About the 2015 Branch Mystery

Posted on by

Hello everyone,

a short post about the mystery of the third 2015 branch. Please note this is NOT a leak, just my thoughts on the matter, it’s completely possible I am totally off.

So, about 2015 branches. We know there will be three of them and we know in which order they will come, roughly. The first to come (was already mentioned by Storm indirectly, as well as other WG people) will be the French AMX-30 “branch” (AMX-30 prototype, AMX-30 and a bunch of lowtier stuff, like the Somua S-35, not a full branch). This is due possible around Spring 2015. In summer a new branch is planned, which is a mystery. And then, as a third branch, the first part of the EU tree in late 2015 (as far as I can tell, it looks like it’ll be the Czech branch, but who knows with Wargaming, right? We’ll see in January).

In any case, it goes like this:

- Spring 2015: the French
- late Summer 2015: ???
- late 2015: EU

So, the real question is, what is mystery branch in the middle? You might think there are many, many options, but… not really actually. Not that much anyway. Let’s use the elimination method to try to guess then:

- it’s not French. Two French branches in a year in three slots is a nonsense, plus the second French HT line is basically scrapped and TD’s are in limbo (not much info)
- it’s not Japanese (don’t ask, I just know)
- it’s not Chinese (ditto)
- it’s not British (not counting the Chieftain and the FV4202 switch, there is not that much left to implement – and the British get lots of love in 9.5)

That leaves us with the Germans, Soviets and Americans. Germans – after the cancellation of the Sturmtiger branch, there is practically nothing German left to be introduced (apart from lowtier derp TD’s like Sturmpanzer IV) without the Waffenträgers (and Storm said they didn’t want more WT’s – true, he said that about the time the British teawaffletrager line was announced, but whatever). Plus, there is (quite literally) nothing German left for high tiers, without some REALLY obscure and outrageous stuff.

The Soviets are Americans are left. Logic dictates that after the American branch in 9.3, Soviets would be the next in line, but the question is, what more they can get? I was going through books and such and the only thing I was able to put relatively easily together (without tapping really obscure stuff) is the SU-152 Taran branch. Yup, ANOTHER branch of waffenträgers, so that’s likely out. Another (albeit very strange) option for Soviets is a “double barreled” heavy tank branch with ST-II (with dual M-62′s or some weird stuff like that) on tier 10, but the mechanism is not out yet and I doubt it will ever be. Setting it aside as a distinct possibility, but there are likely candidates.

Now, the Americans then. There are two options really – another medium branch or another heavy branch. The thing about the medium branch is that it would likely involve a lot of “clone” stuff, like “this tank from the other medium branch, only without autoloader” and wouldn’t end with M60A1 anyway (asked, sorry, it’s out). So – a second heavy branch. There’s one more indicator of that, Chieftain mentioned recently he was working on making US heavies historically correct, so that’s maybe a hint?

So, as it stands, I think we have three options, in order of probability:

- American heavies
- American mediums
- Soviet *something*

We’ll just have to see. Or it gets leaked. We’ll find out in a few months one way or another :)

116 thoughts on “About the 2015 Branch Mystery”

        • I’d like that too, for some reason I love the Chinese tanks, I think mostly because they are modification of Russian tanks in one form or another. Don’t get your hopes up though, China is one of the least popular nations currently so I don’t think it will happen.

        • Kongzhongwang mentioned the Chinese TD line in recent monthly Q&A. They said it will come soon and everything were ready. I suppose that it may come even earlier than the AMX30.

      • I thought so at first, however I recall there was not that many Italian tanks to fill a tree from an older FTR post. I wish it was the French mediums Somoas with the 75′s

  2. About US mediums: they can put T54E2 on tier 9 (iirc it was shown in ASAP at one point) and T95E3 on tier 10. That would be somewhat alright, no?

  4. My guess would be american meds or chinese or japanese heavy or TD – But if those Are out lets see

  5. Maybe Christie tanks?
    Chinese arty or TD would get a lot of cash from the Chinese server.
    Also, maybe EU branch will be added in 2 parts.

