SerB started doing one really annoying thing: he stopped copying whole questions, so I have no idea what the player was asking, therefore I had to skip some nice answers.

- according to The_Chieftain, it’s possible (not anytime soon tho) that the T29 series of US heavy tanks will eventually be nerfed, because preliminary measuring suggest that the mantlets aren’t as thick as it was originally thought
- SerB won’t tell, how EXACTLY is the XP income calculated
- apparently, regarding the earlier announced intention of SerB to remove the unhistorical buffs of the VK4502P, while moving it down a tier or two, its replacement could be the “Protomaus” (one of the Maus prototypes the developers ran across)
- SerB states that while the HESH might be reconfigured for another mechanism, the spall liner will continue to work against it
- no new heavy lines have been introduced lately, because there are few candidates for them. They will come in time.
- it’s possible there might be a new “Interesting mechanics” video, explaining the 8.6 changes
- it’s possible the option (mentioned in March) to retrain various crewmembers to another role (for example radioman to gunner) will come in time, but it doesn’t have too high a priority, as there are “more important tasks” and implementing this would take like a month of work
- random games without platoons are not planned
- there are no plans to nerf tank destroyers for now
- SerB said he predicted that the next target of mass whining will be the tank destroyers – and that he was right
- shells in WoT are not objects, they have no mass or dimensions, they are basically just dots (so are the points of impact – they are not “holes”)
- SerB states it’s not true that a shell only has following parameters: penetration, damage, velocity, he also names caliber, base ricochet angle, base approach angle, damage to modules and splash. And that’s all.
- SerB confirms that since the RU7 server works with a special matchmaker version, then yes, at any point the developers can change the MM mechanism on various servers separately
- the WoWp open beta will be launched on 2nd July, but the unified premium account will come a bit later
- SerB is playing WoWp even for pleasure (not just as a job), he plays with mouse-keyboard and
- apparently, the preferred trees in Baltic countries and in China are Soviet
- it won’t be possible for players to choose their preferable MM spread (SS: some player actually wanted a -2/+4 spread for his KV)
- keyboard indicator on password screen, tank carousel selection in the garage and aim sights with timers and colour choices are not considered too important by SerB
- there are no plans to introduce a “cyclone filter” equivalent for German and American tanks
- Q: “There are too many KV-1S, will they get their 122mm removed?” A: “How terrible…”
- Q: “Will Hetzer lose its 105mm?” A: “How terrible…”
- it’s possible that when the hulls of the vehicles are interchangeable, the name of the tank will change with them, but for now this won’t be implemented (SS: there is a plan to introduce a feature that hulls will be unlockable as modules)
- the “bamboo canes” on Chinese maps provide no camo bonus at all
- more realistic tank destruction model will come
- SerB states that since this answering is not his duty but his free time, he considers it a relaxation
- MT-25 stats? “No comment on leaks, wait for patchnotes”
- your game settings are stored on your computer, not on the server, it’s impossible for now to do it serverside
- SerB confirms: E-79 is a fake tank, invented by the Japanese (modellers)
- this situation is impossible in WoT, as the physical armor in the game is 0mm thick – armor thickness is just a number
- SerB states that while he had some threats with violence, noone never showed up
- no alternative turret designs for Indien-Panzer have been found, if some appear, the devs will add them to the game
- T-44 is moving worse than T-54 (despite having a powerful engine), because “the suspension is obsolete”
- SerB states that the implementation of Japanese tanks into the game goes slowly. Wargaming did get some data, but SerB is asking players – if anyone has any additional data on the Japanese heavies, send them
- SU-14-2 elevation angle won’t be buffed
- periodical map changes are based on Wargaming’s interpretation of map statistics, such as sides winrates, places where tanks die etc.
- the case where a new tank crew member is being added to a tank (the MT-25 case) has not happened before
- Japanese medium tanks won’t be commented for now, but SerB comments on the Japanese tanks in general: medium tanks are ready (SS: as in all found), there are some issues with the heavies (not enough credible info on the O-I variants and the T10 tank), there are still tier 4 and 5 holes (Type 91 and Type 95 are tier 3 max, while the Iwakuro heavy tank goes to tier 6). As for tank destroyers, those are theoretically all found, but the developers are looking for more credible info on them (not the one found on the internet).
- KV-1S will stay on tier 6 and will NOT lose its 122mm
- it’s possible, that the Japanese tree won’t come out with a heavy branch, but with TD’s and mediums only, or even with a light/medium branch, without TD’s and heavies.
- Sturmtiger is still planned
- Chi-He and Chi-Nu Japanese tanks will appear as mediums
- SerB confirms that the age of the tanks fighting each other is irrelevant, Leopard 1 fighting a T-44 is just fine
- SerB states that the lower penetration of wartime Soviet guns is caused not by low quality gunpowder (which was partially imported from USA, thus being of good quality), but by bad armor-piercing shell design

