9 years of WOWS today

[Keyman]

Yes - 9 years today and 700 ships later...

[Frostbow]

45 minutes ago, Keyman said:

Yes - 9 years today and 700 ships later...

Congratulations! 700 ships—that's truly remarkable. 

[Keyman]

Thanks - it's way too much, play mostly some cruisers in Co-Op nowadays

 

[Admiral_Karasu]

Congratulations! You've been playing close to as long as I've been. I started around July 2015, IIRC. I don't have anywhere close to 700 ships, and I am not planning on needing that many either. I haven't tried to figure out, but it's probably a surprisingly small selection of ships that I play on more or less on a regular basis.

[Aethervox]

3 hours ago, Keyman said:

9 years today and 700 ships later...

700, wow, that's a harbour full of ships. I have about 120 active ships & a handful of port rust buckets (no Cpts on them so I know not to play them).

Did not WoWS start in 2014 (Alpha)? Wasn't official start year 2015? That would be almost 10 or even 11 full years of WoWS, I think.

[Wolfswetpaws]

7 hours ago, Keyman said:

Yes - 9 years today and 700 ships later...

Congratulations.  🙂 

[HamptonRoads]

Congrats, and a belated welcome to the forums.

[Admiral_Karasu]

4 hours ago, Aethervox said:

700, wow, that's a harbour full of ships. I have about 120 active ships & a handful of port rust buckets (no Cpts on them so I know not to play them).

Did not WoWS start in 2014 (Alpha)? Wasn't official start year 2015? That would be almost 10 or even 11 full years of WoWS, I think.

Someone might remember the official launch date, probably 2016ish. I joined up when WoWS moved into open beta myself, that was the summer of 2015. Any closed beta or alpha players around?

[Tricericon]

9 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Someone might remember the official launch date, probably 2016ish. I joined up when WoWS moved into open beta myself, that was the summer of 2015. Any closed beta or alpha players around?

I was in Alpha from the first round of English-language testing, but I couldn't tell you what the date was. 

[Captain Slattery]

1 hour ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Someone might remember the official launch date, probably 2016ish. I joined up when WoWS moved into open beta myself, that was the summer of 2015. Any closed beta or alpha players around?

I started just before the mad rush to get Missouri for 750K free xp.  Jingles had just learned that crossing the enemy "T" was a bad idea.  I did get the Nelson for 375k.

[aleksi111]

Congrats for 9y!

I don't even remember when I started WoWs, I recall playing with Erie, Hermelin & Orlan when T1's still had AP

Oldest record I found at moments notice:

 

700 ships? Holy-Kraken! How many ships you don't have?

Like real question, how many ships we have ingame?

[hipcanuck]

16 hours ago, Keyman said:

Yes - 9 years today and 700 ships later...

Gratz! I joined later in Alpha testing. Dunno the date lol

[hipcanuck]

7 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Someone might remember the official launch date, probably 2016ish. I joined up when WoWS moved into open beta myself, that was the summer of 2015. Any closed beta or alpha players around?

There are very few of the alpha's left. I think Lert was one but he's never joined here, Im another one....

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, hipcanuck said:

There are very few of the alpha's left. I think Lert was one but he's never joined here, Im another one....

 Well, actually, @Lert did join DevStrike.

[Aethervox]

12 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Someone might remember the official launch date, probably 2016ish. I joined up when WoWS moved into open beta myself, that was the summer of 2015. Any closed beta or alpha players around?

Beta play, if I recall, wasn't that long. Open Beta was a short time. Closed Beta came quickly afterward. I have the flag for that (as well as the Alpha flag, ofc). I don't recall the official WoWS launch date either - I would say that was in 2016, as well (probably Fall 2016). The clue must be the WG WoWS anniversary date.

4 hours ago, hipcanuck said:

There are very few of the alpha's left. I think Lert was one but he's never joined here, Im another one....

I got into Alpha at the end of that game development cycle (Aug/Sept 2015?). Was fortunate to get accepted cause I didn't have a lot of time to play the necessary number of battles to gain the Iwaki Alpha reward ship (I did, ofc, wasn't going to play WoWS without the inducement reward at that time 😁).  I'm not sure when Alpha started - Spring 2015, perhaps?  Maybe someone knows what the beginning date of Alpha actually was.

