146 thoughts on “Insider Talks: Whole Bunch of Info”

1. “Artillery rebalance will happen at some point in the future”

   Knowing WG it means that they will try to do smth right and improve arty while it will all turn the other way and they will screw them even more

   “- Minsk is getting tired of WG EU mismanagement of regular-to-unsatisfactory quality of customer service and are already planning something for it, however details are not shared by messages. A meeting is at hand”

   Well about damn time
   Also, they can hire me :P

   BTW: Nice article :)

   • Also, I dont quite get the Kantai part. They copied smth from WG or what ?

     • Kantai is a game where ships(all kinds of ships and even submarines) are all portraited by cute girls and it would be really profitable to do business with them.

       • Thx

     • Listed Wiki article and some info below.

   • “- Minsk is getting tired of WG EU mismanagement of regular-to-unsatisfactory quality of customer service and are already planning something for it, however details are not shared by messages. A meeting is at hand. This means a lot of stuff, as WG will have to make changes to each and every language and their PR/Customer Support systems in order to “weed out” the deficiencies.”

     Yep, their customer service sucks. I was looking through my tickets the other day and the earlier ones gave a satisfactory answer, the recent ones not so much.

   • Arty still is too accurate / does too much damage. I am getting one shot or almost one shot every third match (probably due to being a priority target because of my good stats), and I am not the player to sit still on open ground or move over it in a 100% predictable pattern. It just cannot be that you carry the match until some goddamn clicker fucker shaves off 2/3 of your armor with a single hit, without you being able to do anything about it. If you want a dynamic tank battle, you will have no choice but to leave arty safe positions. Arty punishes that type of gameplay and enforces static camping in 98% of the matches. The entire concept needs a rework. Right now it’s one of the biggest f*ck ups in the entire game. Plus, in my opinion the majority of the arty players just enjoy sitting somethere in a safe remote position and harrass other players. Arty gameplay simply is unsportsmanlike.

     • I stopped reading at “still is too accurate”

       • You stopped thinking at a much earlier stage in your life, didn’t you?

         • No I just stopped reading your text at that point

           Move along

     • Maybe they should ban XVM, then… I get one-shot like… once every 50 – 100 battles? If even that – I can usually get to the battle and lose some HP first, so it’s not really one-shot.

       • i support banning xvm then the arty would shoot at people that dont show colors

     • arty is still too accurate/does too much damage…..that is funny. Tanks are far more accurate than arty and do far more damage per minute as well as damage per battle. You made me laugh though….thanks.

       • Do those tanks oneshot you for 1500+ hitpoints the moment you leave cover?

         • You must play a tank that has an experimental laser instead of a historical gun. Every tank I drive has this thing called an “ammo rack” full of this stuff called “ammunition” that tends to blow up when my tank is hit in a certain spot. Arty isn’t accurate enough to hit that spot (or even my tank) reliably, but many Mediums and most Heavies and TDs can.
           Since non-arty units are less reliant on RNG when it comes to one-shotting you, you really should be crying that tanks and TDs are OP.

     • MaterielDefender, have you even played a game in the arty after 9.6?
       All the idiots talking wisely how “accurate” arty is, but haven’t even played it.
       Just try to drive that arty, try to do those magic “oneshots all the time” and then get your mega useful opinion to public.
       If arty would be even remotely close to such possibilities, it wouldn’t have the worst global win rate and damage dealt from all the classes in WOT.

     • “… If you want a dynamic tank battle, you will have no choice but to leave arty safe positions. Arty punishes that type of gameplay and enforces static camping in 98% of the matches….”

       Lol! Oh yes, it’s much easier to hit a moving target than a stationary camper. Played much arty lately? After 9.6 you’ve got about 50% chance to do splash damage on a stationary target. As for moving tanks? Forget about it.
       Is your dynamic game play a Russian med, rushing to a hull down position and sitting there spamming heat? If that’s the case, yes you could suffer from arty. If you by dynamic mean any sort of movement with any kind of brain involved, arty won’t hit you straight on ever, and the splash damage will do way less than any other tank in the game.

     • “Arty still is too accurate…”
       Odd, because I don’t have a problem avoiding arty no matter what I play. Then again, I play arty well and know what they can hit, where they can hit, and how long it takes them to reload.

       But let’s get down to brass tacks.

       Artillery has been in the game since day 1. It was here when you started, and it will be here when you leave. You act like you started playing a tank game and then they sprang it upon you unannounced.

       How do you justify complaining?

       Please learn to avoid getting hit by them. I die to them maybe once a week.

       I guess someone could teach you. Do you need lessons?

     • Bull shit; since the last patch i see clearly that my winrate is sinking with arty; i never saw so many shots missing the targets…even with à 3 skill crew, and consubles Like coffee..

     • If you get one shotted every third match, your playstyle is the problem. Not ‘too accurate arty’ (do you even play arty?) or your amaaaaazing stats.

     • Arty isn’t accurate, but especially at higher tiers many of the guns have massive splash, making that less of a problem than it might be otherwise.

       Other than that, I agree with much of what MaterielDefender says. Arty does promote camping no matter what the various “arty defenders” have to say. If you move you are more likely to be A- Spotted and B- Away from hard cover. Most of the artillery in the game can’t hit tanks behind hard cover (CGC and similar vehicles aside), and vehicles behind hard cover are less likely to be lit anyway. Anyone who disagrees with this clearly either hasn’t been or doesn’t remember being in a high tier match on an open map with four or five artillery per side. Those are always total camp fests.

       I just stared playing arty halfway seriously when the personal missions appeared (sorry fellow tankers). Before them, in my 24k battles I had less than 200 games in arty. “Luckily” for me, I researched the S-51 off the KV-2 way back when, so I was able to complete the splash and high damage missions despite having a limited number of artillery and the highest a tier 7.

