FTR Q&A – Issue 1

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“Let’s get this show on the road!”

Earlier, I was considering the following option: a kind player on RU server (thanks, Loooser78V!) would “smuggle” FTR questions in Russian into SerB’s thread, they get replied, you get them back. Overall, as you can imagine, this solution is very heavy-handed and time-consuming, not even speaking of the fact there was no guarantee SerB would answer the questions (he didn’t answer the first batch, despite my best efforts to pick those that adhered to the rules).

Well, today, another option presented itself. I was contacted (!) by Pavel Myreev, also known as Zlobny. His official title is the “game balance designer” – in layman’s terms: he is the guy responsible for vehicle balance. He offered me the following:

He (and his colleagues, where needed) would answer 20 questions per week, on weekly basis, exclusively for FTR. Yea, I didn’t believe it either, but here it is. So, here’s what’s going to happen. From comments (although, I reserve one or two questions this time for things that interest me personally) under this post, I will pick 20 questions, that get answered.

First batch is a test run of course, to see how it works, but I think it’s hell of a better deal than what EU forums have right now with Quasar. Info straight from the people, that actually matter! Needless to say, I am pretty amazed by this opportunity, as you can imagine, after the massive leaks around patch 8.5 I thought I’d be blacklisted. But, apparently I am not.

And the best part: you can ask almost anything you want (I will of course not pick the blatantly stupid or thousand-times-answered stuff – no, there will be no skill MM in randoms for example), the guys at WG RU are still willing to find out the answer, if it doesn’t fall into their category. I will also let you know which questions I picked in advance.

So, enjoy :)

- SS

Update: Thank you, I think we have enough for the first batch. Will sort this out in the morning.

99 thoughts on “FTR Q&A – Issue 1”

    • Also, a question –

      Are there any plans to model non homogeneous armour, such as that on the TOGII?

  3. Do tanks with low health have a special bonus for saving throws regarding (non)hit, no(penetration) and damage?

  5. Not really groundbreaking, but it keeps bugging me… Why is the system for multiple suspension models on a single tank , already present in the game, forgotten and unused, when quite a lot of tanks could make use of it?

  6. I’d like to know if the recent spate of maps (New and reworked) will continue. I like that we’ve been getting additional maps in the last few patches (Even if I’m not too fond of some of the maps) and hope it keeps going. We hit a real dry spell there for a while with nothing new.

    • And BTW, the new map team (If it is new) did a fantastic job on the rework of Serene Coast. That map is excellent now.

      • Serene coast is the same ol’ same ol’ camp fest. Neither side can viably make any sort of decent push without getting vaped 50% of the time. 3 TDs can hold the whole island, and that removes any map benefit.

        The games on it are better–less arty–the map is still just as bad.

        • Eh, I’ve seem very good pushes on both flanks and in the middle. Losing those hills on the West side means the camping there has been cut drastically, and building the land bridge means that TDs can’t just sit on the island and concentrate on the middle like they used to.

  7. Congrats, we could do with a searchable wiki of most asked questions anyone stupid enough to ask a question in it should recieve a perm ban

  8. Are the WG devs being proactive about adding tanks to the 7/42 scene? Much like the new 416 added some spice to a lineup that went unchanged for months.

    TDs lines seem to be getting the public’s eye right now, are there any dated-plans for introducing more mediums?

    HEAT rounds have been changed several times now, are you happy with where they are?
    APCR as a 2nd shell option seems to be getting more rare, is this a purposeful move by WG?

    Server Roaming is a much anticipated concept, can you share an ETA?

    Is it true the company prefers Pepsi to Coke?

    Thanks for the work you do SS!

  10. Why was the second French heavy line not implemented earlier since we saw pics of the tier 10 one more than 1 year ago and icons of the tier 8 and 9?

      • This as well as

        When will the amx 50b rebalance come, in repsonce to the t57s rebalance?
        New french medium and heavy lines, can we have any information on the Amx30s balance? Also: what will the second french heavy be, and will it have armor?

  11. Okay, then I’m gonna quote myself from a topic I started on the General Discussions on the EU forum (I really hope it makes it to the 20 questions that we send to Zlobny, he seems pretty open and I’m actually curios if this makes any sense for him):

    I learned that the Stug actually used (except when using the howitzer gun) the short 75mm L/48, which in-game is a “meh” gun at best.

