Captains! This year, World of Warships is celebrating its Fifth Anniversary.
Five years of battles out on our virtual seas and oceans,
5 years of overcoming hardships,
and 5 years of victories and discoveries.
A long history of development and the contribution
of hundreds of developers and millions of players stand behind all that.
This is the perfect occasion to remember how our game has developed,
changed, and evolved over time.
Five years ago it all began with eight branches and 60 ships.
Now, the game has more than 400 ships and thirty branches—
the result of hard work that never stops.
In our game, everyone can find a ship to suit their taste:
Bismark with secondary armament for close quarters combat
or Yamato with her famous guns;
the stealthy torpedo attacks of Shimakaze
or risky gameplay from a distance of Khabarovsk;
the versatility and reliability of Des Moines
or daring gameplay of Minotaur;
or perhaps even aircraft
that can unleash destructive assaults upon any reckless opponents.
Dozens of upgrades, signals, and Commander skills
allow you to finely tune ships to suit your personal playstyle.
But the locations where you fight
are just as important as the ships you fight on.
Our naval battles began with five locations,
but we kept adding new maps and updating existing ones
so that everyone could find new ways to interact with them.
The game now has more than 40 maps,
and each of them is unique in its own way.
Just like in real life,
the outcomes of battles also depend on weather:
a sudden Cyclone or Thunderstorm Front
can add fresh colors to a familiar map and change the course of battle.
Our geography is truly rich:
the harsh rocks of the North and picturesque isles of Greece;
the vast straits of Trident and archipelagos of Loop—
you never know where a battle might take place!
Each battle has its own rules.
We started with a couple of modes in Random Battles,
and now you can demonstrate your skills in Ranked and Clan Battles,
complete tactical tasks in Operations,
improve your ship in the "Arms Race" mode,
or even use a magic portal to embark on adventures
to another dimension and defeat a mythical opponent.
Or perhaps, even become one yourself.
But you can't fight all the time—
even seasoned seawolves need tea breaks.
We started out with just two quiet harbors,
but have increased their number to more than 20!
The cold beauty of Fjords, the explosions of Dunkirk,
the lights of Naval Base, skyscrapers of New York—
everyone will find a fitting home for their squadrons.
Diving into the atmosphere is much easier with quality sound,
and our team has never missed an opportunity to improve it.
We began with several tracks and static voiceovers in three languages,
but now we have dynamic music of different kinds
that changes over the course of battle.
For those who like something special,
we have Commanders with unique voiceovers—
from our very own Dasha Perova
to new Commanders from the Transformers universe.
Each gun and engine in the game has its own unique sound,
with a total of more than 2,000 ambient sounds—
from the sounds of seagulls to the clanks of ricocheting shells.
This kind of approach allows you to dive deeply into the gameplay
and creates a real feeling of presence.
The game of battleships has traveled a long way
from sheets of paper to the breathtaking battles on the screen of your PC.
We've been improving textures, implementing new technologies,
changing the lighting,
and making the ship details even more refined
and closer to their historical originals.
We've also been changing and improving the effects
to make explosions more spectacular and smoke even denser.
We've combined advanced technology with great performance,
so everyone can enjoy the thrilling views of battles at sea.
The game is always progressing—
the gameplay continually evolves and transforms.
This allows the game to stay fresh
so that you can enjoy each new battle.
We started with just a few types of consumables, upgrades, and signals.
But every year, we've pushed forward;
searched for ways to improve the game;
added new mechanics, consumables, types of shells, and torpedoes;
we've completely reworked the gameplay of aircraft carriers
and are currently working on an entirely new ship type—submarines.
If we look back, we can see the long road our game has traveled,
but what's more exciting
is that we have many important and cool moments ahead of us.
The game economy started with credits,
free XP, doubloons, and combat missions,
but with each year, it has continually evolved and moved forward.
The Armory with Coal and Steel was introduced,
we also introduced Campaigns and collections
that tell the stories behind important historical events,
and we introduced missions with new conditions
and provided the opportunity to build your own ship at the Dockyard.
Game events on the whole also significantly changed.
They take place under one theme for several updates in a row.
Clans have the opportunity to build their own bases
and improve them to get more and more bonuses.
Starting with simple things,
we've created a large system of economics
that allows everyone to get their own rewards depending on their playstyle—
from leisurely gathering daily containers
or steadily completing missions,
to achieving stellar victories in the Hurricane League.
One might think "How did the Autobots from Transformers
or post-apocalyptic raiders end up appearing in a game about steel giants?"
We know that our players have various hobbies outside of the game,
and we're always trying to find new ways to support what you like.
This sometimes takes the form of adding themed camouflages
and Commanders with unique voiceovers,
developing new modes that allow you to go into space and visit other worlds,
and collaborating with famous personalities.
But at the same time, history is an integral part of the game—
your ships can be led into battle by famous Commanders
such as Isoroku Yamamoto, William Halsey, Nikolay Kuznetsov,
Andrew Cunningham, Luigi Sansonetti, and Günther Lütjens.
Our game has a place for different plots and characters,
but it's the naval battles of the first half of the 20th century
that are always at its foundations.
Tournaments, memes, mods, videos, and guides—
those are only a few of the things that you, our players, create.
Thousands of posts and forum discussions;
dozens, and even hundreds, of bans for those who don't follow the rules;
mentorship for new players;
testing new game content;
and, of course—hundreds of thousands of battles in your favorite game.
It's all thanks to you, our dear players.
We would like to thank each and every one of you,
and hope that all of your battles bring you joy.
We would also like to pay tribute to the moderators,
supertesters, contributors and other volunteers.
Thank you for being with us and helping make the game better.
These 5 years we spent together were rich with events.
Some things didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked,
but it has been interesting nonetheless.
The things that we do are only possible thanks to you—our players.
I hope that we have many years of naval battles ahead of us
that we'll take part in side by side.
May luck be on your side in battle.
We'll keep making exciting updates for you!
Stay with us, it'll be fun!