WoWS Q&A – 1st December 2016

Happy National day of Romania everyone!

Thanks to Babykim, EU

Some interesting information from a stream with the developer _Vlegris

1. The Hydroacoustic Search of Bismarck is overpowered in ranked battles, but not an issue in random battles. They plan to softly nerf this feature in a distant future, possible prior to the start of the next season of ranked battles.

2. There are currently no plans for ranked battles with tier IX ships.

3. No nerfs are planned for the British cruisers.

4. At the moment, no changes are planned for the carriers. Currently, the carriers are situational and skill-dependent. Although little time was invested in them in 2016, this will change in 2017. The developers want to see more carriers in battles, and to narrow the skill-gap between the good and not-so-good players by introducing better interface.

5. There will be a Japanese premium carrier in 2017.

6. No comment on the carriers being overpowered at low tiers.

7. In the future, the Russian destroyer tree will be split similar to the Japanese, with ships changing tiers, and another branch. This new branch will not be the only extension, there will be a second larger branch.

8. The Missouri is Iowa with radar but without the airplane, with better armored beams and a slightly different AA.

9. The developers see shooting from invisibility on an open water as problematic. This possibility entered the gameplay as a mistake, and will be removed eventually. Invisible shooting from smoke or from behind an island should still be possible.

10. There are plans to split the American cruiser branch, but not this year (2017?).

11. Some fighters, but not all, will be able to attack ships. They are already being modeled and produced.

12. British carriers and Russian battleships will appear, but not this year (2017?).

37 thoughts on “WoWS Q&A – 1st December 2016

    1. Zao can handle itself extremly well without having to get the extra bonus of not getting the risk of backlash from their targets, this involves both Battleships and Cruisers

      1. The Zao is one of two tierX CAs that can actually be competitive. The Zao because it can invisifire.
        Remove that, and it has absolutely no point compared to the Hindenburg. Or the Moskva.

        Remove the invisibility, and what you have is a fat Mogami with more range. Not something you want to be in with 5 enemy BBs prowling around with 20-27km range.

        PS: I count the Minotaur as a separate entity, being able to smoke and all.

        1. competitive in term of Ranked or Random.
          in Ranked is always small \”meta\” with favorite characteristics
          but in Random? even in my tier 8 cruiser i don\’t rely on firing invisibility, compared to BB you can turn (especially with new rudder mod)

          rip invisible gunboat DDs? sry but they can survive anyway if played properly (like WSDA hack)

          1. Now try playing a tierX cruiser that can\’t invisibly fire.

            Oh wait, you can already see the results.
            The Hindenburg and the Des Moines are laughably underperforming.
            The only reason the Moskva isn\’t is because it has \”balanced comrade ))))\” bow armor, as much range as a BB, and devastating guns.

            As for gunboats, the only ones that don\’t rely on stealth go over 40knots.
            Go ahead, try to be a visible gunboat at 10-11km at higher tier with a ship that goes 36knots.
            The ones that tend to do that are either in smoke, or dead.

            Seriously, killing off stealth firing is killing off cruisers at tier9 and 10.

          2. PS: When you use a tier8 cruiser to justify that removing invisibly firing would not be problematic, at least don\’t use the example of a cruiser with much more maneuverability than other tier8 CAs, a repair party, and enough base stealth to stay out of sight.

            1. more maneuverability? man its one of less maneuverable tier 8 cruisers only Russian have worse…, repair party ok, high base stealth? it have the same concealment as US and Jap cruisers and i don\’t have concealment expert and just yesterday bought concealment module (so i was playing on full 11.8km).
              im also talking about my tier 9 and 10 battles in that tier 8 cruiser, not standard tier 8.
              playing defensively, firing at distracted opponents using difference between my firing range and spotting range to hide when focused, not overextending myself and only playing aggressive when required
              even Pensacola with BB spotting range isn\’t bad

              about gunboats small question: have you ANY dedicated gunboat at high tier that don\’t go over 40kts?, not talking about Hybrid destroyers.
              Edit new challenger approaches \”Akizuki\”
              also why constantly firing at opponent instead of harassing it (with is also fun, especially when he get so frustrated that he wants only to hunt you down without caring about your allies)

              1. Are you serious? :\’D

                The Atago is simply more maneuverable than the Hipper, Chapayev, Kutuzov.

                If you\’re playing max range with a cruiser, hoping not to get shot at, you\’re not exactly playing the role of a cruiser, you\’re just trying to survive. It\’s completely contrary to its entire purpose.
                It\’s idiotic in every way.
                How do you have fun slinging potatoes from 16-19km away? Seriously, tell me?