    IMO this gun is the starting point of a really screwed up weapons balancing in the German tank lines.

    So I, off the top of my head, thought of the following solution(s), that would appease, well, mostly everybody (note, however, that this would be a MAJOR and COMPLETE rebalancing of German tanks):

    - Buff the L/48 (although I don’t know how the PzIII/IV would behave, PzIV can always rely on the derp 10,5mm gun)
    - Take away the L/70 from the Stug and give it the buffed L/48
    - Buff the L/70 (pen and damage wise) and remove the L/100 “needle gun” from the Panther, finally giving it a more historical performance
    - If L/70 is buffed, then NOW there is room for the L/56 gun to also receive (a much needed) penetration buff (AFAIK L/56 had less pen than the L/70, historically)
    - Remove the L/71 from the Tiger 1 (from what I gathered, it physically COULDN’T mount the L/71, which is actually the KT gun) and let it have it’s historical (and oh-so-aesthetically-appealing), buffed L/56
    - Note that in this way the VK3601H would actually be a very viable tank again (I for one still like it, but I can also give credit to all those disappointed of the recent changes)
    - Let the Tier 6 German Mediums (VK3001D, VK3002M, VK3001P) keep the buffed L/70, but nerf their RoF (effectively, their DPM) so that the transition to Panther/VK3002D actually makes sense

  12. Will the upcomming european tree follow the structure of previous trees
    Aka: have one tier 1 tank, and atleast tier 10 branches for artillery, TDs, medium and heavy tanks?

  14. Is there going to be more classes in WoT than heavy, medium, light, TD and Arty?
    If yes, what will the first one be? (second one is optional to ask)

  16. I don’t know if this has been answered, but here goes:

    How long does it take to make a tank and put it in the game? By that I mean research, historical stuff, models and modules.

  17. Is it possible to have multiple Premium Tanks of same Type and TIer for one Nation (Like 2 Tier 8 German Premium TD’s?)

    Are Schürzen only planned as Part of Interchangeable Hulls, or like mentioned waay back as a mountable Module like Grousers?

    Any special Reason, why the 12.8 L61 for the new Waffelträger Techtree is not the Same as for the JT?

    Regarding “statistically OP” Tank, how much difference in global WR has to be Present, for considering it “working too well”?

    Wich Tier is considered by the Devs to be the best balanced? (Premiums aside)

  18. What’s the preliminary data in regards of the new chinese premiums? Is there any possibility the T-34-3 might be buffed? I am aware that WG doesnt comment on unofficial stats or release internal tank performance data, so more the latter question really.

  19. Its more like a question/suggestion mix, sorry if its not what you are planning in this Q/A

    Are they going to consider the possibility to redesign the way module damage and repair is working now?
    Especially interested if they even considered to make the repair mechanic able to repair a damaged module back to its fully functional form?

    if you want a clarification for this im happy to give a longer explanation

  20. Question: do you maintain yours plans to add ‘armor plating” to tanks as an option in world of tanks ? if yes will it be an option for all types of vehicles or just limited to TD/Med/heavys ? and finally is it possible to see such an option in 2014 ?

    ps: in a previous Q/A Wargaming employees told us that havok implementation will allow cosmetic parts of our tanks ripped off. did you considered the same effect on “optionnal” armor plating blown off the tank by a shot ?

  21. Interesting.

    My question: The ingame Wz-120 and the premium Type 59 have differently modeled hulls, is this a balance choise or were there differences in real life too? (the Wz-120′s hull is slightly longer, narrower and have the turret mounted slightly further back than the Type 59)

  22. Question : why did they take out the best engine on the t-50 and put 300 hp engine. was the t-50 to fast or what ?

  23. Well… Have developers consider dynamic changes in collision models in connection with introduce of Havoc?

    I mean: I dont believe in real life it was possible to “kill” a tank by putting (for example) 6 shots into its cupola. Yes, some damage can be done but the cupola will sooner or later fly off leaving the tank itself relatively intact. So is it possible to implement these “dynamic collision model changes” someday on the basis of Havoc into WoT?