       I’m actually glad I started playing arty, it has given me a much better understanding of what it can and cannot do. Sometimes it is fun, but mostly it is just boring. I really don’t understand people that love to play arty. I can stomach a few games a day, but that is about it.

       No matter what though, it is and always has been cheap. Clicking a tank all the way across the map with no threat of return damage is chickenshit. Yes, I know it isn’t going anywhere and I don’t expect it to change much, if at all, but that doesn’t make it less cheap. I think the solution is easy though, simply limit it to 2 per side. Two artillery with 13 targets to choose from makes the occasional clicking a lot easier to bear and reduces the chances of a single tank or two being focused. On the other hand, in a five arty per side game, you have five guns with only ten targets to choose from. Much less fun for everyone, well, except perhaps the clickers.

       • Tbh, the huge splash in high tier is not a problem. The problem is that the arties have too much alpha, which frequently causes one-shot and therefore, camping(imagine you driving a IS-7 ,charging out of cover and suddenly, you are one-shotted by a CGC or T92, therefore significantly reducing the assaulting force on your side). Meanwhile, if WG change the arty model to a moderately bigger splash and much lower alpha(like 400-500 on direct hit from a T92), the game pace would be much faster.

         • 400-500 on a direct hit? And then what, buff their fire rate? Because artys’ DPM is already low enough as it is. And trust me, you’d rage much more if an arty permatracked you instead of oneshotting you (which is pertty unlikely, specially while driving a tier 10, unless it’s a medium tank with paper-thin armor).

           I don’t know, I’m not mad at arties if they manage to get me in one shot. Yeah, it annoys me when it happens with my STB (getting hit by an arty at all while driving that tends to mean sure death), but I can do the same when I drive my FV 3805.

           • The thing is, once you get one-shotted, you won’t be able to do anymore damage in that battle. 500 damage will not have that much of a impact. Besides, the rof can stay as it is because they will get a much bigger splash.

     • Since 9.6 I have been nuked by arty more often than before 8.6….

     • Your tears grease the treads of my M53 arty, that I don’t really play all that much these days…. but still do enjoy rolling out maybe once a day just to farm more tears from whiners like you. :)

   • LOL Have they had a look at Asia server lately, if they think EU is bad!

2. - American T18 TD will be converted to artillery during the next big artillery rebalance patch. 

   Artillery suffered enough..
   Can’t they just remove this crap TD and replace it by M3 HMC? (Or T57 TD and M3 arty.)
   And before next year, please…

   • This game doesn’t need arty. It’s that simple.

     It does more harm than good to gameplay. It’s an unsportsmanlike type of gameplay. It destroys dynamic tank battles in 98% of the cases. I’d rather have those 2% TD / heavy tank induced camp fests than those 98% arty induced ones, created by the lame excuse that you need arty to break up those 2% TD camp fests. What a perverted logic courtesy WG.net (again). These people should try to think with their brains, not with their balls – those are just too small for the task.

     • Where does that 98% come from?

       • arty

       • “My feelings that are absolutely exact and objective”

       • my gw typ E has a 45% wr im surrrre im op lol

       • my gw typ E has a 45% wr im surrrre im op lol xD whoops double post sorry about that ss cant really focus with arty complainers

     • I would not be so sure about this. Think of organized play, CW. You have a campy map with many opponents preferring hard turtle tactics, like Mountain pass. This is where CGC comes in and softens up the enemy camp without taking huge risk by rushing in. Later a push is needed by regular tanks to clean up those softened tanks. Arty here could also put enemy into offensive because they don’t like getting hammered without getting anything in exchange.

       This is only one example but situations like this are numerous in many maps. Without arty you let the campers camp and you either fail by pushing in or it’s a draw.

       In random battles though the situation is different because people play arty mainly for the missions. Must kill light tank, must splash multiple enemies, instead of shooting that hulldown E3 their team can’t take down. So, blame the missions or xvm, or maybe your positioning.

       Arty is very important game mechanic in organized play to counter those campy tactics.

       • Maluska, I understand your point, but what you have to understand is that very few people actually give a shit about clan wars. The huge majority of the player base has no significant chance of doing well in clan wars no matter what, and I suspect that most don’t participate at all. So the argument that arty needs to stay as is or clan wars might get screwed up doesn’t really hold water with most folks.

         The solution is simple though, and wouldn’t effect clan wars at all. Limiting arty to a max of 2 per side in random battles would result in fewer people getting one clicked in any given match. Fewer deaths with no opportunity to respond, less rage. However, Wargaming seems to be more interested in constantly trying to rebalance a class that is either OP or terrible with little in between rather than simply limiting the number of SPGs in any given match to a reasonable level.

         And seriously, in a 15 v 15 clan wars battle, how many arty are there generally per side? Is it ever more than 2? I suspect not, which kind of makes my point doesn’t it?

         • But isn’t it simple maths here, that your solution kind of works, but kind of sucks.

           If you don’t balance a class, arty, properly, so you would not touch their gameplay or stats. Then you can’t affect the quantity of those arty pieces in battle queue. Yes, you won’t see more than 2 SPGs per battle then, but there would be still average 1,5 SPG per battle or what is the average, can’t remember. So it would cause you to get 1 arty now, 2 in seconds battle, 1 in next, 2 twice in a row, 0 spg, 2 arty… You see the point. You would see arty in nearly every game if quantity in queue is not reduced.

           I don’t even see a problem in current system and I would have no problems with your system, because those 5 arty games are not fun for tankers and certainly not fun for arty, because there is less damage to do, ie less enemy hp pool. But they are kind of necessary evil here, because those arty party battles reduce the amount of arty in other battles, so you can actually see every 3. battle zero arty or so, depending on the tier you play.

           Also I think arty IM missions were bad implementation to solve this problem, because it encourages many people to pick their arty to random battles and thus the average number of arties per battle might be increasing on EU server. This is just my feeling, no statistics to back it up unfortunately.

