Source: Official forums
About a month ago we summed up the outcome of the Sandbox test for the general balance changes. Back then, we also mentioned the adjustments to certain vehicles, which had been postponed as trying out the sweeping changes to the balance was a more pressing issue. Now the time has come to tell you about our plans regarding these specific tanks.
Today we’ll touch upon three top-tier vehicles: the IS-4, the E 100, and the T110E5. Every one of them has its own playstyle and role, and the projected changes are to further enhance and flaunt their uniqueness. Along with our heroes, a range of high-tier tanks will be reviewed, such as the KV-4, the King Tiger, and the T32.
Let’s take a closer look. Please keep in mind that all changes listed below aren’t set in stone yet.
The Soviet heavyweights:
We’ll begin with the IS-4. One of the perks of this heavy is its outstanding all-round protection. The vehicle was created to shine in close combat and to break through defensive lines, and the coming changes will make it even better at this. It’ll have improved frontal protection; several vulnerabilities are gone with the upper glacis plate and the turret top reinforced. Less powerful guns will now have problems penetrating the IS-4 head-on, and the tank’s survivability in Random Battles will improve. At the same time, we’ve made the gunplay more pleasant by upping the gun’s stabilization and rate of fire. This will make hitting the enemies’ weak spots easier at close range. Together with increased turret and hull traverse speed this will let the IS-4 deal more consistent damage when it has to maneuver to hide its own softer patches. Any opponent who dares challenge the IS-4 in a short-range maneuverable battle will face adequate retaliation. Together, all of the adjustments to the IS-4’s stats will transform it into an extremely dangerous brawler.
The list of changes of IS-4 (with top configuration):
• Improved stabilization (changed gun dispersion during movement and on hull traverse from 0.25 to 0.18, changed gun dispersion during turret rotation from 0.08 to 0.06);
• Changed the suspension traverse speed from 26 deg/s to 30 deg/s;
• Changed the turret traverse speed from 22 deg/s to 25 deg/s;
• Changed the reloading time from 12 s to 10.5 s;
• Changed the aiming time from 2.9 s to 2.5 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.38 to 0.42;
• Improved the frontal armor;
• Improved the armor of the turret roof.
The D-25T gun will be equipped with other shells that will improve the game comfort of the IS-4 tank:
• The standard Armor-Piercing shell with 175 mm penetration will be replaced with the Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell with 217 mm penetration;
• The special Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell with 217 mm penetration will be replaced with the High-Explosive Anti-Tank shell with 270 mm penetration.
The vehicles before IS-4 will receive similar changes aimed at improving their performance in close combat.
The list of changes for ST-1:
• The M62-T2 gun:
• Changed the reloading time from 13.3 s to 12 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.38 to 0.4;
• The D-25T gun:
• Replaced the shells: the standard Armor-Piercing shell with 175 mm penetration will be replaced with the Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell with 217 mm penetration, the special Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell with 217 mm penetration will be replaced with the High-Explosive Anti-Tank shell with 270 mm penetration;
• Improved gun stabilization.
The list of changes of KV-4:
• The D-25-T gun:
• Replaced the shells: the standard Armor-Piercing shell with 175 mm penetration will be replaced with the Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell with 217 mm penetration, the special Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell with 217 mm penetration will be replaced with the High-Explosive Anti-Tank shell with 270 mm penetration;
• Changed the gun reloading time from 12.1 s to 12 s;
• Changed the gun aiming time from 3.4 s to 3 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.46 to 0.44;
• The ZiS-24 gun:
• Changed the gun reloading time from 10.3 s to 9 s;
• Changed the gun aiming time from 2.9 s to 2.3 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.38 to 0.36;
• Improved gun stabilization;
• Improved the gun mantlet armor.
The list of changes of KV-3:
• The D-25T gun:
• Changed the gun aiming time from 3.4 s to 3.1 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.46 to 0.44;
• Improved the gun mantlet armor.
