36 replies to this topic

[Content_WG]

On March 3, from 00:00 PT / 03:00 ET to 04:00 PT / 07:00 ET, the servers will undergo maintenance to deploy the 2.1.5 update.

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[Captain_Underpants53]

At last!  Sum luv fer the bombers!

 

[jack_wdw]

What premium planes are included in the steel supply crates?
(hopefully some new planes )

[blindfoId]

jack_wdw, on 02 March 2021 - 02:14 PM, said:

What premium planes are included in the steel supply crates?
 

 

The list of aircraft included in the Steel supply crate will be published when the crate itself is available 

[opala73_leandro]

Congratulations to WG, this year has been very good, with a good structure and corrections this game can be great again. greetings from all Brazilian pilots. 07

[legoboy0401]

YAY! For once, ALL the pilots are for planes I own, and 2 of 3 of those planes are already keepers anyways!

[no_trace_of_sanity]

How are the new crates acquired. Are they won or just for purchase.

[Lose_dudes]

I have the '17. Np, I guess I can retrain for other british planes, like my IID!

[Captain_Underpants53]

er,    ???

 

[Captain_Underpants53]

Lose_dudes, on 02 March 2021 - 09:24 AM, said:

I have the '17. Np, I guess I can retrain for other british planes, like my IID!

The B-17G is USA.

 

[Lose_dudes]

Captain_Underpants53, on 02 March 2021 - 02:38 PM, said:

The B-17G is USA.

 

ik. I mean the british pilot.

[Silvin]

I love seeing all this new content for the game.

 

Keep it coming WG!

[Lose_dudes]

Yes, me too. I'm still waiting for that skill rework 

[ItsSubmersible]

Lose_dudes, on 02 March 2021 - 02:54 PM, said:

Yes, me too. I'm still waiting for that skill rework 

Let's not do the WOWS 'If it isn't broke, fix it until it is" method of skill changes.

[Lose_dudes]

ItsSubmersible, on 02 March 2021 - 09:27 PM, said:

Let's not do the WOWS 'If it isn't broke, fix it until it is" method of skill changes.

I thought it was fine. Evem WOT is doing it now, seriously

[trikke]

WG, ty for any opportunity to collect exotic pilots!     

 

have the decisions been made about the number of skills these will have?

[AKMoney]

Thanks for the improvements to the game WG!  Look forward to getting these new pilots...keep up the good work!

[wylleEcoyote]

Huh three special pilots (presumably) for tier 6. just a month after 2 other pilots. 
What an interesting way to shake up the mid tier meta.  

First we got special female pilots with  a couple of unique skill  options that they can use (with various degrees of efficiency) in ANY plane of their nation with a positive result..
To make the decision making a bit easier for players upon release; each pilot starts with a 100% efficiency in their "preferred" aircraft. Either tier 5 or 6. But seriously they can fit anywhere.

Then the Dunkerque pilots arrived with masteries that; for the most part, make them one trick ponies that only excel with one particular tier 5 premium plane.

Spoiler

But in their defense, those tricks are REALLY good. The british one is just like McDonalds ice cream machines; Broken. The german one; when used correctly, is just as annoying to play against as it is to use.

 

3 years later, WeeGee is continuing that one trick pony theme. But now in tier 6 with these two pilots from last month. 

Spoiler

Another turnfighter that is a less broken pilot but in a more broken machine.
And a "little friend" Escort that can make things better for (low altitude) allied ground pounders. A surprise; to be sure, but a welcome one.

 

And now the new pilots are going to be here this weekend.   
A special American Bomber pilot is (honestly) completely unexpected.

Spoiler

Rather see those high tier bombers from Winter 2019. But that is a different dead horse to beat. I would have preferred a Mustang Master themed around bomber escort and having a red tail skin for the plane. But hey lets see what happens with Cadman Miller's Flying Fortress. 

I imagine that it would either be just a bit faster or give light fighters a new definition pain and suffering with a resilience skill that increases turret rate of fire or cooldowns. But it would be weird to have a Pilot skill that affects gunner behavior.  Or maybe it uses something like FInal dash but with more focus on enhanced durability and escape speeds. Extra boost performance perhpas?