First, some info on US tanks from US server developer/historian, The_Chieftain

- in 8.7, US tanks won’t probably be nerfed (The_Chieftain stated on US forums that he is constantly working on measuring the armor of the US vehicles, but he won’t make it till 8.7): “No significant nerfing of US tanks is going to happen in 8.7″
- another piece from The_Chieftain: apparently, the M103/T110 won’t be nerfed, when it comes to armor
- The_Chieftain on T57/M103 supposed armor nerf, that was somewhat hinted at earler: “…..since then I found the army’s ballistic test report for the T43′s hull, which as near as I can tell is ballistically identical to the M103′s. Did moderately well, except for the lower front hull.”

Some more info from US server, regarding the Missions (aka “miniquests”) and Operations (series of missions)

- Mugsy_: there will be a special Operations (and Missions, aka “miniquests”) interface (UI) in next patch, it’s being developed
- missions can be considered WoT equivalent of Warcraft’s daily quests
- gold as a reward won’t be used too much until the testing of the whole concept is complete
- Operations (series of missions) will be historically themed series of missions (for example a “Battle of Kursk”)
- missions where you have to “do damage equal to 3-5x of your tanks health” are not technically possible now

BTW: I am not sure, whether Operations as such will come to EU server. It’s an American server thing, essentially (they have been running these for a while now, just not using this special reward system). We’ll just have to see.

Overlord’s info from his blog:

- 8.7 supertest has recently started, it’s possible that we will see 8.7 public test in like two weeks
- WG still plans to release one new map per update
- day/night battles and weather are being worked on
- T-50-2 will be replaced completely, it will not become a premium tank á la T34

And regular Q&A:

- according to SerB, TD’s aren’t OP now (“statistics don’t confirm”)
- patch 8.6 is considered “nice”
- there were (and are) no plans to reduce the HP damage done by HEAT shells, while increasing their effect against crewmembers
- spall liner doesn’t work when the vehicle armor is (fully) penetrated by HE
- SerB states that Soviet RPG-7 can penetrate Abrams, it happened in Iraq and one of the crewmembers was wounded, Americans then tried to blame some “secret gun”, but it was just a RPG
- it’s possible that the Superpershing will not be nerfed in 8.7 (there might not be enough time to make it)
- old tanks (such as Panzer 35t) have detailed suspension collision models, while the new ones have less detailed ones. This is intentional – the developers considered the situation and found out less detailed models are sufficient for the game, while reducing the load on the server
- the “miniquest” mechanism wasn’t implemented earlier, because developers simply had other things to do
- map “Stalingrad” will not be apparently implemented under this name, but something like Stalingrad (a map of that type) will come
- as for silver- and XP-awarding events (like the Russians had recently with the miniquests), SerB generally doesn’t like such events, because he thinks people should play to win and not to fulfill the mission goals
- SerB is also not fond of lowtier premium tanks, because they support pedobearing/sealclubbing (SS: experienced players preying or newbies), which means Bronetraktors (SS: armored improvised tractors, the Ni tank being the most famous) probably won’t appear
- it’s very rarely possible for a hightier tank to appear in lowtier battles, happens late in the night, when there aren’t enough vehicles to fill the slots and MM adds vehicles from other tiers to the battle
- there will be no “free tank” (or other reward) for changing the VK3601H into a heavy
- SerB’s comment on 0.8.6 MM: “It’s not that bad”
- it’s possible the VK4501B will recieve historical parameters within a year, that is it gets much less armor and loses the 105mm and 128mm guns (and gets dropped down a tier or two), it was made tier 9 because WG didn’t find a historical proper T9 candidate
- SerB on why there is no British autoloaded arty on tier 10: “Oh well, evil Zlobny conjured up something else, happens. (SS: here, SerB used the word “нашаманить” – I am not sure what it means, some slang word for find or conjure up?)
- you won’t have to probably manually remove the crew from T-50-2 before its switch, but watch the patchnotes just in case
- it’s possible that the second German TD branch (0.8.9) was changed compared to the early version that was made public last year, SerB will tell when the time is right
- there are no plans to introduce the IS-7 with 152mm at this moment, but if it is introduced, it will probably be a heavy tank, not a TD
- when the new French heavy branch comes, its tier 10 tank will most likely not be the AMX50B, but something new (SS: earlier 2012 trees showed both heavy branches ending with one tank, the 50B)
- there are plans to add the possibility to change the e-mail your account is registered to
- it’s possible HESH will recieve its own mechanism, but SerB doesn’t see it as an important issue, it has low priority
- neither Ferdinand nor Jagdpanther II will most likely lead to the new German TD branch, SerB will not share details about any merges or splits however
- Q: “Why is the capture much faster on new Encounter maps?” A: “How terrible…”
- default German emblem will not be changed
- new emblems: “if necessery”
- according to SerB, in surveys, players actually prefer only partial city maps, not completely covered with streets, so that’s how the devs will do it

