Frontline Returns!

In the first quarter of 2019, Frontline finally returns to World of Tanks. This time your favorite game mode has received a slight revamp making it more enjoyable than ever.

We’ve tried to keep the friendly and relaxing atmosphere, where you can play just for fun, but at the same time give you the opportunity to accomplish more goals. We’re sure you’ll enjoy it!

Before we officially launch Frontline, we’d like to make sure that the changes and revisions we’ve proposed are the best they can be. We also want to see how the updated progression system will work outside test conditions. So, Frontline will be available to everyone in the upcoming Common Test 3.

Frontline is available during the 1.4 Common Test only for your consideration and for preliminary testing. Testing Frontline now does not imply the mode will launch immediately with Update 1.4. Frontline will be activated separately from it.

Values ​​and various characteristics that are relevant for the Common Test have been changed and do not correspond to those ​​in the final version of the mode!

Frontlines Episodes

A little different from last year, Frontline in 2019 will not be a short-term event. Instead, it will consist of a whole series of events throughout the year. So, every calendar month, Frontline will kick off and be available for one week. Your 2019 Frontline journey will last 10 weeks in total. The weeks where Frontline will be available will be known as “Episodes” and between Episodes, Frontline will be unavailable.

Updating Prestige Mechanics

The core gameplay of Frontline will remain unchanged. However, with the hectic festive winter period in between, let’s kick off with a quick refresher. In Frontline, you can:

• Climb the Ranks from Private to General based on your performance in battle.
• Earn special “Frontline Experience” for reaching new Ranks.
• Use Frontline Experience to boost your Frontline Tier.
• Get rewards for reaching certain Frontline Tiers—there are 30 in total!
• Activate the special Prestige mechanic once you’ve reached Frontline Tier 30 to begin the process again and earn even more rewards.

There are some adjustments to make it even more enjoyable. Here’s what’s different:  

• You can activate the Prestige mechanic up to ten times (instead of the previous three)—once for every new Episode of Frontline!
• Achievement of Prestige Levels is limited by +2 Prestige Levels from the current Frontline Episode.

For example, in the second game week you can reach Prestige Level IV, and in the third one you can reach Level V. Thus, starting to play at any time, you can make up for missed Levels.

On the contrary, there is no strict time frame regarding missed Prestige Levels. For example, if you start playing for the first time in Episode 5, you can catch up with the Prestige progression and reach all of the missed Prestige Levels (from I to V) any time you want, starting with the first Prestige Level.

Rewards

Once you’ve reached any Frontline Tier out of 30, you earn a fixed reward: Credits, Regular and Premium Consumables, Directives, Personal Reserves.

Achieving each Prestige Level rewards you with additional prizes like Bonds, Gold, badges and medals.

Reward Vehicles

In addition to the standard rewards for reaching a certain Prestige Level, you can earn special Prestige Points. These Points can be used to exchange for reward vehicles.

The higher the Prestige Level, the more Prestige Points you earn for achieving it. And the more Points you have, the more valuable and attractive tank you can choose to exchange.

• The first vehicle available for exchange is the STA-2, the Tier VIII Premium Japanese medium tank, which you can also purchase for gold in the in-game shop.
• The second tank is the WZ-111, the Tier VIII Premium Chinese heavy. You can also meet it often in Random Battles.
• The third tank is the rare Tier VIII Swedish heavy, the Emil 1951. This is a Frontline-exclusive vehicle and has yet to see combat, other than for testing. The Emil 1951 has already passed through limited tests, the results of which will change its characteristics during one of Frontline Episodes.
• The fourth vehicle is a secret Tier IX tank . Its name, class, nation, characteristics are top secret and will be published later during the season. It can only be obtained when reaching 10th Prestige Level.

Choose wisely, the Prestige Points you will earn can only afford you a maximum of two vehicles.

Map Rebalancing

Previously, the defending team had some advantages over the attacking one. To make things right and even the battle odds, we made the following balance adjustments:

• Reduced the durability of main objectives
• Removed a number of defensive positions giving an excessive advantage
• Blocked several tracks, providing safe access behind enemy lines
• In some zones, the terrain around bases is changed in favor of the attacking team
• Removed a number of attacking positions, provoking a passive game

Based on the statistics obtained, we made some other slight changes:

• Changed locations of some Resupply Points
• Blocked a number of imbalanced firing positions previously used as vantage points for attacking Respawns
• Significantly increased damage inflicting on vehicles that haven’t left the inactive zone
• Enhanced combat abilities “Smoke Screen” and “Inspire”
• Slightly reduced damage inflicting by Airstrike and Artillery Strike

Also, in the new season the map will be optimized to ensure stable performance. You will see a noticeable increase of FPS on a PC of almost any configuration. However, Frontline will still require more system resources than regular Random Battles. This is due to several key factors that are specifically related to Frontline, including the large map size, a large number of objects and vehicles on it and activation of Combat Reserves.

Tank Rental

This season you have the opportunity to rent tanks specifically for playing in Frontline. All rental vehicles will be replicas of existing tanks and are available only for the Frontline mode.  

• The base vehicle will be available for rent for Credits throughout the Season 2019.
• Two Premium vehicles will be available for rent for gold in each Episode. All in all, there will be ten Premium vehicles provided. Each Episode the pair of vehicles available for rent will vary.   

The tank rental system will only be available in Frontline!

All the gold spent on rent will be accumulated in a special fund that can be used to get a discount on the purchase of the original version of any of the leased Premium tanks.

All detailed information, including rewards and precise specifications will be coming later in a dedicated article “Frontline: Regulations“. Stay tuned!