Take if from me, I played ww2OL for a long time. I was there for opening day (and the subsequent 3 days it took to actually get the game running)
The game was rushed, it was poorly coded, broken code was fixed by overlaying more broken code.
BUT it was still the best thing out there. I thought by now there would surely be something more.
WHAT KILLED WW2ONLINE
-Unfortunately, the devs at ww2ol aren't very bright. This was proven when they decided to implement something called "brigade spawning"
Whereas before, you could view the minimap (which was awesome) and choose where you wanted to spawn based on where the action was occurring.
For some reason, they believed they could foster a larger war and bring more people to get involved by creating brigade spawning. Newbs were complaining about spawning into areas where only rifleman were available. That my friends was a town down to the nubs and about to be taken. Their job should have been to take tanks/planes from another town and drive in. But they didn't want to wait 20 minutes to get into battle. Instead of offering a system that would suggest another town with more supply, they implemented a convoluted system of brigade spawing that 'hides' the supply issues to the newbs but makes it nearly impossible to find a good battle...so again, they sit FOREVER only to fire their weapon once..if lucky. Now it's very confusing and frustrating to spawn something AND find battle.
More times than not, you are sitting idle waiting for battle. SO you have to constantly find the action by clicking on the appropriate brigades, sifting through where they are responsible for and learning that whole thing to be able to spawn where the action is. Very lame.
TOTALLY killed the game.
I turned 5 people onto the game, they didn't play at all because of this. Prior to this, I got many people to sign in, but the bugs killed their interest.
Recently I went on to see what they had going on. I was surprised to see the graphics were dumbed down from when I played (at least it appeared this way). I was still getting 'jitters' which are killers when you fly.
Strangely, it seemed the newest systems had the most problems...but if you had issues, you were told that you needed to buy more ram.
This game was and probably still is way beyond its time. The physics and damage models were amazing.
I'm very sad for the folks there. Even their website is confusing, right down to the installer and methods of trying to make a payment through their subscription services.
EVERYTHING about the game to get into battle was super counter intuitive, and thus - it killed the game.
At one point, there were tons of people playing. It was very fun.
Now the infantry didn't run around like a fps...but you could do SO much in that game. It was SO dynamic.
Imagine being able to run up to a play as a paratrooper, jump on, wait for the green light and jump into battle. Only to see tracers coming from inside a very intrique town (not like ah2 towns) to the fields surround the towns. Landing near enemy tanks, planting satchel bombs on them and running for your life. Watching bombs drop from above as bombers pummel town trying to soften it up enough to let your tanks and infantry in.
The whole idea aroudn taking a base is awesome too. Infantry MUST take it (at least it used to be this way) , and to take it...they ran into several buildings that were capture points...and waited next to a radio table for 30 secs to capture it. I can't tell you how many INTENSE battles I've had in that game that took my breath away! I've taken bases that were fought for days, taking the last table in the bunker to grab the final capture.
They added many cools things in tth egame. Game balance was and probably still is a major complaint in that game. The beginning units were spartan but still fun.
Everything is ranked based too, and it wasn't that easy to get rank enough quickly to get the 'cool gear'. Like the LMG, a better tank, an uber plane etc.
Everything has a supply too. Sometimes, to fly that better plane you had to fly from a couple fields back.
Honestly, I think their flight model was pretty darn good. Felt less arcade than AH2 or about the same. But the sheer fact that it had so many glitches and strange behaviors due to bad coding or missing code - made it one of the most frustrating and yet fun experiences in my life. I often refer to ww2 as a woman.
I'd say try it out and give it the full trial period but don't expect uber graphics and performance. The forums are nothing but fanboys that worship the 'rat's' (the devs) and like any socialist or communist organization , dissension is NOT tolerated!
If I were Hitech, I would be getting off my but and work on a ground game like ww2online. I flew only about 20% of the time in ww2 online and I LIKES TO FLY. That tells you how much fun the gruond game was in ww2...and frustrating.
When I arrived at AH2, I commented in the forums about how wonderful it was to fly , be able to six someone and actually shoot them down and not have to expect some weird glitch. Usually just as you fire.
People warned me that the frustration would arrive when I started to get good but I gotta tell you, I still don't see it. About the only frustration I have is, Hitech's unwillingness to spend the $ and further this game.
This would include : 1. increasing the netcode speed or, the amount of packets going to and fro to calculate everything in this game. ww2online upgraded theirs a couple years after release and it was like night and day. You could walk up to a guy and KNIFE him , and if you saw a round hit near a tank..the guy on the other end saw almost the same EXACT thing. 2. updates - ah2 is very slow to update...ww2online was updated once every couple months! 3. an attitude that we should be greatful to play this game. Just an overall feeling I get from the owners/devs of this game.
It's still the best game in town. If you try ww2online you WILL be back to AH2...I guarantee it. Unless you are more of a ground pounder then maybe not.
WW2Online tried to re-release their game with very little results. They left brigade spawning in (thinking it was the reason for a rerelease), they didn't foster an easy method to get into quick battle and get your hands dirtry, and they didn't advertise very much.
I'm actually surprised they haven't called it quits to be honest. If they were smart, they would hire some younger (20 something) coders that have been hobbying with code since 10 years old like some of the guys I work with. they would have that game working to its potential in less than 6 months...and I guarantee the first thing they would remove would be the spawn system.
OH and the lack of a universal vox was pretty lame compared to AH2's which is AMAZINGLY awesome and I believe, one of the big factors that makes this game succeed.
I've turned a few people onto this game, and they were amazed they never heard of it. I try to plug it as much as possible but too many people these days want easy mode (aka WoW) Click button, watch animation. Rinse / Repeat.
GL and let me know if you have any questions. I may go back there this summer and check it out in hopes that my dream is not dead.
Oh and wait to you try a tank out , ambush a row of tanks and infantry going into battle. You'll be hooked. There is cover in this game too!