- apparently, frontal armor angle of IS-4 was nerfed (unintentionally), Storm will investigate
- Storm admits that matchmaker possibly doesn’t work properly after the artillery introduction, it’s being fixed, slowly
- Q: “If all the scientists in the world confirm that the end of the world will come within a month, would you release Type 59 into the shop again?” A: “The end of the world was supposed to happen, but it was cancelled by Wargaming, because it’s bad for business”
- theoretically it’s possible to leak replays of yet unreleased tanks with the permission of the producers
- during early WoT development it was considered for one vehicle to be able to switch classes by switching modules (for example, SU-85 is a TD, but if it installs the 122mm gun, it becomes an arty), but it was decided not to do it, because it would just confuse players
- apparently, ramming damage was not nerfed (SS: a player complains he is consistently getting low ramming damage in 8.6)
- alternative turret for E-100 (SS: apparently, the Maus II turret) – “when it’s done it’s done”, E-100 however will not recieve additional guns with it
- the fact that E-50 and E-50M have only medium spall liner, despite being heavier than some heavy tanks, is intentional
- win/loss XP gain mechanism was not changed in 8.6
- SerB states that the graphic level of the Xbox WoT is (SS: roughly) equal to maximum PC graphic settings
- track armor is not always 20mm, for example Maus has 70mm thick track armor
- the thickness of the gap between tracks (that act like spaced armor) for the purposes of defeating HEAT penetration is calculated from their outer edge. In other words: the thicker the tracks, the more they are effective against HEAT
- out of the “paper” tanks, SerB considers the Borgward Leopard (Prototyp der Arbeitsgruppe C) to be the most original, as it is a “hellish wheeled/tracked autoloader tank”:

- SerB states that there was a prototype tank, based on IS-7 with a 152mm gun (based on BL-10) in the turret. As for the regular IS/IS-2, SerB is not sure whether there were any projects with 152mm guns in their turrets, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they were
- universal crews (that would fit all nations and tanks) won’t be implemented
- both the HESH and HE have the same damage mechanism, after they penetrate the armor, they create a sphere within of a certain diameter and any modules touched by that sphere will be hit
- in 8.6, light tanks still kept their permanent camo bonus
- hit decals (SS: those “holes” that appear on your tank when it is hit) disappear over time, the reason for this is engine optimization, this applies to all tank models and won’t be changed
- the system, that would allow you after the battle to inspect your tank as for damage (who hit you, where exactly and for how much HP) won’t be implemented
- it’s too early to say, how roaming will exactly work, devs are still undecided (whether it will apply for random battles too, or “only” for companies/tournaments)
- crew transfer between nations is not planned

And some more info from developer blog (and its comments):