           E: of course there is also solution to share matches in 3 categories; 0 arty, 1 arty and 2 arty, and tweak match maker to match up every setup 33% of matches. However, if this was implemented it would cause people to queue very long to battle if you want to use arty, and I’m pretty sure WG does not want that. They want the shortest amount of time in queue when you press the battle button.

     • Move along. Just another anti-arty jihadist here. Nothing to see. Move along.

     • So anti arty arguments can be boiled down to: “But it’s just not Cricket!”

     • I smell the smelly smell of an arty hater

       Shoo

       Get away, little arty hater, before my arty shoves a nice fat shell up yer arse, pedobear style =)

   • Then you understand without arty we would be speaking germen right?

     • But.. about T18?

3. China Server?? WFC?

   • Oh yeah they sell gold-painted Type 59s that double your cred and xp income. No wonder you’ll see some chinese players moving to SEA server.

4. “camo factor is still planned for rebalance, but first, WG will gather data on the TD nerf, as it’s the class that mostly “benefits from it” – meaning that they tend to camp more than any other tank, despite having the bonuses removed, since “it’s within their nature””

   True enought, TDs are supposed to ambush the enemy.
   Will camo factor come with spotting rebalance? Because I am getting tired of being shot by behemoths who mysteriously do not get spotted, even though they are quite close (less than 300 m).

   • i couldnt spot a T71 in the bush with my WT4 there were 150meters between us soo yeah some tank destroyers(especially WT4) doesnt have good stats overall
     yet i still love WT4 camo factor is a bit itching my brain though

     • I believe the spotting system in 9.6 is bugged.

   • There would be a few simple solutions:
     It shouldn’t be possible to “see” through bushes and trees. If there is no line of sight (transparency rule for standing in bushes still apply), spotted tanks will be visible on the mini map, but not in the 3D world.
     In advance every tank within view range with line of sight should be automatically spotted when firing.
     This would end the era of “invisible” tanks once and for all and would still give these tanks the advantage of the first shot from cover.

     These changes should be combined with an arty rebalance for best results.

     • I don’t mind the idea of a tank being able to see thru a single bush. What gets me is that a tank could be sitting deep in a forest, like on old Murovanka, with perhaps 200-300 meters of deep cover between your and your target and you could still “see” the target. That’s just silly, even for an “arcade” game. There ought to be a (reasonable) limit to how much foliage you can “see” through before there’s just too much of it and you have no line of sight at all.

5. Why the hell did they add japanese/chinse tanks into the game if they knew its gonna be hard as fuck to flesh out the tree? And will there even be a point where they have arty/TDs?…Sure the asian market and all..but jeeeeesus..Cmon already

   • Money, money, money … players spend money to get gold for XP conversion to progress through these trees.

   • The chinese market is huge. Of course, WG wanted to get into that market. Any sane game company would.

     • That would imply that most companies that don’t have asian servers (china, korea, singapore, japan, etc) are dumb. While some actually ARE, some simply don’t because of lack of budgeting and whatnot. Otherwise we’d be seeing more Firefall players in asia

6. the new WG balance policy when introducing a new tank is to first add its “historical values”, then “overnerf the vehicle and finally strengthen it up”

   I think they may have forgot to do the final stage with a few of the British tanks/TD’s :(

   • care to elaborate ?

     I don’t see any problem with the British tree, I even see a lot of good tanks in it – turreted TDs (except tier X), FV 183, ConqGC, tier 7-10 heavies, etc.

     the mediums has Cromwell, but the top tiers aren’t very good due to lack of RoF on the tier 9 while the tier X will be replaced and we’ll just have to see then.

     • FV215b 183 is a good tank? It maybe was ages ago.
       I got mine just after the first nerf (HESH penetration) and it was still a little bit fun to play, but not a good tank. After they nerfed speed, maneuverability and the gun stats for a slightly better turret armor, it wasn’t even a little bit fun to play. With the recent dispersion change it become completely useless.
       Half a minute of reload is unacceptable, if 50% of the fully aimed shots don’t even hit the target. You can neither fight on close distances, because the tank is slow, snap shots are impossible (gun handling like an arty) and the penetration with the only effective shell type is way too low. Not to mention the ages it takes to reload this gun. The 25 s it takes is enough time for most other tanks to wreck the FV215b 183.
       The lower tier TDs rely on their DPM, not alpha and penetration. They are comparable to the infamous Obj. 263 line and I didn’t like them (Tortoise was somehow ok).

       • Are you suggesting that the only shell the 183 has which can effectively penetrate is the HESH?

         The AP is fine. It really is. Mind you, I haven’t driven mine in 9.6 which just hit NA. But I even reduced my HESH loadout because of lousy damage resulting in missing two kills in one battle. I now run 8 AP/2 HESH/2 HE.

         • Loading HE in a tank with HESH and only 12 shells overall is stupid. HE and HESH is the same ammo, the only difference is the penetration.

           Playing the FV215b 183 with AP:
           - worse reload than Jgpz. E100, only slightly better penetration and damager per shot
           - much less armor than Jgpz. E100
           0 same speed as Jgpz. E100
           - worse accuracy and aim time compared to Jgpz. E100
           - you can carry half the amount of shells than the Jgpz. E100
           + better gun arc compared to Jgpz. E100

           Conclusion: The FV215b 183 is just a bad tank (as well as the FV4005). This is not only my personal opinion, but also noticeable in stats like the average W/R, the average damage per round and so on…

           WG is unable to balance tanks with extraordinary characteristics like the WT E100 properly. These tanks are either OP or complete crap. The list is long and will get longer (arties, upcoming Mäuschen, upcoming German Arty with 305 mm mortar).

           • I agree that loading regular HESH on the 215b-183 is a waste. When you have only 12 rounds of ammo, I don’t think that there’s room for carrying them around as a luxury. Just go with a mix of AP and prem HESH. Some people prefer a mix that leans towards about 3 AP/9 pHESH, while others (me included) prefer the reverse, 9 AP/3 pHESH.

