Pilots,
Although Update 1.7 is still in the works, we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to celebrate the holidays with you: with a grand event worthy of the occasion. Update 1.6.3 is here which introduces some permanent - and some temporary - content that will delight you through our ongoing End of the Year festivities. Read on below about the contents of the update and prepare yourself for a lot of surprises as the new update will be loaded with exciting, new holiday gameplay!.
Be on the lookout over the next few days for the start of all the holiday content below!
The UFO is Back!
The beloved Sleipnir from our April Fool’s event is back in its 2.0 version with a new look and new capabilities. The new UFO is called Odin 42 M of the Lapland Air Force, and will be available to play in a special dedicated game mode that takes place on a new dedicated and decorated map, Lapland. Fly it to your heart’s delight while you can – it won’t stay around forever.
New Snowball Game Mode
Tired of shooting armor-piercing shells at your foes? Try the new “Snowball” game mode where you can fly the Odin 42 M UFO and fling tightly-packed snowballs at enemy aircraft instead! This new game mode will take place on the previously mentioned Lapland map featuring firework-shooting Anti-Aircraft guns, a festive holiday sky, and many other holiday decorations and animations!
Holiday Seasonal Quests and Rewards
Update 1.6.3 also introduces 26 dedicated Missions (quests) that you’ll be able to complete over the holiday season. Along with easier one-time quests that will require you to fly certain aircraft a specific number of times, there’ll be more challenging daily ones asking you to make full use of the new holiday content. We’re also adding eight new Achievements that you’ll only be able to earn over these next couple of weeks. Last but not least, there’ll also be a completely new, previously unannounced German Attack Aircraft that you’ll be able to win simply by accomplishing the Update 1.6.3 missions!
And Even More!
Update 1.6.3 contains a ton of new content that you’d expect from a full-size game patch. So while the new holiday Hangar, decals and Consumables will surely add to the temporary festive atmosphere, there’ll also be a lot of permanent additions like a new U.S. aircraft, plenty of bug fixes, balance adjustments and matchmaker optimizations! Read all about it in the update notes when they become available!
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Release Notes Version 1.6.3
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that would lead to noticeable performance drops in certain in-game situations.
- Fixed a critical bug that would cause the client to shut down when locking the computer.
- Multiple bug fixes related to sound effects:
- Fixed the bug that made players hear the sound of their plane burning when, in fact, it was the enemy or other allies’ planes that were on fire.
- Fixed the bug that did not trigger the sound of the primary weapon shooting when a player hit another plane with it.
- Fixed the bug of an extremely loud explosion sound appearing when an ally shot down an enemy plane.
Optimization
- Added another level of water textures when playing on "Very Low" graphical settings. This will improve performance on sea maps when using the "Very Low" graphical settings.
Matchmaker
- We’ve introduced a number of fixes to the general algorithm of the matchmaker. This will lead to:
- Significant reduction of average queueing time when waiting for a battle.
- More players being matched up per battle.
- We’ve also fixed a number of issues with the matchmaker for new players:
- Fixed a bug which sometimes caused matching really experienced players with newcomers in the same battles.
Overall Balance Adjustments
- Improved effectiveness of primary weapons against ground targets for Multirole and Heavy Fighters.
- Increased durability of Multirole and Heavy Fighters against AA-fire.
Balance Fixes for Planes
USSR
- Ilyushin IL-2 — increased damage for 37mm Sh-37 cannons.
- Ilyushin IL-2 two-seated — increased damage for 37mm NS-37 cannons.
- Ilyushin IL-8 — increased damage for 45mm NS-45 cannons.
- Ilyushin Il-20 — increased damage for 57mm N-57 cannons.
- Yakovlev Yak-7 — increased accuracy and damage for 37mm Sh-37 cannon.
- Yakovlev Yak-9 — increased accuracy and damage for 37mm NS-37 and 45mm NS-45 cannons.
- Yakovlev Yak-9U — increased accuracy and damage for 37mm N-37 and 45mm NS-45Ó cannons.
- Mikoyan-Gurevich I-220 — slots of primary and outboard weapons were merged; parameters and settings of weapons remained the same.
- Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 — increased manoeuvrability for top airframe configuration, increased accuracy and damage for 37mm N-37 cannon.
- Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 — increased accuracy and damage for 37mm N-37KM cannon.
- Lavochkin La-160 — increased accuracy and damage for 37mm N-37KM cannon.
- Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis — increased accuracy and damage for 37mm N-37D cannon.
- Bug fix for the settings of belts used by 37mm N-37KM cannon.
Germany
- Blohm & Voss Ha 137 — reduced chance of fire.
- Messerschmitt Bf 109 G Gustav — increased accuracy of hub-mounted 30mm MK-108 (1942) cannon.
- Messerschmitt Bf 109 Z Zwilling — increased accuracy of hub-mounted 30mm MK-108 (1942) cannons.
USA
- Curtiss P-36C Hawk — optimum altitude now corresponds to the regular P-36 Hawk version.
Great Britain
- Hawker Demon — improved rear field of vision.
- Blackburn Skua — improved rear field of vision.
- Supermarine Spitfire V — added new basic airframe “Spitfire III”.
- Westland P.1056 — increased damage for 40mm Rolls-Royce BH cannons.
New Planes
USA
- We’re introducing a new plane, the Lockheed F-94D Starfire, at Tier IX in the American Multirole Fighter tree. It will be researchable after the F2G Super Corsair. The Fighter Vought F6U Pirate will remain on the same tier and will be placed parallel to the new F-94D Starfire.
New Premium Shop Planes
- The Blohm und Voss Ha 137 V-1, German Tier III Attack Aircraft will become available in the Premium Shop
New Premium and Gift Planes Available for Developers and Supertesters for Testing Purposes
- Arado Ar. 67 — Germany, Tier II Fighter.
- Fieseler Fi. 98 — Germany, Tier III Attack Aircraft.
- Nakajima Ki-8 — Japan, Tier II Fighter.
Common Clans
- Clan emblem and player rank will now be shown in the player profile.
- Fixed rank display in the clan chat channel.
- Fixed the display of clan emblems on planes.
Other
- Achievements won in the “Battle against Bots” mode now properly show up on the World of Warplanes portal.
- We’re also performing an automated cleaning of the logs folder in order to free up disk space that is currently occupied by outdated log-files.
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