Hello everyone,

Recently, there was an interview in Hungarian GameStar magazine with Anton Sitnikau, a World of Warplanes producer. Hungarian player Antee was nice enough to translate it for you. Here it is!

GameStar: In the middle of November World of Warplanes has been released. You took a deep breath, I think, and prepared for the worst. What was the players feedback after the release?

Anton Sitnikau: We had very positive criticism, practically the number of active players has been doubled since November 2013. It is an unbelievable feeling, that so many people encourages us. They are those kind of people who are so fanatical to play simulators like us, they value our work, so this adds some energy in hard times. We received lots of feedback on how to improve the game. For us, every comment is very important, and yes, they really have influence in development. They criticize, for example the wayhow AA-guns work, they complain, there are few maps, also lots of player don’t like the current situation of Clan Wars. Lots of other developers could have took these as personal offense, but we know, these are essential informations. We are collecting ideas and complaints form players, and we try to ugrade the game the best we can. Like in World of Tanks there will be several patches, and every patch will bring some new game-element to the game, which will worth a try.

GS(GameStar): What would you do totally different, if you could start the development from scratch?

AS(Anton Sitnikau): The development could have been much smoother and easier, if we would have spent more energy on some areas. Namely, I’m thinking about using less WoT game-element. These two games totally differ from eachother, dogfights are way more complex, thus they are harder to plan, to actually display, and to program.

GS: 2 months have passed since the release, I think, you constantly monitoring the statistics. Can we know anything about the most favorite plane in the game?

AS: It surely depends on lot of things. Every plane has a different flight characteristic, weapons, also every plane excels in a completely different field. In addition, every player has a different fight-style, so it’s pretty hard to come up with a plane, that “takes everything”. In case of fighters, Bf-109B is the most popular. Players who prefer heavy fighters, find Bf-110B the best one, while in case of ground-attack planes LBSh is the number one.

GS: Which plane was shot down the msot times in 2013?

AS: Sadly we don’t have data for this, butI think, this information could look pretty good in a possible upcoming video about statistics.

GS: We know, it is too early to talk about this, but do we know anything about the number of players that joined to this virtual airforce?

AS: This number is not secret at all, we are quiet proud of it. In Beta we had in all an amount of 4.5 million players, now we are close to 10 million. Thanks to the shared Wargaming ID the approximately 80 million players of WoT are able to jump in a plane in any time, also this applies to pilots, they can ride any steel monster any time.

GS: Is this number comperable to the number of WoT after its release?

AS: WoWP has surpassed in regards of the number of registered players of WoT. We started with 4.5 million Beta-tester, while WoTsurpassed this number after 5 months of the actual release. So, yeah, we can say, WoWP has started pretty well.

GS: What will be the next step, in what area WoWP will upgrade in the near future?

AS: In spring we will test a new game-mode. We will change the UI fully, the minimap will be renewed (it will show the actual height of planes, will display thoose areas which are covered by AA-guns), and also we will renew the hangars as well. Game-balancing secton is continously working to help the transition between the start of the game and it’s middle (/I assume he is refering to lower and higher tiers/).

GS: Are there plans to change the flight-model? Lots of hardcore simulator player miss these features from the game. In a previous test in GameStar we tested the game with real pilots, and theycomplained that they were unable to do a simple simple spin. Is it possible to introduce a game-mode where a more realistic flight model is more important?

AS: This flight model is the 5th one which we use. We are quiet satisfied with this one, but naturally in the future we plan to improve it. We have two objectives with it: we want to introduce more simulator-element into the game for veteran pilots, but in a way, that it should be easy for new players for to experience success.

GS: During the previously mentioned test, we tested the controls with keyboard and mouse. Our experience was, that mouse using players can aim better and the actual maneuvering is better too. Do you plan to polish Joystick configurations, or should we just practise more with the mouse controls?

AS: Learning to perfectly control your aircraft takes lots of practise. In case you don’t want to be a burning fireball in seconds, it is advised to select the best contol-method that suits you the most. Playing with mouse you can clearly define your flight path, the AI will handle the other maneuvers. With a joystick you have full control over your plane, the outcome of fights will only depend on you. It is easier to stay behind the enemy with a joystick. In case you don’t need the assistance of the AI, simply turn it off, you can do it as you wish.

GS: Which is your favourite aircraft?

AS: In fact, I have 2. One is the Tier 6 Bf-109G-14 and the other is Tier 4 Soviet ground-attack aircraft, the LBSh.

GS: Now we know that WoT will not be unified, but does Wargaming plan to introduce somekind of new Clan Wars system. Can you tell anything about it?

AS: Our original plan was to introduce clans parallel to the release of the game, while Clan Wars would have come in one of the early patches. The concept, although, has been changed, so we are working on to operate the system in a whole.

GS: Do you plan to introduce take-offs and landings in future versions?

AS: WoWP is based on fast and dynamic battles. They last in an average of 7 minutes, it would be a waste of time to roll out from the hangar, to line up and then take-off. Also, take-offs could be too complicated for new players, they could still struggle on the ground while their teammates are already fighting.

GS: Hungary fought on the German side in WW2. There were some very famous Hungarian fighter-squadron (Puma(Puma, Cougar), Dongó(Bumble-bee)), which fought quiet successfully against both American and Soviet airforce. Are any hope, to see Hungarian planes somewhen in the future?

AS: Hungary is one of those countries, which did much for the development of aviation. I pretty sure, there is a big chance to see Hungarian planes in the game in the future.

GS: I know it is too early to talk about it, but we have tested the console version of WoT, thus we unwittingly have the question, if we can expect WoWP for console?

AS: You’re right, it would really be too early to talk about it. The PC version has been released not a long time ago, so we haven’t really gaze around regarding consoles. For now, we can only concentrate to polish the game on our current platform.

GS: What would be your suggestions for players who just started playing with WoWP?

AS: Fighting requires a good sense of timing, fast ability to maneuver and great precision. You can only improve these by practising, tough I have some tips, that are easy to learn, and will help you to stay survive. It is very important to leave enough time to get to know your plane. Know, which are your plane’s advantages and disadvantages, to know what can you achieve with it. From a higher altitude it is easier to loose your pursuers, while in case you’re fighting with a similar plane to yours you can achieve a greater speed for an attack and for the following withdrawing. Always try to attack from behind and to keep an eye on your opponent. Until you stay behind your opponent’s plane, it is easier to keep him in your sight, and you don’t have to be afraid of him counter-attacking. In that moment you lose sight of him, the element of surprise has gone, and you can soon become the purused. Don’t open fire on your enemy in the moment you spotted him, you won’t have a chance to kill anyone with a high speed like that from that far out. As you have opened fire, he will know you’re there, so it is essential, to have the first burst to be as perfect as you can.

GS: Anton, thank you very much for the interview and we wish you good luck with the development of World of Warplanes.