Just a brief summary of it. Credits go to Mr Fingers. (From the twitch of Crysantos)
Needless to say, this Q&A is extremely interesting. News about weather effects inside
Q: Will there be a Minimap augmentation with the last known position of ships?
A: there is a chance it will be implemented, they’re keeping tracks of popular mods that are used in WOWS, and what is popular in other games as well (WOT). So there is a chance, but it’s not the highest priority at this moment. But they are planning to improve the UI to provide info for experienced players.
Q: Plans for top-tier only gamemodes
A: They’re not sure if Top Tier only is that desirable at this moment, but there are definitely plans for it. They’re currently working on late-game content. The next step will be Clan Wars, that will go up to tier X, but it won’t be exclusive to higher tiers only. But it is scheduled to come and is currently under development, but no ETA is given, it depends on testing, but it will come soon™.
Q: Difference between clan- & teambattles
A: Team battles = competitive and small teams, similar to strongholds in WoT, and can (internally) be considered a testbed for e-sports. It’s with smaller teams and lower tiers.
Clan battles = full-sized teams, like in WoT, with a focus on high-tier composition (3/4 ships will probably be Tier X).
Q: Will the “celebrity team battle” event be repeat? (This was an event with WG staff and youtubers in team battles in EU)
A: There is a good chance for that it will come again, potentially next weekend (first weekend of April). It was great fun, and had some good feedback. But it has to be seen that it will not coincide with current planned specials & contests.
Q: ranked format chanches
A: It cannot be disclosed at this moment, the information about previous seasons is still being processed and number-crunched. It has not been decided yet, but there will come a new season in the forseeable future. It’s not extremely popular, but there are still enough players that wish to play more competitive than random battles.
Q: Regarding ranked battles, will you please consider (yes, no decision, just to throw it in when people are discussing it) to make it possible to reach rank 1 without having to play T7-8? And will you may be put in a “baby” ranked season for up to T4?
A: it’s being considered, and is part of the numbercrunching of the previous question. They’re not holding on the idea of the current tier restrictions, but it will be considered.
Q: Will there be seasons and prizes for team-battles?
A: They’re considering it, but they’re still gathering data. Team battles as they are now will end at some time, a new season will follow soon after that. Current TB will not have any rewards, but for next TB, there will probably some flags & camo’s. Similar to ranked.
Q: What about achievements & flags in team-battles?
A: it might come, but it’s still the first season, so they’re careful to prevent exploits. But it is considered.
Q: What we think about Russian cruisers and TB?
A: the Chapayev is like the Kutuzov, and the radar is good for contesting cap-zones. But it won’t affect the current gameplay too much (as tested by supertesters). The radar is very situational.
Q: Will numbering of minimap in more conventional way?
A: it will be passed along, it might be part of the improvement of the UI.
Q: What about the weather?
A: it was hinted in the “2016-video”, it’s coming very soon, it’s basically right behind the corner. He’s seen the prototypes of the supertest, and the rain looked interesting and it will be a very popular addition to the maps. No ETA given since it’s a development matter. But solid news and updates will come in the coming weeks.
Q: And weather-effects?
A: It’s still in development, main parts will be just video/graphical effects, with thunderstorms in the distance and stuff like that. In-game gameplay-affecting effects is still a matter of testing, so no info is available. It will be when it is announced properly. In the distant future, it will have full-weather effects (high waves and gales).
Q: What about other nations?
A: It’s still too far away to say anything about it for what is not coming this year. Maybe this year an Australian branch will come. Albeit it had a small navy, they had cool ships sailing in it.
Q: What about PvE campaign/historical/escort modes?
A: It’s a complex topic, but they are looking in to (ab)use bots to make it work. They are working on these modes, and new info and maybe a preview will come within next months (after the weather-info). They’re now focussing on more important stuff and the PvP-experience. PvE historical has plenty of potential, because it eliminates the reluctance to play the weak team (it can be done by the bots). That reluctance to be drawn in the weakened team is what killed historical in WoT.
Q: Are there plans to limit the amount of DD’s in a team, and/or a mirrored matchmaker?
A: That is not planned, but stats (hard & soft) of DD’s will/can be adjusted, especially in high tiers, because there are not enough CV’s to flush them out at this moment, giving DD’s a free reign. A fix will come very soon (with the Soviet cruisers having radar now, and the USA cruisers of Tier VIII and higher will have radar as well, to toughen the life of the DD’s). BB’s are negligent of enemy cruisers and don’t protect friendly cruisers, so it’s expected they’ll get jumped on by DD’s when the cruisers are killed. Radar will come to US cruisers because they don’t have torpedos. They don’t have it now in this update, because they ran out of development time.
