Wargaming, publisher and developer of top naval combat game World of Warships, is celebrating 8 years on the high seas! To mark the occasion, a vibrant wash of anniversary content and bonuses has made landfall, and the advancements delivered with the new update are taking things up another notch in the game. Since Update 12.7 World of Warships delivers major improvements to the in-game graphics and audio, the addition of the Airship Escort mode to Random Battles, and a fleet of Spanish cruisers leaving Early Access. The update also welcomes “Arpeggio of Blue Steel -Ars Nova-” back to the game, brings four new Brawls to get in on, and continues the construction of a Tier X destroyer in the Dockyard.
All aboard for the 8th anniversary of Warships!
Celebrating 8 years since the launch of World of Warships, Update 12.8 is ready to get the party started. Kicking off on September 14, players can unlock various rewards in the form of battle performance bonuses and Festive Tokens. These Tokens can be redeemed for each player’s choice of reward, with camouflages, discounts for Tier VIII ships, French Tier VIII cruiser Bayard, containers, and Supercontainers up for grabs, as well as a host of common, special, and rare economic bonuses. To crank the birthday celebrations up another gear, World of Warships is welcoming European Tier IX battleship Karl XIV Johan to the game, along with a special permanent camouflage, three Commanders with individual voiceovers, and a very special flag and patch!
Airship Escort makes its way into Random Battles
After two previous iterations as a distinct battle mode, a new-and-improved Airship Escort drops into Random Battles to switch up the combat situation. With a 12 vs. 12 format that’s open to ships of all classes, spanning Tier VII to superships, players will escort their allied airship along a fixed route to beat the rival team to the destination. Alternatively, a team can destroy their convoy to claim the win. This overhauled version of the mode sees updated routes and changed spawn points across a number of maps, a number of new indicators for airship speed and location, and fresh rewards for the Random Battle economy.
Graphics enhancements
Since Update 12.7, World of Warships has received major improvements to graphics and audio. High-detail textures have been incorporated into several maps, including New Dawn, Polar, and Islands. This hyperrealism extends to the water, which welcomes improved animations for waves that splash onto ships, as well as better general splash quality. The local fauna for the maps are also getting improvements, as well as increased numbers—more fish, birds, dolphins, and sharks will make an appearance. Several islands have also benefitted from improved collision models to accurately prevent passing ships from coming into contact with their perimeters. Beyond these environmental updates are improved audio-visual combat effects. Shots fired from main, secondary, and AA batteries, as well as explosions, now have improved effects that vary according to the target ship’s speed and the shell’s caliber. Impacts are also accompanied by improved audio to mimic the effects of hearing the sounds of battle from a distance. On top of this, the soundscape of Warships adapts to the battle situation, moving from battle sounds during combat with enemy ships to ambient sounds during calmer moments of combat.
Spanish cruisers and the return of “Arpeggio of Blue Steel -Ars Nova-”
Closing out this update’s brand-new content, Spanish cruisers are leaving Early Access to become available for all players, and “Arpeggio of Blue Steel -Ars Nova-” is returning to World of Warships’ waters to face off against the Fleet of Fog once more. Update 12.8 also welcomes four fresh Brawls that will take place with their own unique Division formats, and it also sees the continued construction of Pan-Asian Tier X destroyer Lüshun in the Dockyard. Players can also expect a number of bug fixes, upgrades, and balance changes across the game.
Watch the 12.8 video update HERE.
You can find the full patch notes HERE.