                PS: show me how the Mahan reaches over 40knots.
                Even with the flag and speed boost active, you\’ll have a hard time even reaching 40knots in a Gearing. Removing stealth fire from USN DDs is begging for them to take AFT and being completely useless at over 11km range.

                1. as Hipper, Chapayev and Kutuzov are generally not to maneuverable ships, Mogami, New Orleans and Edinburgh are more maneuverable than Atago.

                  For you playing safe is sniping at max range? …. rly?.
                  you know there are thing like: angling, picking out right opponents, no rushing, keeping together with your allies, using terrain to your advantage, predicting opponent actions and probably few more.
                  generally you are more useful if you survive bit longer, instead of dying in 5min (still there are few exception when you need to sacrifice yourself)

                  i know that i have 55.5% survival ratio, but i don\’t stay away from battle.

                  i sad no HYBRIDS
                  Mahan, Benson, Fletcher, Gearing are hybrids both capable in gunfight and torpedo runs…
                  only Farragut and below are gunboats
                  also you forgot USN rainbow arc… (you played Cleveland now later US DD have worse arcs than Cleveland) they are much more useful at close/mid ranges, using them as Kiev or Blysk is bit pointless as even battleships can dodge US rounds…
                  and take ATF on late US DD and someone will laugh at you (but still it have uses), survivability expert of demolition expert (+60% chance start fire as 5%+3%) along with concealment is bit more useful.
                  inv firing is nice+ but not thing you rely on

                  and you do against your own rules as inv firing requires to use max range XD

                  i play Mahan i didn\’t had any need to inv fire…
                  but my habit to try help teammates is to bad… as they tend to still die (as sometimes a snail is smarter than them) and im end in trouble.

                  1. Angling in cruisers against BBs, and advocating taking AFT one USN DDs, while saying that they\’re better at close/mid range.

                    Ok you\’re done.
                    Just stop embarassing yourself.

                    1. ok search data how great are USN DD spamming with AFT at range, and how it is good to not angle in cruiser against BB.

                      with that you are only embarrassing yourself…
                      i used AFT before and it isn\’t much help (just ~|15s flight time).

                    2. also you forgot that i wasn\’t advocating taking AFT don\’t change my words:
                      \”and take ATF on late US DD and SOMEONE WILL LAUGH AT YOU (but still it have uses), SURVIVABILITY EXPERT OR DEMOLITION EXPERT (+60% chance start fire as 5%+3%) along with concealment IS BIT MORE USEFUL\”

                    3. Every-fucking-time I see one of you \”l2p and use the terrain\” heroes in battle, they\’re either max range sniping with an Atago or Kutuzov, or behind the base pew pew\’ing harmlessly and ending up on the bottom half of the scoreboard.

                      So excuse me if I don\’t take ANY of your advice, especially when they\’re poorly worded.

        2. A ship That can only be competive through invisibility shooting my friend is flawed and need to be reworked. (and what i\’ve seen the Zao really don\’t need that at all to be competetive).
          Why would it not have anything to compare with moskva or hindenburg? Not only do it have excellent HE with great Fire chance per shot, it have deadly torpedoes (2km longer then the hindenburg) and the concealment is pretty damn good. it doesn\’t need invisibility added to it.

          If you need that to be able to perform then…. well you can\’t play cruisers to be honest. I can perform in the hindenburg and get on the top on most matches, and that ship is the only tier 10 that is underperforming. with 49.51% EU. the rest is above 50% (moskva on top with 52.91%).
          So only 1 tier 10 cruiser underperforming….

          If you enter open ground and start attacking enemies you should be susceptible to a backlash or risk of getting engaged.

          1. Same type on numbers on NA (only Hindenburg underperforming the rest is above 50%)

          2. Over the last 2 weeks on NA:

            Des Moines: 50.61% and 63k damage
            Hindenburg: 49.14% and 69K damage

            The other CAs are averaging 13-20k more damage than that.

            Similar numbers on EU.

            I\’m sorry, but that\’s pitiful damage, linked to having to stay far away in order not to die.
            Just as a little heads up, Flamu, a beyond excellent player, has the same disparity in terms of damage and hit rate with German and US ships, that rely on distance to not get hit, rather than stealth.

            And considering your overall below average stats compared to your own average level with typically non-stealthy cruisers, maybe it\’s just not a L2P issue?

            Maybe, just maybe nerfing cruisers some more is just fucking ridiculous?
            That it\’s a class that deserves more than a \”sit at max range and hope you\’re not hit by RNG\” sort of gameplay?

            1. Last time i checked on my statistics my overall Cruiser stats with more concealed cruisers and less concealed cruisers are above average, would like to see where you get your statistics from :P.