[Admiral_Karasu]

7 hours ago, Aethervox said:

Beta play, if I recall, wasn't that long. Open Beta was a short time. Closed Beta came quickly afterward. I have the flag for that (as well as the Alpha flag, ofc). I don't recall the official WoWS launch date either - I would say that was in 2016, as well (probably Fall 2016). The clue must be the WG WoWS anniversary date.

I got into Alpha at the end of that game development cycle (Aug/Sept 2015?). Was fortunate to get accepted cause I didn't have a lot of time to play the necessary number of battles to gain the Iwaki Alpha reward ship (I did, ofc, wasn't going to play WoWS without the inducement reward at that time 😁).  I'm not sure when Alpha started - Spring 2015, perhaps?  Maybe someone knows what the beginning date of Alpha actually was.

My understanding is that spring 2015 was closed beta still, or maybe just the start of the open beta. I don't remember if you I joined up right at the start of the open beta or a little bit later. When I was having a look at the earliest posts that were on the official forums, they seemed to be roughly in the spring of 2015, and that wasn't the original WoWS forum, WG had trashed that one. So alpha would have needed to be in 2014, I think, or if it was a very short period, early 2015.

[desmo_2]

July 1, 2015 was the end of closed beta and the first day of open beta.  That's when I started.  Full game release was September 2015.

[Aethervox]

3 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

So alpha would have needed to be in 2014, I think,

OK, I do recall the end of Alpha testing was in the Fall (Sept/Oct?), so 2014 then.

3 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

My understanding is that spring 2015 was closed beta still,

OK, TY

3 hours ago, desmo_2 said:

July 1, 2015 was the end of closed beta and the first day of open beta.

OK, TY

3 hours ago, desmo_2 said:

Full game release was September 2015.

OK, TY

3 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

the earliest posts that were on the official forums, they seemed to be roughly in the spring of 2015,

OK, interesting

3 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

wasn't the original WoWS forum, WG had trashed that one.

More interesting. Perhaps, someone may be able to tell us more about this - why that early feedback loop was removed.

Being a history nut, all these WoWS game development markers are good to know.

So, WoWS has been around since early to mid 2014 then? (when Alpha began, whenever that started - anyone know exactly?).

[Justin_Simpleton]

How many players were playing WoWs in Alpha? Beta?

[Aethervox]

15 minutes ago, Justin_Simpleton said:

How many players were playing WoWs in Alpha? Beta?

I do know the population grew from Alpha to Beta. I expect someone from WoWS in those days would have some idea of the numbers.

WG was (in 2014) advertising on their game launching website for players for Alpha version WoWS. You had to apply to join. When I found out WG was planning a naval game, I applied in Aug 2014? & got in at the end so I played WoWS Alpha in Sept 2014.  Alpha ended sometime in Oct (I think). I was in the last month/month & a half of it so was very fortunate to get the Iwaki Alpha  (the 'Death Pickle' as it became known as).  Ofc, not that I play it like some can, still it is a 'nice' Cruiser with teeth 😁. 

[Justin_Simpleton]

Was the in-game voice chat used back then?  Discord?

[hipcanuck]

9 hours ago, Aethervox said:

I do know the population grew from Alpha to Beta. I expect someone from WoWS in those days would have some idea of the numbers.

WG was (in 2014) advertising on their game launching website for players for Alpha version WoWS. You had to apply to join. When I found out WG was planning a naval game, I applied in Aug 2014? & got in at the end so I played WoWS Alpha in Sept 2014.  Alpha ended sometime in Oct (I think). I was in the last month/month & a half of it so was very fortunate to get the Iwaki Alpha  (the 'Death Pickle' as it became known as).  Ofc, not that I play it like some can, still it is a 'nice' Cruiser with teeth 😁. 

I joined late alpha, no Iwaki for me 😞  There was MUCH complaining the game wasnt ready for release or even open beta due to the amount of influence a CV had on the outcome. Another concern was the amount of influence a DD had in the absence of a CV. DD's were the next most powerful ship due to their ability to fire without losing concealment if they were beyond their detection range, it was not uncommon for a BB to be burnt to the waterline by a DD and never see it...

The game was pushed to release due to perceived pressure from another naval game release, NavyField2, and some of the devs and many WoWs players came from version 1 of NF. NF was a popular Korean game (far more North American players in NF than there ever was in WoWs), extremely grindy and there was far more to the game than the battles. I would hazard a guess that some of the reasons for the oversimplification of WoWs results from the devs not wanting the complication of NF.

Its too bad that the Alpha/Beta section of the forums was deleted early on and not opened for everyone to see. There were some very 'animated' discussions lol