The German giants:
Now on to the next one, the E 100. This is a superheavy assault vehicle combining great protection with great firepower. Yet currently this tank relies less on its armor and more on its HP pool as the means of survival: due to a high alpha it has a favorable ‘exchange rate’ when it trades its health for that of its enemies. To set the things right here, we’ve boosted the frontal protection of the E 100’s turret. From now on, piercing that armor plate will be a harder task for an adversary—especially if the turret is angled. Faster aiming (for the 15-cm gun) will help the E 100 spend less time with its turret’s weaker spots exposed to enemy fire, improving its overall survival rate on the battlefield.
The improvements to the 12.8-cm gun are ‘inherited’ from the lower-tier vehicles in the branch and make the smaller boomstick a more efficient alternative to the 15-cm one. It should be noted that currently a similar 12.8-cm gun is mounted on multiple German tanks but only those from the E 100 branch (including lower-tier ones) are getting the alpha boost—by having more powerful shells.
The list of changes of E 100:
• The 12,8 cm Kw.K. 44 L/55 gun:
• Changed the damage with shells from 490 to 530;
• Changed the reloading time from 13.3 s to 12 s;
• Changed the gun aiming time from 2.3 s to 2.5 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.36 to 0.39;
• Slightly improved the gun stabilization;
• The 15 cm Kw.K. L/38 gun:
• Changed the gun aiming time from 2.9 s to 2.7 s;
• Improved the frontal armor of the turret.
The vehicles before E 100 will receive mainly similar changes. There will be increased the single-shot damage, firing performance; armor will be improved for particular vehicles.
The list of changes of E 75:
• Changed the damage characteristics with standard and special shells of the following guns:
• 8,8 cm Kw.K. 43 L/71—from 240 to 280;
• 10,5 cm Kw.K. L/52—from 320 to 360;
• 10,5 cm Kw.K. L/68—from 320 to 360;
• 12,8 cm Kw.K. 44 L/55—from 490 to 530;
• Changed the total hit points of the following turrets:
• E 75 Ausf. A—from 1,820 to 1,850;
• E 75 Ausf. B—from 1,920 to 1,950;
• Changed the hull traverse speed:
• Е 75—from 36 deg/s to 28 deg/s;
• E 75 verstärkteketten—from 39 deg/s to 30 deg/s;
• Improved the frontal armor of the turret.
The list of changes of Tiger II:
• The 8,8 cm Kw.K. 43 L/71 gun:
• Changed the damage with standard and special shells from 240 to 280;
• Changed the gun reloading speed from 6.7 s to 7.8 s;
• Changed the gun aiming time from 2.7 s to 2.5 s;
• The 10,5 cm Kw.K. L/52 gun:
• Changed the damage with standard and special shells from 320 to 360;
• The 10,5 cm Kw.K. L/68 gun:
• Changed the damage with standard and special shells from 320 to 360;
• Improved the armor.
The list of changes of Tiger I:
• The 8,8 cm Kw.K. 43 L/71 gun:
• Changed the damage with standard and special shells from 240 to 280;
• Changed the gun reloading speed from 6.7 s to 7.8 s;
• Changed the gun aiming time from 2.7 s to 2.5 s;
• Improved the gun mantlet armor.
The list of changes of VK 36.01 (H):
• The 8,8 cm Kw.K. 36 L/56 gun:
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.38 to 0.36;
• Improved the gun stabilization;
• Changed the reverse speed from 12 deg/s to 14 deg/s;
• Changed the total hit points of the following turrets:
• VK 36.01 (H)—from 1,000 to 1,100;
• Pz.Kpfw. VI H Ausf. H2—from 1,060 to 1,200;
The American fighters:
And finally, here comes the T110E5. Being a jack-of-all-trades, it has decent mobility, survivability, and firepower. Yet its overall combat efficiency is lacking (as of right now) so it’s getting a range of improvements. The firepower will positively increase with gun stabilization and rate of fire upped. Better protection on the sides will prevent the T110E5 from getting some disheartening penetrations.
The list of changes of T110E5:
• Changed the 120 mm Gun M58 gun reloading time from 10 s to 8.8 s;
• Improved stabilization (decreased gun dispersion during movement and on hull traverse from 0.18 to 0.14, decreased gun dispersion during turret rotation from 0.08 to 0.06);
• Improved the side armor in the area of front rollers.
Other vehicles in the branch will be improved in terms of fire power and firing comfort.
