It's time for another round of Questions and Answers!

Since these questions are very similar, I’ll answer them all at once.

One of the main potential problems that we were trying to avoid when we first started developing World War is balancing by country. If, for example, it turned out that 80% of players decided to play for the allies, then it would be bad for everyone: for the allies because they wouldn’t have enough opponents; for the Axis because they’d have almost no chance of winning. Capturing territories with squadrons requires a permanency in the game world, which means that if at the beginning there are issues with balance, then things will likely continue poorly; changing a country means losing territory, which few would be willing to do. Plus even if we carry out the war in seasons, resetting the progress every season, it’s entirely possible that we’ll get a situation in which the war has only just begun, but the result is already decided. In fact, considering the distribution of players by country in the game, it’s practically guaranteed.
 
To avoid problems like that, we need the in-game universe in which the World War takes place to be non-historical as a minimum – every country for itself, so that several countries can unite against one if necessary. The best option is a complete alternative war – every squadron for itself, so that it becomes absolutely impossible to create an absolute majority in one side of the conflict.
 
We wanted World War mode in our game to remain part of the historical game universe, allowing players to take part in historical events from the Second World War. So we took the decision to break World War up into operations. This doesn’t fully solve the problems of balancing by country, but it makes them local: if a squadron or player can’t find an operation for the country they want, then at any time they have a choice to play for another country without losing progress.
 
As for motivation to play, one of the key tasks we set before embarking on World War mode, was to bring new and fun gameplay to the game to make this mode fun to play even without extra rewards. Unique battle modes and game situations, more players in battle, the influence of each action in battle on something greater than the result of the battle for separate players and the ability to use tactical skills and smooth team play in large-scale operations that involve the entire military might of the squadron.
 
But of course there will be rewards – playing World War will result in unique prizes both for squadrons and individual players.

As in any game that includes multiple factions, this problem can never be fully solved. We’re examining several options for encouraging squadrons that play for unpopular in-game nations in order to minimize this problem.