Hello everyone,

Overlord is asking for your opinion on test 8.10, he also released the WoT:Blitz American tech tree.

Q: “SerB, you said that winrate is just like any other human growth. But human growth depends on parent genetic material – it is almost completely predetermined. Is winrate also genetically predetermined?”
A: “Yes, winrate also depends on parent genetic material and is also predetermined. But not only that – unlike the growth, in case of winrate, upbringing (the skill of working in a group) and education (understanding tactic principles) and training also play a role”

Q: “Is there a plan to remove winrate altogether? It has many negative aspects, why is it necessery at all?”
A: “I will meditate on that… no, I don’t even know what to say, I have no words. Young man, understand that winrate is just the amount of your victories, divided by the amount of your battles in general and multiplied by 100. To remove this indicator is possible only if we reset the battle count to zero (and in your case, use the free time to train your mental abilities).”

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One thing to be clear: a few of you guys sent me the German portal fail on EU server, where it was written that you get 10 percent extra free XP from regular battles instead of the previous 5 percent. I know of this fail, it was fixed already. It’s 5 percent.

- there will only be one map in 8.10 (the Japanese one), despite of the rumors of two maps arriving
- Storm states that when it comes to the Port map, they can’t just “add 200 meters of map length”, that would equal complete map rework
- Foch nerf will “come later”, it was postponed to “new year”
- according to Storm, it’s okay to release the test iteration with bugs, their fixing then goes much faster
- Object 140 will not be removed from the game

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Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/262446.html

Another Storm’s microdigest is here, literally posted minutes ago. Here’s what Storm says on 8.10:

- STB-1 will be nerfed a bit: aim spread when turning the turret will increase by 17 percent, aimtime will increase by 0,2s
- the Japanese map will stay in the release version of 8.10
- Team Battles: new maps will not be added in 8.10 to 7/42: they will be added later, but only after consulting that with Wargaming cybersports department and with cybersports players
- WG is dealing with FPS drops, that appear on some computers in connection with enabling the “track effects”, solution has not been found yet
- the bug where trees produced weird “hedgehog” like artifacts was fixed, Storm writes he’ll see how that went in test 2 (SS: test 2 is planned for 12.12. IIRC)
- motion blur will be set as default on only for highest graphic settings

Storm states that in this version, he will also add additional logging of the matchmaking process (programmers only)

From discussion:

- Storm is confidend they will find and fix the graphic bug
- the Japanese probably won’t be “green” during the second round of the test

- Object 430U will not appear as the unlockable hull of Object 430 (SerB states they are quite different tanks)
- T-64 is quite a different tank from Object 430, Object 430 has -5/+16 depression
- the point of view in sniper mode is from the point where the shell trajectory path originates
- the only thing calculated during the shell flight is its “point of existence”, not physical parameters: that’s why a shell can actually pass through a hole, that is theoretically smaller than the shell in real life
- when firing arty, when you aim at a discovered enemy tank, the trajectory is automatically compensated to end in that enemy tank, but when you aim at a spot you know the enemy tank is, but the tank itself is not lit up, the trajectory will aim at that spot on the ground
- whenever an enemy tank is destroyed, all tanks in the team recieve small additional bonus XP, this however doesn’t happen when the enemy tank drowns, or is destroyed by falling
- Ke-Ho (Japanese tier 4 LT) will recieve battletier 4-6 MM
- Russian players are whining about STB-1 being OP, Veider states that Leopard in fact has better camo, better maximum speed, is more agile and more accurate, has better aim time and better accuracy bleed from turning the turret, carries more ammo and has better depression
- furthermore, Veider adds that STB-1 doesn’t have that much armor and has devices sticking out, reducing its camo factor
- Veider states that when comparing STB-1 and Patton, Patton has better engine, better terrain resistance, more viewrange, more HP, better accuracy on the move, better aimtime, better elevation and generally better armor
- Port is removed because the map is imbalanced
- it’s “too soon” for KV-1S nerfs
- FPS drops on the test is a combination of a bug (something with track effect settings) and of some unoptimized elements

Hello everyone,

the stream with the Nicholas “Chieftain” Moran (US developer/history expert) ended literally a minute ago and I have to say, I am really sorry for not linking it on FTR, because it was funny as hell. The stream will probably be available as a video in Wargaming archives later on, I’ll link to that. Either way, Chieftain was talking about many interesting things, some of them were American-specific, some of them were universal. I was taking notes (NOT an easy thing to do, considering how fast he spoke at some points). Here’s what he said (in short notes, of course). Some of it is of more personal nature, so just dig over it :)

- next Chieftain’s Hatch will come on Wednesday
- Cheiftain wants to visit Munster Panzer Museum and Latrun and to return to Ottawa museum
- the AMX 13/75 might be the subject of some future Hatch issue apparently
- 17pdr Grizzly: many pictures around, it was a 17pdr in M4 turret on some standard hull, that got moved around
- cockpit view in WoWp very unlikely
- Chieftain doesn’t have a favourite museum: “They are all awesome”
- the Hatch on Renault FT – possible, as lots of museums are restoring them for 2014 WW1 100th anniversary
- FV4202 rebalance might come eventually eventually, they have to figure out the solutions first
- Chieftain prefers medium tanks, he likes flexibility
- US TD premium: one has been selected (but it will be low tier), one has been modelled already (“when it’s done it’s done”), it won’t be a hightier vehicle, unfortunately Chieftain is not allowed to say which one
- Japanese medium line: Chieftain hasn’t played them yet (he thinks they’re ugly), there were however interesting designs, internal mechanisms are pretty good, they always lagged behind the allies however,the engineering was reasonable, but the tanks were always outclassed
- Regarding scouts: more LT’s are coming, MTLS is not coming apparently, scouts should play bigger role in battle according to Chieftain