    (don’t ask, I just know)

    • Yeah, Christie tanks could be combined with some kind of ‘Christie-look-a-like’ branch, starting with Christie tanks and ending with the T95E3.

  7. I want the damned JagdMaus.

    The “It is too similar to JGPZ E100 crap is just crap. It is not.
    And… *looks at 430, 140 and T-62A…* even if it were true, there is a precedent.

    For soviets, no idea. Maybe a few more T9/10 heavy tanks and some med or something.
    For US, E1 and E2? No other idea.

    I just want my Japanese nad Chinese tanks…

    • Personally, I’d like to see a Jagdpanzer E-50. Don’t see why every top-tier German vehicle has to be based on a superheavy hull unless it’s a medium tank.

      Probably be closest in playstyle to the Object 263 without the open top, or something that relates to the Jagdtiger as the E-50 does to the Tiger II: similar firepower and armour, but considerably more mobile.

      It’s another extrapolation, but probably more likely to have actually come about had Germany’s defeat been postponed than any of the E-100 conversions, since even the E-100 base was canned before the war ended.

      • hnnnnggg, I’d love to see a JPZ E-50, maybe put it after the jagdpanther II and then make it lead to the JPZ E-100. JP2 is one of my favorite tanks.

        • Well, I was angling for an alternative to the JPZ E-100 at tier X. Apart from general frustration at WG’s “when in doubt, put it on an E-100 hull” policy for tier X German vehicles, it also means that the generally more DPM-oriented playstyle of that line of TDs gets replaced at the end with a 2.33rpm Death Star.

          A fixed-casemate tank with armour similar to an E-50 (or Jagdtiger), the mobility of an E-50, and the Jagdtiger’s top gun (possibly with the option of a 15cm like the PaK L/38) would probably make for a worthy tier X candidate, and with all the current tier X TDs based on heavy hulls, it would have a distinct playstyle to its Tier X contemporaries. With the Foch 155 being an autoloader, its closest match, as I said, would be the Object 263.

          Really, though, it’s a matter of seeing if we can get a tier X home of the JP/JPII playstyle. It would be a fantasy tank, but so are most of the E-100 conversions*, and while AFAIK no drawings have survived, the E-50 was supposed to be the basis for replacements for Panther variants including the Jagdpanther.

          *Personally, in fact, I think a lot of them are a bit insane. WT E-100, whatever you may think about it balance-wise, is going from a 25t vehicle to a 100t vehicle. The GW E-100 has the same guns as the GW Tiger (II), raising the question of why WG thinks that’s the natural progression rather than a GW E-75. Meanwhile, I’ve seen drawings for the JP E-100, but since they have Russian text rather than German, I’m not convinced about their authenticity.

  8. Just curious, how many tanks (apart from lowtier pre-WW2 crap) are there left in the Chinese and Japanese techtree that are NOT copy&paste stuff from UDSSR and US trees? Are there any ‘native’ higher tier vehicles, especially when it comes to mediums and TDs?

    • Cca two branches of Chinese TD’s and artillery (granted, the Chinese TD’s are more like copypaste of the Soviets, but not identical). Japanese vehicles are completely original.

        • There never was such branch , it was only our (FTR readers) speculation that this was a fitting concept but since 112 is already a premium it is merely a fan-fiction. Unless I’m missing somthing out.

          We came up with it because 110, 111 and 113 are three completely different vehicles with different playstyles and pairing 111 1-4 with 111 5 and 112 with 113 would make leveling experience more consistent and gave more variety to anyway scarce tech tree.

      • they once said it’s possible to have a branch of superheavy tanks for other nations besides Germany

        why not a Soviet superheavy branch based on the many KV-4 proposals?

  9. Soviet heavy line would be a very logical choice. Top tier T-10 (aka IS-10), it was a widely used heavy tank during cold war, and there are multiple models around.

    In fact they could add the M (modernized) soviet heavy line, as in IS-2M, IS-3M, IS-4M and T-10M.

    • Oh yeah forgot about that. We already have 3 T10 standard meds + Obj 907. We could always use one more copy.

  11. SS i dont discard they decide split the actual USA franken med line… is very easy for them do it with the add of only 2 tanks, 1 tier 7 and 1 tier 10 and they can leave the lights open to receive T92 as tier 7 and buff T71 to tier 8.

