We're bringing online patch on July 5th, adding new sheriffs vs outlaws gameplay, new town capturing mechanics and bunch of other changes to the game including new content.

While we do believe that this patch will be important stepping stone to get to the "right" state of the game, we also think that number of other things needs to be added, changed, etc before we'll be able to basically relaunch the game later this summer.

What this "relaunch" plan means for you - our existing players ? to be honest it doesn't really gonna affect you much - it will for sure will bring new players to the game, as well as add more stuff to do in a game, making user experience more in line with it being PVP shooter game. Here's few things that will be changed to the game :


1. Well, adding both northern part of the map as well as animal hunting. This is kinda what you knew already we've been working on, so it will be released later this summer.

2. Adding more vendors in a world, making each vendor to carry different set of items at different prices. so basically let say multiple vendors in a world will sell you Model 58 revolver. But some will sell it cheaper than others. So you will need to go around to find best deal - not only for buying items from vendors, but also for selling items to them.

3. Adding "reputation with vendor" - basically your player will have different reputation stat for each vendor. Being on good terms with vendor will get you larger inventory of items, as well as better deals. You can improve this reputation by completing assignments that will be given to you by vendors.

4. Removing mundane quests from farmers. Instead of going to farmers to get daily quests, based on feedback from players and their expectations, and to not to confuse new players, we're going to completely remove those existing farmers quests. Instead each player will be receiving set of DAILY and WEEKLY assignments, that will be given to you automatically. You'll see what's available right away and will be able to choose ones you want to take on while playing the game.

5. Farmers will become - well - farmers :). They will become basically vendors who will provide you with certain goods. It'll be up to you if you want to engage in trade with them, perform assignments to get certain goods or just steal from them ( if you're playing as outlaw ).

6. Relic Hunt have been changed a bit. Instead of delivering Relics to the bank, you will need to deliver them to Tribes Totems around the map and as a reward for doing that you will receive random "artifact" - high powerful item that can give you short term advantage in a battlefield.


Once we have everything ready, we'll do "relaunch/reboot" of the game. There'll be no wipe, and this relaunch will not affect our existing players. But it will bring more new

Hi Everyone,


There're few updates on what's going on with WWO.

1.Between June 12th and June 14th we've deployed massive update to our test servers and tested it internally. We really hoped that things will go relatively smoothly and we'll be ready to do patch on June 18th ( make no sense to do it on Friday :) and have players get angry if something goes wrong ).


2.Unfortunately after some discussion we as a team decided that patch is just not yet ready - neither stability wise, nor from usability standpoint. While it was possible to hit promised date and deploy patch, we didn't believed that it will deliver experience we wanted.


3.It was a team decision to postpone patch for up to one month, and make sure that we hit all goals we want with it. We're very small team at the moment, so while we wanted to have more resources to put on it, we're going with what we have - what is in line with game's metrics.


4.Our goals with WWO stays same - deliver great WESTERN THEMED PVP SHOOTER MMO experience. Give players thrill of riding horses, shooting other players, engage in a social roleplay - ie polish and put efforts into things that are actually been highlighted by players who're having fun with the game. Making sure that this core is working is our top priority over everything else.

Stay tuned !

Okay, new patch is almost there and let me go thru most important pieces that it'll bring to the table. We estimate patch will be deployed not later than June 15th.




1.Bunch of bugs fixed. Basically most of the bugs you've reported for the last couple of weeks are fixed now.


2.Removing Factions. There'll be no "Mcfarlanes vs Steele". we loved it internally, but effectively it did added some unnecessary complexity to the gameplay mechanics and affected player's experience in a negative way.


3.Sheriffs vs Outlaw - CORE gameplay. Instead we're bringing back Sheriffs vs Outlaws mechanics, and they'll become our two main factions in a game. While we don't think that first release will check all boxes for all players, we will continue tweak and fine tuning it until we'll get system that all players will be happy about.


4.Town Capture redesign. Well this is a meat and bones of the WWO experience - massive structured shootouts between players. When we initially designed game, this was what we thought will be a core gameplay. And our goal is to make sure that this time we'll do it right. Teams autobalancing, "right" spawn points, rewards, it's all goes into the new design.


5.Weapons adjustments. We're adding more in terms of difference between how weapon shoots in TPS, FPS and ADS modes, how crouch affecting accuracy, etc.


