11.6.2013

- developers don’t concern themselves with WoT wiki
- there will be no special “cybersport” WoT mode with reduced RNG
- SerB would like to remove the unhistorical M-62 from IS-4 (SS: but he won’t do it, no panic)
- premium tanks purchases won’t be limited by buyer’s ingame stats (SS: a player suggested buying hightier prems for example only after some number of battles played)
- the Xbox WoT beta testing is not tied to US server WoT accounts
- devs won’t implement active perks (skills) into the game (SS: active as in you have to press a button to activate it), because they don’t want more buttons than the regular 3 for consumables (4,5,6)
- Xbox WoT will not be moddable, servers will be completely separate from PC version
- there will most likely be no special maps for historical battles
- the _RU tag on test server has nothing to do with roaming
- Xbox WoT will be exclusive for Xbox 360
- it’s too early to show any more data on WoT Blitz
- Xbox WoT wasn’t made for Xbox One, because One doesn’t have a decent base of users yet
- the fact that there are buttons for another 3 consumables in WoT keybindings settings doesn’t mean 3 more consumable slots will be added, they are there just in case
- keybindings won’t be reworked do so one consumable type is bound to a key regardless in which slot it is
- when the new fire extinguisher mechanism is implemented, there will be no possibility to active the extinguisher manually
- the tracks “toughness” (SS: earlier it was confirmed it’s 3x as high in the center of the tracks than on the edges) doesn’t refer to track armor, but hitpoints (Maus example: the track edges have cca 200hp, but their center has 600hp), the “center” counts approximately as the part with the roadwheels in the middle, basically from the point where the track touch the ground to the point where they get up again
- the fact WoT for Xbox needs golden account to work: “Sorry – it’s the rules.”
- Xbox WoT will support Live archivements apparently
- when IS-6 was considered for a tier 9 regular tank, it was to be equipped with the M-62
- shell impact angle doesn’t influence the penetration, when it comes to tracks module armor
- SerB things Sixth Sense still needs a nerf
- SerB doesn’t think British tanks are too unpopular
- SerB has a new type of “trolling”: tells people they are drunks and alcoholics: Q: “AMX-50B is worse than T57, are there any plans to buff it?” A: “You drink more than Winston Churchill in the morning. Are there any plans to do something about it?”
- Storm states that according to these documents, the traverse of SU-101 gun is correct in game
- there are no plans to reduce the general +/-2 tier MM spread
- Storm explains, why in real life tankers didn’t aim at lower frontal armor, despite the fact that in WoT it’s a vulnerable area: “Because in real life, the lower frontal plate was often covered by terrain irregularities. Tankers didn’t aim for weakspots anyway, they aimed at the silhouette.”
- in 0.8.6, the distance you can hear the sound of tanks rolling will be set to 150 meters, currently it’s less
- the range of shells in meters is 325-390m on rapid fire guns and 720 on regular non-arty guns
- there are currently no plans to fix the issue, where – when hidden behind a wreck or something – the enemy target doesn’t light the silhouette properly
- Komarin and Swamp will still return
- it’s possible that the WoWp function, where before the battle you can compare your machines to those of the enemy will be implemented to WoT also

And bonus:

- it is confirmed that 8.8 will bring SOME vehicles and it was confirmed they won’t be American regular vehicles.

Today I heard an interesting theory on RU forums (allegedly from come community contributor folks there) as to what it might be: British line, ending with Chieftain prototypes, also having allegedly some light tanks… with 20pdrs. Odd, but I really hope it’s true :)

WoT on Xbox?

Source: http://worldoftanks.eu/en/news/46/world-of-tanks-xbox-360/

So, we will now have World of Tanks for consoles. I guess it could be expected, I mean – with such a huge success on PC, it would be strange NOT to have a console game based on the same principle.

I assume that due to the different nature of both systems, console players will be kept on separate servers from PC players. That’s a good thing, maybe it’s just my impression, but I kinda guess the console crowd is considerably… younger, than PC WoT gamers.

Personally, considering the fact that Xbox360 is getting replaced by Xbox One (somewhere I heard the two systems will NOT be compatible, is that true?), I am surprised the game was announced for the 360. Still, I am even more surprised about the

a) cool sounds in the trailer
b) cool explosion and destruction effects in the trailer
c) new battle interface, noticed that?

Why don’t we have that in World of Tanks PC too?