But maybe we get something really weird. Like a skill that replaces demo expert. 

Spoiler

For an "expert bombardier". Here me out. It could increase how fast the individual bombs in a stick gets released.
Either you get tighter bomb groupings from normal altitudes. Or drops from higher altitudes without the usual scatter. 
Maybe you get a skill called All In or Double Down that lets you drop multiple sticks of bombs ... at the same time. 

The British are getting a new pilot. How broken will Elliot Millie be in a Tornado? Guess i better grind the line to find out.
That's right. i didnt play that line until the release of the high tier hawkers back in the 2017(?) winter event. skipped everything and started with the Typhoon. 
So I really have no idea what will make them special. Maybe better burst length for those cannons ... ?
 

Albrecht Schneider seems ... I dunno. "surplus to requirements" is what comes to mind.

Spoiler

1) Charlotte already exists. I normally store her in my Me 410 anyway. And occasionally drop her into other premiums. I guess she is going to get a new home now.
2)  an Me 410 mastery with the usual <+10% damage to forward guns> is the definition of "but y tho?". And yet every other Mastery gets it.
It would make strafing high priority ground targets a bit less of a hassle while the rockets are on cooldown. Personally, I would rather have a bonus to to weapon cooldown or; better still, range.
410 Mastery it would also come with another 10% in something. Engine thrust would be good. You can never have enough of that in the Me 410. Overall Airspeed a close second to that.
10% manuverability would definitely continue the theme of "but y tho?"  

But i am curious in what WeeGee decides is the best way jazz up the Me 410.
 

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Far more detailed info about the earlier pilots in the spoiler below for those that forgot / weren't around. 
Its a bit long and not at all necessary to read if you're already familiar with the special pilots.. Its more just a convenient grouping of the info i used to justify my speculations. On the off chance someone disagrees with me enough to want to fact check me and or call me out on my nonsense.  
 

Spoiler

 What the Girls are about ...

~Marina Litvyakova = ANY russian plane with ordinance and forward guns (that can be) used on ground targets.

Prefers the IL-2, but some of those bombers have forward guns. for when you want to be a nu cheeki breeki iv damke.
~Mary Loveheart = ANY american plane that can release ordinance in a dive without becoming a lawn dart.  (sorry bombers)
Prefers the P-47B, but does equally well in any of the multi-roles .  And if you are feeling cheeky she can put the attack in the A-26. You will get a much deserved amount of "but y tho?". So maybe don't.
~Charlotte von Staufen = ANY german plane that likes to go head on. and wants good spotting. Ideally with cannons (insert hellsing reference here) but R4Ms seem to count too. 
Prefers the BF 110 E.  Does well in ANY german heavy. yes ANY.
And because all these girls are cheeky; Charlotte likes to troll other heavies by occasionally showing up in cannon equipped Multiroles . And winning the resulting attempted ram kills in head on encounters.
​
Apparently that equally useful in many planes shtick was juuuust a bit too much fun. So everyone else afterwards gets One cool thing (instead of two) they can apply to any plane like any other skill.
and then something called a Mastery Skill that can often times be so brutally Over Powered that they encourage you to do something completely different. And barely balanced out by
1) being locked into one particular plane in the game only. (even though the stat buff appears in the UI, it does not get applied) 
2) also preventing that pilot from getting another useful skill that can be universally applied to any other aircraft. 
Meet the Dunkerque pilots. 
Both of whom traded in the ability to use the Protection Expert skill for Mastery of their respective premium machines. (not much of a loss) in addition to one other skill upgraded beyond the norm. 
~Hans Weber gets everyone's raptor strike skill BUT; unlike the rest of us, applies +20% bonus damage when active. If you are gonna do well with him you are gonna have to learn B&Z. 
To help out with this he gets an E-3 Mastery Skill. 10% more base damage is nice enough. So in a dive you have the same dps as the Emil.
Mastery also grants 10% bonus airspeed. Which doesn't seem like a lot at first. 38 extra kph cruise speed  and 54 kph extra boost speed and 9mps extra climb rate. But with the right gear Hans in his E-3 can B&Z another 109 Emil in the same way that they 109 E can B&Z a Spitfire. How? My E-3 can nose up into a climb without boost and keep up with a boosting 109 E. And in some cases i can do the same to the 109 F. Heavies are no match.   So all in all Weber makes an E-3 the (somewhat under-gunned) Energy fighting king of tier 5.

