Which icon would you like WoT Blitz to have? Vote here!

- armor in the game doesn’t have “real thickness”, it’s simply a line with a thickness number assigned to it
- SU-152P/G in the game? “No comment” (SS: I asked that before – seems like these vehicles are acceptable candidates)
- artillery is doing fine statistically
- it’s possible that the tank hull should (like IRL) behave a bit differently than during the ingame ammo rack explosion, but developers consider such nuance irrelevant
- the exact number of destroyed enemies was not removed from statistics, it is implemented in a mouseover pop-up window
- when a 1000-dmg HE shell damages the tank for 400 for example due to only partial penetration, the remaining 600 will not count towards “damage stopped by armor” statistic
- Storm confirms: the content of the Updates folder in the game folder can be safely deleted to save space

That’s all for today, the contents of the AMA will be posted after it’s over in a separate post.

Regarding various FPS/bug fixed. Patch 9.0 added new sub-folder into the “world_of_tanks/res” folder, it’s called “awesomium”. No, this is not a joke, it really is there – no idea what it does, it’s some middleware. Now, here’s a thing. Some players reported that deleting this folder (or moving it somewhere else) from the client reported the game to load faster and run on more FPS. I tried it, it had no effect on me, but the game is still running – so, use it at your own peril.

- apparently there is a bug, where damage, prevented by the mantlet does not count towards “damage, blocked by armor” – this is a bug
- related to the above: Storm confirms that damage blocked by spaced armor doesn’t get taken in account, it will be fixed

- Q: “Why does stock gun of T71 weigh a ton more than its top gun?” A: “Check the gun penetration and don’t ask such stuff anymore”
- it’s too early to ask, whether (how) the multiturret mechanism tank turrets will be affected by ammo rack explosions
- it is not true that “99 percent of players switch encounter and assault off”
- Q: “In the physics video, it was said that AP shots will leave holes in objects, while losing some of their penetration. If you shoot that hole, will you lose the penetration again?” A: “All possible variants will be tested. You will be notified of the results :)”
- heavy tank ST-II introduction? “no comment”
- new autoloader branch for any nation? “no comment” (SS: not in 2014 IIRC)
- regarding introduction of new historical battles: “The battle needs to be well-known, big, important and include wide use of armored vehicles. Any battle, that meets these conditions, is not out of the question.”

- Panzer IV was changed in 9.0 in order to be historical, it’s “fully playable”
- Storm confirms that the alleged depression nerf for Panzer IV Ausf.G in 9.0 applies only when the gun aims to the sides in order not to clip with the Schurzen model
- there will be no infantry with AT rifles in the “Fortification” mode
- SU-152 HEAT shells in Kursk historical battle are actually unhistorical, they were developed after the war. They are there for balance reasons.
- Storm states that the results of the Confrontation mode were “as expected”
- Storm confirms: Confrontation will return after its balance is fixed
- Q: “Will there be an infantry game from Wargaming?” A: “That you have to ask our superiors and not tank developers. We make tanks.”
- the variant of having ST-I on tier 10 and IS-4 on tier 9 was not considered, as the info on IS-4 was acquired a lot earlier (several years) than the info on ST-I
- historical battles’ settings (like tanks, ammo configurations) can be changed “on the go” and don’t need special patches to do so
- Storm on alleged Tiger participation in Ardennes: “It’s a lie and provocation. There were several Tigers, but they didn’t participate in fighting”
- Storm states that this picture has the same Tiger on it, the difference is the lighting quality

- the “silver Chi-Nu Kai” bug is caused by mods (SS: specifically, the white corpse mod)
- Q: “How will you solve the issue with battles loading too long” A: “We won’t for now”
- Storm states that the new 9.0 notification window is a correct feature, people only have to get used to it

Overlord on Historical Battles:

“On HB. The mode hasn’t been in development for 3 years. I’d say 6 months top. The main incentive for any mode should be fun it brings, not some credit/exp bonus you can get there. Personally, I wouldn’t expect that any tanks apart from real historical ones could participate in it. I think the mode is ok for the first iteration and has some potential for further improvement. Definitely, it’s always better to do exceptional things from the first try, however it doesn’t always work out.”

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/288291.html

Hello everyone,

this is third of Storm’s posts regarding the technical issues in 9.0 – truth to be told, I have never before seen so many developer posts and reactions patch bugs, 9.0 must really be messed up.

First, Storm is asking players, whether (and if so, how often) are they experiencing game crashes (and at which moments). The fact this is the second time Storm asks about this kind of stuff does not look very promising, when it comes to fast solution of the issue.

Storm is asking you: if you suffer from crashes and want to help, please upload somewhere your dxdiag log (you can learn for example here how to make it) and the file “python.log” from your World of Tanks directory and post a link in the comments. If there are enough, I will make Storm aware of that.

The same goes for the issue of long map loading. Apparently, some (enough to draw Storm’s attention) of people complained that the maps load significantly slower (I can confirm that, happened for me as well) in 9.0. If you want to help Storm with this and suffer from this issue, make screenshots of your settings plus a dxdiag log (see above) and post them in comments as well.