    Starting in tier 6 tanks.

    Secondary light line:
    T-21 — T92 — T71 AND in future they can add as tier 9 Sheridan researching it from any of the tier 8 lights (Sheridan like many new tanks only have 1 gun a buffed version of derp from T49).

    Secondary med line:
    Sherman E8 —- Sherman hull with Pershing turret —- T-69—– T54E1—- T54E2

    I think this is a decent tier 7 med… slow for a med but after play Firefly i dont see why it cant be the tier 7 USA Firefly (it needs use at least the 170mm pen gun from Pershing).

    http://s342.photobucket.com/user/Cowboy31a/media/US%20Army%20Tanks/M4%20series%20medium%20tanks/Sherman90side.png.html

        • It is differnet. M60 Patton has M48′s turtle back turret . but the M60A1 has long nose turret.
          But long ago, Developer said “There will be no M60A1 Patton.” I don’t know why, but the ward sometimes changes it.

          • What about the M60A2 for the USA medium tier 10 tank? It has a very unique turret. Screw the Shillelagh anti-tank guided missiles along with the technical gear and go with just the derpy 152-mm gun.

            • Because dealing 300 HE dmg + ~14sec. reload are very fun on a tier 10 medium tank.
              As long a there are no propper AP/APCR/HEAT rounds for this tank, it would be useless. And HEAT as normal ammo isnt very fun, too.

              If it was some usefull ammo, it would be a decent tank and very different from others, but i think, it’s too new.

            • It’s way too new; it entered development in the late 1960′s and entered service around 1972. It wasn’t very good and it’s service was short (about 9 years) and plagued with problems across the board. But the main issue with putting it into WoT would be how late it entered service; if it’s in the game why not the T-72 that entered service around the same time or the T-64 which beat it to service by almost a decade?

              So no, it’s a no go.

    • I think I saw there some time ago that they wanted to implement Italian branch first, but my memory tends to play tricks on me. It’s also possible it was just a player proposal or something.

  16. US Meds:
    Branch 1: T8 – T42 (yes that’s T69 without autoloader, so maybe just combine the tanks into one?!) -> T9 – T95E1/E3 (90/105mm guns) -> T10 – T95E4 (105mm)

    Branch 2: not much to place on mid/high tiers but a new T10 can be the T77 (M48 hull + T57 Turret). Yes it can follow after another T54 variant (straight T54 maybe with conventional turret wit autoloader) but having two nearly same autoloaded T54 in game would be crap. T77 should have topped the T69-T54E1 branch from the very beginning. Again stronk design by WG.

    US Heavy:
    Again a T10 candidate is the infamous T58 (M103 hull with 155mm autoloader) and I’m sure some research may deliver the appropriate lower candidates. Particularly, WG may come to the genius idea to implement it as a TD where it would logically follow T30 (actually they better moveT30 to the HT line but well)
    Yes I know it was said to be OP, but it really isn’t. It’s mediocre armoured slow shit with awful accuracy and aimtime and “just” 2250 dmg in the drum (they’re gonna cut the real drum to the half which would leave us with 3 shells per 750dmg), so that’s same as Foch155 and less than E100WT (2450). There is really nothing OP in that vehicle and I’m sure it’s just a matter of time until it’s implemented

    Soviet:
    I would love to finally see the Obj.277. Yes it was also said to be OP many times, but I really see no issue. It’s an IS-8 on steroids – weak armour for T10 heavy but quite agile and roughly the same gun as IS-7 with better soft-stats to compensate the lack of armour.

    But actually most likely for the soviets is indeed the Taran line. It was heavily denied in past (“it’s OP”, “surely not gonna be in game”) but lately it hardly came up as topic and the answer was mostly “not planned for now”, “future will show” or similar.

  17. Would be interessting to se some japanese TD’s like the Ho-Ri Toku or even the type 5 Na-To.
    But it’s starting to get a bit sad that they keep postponing the EU tree, would like to see the whole mix of countries, different types of tanks. Especially the swedish ones.

