British Light Tank Line?

Hello everyone,

as you probably already know, the FV4202 will be replaced by the Action X Centurion near the end of the year instead of Vickers MBT. To put it mildly, I was not happy about that switch – instead of a fast, agile medium tank not unlike the Leopard, we’ll be getting another Centurion clone with a tougher turret, but unhistorical gun and mediocre mobility and I have my doubts whether such a vehicle will truly be viable on tier 10. We’ll just have to see.

Still, I am not the only one who was wondering, whether there is a way to bring the Vickers MBT into the game after all. Here’s a proposal for a line, compiled by several people, who like British tanks and want to see more of them implemented into the game, specifically (in no particular order) Listy, Okinoshima, Anglomanii, Xlucine, Ogopogo, Vollketten, Ohslowpoke and Dominatus (most are from US forums).

Now, I always said (and I still am) that a British light tank line is problematic, to put it mildly. There is a lot of lowtier stuff, but the issues start at tier 5 and continue right to tier 8, with practically every tier 5+ vehicle being either some obscure prototype or a paper proposal. That does not mean they are unhistorical or completely fake – nothing like that, but the line would inevitably consist of paper projects with a few exceptions. Is it worth it though? Can a factor of “cool” compensate for the lack of historical use? You be the judges.

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Beware: Unjustified Permabans

Hello everyone,

several players recently started reporting that they had their accounts permabanned for no apparent reason on EU server. They askled about it at support and they got told that it happened due to an attempted credit card fraud: WG product (gold/premium/whatever) was ordered via an electronic card, but the payment was not authorized or was cancelled on the user side.

Strangely enough, only today, two players reported the same issue. The thing is, both claim that they don’t actually own a credit card. So, I investigated a bit from “my sources” and I got told that this in fact really might be some Wargaming screwup. It appeared after the 9.2 patch and it seems it’s not limited to EU server. People are getting permabanned all for the same reason and when they write a support ticket, support service, who is apparently unaware of the issue, tells them to fuck off and treats them like scammers.

If it happens to you, best thing to do is to pester your community representatives and write support tickets.

2.8.2014

Not much today. I guess everyone is getting ready for Gamescom. Or was it patch 9.3? Hmm…

- developers are tracking how effective each gun is with various types of shells
- Sheridan won’t be implemented (SS: beyond the T49 turret that is – the reason is a) it’s amphibious b) Shillelagh missile)
- the shell spread after shot is different for each gun and vehicle (they don’t have a common coefficient)

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T-34-85M – Upcoming Soviet Premium Tank

Hello everyone,

if you follow FTR, you already know that the Soviet tree will be not one, but two medium premium tanks richer. One is the tier 8 T-54 Mod.1945 and the other, recently unveiled, a tier 6 premium tank, the T-34-85M. The first one was already covered in an article, let’s have a look at the latter.

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Please note that this tank has nothing to do with the post-war T-34/85 modification, often referred to as “T-34/85M” as well.

The history behind this vehicle is relatively simple. While the T-34 armor was quite good for its time, especially thanks to its sharp slope, on a battlefield swarming with Tigers and Panthers, sloped 45mm of armor just was not enough. Therefore, various Soviet tank designer teams were looking into ways, how to make the formidable T-34/85 even better. Some attempted to improve its firepower, others focused on the armor. This is the latter case.

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WoT Blitz for Android Q&A Stream

Source: http://world-of-ru.livejournal.com/3416193.html

Hello everyone,

yesterday, there was yet another WoT Blitz dedicated stream, this time with Viktor Kleschenko (lead WG mobile programmer), Pavel Kozlov (community manager), Aleksandra Martynovich (community manager) and Ilya Botyanovsky (game master). Maiorboltach from the LJ community provided transcription as usual. Here it is!

Keep in mind all the answers are related to WoT Blitz, not WoT.

- currently, all the effort of the developers is being directed into creating an Android version
- Android version will first come either for RU region only, or worldwide straight away
- Android version will have the settings split into pre-sets (low, medium, high), or every setting (details etc.) will be set separately, it’s not yet decided
- developers are aware of the issue that mobile devices overheat when playing Blitz, there will be a fix – it is dependent heavily on optimization (more optimization, less heat)
- there will be a voicechat in the game the way WoT Xbox has it, when it’s done it’s done
- there is no exact beta test date yet, game is still being developed
- colorblind mode will not come anytime soon, it should appear within half a year tho along with other features, improving the game comfort
- range to target indicator will likely be implemented, but only as an option. It was not implemented from the start because it made the screen look messy.
- there will be no user statistics showing how much gold shells he fired
- there will be an indicator in the game, showing whether the enemy is using gold or silver shells

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70 Years – Warsaw Uprising Anniversary

Hello everyone,

today it is 70 years from the beginning of one of the most tragic episodes of the largest armed conflict ever fought, the Warsaw Uprising, has begun. Wargaming of course celebrates its own anniversary instead, but I think this is something that should not be forgotten either.

The brutal two-month nazi siege of Warsaw saw around 200 thousand Polish people (mostly civillians) killed both by relentless bombardment (one of the few operational uses of the monstrous Sturmtiger self-propelled mortars) and by mass executions, with hundreds of thousands more evicted from their homes and large parts of Warsaw destroyed. The (some historicans claim intentional) inaction of allies, especially Soviet troops, remains one of the disputed aspects of the tragedy to this day.

Now, 70 years later, it might be ancient history for some, something that could never ever happen again, not in the age of computers, internet and games, but the truth is that manking never really learned from history and today, just like all those years ago, there are still people willing to usurp power – and just like back then, there is still the public opinion that “this could never happen today”. The world should really make an exception from its forgetfulness and remember the lessons of World War Two. In this sense, I think World of Tanks has done its part by bringing people to at least this single aspect of history, armored warfare, it provides the framework and a stepping stone for learning the rest. And for that, I am grateful, but whether we are willing to learn, that is another matter.

1.8.2014

Hello everyone,

as you probably know, one of the largest game expo’s, Gamescom, is starting soon. One of our readers was invited to the WG party afterwards, where he will have the option of asking developer(s) some questions. He asked me to publish that you can send him the questions at his e-mail and he will try to have them answered. The e-mail is nomo2010@hotmail.de

- Storm states that it’s pointless to look closely the T-34-85M (leaked tier 6) characteristics, it’s from first round of supertesting, there will be two or three more rounds when the characteristics change and the parameters change even after tests
- it’s possible that the T-34-85M armor is more or less final according to Storm, there could still be some bugs in it though
- Evilly admits that they fucked up the anniversary hangar, it should be fixed and returned soon (SS: haven’t checked, is it back yet?)
- regarding the earlier tier 5 KV-1S leak – the HD model for KV-1S is not ready and so the model that was leaked was the old one, modified to carry only the historical guns.
- new fun-mode (like the soccer was) will come this year
- in the current version of observer mode, it’s pointless to follow artillery, since you won’t see where it is aiming

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