PS: I know, some answers might be repeated, but I believe it’s better this way. This is the complete Q&A, not the summary posted some days ago.
On the 9th of September, the Russians and Belarussians celebrated the Tanker’s Day. The event which WG organized was located in Minsk. The complete transcript of the Q&A with the devs is as follows:
Balance
– Our balance team is now most satisfied with the Obj. 705A. We’re planning a revision of all high tier tanks in about 6-8 months. If we decide to change any parameters, it will happen then.
– We have a certain cycle when we rebalance a tank. It has to do with the fact that we gather a lot of data. We try to not include bad players, because they can make a lot of noise in the data with their (lack of) skills. Because of that the time we will need to rebalance the high tiers is as stated before 6-8 months. Around that time we will rebalance and/or swap the IS-4.
– We will look at the mid tier tanks soon (tiers V-VII). We will ascertain what work they need done on them and do it.
– Yes, the KV-4 will be looked upon too, although there’s a certain quirk to it. We can’t overdo it. It has to get a few buffs and nerfs in the same moment, because it’s a nasty tank for the lower tier enemies. The changes will be complex, but they’ll happen.
– HE shells don’t need a nerf. They need to be changed completely! Removing them would be wrong, since they bring diversity to the gameplay. HE maining tanks will also remain in the game, because if we decide on some changes, they will be complex.
– The TOG II* is a curious tank – more a trophy tank than a playable one. It’s hard to do anything with it.
– Regarding the T67: We will soon fix V-VII tier tanks, the tanks in question getting thorough changes. However, the moment we decide to touch that tank, someone will cry we’re nerfing their favorite tank.
– Regarding pref MM premiums: For the tanks that are ‘unrebalanceable’, we might provide a gold compensation. Of course we don’t want this situation to happen, but the case of the Super Pershing might repeat itself.
– We plan to swap some tanks, like we did for the Foch 155 for example. Which? Of course we can’t tell now, but the same rules will apply.
– The Grille 15 won’t be changed. Everything is normal and we’re satisfied.
– The amount of gold ammo on the test server should be reduced? Not everyone uses it. Maybe hearing that we should restrict it further? Reduce the price maybe?
– What will happen to the low tier prem tank bonus (VII or below)? We’ll slowly work on them, starting from tier VII and going down gradualy, just like with everything. Right now we’re busy with pref MM tanks.
Maps
– We have a lot of players in Asia, so we’ll undoubtedly return to Asian themed maps.
– We heard a lot of voices that we should make more symmetrical maps. After the return of Ghost Town we’ll check that theory.
– We’re pondering on returning Pearl River. Komarin was a nightmare so it probably won’t return.
– Sand River Assault was disabled because, as far as I remember, it was biased towards the defenders. The attackers thus had a slim (30%) chance to win.
– Even the current maps are good for 10×10 duels. We’ll experiment, but we’re not certain.
– In the current game, we’ll most likely not see weather effects or night battles. It’s hard to optimize it for people playing on calculators and potatoes, and disabling said effects to gain performance would give an advantage.
– We are currently conducting experiments with map terraforming (destructible bridges, avalanches, etc.), but it’s doubtful whether it will pass the experimental stage.
Crew skills
– Perks against stun: during the crew skill rework there will be the possibility to implement such a thing.
– The rework of crew skills is going on albeit slowly for many reasons. There are people who invested a lot of time in gaining crew skills. To be precise the preservation of those is our priority. More announcements later. (Apparently it will come in the first half of the next year, but nothing is certain)
Info on tanks in existing nations
– Yes, we were barely able to slap together a Japanese tree, but their destroyers are an even worse case. Everything over tier VI would have to be pure fantasy. There’s potential for a arty line, but we won’t implement them (for, hopefully obvious, reasons)
– The historical consultants dug up everything possible and that existed. Generally the Japanese archives suffered greatly from the air raids on Tokyo. We only have what we got from private archives. That’s why a TD line (or a VIII tier premium TD) is unlikely, and we don’t want to clone the O-Ho or other heavy tanks. Not everyone likes their play style (on both ends)
– Yes, British LTs are actively debated. We want to implement them next year.
– Czechoslovakian prem tank – there’s a demand, and there’s a candidate. But sadly there’s nothing more to add to the tree.
– The T-103 should appear next year. We have a cunning plan on how to implement it.
