

The Armory stock is expanding! We’ve added some ships that are available for doubloons.

Ship	Cost in Doubloons
II Tachibana Lima	1 250
II Smith	1 350
II Diana Lima	1 950
III Dreadnought	3 800
III Charleston	2 300
IV Y?bari	2 550
V Exeter	4 300
V Marblehead Lima	3 400
V Texas	5 450
VI T-61	5 700
VI Prinz Eitel Friedrich	7 100
VI Huanghe	5 700
VI W. Virginia 1941	7 300
VII Haida	5 900
VII Nueve de Julio	8 800
VII Boise	8 800
VII Lazo	8 300
VIII Le Terrible	9 800
VIII Irian	11 800
VIII Cossack	9 900
VIII Vanguard	13 300
VIII Wichita	11 800
VIII Massachusetts	13 050
VIII Lenin	11 300

All ships come with a Port slot and Commander with 3 skill points.

Commanders and camouflages of the Rogue Wave event

The world of the Post-Apocalypse is coming back! Until the release of Update 0.8.9, you’ll be able to exchange credits for themed Commanders with 10 skill points and specializations for researchable Tier X destroyers, and doubloons for Master of the Water World permanent camouflages. The camouflages and Commanders you already know from Update 0.8.5 will be supplemented with new ones for destroyer  X Kléber, which will be available until the release of Update 0.8.10.

Collection containers

Interested in a collection but missed it in the game? A pleasant surprise awaits you in the Containers section—we’ve added containers for the following collections:

Container of the Amercian Cruisers collection

• 2x items from the American Cruisers collection.
• 7x signals of one of the following types: Zulu, Zulu Hotel, India Bravo Terrathree, Papa Papa, or Equal Speed Charlie London; or 1x Stars ‘n Stripes camouflage; or 1,250 Free XP.

The reward for completing the entire collection is the Freedom permanent camouflage for  VIII Cleveland.

Container of the 3 Years of World of Warship collection

• 2x items from the 3 Years of World of Warships collection.
• 7x signals of one of the following types: Zulu, Zulu Hotel, India Bravo Terrathree, Papa Papa, or Equal Speed Charlie London; or 1x World of Warships Anniversary camouflage; or 1 250 Free XP.

The reward for completing the entire collection is a supercontainer.

Container of the Royal Navy Destroyers collection

• 2x items from the Royal Navy Destroyers collection.
• 7x signals of one of the following types: Zulu, Zulu Hotel, India Bravo Terrathree, Papa Papa, or Equal Speed Charlie London; or 1x Union Jack camouflage; or 1 250 Free XP.

The rewards for completing the entire collection include permanent camouflages for  VII Haida and  VIII Lightning, and a commemorative flag.

Container of the Naval Aviation collection

• 2x items from the Naval Aviation collection.
• 7x signals of one of the following types: Zulu, Zulu Hotel, India Bravo Terrathree, Papa Papa, or Equal Speed Charlie London; or 1x Union Jack camouflage; or 1 250 Free XP.

The reward for completing the entire collection includes a permanent camouflage for  VIII Implacable, as well as the opportunity to mount two flags on British aircraft carriers and change the camouflage colors for all Commonwealth ships.

Container of the “In the Service of the Motherland” collection

• 2x items from the “In the Service of the Motherland” collection.
• 7x signals of one of the following types: Zulu, Zulu Hotel, India Bravo Terrathree, Papa Papa, or Equal Speed Charlie London; or 1x Victory camouflage; or 1 250 Free XP.

The reward for completing the entire collection is the opportunity to change the camouflage colors and mount two flags on Soviet battleships.

Any of these containers can be obtained for 1 000 Coal. You can continue building all collections, except for the 3 Years of World of Warships collection, via subscription by activating it in your profile.

GAME BALANCE CHANGES

French destroyer Guépard

The parameters of the Engine Boost consumable have been changed:

• The reload time of the standard version has been increased from 120 to 180 seconds.
• The reload time of the enhanced version has been increased from 90 to 120 seconds.
• The action time of the standard and enhanced versions has been reduced from 180 to 120 seconds.

By making these changes, we’ve fixed an issue which previously resulted in an illogical progression for the Engine Boost consumable on  VI Guépard.

Spotting Aircraft

A bug was fixed which caused the Spotting Aircraft’s detectability range to be inconsistent with the standard value for aircraft. It is now 10 km.

CONTENT ADDITIONS AND CHANGES

Camouflage patterns

 VIII Bismarck,  VIII Cossack, and  VI Ark Royal had something in common: all of them were once the “place of duty” for Unsinkable Sam, one of the most famous seafaring mascots in history. Each of the ships gets two camouflage patterns: one historical, displaying the ships’ exteriors as they were at the time when Sam “served” onboard each of them; the other depicting the legendary feline’s portrait on the ships’ sides.