10.6.2013

Today, we have some very interesting stuff going on, as there are multiple sources of answers. First, Vallter (a Russian developer) was so kind as to answer some questions of EU players on his blog. Here’s a summary of his answers (including the Quasar fail, see previous article):

- woman crewmembers and kill barrel rings are unlikely to be ever implemented
- as mentioned in earlier posts, Superpershing rebalance is still being discussed, at this moment there is no plan for SP penetration buff
- premium consumable price will likely stay as it is now, that 10k on test server is for test purpose only
- 8.8 will not bring US vehicle branch (SS: as it was speculated earlier), but there will be something interesting in it
- Waffenträger E-100 gun being 150mm L/68? “No comment, but you will like it” (SS: earlier, it was confirmed it won’t be the 210mm gun, so there are various options, including 150mm L/68 or 128mm FlaK 45)
- Firefly will be implemented after other tanks, that were promised earlier
- Garage battles most likely won’t come in 2013
- Superpershing historically had a GAF V8 engine (450-500hp), it’s not SP that is underpowered, it’s M26 that is unhistorically buffed
- you will be able to sell Superpershing for gold after it gets changed, so players have the opportunity to try it out
- at this moment, the visual camo system (you can buy only one of each type) will stay as it is
-

Vallter explains camouflage:

Camouflage bonus as a result of using camo net and camouflage was multiplied on the camouflage value of the given tank. This resulted in the situation when the tank with good camouflage (i.e. tanks of average size) enjoyed more advantages – for instance, if camouflageof the tank was 30% (relative value) and together with the camo net it made the following 30% * 1.25 = 37.5% – 7.5% difference. At the same time tanks with bad camouflage (i.e. tanks of a big size) this effect was very insignificant. – when the tank had 5% camouflage, together with camo net it made 5% * 1.25 = 6.25% – 1.25% difference. The coefficient from camo net and camouflage itself was equal for all vehicles – 1.25 and 1.05 respectively.

Bonus to camouflage from camo net and camouflage will now (starting from 8.6) be added to the camoflage value of that tank. In other words, camouflage and camo net use will provide a fixed bonus to the vehicle’s camouflage, which doesn’t depend on tank’s parameter but depending on the type of the vehicle. Due to the fact that during summarizing, old camo net and camouflage coefficients (+25% and +5%) would have influenced more – for instance, for the tank with 30%camouflage and camo net the overall rate would have been 30% + 25% = 55%, their value has been degraded and distinguished by types of vehicles – SPG and HT acquire a small bonus, LT and MT – average bonus, and TDs – a big bonus (the camo net bonus is still bigger than simply a bonus from camouflage – i.e. bonus from camo net for SPGs and HT is greater than bonus from camouflage for TDs).

Regular Q&A:

- tracks have various armor thickness, which doesn’t directly depend on vehicle weight and type of the vehicle
- toughness of tracks (SS: and it’s not clear, whether hitpoints, armor, or simply module thickness are meant here, even to the player asking) is 3 times bigger in the center of the tracks module than on its edges, it’s connected with the fact that a loss of one supporting wheel is not as critical as a loss of a roadwheel)
- the reason of 50 meter automatic detection distance is somewhat realistic: at this distance, the infantry supporting the tanks can hear another tank and warn the tank crew. However, as SerB states: “want realism? join the army”
- there will be no infantry in WoT, because it would raise the game age restriction
- apparently (SS: and this is based on one Russian blog post), chat rules are practically not enforced on test server. A player tried to report some other players for advertising some botting or fake gold seller, got told that Support doesn’t deal with tickets regarding test server, SerB stated only that developers don’t deal with this
- developers, even the big boss (V.Kisly) pay for gold
- the purpose of test server is not for players to test all the vehicles (SS: SerB replies on whine that other vehicles than arties are practically impossible to test)
- SerB states that stats such as these are possible even without botting (102k battles, 48 W/R)
- apparently, there were cases, where some developers were banned from the game and forums too, for breaking the rules
- there is a theory on RU forums that in the 2nd German TD line, the tier 10 TD will be the Jpz E-100, in the first line it will be replaced by Jagdmaus. SerB: “No comment” (SS: that would be truly retarded, as performance-wise, those vehicles were very close to each other. And yes, there was a Jagdmaus project.)
- will some high-caliber guns be nerfed somehow in connection with their increased accuracy in 0.8.6? “If needed.”

There was a KWG post from Storm too, I’ll get back to that in a separate article.

WG EU fail: Quasar edition

So, once again, WG EU dropped the ball.

