Blücher Dockyard, Unbreakable Line, Efficiency Badges and more - Closed Test 14.3
Welcome back to the DevBlog, Captains! We're here to shed some light on what's coming to the game in Update 14.3. Let's get right to it!
Dockyard: Blücher
A new Dockyard commences with Update 14.3, featuring Tier IX German cruiser Blücher! Another ship, Tier VII Commonwealth cruiser Gambia, will additionally be available as an intermediate reward. Catch the details below!
The second ship of the Admiral Hipper class of heavy cruisers to be completed, Blücher was among the main participants in the German invasion of Norway and Denmark in 1940. As the flagship of the squadron intended to capture Oslo, the cruiser was sunk in an engagement with Norwegian coastal fortifications on April 9, 1940.
In-game, Blücher excels at punishing broadsides, as her main battery features improved dispersion and deadly AP shells with improved ricochet angles and flat ballistics. Enemy cruisers caught slacking will find themselves in a world of hurt, and even battleships should take care to not expose too much side. For dealing with angled enemy ships, Blücher is also armed with HE shells which have improved penetration. The ship has improved armor in her extremities at a thickness of 27mm and access to Engine Boost. When captaining Blücher, be sure to keep to medium and long ranges.
The Dockyard is broken up into 20 phases, of which a total of 18 can be completed through combat missions. The remaining two phases will have to be purchased with Doubloons—either individually or as part of starter packs.
Each phase can be purchased for 2,000 Doubloons; there are also starter packs of 2 and 6 phases available for 3,200 and 7,800 Doubloons, respectively. These are only available until you complete 4 phases with combat missions, so make sure to pick them up early if you want to use them!
Tier VII cruiser Gambia will be your intermediate reward at phase 8. Unlike her sister ship Fiji, Gambia features HE shells and a Short Burst Smoke Generator, making her an excellent deterrent to enemy battleships getting a little too aggressive.
Combat missions will be available through Update 14.3 and the first three weeks of Update 14.4. During the last week, you'll still be able to complete phases with doubloons, but be quick—the Dockyard will be removed with the beginning of Update 14.5!
Unbreakable Line
The captain no longer has to go down with the ship—get ready to engage in fast-paced battle and put relentless pressure on the enemy! Available during Update 14.3, Unbreakable Line is a separate battle type with an exciting twist: it allows sunk ships to respawn! Let's go over some of the key details:
- Battles take place with Tier VIII and IX ships in a format preliminarily set at 7v7, though this figure is subject to change after further testing. The game mode will consist of Domination-style capture points but with a shorter 15-minute duration. As for ship types, only battleships, cruisers, and destroyers will be able to participate. Battles will be fought on smaller-than-usual maps.
- Upon destruction, ships will respawn!
- You'll be able to respawn an unlimited number of times.
- Upon respawning, you'll keep any Combat Instruction progress, and all armament except for torpedoes will be reloaded, but note that your consumable charges aren't refreshed upon spawn—don't use them all up too early! Your ship will respawn outside of the map and will receive some temporary buffs to help them get back into the action, such as improved speed, acceleration, and concealment.
- Like standard Domination battles, victory can be achieved by either reaching 1,000 points or destroying enough enemy ships to bring their score to 0.
- However, note that destroying all enemy ships presently on the map will not necessarily result in a victory—they'll just come back for more!
- Destroying enemy ships will provide you with points, as usual.
- Unique commander talents will be disabled.
- Unbreakable Line economy is subject to change during the testing, but our aim is to bring it to the current Random Battles level.
We hope you're ready for unlimited destruction!
Efficiency Badges
With Update 14.3, you'll be able to earn Efficiency Badges as a mark of personal pride and prestige for your performance aboard individual ships! After completing a Random Battle, the Base XP you earned is tracked and compared against the recent average performance of other players globally aboard the same ship that you just played on. Depending on how well you performed in comparison to your fellow players, you can receive one of four ranks of an Efficiency Badge.