- The new Chinese premium T8 medium tank will apparently be the “T-34-3″, something like Type 59, but less armored
- The MT-25 will have a T-34M turret
- the names of the British arties are: Loyd Gun Carriage, Birch Gun, Bishop, Crusader 5.5in SP, FV3805, Conqueror Gun Carriage, FV304, FV207

- MM being bad (one team has heavies, the other arties of the same tier instead)? “How terrible…”
- Q: “What are the specifics of the Chinese server?” A: “The Chinese players are less envious”
- second French artillery branch is currently not planned
- after 0.8.6, the amount of battles played on arty vehicles dropped “several times”, “many” players sold their arties, so far, according to SerB the impact on arty is as planned
- high tier profitability was introduced, because “there was a certain disbalance between calculated predictions and real vehicle profit”
- SerB states the new reward tanks are balanced correctly, despite the fact they will be issued to very good (clanwars) players, which kinda distorts the statistics
- Sturmgeschütz E-75 (based on Spielberger’s Special Panzer Variants) will not be implemented into the game, because there is no info on it (SS: in the aforementioned book, Spielberger vaguely mentions that there was a plan to make a StuG project, based on the E-75 chassis – but nothing more, no details, sketches, nothing)
- while the module tier is just an arbitrary number, vehicle tier is not arbitrary, because it’s used when balancing the vehicles of the same tier (while modules of the same tier don’t get balanced to each other)
- Japanese tree: “when it’s done it’s done”
- SerB on why the clay fences are not penetrable: “Imagine it like this: when the shell hits the fence, it will begin to turn over.” (SS: as in, turn upside down, effectively negating any penetration ability), it will be changed in the future (fences will be penetreable), but even in the future shooting thru obstacles will make the shells lose penetration, so SerB suggests using terrain to your advantage
- T58 is overpowered even for tier 10, there will be no “premium” tier 9 and 10′s
- Object 140 is “completely possible” (SS: I have a feeling this will be the new Soviet branch tier 9 tank, it’s a Kharkov experimental tank, designed at the same as Object 430, to which it was somewhat inferior) – this is how it looks:

- SerB doesn’t want to create WG fake tanks apparently, even though he admits that the E50M is mostly a Wargaming invention, based on real life designs and solutions
- the lighting on the new Sacred Valley map doesn’t seem unnatural, according to SerB, the map was made according to photographic references – there is no such area in real life, but the architecture and elements are real
- RU server having events rewarding medals, obtained for killing arty while in fact there is nowhere near the amount of arty to get them is not trolling, according to SerB: “Sometimes the cigar is just a cigar” (SS: original SerB quote says “banana”, which in turn is – according to google, the Russian version of the famous Freud quote, so I used the original)
- SerB states that the current increased amount of tank destroyers is fine, as both teams are balanced
- apparently (if I understand this correctly), Object 430U won’t be implemented for now (SS: will doublecheck)
- Object 770 will not be implemented, as it would be balanced around tier 11-12 (SS: an experimental heavy tank from late 50′s, equipped with a modern 130mm M-65 gun, penetrating 280mm at 1000m), this is how it looks:

- Soviets won’t get 3 heavy branches anytime soon
- the fact objects and vehicles have glass parts, that aren’t transparent is not engine technical limit, it’s simply saving the client computer resources from calculating pointless crap
- open topped vehicles won’t recieve a bonus for improved ventilation, this “bonus” is already included in their base stats
- tier 11 and higher vehicles won’t be implemented
- SerB states that while it was necessery to implement the IS-7 into the game, the game can very well do without the T58
- gold shell hardcap per battle is not planned
- SerB on War Thunder garage battles: “Specifically in War Thunder, in our opinion, the garage battles were unsuccessful (including the pay to win elements) – it’s one of the serious project flaws”
- Intuition perk can kick in during the autoloader drum reload
- the possibility for a tank to “push itself away” when rotating the hull against an obstacle will not return
- no plans to implement a “give yourself up” option into the game
- although all the guns try to immitate their real life performance when it comes to penetration, for many of them WG simply didn’t have data available
- Storm states that putting more types of shells into one autoloader batch is not needed
- it’s possible premium T8 tank with 200+ penetration will appear until the end of the year
- in 0.8.6 the possibility of AMX ELC to rotate its hull with mouse (like on TD’s) was returned, it’s not clear whether this is final
- the probability of crewmembers getting killed is the same on all types of tech (SS: as in, no types of tech have special saving throws or tougher crews)
- for now, the fire extinguisher mechanism won’t be changed
- Scout Panther is doing fine on tier 7
-

First, some answers from Storm from the discussion under the Odessa errata.

