Q&A during a dev stream, answered by Kayi4ek and Miloš Jeřábek.
Q: Why do you manipulate the RNG and MM of individual players? The closer I was to my 3rd mark the worse RNG I had.
A: We really don’t have the ability to secretly manipulate the game mechanics. But tinfoil hatters will always be present.
Q: Any new Czechoslovakian tanks?
A: Not now.
Q: Then maybe a new VII tier prem then?
A: We’re looking for one, but we didn’t decide on anything yet. The CZ/SK tree is the only one without such a tank, and we really want to add one.
Q: Are there more plans for tanks with camo like the Defender?
A: The look of the Defender was based on historical findings. And besides, right now the patch with customization is getting implemented, thus the ball is on the player side. We also gave the ability to disable unhistorical camo, but sadly not for the Patriot and Liberte yet. Maybe in the future.
If the idea gets treated well by the commmunity, we will probably start fiddling with 3D customization, but that will require even more work.
Q: What will you do with the Type 4 and Type 5 guns?
A: It’s hard to do anything. A lot of people say that the recently added weakspots aren’t weak, but the statistics say something else. Most people see a problem with those tanks, but the stats say that they are amongst the rarest vehicles used. We think that the Types don’t break the game, becaause they’re hard to play. When a Type 5 oneshots someone, then everyone yells OP, but they don’t see the earlier misses or low rolls. The same is with the maps – it rocks on Himmelsdorf, but sucks on Sand River etc.
Q: Is tank weaknesses removal the new black?
A: Each tank has some, even the Types before the nerf. Sides, rear, poor maneauverability and speed. Not all maps allow good gameplay for all tanks. As an example – the new Badger. A very situational tank and very slow, so the best remedy is not to sit still before it. We know that a lot of tanks weren’t implemented properly, like the Chrysler K, which was a failure on our side. But we don’t remove weaknesses of tanks, at least not in the perceived way.
Q: What about all those MG ports which dissapeared with HD models?
A: If you look at it from a historical perspective, hitting such a place with an HE shell caused a lot of damage, but an AP shell basicaly behaved as if it hit any other part of the tank.
Q: Will old tank be rebalanced too? (KT, T-34-2, T32 etc.)
A: Definitely. We almost finished rebalancing tiers 8-10, and now we know that tiers 6 and 7 have problems. We can’t tell when, but we’ll look into the topic, although it’s a tough nut to crack since lower tiers are sometimes just tin cans with guns.
Q: Why not just increase the HP of lower tiers? At least the battles would be longer and the players would be less frustrated because of getting twohitted.
A: Interesting approach, but it won’t help any of our current problems. Increasing HP would only magnify them.
Q: Object 907?
A: Another heavy topic. We don’t have enough info about it to change it properly. The tank is played by a very small pool of players, so the statistics are limited. Besides, it’s a reward for hard work and skills, so the current owners wouldn’t be too pleased with a nerf.
Q: E 50 M and Leopard 1?
A: The Fiddy-M is a good vehicle, and it was buffed lately, so there’s no sense in doing so again. The Leopard in turn is a very good second/third line sniper. If you get spotted first, then you know it won’t go well, but with its stats we don’t see any need for a buff.
Q: Why is the Type 64 available in the tech tree and prem store, but the 13 57GF of Bulldog GF not?
A: You answered it yourself. The Type 64 is a regular prem, and the other two were special occasion tanks. We can’t nerf them too. If there’s the need to nerf a prem tank, we just remove it from sales.
Q: Another arty rebalance?
A: Arty whiners are less prominent than some time ago. We won’t introduce a one arty per battle limit, because we don’t think arta is a problem.
Q: Stun mechanic changes?
A: Not now. And probably not in the future.
Q: Gold ammo changes?
A: Many players bemoan it, but we looked into the stats and saw that the difference in succesful penetrations is actually minimal. Some players want gold ammo only for gold, but that would introduce a P2W aspect.
Q: So the price of gold ammo won’t be reduced?
A: Wouldn’t make sense.
Q: Why were the Foch and Deathstar line changed?
A: The Foch was hard to balance so we just decided to introduce a new vehicle, and gave the players the ability to keep the old one. And regarding the Deathstar, it stood out like a sore thumb in the line. We want consistency, like for example with the VK B and the Maus transition which was corrected.
Q: Why even bother aiming if RNG is present?
A: We think that the game wouldn’t be fun without RNG. If you aim at someone there’s an 80% chance the shell will hit where you want, and a 20% chance it will go sideways.