You can view your Efficiency Badges for each ship displayed in your profile summary, as well as in the post-battle screen for the ship you went to battle with. Additionally, you can view other player's profile summaries to see their Efficiency Badges for each ship. Only the highest-ranked badge for every one of your ships will be displayed, meaning that if you upgrade your badge, it will replace the old one.
Here's how it works:
- Efficiency Badges are available for every Tier V ship and above in Random Battles.
- 4 different levels are available to earn:
- Top 1% Base XP earned in Random Battle - Expert
- Top 5% Base XP earned in Random Battle - 1st Grade
- Top 20% Base XP earned in Random Battle - 2nd Grade
- Top 50% Base XP earned in Random Battle - 3rd Grade
- Once attained, you can't lose a badge.
Dual Event Pass
With Update 14.3, we've prepared a surprise—you'll be able to take part in two Event Pass chapters. Each Event Pass chapter will last for three weeks, feature 15 levels, and function as a standalone pass. Once the first chapter ends, you won’t be able to complete it retroactively.
As the Update lasts 6 weeks, you'll be able to earn enough points from Daily and Weekly missions to complete both chapters.
Keep in mind that after the first chapter wraps up, the level requirements will reset, making both Event Pass chapters balanced in terms of reward difficulty.
Let's go over some of the key rewards from each!
First Chapter: Operation Ten-go
Dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Operation Ten-go, the first progression line of this chapter contains three days of Warships Premium account, a Splinters permanent camouflage, and the new Final Voyage permanent camouflage for Yamato as a final reward.
The second progression line, once unlocked for 2,000 Doubloons, will immediately grant you the new historical commander Seiichi Itō with enhanced skills similar to his Japanese colleagues and with an individual voiceover. Additionally, you can find Tier V Premium Japanese cruiser Yahagi, which participated in Operation Ten-go, as well as the historical Defender of the Pacific Ocean permanent camouflage for Essex as the final reward.
Extra level rewards for the first and second progression lines will be 1x More Signals container and 1x Rare Bonuses container, respectively.
Second Chapter: Golden Week
Inspired by Golden Week, the first progression line of the second Event Pass features the beautiful Japanese Lacquer permanent camouflage for Japanese battleship Kongō as a final reward, with Red Daruma containers, a Golden Week permanent camouflage, and a Red Ray enemy destruction effect along the way!
The second progression line, unlockable for 2,000 Doubloons, grants you the Golden Week permanent camouflage for Japanese cruiser Mogami immediately and features Tier V Premium British battleship Agincourt as a final reward. Additionally, you can find the Silver Ray Enemy Destruction Effect among the rewards.
Extra level rewards for the first and second progression lines will be 1x More Signals container and 1x Rare Bonuses container, respectively.
Compensation will be issued in case you already own the following items:
- 12,000,000 Credits for the Defender of the Pacific Ocean permanent camouflage for Essex.
- 4,500,000 Credits for the Japanese Lacquer permanent camouflage for Kongō.
- 7,500,000 Credits for the Golden Week permanent camouflage for Mogami
- 7,500,000 Credits for Agincourt.
- 6,000,000 Credits for Yahagi.
To see the full list of rewards for each progression line, follow the link at the end of this post to our DevBlog portal.
Content Additions and Changes
Thanks for reading this far! Your reward is a sneak peek at the rest of the new content and changes coming to the client with Update 14.3:
- 3 new Enemy Destruction Effects:
- Red Ray, Silver Ray, and Golden Ray.
- Commander Masaru Tadamatsu with individual voiceover.
- Permanent camouflage Japanese Lacquer for Asashio.
- 2 Golden ship versions: Suzuya Golden and ZF-6 Golden
- New commander Ragnar från Sverige with individual voiceover.
- New historical permanent camouflage Home Fleet Grey.
- New commander Victor Crutchley.
- The "Gallipoli Landings" patch
- The "In Remembrance of Dardanelles" memorable flag
- 3 new containers:
- Red Daruma Premium container, Black Daruma Premium container, and Gold Daruma Premium container.