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Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/262302.html

Hello everyone,

Storm recently posted a LJ post, where he is asking about patch 8.10 feedback. From the discussion:

- apparently there will be no arty buff in 8.10, WG “never promised it”

Wargaming reworked the personal rating formula a lot, Storm is preparing a detailed post for it, but in general:

- hitrate influence was completely removed
- the importance of the survival rate has been reduced
- average damage per battle has been enhanced by adding spotting and detracking damage to the equation
- analogically to the winrate and survival rate, there is now some penalty for VERY high average damage per battle, this will however not influence you unless you are a top 50 player
- the battlecount multiplier has been removed, instead of it there is now a “functional dependence on the amount of battles”

- Highway is scheduled for rework in next patch (after 8.10), there is some imbalance in it, but not as critical as to remove it completely
- Dragon Ridge will not return apparently
- Port will be removed without a “geographical equivalent” replacing it (for CW regions)
- gun penetration in game is not based on DeMarre formula, but on real penetration tables
- medals will be removed from companies, so cheaters don’t grind them in rigged battles
- for now, the ability to remove 2-3 maps you don’t want to play in random battles from the map pool won’t be implemented
- WT RhB has better camo factor both when standing and when moving than Object 704
- Storm admits it’s possible the TD’s (SS: unclear if only the new German ones are meant) have too good camo
- replay settings system will not change until serverside replays are introduced
- test server capacity will not be increased

And what do you think of the test?

About the 8.10 FPS drops: if you have bad FPS issues on the test server, try disabling both track effect tickers. It worked for me, the track effects seem bugged.

- Port confirmed to be completely removed in future – Storm: “We couldn’t find an acceptable solution for balance change on this map”
- Storm confirms that it is possible for 150-152mm tier 10 TD guns to have alpha lowered to 750 (with appropriate decrease of reload time), but this decision is not confirmed yet
- there will be new sound tracks added to WoT
- in 8.10, the color of Chinese premium tanks (112, T-34-3, Type 59) will change, this change will apply only to premium tanks (SS: to distinguish them from the 100+1 Type 59 clones)
- the abovementioned solution to change color will NOT apply on all premium tanks in WoT
- the first of the new city maps will most likely come in the patch after 8.10
- according to SerB, winrate is the (best) skill indicator, average winrate is 49 percent, if you have a 55 percent winrate, you your skill is much higher than the average player skill in game. Other developer later adds: “Skill is the ability to win, not to deal damage. If you dealt a lot of damage and lost, you dealt in wrong place”
- all destructable objects will be destroyed when penetrated
- it takes only 5 minutes to add or remove maps from Team Battles

Apart from the test server graphic feedback post, there was one more post by Storm yesterday, where he was gathering feedback on whether the players like new maps introduced to the Team Battles (7/42) in 8.10: Airfield, Komarin, Live Oaks, Siegfried Line, Sand River, Serene Coast, Swamp and Tundra. Russian player response seems mixed.

Also, don’t miss Chieftain’s T29/30/34 article, quite interesting

- the fact that tier 9 Soviet tank Object 430V2 has its turret rotating only 90 degres to each side is historical, it was caused by the position of the driver in the turret
- driver’s position in the abovementioned turret was not stabilized like in MBT-70 for example

Not much else today, sorry.

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/261659.html

Hello everyone, Storm writes that players are reporting FPS drops in the new tests and asks for description of such events, screenshots and technical data of the computers, replays and dxdiag.

From the discussion:

- apparently, the new sound overhaul will take more time

Not much else, Storm is simply gathering feedback. So, please, let’s help a bit:

Do you have a FPS drop problem in 8.10 test? By that I mean – did your FPS drop a lot with the same settings? If no, please don’t post “I’m fine”, that’s good for you (high end computers are apparently fine), but WG needs feedback from players who DO have problems.

If yes, then state what settings are you running with (ideally with a setting screenshot from the test) and what is your computer configuration, along with anything you can think of is relevant (example: “I disabled everything and it’s still doing FPS drops”). I will then pass the data to Wargaming. Thank you.

- the fact WT RhB 128mm now has a muzzle brake has no effect on its camo factor
- Chi-Ri can mount a rammer even when it has an autoloading gun (no other autoloader tank has that): this is not a mistake, SerB states that rammer is mounted on a tank independently, not tied to a gun
- the depression of STA-1 with gun facing back is only -2 degrees
- HD client will actually feature tracks with volume (like the KV-1 has in 8.10)
- Storm states the possibility to play WoT on weak computers will stay – more or less
- Storm doesn’t have a problem with current Chi-Ri
- the angle of frontal plate of STB-1 is 65 degrees, transferring fluently to 73 degrees
- the number of test rounds for 8.10 cannot be said in advance according to Veider

Stay tuned, more to come today. Much more…