After Sres’s posts here on MMO-Symposium I decided to give Battleground Europe (World War II Online) a go and signed up for the free trial.
As is usual for me I didn’t do any training other than the first few tutorials you have to complete before you can see active duty, all of which only took around 5-10 mins.
With a sense of national pride I decided to opt for the British Army to start with, though you can play as the French and Axis (Germans) at any time. You are allowed a separate persona for the French, Axis and British forces. Each is then further split into Army, Navy and Air Force giving you 9 persona’s in total. I’m assuming you can have one of each as I haven’t tried yet, I’m sticking to the British forces for now.
I played a few short sessions managing a couple of kills and also experiencing life as a Para, dropping down from planes to so soft caps (capping towns with no resistance), this was all done in the intermission. An intermission is the time between a campaign ending and another starting, a time when you can try all weapon and vehicle classes.
My first taste of live action came last night, I managed a couple of hours play time as my router’s been acting up and I didn’t fancy crashing on my group in Everquest 2 as I play healers most of the time.
The picture you see above is from my first steps into a live campaign. The first thing you do is choose a Brigade which is split into sets of active troops on various missions, if the brigade has missions available. I choose to fight with the Special Air Services, though you can change your brigade at any time. You can also join squads and you will be offered the chance to join some when you choose a brigade, I declined as I’m hoping Sres will let me in his. As you can see from the pic I chose a rifle class as it is the only option available at rank 1.
The mission for the group I joined was to defend a town named Sedan, it seemed quiet at first
until I heard gunfire and went to investigate.
I made my way around the town hearing more gunfire and dodging bombs dropped by the enemy air force, always on the lookout for enemy infantry. I could have sworn I heard someone walking nearby and the map didn’t show friendly troops, but despite the sounds I couldn’t find anyone to shoot at.
I decided to take a walk out into the fields to the south where I’d heard enemy infantry had been sighted. It can take a while to get places on foot though you don’t actually notice the time passing as your always keeping an eye out the the next bullet with your name on it.
After a long walk/crouch/crawl (have to keep hidden), I spotted movement in a nearby bush and dropped to the ground. I could just about see a head poking out of the undergrowth so took a potshot at it…. a groan came from the said bush and there it was, my first active campaign kill!
I kept moving towards up the hill where I figured there might be a mobile spawn point (a truck you can spawn from), I’d heard you can kill them by shooting the driver. I managed a few more kills before a shot rang out and I dropped like a stone, something you get used to in this game. You will often find yourself dead without ever seeing where the bullet came from, something which actually makes the game more interesting as you don’t notice time passing when your watching out for inbound death.
As you can see from the pic to the right, I managed to take out 6 enemy infantry in my first active spawn, I was pretty pleased with that. One thing you might notice from the stats pic is the time on mission, 66 minutes. I had no idea that I’d spent that much time on one life. The top left of the pic shows rank 1 (77% to rank 2). I think this was my rank before I spawned as upon my death I had a message saying I’d made rank 2. My kills/caps during the intermission helped me towards my new rank. In my next few spawns I managed a few more kills but no spawn was as successful as the first.
I’ve enjoyed my first few gaming sessions in Battleground Europe and will be playing on past the trial. It will make a good second game to Everquest 2 for now, I like to have a bit of PvP now and again. I can’t promise many hours in game as the majority of my time will be in Everquest 2. Despite the fact I spend 66 minutes before my first death, Battleground Europe is a game you can just hop into and be in the action in a few minutes. So if I only have an hour or half hour to play I can get something done.
I’m sure I’ll be posting more accounts of my in game action before long. I’m going to get a joystick to try vehicles and planes out, using a mouse was a bit of a disaster. I managed to crash 4 planes before going far and the 5th I managed to get moving along the ground, down a hill and into a tree!
Related posts:
MMOYeti:
mmosymposium:
WodgeFTW:
MMOSres:
Hmmm perhaps you should try a joystick in EQ2 as well, Yetian?
Might have to check this one out after all. Especially as I've been busy lately and havent been able to commit for longer sessions of EQ2. Ofcourse my schedule will clear up soon…(pretty please?)
I still remember my Delta Force days, lying on a hill far, far away covering different areas with my sniper-rifle. Sounds like WWII sport some sneaky, cowardly snipering gameplay….which ofcourse is my absolute favourite when it comes to FPSs!
I'm please that you had an enjoyable playing experiece. Battleground Europe is a pretty unique MMO with a very dedicate and passionate customer base. If you have any questions about our game, feel free to send me an e-mail or PM me in-game and I'll be happy to help.
TOPD
Assistant Game Manager
Cornered Rat Software
topd@playnet.com
Tanks TOPD will do.
I'm sure our very own Sres will talk me through the basics, whether he likes it or not.
Hope you enjoy our blog, you too Parab.
Careful Ffaffner might forget where my heal buttons are during our next EQ2 group session.
If you fancy trying Battleground Europe you can always give the 14 day trial a go.
Always nice to see new people find the game.
Joystick is a must for flying…
Also, 110 is the greatest aircraft ingame, take it from me…
Nice to heard you had a good first time experience and a great first mission.
