Note: I’ll post all the WoWS news I missed soon. Expect a monolithic article.
Q&A compiled by MrFingersEU
For the French BB’s, why use buffed dreadnoughts for T5-7 when there would be more modern ships for that era that actually existed (in blueprints).
When they can use real-world modernisation, they use it. In case of French ships, they check blueprints, if it fits gameplay. They weren’t too eager to add sisterships in this branch, so Strasbourgh-Dunkirk. And there are plans for premium-ships, so it’s entirely possible the modern ships will be premiums.
Unhistorical mods: it’s not a bad thing to do, some ships had the chance to be modded IRL, but couldn’t due to circumstances, so it’s a nice “what if”-scenario. WW1-era should be modable to make it competitive in T5-6-7 battles.
French cruisers: the blueprint boxes, what were the weirdest things you encountered.
From the top of the head: quite a lot unviable designs, which were actually designed. They wished they could show them, but some are under NDA.
France (the ship): why does it have such a bad dispersion?
Oooh, I wished we talked about the naming. France will be renamed to République. The name France wasn’t chosen random for paper-ships, it’s always rationalised and logical. Other names were Napoleon, Charlemagne, About the gunplatform: Sub isn’t sure it’s a bad performer, they had to compensate for gun layout & barrelcount, so they buffed RoF, so now she performs as it should. Tighter dispersion would mean insta-delete cruisers, which isn’t that desirable.
A possibility to skip animation for opening containers?
Often requested from multiple community sources, and forwarded by local staff. It’s in the list to get fixed, but it’s a very low priority. It can be frustrating, but there are more important stuff to be fixed. It’s not as easy/quick to fix, it requires quite some work behind the scenes.
Will there be a uniform keybinding?
Also on the list, with medium-priority. They thought about a solution, but having a uniform key per consumable will not work due to different combinations for consumables on ships. They consider a design where you can somewhat tweak it to achieve a “semi-uniformity”
Are you working on more tutorials for new players?
Ingame PvE tutorials: they are working on it, albeit slowly. They’ll expand on a tutorial on the portal, ingame videos,… but it’s not going as fast as they would like it.
Will it be possible to display ALL the ships in the techtree?
Also on their list, but again low-priority. Easy solution would to just throw it at the techtree, but it will make stuff cluttered, and confusing for new players, because techtree is for purchasing/research.
Another issue is the vast amount of content in the game, with low-resolution, it is more than one screen. There are mods, but that’s outside WG’s responsibility. You can use mods, at your own discretion.
New model for Kaiser, König & Bayern which will be more historical? (stock hull premiums for instance)
They could do that, but for these ships it’s not planned. They’ve done it on IJN ships, received mixed reviews from the community. You can always sail your stock hull of the techtree ships.
Special captains: national voices instead of generic voices now.
They’re aware of the issue, scheduled to be fixed in 0.7.3, 0.7.4. A new setting will fix national languages regardless of being a special captain or not.
Any update on the CV rework?
Yes: it’s in progress. But a serious subject: when there is an update, there will be an announcement, and public testing. It’s going to be an update to core-gameplay, so the announcement will be big. No time gives though.
If GZ is in final form, will that be like the new CV-style?
No, GZ is designed like the old carriers, the new CV-style will be completely different. GZ should be treated like any other CV. It’s not indicative of changes in the gameplay.
Why are you reported for misbehaviour in chat, even if you didn’t say a thing in that battle?
Karmasystem is flawed, but a fix is planned. They’re going to update the anti-abuse stuff in the future. Karma isn’t currently working as it should, so it will be revamped, but AFK/TK’s are more pressing issues and will be dealt with first. Karma isn’t the highest priority, abuse of gameplay is.
Credits & XP between assisted & solo?
Solo? Han Solo? Capping is connected to the percentage of the point you’ve successfully capped. The ribbons are not tied to the economy. What matters is your contribution to the cap, when you do 80%, the ribbon changes from assisted to solo, but the economy doesn’t change between those ribbons, it’s always X times the percentage of the successful cap.
Clear Sky rework?
It’s not dependant on the CV-rework. The achievement doesn’t work well (downright broken), they are aware of it. Sub apologises for that. It will probably come in the next few updates, it’s already in the “implementation-phase”.
Any chance for new techtree branches, like Battlecruisers?**
They’re not planning to add a new gameclasses right now, but it might be possible if that class adds a significant new gameplay value to it. But a new class means that other branches would need reworking as well because ships will migrate to that new class (Hood for example, or Kongo in case of the Battlecruiser).
Now there is local weather in PvE, will it come to PvP?
It depends on the performance of it in PvE. Scenarios are a easy & convenient way to test stuff before it hits randoms. If it works in PvE (or funmodes), it can be added to PvP. So: maybe, maybe not. If it stays in PvE, Sub will regret that, since local weather makes maps interesting and opens new tactics.
