[p]At the beginning of 2025
via our Roadmap we identified a clear mission to address longstanding community concerns of getting a better handle of population balance. For way too long, one side was rolling the other one mercilessly during campaign offensives, which was often exciting for the people with the momentum and completely crushing for the other side on the receiving end.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
Full Video briefing discussing below (audio commentary from Xoom directly)[/p][p]Now today WWII Online players are experiencing a much healthier experience, and better battles because of it. For example, today is
Day 99 of Campaign 212. The number one tool supporting this?
Side Lock (for free play only)
. Hands down the most important and effective tool the game has ever introduced to manage balancing.[/p][p][/p][h2]DATA ANALYSIS[/h2][p]Here's some important data to consider as we compare May 2025 to July 2025 numbers:[/p]
- [p]May 2025 (No Side Lock)[/p]
- [p]Number of bad imbalances (+/- 10): 1,170[/p]
- [p]Worst imbalance registered: Overpop had +57 more players on one side.[/p]
- [p]July 2025 (Side Lock Enabled)[/p]
- [p]Number of bad imbalances (+/- 10): 903[/p]
- [p]Reduction of 23% compared to prior.[/p]
- [p]Worst imbalance registered: Overpop had +36 more players on one side.[/p]
- [p]Reduction of 37% compared to prior.[/p]
- [p]Total number of player logins actually grew by 1% in July compared to May.[/p]
- [p]In 2024, WWII Online held 4 campaigns between May-July. So far in 2025 in the same period, we are still fighting the same one. https://stats.wwiionline.com/winhistory.php[/p]
- [p]Data points for 1&2 were derived by a 10 minute pull of our database the entirety of each hour/day for the corresponding month.[/p]
[p][/p][p]We will continue to monitor these numbers as well as how other factors influence the direction and flow of the campaign. This ultimately remains an active work in progress and is subject to further modifications at any time based on global data, trends and needs of the game to address a healthier game play environment.[/p][p][/p][h2]SIDE COMMANDER FEEDBACK[/h2][p]Here's what your Side Commanders think of things as of recent.[/p][p][/p][p]
Itafolgore - Axis Commander in Chief[/p][p]"Since the introduction of the sidelock, we’ve seen better campaign balance and fewer cities lost without resistance from the enemy. This is leading to an exceptionally long campaign with several turnarounds and, in most cases, well-balanced and enjoyable battles. I’m convinced we’re on the right track. It’s true that in this case free-to-play players may not appreciate being shifted from one faction to another, but with a more engaging and dynamic game, they’ll likely be more motivated to subscribe to a premium membership in order to play in their preferred faction. That said, we’ll need to assess the effectiveness of the sidelock over the long term, but for now, the impression is positive."[/p][p][/p][p]
Wegue - Allied Commander in Chief[/p][p]"The question we must ask is whether, in the long run, the side lock will help the game's population grow or will it penalize it, because many F2P players won't like feeling forced to play one side.[/p][p]One of people's biggest problems is campaigns lost in two days. Right now, we're experiencing the longest campaigns in a long time. Therefore, I'm against any change based on "short-term balance." Balance is already here, and looking for more is folly. I'm in favor of removing it, on the other hand, if it's considered better from a strategic standpoint.[/p][p]There's no point in making decisions based on emotions and people who have no idea what management is. Messures have been implemented, and they have improved the game's balance. Therefore, they should undergo a longer testing period to see how they perform under other conditions, especially in the fall and winter."[/p][p][/p][h2]TARGETING TIME ZONE 3[/h2][p]One of our longstanding issues has been time zone 3 (TZ3), which could be defined as around 11PM-6AM PST (when most people are sleeping, as in 95% of the playerbase). To date this has allowed a small portion of our players from across the world (which is now growing due to translations coming back online) or about 5%-ish to potentially change crucial battle areas and the time invested of players.[/p][p]
One solution has already been implemented to combat this: Require a minimum number of players to be online and present on the underpopulated side to receive an Attack Objective. This has slowed things down a little bit and coupled with Side Lock being on, has balanced things out to be more effective. [/p][p]
A secondary solution is now being assembled by CRS with majority community support to help combat this further, which is to slow-down capture speeds based on specific hours of the game.[/p][p]
How it would work: If we determine between 11PM-6AM PST (GMT-8) is TZ3, we create an hourly modifier to slow down capturing to what we find fits. So for example, at 11PM the server capture rates would be reduced by 50% (requiring double the time). So if 1 person could normally capture a facility in 120 seconds, now it would take 240 seconds. Then when 7AM arrives, capture rates return to normal.
The cool part is we can modify each hour accordingly to what we need, and can make those changes easily only requiring a server restart - not a complete patch deployment. This gives our Game Management team an opportunity to respond in a reasonable time frame.[/p][p][/p][h2]REMOVING CAMPAIGN STAGNATION[/h2][p]The game hasn't been this closely balanced in my 15 years of being here at CRS, and with that comes the need to make adjustments in other areas. In this case, we don't want to see a side get its rear mercilessly kicked - but we also don't want the feeling of a stalemate.[/p][p][/p][p]Here are some active priorities we are working to reduce that feeling of stagnation:[/p]
- [p]Capture timers have recently been reduced, making caps faster. (Live)[/p]
- [p]See chart below.[/p]
- [p]We have made the 2nd Attack Objective (AO) more accessible for HC. (Live)[/p]
- [p]This allows for maneuvering and transitioning AOs better.[/p]
- [p]Supply audit, with a focus to reduce Garrison supply including less automatic infantry weapons, tanks (and equivalent anti-tank capabilities) and air supply. (In Progress, quite involved).[/p]
[p][/p][p]Old Capture Speeds (per infantryman in a CP)[/p]
- [p]180 -- 1 guy[/p]
- [p]90 -- 2[/p]
- [p]60 -- 3[/p]
- [p]50 -- 4[/p]
- [p]40 -- 5[/p]
- [p]30 -- 6+[/p]
[p][/p][p]Revised (EFFECTIVE NOW)[/p]
- [p]120 -- 1 guy[/p]
- [p]60 -- 2[/p]
- [p]30 -- 3+[/p]
[p][/p][p]All of this is a work in progress. Our 2025 roadmap is mostly complete and we are accomplishing big things behind the scenes. We hope this acts as a demonstration of being proactive in working to address your day-day campaign experience. CRS is in the trenches and engaging our players on multiple platforms to get the best input available and are actively working and iterating new solutions to better the game driven by data analysis and maintaining the integrity of product design.[/p][p]We look forward to seeing the return of many of our players from their summer vacation to see the improvements being made outlined above, it should be a notably better experience.[/p][p]
Development news: Coming soon we will be talking about Open Beta for Prediction/Smoothing testing for 1.37.15.0, which represents the largest code re-write in the last 15 years and is actively underway internally. This is all about how your game client sees another player and directly optimizes this entire process.[/p][p]
Subscribe and support WWII Online development. Remember to keep recruiting and bring more players into the game, this helps us grow.[/p]