Hello everyone, have a look at an interesting article about the studio behind BigWorld.

Also, the Winter Mode is here, so just to refresh your memory, here’s a guide based on RU server experience.

- Wargaming is preparing a unified launcher for WoT, WoWs and WoWp apparently
- there will be a special (portal/forum) post about the accuracy changes in 9.6
- Firefly viewrange will be buffed to be comparable to other tanks of its class and tier
- spotting system will be reworked to eliminate the “tanks disappearing in the middle of the field” issue, ETA is “when it’s done it’s done”
- IM reward StuG IV will be useable in historical battles (when they return)
- small visual errors in models (like too shallow barrels and such) will be fixed until 9.6 release
- it would seem logical to introduce a feature where – if standing behind two bushes – you wouldn’t see the silhouette of enemy tank, but Storm confirms this was not done because a mod enabling the silhouettes back again would appear very soon
- T57 Heavy will not be buffed

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Interesting history about the Rudy tank. It was this tank that spawned the rumors on Russian forums about the Polish branch coming up soon (it’s not) and this being its first premium. From the POV of (former) EU tree development, I knew that this was not the case (first “European” premium will be something quite different). The way it will be implemented – I think it’ll get a special Polish crew “Fury style” (the names of the crewmen from the TV series), although it will technically still be Soviet.

Oh yes, and according to Russian leakers, the tank will be the T-34/85 of the post-war Polish production (T-34/85M2 model IIRC).

- oddly enough, the E-100 inside of the gun barrel model (the rifling) is only like 20cm long, while IS-7 rifling model runs through the entire barrel. Storm states it’s just a little thing, so who cares.
- the size of the HD E-100 changed as such: it became 1cm longer, 1cm wider and 3cm taller
- the color of the HD E-100 is correct (same as of other HD German tanks), will not be changed
- differences in model sizes from original specs of 1 percent or less are considered acceptable
- E-100 mantlet in HD was remodelled to correspond the one in Panzer Tracts
- HD E-100 “bar” on the top of the turret (rangefinder optics) will be made lower (the same as it was)
- HD E-100 upper front plate angle is actually better than it should be (63 degrees compared to 60 degrees in reality), it will not be nerfed to historical specs
- E-100 will not get a (historical) Maus turret

Storm answers from the closed betatester section of the forum

- there’s no ETA on “matchmaker 3.0″ right now – there’s a lot of research to be done
- new motion physics: medium future (SS: that usually means 3-6 months)
- Storm considers MM and balancing fixes to have higher priority than Havok introduction
- Type 62 will not be buffed in 9.6
- the HD E-100 model was made according to Panzer Tracts and the weld thickness was copied from there. But in the end, developers decided not to do it and leave it as it was (SS: historically, the weld parts were apparently weaker than the ingame model, I don’t know from head, would have to check)
- developers considered improving the gold to credit conversion ratio to make this conversion more attractive, but decided not to do it in the end
- Storm confirms that there will be no more limited MM tanks, this decision is connected “to gameplay and to matchmaker issues”
- the game is being optimized gradually every patch
- Havok development has nothing to do with motion physics, it’s different people doing it
- new tree render (“speedtree”) will come as a part of the new render system WG is working on

That’s all for today. Storm wrote that he’d be busy through the weekend and wouldn’t have much time to answer questions.

From an earlier “Developer time” writeup I found only just now, somehow I missed it before. Same source (VK Express community), this time the topic is “individual missions”

- no plans for adding the option to complete the same individual missions twice
- the IM tanks will not be nerfed, even if their statistics are very high
- it’s possible there will be a way to get girl tankers from other events in the future
- the girl faces are all real people, working for Wargaming
- the sum of all the credits you can get for complete all the IM’s is 41 million credits
- there will be a girl crew voiceover, performed by “famous voices” (SS: most likely refers only to Russia)
- no plans to allow players to buy IM tokens for money, the IM vehicles will not be introduced to premium shop, ever
- press-accounts will not have the IM tanks

Hello everyone,

this is a writeup of the “Developer Time” show from Wargaming FM radio. The topic was: “maps”. The person answering was Roman Tabolin, whoever that is. Thanks to WoT Express for the writeup.

- development of a map can take up to half a year including the entire design of the map
- in next 3-4 months, there will be no historical maps
- map “Berlin” will most likely not appear in the game
- map “Minsk” will not come anytime soon, but there is development going on and developers are testing it internally. Definitely not in first 6 months of 2015
- each patch brings fixed in the maps (3-4 maps), this will continue
- in the end, only 1 out of 6 maps created actually gets released
- for the new future, two new maps that will be released are being prepared
- there will be no night maps, this was scrapped long ago. “If you want, play with your eyes closed.”