- the T-44-122 (the picture was leaked earlier today) will not be the Soviet premium tank
- A branch with Sturmtiger and Brummbär? “No comment”
- graphics are optimized in every patch
- the sounds are fine, other sound effects have been delayed, but they will come
- the separation of random and company player statistics is planned
- dynamic tank stats in hangar won’t come in 2013
- IS-3 model in game is very similiar to the real one, model problems will be corrected en masse during the model re-work
- chat windows in hangar that don’t close bug will be fixed
- anti-aliasing is being worked on
- the reason for the new T10 tanks was to stir up the clanwars situation, they weren’t expensive to make
- client physics will most likely not come in 2013, because all the models need to be reworked for it. It’s a lot of work. The technology itself however is fully functional.
- Waffentrager E-100 will not be slow, it will have less armor than the classic E-100 chassis.
- T-50-2/MT-25 switch will come soon
- Superpershing did not historically have a 704hp engine and his ROF won’t apparently be buffed

Back to regular Q&A:

- Q: “What kind of arty does the King of Jordan, who plays WoT, have?” A:”This one.”
- SerB on anime: “Watched Miyazaki (SS: whatever that is), I liked it. Watched Rocket Girls. Watched Girls und Panzer, didn’t like other animes very much.”
- removing equipment and buying tank slots for credits won’t be implemented

Bonus:

Russians making fun of EU players being “butthurt” that they don’t get their miniquests and that they do. Hmmm… earlier there was a set of two pictures of one player, who basically gained 17 million credits over weekend in the event…

Also, if you want to see 112 in action:
112 replay – http://wotreplays.ru/site/1007607#team
E-25 replay – http://wotreplays.ru/site/1023379?secret=ec4778b8be0178fbdc3142557b55c124#.UcgvgNi8MjM%E2%80%94

Bonus 2, from supertest (source is the same as the pics): If I understand it correctly, there will be a lot of new “hit” variants, the tank hit system is being reworked and there will apparently be more hit decals. There will also be additional info on shots available.

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/212699.html

Hello, everyone.

Well, Storm just issued errata on Evilly’s answers. Looks like Evilly screwed up again. *sigh* Here’s the corrected info from yesterday’s “Odessa” answers:

- regarding the Superpershing: Superpershing gun was only discussed, no changes are planned, only maneuverability and terrain passability will be buffed (Storm states in comments that there is simply no reason for that and that they don’t want actually buff the tank)
- IS-7 armor IS in fact historical at this moment
- tanks don’t roll over on their back not only because it’s unplayable, but also because the game is not prepared, for example the bottoms don’t have textures and there are no normal models of track and suspension destruction
- Waffentrager E-100 will get a 128mm and a 150mm gun, with 3-6 round autoloaders (this hasn’t been decided and balanced yet) on E-100 chassis
- there is in fact no guarantee that the economic model won’t be revisited before Fall 2013, there might be some changes, depends on statistics
- regarding the “reward” T10 tanks for random battles, WG has in fact not yet found suitable candidates for this role, all the suitable tier 10 tanks belong to regular branches. WG is searching, but no promises.
- French premium medium tank will in fact NOT come in 2013, it was a mistake
- Chinese TD branch will definitely come in 2014
- regarding the ingame clanwars: in fact, there will be some new clanwars functions, that will be accessible from within the game, but the old clanwars will remain as web-based interface
- roaming New Year release is in fact not confirmed, it’s a complicated feature and tests might take long
- garage battles will definitely not come in 2013, but the developers decided to actually try to implement them in random battles, as they found interesting variants (no details)
- historical battles issues do not concern only balancing, but also implementation – the interface
- 30vs30 battles will not be delayed, they just require a huge number of technical issues and solutions, that are being implemented gradually.