The camouflage patterns share the same features:

• ?3% to the ship’s detectability range by sea
• +4% to the dispersion of shells fired by the enemy at your ship
• ?10% to the cost of the ship’s post-battle service
• +50% XP per battle

All details on how to get the camouflages will appear on our website. You can access a video about the legendary cat via this link.

Ships

 IX Mogador and  X Kléber are now available to research.

The following Premium ships have been removed from the Tech Tree screen:  VII Z-39,  VII Scharnhorst,  VI Warspite,  VII Hood,  VII Sims,  VII Indianapolis,  VIII Kidd,  VIII Alabama,  VI Mutsu,  VII Ashitaka,  VIII Asashio,  V Okhotnik,  V Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya,  VI Molotov,  VII Leningrad,  VI Dunkerque,  VI De Grasse, and  VI Huanghe. All these ships are now available for doubloons in the Armory.

The following Premium ships will appear in the Tech Tree screen:  III Dreadnought,  VIII Vanguard,  VIII Massachusetts,  VIII Lenin, and  VI Aigle. These ships are also available in the Armory. By doing this, we reduce the number of ships in the Tech Tree, making it look neat and tidy in light of the user interface improvements that were introduced in Update 0.8.7.

The following ships have been added for testing by developers, supertesters, and community contributors:  VII Poltava,  X Puerto Rico,  X Marceau, and  VII California.

Patches and Flags

We’ve added a patch and flag called “For Meritorious Service.” The patch will be issued automatically to all players who have been in the game for four years. The flag is issued after completing a combat mission: earn 4 000 base XP with ships of any tier in Random, Ranked, or Co-op Battles, or Operations.

An “Imperial Standard at Sea” flag has been added. All details on how to obtain it will be available on our website later. Stay tuned!

King of the sea

We’ve added an achievement and emblem—“King of the Sea.” The achievement will go to the naval warriors of the teams which take the first, second, and third places in the tournament. The emblem will be issued for securing 5, 15, and 30 victories in the King of the Sea tournament, as well as for winning the tournament.

OTHER CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

• The context menu of the Port chat, available by right-clicking on a message, will now offer a new option: “Report violation in chat.”
• Reworked the animation of the Service Record banner in the Port.
• The animations of items in banners in the Port have been reworked, too.
• Reworked the behavior of pop-up windows to prevent them from opening all at once.
• Revised the descriptions of Commander skills, upgrades, and signals that could influence AA bursts, by removing all mentions of bursts in the medium-range AA zone.
• The AA Defense Expert achievement can now be earned with all ship types. We’ve simplified the conditions for this achievement: to obtain it, players now just need to bring down 35 aircraft of any type.
• The Liquidator achievement will no longer be available. But all previously earned achievements will remain on players’ accounts.
• Added towns on islands in the Crash Zone Alpha map.
• Fixed a number of minor issues on the Estuary map. The issues related to collisions with objects and islands.
• Fixed a number of minor issues in the Port of Dunkirk.
• Fixed an issue which caused the engine-order telegraph to switch to the “Stop” position after setting waypoints for the autopilot for the first time in a battle.
• Fixed an issue where  X Montana,  IX Saint-Louis,  X Yoshino, and  V New York were able to fire further than their viewing range.
• Updated the pop-up hints for the description of Philippe Auboyneau’s talents.
• Fixed an issue which prevented the end date for a discount for resetting Commander skills from being displayed.
• After reaching Rank 1, players will no longer see the “Battle on!” button on the post-battle statistics screen.
• Fixed the display of 25 mm triple AA guns when the Octopus, Rover, and Zaya camouflage patterns are applied.
• Reworked the ship silhouette for the following ships:  V Jaguar,  VIII Le Fantasque,  VIII Le Terrible,  V Murmansk,  III Bogatyr,  IV Svietlana,  V Krasny Krym,  III Varyag,  III Derzki,  IV Izyaslav,  V Okhotnik,  II Albany,  III St. Louis,  V Omaha,  VII Atlanta,  V Marblehead,  V Marblehead Lima, and  III Charleston.
• Fixed an issue which, after navigating to the “Flags” tab, positioned the camera in such a way that it was impossible to view any flags hoisted on a ship.
• Fixed an issue which caused a pop-up hint indicating the availability of a new ship in the Tech Tree to detach from that ship.
• Fixed an issue which caused visual artifacts to appear on the Trap map while in Spectator mode.
•  III Vampire,  VI New Mexico, and  III Campbeltown: fixed an issue which caused a mismatch between the designation of armament in the Modules tab and its designation in the ships’ listed performance characteristics.
•  V Furutaka: fixed an issue which caused the firing accuracy of Hull ?’s guns to be inferior to the guns of Hulls A and B.
• Fixed an issue which prevented a ship’s autopilot from getting the ship back on course after a collision with an island.
• Fixed an issue which didn’t display fighter aircraft as a threat to an operating airborne squadron, or, alternatively, caused the threat to be displayed on the wrong side.
• Added an option to view the Rating of Clans separately for each region.
• In the WGC, a new feature—Generate a WGCheck report—is now available in the pop-up list of the game client launch options.

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