WWII Online Q1-2026 Recap from Xoom

S! Everyone,

Q1 2026 was focused on improving the day-to-day experience of WWII Online. A lot of this work is foundational cleaning up issues from recent engine upgrades while making meaningful improvements to spawning, logistics, and overall usability.

Spawn Experience & Battlefield Flow

The biggest player-facing change this quarter was the introduction of Spawn Protection Mode. This system provides immediate protection across air, land, and sea spawns, addressing one of the most consistently frustrating points of game play: being instantly camped/shot before you have an opportunity to react.

This has been met with mixed reception, but its overall effectiveness cannot be argued - it works. Spawn Campers need to player a little smarter and they now have a tangible threat if they get too close to a spawn location.

We also made meaningful improvements to mobile spawn gameplay:

• All trucks, haulers, and SPAAs can now deploy mobile spawns

• Expanded deployment flexibility with the return of the legacy FMS model

• Introduction of the Outpost (large walled mobile spawn)

• Refined deployment distances to improve placement balance

• Infantry now spawn inside cover, with guns placed outside for better defense

On top of that, fallback systems for moveable brigades now persist through server restarts. We have plans to make additional items persistent as well, like global supply/factories rebuilding as well.

Logistics & Map Expansion

By enabling mobile spawn deployment across nearly all transport vehicles, we’ve opened up more player-driven frontline creation and reduced reliance on limited spawn sources. This is a salute to our critical players performing logistics to keep the battles going. Thank you for doing that, please keep it up!

We also expanded the world with new towns across the UK theater, including:

• Norwich

• Colchester

• Lowestoft

• Felixstowe

• Great Yarmouth

• And several surrounding areas

Visual & Environmental Improvements

Q1 also delivered steady progress on visual quality and atmosphere:

• Improved winter terrain textures

• Enhanced sunrise color grading

• Brighter and more readable interior lighting

• Restoration of environmental effects like smoke, dust, and foliage

• Fixes to water rendering and texture artifacts (mipmapping improvements)

These changes contribute to better immersion and clarity without impacting performance.

Engine Stability & Core Fixes

A large portion of this quarter was dedicated to resolving issues tied to recent engine upgrades.

Key improvements include:

• Fixed cockpit and vehicle instrument rendering issues

  • Some of this remains in progress based on specific hardware

• Resolved LOD and model rendering problems (including aircraft like the Ju-88 and Fw-190)

• Eliminated flickering materials and graphical artifacts

• Restored critical effects such as muzzle flashes and shell ejections

• Fixed map UI scaling and frontline filter functionality

• Addressed backend deployment and server stability workflows

We also resolved a number of gameplay-impacting bugs, including:

• Rifle grenade functionality restored

• Artillery and destroyer rounds now properly apply damage

• Tutorial progression issues fixed

• Various clipping, collision, and terrain issues cleaned up

Quality of Life Improvements

This quarter continued our push on quality-of-life:

• Reduced infantry fall damage

• Improved visibility for aircraft gunners in third-person

• Cleaner UI behavior (map scaling, filters, indicators)

• Updated credits and memorial recognition for community members

GAME BALANCE ADJUSTMENTS

This one is always a bit tough and fluid, but we're actively in the process of creating a transparent master list of tier ready equipment so all of our players can follow the same sheet of music and have clear expectations. You'll find there's some work underway there and we'll have it worked out soon.

Some recent adjustments include:

• British Forces receiving the M1 Garand to be competitive with the G41/G43.

• French & British Forces receiving the M10 in Tier 2.

Time Zone 3 capture timers also saw a big reduction (slower) to stabilize when 95% of our players are asleep. This can be alleviated a bit with better representation on each side. Unfortunately, this has been an issue since WWII Online started and it's the best solution we have to stabilize things until we can work out a better solution.

Capture Timers were also recently modified to encourage better teamwork and better battles. Feedback so far is, we have achieved both and it's creating a more compelling fight for facilities overall. On that note, have you heard about how to create a Quick Mission? This could save you a lot of time in preparing defense.

Surrender Timers have been extended from 12 hours to 24 hours, providing more opportunity for recovery for cut-off units.

Supply Changes are being worked out as we speak to reduce Garrison armor supply (globally) and incrementally re-prioritize the value of moveable brigades. We'll do this carefully and with a fallback plan in mind, but the intent is to restore the strategy component of WWII Online.

Closing Thoughts / IN PROGRESS

We're making solid progress on our 2026 roadmap and we're currently in the process of restoring Target Mission Change back to WWII Online. This will dramatically improve the experience for pilots / other players who need to keep their mission going and adapt to the evolving battle requirements. You'll be able to keep your mission online while adjusting the target, updating the voice comms, target chat and target markers so you can smoothly transition between priorities.

We also have some initial commits for our "better scaling capture timers" (as referenced in the roadmap) and will be starting testing on that soon.

At this time our 2026 fundraiser support is at 66% thanks to a dedicated few players, we'd like to take this opportunity to recognize them and encourage you to join them.

FUNDRAISER DONORS SO FAR

Dangrboy, Taxman9, Elfin, Bali, Augern, Tiger16, Stoney12, Obelix1, Cstcurrey, Ayerox, Calwood, Zfrye0, Smoothie, Sid41, Checov, Daver, Delems (3), Soloje, Birdman26, Demon340, Kyotee, TR6AL, Figgy27, Propa, Cadsky, Actonman, HSarubin, Bebop57, Macalex, Granit, Calwatta, Llvig, Eko13wf, HunnyBunny, Mangonz, Brotzman, Mamohuic, Realm, Andjan, Louie, Aismov, Bigtex92, Doomzilla (2), Kommando52 and Csm308.

SUPPORT THE FUNDRAISER (HERE)

Did you know that the WWII Online forums have seen a recent uptick in utilization? This old school method of communicating has actually produces better - more actionable - dialogue between the playerbase and development team.

Head over to https://forums.wwiionline.com and check-in if it has been awhile.

Thank you for your ongoing support, the RATS are here working hard for you!

Matt "XOOM" Callahan

President and CEO

Playnet, Inc. / Cornered Rat Software