Well, that’s it. Some comments:

- 7/42 will come this year (but patch number is not yet known)
- T-44 premium Soviet tank won’t come before Fall
- Sturmtiger will come in 2014
- Waffenträger Panther mockup picture:

- M60 (907 and VK7201) will NOT be obtainable thru random battles
- the 128mm is NOT the L/75 and the 150mm is NOT the L/68. In other words: expect autoloaded Jagdtiger (in worse case Maus, as there was a project to equip the Maus with autoloader) and E-100 guns. This is why we can’t have nice things…

- SerB states that the point where you stop earning and your gain/spend ratio is balanced in WoT is tier 7-8 without the premium account (depends how good the player is), earlier, for premium account it was tier 9, but now (SS: post 0.8.6) it’s tier 10, for non-premium tanks the best farming tiers are 5-6
- not even 50 percent of German SPG’s Wargaming knows about have been implemented into the game
- the impulse to introduce the 0.8.6 shell dispersion in aim circle were relatively often cases of shells flying to the aim circle boundaries

Q: (paraphrased) “It is a known fact that diesel electric engines such as Porsche system, can go with the same speed forward and backward, why is it not implemented into the game?”
A: “Take your car. Now remove the rear mirror. Cover the rear glass and leave only a small slit. On the rear seat, put your mother in law (she won’t be missed that much) so that she covers the small slit. And now drive cross crountry at full speed backwards, while obeying your mother-in-law’s commands. And don’t forget to include a wish in your testament so that your widow sends us the video of the whole event.”

- SerB states that he is not convinced that garage battles are necessery for WoT, especially when he recieves bad feedback on them from other projects
- apparently the current punishment for non-active players (no XP and credits) is enough
- after the 0.8.6 introduction there was no additional change in accuracy
- SerB on noobs: “Every noob (with few reasonable exceptions) thinks of himself as a megaskilled player, who doesn’t rightfully pwn everyone only as a result of Wargaming conspiracy.”
- the new accuracy does increase the load of WG servers, but not much
- there will be more miniquests on the servers, they are planned to happen on regular basis
- module tiers are arbitrary numbers, a tier 9 module can have just the same parameters as a tier 10 module theoretically
- sold crew recovery (for example after account theft) will be realized somehow
- the 0.8.8 patch with Soviet mediums was somewhat confirmed, it is already decided from which tank will the branch start, but Storm will tell in a couple of months
- 0.8.9 will bring 2nd German TD branch, everything was already decided, Storm will also tell later
- 0.8.8 tier 10 alternative Soviet tank will be the Object 430, the introduction of this branch does not mean there will be changes in current branches
- 0.8.8 will bring 5 new vehicles along with the Object 430, but other than that, Storm states that it’s too early to talk about it, wait until August/September
- French LeFH arty decreased gun accuracy doesn’t count as combat characteristic change or a nerf (SS: it’s a compensation since arties did get increased accuracy spread too)
- Tiger texture changes (the way VK1602 Leopard was changed) are not planned
- Q: “Do you realize that you created a bunch of junkies, addicted to your game? Don’t you feel ashamed?” A: “*puts away his bread with caviar* I realize that. I feel ashamed. *sadface*”
- “not many things” are planned for 0.8.7

Source: http://world-of-ru.livejournal.com/2152808.html
Author: chelovel_bek

Basically, there was a community meeting between the developers and gamers in Odessa on 15.6.2013 and one player did write down the developer answers. The responding person was Evilly, Russian chief community manager.

You’re going to like this…

Here goes:

