- various types of armored steel (with different brittleness for example) are not represented in WoT (SS: they used to be, very long time ago – some vehicles had different steel quality coefficients, this was removed because it was confusing to players)
- according to Storm, Wargaming implements armor as such: if there is an official document, they use official numbers. If there is no official armor thickness document, they decide the armor thicknesses themselves
- E-25 dimensions are unhistorical? “We made it according to sources we had at that time.” (SS: the argument was that the player thinks E-25 in the game is smaller than in real life, Storm disagress – funny about those sources available though, Panzer Tracts have been along for a long time)

SS:

It’s true, E-25 in the game is too small. Storm confirmed the model length, width and height in his answers. Here’s how they compare to real values from Panzer Tracts 20-1 by Hilary Doyle.

Ingame width according to Storm: 2,78 meters
Real width according to Doyle (PT 20-1): 3,41 meters

Ingame height according to Storm: 1,75 meters
Real height according to Doyle (PT 20-1): 2,03 meters

Ingame hull length according to Storm: 4,5 meters
Real hull length according to Doyle (PT 20-1): 5,66 meters

I smell a nerf. Anyway, back to Storm.

- the fact that Chasseur de Chars was used as tier 8 premium medium tank doesn’t mean that WG found a candidate for tier 8 medium tank
- Storm admits that the frontak plate angles on the SD model of IS-3 are wrong, it will be fixed in HD (SS: I don’t have the exact numbers, optically, it looks like a slight nerf, but I can’t really tell – fun fact, according to Yuri Pasholok even the HD model is somewhat wrong, it has some unhistorical elements, like that AA machinegun)
- Storm states that the WT E-100 replacement was not discussed yet properly
- FV215b switch to Chieftain is still planned
- if you vote in various WG polls (those that get sent by e-mail) without recieving your personal invitation by e-mail, your vote will not count
- there is a reason why the polls aren’t given to everybody – according to Storm, you need a defined number of answers to get the best results, plus WG doesn’t have the capacities to read answers from EVERYBODY

Check out the interesting articles on Overlord’s blog… an eyewitness account and the impression of the Ferdinand in battle and how chocolate for soldiers developed during the war.

- Storm confirms that the alternative hulls will be connected to the suspension module
- IS-5 will not have limited MM, but it will have 221mm pen gun
- T-54 in HD model is not correct quality wise, it’s an “early HD model”, which will be reworked (its quality will be improved)
- T-54 HD colour is not correct, the correct HD Soviet colour is the one IS-7 has
- there are no planned changes to various national colours. If tanks of the same nation differ in colour, it’s a mistake
- Storm confirms that the developers are constantly working on the servers and the matchmaker and they are constantly improving the game (SS: hmmm speaking of servers, anyone on EU has REALLY bad lags last few days?)
- Storm states that unfortunately, it’s not possible to make only one or two big patches per year instead of more small ones, for various reasons
- Storm on upgrades to the game: “Serious improvements need a lot of time for development and testing. That’s why they are so rare and why they get delayed. It’s easier to work with content. But that doesn’t mean we should not work with it at all, right?” (SS: “content” in this case means new maps and tanks)
- Storm confirms that the developers won’t remove the platoon individual missions for now
- currently, developers are analysing the IM results, it’s too early to tell whether there will be any changes

Hello everyone,

another part of “Developer Time” show (where a developer answers player question) was released on Wargaming FM radio. Here’s the transcript, courtesy of WoT Express community. The answering developer is Yuri Filippovsky, “game balance designer”.

- unfortunately, according to historical documents, AMX-40 was classified as a light tank, not much WG can do about it
- T71 started to fall behind in statistics a bit, it was decided to buff it a bit
- the statistics show that the light tanks do not fall behind a lot in XP and credit farming behind other classes
- RU251 will not be nerfed
- it’s possible that when Havok gets introduced, some tanks will have to be rebalanced, but WG is hoping this won’t happen
- AMX-40 is the most dull LT in the game
- the most important role of the light tank is to spot
- there is already a fun mode in development for April 1st, it’s not a “zombie” mode
- AMX-13/90 will not be buffed

Continue reading →

Regarding the IM “rigging”, that took place (the rigging post from earlier), I recieved a letter from that clan’s diplomat M4Karabine, who apologized for the incident. The players who participated were punished for their rigging attempts by their clan. Now that is something I can respect.

- “more than 20″ tanks in HD will come in 9.7
- Q: “War Thunder has different gun elevations on tanks than WoT!” A: “I really don’t care what gun elevation WT has.”
- T28 TD will be replaced by an “early” T95 prototype, which will visually be quite similiar to the current T28
- alternative hulls will come after most tanks are reworked to HD
- T-34-3 buff? “We’ll have a look.”
- top gun of the LTTB LT doesn’t have rifling inside the barrel, it’s a bug
- in 9.6 test 2 there are also some mild hangar visual bugs
- the feature where the more battles you have on the tank, the more “worn” it would look (rusty, dirty) will not be implemented
- modern camouflages (such as the Berlin Brigade one for the British) are not planned for PC WoT
- serverside replays will in distant future (SS: IIRC, this was first announced in 2013… oh well)
- it’s possible that Havok will initially be implemented to affect only tanks (SS: as in, various junk falling off the tank when hit, without the realistic destruction part)
- on Russian server, the names of players participating in rigged IM battles will be published, but replays of the battles will not be made public in order “not to teach the audience how to misbehave”

And that’s all for now. Hmm… not enough? You kids want a funny story before you go to bed?