             I don’t think that the 215b-183 is that bad a TD, though with its long reload, it does take a lot of care to get decent shots without getting nuked after the first one. It seems tricky to play. Not the driving and shooting part, but trying to manage where to go, where to set up, and so forth to try to keep yourself alive and helping the team as long as possible. Other tier 10 TDs tend to be easier to manage in this regard, which may be why the FV’s WR stats aren’t that good. Perhaps not that many people have a good idea how to use the FV 183 effectively.

     • Well, since i now have the Charioteer i can say….,
       most of the new tanks/tds are average at best.
       Lets take the Challanger as an example.
       Its gun is… adequate at best. It’s not a bad tank or a bad gun, but not good either.
       Damage and pen just terrible, but if you can stay outside of the enemys spotting range you can make quite some damage. This tank would really profit from the 20pdr. Acc is oooookay.

       The Charioteer on the other hand….stock gun is the biggest unaccurate piece of shit you can imagine…. 0.37, i think they overnerfed quite a bit… the other guns (i don’t have) .35 acc. I guess thats something to work with…. i hope. But stockgun… my wr currently is 27% with 15 games….

       • The Challenger definitely could profit from having the 20 pd A barrel as its top gun. IMO, it wouldn’t be OP for its tier, since its alpha would still only be 230-240. The (conspiracy) theory that I’ve read is that WG didn’t give it the 20 pdr because they wanted to make it a crappy tank that people would want to free XP past.

         As for the Charioteer, I found the 20 pdr manageable on it. Not good, not terrible. Just manageable. But with the 105 gun, and its speed, it’s a great little tier 8 TD. A lot of fun.

7. AMX 40 used to rock and was nicknamed the rubber duck because it used to bounce shells far more than its armour level would suggest likely due to its curves.

   Kantai collection is quite a widely played game in Asia.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantai_Collection

   I would prefer a Arpeggio of the Blue Steel promotion myself.

   • Pretty sure they announced an Arpeggio collaboration already, but dunno what came from it if it came already (probably not being in alpha/weekend test

   • AMX 40 still rocks:
     http://imgur.com/SuHHlp9

   • Not “Asia”, just Japan. They actually have problems with server overload since it’s free that they have to lotto those who want to register. Us SEA ppl are asian too >:(

8. It is incorrect that AMX 40 is in Japaness part.

9. - if you want a solid performer, buy FCM 50t and not AMX CDC, as they are certainly planning to remove it from the store

   Now that was the last grain of sand that tipped over my buy or not buy FCM scale .. *grabs wallet*

   • fcm is probably the best one you can play not a punchy gun but it is a lot like a med

   • Plus it is on special in EU store this week. Buy at regular price, get 1 month premium for free. 10 Euro bonus is nice.

     Both CDC and FCM are nice. Very mobile, and gun is good. Both are similar in that getting shot in them results in 99% pen, with 90% chance for module dmg, usually ammo rack. Wet Ammo Rack with loader trained for safe stowage is muy importante.

     • I love the way “FCM50 is definitely being pulled from store because it screws up MM” coincides with “Hey look what a great deal you can get on the FCM, why don’t you buy one?”

       One of the most fun tanks in my garage it has to be said

   • ehh its an fcm i diddent buy the e25 when it was getting pulled because i did not care lol

     • Didnt care about E25 either, never considerd it strong, and also had the SU122 which is a lot better.

       But the FCM .. Eying for that for a long time already

10. The Mission I am having the most issues with is SPG-5 for the T55NA.
    Destroy the tracks of 3 tanks which are then destroyed by your “”team””.

    The 1st part is obviously no problem at all. Using a high tier or a mid tier arty, destroying the tracks of what u hit kinda comes with the territory. But being dependant on your lemming team to actually hit and destroy the de-tracked tank is crazy.

    Turning the requirement into assistance in destroying would make alot more sense. Even increasing the requirement from 3 to 4, and then on object 260 to 5 tanks from 4. Assistance in destroying would make the mission less tedious.

    Personally, I think that arty players should focus alot less on kills, and more on putting 1 shell into every full hp tank that they can find. Arty is the 1 class that can readily farm confederates.
    Even make 1 of the mission chains from Stug IV-Obj 260: (secondary)
    1. Confederate. (2k dmg)
    2. Confederate with 1 kill. (3k dmg)
    3. Confedrate with 2 kills. (4k dmg)
    4. Confederate with 3 kills. (5k dmg)
    An arty that gets confederate should also get a massive XP bonus. (that is a different topic, but I think that arty that gets awards like high caliber, confederate, Sniper, master gunner should enjoy a big xp boost for that game.) many times, arty have a great game, and find themselves in bottom half of team due to shared xp on hits.

    • a dead tank is useless, that’s why kills are always important.

      if any of the low health enemy tanks went out of my allies’ line of fire, then I’ll be sure to try to finish it off with my artillery.

      • just be sure that if you are capable of 1 shotting a tank and the otehr one has 100 hp consider which one is more deadly if they are at same amount of danger to allies kill the one with more health

      • I am not saying that taking a gun out is not important.
        But I do think that using Arty’s alpha dmg potential to take HP off with extreme prejudice is more usefull.

    • This morning.
      4 games so far.
      2 in BC 155-58, 3k avg dmg, detracked 4 tanks in 1 game, 5 in another (destroyed tracks, not dmg’ed) = 0 assisted dmg. let alone destroyed enemy.
      2 in Obj 261, avg dmg 2850, detracked 4 in 1 game, and 6 in another. = ZERO assisted dmg.

      I am fullfilling my end of the mission. I do so in almost every game I play in arty. (U do get the occasional RNG stinker in which u fully zoomed and Serb guides your shell to his space station, or u get countered on 1st or 2nd shot, or scout gets through on initial run)
      But my “”team”” does not do thier end of the mission.