  19. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH YYYEEEAAAHHH !!!!!!!! AMX 30 finally come !!!! Maybe the AMX M4 49 next ? :)

  20. Gotta say the AMX M4 49 looks really neat
    But i would rather want the AMX 13 with the Panhard EBR turret and the ALC 135? think it was called just because of the boxy awsomeness.

  21. I always wonder why the fuck they dont want to work on french tanks…I looked up on french forums and there was this whole big-ass french tree with pretty many tanks that actually were built or at least were on blueprints

    So yea, why the fuck WG wont do a proper job and work on french tanks, huh ?

  22. I don’t mind about new french line. :)
    But it they would implement a WWI mode, with trench map and armoured cars, I’d jump on it!

  24. Super secret wheeled vehicle ninja patch?
    “Oh hai, while you were busy trying to guess what copy paste tank we were going to churn out, we made truly original content!”
    …
    Yes, I am a dreamer.

    But more seriously, bring 100ton, 1930′s French superheavy steampunk tanks please.
    You can keep your AMX30, it’s going to be exactly like the Leopard 1, but with different soft stats, some minor differences in hard stats, and a somewhat different look. Somewhat. I want a tier5 monstrosity with a 155mm derp gun.

      • That’s exactly what I want to do.
        If that pseudo-E100 was bigger, longer, slower, had low armor, a turret that doesn’t fully rotate, has no AP shells, much less accurate….

        So yeah, like an E100, except for everything that isn’t size of the tank and width of the gun…

  25. I’m curious as to why you don’t believe there will be another Chinese branch in 2015. Has WG leaked something specific regarding Japanese and China tech trees? I just find it strange that they wouldn’t add more Chinese tanks in 2015 considering the enormous player base/market in China with Chinese tanks being unsurprisingly the most popular, and its not like they haven’t been well received here on EU. Personally I’m not fussed but I would like to see a bit of love for the more empty tech trees, Japan, China and France (somewhat, at least France has 4 branches).

    • I have to agree, logic (though its not WG logic so who knows) one would assume China and Japan are the perfect choice for a new branch due to they lack of stuff in the tree

    • Same here. Plus, noobs might stop whining about completing missions with those nations if they add heavies and tds.

  26. What would be the candidates for second american heavy line tier 8-10, besides T58 or other autoloaders?

  28. Why can’t WG start the EU tree earlier?
    And why would Czech tanks come first? That would be a very dumb move by WG. In all likeliness it would be Italian tree or Hungarian tree first. Czech and Swedish tanks would probably come after.

  29. SU-152 Taran branch NOPE . Murazor in his video already did rape this Idea . SU-152 Taran is basically paper tank with one of most powerful gun in History . SU-152 Taran can penetrate any tank in ANY place . SU-152 Taran have penetration 300mm on 3 km distance . In WOT that penetration is like 400 mm or 450 mm .

    Link to Murazors video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_pyMPUdYD4

    • Firing the 12.5 kg APDS shell with a maximum charge (10.7 kg), which gave it a muzzle velocity of 1720 m/s, the M-69 “Taran” had an armor penetration of 290 mm of RHA at 90° at a range of 2000 meters

  30. - it’s not Japanese (don’t ask, I just know)

    Aww… I was really looking forward for that Japanese heavy-line that was mentioned before… I have to presume that it was scrapped then, like many other interesting ideas.

  31. Some random thoughts of mine

    1. Remember when WG said there’s material for the next 3-5 years of updates? Yeah, at this pace they won’t finish adding new tanks until the 22nd century….

    2. How come Kongzhong didn’t force WG to add more stronk kungfu tonks? I really want these: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2013/07/17/chinese-td-line-how-it-might-look/ http://ftr.wot-news.com/2013/07/30/possible-chinese-spg-line/

    3. Y u no gib moar love to Japs? Where’s muh Type 2605 super stronk tonk?

    4. Not adding a full AMX-30 branch is pure laziness. Also the AMX 50 TCB (AKA Char 50t B AKA AMX M4 49(that name isn’t even real)) and AMX 65t models have been around for 2 years and they were too lazy to get 5 people to balance them and test them.