3D customization
– Making a new 3D style for a tank is almost as time consuming as making a new tank. We experimented with the KV-2 (R) and we concluded that their creation and support are very expensive.
– Nevertheless, we will gradually add the ability to modify tank models when we’re ready.
– Next year we’ll show the fruit of our labor, so you can see it for yourself and comment it. If we get positive feedback, we will continue our work.
Game modes, vehicles/mechanics
– Wheeled vehicles: I won’t give any ETAs because of the so called Havok syndrome. We will test them internally and with supertesters. As it is, we most likely will see this project in your hands after January at least.
– We were satisfied with the Halloween event, where we tested multi-turret and multi-gun functionality, but it wasn’t all that of a success in the end. The result of the event was, for example, the Italian loading system. We’re still not ready to make a multi-gun tank.
– What we don’t want is a new mechanic for just one tank. That’s why we’ve asked our consultants to find more. And to disprove, whoever said it, that we find our info on napkins.
– If I’m not mistaken, the Chieftain/T95 is working and ready to be implemented, especially after all the tier X CW reward tanks (sans the 907) get adjustments. These tanks should be good now.
– We have already picked another mechanic to introduce after implementing wheeled vehicles. No, it’s not flamethrowers or rocket tanks.
– When a tank turns over, there’s not a lot of time left. We’re thinking about a few solutions, one being the reintroduction of not being able to turn a tank over. Or tow cables. We also want to add more help requests to the comm wheel.
– Flamethrower tanks are unnecessary!
– The Battle Royale mode won’t return soon.
– We want to add another fun mode until the end of the year.
Arty
– We don’t expect any sudden changes to arty. We’re curious how our ship guys will tackle a similar problem of reworking carriers. Right now there are no solid plans for an arty rework.
– We believe that currently the amount of these vehicles is sufficient to satisfy all SPG fans. Although there is a lot of archive stuff, we don’t plan to add more to the game.
Other
– There’s no technical possibility to close the game to prevent cheating completely. We prototyped an anti-cheat software, which monitored all threads and processor workload. The problem is that you can’t always use such software legally, not to mention it impacted the performance heavily, which would make the potato PC users gnash their teeth. Even then, it wasn’t 100 percent secure, because one could always try to bypass it offline. There’s always someone cheating, so we will work as we did up until now.
– The tank exchange system will be unchanged, although since we’ve implemented the new store, it isn’t properly implemented. In the next update it should be fixed.
– There will be a lot of news during WG Fest 2018. More info soon.
– MOTD, our favorite or least favorite map, giving likes and dislikes to maps – don’t hope for it. Map selection won’t be implemented in any way.
– When we last discussed combining our games into one battlefield, the scale was critical. When i drop a bomb on a plane, I want to cause a lot of damage. But when sailing, I want such a plane to be like a mosquito to me. You can’t sink a ship with one bomb! Same with tanks. They would be defenceless against the other two forces. We however have some interactions of the sort in Frontline.
– Bonds are a skill currency. On that topic, players from Europe, especially the west, told us that they accept the idea, but they should be able to buy bonds. As a commercial company it would be good for us, but we decided not to go down that way.
– We don’t want the return of cross team chat, however discussions are going on all the time, and personally I support the idea of returning it. We’re thinking about a list of commands to use to communicate with the enemy.
– Lebw’s win in the Battle of Streamers 2018 was completely logical, but at first it was a good battle. We congratulate a fast win. This is not the last of this event. We have to change a few things, but we’re generally content with the idea, and will work on it.
– Incentives for old players – wait until December! (Might be RU exclusive)
– We will remove those “errors” from Swedish TDs that gave an advantage in battle. Some were already removed. We will fix until it’s done, right now treat it as an added perk.
– Special tanks which we wanted to introduce but were rejected still exist in our heads. Some of them are quite absurd. My love is the T-39, and there are a lot of Italian designs. There’s also the Sturmtiger. Once a year we remind ourselves about them and want to ‘do it now’, but quickly abandon the idea, since it’s a difficult topic.
– Pankov: “We wanted to implement the Tank Grotte, and not the Alligator version. The idea was there, but it was abandoned.”
– Makarov: “I’m dreaming about that totally fake E-79, but that’s a closed topic. We couldn’t secure the rights to it.
– Q: “When you aim at the horizon, the reticle glues itself to the earth. You want to do something about it?”
A: “Why? That would destroy the theory that we make certain tanks hit the ground so they’re balanced. Of course not!”
