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World of Warships closed beta begins Thursday; will ensure quality of shipped game

World of Warships

Over at Wargaming, captain’s caps are being adjusted just so, and torpedoes loaded into torpedo-shaped gaps. Preparations are underway for the closed beta of the quietly brilliant World of Warships, with testing set to launch Thursday morning UK time.

Sign-ups will open when the beta does, on March 12th at 11:00 CET in Europe, 11:00 PST in the US and 17:00 SGT in Asia. The testing phase will see players bob along atop of five maps, which vary from arctic oceans to tropical archipelagos. Some 50 American and Japanese vessels will be available to command.

Players will need to be aware when picking their boat that they’re entering into a rock-paper-scissors class system. Cruisers are swift ships that can take chunks out of each other, but do even more significant damage to enemy destroyers. Destroyers are more maneuverable than any other class, and thus best-suited for scouting and launching torpedo strikes on larger craft: well-armoured battleships, for instance, or the aircraft carriers which provide reconnaissance.

Two test weekends in December and January attracted over 75,000 users between them – but this week’s beta will be the first to offer the length of time necessary to dig into the game’s levelling system and hone a particular playstyle.

Wargaming’s plans for the future include aircraft carriers for the Japanese and battleships for the Americans – and beyond that, achievements and customisation. Does World of Warships figure in your plans at all?