6.More visible cross hair. Well yes :), we're bringing back more prominent crosshair. Not a small almost invisible dot.


7.More Fluff loot variety. When you kill someone, he will drop some loot that make sense - not just apples, oranges, but things like pocket watch, fancy belts, sigars, jewelry, etc. All that can be taken and sold for small amount of money in a stores across the world.


8.Barricades. You will only be able to place barricades within Town Capture Event radius and around Campsites you've deployed.


9.Hideout Cabins. You will not be able to access Global Storage anymore. You will not be able to Fast Travel if you have Most Wanted status. You can only craft meds, barricades, gear at Hideout Cabins.


10.Gold Stream miners. Can be only placed a) near water, b) outside safe zones.


11.Rewards redesigned. We've redesigned rewards for all Events, to make sure that all events will mean something to players, ie instead just generically giving you gold or same items between different events, each event will provide unique loot that you NEED to play game. Of course all same loot you will be able to get thru camp chests - but that's all about luck, when event rewards are more skill based.


12.Tutorials. we're starting adding tutorials for the new players, this will be ongoing process.


13.FREE TRIAL Version of the game. We're adding free trial version of the game. It'll be available both at our website as well as thru Steam on a game's store page. Free trial version will let users to play game as a normal player, but with some restrictions. Most important restrictions are :
1.You will not be able to level up past level 20. As soon as you'll reach 20, you'll stop accumulating experience.

2.You will not be able to unlock any achievements or receive rewards.

Following are changes to the game for the patch 0.8.528



NEW FEATURES AND CHANGES TO EXISTING FEATURES


1. NOVICE SERVERS. If players character are below level 20, and if ALL characters in a group are below level 20, they will be joining "novice" servers. If any of the players in a group are level 20 and above, group will be joining "general population" servers.

2. GUN WHEEL and HOTBAR. We've replaced gun Wheel ( CTRL key by default ) with new UI as well as added "hot bar" allowing players to switch between guns and use certain items more conveniently in a fast paced shooter environment.

3. HAIR COLORS. Added ability to choose hair colors on character creation. More hair styles are coming.

4. HIDEOUT CABINS. Removed ability to access Global Storage from Hideout cabins. Changed what you can craft while at hideout cabins.

5. PLANTATIONS. You can deploy Farm blocks, animal traps inside plantation radius. For now this is per server. Later we'll add full persistence across servers.

6. GOLD STREAM MINER. Can be placed only near water.

7. BARRICADES. Can be now placed only within Town Capture event radius or near deployed Campsites.





BUG FIXES ( MOST IMPORANT ONES ONLY )


1. Stamina bug fixed. Now stamina is reset to full after the respawn.

2. Fixed bug related to player not able to deal damage after respawn

3. Fixed Account upgrade bug giving you wrong items.

4. Correct gun skins rendering for TPS view

5. Fixed over 30 bugs related to crashes.

Here's a brief overview of what we're working on right now :

1. Redesigned Gun Wheel and Hot Bar. We're adding more shooter friendly Gun Wheel as well as hotbar for the commonly used items. Here's some WIP design concepts for you
   https://imgur.com/a/X215wUj
   
   Here's how usage of the meds and other "insta use" items will work. You'll need to press and HOLD for a few seconds hot key to activate item. This will "combat"
   
   Gun wheel and a Hot Bar will not be available while you're galloping on a horse. So to use item, you will need slow down ( no need to go full stop - just release "sprint" button ), wait till Hot Bar appears and then activate item such as a med.
   
   
2. Redesigned Rewards System and Economy. This is something we're working on to make sure that different types of activities will give you different types of rewards. Basically each type of activity will be offering you unique items - mining/stealing/Bank robbery/stagecoach will be offering ways to get gold aka MONEY in a game. Town Captures will be focused on getting XP and a guns related customizations and upgrades. Relic Hunt and Air Balloon events will be focused on progressing your characters, rare gameplay items, etc. Quests specific for each "class" will be focusing on special items and cosmetics.
   
   Camp Crates will be still "all rare items grab bag" type of thing, but since it's 100% luck related, it'll be more of the side dish to procuring all those items.
   
   As result of these changes, players will be getting a better more predictable progression toward getting what they want in a game. It also opens up trading opportunities for the players.
   