For those, who don’t know him, Quasar is the EU server “developer/producer”, who occasionally posts some answers to some questions. Nothing wrong with that, the problem is, he occasionally posts bullshit.

Some of you might remember that some time ago, Quasar posted that Panzer 58 and other Swiss tanks won’t be implemented, while the Russian developers said they would. What I did was I asked Edrard (the wot-news guy), who relayed this question to Veider (RU forums developer), who confirmed they have a high chance of coming in the EU tree. Quasar later backedited the post.

Well, Quasar did it again:

67. Was the idea of the female crew completely abandoned?
Not at all, but it has a very low priority for the moment.

65. Any update regarding more options for customizing the exterior of our tanks?
Also at this moment in time, we are also working on projects of the rings for the gun barrels:

Edit: a screenie, because at some point it will probably get backedited, as it did in the Panzer 58 case.

quasar

These are his answers. Those, who follow my RU translation know both of these options were denied specifically by SerB and Storm, that’s why I went and asked Russian developer Vallter directly (this post is made with his knowledge). To quote him:

“No, they will most probably not happen”

If you don’t believe me, Vallter has a blog, you can doublecheck the answers there. In other words, Quasar is pulling answers out of his ass, without checking with Minsk central. Makes you wonder, what good is such Q&A for and what ELSE is wrong…

(Special thanks to Vallter for indulging my incessant questions)

Super Pershing penetration buff? A misunderstanding…

Well, folks, I have bad news for you.

Vallter, who yesterday sort-of confirmed the Superpershing penetration buff, just went back on it. Apparently, it’s still being discussed at Wargaming, but we can be reasonably certain some sort of buff will take place, since the vehicle barely reaches the intended 49 percent winrate as it is and a frontal armor nerf could send it plummeting.

To make this absolutely clear: it is possible, that the penetration buff will happen, but not nearly certain.

Super Pershing buff: penetration

Source: http://valltergaming.blogspot.cz/2013/06/premium-vehicles-changes-in-86-update.html?showComment=1370790912535#c2308734353144119631

Earlier today, developers hinted at the fact that in order to compensate the armor loss for Superpershing, it will also recieve a buff. Now, Vallter (one of the developers on his blog) unofficially confirmed that (possibly amongst other changes), Superpershing will recieve more penetration, around 200mm:

spershing

 

9.6.2013

- you hear the sounds not from the spot where your tank is, but where your camera is: that’s why you can’t hear the sound of your own shooting when in arty satellite view, because the camera is high away from your vehicle
- apparently there are differences in additional XP between RU and NA server (NA server gets extra XP for some archievements as parts of some events, RU server doesn’t), SerB doesn’t think it’s a big of a deal (“Experience depends on how you play. You play well, you get experience, you don’t play well, you don’t get experience, you don’t read the rules of this thread, you’ll get a RO ban”)
- apparently, the Superpershing will also get some sort of buff along with its frontal armor nerf, to keep its winrate around 49 percent
- even if you bought the Superpershing in discount (for less than it costs now), you will still be able to sell it for full price
- developers don’t consider it a mistake that they didn’t develop one game for all three weapon types (tanks, airplanes, warships) at the same time within one platform.

Bonus: Listy (British armor buff from the World of Tanks EU forum) started writing on Overlord’s blog – he started with a historical event where a Firefly shot up 5 Panthers, definitely worth reading!

8.6.2013

- Storm, when asked, whether World of Tanks can get such physics as on this video, Storm states that the server couldn’t handle it and without server support, there would be way too many graphic issues
- Q: “Did you nerf FCM 50t profitability?” A: “That’s not our area of expertise, sorry, that’s a matter for a psychologist”
- apparently, on RU server players are getting banned for even mentioning War Thunder
- apparently, Port won’t be taken down for rework
- when dealing with teamkills, developers (or, rather, all WG people) don’t really care “who started”
- vehicles will be rebalanced in connection with the increased accuracy “if necessery”
- details about the roaming (switching from one server to another temporarily) will be disclosed later, but there will be some restrictions, SerB states he’s not interested in crowds of noobs moving around
- KV-2 removed HEAT shells will in 8.6 be sold for silver for their purchase price
- SerB states that the thing that happens to Superpershing (armor change->removed from shops->possibility to sell it for gold) won’t be possible for other premium vehicles, unless they get changed really seriously. It will also happen according to developer discretion.

Sorry, not much else today.

Posted in Q&A