 

 And now for something completely different ... 

~Charlie Donovan.  He gets a Final Dash skill. It replaces Resilience  Once activated (by loosing only 50%; instead of 70%, of his health) he gains a +10% to maneuverability and engine thrust (double the normal for resilience)
Final dash does Not get the 50% reduction in weapon + engine overheat. Which seems legit. Until you realize that the buff lasts for the rest of the battle. No matter how often you die it stays active. 
And then there is the Spitfire 1a Mastery. It grants 10% more damage for one particular; and relatively under-gunned, plane. 
buuut it also has an additional +10% to maneuverability. That's right. You now have +20% to maneuverability after it loses its first 50% of its health. In a spitfire of course. So much like the British Empire its is Broken AF. 
But it makes this guy the undisputed King of All Turn Fighters.​ 
 

 Fast forward about a 2 years and now we have 2 more Master pilots. Now in tier 6 tech tree planes instead of premiums. Which is a good thing, imho. 

First out of the gate is ... Another Turn-fighter?  
~Akira Akane has acquired the same Mastery that King Donovan has. +10% manuverability and 10% firepower. So a new challenger has appeared for that turnfighter crown.
But unlike Chuck; who is at his best in an early war Spitfire, this woman has Mastered the Zero.  An inherently better weapon that; among other things, actually has proper cannons. (yes another Hellsing reference)
Which become simply a joy to use with Hunters Grasp. Her other special skill.  Which is +10% to range and Burst length to go along with the mastery's +10% to damage. 
Sure it means that ABE and Marksman 1 are skills forever denied to her.  Which is a high cost.  but its a good trade off. 
And while that mastery skill means that she probably wont be found outside of her Zero ...
that Hunters Grasp skill is the equivalent of an advanced Long Gun Barrel and Reinforced Bolt Carrier without all the usual nerfs so she can do pretty well in any of the other japanese premium aircraft. even without things like ABE or MM1  

  Taking his sweet time getting out of the box (or anywhere else for that matter) is the other new Master.
~Vasiliy Pavlov gets a cool skill that trades 20% resistence to fire damage and 20 % less fire duration  for 20% more base fire prevention. And takes 10% less damage from AA guns.
And that is pretty neat. The aptly named Frontline Fighter skill is quite useful for being the escorting Combat Air Patrol for other MR or attackers doing that important Cap Control thing they like to do.
Or for that matter will be pretty cool to have in pretty much ANY russian premium plane in the tech tree that you would want to slot him into.  

But odds are high he wont see the inside of them because he has also swapped out Engine Guru 1 for La-5 Mastery. 
which gets him the usual +10% to damage. in the La-5 only. Worth the loss of a potential 2% engine thrust?
It sure is when you also add in an extra 25% to the La-5's boost reserve!  It is so good that it seems almost wasteful to put him in any other plane.
 This guy makes you the best friend of anyone else (human or bot) that is playing a mid tier GAA.  Slow enough to not leave behind the attacker you are trying to escort. Fast and shooty enough to kill anyone that is trying to kill them.  And tough enough to survive in hostile AAA. Escort work may not be sexy but cap control wins battles. And this is how you cap control in a light fighter.
And who knows? Comrade Marina would likely be inclined to share her extra vodka rations with you when you let her get around the map in one piece.

  

Edited by wylleEcoyote, 03 March 2021 - 01:51 PM.

[ItsSubmersible]

Being kinda new to WOWP, this is all a pleasant suprise! Thanks WG!

[pirat262]

well cool really good new i want this one : 

• German pilot Albrecht Schneider, trained for the Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse heavy fighter.

greetings

 

pirat262