    From balancing side it will bring (I believe) some nice consequences: it will be very helpful for heavily armoured tanks with weakspots like cupolas etc (british TDs for example) – after some damage taken they will loose their weakspot. On the other hand it wont make them OP – they loose their weakspot in exchange of huge hole on top of their tank (in case of cupola) – so they become more vulnerable to HE damage. It would also make the HE ammo somehow useful and bring a need of skill into the game.

    • ^This

      This IMO is one of the things that need a revision. And what he just proposed makes a lot of sense.

  25. Will it be possible to see how many kills are left in the missions page like the damage and xp?

  26. I have some question about multiturret mechanism:
    Will multigunned/multiturreted tanks that are alredy in game (M3 Lee, Maus, B1, Churchill I etc.) be rebalanced after implementation of this mechanism? And what about AT-7, AT-8? It would be nice to let them use both guns.

  27. Do you think the new camouflage system (with the nerfed bushes) has had a large effect on the gameplay of many tanks? – e.g. bush scouting being far less effective at medium / short range, but camping heavies etc easier to spot at rangr or by other heavies.

  29. Questions:

    1. Are the MG turrets on the T110E3 and T110E4 identical? A friend that plays the E3 says his MG turret almost never gets penetrated, while the MG on my E4 gets penetrated with almost every shot.

    2. Is the view range hardcapped at 500m? Since the dynamic rendering area is a box, the corners are roughly 700 meters away from the center. Can i spot other tanks in these corners if i have more than 500 meters view range?

    • The E3 MG turret is definitely tougher than the E4 MG turret.
      I’ll pull up the collision model later but the mantle thickness on the E3 is higher. After the HEAT nerf, it is a lot harder to pen that MG turret.

      View range: Look it up on the wiki.

      • mg turret is 304mm thich with slopes. its actually harder to pen then the superstruckture….

    • Bro do you even Tank Viewer? The E4 cupola turret has 152mm front (sides are 76mm and the back and roof 50), the E3 one is 229mm all around (save for 51mm roof).

  31. Question: about the patch series

    8 series patch biggest impact is the Physics(its change battle tactics completely)

    is there any 9 series patch that have any important features

  32. Plans to give Ram II, SextonI/II Canadian markings (inverted British colours) instead of American/British ones?

    Plans to add more Canadian tank variants to the game such as up armoured Valentine(alternate hull option?) , Grizly/Grizly Firefly, Sexton 17 ld, Ram II 3.7 Inch AA (in either British or American Trees)

  34. 1. Why is the autobounce rule checked before overmatch caliber rule?
    2. Why is a formula not used for camouflage values and view ranges?

  35. A Time ago i read ( here i think) that dev’s accidently came with a way to inplement weels in the Bigworld engine ( SS if this is incorrect you can scrap the rest )

    > If this is so as Wg polecy for no weels in Wot changed? and if with opcional hull’s coming can we expect to have the Panhard EBR as an opcion to the 13 75 and 13 90?

    Thanks for your time

  36. Are Porsche smaller designs (Type 245, Type 255) going to be implemented?
    Any hope for the Panzer 38D?

  37. I have 3 questions.

    First:
    What can we expect the RU-251 to be like compared to its competitors (particulary in the armament section)?

    Second (this might fall in the “stupid question” category):
    What can we expect to change in the American TD lines in the future?

    Third (somewhat related to the RU-251):
    Will we ever see the Spähpanzer SP I.C. (German Reconnaissance tank based on the Hotchkiss TT6) in WoT?

  39. i have 6 Questions, 2 about balance,

    Is tortoise doing more damage per battle than gold ammoless fv183
    Is M53/M55 Statisticly doing more damage than t92?
    Will ru 251come this year?
    Is Tortoise going to be tier 10 when turretted british tank destroyer line come?
    Are maps balanced for cws as random battles?
    Do you record stock tank winrates ?, arlv39 is unplayable. you cant do more than 200 damage with stock arl in a tier6 battle.
    Will you buff maus`s hp to values in closed beta?
    When do you plan to re balance all tanks? In which quarter of next year?

  40. Any chance in the foreseeable future of a Garage interface make over? I.E> tier selection, tank order queuing, etc.

  43. Since the last few patches, we have seen massive nerfs to high tier artillery, increases to accuracy to everything else but artillery, nerfs to high tier HEAT rounds on everything but TDs, and a significant buff to Spall Liners’ capability to reduce damage from HE rounds traditionally only from artillery. Do the developers have a plan in mind to bring high tier artillery back into competitiveness and reduce the imbalance between TDs and everyone else?