Can we make players mod sounds for ribbons (citadels, caps,…)
Such tool (modsoundcreator) will be added, or is already added, and allows for modding everything sound-related, so try it. It should work.
Battletier XI & XII, so T10 ships will be downtiered as well?
They’ve emulated it already (not real testing, just modelling, and statistics). Modelling showed that T10 battles would be assembled very slowly, the matchmaker would need a longer cue, while T8 battles would be assembled very quickly. T8 ships currently are toptier in 55% of the battles, 13% in T9 battles, and 33% in T10 battles. T8 is in a comfortable spot now. If the distribution gets too skewed, they’ll modify it.
Hindenburg/Conqueror, and the learning curve being too low, allowing bad players in high-tier games, doing 20k damage per battle and losing 6/10 battles.
Learning curve has little to do. People who play a lot and are still bad, just don’t want to improve, and don’t want to be competitive. They have the right to do so, and should be allowed to have fun. Different players, different motivations, different reasons to play. And there is always a chance to have them on the enemy team, so you can farm them as well.
Any possibility to turn of alarm-bell when you are on fire.
Look at answer about the soundmod creator. It will not be done in the vanilla client, as it’s not a often-requested thing to have it removed. There are also players who are not aware of their environment, and would otherwise not notice they are on fire, because they sail 100% of the time in binocular mode.
How many of the T10 cruisers run the concealment module, and impact on winrate.
Sub doesn’t know, and frankly doesn’t care. They have data recorded, and for most data they have a dashboard to get that data quickly, but for such stuff, it would require substantial digging in the databases to extract the info. But this question isn’t interesting enough to start digging. But most cruisers will run it, BB’s more use target acquisition. But a lot depends on gameplay. Concealment is used mostly by very experienced players, others resort to ruddershift or target acquisition. Sub changes them out on his ships from time to time. Not all modules have to be viable on every ship and for every player.
What happened to the T-61?
Nothing bad happened, but sometimes they test stuff, and then put it on hold. Sometimes ships are made well in advance, and then used as a “reserve buffer” when a planned ship goes awry, so they have something to release.
Any premium dreadnoughts planned?
Viable question, but such type of ships aren’t too viable in the game, but due to their design, they are very hard to balance. From business perspective, they’re low-tier ships, and not that desirable and desired by the community (outside collectors). The priority sits with high-tier ships.
DW-torpedoes and Asashio, is this the direction you want the new Japanese premium DD’s to go?
It’s WIP, and they normally don’t comment on WIP stuff. Asashio is planned for later, so they have the time. They don’t think the current torpedo-choice is the final choice, but it might come to other ships. There are very dependant on matchmaking, so that’s an issue. With the current BB-heavy meta it’s alright, but who says the meta stays. And it promotes passive gameplay. The added issue of range, speed & detection will be a bit too much, and while DD’s are supposed to counter BB’s, this way it’s a bit TOO hard of a counter. They gather opinions on the current torpedoes from supertesters and CC’s, and see if it needs change or not. In his opinion, it’s a very difficult ship to balance. Maybe a DW-style in the Pan-Asian style, but those options are less desirable, since the plan was to have a dedicated BB-hunter, otherwise you can play Harakaze or Kagero for regular gameplay. A clone-Kagero as premium would be boring, they really want that special flavour & role for that ship. But it needs to be determined if it can work or not.
How do you pick a ship for being a premium?
Already answered in the past: availability of blueprints, gameplay possibilities, marketing, chose the most popular ship of a class,… Sometimes they say “we want this ship because X, Y, Z”, sometimes its requested by the playerbase,…
Cesare, will it be rebalanced, because it’s overperforming
She’s indeed performing very well, but Sub can’t confirm the GC is the most powerful ship in that range. The statistics say it’s borderline OP. If it crosses that line, it will suffer the same fate as Nikolai. Currently it’s “good, but not too good”.
Plans for FXP T9 DD?
Right now, there are indeed plans for a T9 FXP ship, but no announcement of nation of class (no BB though) will be given.
There are a few Premiums that could use some buffs in sigma (Hood, Dunkerque), what do the statistics say? And Hipper/Eugen improvements?
Dunkerque is performing as it should, surpassed by Arizona, but still very good. Hood is perfectly average, with 50% winrate exactly. So no buffs needed. Hipper/Eugen & Shimakaze are in for buffs though. Shima can be done in multiple ways, as does Hipper/Eugen. WG is aware of the issue with those ships. Shima-statistics do not display it needs buffs, but when you compare performance of the ship compared to other ships when sailed by experienced DD-mains, the gap is very significant between the Shima and other ships. Right now they’re finalising the idea of the buffs, and it will happen soon ™.
Will there be an option to add one flag to all ships at once.
Same issue as with the “show all ships”. It’s a complex interface action, so not soon.