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- E-100 will not get a Maus turret
- the accuracy nerf in 9.6 does include artillery as well
- accuracy nerf in 9.6 does not mean more shells will drop at the edge of the aim circle, but fewer shells will drop in the dead center
- the size and shape of T95 hatches (weakspots) was a mistake, they will be made smaller in test 2
- the fact that HD Ferdinand hull is shorter than the one of Tiger P is historical
- apparently, WG developers are testing fog of war in random battles in 9.6 test, it’s not a mistake (Storm won’t tell details)
- upper front plate on HD E-100 is not correct, it will be fixed to be the same as it was before, the bar on the top of the turret will also be made smaller
- HD Tiger P towing “eyes” are of incorrect shape, will be fixed
- it seems that the 600 gold price for the crew retrain is not final

- premium TD’s will not get a viewrange nerf
- developers are working on better anti-aliasing as a part of the next big update of the graphics system in the game
- Storm states that reworked (larger) Murovanka ended up doing nicely (a good map)
- removing the standard render from the game would not save any client space
- WG will consider buffing 121 (Chinese tier 10)
- AMX-30 branch will have “two vehicles” (SS: well, not really, I mean there will be a bunch of lowtiers up to tier 5 IIRC, then a gap, and then AMX-30 Prototype and AMX-30 coming from AMX-13/90)
- when Havok comes, the level of allowed destruction will be the same as it is now
- T28 (US TD) will be changed from the fake it is to a real project (early T95 variant from NARA archives)
- the WT E-100 replacement is a real project and it is not on E-100 hull, it will “fit the Waffenträger concept”
- a mechanism for players to easily find a platoon mate (“platoon finder”) to play with them is planned for this year

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Check out this interesting interview with S.Zaloga (well, apart from that Fury part anyway), where he explains you why quoting Death Traps is a pretty bad idea.

Also, an interesting article about abandoned Soviet tanks on an island near Japan…

And finally, an interesting article about how the Finnish blew up a marauding KV-2… without any AT weapons.

- companies will not be reworked to 7/42 format
- developers are currently discussing whether to make girl crew voiceover (SS: yes, before they said they would, apparently not as clear now)
- Storm states that it’s unclear as to what to do with the T95/T96 and other US medium tanks. New US medium branch is not planned for 2015.
- Storm actuall asked the people responsible for the Stronghold situation. They know about the issue with large clans dominating the mode. There will be some fixes to remedy the situation.
- Storm confirms that there will be a change in shot distribution within aim circle. It will not be a simple sigma change, but a manually configured special variant, with a table showing “how much of what is supposed to fly where”, this table will apply to all the vehicles in the game. The reason for this is that it’s beneficial server load-wise.
- real life shell distribution from real firing tests is not viable for gameplay, that’s why WG has to have their own

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Before we start – one thing. I have to optimize FTR operation a bit, but I don’t want to sacrifice things I (and you) like, so I’ll sacrifice something I don’t like. From this point onwards, no news on World of Warships will appear on FTR. Based on the things from the alpha test and the last public test, I do not have faith in the game, I do not like ships and I do believe it’s a niche product, that will end up better than WoWp, but not by a lot. Sorry. But there’s some public test again, good luck with it.

And now, back to tanks.

- it’s possible that there will be new perks, modules and consumables, but it’s not guaranteed they will come this year
- no free FV4202 premium? “No comment”
- currently, WG is reworking WoT audio under to the “wwise” system, unclear as to what will it mean for WoT players
- the spawn point distribution (as in, how vehicles are placed within the spawn area) are chosen so that they are evenly distributed and balanced
- the issue with small objects of houses (like porches, stairs) being undestructible – this will be reworked, but not soon (during “complete content overhaul”)
- AMX CDC is still being balanced, it’s too early to judge it
- WoT will not have a separate subscription-based server
- Storm states that the nostalgia after old patches is just the effect of human memory of remembering only good things. The reality, when comparing them to the current state of the game, they suck. Not so long ago, WG was “testing” an old version of the game (6.0 or something), it was terrible.

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- Jagdpanzer E-100 will not be switched for “something real” – and there is no incentive to do so, the vehicle is fine
- various branches (SS: specifically German TD’s mentioned) will not be reworked in order to have all the vehicles in them with the same playstyle (SS: basically, the player wants to switch the TD’s around so the entire branches get a specific “character” – this will not happen, with existing branches anyway)
- T30 will not be “returned” to the heavy tank branch
- KV-4 will not lose its unhistorical top gun
- why was LT buff done the way it was in 9.6? “No comment”
- tier 8-10 penetrantion nerf of some vehicles was not yet decided (it’s not clear how WG will do it)
- the historicity of gun penetration is less important than the importance of the gun (vehicle) being balance gameplay-wise
- damaging external modules does not count as damage done in battle, only damaging the main tank hitpoints does
- IS-7 has historical armor, E-100 didn’t have a turret in real life and that’s why the turret thickness can be balanced however WG wants, Maus armor is based on research of Yuri Pasholok, who said that the values could be different and 200+
- the FV215b (183) armor buff in 0.9.5 is “based on historicity” (SS: wut?)
- Storm states that a player proposal to reduce scout tank hitpoints while compensating that with improving other characteristics (camo, mobility) would only result in unrealistic (“UFO”) tanks
- the replacement for WT E-100 is not the twin 128mm “Flakzwilling” mount WT
- not only the Waffenträger line has balance problems, the earlier considered “Sturm” TD line (Brummbär and Sturmtiger) has them as well