   Economy side of the things are being changed as well. Vendors will only be selling certain items that you can't get by other means - mostly consumables used by players a lot - meds, basic ammo, etc.
   
   
   
3. Novice servers. All new characters will be spawned on "noob" servers, where all other players will be level 20 or less. We'll be adding additional mechanism to make sure that seasoned veterans will be able to go right away to "general population" servers.
   
   
4. Factions. Existing rigid factions structure will be gone. You will not be required to choose faction when you create your character. Instead all characters will be starting as "Settlers". Settlers will not be able to kill or deal damage to other Settlers OUTSIDE structured PVP Events. So basically when you join any of the Events - including town Capture, Stagecoach, Bank Robberies, Relic Hunts, etc - you'll be able to kill and be killed anytime. Outside those events - certain rules will apply - see below - meet newly redesigned Sheriffs and Outlaws system.
   
   
5. Sheriff vs Outlaws. We ditched McFarlanes and Steeles for now and instead will be focusing on a Sheriffs and Outlaws. Think of both roles as a faction choices for players. To join either lawmans or outlaws, player will need to either go into Sheriff's office or into Outlaws camp and choose to join that faction and play that role.
   
   Choosing each role will give you some perks as well as have some downsides.
   
   Lets start with Outlaws. Outlaws can kill or be killed by anyone on a map anywhere and anytime. There's only one place where they're relatively safe - Outlaws camp and Outlaw controlled Towns - in those places they can't be killed by anyone except Sheriffs.
   
   Outlaws get two primary bonuses related to their status - they're only ones who can lockpick safes and chests ( there'll be plenty added to the map - towns, farms, etc ) outside Bank Robbery event ( which is open to all players ). And in all cases those safes and chests will be offering a gold or rare cosmetic items !
   
   Second thing is that Outlaws can rob miners. Ie - just random "Settler" player will not be able rob or kill miner carrying gold. Only Outlaw can do that.
   
   So basically Outlaws have more wait to make money in a game. It comes at price thought. Outside being vulnerably to all other players, Outlaws will be receiving "Most Wanted" status each time when they commit crime ( break into safe/chest, kill or damage other players, rob miners, etc ).
   
   While you have Most Wanted status active, sheriffs can hunt you easily. No merchants outside Outlaw Camp or Outlaw controlled Towns will deal with you. And when you try to sell "hot loot" they will offer you much lower price - so you'll either need to accept it or wait for Most Wanted status will disappear. you will be able to use special NPC in a outlaw camp or at Outlaws controlled town to remove Most Wanted Status for a fee.
   
   Outlaws will have special quests available only to them offering unique rewards - items that will only be available thru those quests.
   
   So why you want to be an outlaw ? 1) Have more opportunities to make money, even though it will come at risk, 2) Roleplay, be able to kill anyone - once again at price, 3) have access to unique quests and activities only open to outlaws.
   
   Now lets get to Sheriffs. Deputies are here to hunt outlaws and Most Wanted. They're here to protect and help Settlers. While they do not have as many ways to make a gold as Outlaws do, but they do receive "salary" once in a while for performing Deputy duties. They also can engage in a manhunts - hunting down Most Wanted Outlaws and receiving rewards for the bringing their scalps to the Sheriffs stations.
   
   Sheriffs can "guard" Settlers, and for that they will be getting percentage of the experience that Settlers around them are getting.
   
   Sheriffs can pickup gold dropped by killed miners and after that they can receive rewards if they will deliver that gold to the Sheriffs station. They won't be able to sell it though or keep for themselves. This will be more like a quest for the that will be activated as soon as they'll pickup gold from either dead miner or dead outlaw. If they'll deliver gold from the killed miner, killed miner will receive it back minus fee to the sheriff and sheriffs office.
   
   And yes Sheriffs will have quests only available to them. Just like Outlaws have their own quests. BTW some guns will only be available to get this way.
   
   
   
6. Town Captures, spawn camping, etc. Town captures get some "remodeling". It'll be "Sheriffs vs Outlaws" war now. When Town Event starts, Sheriffs calls all who want to be on a side of the law to join them, and Outlaw Gang is calling all to help them to control the town and drive sheriffs out. Clearly players who choose to play role of the sheriffs or outlaws will join for their respective sides only, yet Settlers will be automatically assigned to either group using auto balancing. During the match system will be actively checking if one side is getting advantage in number of players, and will move Settlers to the opposite team if needed. Some other mechanics to autobalance game will be happening and will not be required user's intervention.
   