      • Da_Zohan, you are doing it wrong. Instead of using a high tier, rarely shooting arty, you have to use something MUCH more rapid firing with less alpha damage, like FV304 or 105 leFH18B2. Then you will have more chances to track someone without killing it, and more chances, that someone else from your team does something to that tracked vehicle.

        • Well, FV304 does make some sense. LeFH I cannot use since I need tier 6 and up on T55 missions.

          But regardless of tier, I am getting bad luck in that my team mates do not shoot the tanks I de-track. I am stuck on this mission for 2 weeks already, and have not bothered with the 2 platoon missions yet since those are easier to finish anyway. All other missions are done for arty except 5, 13, 14, 15.

          Best advise I had so far for this mission is to toon up with 2 more arty and triple tap targets, but that is also heavily rng biased since that means all 3 need to hit same target within moments.
          BAH.

          • its the best way to do it.just did the mission like that.but if you can drive a tier 8 lorr arty and your platoon mates some big gun arty.t92 with ap shell or m53.just wait to see the shit when you need to kill one enemy and damage more 2 with a single shot.just insane.like how often you can meet 3 morons side by side?

    • I used the French LeFiFi B2 premium for that mission in both the Stug and T28C chains. I’m going to be really bummed when I get to the T55A missions (5 to go to get the T28C) and can’t use it anymore. I suppose of the limited arty in my garage the FV304 will be the way to go, but I’m going to miss that 7.51 second reload (BiA, Rammer, Food), which made permatracking easy. My FV304 has a 10.91 second reload (Rammer, vents, food, no BiA yet).

      • “French LeFiFi B2″

        Wahahahahahahaha!!! thats a very nice name! +1

11. Finally they realize that WG support (and now talking mostly about Czech one) is completely tragedy and now even legendary for their absurd answers in everything non-trivial.
    Question is how WG culture really supports openness and real problem solving instead of template answers, players blaming and problems hiding – this is something even the best support persons cannot change.

    • I cross my fingers, that at least something will be done about this. And not after 3 years, but in very close future.
      Because that EU support of WOT looks way more than just ridiculous at the moment.

12. this is why I visit this site so much.

13. Thanks for the long update (insider info) and the nice article!

14. Regarding the limited MM for prems – wouldn’t it be better if the premium tanks were generally worst then (fully upgraded) regular tanks but had limited MM by default?
    If you look at all new premium mediums you will see that all of them have better penetration then e.g. Pershing and many other regular T8 mediums. Is it fair? Isn’t it pay to win?

    • Funny that you say that, because the only reason I’ve heard in the last weeks is: “STA-2 has only 185mm of pene, it deserves limited MM, because it can’t pen T10,” meaning the exact opposite of what you say…

      • Yep, I’ve heard it as well, let’s see how it looks for the regular tanks (AP amo):
        T-69 90mm gun – 173 mm
        Pershing 90mm gun – 180mm
        T-34-2 100mm gun – 181mm
        T-34-2 122mm gun – 175mm
        T-44 100mm gun – 175mm
        T-44 122mm gun – 175mm

        • Well autoloader doesn’t count for obv. reasons and Pershing has greater turret and hulldown capabilities. Kinda agree with T-34-2 and T-44… but that’s only 2 tanks (and they have other advantages to compensate).

          I am fine with WG’s approach of “better than stock, worse than top, same MM”. Of course it won’t work compared to all tanks all the time, but at least roughly it should fit.

          The strategy to make them worse even further and compensate it with MM is just broken – MM wise and balance wise as well.

          • I still have no idea how the T-54 Prototype will ever be playable. A slow medium tank with a broken dumb armour layout and premium ammo with 217 penetration on a inaccurate gun in tier 9 and tier 10 games…

            Of course it will pub stomp low tiers, but being OP in half the games and useless in the other half is unbalanced as fuck and not particularly fun as a tank driver either.

        • Added to this: T-34-2, Lulz bad gunhandling on all guns.
          Added to this: T-44, 122mm, reload for 2 days.
          That said, T-44 with 100mm is at least a lot better than the T-34-2 and actual fun to drive. It’s useless for tier 8 clanwars, though. It’s not especially competitive in random either so unless you really like it there’s no reason to keep it. It’s also team reliant since it has to flank perfectly to penetrate it’s lackluster premium ammo against a lot of tier 10′s and it’s DPM is lower than tier 8 heavies.

          T-69 get’s a pass, it’s a (heatspamming) clanwars tank. (and an autoloader, ew. )
          Pershing get’s a pass, it’s a clanwars tank. Never played it myself but it still is, so meh.

    • “pay to win”

      how many times someone has to explain that YOU ARE NOT WINING A THING in this game
      you won the battle? everyone can do that
      you overrun an enemy tank? everyone can do that

      if you pay for a tank you dont buy the wining thing its still the same thing

      • Very stronk logic..
        So you say, that if you would be able to buy a tank with 1000/1000/1000 armor and 1000pen 1000dmg gun for real money, that still wouldn’t be a pay-to-win factor, right? Because you still should have be able to win a game in that tank!? :DD

        • thats bs now piss of and use your brain

      • my type 59 says hi, the pz2j says hi, the micro mouse says hi, the su-76i says hi, the Kv220 says hi, the btsv says hi.. shall i go on?

        • those are OPish thats why you can no longer buy them (except SEA i dont know wtf is going on there)

    • If only Pershing would be just a flying gun with 180mm of penetration. Maybe you haven’t seen it, but performance of a specific tank is measured by different factors too, like mobility and armor for example. And those parameters on your Pershing are on par or even better than that huge piece of wooden barn, what STA-2 is.

15. Kantai Collection:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantai_Collection

    Basically personified ships, very popular in Japan (because they take great pride in their naval forces) and among western fans as well. Got an anime this season.
    The game itself is pretty much grinding mostly and the art and voice quality varies a lot, but that didn’t stop it from being popular.

    Oh yes, and you can “marry” your ships as you are the fleet’s admiral. Go figure.

