Several batches of information, all connected to Wargaming’s Tanksman Day event on the Stalin Line in Belarus.
Answers by Murazor (M) and Slava Makarov (S):
– We all know about Kolobanov’s feat and his medal in the game. Why don’t you implement the medal of Pavel Rak (Hero of the Soviet Union), who accomplished a great feat in the occupied city of Borisov.
M: The question is better to be posed to our historians. We’ll add new medals after some time. I suspect that it was not added initially because of the naming [TN: Rak (Russian: Рак) means lobster in Russian, a widely used insult similar to tomato on EU);
S: There were many heroes and many feats, it would be difficult to implement a medal for each one.
– I’d like to play historical battles on the T-34!
M: We’ve tried this some time ago, but it did not turn out well, there will be historical activities in the future.
– Will there be a Czech TD branch?
S: We’re looking into individual branches of smaller nations. Currently we can’t expand the Czechs.
M: They just don’t have the vehicles, no top tiers at all. Single premium vehicles are possible, but a whole branch would be completely invented.
– Will there be an Israeli branch?
S: We’ve joked on this matter already that all their tanks would be purchasable for gold only 🙂
Yes, there are interesting vehicles, but they all are supposed to be top tier, and many vehicles are not their own. They have interesting modernizations, but these are most likely to be premium. Yes, we really want to make the Super Sherman, but I highly doubt that there will be a complete branch.
– Can you implement a ban penalty for self-destruction of SPG’s and TD’s?
M: We already have penalties: repair and additional costs.
– Will there be a second Sandbox wave on lower tiers and do you have approximate dates for it?
S: No, not at lower tiers. We firstly need good gameplay on tier 10 and from there on build in down the line.
– Is a rank system planned (similar to Counter Strike), many don’t like to play with tomatoes.
S: If you’d like to play with similarly skilled players, you can try cybersport modes. We’re discussing ranked modes, there are ideas, but no fixed dates.
– Is a limitation of gold ammo planned?
M: There are different thoughts about what to do with gold. Though I can’t say anything for sure yet – only that there are ideas to somehow limit gold. We don’t want to limit our players, but have to adress the issue.
S: No server without gold is planned.
– What about multi-turret mechanism?
S: I’ll make it short: technically it’s a hard task, many such tanks are bottom-tier and the guns are mostly worthless. And there are not many such vehicles anyway. Any meaningful multi-turreting is on 3 vehicles: M3, B1, Churchill. On all other tanks such guns would be purely decorative. Each time this comes up, we’re pushing it back because of more important tasks. Hard task with questionable profit.
– I buy a premium with certain characteristics, after some time it’s completely different…
S: Stop. We don’t nerf premium tanks, yes, the stats sag after some time, but this is connected to that we didn’t want to implement imbalanced tanks. Yes, there were 2 cases and we are ashamed of them. Now we’re looking into the older premiums and comrade Murazor is fixing them if possible.
M: In +- one patch there will be another pack of premium fixing. If a tank’s stats sag much or weren’t that good initially, we try to make it better. No characteristics are made worse. In 9.15, there already was a “buff pack”. The gameplay is evolving, and tanks are losing relevance – we’re aware of that and working on it.
– KV-5…
S: KV-5 is prioritized.
M: Yes, it’s difficult, everyone says it suffers but its’ statistics are quite good.
S: Difficult case, we’re thinking what to do with it.
– Will you evolve physics, destruction of buildings?
S: There are experiments, it’s quite a difficult task.
– I’m a player of a disbanded clan during an event in August, I didn’t know of the things going on in my leadership, why was I stripped of my tank?
M: We don’t have anything to do with this, we’re developers, not managers.
– Are you fighting bots?
S: Yes, we’re banning, identifying, banning.
– I’ve played yesterday, across 10 battles there were 6 bots.
S: You know, maybe these were not bots, bots usually have better stats than normal people 🙂
– Will there be a marathon similar to the E25?
S: I hope not. This marathon holds a record in negative feedback.
– What about graphical rework of maps, when is it planned?
S: We’re currently looking if the player’s computers will “fold” (break) due to HD maps. If not, we’ll start reworking, but this is all long-term.
– Bonus for tanking?
S: It is being made, we’re still on this question, haven’t decided the exact numbers yet.
Answers from Murazor:
– If we plan to implement a big feature and are not completely sure, we ask the players now – if they don’t like it, we don’t implement.
– Stun on Sandbox wasn’t understood by many. This is because there was no “anti-stun”, for example a medikit for its deactivation, stun time reduction etc. We’re planning a skill for its reduction.
– 112 will get a nice buff in the coming patch.
– I do play tanks, I try out all new premiums and tanks myself.
– Optimization and changes to the spotting system are one line in the patchnotes, but they required huge server-side work.
– 9.16 will turn out well.
– Many players are complaining about insults in chat, on all clusters.
– The feature on restoring in-game assets (sold premium tanks) can be developed further.
– Those who start to play WoT will appreciate the tank comparison feature.
– The new MM will be tested thoroughly, its intention is to improve the game comfort. There should be no huge differences in the top tier amount or vehicle class. I can’t say where it will be tested, maybe even on Sandbox.
Answers from Maxim Chuvalov (product-manager):
– We’ve optimized the server- and client-side regarding tank drawing (spotting).
– I can’t say what’s next in mod implementation, it’s all currently being tested.
– Wheeled vehicles will have their own mechanic, you’ll see on 15th September.
– The event will have special missions, the economy will be similar to football mode.
– We currently have different prototypes of hydraulical suspension. Tests will show the result.
– Swedes have much material, there will be a branch for each class and some will even have 2.
– It’s most important to implement a correct balance for the new nation to avoid implementing imbalanced tanks.
– 3 crew members in the Swedish premium comply to the crew setup of the top tier vehicles.
– Strv m/42-57 Alt A.2 (tier 6 Swedish prem) will have an autoloader.
– Again: if the suspension works out well and we get good feedback, STB-1 and other tanks will recieve this feature.
– The second Sandbox iteration will come soon, there will be a separate video.