    5. There’s a shitton more American tanks that could be added: T77 MT, T58 (in place of the unhistorical T110E4), T95 MT variants, T96 HT, H1/H2 HT T93 SPG, T42 MT, T54E2, T92 LT etc.

    6. S-tank! Gib nao!!!111one!

          • Nope nope nope…
            People still say the Foch 155 is unbalanced.
            Imagine one that isn’t autopen arty-food, has decent mobility and a turret.

            You just can’t put it in the game without making it either completely overpowered, or shit.
            Don’t need any more “free xp bait, then nerf bat at the next patch” tank so that the common tomato can feel good about doing 2000 damage in his minute and a half long game.

            • 1. How could Foch possibly be unbalanced? Its gun handling sucks, its HP sucks and it’s autopen for HE shells almost everywhere. More than makes up for an autoloader.

              2. T58 can be perfectly balanced. Make it slower than T57 by giving it crap ground resistance (like with FV 183 which was overnerfed), give it Foch-like reload times, slow turret, mediocre gun handling and voila. 3000 dmg clips don’t seem to be a problem for WG anyway >looks at Waffle E-100 150<

              Besides, why not add more variety to the game? It's not that you'd often find a turreted autoloader with a big ass gun that actually existed in blueprints.

              And the real OP autoloader here is the T57…

  32. Soviet TD line, ending with SU-152 “Taran”… My balls just left my body. It’s just disturbing. Murderous. That thing is the best cannibal you can ever find. The IRL stats of it are simply “out of the chart” for WoT players.

    • 1720 m/s velocity APDS shell…
      Don’t even need to lead the target.

      290mm pen at 2km ? Translation : 400 pen with APCR in WoT. standard. fucking. ammo.
      And because truly go fuck yourselves other tanks in WoT, it’s fast and has a turret.

      • No for Su 152 taran if no for SturmTiger, simple, 2,5 meters of pen for HE. They wont give us ST, no for Taran, and for that, why no new Leopard, IF STB1 i from m1968….

  33. “- it’s not British (not counting the Chieftain and the FV4202 switch, there is not that much left to implement – and the British get lots of love in 9.5)”

    That’s not right ast all. There’s TONS left that the British could use. For one they have more than enough for a light line, a second heavy line, a third TD line, expanding their turreted TDs down to tier 2, a Commonwealth/Export line and a bunch of other mini branches. They aren’t anywhere close to being finished.

    http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/244926-british-tank-index-of-potential-vehicles/

    I know the French side of the forum has their own enormous collection of potential things too. Maybe it’s time the “big three” got a rest for a while to bring other nations up to their level.

    Personally, I believe this mystery line will be Italy.

  34. I’m thinking Far East Noodles tank line here. The Chinese Branch lacks both Artillery and Tank Destroyer lines. If anything, it’ll be Tank Destroyers.

  35. Pingback: Jaké tanky čekat v roce 2015?

  36. Well, the Americans do seem to have a lot of obscure heavy tank designs. But I don’t really see this happening. It must be the third Soviet TD line, which I’d be okay with. A lot of unique vehicles it seems.

  37. They can introduce the second Chinese MT line, start from variants of WZ-122 and goes to Type 69/79(or a Type 59 with 105 L7) and ends at the Type80(basically is Type 69/79 with auto-loading 105 L7).

    People may complain is T-54 clones, but at least is historically exist…..

  39. We need 3rd British TD line , scout line and 2nd British heavy tank line and 2nd british medium tank line

  40. Silent, I will probably go to Fort Benning (an hour’s drive from my place) sometime soon. I can get a picture of a T95/t28, T29, etc. There is also an M60 (I think I will have to check) 5 minutes from my place…. I could send you pictures.

  44. hmmm let see:

    Italian Line (if it’s not made as part of the Euro line along with the Czechs)
    Czech/ Hungary/ Polish line.
    Swedish Line
    South American Line

    Israeli/ Arab line (Middle East)

  45. GG SS, I’ve had the exp for the M4 45 grinded out for the AMX M4 branch for over two years now, but you just had to crush the dream of ever getting a perfectly balance-able and logical french heavy tank branch that has been modeled for nearly 3 years, because fuck France.