    • I’ll just leave this here…
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smm8dQEsgUQ

      • Gotta reply, then, poi~
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgkpIM_o99Q

        • Talk less, Poi more!

    • You forgot the Pray-to-RNG-sama-and-hope-your-fleet-won’t-get-completely-wrekt part.

      The game is heavy on RNG

      • Well, the result of the battle yes, but luckily the sinking is completely preventable, so it just results to more grind (and spending for insta-repairs).

        Have even some friends who spend money on it, I couldn’t really get into it (stopped around level 10 or so?), since it’s too grindy for me.

    • Japan, what the fuck…..Again? Too much fish they eat.

      • Hey, do you want to see Japan to display their army’s little tin-box or their naval force, who faced American navy in WWII and had some good campaigns?

16. “Also, the community is nothing short of “xenophobic” and.. (on a personal note), racist (“gaijin go home” type of racism) – even a certain KongZhong developer was recorded throwing racist insults around.”

    Yep, they are just as racist on the SEA server (yeah I know it’s called ASIA but SEAtard works better). Given that Asians aren’t known for their armoured prowess I don’t know how one could be racist with tomatoes…..

    • And who colonized these places?

17. Hey, Silent.. Do you have any further info about premium tanks being removed from the store ? In previous article you said they gonna pull off premiums step by step.. Any info about Löwe, or any others except FCM and ИС-6.. Thanks for that btw.. But I would appreciate more info about others if its possible.. Thanks

    • No. This is a production decision, not development, unfortunately.

    • Even if they pull Limited MM tanks out of the store, then have no worries, your “awesome” Lowe won’t be touched, because it has normal MM and it does not break the game and doesn’t let you pwn.

      • I oneshotted with arty soo many Löwes, i almost feel sorry for them…

        • Slöwe :D

18. I like the Chinese tanks :)
    I don’t even think they are THAT copy-cat-ish.

    Some play very differently to their russian counterparts. And some tanks are even fun to play.
    110 is awesome, WZ-120 is awesome too :D

    I’m glad they introduced them :)

    • WZ-111 1-4 is also a beast.

    • I agree somewhat, It’s mostly the lower tiers that are the problems. But the WZ-131 line and T-34-1 and up are very much unique tanks among the current trees. T-34-2 being ”unique” in being worse than both it’s premium variants, heh. From the copy paste IS the heavy line seems enjoyable.

      I enjoy the 110 myself, it’s not as glaringly effective as the IS-3 but it feels so good to drive usually. The WZ-111 1-4 seemed like a mixed bag on the testsever but it seems to be really good. I couldn’t stand the 113 for some reason, don’t remember why. The WZ-131 is amazing fun since it’s introduction it’s like a lightly armoured faster T-44 with good dpm (85mm) or better penetration (100mm) and is a capable scout as a bonus, I love the little beast. ( I don’t use the 100mm anymore, haven’t tried it since the buff, gun handling on it wasn’t my thing. )

      The WZ-120 I’ve only touched on the test-server, it was slightly awkward but it felt much more capable against tier 10′s in most matches I’ve played than the T-54. On the other hand, compared to the T-54 it’s really not as retardedly capable as the T-54 against tier 8′s. Of course I am talking about when not using premium. Because the T-54 shooting premium is the most retardedly unbalanced thing on tier 9.

    • The Chinese tree really starts to get unique and fun at tier six (lights), tier 7 (mediums), and tier 8 (heavies).

      When I first played the 59-16 way back I hated it because of the “auto-bouncer” gun and the total lack of survivability. However, I had limited experience with scouts and a crew still trying to finish out the first perk (that crew is now on my WZ-132 with three skills). However, I bought it back fairly recently and parked it until I trained up a crew to the second skill in my (purchased) Type 64 and (mission earned) Type 62. I love the little tank now. It is practically invisible in a bush with paint, camo net, and camo skill crew. I have spent many games parked in a bush passive scouting with enemy tanks less than 100 meters from me and have not been spotted. I’ve assassinated countless arty and done some counter scouting. Great machine. The WZ-131 is the same basically, except with a gun that can make it a pocket medium. The WZ-132 takes that to a higher level. It doesn’t seem to be quite as invisible as the 59-16, but it still has good camo and medium tank capability. Chinese lights=awesome, and now buffed, even better.

      Mediums, 34-1 has a great turret and a solid gun for tier 7, second best alpha, second best pen (A-44 has 300 alpha, Panther has 198 pen). It is reasonably mobile, decent camo, overall solid for a tier 7 medium, not that the competition is great. I’d say it is easily one of the best in tier, if not the best. The 34-2 is OK with the 100mm, though the Type is better with the 100 and the T-34-3 is better with the 122mm. The 122mm really trains the higher tier playstyle of Chinese mediums, but it is pretty awful on the 34-2. The 100mm makes the tank more playable. It really is bottom of the barrel for tier 8 mediums. It has a solid turret and good camo, that is about all there is to recommend it. The WZ-120 is a nerfed T-54 until it has the 122mm gun. Then it has its own unique playstyle and is very fun. It takes a lot of XP to get there though, unless one has done the heavy line to tier 10, then it is super easy. The 121 is a 120 only better in every way. I enjoy mine, it is derpy for a medium, but still really fun.

