Wargaming is celebrating World of Warships 8th anniversary with giveaways, discounts and brand-new ships. In addition to the celebration, Wargaming has announced major improvements coming to World of Warships including visual and audio overhauls. Airship Escort mode is being added to Random Battles and a fleet of Spanish cruisers is leaving Early Access.
That’s not all. The update to World of Warships “welcomes Arpeggio of Blue Steel -Ars Nova- back to the game, four new Brawls to get in on and continued construction of a Tier X destroyer in the Dockyard.”
With eight years under its belt, World of Warships is kicking off celebrations with update 12.8. Released on September 14, this update allows players to unlock rewards and tokens which can be redeemed for rewards such as “camouflages, discounts for Tier VIII ships, the French Tier VIII cruiser Bayard, Containers and Super Containers, as well as a host of common, special and rare economic bonuses.”
World of Warships
The eight anniversary celebrations don’t end there though. World of Warships is adding the “Tier IX European battleship Karl XIV Johan to the game.” Accompanying the ship is permanent camo, three Commanders with unique voice-overs and a flag and patch.
Airship Escort was previously added as a Battle Mode in two previous versions and now the new and improved Airship Escort is added to Random Battles. Available in 12-on-12 formats for Tier VII ships and up, players need to guide their airship along a fixed path. According to Wargaming, “This overhauled version of this mode sees updated routes and spawn points changed across a number of maps, a number of new indicators for airship speed and location, and new rewards in the Random Battles economy.”
Update 12.7 saw major improvements to both visuals and audio in World of Warships. Wargaming advised, “High-detail textures have been incorporated across several maps, including New Dawn, Polar, and Islands maps. This hyperrealism extends into water, which welcomes improved animations for the waves that splash onto ships, and better splash quality. Animals also get improvements, as well as an increase in numbers, with more fish, birds, dolphins and sharks appearing across maps. Several islands see improved collision models, preventing passing ships from coming into contact.
“Beyond these environmental updates are improved combat effects of both graphic and audio varieties. Shots fired from main, secondary battery and AA guns, alongside explosions welcome improved effects that vary by the target ship’s speed and the shell’s calibre. This impact is accompanied by improved audio to mimic the effect of combat from a distance. On top of this, the soundscape of Warships adapts to the battle situation, ranging from battle sounds during battle with enemy ships to ambient sounds emanating during the calmer moments of combat.”
Finally, with Spanish cruisers leaving Early Access, Arpeggio of Blue Steel -Ars Nova- comes back to World of Warships. Update 12.8 also adds four new Brawls and the “continued construction of Tier X Pan-Asian destroyer Lüshun in the Dockyard.” Full patch notes for the update are available here.
World of Warships is free to play on PC.