Look forward to running into you in-game.
If you can find yourself one of us subscribers (sres could do it for you if he felt nice), we can send you a month trial period rather than the standard 14 days.
You started a bit of a reminiscing session on the forums with your exceptional first sortie
I've already started the first trial, so not sure if I can be sent a free month now I've started Cerpin.
Thanks for all the comments.
Hope you keep reading.
Welcome aboard, Yetian!
I began playing in 2001 and have never been able to walk away from this game. Every campaign is different, every session sees a new and interesting battle, never the same twice.
Hope to catch you online someday.
S!
MOTORMOUTH
Public and Community Relations
Playnet Inc.
Always good to have more targets to shoot at! (Though from the looks of your first mission, it's more likely that you'll be shooting me…)
If you ever have any questions, please ask. You can also find official trainers on the help channel and/or by typing /trainer in the chat.
That is an excellent first sortie. Prepair to die a lot and dont get discouraged, it happens to all of us.
There are many people (called trainers) that are willing to help new players to get to know how the game works.
As your rank increases so does your selection of weapons and your ingame fun.
Enjoy. Hope to see you on the battle field.
It was more for ffafner, as you're right once you're email is used you can't be sent another trial. Something you must know about WWIIOL players is that we're always always looking for more people to sell our crack to, even if it means invading blogs
BTW I agree with you on the monthly sub stuff(in the last post you made), you find players turn up more especially when compared to single purchase FPS games (or flight sims) when it's not just your time they're wasting, but their own money too.
That is an amazing first sortie. You were /willing/ to crawl and hide and keep listening. That is why you survived so long. If you play like real war – you will do amazing…but a 6 kill rifleman mission shows you are a very good gamer. Anything better than 1:1 with that weapon shows you know what you are doing.
Good job. Good review.
(flying is quite realistic and takes training. Do it on the free Training server – you don't lose a lot of planes that way. :> )
I have been playing Battlefield Europe (WWIIonline) since June of 2001. Very few people have the patience it takes to really learn the game. Congrats on that.
I never ever heard of anyone getting 6 kills as a rifleman their very first sorty. That is a high number for even veterans. Only the very best riflemen can get kill numbers that high very often.
Two most important tips. Find a good squad your comfortable with and get on teamspeak asap.
See you on the battlefield.
I think it was fluke. I've only had 1 or 2 per sortie since, I think trying to catch up with Sres caused my deaths last night, another lesson learned. When working with someone else make sure you don't follow their path right away, if an enemy is lurking. I think they spot the first person but don't manage to get a shot off and then see me running when looking for the other.
I'll learn in time, we have Wodge from here also giving the trial a go, though he got 30 days rather than 14 thanks to Sres.
I've joined Sres's squad the Hussars, they seem a good bunch so far. I also had tips from Sres on Xfire chat last night though I was having problems hearing him due to the in game sound. I had Xfire chat volume on max and turned game sound down but it didn't seem to alter the in game volume.
Nice write up look forward to more like it. Game is awesome!
Great post, and congrats on such an awesome first sortie!
I've been playing for 6 years, and still find new experiences in game, but rifle play is still my favorite. For the best experience I recommend a good mouse and good headphones — surround sound ones if you can afford it — because there is just as much information to gain from what you hear as what you see. A single shot can tell you exact direction, friendly or enemy, and about how far away. From there you can avoid or sneak up on the guy, even if he's completely hidden.
Unless you plan to fly fighters, a cheap joystick will be fine and makes using the vehicles much easier. Good luck, I'll be watching out for the greentag pwning me!
Welcome to WWIIOL!
And let me say "Wow!"
I have no idea how long it took me to get a single mission with 6 kills, but it was a long time!
The sheer size of the game world makes some pretty cool stuff possible, and you really can lose track of time as you maneuver in it.
Very good writeup
I've been playing BE/wwiiol since 7/7/01 and still I can't seem to stop playing.
There are many types of gameplay to be had. You can play dead serious and try to keep your stats/kill to death ratio high. You can just go in and play for fun and hang the stats. There is the HCs where you can join and be one of those who move the brigades and set attack orders (AOs).
Basicly you can lead, follow or just go your own way.
There are also trainers that will answer questions and try to help as best they can (type .tr in the chat for the list of trainers online).
A six kill rifle sortie marks you as a promising player. That's a good number for a multi-year vet.
After a while, you'll probably develop a preference for one unit category or another; there are so many to chose from. Pretty soon, you'll have mastered that unit and others will look to you to perform that role in operations. You'll earn a "rep". When you reach the point, usually in a (Sres's) squad, you be part of an organized team. As you progress in the game, friendships develop, even across battle lines. I work unusual hours, so the people I spend the most time with are my friends from all over the world who play this game. That, for me, is the best part. Win/lose, kill/die, you're with friends you chose. It doesn't get any better than that.
As Sres sent me a gift-account, I am now proud to be a part of the british polygon army!
I squeezed in a few hours of play yesterday evening. It was supposed to be just 30 mins, and it DID feel like 30 mins…but I ended up going to sleep way too late. Oh well, it's not like I havent experienced that before.