Alright children… sit down, uncle Silentstalker will tell you one.

Continue reading →

- Berlin Brigade camo for Xbox WoT version will be implemented according to The_Chieftain
- according to Storm, the height of Leopard 1 (SD) model in game is historical
- Q: “Why is there no exception for arty in the global accuracy nerf?” A: “Because it is global.”
- more info about the new shell distribution within aim circle will come “when it appears in the game”
- Storm states that limited MM for premium tanks was never one of the basic premium tank principles (requirements) – the fact that future premium tanks will not have limited MM does not mean that other “basic principles” (such as premium tanks being weaker than regular ones) will be broken, Storm emphasizes that this change is made with long-term perspective in mind
- IS-3 HD model surface (irregularities) was made both using polygons and normal mapping

Continue reading →

- no fixes regarding the domination of top clans in Stronghold mode were promised for 9.6, but yes, this situation will be remedied in the future
- arty branches in HD will not come soon
- IS-4 will get a new HD model, different than the one shown in the early “Havok” video
- 9.7 will bring a large pack of HD models
- ramming mechanism will be changed (fixed) soon
- it’s “completely possible” to convert the Bugworld engine to support multiple cores, WG is working on that now
- multicore support is already in the game, now WG is working on its extension

Hello everyone,

there have been a lot of detailed (and contradictory) statements lately about the HD E-100 rework. Here’s what Storm wrote what the changes will be like, as a summary:

- the angle of the majority of upper front plate will be 63 degrees, the way it was earlier
- the angle of the upper part of the upper front plate will be 70 degrees. The upper part 70 degrees strip will be 150mm thick. As a result, the effective armor will be practically the same as the 63 degree part, plus there will be a chance of ricochet
- the turret width will be the same as in 9.5 (it will be reduced compared to test 1). The other turret dimensions will stay the same as in test 9.6
- the “bar” on top of the turret (rangefinder) will have the same height as in 9.5
- the color will be a bit darker + some materials (surfaces) will be reworked
- the quality of the 15cm gun muzzle brake will be improved

The following elements will remain the same as in test 9.6:

- diameter and length of the 15cm gun
- length of the suspension
- tracks

These changes will not appear in test 2 (WG developers won’t be ale to do that on time for it), but only in live server version.

- Super Pershing in HD will come “very soon”
- HD IS-3 will keep the unhistorical BL-9 gun
- current interation of HD IS-3 has 50913 polygons
- in HD, various “paper” vehicles’ details will be modelled using analogy to existing vehicles (for example, T110 like M103 and others)
- HD models are now produced by both outsourcers and by WG internally
- Tiger II and T-62A in HD will also come relatively soon
- for now, the base color of German models will not be changed (SS: player specifically asked from Feldgrau to Dunkelgrau)
- Storm states that when it comes to the frontal plate angles of HD IS-3, everything should be alright
- M6A2E1 HD model is not ready yet
- there will not be any new artillery branches in 2015

- the HD E-100 gun is of correct thickness and length
- some details on the HD E-100 model will be reworked to higher details
- the 150mm upper front plate strip of HD E-100 model will remain 150mm thick, its angle however will be fixed
- Storm confirms that gradually, fake or problematic (not very historical) vehicles will be removed from the game, this includes current overbuffed FV4202, FV215b (120) and WT E-100
- another reason for WT E-100 replacement is the fact that it’s really hard to balance, either it sucks or it gets overpowered
- HD IS-3 collision model is not developed yet, Storm will see if there are any armor nerfs or buffs
- currently, WG developers are collecting photos of Batchat 25t rusty prototype so they have more materials for its HD rework
- no ETA on IS-3 in HD “for various reasons”
- some models are created using the photogrammetry method, while others are 3D scanned. Photogrammetry is an alternative method, because the 3D scanner can’t be used everywhere (SS: the background of this question is that I asked Storm, why is WG waiting for a 3D scan of Action X turret from Bovington, when they are using a different method here).

Well, today Q&A comes a bit earlier, gonna be busy later on, so have an nice rest of the day :)

- Storm confirms: artillery will have exactly the same shell distribution as other the vehicles, the 9.6 nerf concerns arty too
- Storm is not aware of a plan to remove IS-6 from the shops
- in 9.6, HD Ferdinand has an incorrect track movement (it behaves like if the drive sprocket was in the front and not in the rear), it will be fixed
- there is a “legend” going on around RU forums about the IS-3 frontal armor breaking up in welds after being shot at. Storm states that this happened only once during the testing, after which the design of the frontal nose part was reworked for this never to happen again.
- it was proposed internally within WG to add Oddball’s Sherman from the movie Kelly’s Heroes.