Please note that you may not post more than 5 links per one post. Usually it’s two, but I increased for the purposes of this post.

Hello everyone, this is actually translation with 18.4.2014 original designation, but I came home late, so yea.

If you are interested, you can leave your 9.0 feedback to Overlord in this post.

- completely historical maps for HB will not come, it would be completely pointless according to SerB
- SerB: “There were no Tigers in Ardennes”
- every camo is not usable on every map, because “tanks in winter camo on grass will look absolutely idiotic”
- “saving” the target channell in the chat (SS: as in, the game switches to “platoon chat” and keeps that way) has been specifically disabled in order for players not to “accidentally” post something intended for their team to the enemy right after they called an enemy a noob
- the 15 players per team number was a result of many experiments
- Storm does not think that the number 15 makes it too hard to maneuver, because everywhere you turn there is an enemy
- developers are watching the statistics of historical battles, whether there are too many campfests, but first results will be available in like 2 weeks
- apparently, the CW minicampaign (SS: or however it’s called) will not be the only way to actually get the T23 premium tank (US forums)
- Evilly confirms that this event (the “World of Fire”) is not a “real” campaign
- Evilly confirms that this event is the first way of getting the T23, after the campaign, at some point, it will be sold as a “limited offer” as well
- T23 will also be sold not as a part of some big gold packet, but separately
- CW tier 10′s will not be sold for money
- Evilly thinks that the Confrontation mode will be fixed and will return

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/288155.html

Hello everyone,

once again, Storm is asking, whether players suffer from a very specific issue. This time, it’s freezes (lags) connected with the first shot in battle (the game “lags” a bit when you shoot) and the destruction of tanks in your visibility range (the game “lags” when the tank dies and the explosion/fire gets rendered). This happened before as well, but Storm states that asks because there are reports of this being especially bad in 9.0 – and I can confirm that, it is worse for me.

Storm also asks for DxDiag log and screenies of your settings, but it’s kinda pointless to post them in comments, he doesn’t come around here.

From the discussion:

- there is a myth going around that when you switch to sniper mode, the landscape quality gets redrawn to “maximum quality” in order for you not to shoot into the ground – thus, having lower landscape (terrain) quality than maximum can cause lags. Storm states that this is just urban legend.
- apparently, lags when switching to and from sniper mode (especially often) are caused by re-loading of terrain LOD

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/287808.html

Hello everyone,

Storm posted today a post about the CPU “multicore” thingie in 9.0. He states that in 9.0, they added an interesting feature: switching the load on the core, that is not running the system. On the core where the system works, the graphic driver is also working. According to Storm, separating the system load and game load on can give in many cases a good increase in game performance (which many players noticed in 9.0).

Storm however adds that unfortunately, this doesn’t work every time and in some cases, it can actually lower the performance, adding freezes and FPS drops. Storm suggests that if you have this kind of problem, you can disable the multicore support option. He also describes how to do it – it’s identical to the way that was already published (so if you want to do that, follow the procedure, written in the linked post).

Continue reading →

Source: http://itc.ua/articles/viktor-kislyiy-glava-wargaming-nash-finalnyiy-sudya-eto-igrok/

(thanks to evilsexybear from Russian LJ for reposting this)

Hello everyone,

Ukrainian IT portal “itc.ua” published another interview with Viktor “Big Boss” Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming. Most likely it is yet another one from Warsaw, where he gave series of interviews for various blogs, magazines, news and portals. Inside:

- apparently, V.Kislyi is not worried of Armored Warfare competition, he says that WG will always have competition and always had, “there can only be one answer to them – quality and service” (then he goes on describing how WoT is great and free to play, usual stuff)
- WG now has over 3k employees all over the world
- WoT Blitz will not be just another simple mobile game like Angry Birds, but a fullblown MMO shooter, adapted for mobile devices (VK believes that the market for simple games á la Angry Birds is already saturated)

Continue reading →

Just a quick announcement first: the “Hellcat” bug where the game randomly crashes is not limited to Hellcat – that piece of information was WG EU’s mistake. It can happen with any tank, really. The original WG EU post was already altered with an edit, explaining that it applies to other vehicles as well.

- 25 percent RNG was implemented, because according to Storm, “this number optimally simulates real life”
- ammo explosion ripping off the turret of tanks depends on the remaining amount of ammunition in the rack – if there is none, there is nothing to explode
- it’s too early to discuss next year’s April Fools (SS: yes, people ask such stuff)
- Storm states that the situation where one tank of one tier goes into another tank of the same tier (SS: in this case 38T into StuG III B) might appear again with the introduction of new tanks
- no work on specifically 64bit client is conducted
- can a tank “catch” a shell (as in, tank moving faster than the shell catching it from behind)? “If the movement trajectory of the shell intersects with the tank collision model, there will be an armor penetration check”
- Q: “Between the opponents and proponents of the Confrontation mode, who won?” A: “Wargaming”

Continue reading →