Greetings, Commanders!
The time has come again to jump into action and take a peek at a small sample of what Men of War II will have to offer - the Open Beta is live NOW. For the first time ever, you can enjoy a taste of the single-player side of the game, with 3 missions that are also playable in co-op for up to 5 players, and return back to multiplayer to see how far it came since the first Tech Test in March, and enjoy brand new modes and maps that are making a debut in the Open Beta as well. We can't wait to hear what you think - the best way to do that is on the official Men of War II Discord server, where you can easily find teammates to play with too; but feel free to post here in the Steam discussions if you prefer, of course!
If you have played the Multiplayer Tech Test in March, you should already have the "Men of War II Playtest" in your library and can download and jump into the action now. If this will be your first time playing the game, just go to the Men of War II Steam store page and click on "Request Access" to the Playtest - this will immediately add the app to your Steam library.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1128860/Men_of_War_II/
However, please consider the Open Beta for what it is - a test. It is not the final version of the game; it has nowhere near the amount of content planned for the full release, it is not completely polished and balanced yet and there might be some issues and bugs that still need to be found and fixed. We humbly ask for your patience and help with this - whenever you see something that you believe is a bug in the game, press F5 to bring up the bug reporting tool and submit a report. You are welcome to use the aforementioned Discord server or Steam discussions to report bugs too, of course.
One of the unpolished parts are translations of the menu UI. Since the interface has been updated, some of the buttons are now localized as placeholder only. Some UI elements might also be showing up as "system strings". We believe it is still clear what everything does, but if the wording sounds "funny", don't worry, the full release will have them fixed. We thought this inconvenience would be a small price to pay for bringing the Open Beta already localized to the following languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Ukrainian, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, Russian.
- The default language setting is the same as your Steam language. If you wish to run the game in a different language, open your Steam client, in your library find the Men of War II Playtest, right click on it and select Properties.
- In the new window, select Languages and pick the desired language from the drop-down menu.
- Once you start the game - and that's it!
And now let's take a look at all the content you can play in the Open Beta:
3x Single-Player Missions also playable in Co-op
- Ambush
- Battle of Coisson
- Towards Freedom
- Co-op play can be setup in a custom multiplayer lobby
3x PvP Multiplayer Modes playable in the new Combined Arms setting
- Front Line (available through PVP match-making or custom lobby)
- Control Points (available through custom lobby)
- Combat (available through custom lobby)
1x PvE Mode available through custom lobby - Line Defence
4x PvP Multiplayer Modes for up to 5v5 players
- Front Line (available through PVP match-making or custom lobby)
- Assault Zones (available through custom lobby)
- Combat (available through custom lobby)
- Incursion (available through custom lobby)
7x Multiplayer Maps
- Airfield (new in the Open Beta)
- Carpathians (new in the Open Beta)
- Bazerville
- Borovaya River
- The Coast
- Farmland
- Winter March
Details about the new Multiplayer content can be found here, while more information about the single-player missions is available here.
There have also been many various improvements and fixes made since the first Multiplayer Tech Test, many of them in response to our players' feedback. The most notable changes are:
Gameplay Changes:
- Improved vehicle physics - heavy vehicles no longer bounce on the roads and move/explode more realistically.
- Velocity of projectiles has been increased.
- Units will no longer use all available grenades, ammo, and certain types of ammunition at their discretion during combat without a player's command. Players can now prevent the AI from changing the type of ammunition simply by right-clicking on the desired type of ammunition.
- Units spawning to the map has been improved.
- Trench digging system has been improved.
- It is now possible to zoom out the camera farther.
- Each tutorial mission can now be played separately, not necessarily in sequence.
UI Improvements:
- More UI customization options - added a button to customize the minimap and much more.
- Added an option in “general settings” to disable/hide icons showing the health of units for better immersion.
- Added a separate button for dropping off passengers from vehicles.
- Added a Hotkey to activate Direct Control with a third-person view.
- Added a “Cancel Order” button to the Hotbar.
- The Hotbar buttons have been redesigned to appear more similar to previous games in the series.
Perfomance, miscellaneous tweaks and fixes:
- Fixed a bug related to target tracking in the Fog of War.
- Overall performance of the game has been improved.
- Increased responsiveness of the servers. Response time and connectivity to matches have decreased significantly.
- Lobbies are now more stable.
- Other small changes and improvements.