Will there be a way to hide Beercan-camo’s, while still having the bonusses of them applied, and extended to non-historical camo’s?
Nope. There is a mod for it though.
Any plans of detaching the looks of camo’s from the bonusses. So Gamescom-boni on IJN Std camo.
No.
Is there a chance to buy camo & flagbundles in the game itself with doubloons?
Good idea, but not for now. But new items will be available in the game (higher tier activities), as announced on WG-Fest.
Changing camo-colours like Yamamoto can on the IJN line, will that be expanded to other nations?
<hushhush> Maybe 😉 <hushhush> It requires some internal reworking though, it’s more labour-intensive as one would suspect. Sub can’t guarantee that the next special commander will have the same possibility that Yamamoto can. Permanent camo’s are unique, but for regular “tiled” patterns, it’s very easy. They want to do it, but it will take time. Regular camo’s will come first, because easier.
Will we have the chance to have clan-tags/flags on ships?
They want to develop clan-features a lot, but now they’re working on updating the naval base and other stuff, so that is more important than such cosmetics. First add the big clan things, then spice them up with smaller things, like flags.
Are there any plans to change the graphics engine of WoWS?
Nein, nein, nein, nein, NEIN! The engine is fine! The engine does what it needs to do, and can cope well with the calculations, ballistics, it’s reasonably stable, un-cheatable. The graphics-part is tied to rendering, so they’re updating that step by step, including effects,… But the engine will remain what it is.
Once upon a time WG mentioned of adding 2 “spotting points”, so when the very stern/bow of a ship is visible, the ship is spotted. Any update on that?
They’re still debating if they should do it or not. It’s not a huge task to implement, but the optimisation & calculations are, since there would be more line-of-sights, and thus more calculations to be made. It can also be exploited, so… Maybe.
WoWS on X-box (or console in general), when?
Sub will think about it. But Sub can’t announce such stuff. X-box version will be a total new game though.
Krönstad, any info?
Watch the devblog if there is any info. It’s too early of a stage to comment on it, since it’s not being tested live yet.
French collection, can it be completed with new containers coming in 0.7.2, because 0.7.1 doesn’t bring enough containers in 73% of the cases.
Sub needs to double-check, but “yes”. The PT of 0.72 drops containers with such items in them.
A new permanent campaign like Yamamoto or Honourable Service, but for T6-7 ships?
They’ll consider it, but they also have time-limited campaigns. But they’re thinking about expanding the permanent campaigns. Depends on goals & the rewards.
The French BB’s you can get from containers, will they keep their XP after the next patch hits?
Yes.
When will there be a special German commander?
Sub can’t say when, but he will come!
Plan for a more skill-dependant matchmaker in ranked.
They’re discussing what can be improved in ranked, the system of ranked,… Sub can’t confirm or deny. Right now: no.
Port UI performance, any improvement?
They’re always working on it, but the more stuff gets added to the game, it adds a strain to the game. Optimisation isn’t always about increasing speed & performance, it often is maintaining the status-quo. As long as it’s not getting worse, it’s alright.
Why can’t we keep Phtevan Seagull?
It was a time-limited cooperation, and while they were happy they had it, it just can’t be continued, with a 3rd party involved. It’s just not possible from a legal standpoint.
How many new techtree branches will there be in 2018?
Between 1 & 10. But they want to keep up the pace of last year, so expect it to be around 4.
Are you willing to reveal winrates of ships in last ranked season?
The stats are already published, and what they wanted to share, is already being shared, but if you have specific questions, and can give argumentation why, Sub might be willing to indulge in more detailed statistics.
Are you still working on bastion-mode?
It’s not performing in PvP. Some ideas work in PvP, some doesn’t, this was one that didn’t work.
Aigle, will it get a bigger IFHE-penalty?
There is indeed an issue, as it gets a debuffed firechance she’s not expected to receive. It will be fixed, but it can’t be hotfixed, it requires a bit more work. It will be fixed in 0.7.3.
Do you think it would be a good idea to add a premium camo that makes techtree ships into premium ships?
They’re discussing it internally, but for now: no implementation is scheduled. But they’ll keep it in mind.
64-bit client?
They can slap 64-bit on everything, but to be honest, with the current technology, you are already benefiting from having a 64-bit system, WoWS is already performing better on a 64-bit than on a 32.
15v15 battles to reduce influence of divisions?
Mmmmmmno. They did research on it though, and how divisions impact winrate. It can impact, but not enough to warrant such changes, or to nerf divisions (either in number, or in members of the divisions).
Why don’t DW torpedoes don’t hit DD-wrecks in the process of sinking?
It’s an engine limitations. DW could be added in 2 ways: realistic (with a set depth, and a re-check of a collision with each item in its path, regardless of ship-class), or by hard-coded to (not) hit a certain class. They chose for the latter, because drafts change a lot in classes, with DD’s having the same draft as a CA, or a very light CV. It’s a convention, but an acceptable one.