  44. A long time ago, there were these planned tech trees (like this one: http://oi44.tinypic.com/2vbu4hu.jpg ) on WoT wiki, but they were taken down after they went for the new, horizontal tech tree design.

    I would like to know how much of these planned trees is still planned. You know, if they’ve scrapped those extra branches completely or are they still coming out at some point.

  46. Can we expect the tier 8 premium Jagdtiger 8.8cm to be rebalanced the same way as the tier 9 Jagdtiger (since they are the same tank)? (IIRC, less armour on LFP, more speed downhill, change of engines)

  47. Thank you SilentStalker for not giving up, plus thank you Zlobny for your services :)

    1. Do you find it possible, or (if you were allowed to do anything) would you like to rebalance VK 30.01 P as a heavy tank, like it happened with some German meds based on this article: http://ftr-wot.blogspot.cz/2013/05/buff-my-tank-vk-3001-p.html or some other sources you prefer?

    2. What do WG or you find the most important factors of victory in WoT? (eg. knowledge of maps, intuition, willingness to cooperate with others, etc.)

    3. Do you find it possible to introduce an improved version of 8,8 cm L/56 based on this table? http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/zarax/105l47.png

    Oh and SS, warn me if I asked stupid questions :)

  49. Anyway, here’s my question.

    After patch 8.8 went live, there’re a lot of report about error in game, especially player stuck at loading battle. Is it related to ActionScript 3? Can you give answer more detail and more technical? Isn’t the purpose of implementing new script is to improve game engine quality, not making it worse? Is it true that some complex skin remodelling can make stuck at loading too?

  50. As a fan of German TD’s, I’ve got only two questions:

    - Can we expect in 2014 an third German TD line with heavy assault guns like Brummbär and Sturmtiger?
    - Can we expect (in far future) another “open top” German TD line with vehicles like the Ardelt Waffenträger?

    Thanks.

  51. Do the developers take into consideration players that do not belong to a clan and dont want to deal with the fuss of being in a clan , this question is in regards with the m60 , vk premium tanks given to clan members as rewards .
    In a smaller version , do non clan players will ever have the oportunity to get souch gifts ?

  52. Has there ever been any consideration regarding implementing the 165mm L9 gun for British tanks?

  55. - Are there any plans or considerations for limiting the amount of gold (premium) ammo a tank can carry in to a battle? For example, only 10% of the ammo capacity could be gold ammo. This would partially discourage gold spam, make armor a little more effective and force players to make (what i believe to be) interesting gameplay decisions during a match.

  56. Was it a balancing decision to give the ARL 44 it an FCM turret for the stock grind? Or a “historically possible” one?

  57. For what balance reasons does the Tier 7 UK Black Prince Heavy Tank have to need a Large Caliber tank gun rammer when the 17 pounder is a 76mm gun and at the same tier (AT-7) with 2 of the same guns as the BP (77mm OQF & 76mm 17 pounder) only need a medium caliber rammer? (The 20 pounder on the AT-& is 94mm and still it uses a Medium rammer, also applies to the 88mm guns on German tanks needing only a medium rammer)

  58. Is there plans to introduce more french tanks in the near future? And relating to that, were the previously planned ones now not going to be introduced?

  59. I would love to know if there is a plan to look at the balance of the AMX M4 mle. 45.
    Since the German engine change the Tiger I has become a much better tank.
    The DPM on the Tiger I is 2150 compared to the 1675 of the AMX M4 mle. 45. That is a difference of almost 500. The French armor is also a lot worse than the Tigers especially the sides and rear.
    The only things the AMX M4 mle. 45 has over the Tiger is better hill climbing capability and front gun depression and that in no way makes up for such a massive DPM drop.

    These things make the AMX M4 mle. 45 on paper the worst tier 7 heavy in the game.
    It has the worst armor and the lowest DPM together with Tiger P and T29 but they have very good armor and in some cases they become invulnerable.

  60. Will Serb make a voice mod with “How terrible”…etc. after penning enemy tank?

    And will it be in English?