You can find the contents of the new containers below:
Red Daruma:
- 1x Black Daruma container - 15%
- 1x Golden Week permanent camouflage - 1%
- 1x Yellow permanent camouflage - 1%
- 1x Deep Red permanent camouflage - 1%
- 12x Special Bonuses of one type - 20% for each type
- Unique category, 2% chance to receive one of the following ships:
- Mutsu
- Ise
- Maya
- Hyūga
If you already have the items from the unique category, you will instead receive a Black Daruma container.
The guaranteed drop mechanic for these containers only applies to ships. You are guaranteed to receive a ship after opening 70 containers.
Black Daruma:
- 1x Gold Daruma container - 10%
- 1x Golden Week permanent camouflage - 4%
- 1x Yellow permanent camouflage - 4%
- 1x Deep Red permanent camouflage - 4%
- 8x Rare Bonuses of one type - 19% for each type
- Unique category, 2% chance to receive one of the following ships:
- Hayate
- Suzuya
- Valparaíso
- ZF-6
Note that Suzuya and Valparaíso will both additionally be available for direct purchase in Admiral's Bundles during this update. Valparaíso will also be available in the next New Year's event, in a similar fashion to the recent Steel Will event for the 2024 New Year.
If you already have the items from the unique category, you will instead receive a Gold Daruma container.
The guaranteed drop mechanic for these containers only applies to ships. You are guaranteed to receive a ship after opening 50 containers.
Gold Daruma:
- 1x Golden Ray destruction effect - 24%
- 4x Unique Bonuses of one type - 16.50% for each type
- Unique category:
- 9% chance to receive Suzuya Golden
- 1% chance to receive ZF-6 Golden
- If you already have Suzuya Golden, the chance to receive ZF-6 Golden will increase to 10%.
If you already have the items from the unique category, you will instead receive Gold Ray Enemy Destruction Effect.
The guaranteed drop mechanic for these containers only applies to ships. You are guaranteed to receive a ship after opening 20 containers.
Additionally, the contents of the Golden Week container and Golden Week Premium container will be changed starting with Update 14.3.
Golden Week container:
- 1x Golden Week permanent camouflage - 5%
- 8x Special Bonuses of one type - 17.50% for each type
- 5,000 Free XP - 12%
- 15,000 Elite Commander XP - 12%
- Unique category:
- 0.30% chance to receive one of the following ships:
- Maya
- Hyūga
- Hayate
- 0.70% chance to receive one of the following permanent camouflages:
- Japanese Lacquer for Maya
- Japanese Lacquer for Hyūga
- Japanese Lacquer for Hayate
- Japanese Lacquer for Kongō
- Japanese Lacquer for Yamato
- Japanese Lacquer for Asashio
- Golden Week permanent camouflage for Mogami
- 0.30% chance to receive one of the following ships:
If you already have the items from the unique category, you will instead receive 5,000 Free XP.
Golden Week Premium container:
- 2x Golden Week permanent camouflage - 10%
- 14 days of WoWs Premium account - 9%
- 15x Rare Bonuses of one type - 10% for each type
- 32,000 Free XP - 9%
- 96,000 Elite Commander XP - 9%
- 12,500 Coal - 9%
- Unique category:
- 6% chance to receive one of the following ships:
- Maya
- Hyūga
- Hayate
- 8% chance to receive one of the following permanent camouflages:
- Japanese Lacquer for Maya
- Japanese Lacquer for Hyūga
- Japanese Lacquer for Hayate
- Japanese Lacquer for Kongō
- Japanese Lacquer for Yamato
- Japanese Lacquer for Asashio
- Golden Week permanent camouflage for Mogami
- 6% chance to receive one of the following ships:
If you already have the items from the unique category, you will instead receive 32,000 Free XP.
Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary. Announced adjustments and features may change multiple times during testing. The final information will be published on our game's website.
Read this DevBlog on our website to see detailed information about Event Pass rewards and missions: https://blog.worldofwarships.com/blog/blucher-dockyard-unbreakable-line-efficiency-badges-and-more-closed-test-143