Supertest M56 Scorpion Update

Source: https://vk.com/newsblog_wot

Hello everyone,

just a quick update on the M56 Scorpion and how it is doing on supertest. Scorpion set of characteristics (including pictures) was leaked earlier, when the vehicle was introduced to the supertest server.

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The feedback from supertesters about this vehicle is that with current characteristics, it sucks even against tier 9 vehicles, let alone tier 10′s. The developers allegedly agree, they too are unhappy with the vehicle performance. Current line of thinking is that this tank destroyer will definitely have limited matchmaking – it’s allegedly even possible it will not see tier 9 and 10 tanks in battle at all. This is however extremely preliminary at this point, further tests and tweaks are being conducted.

19.9.2014

A quick announcement – I had several events planned for this week, specifically a nice historical competition, the Hall of Shame mod, some streams and such. Unfortunately, everything got delayed by a week or two by the fact that my PC is undergoing repairs, so please, be patient (especially the mod seems to be a requested featured judging by mail).

- the equipment is tied to a vehicle, not its modules. FV207 British artillery for example uses medium caliber rammer, while the vehicle tier higher uses large caliber rammer, even though it can use the same gun. That is due to the presence of the 7.2in howitzer on the latter vehicle
- Swedish tanks in the game? “If Swedish tanks were to be added to the game they would more likely be part of a European tree.”
- regarding WoT monetization: “The game model is such that you use your tier 6 and tier 5 to generate credits to fund your higher tiers. If you could play tier 10 without ever having to really worry about losing credits, why would anyone ever use the premium account option, purchase premium tanks, or play any other tier than tier 10 where they don’t have to worry about facing tanks of a higher tier?”
- T95E2 Medium Tank in WoT? “We can’t comment on future content because it’s always subject to change. The future of this tank hasn’t been confirmed, once we’re sure of what is happening with it, we’ll let players know at a time where we’re also able to answer any questions players have about it.”

Posted in Q&A

About the Fury Competition Results

Hello everyone,

so, the Fury Competition results are here.

Personally, I was really skeptical about the competition and still am about the movie, for various reasons:

- they wrecked the Sherman they used (followed by a Wargaming money drive for its restoration)
- the “LOL SHERMUN WUZ CRAP TEH TIGER BESTEREST TANK OF WAR” trailer
- too much hype
- I don’t like Brad Pitt

Anyway, about the competition. The first funny part is that the “super secret tank” (reskinned Sherman to looke like the one from the movie – not sure which version, the one appearing on the screen, or the way the tank looked after the shooting) is not even in the game (probably gonna be in 9.3 files coming out after this weekend), but whatever.

The winning trailer looks good I guess. I am really not a WoT video expert, but I kinda expected a bit more. But fair enough, why not. What struck me as odd however were the other “trailers”, for example the one, that won third place.

 

 

I mean, so there’s the American T20, the M6 or whatever and a Hellcat at the end, what does that have to do with the Fury movie? Absolutely nothing? It looks like an action version of a random WoT video. I know it took probably some (even considerable) effort, but… well, I don’t know.

And what do you think of the contest?

Wargaming to Cooperate With Anime Again

Thanks to WARLOCK360100 for this one.

Hello everyone,

according to this article, Wargaming (specifically Viktor Kislyi) announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2014 that Wargaming (World of Warships) would cooperate with the creators of anime called Arpeggio Blue Steel, which is apparently warship-themed. Tried to check on the story of the anime and it makes no sense to me, so I guess it’s an attempt to make specifically the Japanese players interested.

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Well, at least they are doing the advertising right:

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Savannah and Mexico Maps

Hello everyone,

here are the pictures of a very old map – and by very old I mean more than two years back. It was called Savannah and it never made it even to the open test server. The reason for that was that the developers considered the map too open and without cover – the artillery dominated on it.

Savannah was one of four maps, that were “leaked” around March 2012. The other maps of the batch were Mexico, Munich and South Coast. Munich and South Coast eventually made it to the game (Munich is now called Widepark), Mexico and Savannah did not. Below are the screenies of Savannah and Mexico. Too bad – now that arty was nerfed big time, I think it might be time to have a look at those maps again :)

map1

map2

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Q&A with WG EU Staff

Hello everyone,

there was currently a Q&A session with EU staff (Ectar, Obiron and some guy I never heard about, Tugali or something) on Reddit. As you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly groundbreaking, but nevertheless, here’s the sum of it (minus the pointless stuff):

- ricochets in 9.3: “Ricochet can occur only on the first tank, if ricochet occurs on the second tank, the shell disappears. But ricochet on the second tank will be processed the same way as for the first one.”
- a new CW campaign is still coming this year (tier 10 stuff)
- “team battles are not so popular with introduction of StrongHolds”
- the new LT’s were something that was planned for quite some time (SS: the T49/XM551 hybrid was planned ever since late 2013 as tier 8, RU251 was planned since early 2013, that LTTB thing was however quite new)

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Posted in Q&A

18.9.2014

- Ruineberg on Fire will be completely removed. It will be replaced by a winter Ruinberg version.
- developers are still working on bigger maps
- new motion physics will not come in 9.4, but later
- Storm states that it is necessery to find a balance in the amount of bushes on maps. Too few are bad, but there are sometimes too many “shooting bushes” out there.
- once upon a time, long time ago, there was a map called “Savannah”. Developers decided not to implement it, because arty was dominating on it and there was nowhere to hide.
- the Chaffee Race mode is also temporary, just like the soccer and Karl modes were, there will be a medal and the Chaffee will be handed out for free
- Storm states that some FPS loss reports reported lately could not be proven on computers of the same configuration

Posted in Q&A

Of World of Tanks Economy

Hello everyone,

you might have already heard of the Extra Credits Youtube show. It’s actually a really great show I like a lot, even though I sometimes disagree with some of their ideas. I think it was Vallter, who actually introduced me to this show and I am grateful for that. Anyway, here’s one part that you should find interesting. Go ahead, watch it. I’ll continue after you do.

 

 

So, now, you know the reason why there are no player-to-player ingame transactions in World of Tanks of any sort. By not introducing them, the developers essentially bypassed a whole lot of trouble, one of the biggest being raging inflation. Bethesda with Elder Scrolls Online went the same direction by the way, allowing auction houses to work only within guilds, removing the worst predatory practices, that appeared in World of Warcraft over the years by the “peer pressure” (players are much less likely to attempt to cheat their percieved guildmates).

In World of Tanks, the economy is completely closed, which means that the developers have complete control over its flow. Various elements of the economy, requiring both credits and gold, are introduced to keep the inflation in check. And yes, there is an inflation.

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Chaffee Race Footage

Hello everyone,

from RU server – the Chaffee Race Footage.

The mode is apparently 3vs3 Chaffee race (special fast Chaffee Sport). It takes place on completely reworked Port map. There are various obstacles, such as jumping ledges, exploding barrels and such. It ends with a very fast base capture it seems.

 

History of One Hero (RU Server Video)

Hello everyone,

as a part of the “Remember Everything” series of videos, WG RU makes interviews with soldiers (not only tankers), who survived WW2 and are willing to share their experiences. Naturally, these videos are… let’s say written with Russian audience in mind, but nevertheless, they are very interesting.

In this video, Ismagil Nigmatovich Galiullin (quite an unusual name), former tank driver in WW2 tells the story of him becoming a tank driver and of defeating a Tiger tank by ramming it. There are English subtitles, you can enable those.