- players from 80 countries play WoT
- King of Jordan plays on EU server
- Evilly states that while the M40/43 shell is flying, he has time to have a cup of tea
- 0.8.7 will come by the end of July or beginning of August and will bring British arty and the Chinese premium 112
- 0.8.8 will bring 2nd branch of Soviet medium tanks with Object 430
- Superpershing will recieve a new gun (current M26 Pershing’s top gun) and its maneuverability will be improved
- current IS-7 ingame armor is thicker than it was in real life, but it will stay as it is
- tanks don’t roll over on their backs, because the game is unplayable that way
- 2nd German TD line will be after 0.8.8, it’s top vehicles will be the Waffentragers, tier 10 will have a 4-round autoloader (SS: I WAS RIGHT! Damn, I really was :) 4 rounds and not 3… that means 128mm FlaK 45 I think, expect amazing accuracy and brutal penetration, but low alpha)
- until Fall 2013, the economic model in the game (prices etc.) won’t be reworked
- Type 59 was removed from shops because there were too many of them and because there will be another tier 8 Chinese premium MT
- multiturret mechanism won’t come anytime soon, there are higher priority tasks
- hourly premium account is not profitable from economic point of view
- no details are known, but there WILL be special tier 10 tanks (like M60, VK7201 and Object) available for random battle players
- in the future, Germans will shoot more accurately on extreme distances
- in the future, all 3 of WG projects will be somewhat compatible, but not as much as those of Gaijin
- Evilly doesn’t like the AMX40, but likes to own in E50M
- this year will also bring a premium medium French tank
- Chinese tree has a TD branch upcoming, either by the end of 2013, or in 2014
- it is yet not decided whether Sturmtiger will come as TD or artillery, if it becomes an arty, it will have a very short range, it won’t come in 2013
- there might come an event analogical to the White Tiger event (SS: as a partnership advertisement of the Russian White Tiger movie, a special Tiger P was implemented into the game and in a special mode it was fighting against 15 T-34/85′s)
- Clanwars implemented into the client will come either until the end of the year, or in 1st quarter of 2014
- roaming test is planned for autumn, it will be released around New year
- vehicle velocity doesn’t depend on full/empty ammo rack
- there will be an option to switch whole chat off
- game engine won’t change, but it will be improved
- national crew voices will come
- during WG’s birthday event, players will recieve a free lowtier tank
- Soviet premium medium tank (early T-44 with 85mm gun) will come this Fall
- WG is working on an official mod portal
- there will be massive changes in graphics – weather and night battles will come, as well as turrets being ripped off by explosions and pieces of armor flying off when hit
- garage battles are really complicated to do in randoms, so they will be done in CW’s/companies, possibly this year
- historical battles won’t come in 2013, there are problems in balance
- Type 59 will never return to the shops, ever
- skill MM will never come to randoms
- 30 vs 30 battles have been postponed, the stress on client computers is way too big
- AMX ELC didn’t recieve a fully rotating turret, because it’s not a turret and the head of the crewman is sticking out
- minefields will come to clanwars, they will work as consumables
- Xbox and PC WoT won’t be unified
- no premium T9-T10 tanks
- combat missions aka “miniquests”, awarding top 3 damage dealers of the team, will come apparently again during the WG birthday event