Q: Will there be some love for the Montana and Yubari?
A: It all depends on what the statistics show, also because the impression someone has and the statistics on that ship can be totally different. They want to prevent to overbuff a ship. Montana-Yamato balance is like a seesaw, and the balance shifts with every update. The Yubari got hurt by the AFT, and they are looking in it, but nothing is set for it yet, but they hope it will get some love.
Q: For divisions, is a +/-1 tier spread being considered?
A: For now it is not planned to do it, but they’re keeping an eye on the matchmaker. If they see needs to change it, they’ll do it. Ships are more competitive over tiers compared to tanks (a Tier IV BB can be competitive against a tier VI DD). Troll-division are seen, with info from wot, quite often as one player showing the game to another (low-tier- player, and it’s rare. Nothing mentioned about fixing it.
Q: In the 2016-video, it was said that 2016 will be a good year for carriers, what does it mean?
A: They can’t give any details, it’s still under development, but they are trying some things (US: issues with torpedo bombers and weak divebombers, so the latter got upgraded a bit with heavier bombs). Carriers are a very specific class, and hard to make comfortable to play but not too comfortable. They might introduce the Saipan, and it might come with “interesting choices” (as per testing), and can be used as a testbed to modify gameplay of carriers. But “the good year” will come later on.
Q: Will you publish roadmap for development for the next 6 months?
A: Take a look at the 2016 video, that’s the roadmap. Disclosure of predictions will never be done, information always come as soon as possible, they’re planing a DevDiary for every (major?) update, so the info comes earlier than we’re used to now. There is an easter-egg in the preview of soviet-cruisers, you’ll see something .
Q: Why are there so few contest in the EU compared to other servers?
A: It’s a tricky question, they try to fit in as much contests as they can. HMS Campbeltown will come as a contest-reward. It also comes because the EU is split over 7 language teams, and the contests are split over the 7 languages, so you have to look for yourself. There is stuff coming up, but more on that when it’s there.
Q: Why is there no Greek Subforum?
A: They don’t officially support Greek (as in: they don’t have Greek(-speaking) staff nor moderators), so they can’t check what is posted on there, so they’re sticking to the languages they officially support. If you’re looking for a Greek subforum, you can always stick together and make an external forum, but not on WG’s watch on the main forums.
Q: Will you refine the reporting system ingame? Karma is not affected by “plays poorly”, will it be fixed?
A: It’s a first iteration of report/karma system, it’s a work in progress. Karma might become more visible and transparent (on how you got it, and why), but it will be improved (both reporting and karma).
Q: Current matchmaking, with double CV’s on both teams, will it be toned down to 1 vs 1 CV?
A: It should not bring any unfairness, since it’s mirrored, except when one player is either very bad or very good, but the matchmaker can’t deal/fix with that. 2CV’s per team also buffer discrepancies out, with a bad player being not as punishing for the team because there is someone else that can carry his weight as well. With 1vs1 if you have a bad player, the effect is way harder.
Q: Will you make light cruisers more attractive after the nerf of AFT, BFT & Expert Marksmen?
A: It’s again a question about individual ship balance, so they’re looking at the stats to see which ships really suffer of those nerfs. Nothing is currenlty planned though. The Mogami is already been buffed with increased range. They’re keeping eye on the statistics of all ships, and if a ship needs adjustment, they will intervene.
Q: When shooting over an island/hill, with the target selected, sometimes shells go over the mountain, and some will go in the mountain. Will that be fixed?
A: It falls under the UI improvements, it’s hard as a player to decide if you can or cannot shoot over a mountain. It will be worked on to make it easier, they acknowledge it’s annoying. Locking on an enemy ship with “X” helps, but not in all situations.
Q: What about the inclusion of the Imperial German navy Flag/War Ensign?
A: They were reluctant at first (it is sensitive in Germany because it’s used by “politically not so sound groups” and it can lay sensitive. The same applies to the Rising Sun. They’re not ), but they’re keeping an eye on it. They are hearing the feedback on it a lot (especially from the German players, and they admit it would be amazing and nice in terms for historical accuracy and immersion), for now no inclusion is planned. But “never say never”. If you want it now, you can/have to resort to modding the game/flagfile.
Q: What about a Dutch navy?
A: Can’t say anything about it. For sure, it will not come this year, but maybe in the future. They will constantly add stuff in the game. The “Zeven Provinciën” is a good candidate for plenty of tiers, because it had plenty of (planned) iterations by the Dutch as well as the Germans, so it can fit in plenty tiers depending on which armament will be used. It’s possible to see the same ship in multiple tiers.
Also: there will be new sinking animations and new tracer modelling coming very soon in the game. “If you’re not using the “chase shell”-camera now, you will do it then”.