              If any cruiser need to rely on open ground invisibility the game is flawed, it\’s a bad mechanic. it allows player to shoot regardeless of their position against somone else, and the person getting shot can\’t do anything. it\’s a bad mechanic.

              If a person is behind an island or in smoke it makes more sense.

              Also open ground invisibility is not helping the \”get closer\” mentallity….why would you get close when you can just go invis.

              1. M8 your stats are trash. you are literally a sub 49% shitter in all of your cruisers, and you hve desperately been using your german battleships(highest wr bb\’s on all servers) as a crutch. of coourse you\’re happy about this you clearly are the exact kind of desperate crying baBBie we talk about.

                1. We can also all tell pretty easily that you have been free xping ships in nearly all your lines by spamming premium ships, almightfox.

  1. \”The developers see shooting from invisibility on an open water as problematic\”

    Thank you! hopefully this will be corrected soon!

  2. RIP cruisers and invisible gunboat DDs.

    \”Hydro on Bismarck isn\’t overpowered in random\”
    [looks at ship stats from the past two weeks]
    Yup, German BBs still equal or downright superior to other BBs in WR, damage, survival and even main gun accuracy.
    Totally balanced.

    Better nerf cruisers and DDs for good measure though lol.

    1. Like i said before if you can\’t perform without having to shoot people while being stealthed, then it\’s not the game\’s fault, it\’s your own performance

      1. That\’s your (flawed) interpretation of it.

        By that same logic, you could say that stealth torping is flawed, and that if you can\’t torpedo people without being stealthed, it\’s your own performance that\’s at fault.

        1. Stealth torp and stealth firing are two completly different aspects of the game….
          The torps are limited and only occasional. (timed)
          Guns are constant and direct. so you are trying to compare a timed attack with a constant attack… that is more flawed 😛

          and yes if you can coordinate your own attacks, think ahead or use what possibilities your cruiser have, then yes it\’s on your own performance.

        2. Also i think you disregarded that it\’s not onyl battleships that are affected to the \”invis fire\” cruisers are aswell.
          doesn\’t work to well against Destroyers as they are too close anyway.

  3. BIsmarck isn\’t exactly nimble yeah? So what they could nerf her Hydro on? Duration, detection distance, or reload time?

  4. – \”Invisible shooting from smoke or from behind an island should still be possible.\”
    This is one one the most stupid mechanics in the game right now. Invisible ships camp in their smoke cloud for like 3 minutes and spam fires on anyone trying to actually play the game properly >:(

    1. I agree, the only proper way to play this game is to take BB and fight like a real man. I vote to remove all the cowardly DDs, pussy CLs and cancerous CVs.

  5. 10. There are plans to split the American cruiser branch, but not this year (2017?)
    as expected after so much talk about it and the recent leak of the supertest tier 10 light cruiser

    12. British carriers and Russian battleships will appear, but not this year (2017?)
    okay, and what about the second British line? until the end of the year?
    at least I hope they release something because only having one British line in 2016 is \”too little too late\”

    8. The Missouri is Iowa with radar but without the airplane, with better armored beams and a slightly different AA.
    I\’m pretty sure the Iowa does not have radar simply for balance decisions, normally they would have it in all ships from the same class, but the question is: where will they put the Missouri? tier 9 reward? second BB line? (they were supertesting a tier 10 BB, leaked here on this blog)
    if the option is a second BB line wouldn\’t the tier 9s be almost identical? I\’m guessing they could split it into \”fast battleships\” (with the Lexinghton and Alaska-class battlecruisers in the mix) and armored ones, but did the US design anything with more armor that would fit hight tiers? (appart from the Tillman Maxbattleships)

    1. For question 8: There were a number of Iowa and Montana class design studies that resulted in ships with various degrees of speed, protection and armament. For example, the tier IX could be the planned 12×16\” \”Cruiser Killer\” Iowa proposal, while the tier X could be the rather hazy 18\” Montana proposal. BuWeps did conduct calculations on the performance of an 18\” super heavy AP shell, and briefly toyed with the idea of putting it on Montana, but it was dropped because of weight concerns.

  6. \”11. Some fighters, but not all, will be able to attack ships. They are already being modeled and produced.\”

    A prime way of how to buff american CVs. Historically, while japanese had bombs on pretty much every single fluffing plane, the american fighters were true fighter-bombers. Having a historical loadout of Hellcats or especially Corsairs and Bearcats, is almost like having an additional dive-bomber squad, for every fighter-squad you have in the air.

    1. The Japanese Fighters will work too, remind you that the Release Trailer of WoWs there\’s fighters attacking Iowa Battleship classes too.

Comments are closed.