   We've already did some work toward eliminating or curbing spawn camping, and with upcoming patch we will introduce more guards against that, making sure that one team can't just raid other teams camp, that players are spawned in a wide spread protected areas, etc.
   
   Unfortunately lots of those things are requires us to observe real world players - thus making it's harder for us to get everything working right from the start. Not trying to make excuse for a being small indie team, but at the end this is the price we pay for that.
   
   
7. Barricades placement. You will only be able to place barricades at :
   
   - During Town Capture Events
   - In a radius of the Campsite you've deployed.
   - Inside your Plantation perimeter
   
   
8. Hideout Cabins changes. you will not be able to access Global Storage at Hideout Cabins anymore. You will not be able to use Fast Travel feature if you have active Most Wanted Status, or been actively engaging in a combat.
   
   
9. Stream Gold Miners. Well you'll be only be able to place them near streams or other bodies of water. DUH.
   
   
10. Plantations. You will be able to place any farming block inside Plantation's perimeter except for the Gold Miner Stream Miners. You also will be able to place Crafting Stations. We have more stuff coming to Plantations, but it's to early to talk about it as of now.
    
    
11. Map Expansion. We're opening up rest of the map - large area on the North, and smaller areas on the West and South. Here's very early WIP progress - Blue represents our Stage 1 expansion and Red zone is Stage 2 expansion.
    https://imgur.com/a/5B1iYTi
    
    One of the biggest differences is that all of the north part of the map will be mostly wilderness - Alpine Forests, with a small number of very small settlements and log cabins. There'll be plenty of space to hunt and mine there. Area will be featuring Taller pine trees, cedars, Lots of rocks, as well as meadows. There'll be a few a Plantations here as well.
    
    And in a west we're building our more modern town that features stone buildings, paved sidewalks, things like that. It will definitely have a different vibe from the rest of the world, so we planning to get it done at same time as our other more social activities for players such as saloon entertainers, PVP card games, new take on bank robbery heist event.
    
    
12. Hunting. Deers and bears are coming first. When you kill animals, you'll be able to get pelts, claws, meat, etc from it, that can be sold for the good amount of money. You won't be able to find them just lying as a loot on a ground anywhere in a world.

Folowing are patch notes for the Patch 0.8.517

1. Increased delay between Stagecoach, Relic hunt, Misfortune and Rags to Riches PVP Events.
   
2. Increased recoil on shotguns.
   
3. Players will get reward if player they've shot died from bleedout
   
4. Improved Bleedout UI
   
5. Improved design of the faction camps and spawn locations ( ongoing work )
   
6. Improved rewards for the Events participation
   
7. Your weapon is not removed from your hands on a death anymore. You will respawn now holding same gun.

1. Fixed bug related to inability to use Plantation right after the purchase/unlock.
   
2. Fixed crash related to Skill learning right after you've levelled up
   
3. Fixed critical bug relatyed to character losing levels after learning new skills
   
4. Fixed crash in Russian version related to Horse Skills selection
   
5. Fixed Account Upgrades descriptions. for all players who have upgraded accounts before that fix, we added missing items
   
6. Fixed multiple bugs with missing glyphs in fonts
   
7. Fixed crash related to rendering backpack on a ground
   
8. Fixed crash related to buying plantation
   
9. Fixed camera bug on death
   
10. Fixed bug related to bleedout buff - you're getting incapacipated and not killed.
    
11. Kill is counted only when character is killed, not just incapacipated
    
12. Fixed bug related to lock up when you have called menu in incapacipated state
    
13. Fixed bug related to improper HUD visuals in incapacipated mode
    
14. Fixed multiple server crashes
    
15. Fixed bug that didan't allowed you to stack items in Global Storage
    
16. Fixed bug related to gaining XP if you killed yourself
    
17. Fixed wrong message displaying at delivery of the Misfortune Strong box
    
18. Fixed bug related to receiving double rewards for the perks.

Here's Patch Notes for the patch 0.8.515

1. Quests are easier to complete in a server crowded environment
   
2. Quests XP and rewards were increased
   
3. Mining is not consuming Stamina anymore
   
4. Mining is more profitable now
   
5. Town Capture Balancing If one Faction dominates Town Capture - ie have at least two times more players, other side will get additional Points for each kill to balance that. This will happens ONLY if one of the sides have more than 10 players, and OBLY if one side dominate another by having more than twice as much players.
   