      Heavies, the IS-2 is really just an IS clone with a different front armor profile. So, not unique, though the stock grind is mitigated by the stock gun, which is a 100mm rather than an 85mm. Unlocking the IS-2 unlocks the top gun on the T-34-1 for free, so that is a plus. The 110 is really solid. Much better armor than the IS-3 frontally and a great 100mm gun. It does less damage and has 10mm less pen than the BL-9, but much faster rate of fire, faster aim time, and better accuracy. I sold my IS-3 but kept the 110. People think of the 110 as an IS-3 clone, but it really isn’t and it plays differently. The WZ-111 1-4 is a beast when fully researched. It has a 130mm gun with 490 alpha (same as the E75), but with a faster reload by about 1.5 seconds. It has 2mm less AP pen (and 29mm more premium pen), similar accuracy, and IIRC faster aim time. To put it in perspective, the IS-7 has a 130mm with 249 AP pen (301 APCR), 3.4 second aim time, and with my crew and equipment setup, a 11.31 second reload (rammer, vents, BiA). My WZ-111 1-4 has a 130mm with 244 AP pen (340 HEAT), 2.9 second aim time, and with my crew and equipment setup (rammer, vents, BiA), a 11.56 second reload. The front armor, hull and turret is very solid (except the LFP), and it is very mobile. Easily in the top three tier 9 heavies, and my personal favorite. The 113 is kind of a let down after the 111 1-4, but it is still a fun tank to play, it just plays more like a medium than a heavy. Still, it could use something to be more completive with other tier 10 heavies.

      • Agreed. Although I do like the Chinese IS-2 better, simply because it’s better armor profile. And SS, is the armor profile on the IS-2 correct? If I remember it right, shouldn’t the mod.1944 have 100mm frontal armor?

19. - American T18 TD will be converted to artillery during the next big artillery rebalance patch.

    so, finally artys gets a well-deserved rebalance? I hope WG learned from their mistakes and make arty balanced and not this imbalanced crap we have now.

20. - American T18 TD will be converted to artillery during the next big artillery rebalance patch. Artillery rebalance will happen at some point in the future, the one thing that could accelerate it is if the 9.6 accuracy changes prove to be really bad for arty class, otherwise it will take a very long time and has low priority. This change is the work of one of the US staff, likely The_Chieftain (SS: yup, IIRC, the proposed way is T18 – arty, replaced by T3HMC?)

    Oops. Looks like WG is afraid of AW creating stuff new and start working. I remember they once say it’s fine as it is :)

    - on that topic, WG is unhappy to see their game being converted into full derp mode on china, but “noting we can do about it”. There, it has a very strong pay to win factor- however, it generates a lot of income for them (Type59 floods) despite having to share their earnings with a third party corp. Also, the community is nothing short of “xenophobic” and.. (on a personal note), racist (“gaijin go home” type of racism) – even a certain KongZhong developer was recorded throwing racist insults around.

    You must be new to China WG!

    • lol T18 seal clubbing bastards gone hurray!!

      • In a long long time.
        because it’s WG.

      • So that they could go on buying fcm pak or t-127 ofcource

21. Kantai Collection? Great i could use some new tank crews, the old anime girls are getting boring.

    *hint hint*?

    • http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/330141-kancolle-crew-voice-mod/
      http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/407679-096-kantai-collection-assorted-crew-voice-mods/

22. no plans to buff Japanese tanks despite some devs saying that they are “mediocre at best up to tier 6″ in every aspect. Historically speaking, it would be impossible to rebalance
    ——————–
    This is some epic-mega-bullshit. You can always buff a tank. It’s not so, that japs are super-underpowered and buffed to the max already. There are 100 parameters, which could be buffed, to give them that little advantage, they are needing without making them “unrealistic” – just add some hitpoints to jap tanks (makes the most sense, taking into account the size of tanks), buff module durability, add some view range, and buff some soft stats on guns or terrain passability and here you go – tanks will be that little bit more comfortable to play without making any butthurt.

    • Exactly. Give them higher camo, less repair expense, cheaper shells, better view range…there are ways to buff without changing historical armor values and such.

      • Chiri’ s turret is even heavier than IRL as well as some during-war radios.
        So they can even buff the tanks and make them more historically correct at the same time actually.

23. First, I enjoy arty (please keep reading!) I think they should have a check box in the options menu for an arty cap. If you check it, you are limited to 2 arty per match. This is only for QQ whiners. BUT- I imagine lights and mediums will keep it unchecked, so they can have more to destroy. Make arty worth more points to kill, and people will love to have them.

24. First, I enjoy arty (please keep reading!) I think they should have a check box in the options menu for an arty cap. If you check it, you are limited to 2 arty per match. This is only for QQ whiners. BUT- I imagine lights and mediums will keep it unchecked, so they can have more to destroy. Make arty worth extra points if you kill them, and people will love to have them.

25. “- Churchill Black Prince is gaining fame amongst some of the staff that plays and players too, apparently the tank is “comfortable” to drive and reliable, despite the slow speed and rather weak caliber gun, it makes it up for the superb accuracy and reload along with good armor layout”

    Just to be sure, are we talking about the T7 or the T5 premium ? If it’s the standard T7 heavy, these guys must be kidding, pulling the leg of players as they say.

    First of all, BP is not slow. The term VERY SLOW is more accurate.
    Second, the gun isn’t “rather weak”, it’s HORRIBLE. You have problems with T6-T7 heavies (some exceptions here like Tiger), to guarantee pen you must aim carefully against these. And this is the best case MM scenario. Need I point out BP gets dragged into T9 battles ?
    Thirdly, the accuracy is good – mainly because it’s so damn slow, the dispersion is much smaller hence faster aim time. (Note – accuracy = a mix between .xx accuracy and aim time)
    Fourthly, the reload speed is decent, but I’d rather go for Tiger. Better pen, alpha and DPM.
    Fifthly, the armor is not so good for a T7 heavy. I have no problems penetrating the frontal armor with almost any T6+ heavy, 167 pen is more than enough at close range, 200 is a bit overkill. Tiger P, T29 (overall) and IS (good angles, solid armor and dashing) all have more effective frontal armor than BP. As for the side armor, I have no problems penetrating it with the measly T-34 (112mm pen), and I have the video to prove it. I couldn’t possibly do that to KV-3 or IS.

    BP is a step backwards from Churchill VII, armor-wise. While the T6 heavy has effective armor at it’s own tier and only a few tanks are able to pen it frontally, BP is found lacking since it has similar and sometimes inferior armor to Churchill VII.