Are the French BB-drops in containers rigged?
No: there is a larger chance to get the T5, and that chance grows smaller the higher you get up the tier. WG doesn’t rig RNG. It’s the same with super-containers. Missions for ships is an added value, a bonus-buff. It’s not super-often that it should occur.
How much is potential damage taken into account for XP-calculations (for BB’s).
It depends on class. For BB’s, it’s the most important factor of “supporting actions”. Most impact is damage & contesting caps. All support-activity matter, but they can’t constitute a large impact on XP-gain, damage & contesting caps is however.
Will there be a more detailed result screen, with damage done,… for all team members, like in WoT?
No plans for the near future, but they’re thinking about improving it.
Are there chances to decrease survivability for (hightier) broadside BB’s?
No plans for it. Yamato & Montana eat the same amounts of citadels than other high-tier BB’s. Prior to the change, they ate more, which meant that it resulted in a stale gameplay with players being reluctant to even turn their ship, thus bowtanking from beginning to start. GK needs that tankyness, since it is a ship that requires you to get up-close. Conqueror will remain the same as well, because it would be too fragile otherwise. It needed nerfing, so they adressed the heal. Montana is now the best T10 BB, but not by much.
Will signals be available for purchase with credits?
Not for now, people were getting too many signals already, that’s why they were nerfed in containers. When you overflow the economy with signals, it affects balance, since signals in this game are quite strong. You don’t want to balance ships with flags already mounted, because that would result in shitty ships without flags.
Are you planning to make ships available for credits instead of FXP?
In case of excessive deals, we can make a deal? Sub needs the credits, so if you like the answers I’ve given in this Q&A, transfer some to me. Most players don’t have an overflow of credits, the one who have a lot of credits are quite rare. Maybe something with the “new currency” as announced on WGFest.
Is it possible to make all missions available for completion in CW?
No. Technically it’s possible. Some missions incentivise some kind of gameplay, and such incentives would be bad in a gamemode where the sole goal is to win.
What about a 2nd national flag, to display your own country.
There was a discussion about flags (PA-line). A customisation will come, but not for now. The main flag of the ship is part of the identity, but for now it will not be allowed to play a Alabama with a Soviet flag, or a Kransy Krim with a UK-flag. Some customisation can be added, but the choice will be limited. You can’t mount anything on everything.
Changing the report system, enhancing it an advice system, like “you’re not angling!”.
Primary use of the system is to cover anti-abuse, so botting, AFK,… Sub is willing to give it a thought though. In case of a hotkey of “increase your angling”, just broadside shoot him, he’ll learn to improve his angling very quickly!
Thinking a free-for-all battle royale mode.
They did that in Alpha, they had DD-deathmatch, 20 players and one against all. It was… weird. It can be a viable experiment, but only in fun-events, not for main gameplay.
Is the Massachusetts, will it be released.
Well… if someone would’ve been more patient with Alabama… for now there is no real point for it. It’s a fine premium ship, but she won’t bring any diversity to the game. Maybe later, maybe in a new form. For now: no.
Repeat of the Dunkirk-campaign (like with Bismarck)
Sub doesn’t know, and not known if it can be repeated (due to correlation with promotion or not and stuff).
Premium ships from minor EU nations.
Can’t answer that. If a ship is from the target-era, is unique, it fits gameplay wise, it’s VERY likely it will appear. They have a list of ships, and when players ask for a ship, it’s very likely already on the list, but it can be that it’s only scheduled in 2 years.
Buff Mikasa, by giving a range accuracy mod like Yubari.
There are no plans to buff Mikasa, it was scheduled to be a collector-ship. It’s the evidence that not too many “early ships” shouldn’t be in the game. She’s too old to work in the current gameplay.
Why is John Doe the name of the Seagull-replacement.
Russian people have a weird sense of humour. It wasn’t a conscious choice. They needed some name, so they decided to pick that name. Sub started monitoring it yesterday, and most of the people seem to like that name. It’s not exciting, but not offensive either.
Changes for Shima.
Shima has 2 problems: most played T10 DD in the game, so a huge gap between skilled and non-skilled players. And she got changed when the Japanese torpedoes got changed. Risk vs Reward balance became skewed, and players don’t really adapt that well to such sudden changes. They’re considering buffing it for everyone (noobs & unicums). They’re considering torpedoes and concealment. F3 and Mod2 are fine, but not happy with the 20km Long Lance torpedoes. Some people like them, but they’re very non-efficient. 12kms might become stock ones. Concealment, reducing it’s not surpassed by any other T10 DD. Concealment helps good players a lot, and helps other players as well (but to a lesser degree). The 12 & 8km torpedoes are not planned to be buffed, since it would demolish cruisers & DD’s.