6. Decorations on Plantations are sold for in game dollars for nominal price
   
7. Players who spent TN buying decorations were refunded TN they've spent on Plantation decorations
   
8. Improving Town Capture faction camps layouts and design

1. Multiple crash bugs fixed
   
2. Fixed bug related to wrong revive location while participating in Town Capture Event
   
3. Fixed bug related to the receving Damage while inside Plantation

The following are the changelog for the patch 0.8.514

• Added random reward drop at player’s death.
  
• Added XP bonus on a kill.
  
• The Travelling Gun Salesman now appears two times per week near the Post Office and Train Station in a Stone Creek town. When he is available he’ll be clearly marked by an icon on the map.
  
• Reduced the costs of multiple items, including gun Oiling Kits, Bandages, tonics, and more.
  
• Multiple balancing changes to the in-game economy, prices, etc.
  
• Added more durability to deployable barricades.
  
• Added more weapons for sale to the Generic gun vendors in town.
  
• Added more loot in Camps and Farm’s, including crafting resources, wood, etc.
  
• Rebalanced Loot Camps chests spawns to make it more even, and raise the chances of getting cosmetic items like cabin tokens, gun mod kits, etc.

• Fixes to respawn locations around town for the Town Capture Events.
  
• Improved UI related to the Town Capture Events.
  
• Map automatically closes when you teleport to an Event.
  
• Horse icon is displayed more prominently now.

• Fixed odd body colors appearing on some user character configurations.
  
• Fixed bug that prevented the Hat Box from actually providing hats.
  
• Fixed bug that sometimes teleported you across the map after re-login. You should spawn in close proximity to the place you were at when you last logged off.
  
• Fixed Physx related crash that would occur when there were too many ragdolls present.
  
• Fixed multiple network related crashes on logout.
  
• Fixed around 24 system related crashes.
  
• Fixed crash that would occur when there were multiple horses around the same area.

Below are critical items that we’re working on right now. While they weren’t fully tested for this current patch, we do expect them to be addressed in the next patch or two.

• Removing “sold out” items from the store. Stores now only show items that are actually available to be sold.
  
• Improving Town Capture Events. We’re changing locations and layouts of the Faction Camps, making them more “camping” prone.
  
• Factions balancing. All servers are more balanced right now, and we’re working on a Town Capture balancing that will help prevent scenarios where there are 20 players from one faction and 5 players from the other, causing an obvious one sided advantage.
  
• Adding more Wood spawns. As a temporary solution we’ve added Wood spawns in Camps and Farms.
  
• We’re adding better PVP rewards. In addition, to getting small amounts of XP, you’ll also receive random loot from killing players, which you can sell to vendors for cash.
  
• Adjustments are being made to the Quests, making them easier to complete on low levels, as well as offering better rewards on higher levels.
  
• Plantations: For the time being, we’re removing the purchasing of cosmetic decorations using the TN from the game and making all decorations available to all players. All players who have already purchased decorations will be refunded the TN spent. In the near future changes to the plantations will be introduced. Please keep an eye out for future post on that.

THANK YOU so much to all the players that are actually playing the game. We hope you're having an action-packed great time!

Since this is still early days in the life of a persistent game, as noted in our pre-launch announcements, your feedback continues to be essential and we will continue to add content and keep fixing bugs.

Thanks to your diligent reporting, we are aware of several bugs, including some crash bugs. These are being worked on at this very moment.

If you experience any bugs, or have gameplay issues you'd like us to consider, please send them to: support@playwwo.com

We do monitor the Steam Community Hub, Forums and social media -- but emailing support is the only way to guarantee that your issue will make it into the bug tracking system. When reporting bugs, please include system info and any repro steps.

We also want to directly address the folks who expected a full PVE MMO: as we've discussed with folks since the early days, this is at its core PVP MMO, with PVE elements (resourcing, simple NPC quests, homesteading). This has been and will be our focus: an MMO rooted in core PVP gameplay, with social and PVE elements to round it out.

The WWO team is dedicated to supporting this game and its community, and we thank you for playing.