I must say that my first shot at WWII:BE wasn't as succesful as Yetians. I have yet to make a kill, but I've already felt my impact on the WWII-world by securing a bunch of german soldiers a better score, oh yes AND I made a guard in a guardtower very happy too. That was right after I found out that the guard was either the german Supermann, or a sneaky NPC not supposed to be killable by my puny rifle.
I still have some practise to do on landing in a good spot after jumping out of a plane. I succeded in landing litteraly ON some kind of hellish german warmachine, and can only imagine the size of the exit-wound in my chest after that experience. My third jump actually took me where I wanted to be, and after defeating quite a stretch of ruins, I came up behind an unsuspecting gerry! Deciding on using the rifle instead of a grenade (this due to an earlier miscalculation regarding angle, time and applied strength to the throwing of a grenade *cough*) I carefully took aim, and…well, I succeded in gloriously ending the miserable life of a german sandbag….twice.
The sandbag must've been very dear to the german soldier standing behind it, as he opted for the "Swift Revenge"-approach to my rude greeting.
I have no idea where the bullet hit me, but for a split second I could see in his eyes that it probably went exactly where intended *fade to black*
I cant wait to get back in, and get into some communication with my fellow players, as I guess it is needed a lot in this game. I know this game has been around for some years, and IMO it could use a few..JUST a few graphical upgrades here and there.
I usually need a certain degree of detail in graphics to fully immerse myself in a gaming world, but one thing in WWII:BE really makes up for the dated graphics: The wonderful, wonderful view-distance. To me that is the most immersive part of online-worlds, and the feeling of being a recruit sitting in a world war 2 plane with a bunch of fellow soldier eagerly waiting to jump out and into battle, really hits me when I stare out the window watching kilometer upon kilometer of land passing by in the horizon.
I won't be on tonight Faff, but I'll make sure we meet up and hit you up with some training. One of the most difficult parts of this game is actually spotting the enemy.
I've always said it's like those magic eye posters from the '90s. Once you've seen one enemy unit the battlefield comes alive.
Recognising vehicle noises, gauging distance and direction are the main things to learn after that on foot you've basically mastered the game.
Off to buy a new joystick this lunch time
Nice start! Welcome to the game and remember to say goodby to your free time lol.
I remember when i started playing, i couldnt see the enemy let alone kill them for a few days, it does take a while to adjust to the game, and like Sres says, once you see one enemy, then you start to realise, the battlefield is crawling with them!
The beauty of this game is not only the combat, the constant fear that your next step could walk you right into the line of sight of a enemy tank, sniper, or if your unlucky, a enemy bomb! Its the way battles play out, they are truly dynamic, truly dictated by the players, and the consequence of a battle in Sedan, can have dire results somewhere else. It is captivating!
And of course if you get bored being constantly killed as a para or a infantry soldier, then you can always try being killed constantly in a plane, tank, AAA gun, ATG or even a ship!
I've been playing off and on since 2001 and it is the only game I return to. It can be a bit punishing to the newbie but if you do the training and get with a good squad it makes a world of difference. If you put invest a little effort and patience this is the most rewarding game I have ever played. I've played a laundry list of MMOs and have been gaming for many years. WW2 Online has created some of my most memorable, white knuckle and fantastic moments ever…I recommend it to anyone. A joystick is a must for flying. I don't use one for tanks, vehicles, or gunning, however.
Well…if fellow NeXians are playing I might download the trial….
Sure Tovak, always good to have another neXian in game. We are all part of the Hussar's squad so you can join their numbers.
I had a good fighting session with Ffaff and Wodge today.
If you ask Sres nicely via a neXus PM he might send you a trial.
pm me on nexus site Tovak with full name and email address and I'll bung you a 30 day trial mate.
The grafics may seem so, but they are not that dated. The problem is the longest view distance in any game, coupled with the largest number of players than can be in view at one time(128) that governs the number of polygons an object can have. To have standalonoe or 32 player graphics would not be possible. Those games use buildings, fog etc to foreshorten their map views so that you never see more than about 200 meters compared to 8k meters while flying, about 3k as infantry. Also, WW2OL has the most in depth physics model ever. Each round is tracked for 3k or till it loses all its energy with the damage done as it flies. CRS has to make a choice of FPS vs graphics. You play EQ2..how often have you walked 2 steps and suddenly you see mountain ranges? In ww2ol what is there is what you see, so…the dated looking graphics give your fps.
I agree with you hardcase, I don't have a problem with the graphics at all. I was just trying to give a general overview in my first post to those that play other MMO's. I think the view distance is much more important in WW2OL.
Great first mission and welcome to the Allied side. With The Rats close to releasing another major patch soon [1.30] the game will continue being graphically updated as well.
This game is most likely the most addictive you will play once you get hooked.Every day something will happen that you will just stop and think wow.
Wait until you witness a 20 bomber formation pass over your head 400 metres above to be followed by the paras in c47's. I still stop and watch …..
One game with so much to see , been playing since 04 and still havent seen every town yet.