- SerB confirmed the work is finishing on ingame model re-work, including bigger polygon count for models and the possibility of shells knocking down/destroying various stuff that’s lying on the tank (tools, boxes etc), increasing the number of optional turrets and making various suspension/hull types visually distinctive – the ETA is as always “when it’s done it’s done”
- SerB considers Redshire to be a normal map, it won’t be reworked (“You’d only whine about another map, so what’s the point in doing that”)
- AFK tanks won’t be transferred to other players to control in the battle (SS: yes, someone actually asked, whether he could control tanks that are AFK for some time)
- “anti-medals” for fighting 5-10 battles in a row without dealing damage won’t be introduced: “No, we won’t implement retarded medals – because some “special” people would actually farm them”
- SerB commenting on the recent “Bagration” event on RU server (SS: where Russian players gained insane amounts of gold thanks to the “miniquests” implemented and started asking for more): “Well, I think that x20 bonus to credit and XP event would be even better. True, after that the game would die rather quickly, but whatever.”
- Q: “T10 Foch with camo net and camo skills is totally invisible!” A: “Well, then start playing it”
- Q: “Arty is overnerfed, a lot of people did quit playing it, what about that?” A: “Then don’t play arty. That’s why we did it.”
- it is possible to hit the enemy gun module without damaging it, as the gun does have the module saving throw (see here)
- generally the developers are happy about the way the amount of arty in battles was reduced in 0.8.6
- SerB states that if according to 0.8.6 statistics there were too few arties left, they’d be buffed “if needed”
- 7/42 format won’t be changed in connection with the 0.8.6 arty re-work
- when considering penetration of (let’s say) 150mm penetration shell and 150mm thick armor, in order to penetrate the armor (to cause damage) 150mm penetration is enough, it doesn’t have to be MORE than 150mm
- T34 armor model was not changed
- SerB responding to another arty whining player: “The rebalance of arty was done so that the amount of noobs playing it would be come lower. And judging from your whining, the goal was met.”
- the amount of arty became unwanted about a year ago and 3 months ago, the situation forced a solution, that’s why 0.8.6 nerf happened
- VK3601H transfer to heavy tank – “when it’s done it’s done”, it was delayed in the past, because some issues connected to the tanks tied with 3601H had to be dealt with
- one of the (less important) reasons for increased accuracy were upcoming bigger maps
- Q: “Does massive whining of playerbase correspond with your statistics?” A: “50/50 – either it does or it doesn’t”
- devs are still deciding what to do with the “top 3 tanks get credit/XP bonus” event miniquest, they will check the credit inflation and will take measures
- there are no problems with tank or TD amounts (SS: as in, TD amounts aren’t a problem)
- visual camo net module? devs want it, but it’s complicated to implement, won’t be anytime soon
- Komarin will return “when it’s done”
- Walker Bulldog will come “when it’s done”
- SerB states that before 0.8.6, it was a lot easier for a bad player to play tier 10 arty than tier 10 other classes
- SerB also states that the structure of WoT audience (players) changed gradually, but won’t give out any details
- SerB doesn’t think the autoloader tanks were seriously damaged by the shell changes
- SerB explains, why actions that give out too many credits (such as the last weekend on RU server) are bad: “Inflation can also be hidden – notice the example of late USSR. Virtual world has its own specifics (for example, because of the increased profitability of tanks, people buy too many premium shells and armor starts to lose importance), but credit emission control is also necessery in it.”
- the Westfield assault mode that had the bridge repaired still has the minimap displaying a broken bridge, this is not an oversight
- SerB considers top tiers to be “high-skill content”, because only good players can play them without losing credits
- such events with miniquests won’t appear permanently

First: an invite code for US players (sorry, US server only): http://www.lfgcomic.com/worldoftanks/ (thanks to Mister_Red for this one)
Some interesting links:
Listy’s article on WW1 tank combat: http://overlord-wot.blogspot.cz/2013/06/from-mud.html
Listy’s article on one of the armored trains:

http://overlord-wot.blogspot.cz/2013/06/flight-of-young-eagle.html

Now, back to regular Q&A :)

- damage your shells inflict does not depend on range of the shot (SS: damage doesn’t drop with range, unlike penetration)
- there are no plans for a TD nerf for now – “if it is needed, there will be one”
- Q: “Are you happy with 0.8.6?” A: “We’ll see in a week or two. Payments go up – we’ll be happy, payments go down – we won’t.”
- related to previous question Q: “So, the project will live while the payments keep on coming? (with hope and a bit of irony)” A: “Why irony? That’s how life works.”
- the SAU40, ARLv39, AMX AC48 miniturrets are armed with a variety of weapons, from Hotchkiss MG’s to 20mm autocannons
- when 112 comes out, it does mean that there will be two T8 Chinese heavy tanks on Chinese server (112 and WZ-111): “They need it.”
- SerB thinks that when Westwood made their Soviet double-barelled tanks for Red Alert, they most likely didn’t know about the ST-II tank (SS: twin-barelled 122mm ST-I)
- SerB doesn’t ride bike (but many other WG employees in Minsk do), he uses mostly train to travel between Moscow, Minsk and Kiev
- apparently the difference of British arties from other arties is that “the British arty crews get served tea with pudding”
- this applies to RU server only I believe: SerB doesn’t recommend making forum accounts with “SerB” as a nickname and with SerB’s avatar (or something similiar), because you could be banned for impersonating a developer (SS: and because impersonating WG staff can be uncovered quite easily, right, Kewei? :) )
- SerB doesn’t think arty was overnerfed
- if you don’t like the dynamic camera, SerB suggests you disable it
- tier 8 premium with autoloader? “When there is one, I will tell”

PS: just a reminder guys, if you want to help FTR out, disable your AdBlock :) Thank you.