    • It’s not that horrible, though imo it does need a buff.
      It is slow, but it does not lose much speed when going up a slope, which is a plus.
      The gun…is ok, if not UP. Pen is lackluster, alpha is bad. Good accuracy, with tolerable rof. The gun depression is pretty good.
      BP does have good armor, but since it has no slope, you need to angle it and hide the lfp. Then it’s a true armor beast. I’d say it has better armor than Churchill VII, since that thing is riddle with weakspots. And the gun on that has no gun depression.
      Since this thing is so slow, just go to a defensive position and you’ll do fine. It does deserve a rof buff to be on par with other T7 heavies.

      • well this is weird, i actually enjoy the BP and has one of my highest W/R tanks in the game, and serverwide its win ratio is pretty good

26. - for PC, M6A2E1 will not be sold again (applies to EU and NA)

    *Deskflip.jpg* You guys on Xbox can have it… PC players… not so much.

    - NA server is considered the most “comfortable” community-wise, because “people are not at each other’s throats” and the staff is quite reliable, however “they know” that the suggestions forum is pretty abandoned (almost hopeless to post anything there as of now)

    Yep… I post a complete suggestion series called “How to Fix” there along with at least 2 dozen archived suggestion posts in the past 3 years – and after spending as much time as I do in the forums, helping new players, or offering up balance suggestions (usually with positive responses from both moderators and players), and even offering to help moderate that sub-forum, I’ve never heard one peep. Instead – they typically hire up an army of new-generation neckbeards, rather than the guy who actually sat down to a few drinks with those in the know (SerB and the Chieftain) that actually conversed with them at length at several gatherings.

    • :)

27. “Dragging that weapon for like 3 tiers and re-using the same gun for these tanks with different names now”.

    “Dragging” the 17-pounder “for 3 tiers” didn’t seem much of a problem in British tech tree though.

    • thats because the 17pdr is an amazing gun. high firerate and high pen and high accuracy. low alpha but with a round fired every 4 seconds that not much of an issue.

28. Silentstalker can you dig up, acquire, steal, hijack, hack, or find, more infromation on the m56 scorpion? im am longing for a nice little american prem TD and can not wait for this little death machine to make its appearance.

29. They should have just made the CDC a regular tier viii medium leading from the amx m4 into the amx 30 prototype.

    But of course, money.

30. Pingback: Insider: Je v plánu odstranit z prodeje FCM 50t

31. “- no plans to buff Japanese tanks despite some devs saying that they are “mediocre at best up to tier 6″ in every aspect. Historically speaking, it would be impossible to rebalance,”

    Just improve the suspension softstats for lower tier tanks and they will be much less crappy. Chi-To for instance is extremely sluggish, has no armor whatsoever, gun hits everything but dead center, gun depression is crappy compared to earlier tanks and it is among the largest vehicles in the game.

    Just buff one of those deficiencies to bring it to the level of Chi-He or Chi-Nu at their respective tiers …

32. “NA server is considered the most “comfortable” community-wise, because “people are not at each other’s throats” and the staff is quite reliable, however “they know” that the suggestions forum is pretty abandoned”

    It’s abandoned because there’s little sense posting anything there, as we know our ideas will just get ignored and shouted down in favor of what the Russian server wants.

    • True story.. RU server rules :) From what I know even statistics are considerd only from RU… When you are on RU server you are basicaly in the centre of everything.. Thats why I am pretty glad I moved there…

33. “- American T18 TD will be converted to artillery during the next big artillery rebalance patch. Artillery rebalance will happen at some point in the future, the one thing that could accelerate it is if the 9.6 accuracy changes prove to be really bad for arty class, otherwise it will take a very long time and has low priority. This change is the work of one of the US staff, likely The_Chieftain (SS: yup, IIRC, the proposed way is T18 – arty, replaced by T3HMC?)”

    FINALLY! The Chieftain’s been telling WG for YEARS now that the T18 was an SPG and that the T57 was in fact a tank destroyer. Now the question is what will they do with the T57? I’m thinking they’ll either let the US have two SPGs at tier 2 or they’ll turn the T57 into a TD like it’s supposed to be (and probably change out the guns on it).

    “- NA server is considered the most “comfortable” community-wise, because “people are not at each other’s throats” and the staff is quite reliable, however “they know” that the suggestions forum is pretty abandoned (almost hopeless to post anything there as of now)”

    Mostly because we caught on to the fact that WG doesn’t give a shit about your suggestions if you’re not Russian.

    “- no plans to buff Japanese tanks despite some devs saying that they are “mediocre at best up to tier 6″ in every aspect. Historically speaking, it would be impossible to rebalance, given that the Japanese guns, overall labeled as “weak”, weren’t really developed during that era. However, naval cannons are another thing. Also, for some reason, despite this performance labels, the tanks seem to be faring pretty OK in their winrate and player acceptance. Tier 7 to 10 are considered okay, many players seem to like the t7 tank autoloading gun.”

    They could rebalance them by giving them better ammunition (quality of ammunition IMPROVED in 1945 compared to 1944, and they’re going by the 1944 penetration stats, so this could be improved)

34. “- for PC, M6A2E1 will not be sold again (applies to EU and NA), the intent to make its owners stay really special, armor is still planned for rebalance (historical armor) when the HD model appears”

    Beta participants were given the same impression with the M4A2E4, although in just a parallel way. Beta players who got at least 1,000 battles before release were granted this tank. No one else was supposed to have it – and it’s not like they were missing out on some “amazing” tank either – it was fun, but average. However, some time later it was put into one of the website bundle sales. (Only saw it on NA server, I’m unsure about other servers). So, all that big talk instantly became a big zero.

    I know things change over time – I’m a indie game dev, myself. That said, you shouldn’t go changing your word on people like that. It just doesn’t sit right, you know?

35. Why is it that since the game has been out they have Listiger Wolf ” Cunning Wolf ” buuuuuuuuuut no Wolf Insignia or Emblem for sale????