Q: Many games end in landslide victories/defeats. What about that?
A: We’re looking into it. Yes, we confirmed, such results increased about 5% since we introduced the new MM changes. Right now the average match time is around 4-5 minutes. We’re looking for a way to fix it. And it’s not really about the new MM per se, but about the sub-types of tanks, and that’s why the new MM differentiates them. We’ll see how the situation evolves.
Q: What about limited MM vehicles?
A: It’s a real headache for us now. We know that the VIIIs are currently in Hell, and XIs in Heaven. We want to adjust the MM so that it looks similar to the IX one for the VIIIs. We don’t want to touch limited MM tanks now, but we’ll look into it in the next year.
Q: Why not just introduce a +/- 1 MM?
A: A two-tier spread gives a wider ability to choose players. During one battle you’re on top, and in the other you’re on the bottom. We’re working on the MM all the time, for example placing tanks in sub-groups like autoloaders or super heavies. The issue with this is that the more rules are introduced to the MM, the harder it is to gather a lineup.
Q: Do you plan to introduce map picking for players?
A: Absolutely not. You’d only see super heavies on Himmelsdorf, and Malinovka would be LT paradise.
Q: “REEEEE LEAVE THE 263!!!”
A: There were attempts to change it on the Supertest, which is named just that because it’s an early test. Right now nothing changes.
Q: How do you like banned mods/cheats?
A: We don’t like them, seriously. We think next ban waves should target people using those. According to clan stats, many of the top ones have banned players in them, coincidence? No, because of the widespread use of Tundra or fallen trees. Closing the game for mods won’t happen too, the GTA IV shitstorm being a prime example of what might happen. The modding community is really big, and the modders are often doing good work. Locking them down because of a few bad apples would be bad, that’s why we’re on the lookout for those. Sooner or later banned mod user will get tracked by our algorithms and they’ll get their well earned vacation. During the first ban wave six employees were banned, tough luck.
Q: So maybe a modless client?
A: Again, the case of GTA IV. People wouldn’t accept this.
Q: XVM though?
A: The opinions are mixed, so it’s really hard to do anything. One could compare it to arty – some think it’s cancer, some just love it.
Q: Why do AFK players receive XP and silver?
A: Because it’s not always their fault? If someone is doing it all the time, the algorithms will punish that player.
Q: New low tier modes, like eg. a Grand Battle equivalent?
A: We’re working on new game modes all the time. The Halloween event was the effort of the top EU and RU clans meeting in Minsk. We’re working on Ranked Battles. I can tell that there will be a nice event during the holidays now.
Q: You have to be kidding with the Bond income in Random Battles.
A: It’s on purpose. The Bonds were introduced for those who got gud.
Q: What about changes to Strongholds?
A: I’m not assigned to that, but the guys from that department are probably brewing something nice.
Q: During the Halloween event you used bots. Does this mean PvE is coming?
A: It’s a big leap forward, just like the WoTC War Stories, but introducing it on PC is still wishful thinking.
Q: Why is every patch ridden with bugs?
A: The chat bug was something we really didn’t know about. If the players would notify us, it would be fixed quickly. We tried to fix it with some blue electric tape, but it failed. The chat system is complicated, since it’s not just something solely in the game client, thus fixing few subsystems was necessary.
Q: WoT for OSX?
A: The work on that client is finished, but the Mac player base is too small for them to be a priority.
Q: EU3?
A: Not in the nearest future, since EU1 and EU2 are doing fine, and can do even more.
Q: What’s the programming language of WoT?
A: The game is partially C++, the servers use Python, and the UI is Action Script 3 (which is dead, so we really had to scrounge for people to work on it)
Q: What about the March of Nations?
A: EU and RU had the same rewards. NA got a marathon because the situation was reversed last time. Minsk doesn’t decide about EU events, but Paris.
Q: Defender?
A: No changes.
Q: Will it be sold?
A: Don’t know.
Q: IS-5 or Chieftain/T95?
A: CW tanks won’t be sold, unless something changes past our usual 3 month window of information.
Q: What about tanks removed from the prem store?
A: They’re sold on special occasions, and the Type 59 won’t be sold as long as I am responsible for the future of WoT.
Q: Why does WG remove boosts?
A: Because there’s a mod showing them, and it made it too easy.
Q: T-10 changes?
A: There are a few variants of what we can do.
Q: Will the sekrit stats be available in the hangar, like ground resistance, movement bloom and so forth?
A: A typical player would get a headache seeing all of those. Those who want to see them can use external sites, and since they’re available, they’re not really secret.
