Big WoWS Q&A – 26th April 2016

Triple thanks to Carnotzet, EU.

DisclaimerPlease be reminded that the following information comes from the Russian-speaking community and that details concerning statistics, offers, and specific plans may not directly apply to the EU community.

Here is Vallter_’s answer to a post about expectations and realities regarding the game. The original poster talks about game modes, tech trees, e-sports, clans, etc.

Vallter_ responds that, if he had to sum up OP’s thoughts, it would be:

-balanced tier 10 battles;

-more hardcore ranked battles and better team battles;

-e-sport;

-clans.

He then explains that a lot of the content that was added during the last six months were targeted at hardcore players – ranked / team battles and high tier content. Moreover, coop battles (which represent about 30% of all battles fought) and mid-tier random battles had very few gameplay affecting content added to them.

Of course, some polishing was done and fixes were implemented that made tier 1-8 slightly better and new ships were added. But the first notable change that those modes/tiers will experience will be weather effects, which will considerably change the gameplay during the battle. In 0.5.5., it will be implemented only on one map since developers don’t want to “ruin” the game by having it everywhere. It will be the first step toward more diverse gameplay in the most played game modes/tiers since the release of the game. Also, according to feedback, this feature seems to be successful for now.

From now on, developers want to invest time in improving aspects of the game needed by all players, and fix the aspects that weren’t touched for quite some time because they wanted to release team battles. That is why the development of clans is delayed since it’s not needed by all players.They still assure us that clans are not canceled. It’s just that the schedule was modified. Clans will definitely come, but a little later than expected. When they had to chose between working on the clan interface and improving the general battle interface (such as the minimap), they opted for the latter one.

In summary, there will be more hardcore content, but slightly later, and they want to make the game more varied/interesting to the majority of players, as well as fixing the issues that were piling up and that they didn’t have the time to fix.

1. When do you plan to fix the bug regarding shells not flying accurately when shooting over islands? You’ve said before it was difficult to reproduce and therefore to fix. Any news regarding it?

A. A fix regarding this issue will be released in 0.5.6. (it haven’t passed all the tests yet but we have high hopes it will solve the issue).

2. What’s up with superintendant showing wrong quantity of consumables?

A. It’s an interface error we will fix in 0.5.5, which will be soon released.

3. When will the guns located on Nikolai’s and Ishizuchi’s turrets work? Would this mean that they’d get a considerable increase in AA defense?

A. Regarding Nikolai – no comment. A model will be made, just wait.

Regarding Ishizuchi, those aren’t AA guns but training guns.

 

QCqhC1A.jpg

In the game, they will remain purely decorative.
4. If I understand it correctly, rudder shift time represents the time needed to shift the rudder from one end to the other. Correct?

It is written that the turning radius is the smallest radius achievable. But there’s no indication on the speed at which the value is calculated. Could you give us more information?

A. That’s correct.

It is calculated at full speed. However, some ships can achieve a smaller turning radius by sailing at half speed. The values shown on the characteristics screen always implies the ship going at full speed.

5. Do you plan to make the tier bracket +/-1 or give players the option to choose between +/-1 and +/-2?

A. No such plans are on our list.

6. It seems that 20mm Oerlikon / 20mm Flak 38 aren’t affected by Defensive fire. Is it right?

A. Correct. Defensive fire only affects guns with 25mm caliber or above.

7. High-tier games are a pain to play because of DD’s. Do you plan to limit their number?

A. In patch 0.5.5., high-tier IJN DD’s will have their long range torpedoes changed a bit. Moreover, we plan to implement further changes to those ships in 0.5.6.

We don’t think limiting the number of DD’s is a good solution since it won’t help us balance high tiers properly (and could even cause more problems in that regard). It would create an unpleasant situation for long range torpedoes users. After all, it’s not their fault, they just play the game and follow the path of least resistance. It’s absolutely normal. Our plan is to change how they play, to make them want to be more aggressive, which should improve the game for both players who like torpedo attacks and their opponents.

DisclaimerPlease be reminded that the following information comes from the Russian-speaking community and that details concerning offers and specific plans may not directly apply to the EU community.

Another Q&A.

1. Mogami’s 155mm turrets had their rotation nerfed since she was considered too good with Expert Marksman. Since the skill was also nerfed, do you plan to revert her turret rotation to its old values?

BB’s rudder shift time was nerfed a few patches ago. This was before the infamous “torpedo soup”. Wouldn’t you consider reverting those values back? It would help BB’s dodge a bit more torpedoes.

A. No plans in this regard.

Rudder shift time isn’t only connected to the ability to dodge torpedoes. On the other hand, we have several changed planned in 0.5.5 and 0.5.6 to counter the “torpedo soup”.

2. Why does damage from main guns show up in game and not damage from secondary guns?

A. In the battle interface? Because we consider such information doesn’t need to be seen directly in game.

3. When will we be able to test drive premium ships before we buy them (since we can’t sell or exchange premium ships)?

A. Unfortunately, I can’t give you the answer you were waiting for. The feature we can rapidly implement that comes the closest to what you wish for is to allow “test-drives” during public testing. But I can’t give you any guarantee.

4. I saw that you plan to increase the fire chance on Soviet DD’s by 1%. Why won’t this affect Anshan as well?

A. They use different types of shells. Anshan uses Chinese shells whereas Soviet DD’s use Soviet shells.

[The following question has already been answered in a previous Q&A but since the answer has new elements, I included it]

5. Why 203mm German cruisers are equipped with Spgr L/4,7 Bdz semi-AP ammo instead of HE ammo?

A. Several German cruisers will receive proper HE shells (203mm Spr.gr L/4,7 Kz), along with slightly better HE ammo characteristics, in one of the next updates. However, we don’t plan to implement semi-AP ammo (along with specific mechanics).

6. Do you plan to implement any changes to the port interface (except the changes planned for 0.5.5. and the armor visualisation)? For example, you could add a preview of hull and modules upgrades that change the look of our ship before buying them; allow players to sell unneeded upgrades without selling the ship and other improvements.

A. We have some plans regarding port interface but it’s too early to speak about them. Regarding armor visualisation, it will be added in 0.5.7 at the earliest.

7. Will there be a unique launcher for all WG games?

A. I believe so, since it’s already in development. However, I don’t know how far in the development it is.

8. Will you add weather effects to the port?

A. Not in the near future.

9. Do you plan to give players the possibility to reset their stats (for doubloons)?

A. We don’t plan to offer such service.

10. Do you plan to increase tier 7 and above US BB’s accuracy? Incidentally, tier 7-9 fire less shells in a single salvo than tier 6 and below.

A. Yes, we plan to increase accuracy on North Carolina, Iowa and Montana. Stay tuned.