The list of changes of М103:
• The 120 mm Gun M58 gun:
• Changed the gun reloading time from 11.2 s to 10 s;
• The 105 mm Gun T5E1 gun:
• Changed the standard shell penetration from 198 to 208;
• Changed the gun reloading time from 10.6 s to 8.7 s;
• Changed the gun aiming time from 2.3 s to 2.1 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.41 to 0.4;
• Improved gun stabilization;
• Improved the turret armor.
The list of changes of T32:
• The 105 mm Gun T5E1 gun:
• Changed the standard shell penetration from 198 to 208;
• Changed the gun reloading time from 10.6 s to 8.7 s;
• Changed the gun aiming time from 2.3 s to 2.1 s;
• Changed the gun accuracy from 0.41 to 0.4;
• Changed dispersion on turret traverse from 0.14 to 0.1.
Summary:
We promised to review certain vehicles quite a while ago, but we needed time to check the hypotheses related to the balance rework. So, we had to postpone testing the changes to individual vehicles.
We do understand that the community as a whole has issues with a larger number of tanks than mentioned above but for now we’re going to concentrate on making these concrete vehicles more fun to play. We intend to deal with the rest in the future and will inform you when the time comes for that.
We would like to express our gratitude to the players who have been pointing out the problems with these (and some other) vehicles to us. We appreciate your involvement, passion, and concern very much.
Please take note that the changes we’ve talked about aren’t final (as is always goes with proposed adjustments to the vehicles). We can’t wait to hear your opinion on this batch.
when is 1.9 common test coming
Something is not right here…. 175mm pentration on Tier 10????
The D-25T gun will be equipped with other shells that will improve the game comfort of the IS-4 tank:
• The standard Armor-Piercing shell with 175 mm penetration will be replaced with the Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell with 217 mm penetration;
Yes, this is the stock gun on the IS-4 and ST-I. If you did not research the BL-9 from the IS-3 before getting the ST-I, good luck with 175 AP 217 APCR pen against tier 10s.
what you are saying is that it is there simply for hitorical context and that no one should EVER need to play with it if they had gone through the easier HT line and unlocked the BL-9 that is in practice the effective stock gun for the ST-I and IS-4
in short similar to how players SHOULD play the M6, even if the M4A3E2 is better at the same Tier, in order to unlock the 90mm gun so that they DON’T have to play the T29 completely stock with the 76mm gun
I believe we won’t have the option to skip the M6 to the T29, through the Jumbo, after the TT simplification, which means the problem won’t exist anymore
The E5 will never be used regularly unless they improve the armor of the mini-turret on top.
Therein is the issue of the other tanks listed beyond the IS-4 and E100.
What are these specific armor changes? Those two are great but I REALLY wanna know the specifics of the others lol!
Especially the Tiger II and M103
even with an armoured turret the e5 would stay inferior to the chieftain/sconq. These changed actually turn the e5 into more of a medium/heavy hybrid thanks to the large increase in DPM. (didnt calculate it but it look significant)
SConq still has better DPM than E5 so it doesn’t matter
all that talk about e5 and it gets only side armor buff? firepower wasnt a problem, survivability was.
and t32s top gun gets incredible 10 more pen?
such improvement on american heavy line that nobody plays anyway. and no one will even after these “buffs”
If they overdo it with the armor then it just becomes a superconq clone. These changes may not leave the E5 in a particularly great place…. but at least its different. This game has too many tanks constantly trying to be the same exact thing.
But they arent nerfing the sconq right?
E5 will be fine with this buffs. That tank has problems since the first time it enter the test, they can never find the good point of balance of it was broken OP or it was broken in a bad way.
In some patch they rebuff the miniturret armor and it becomes a cancer tank, mediums with good penetration should load gold (e50M for example) to have reliable chance to pen in what is was supposed to be a weakspot other way it was 50/50 chance to pen or bounce.
Okey u want armor in the miniturret u nerf other thinks. I agree that the nerf was too much.
But the NERF in the in the area of front rollers was the killing shoot for it. Now every time you shoot its an easy track and damage. before it was like imposible to track and damage at the same time.
Now they are rebuffing it (i spect they dont give it 254mm armor back… Put something normal 103mm or some like that..)
WG never find balance…
yea… what the hell, couldn’t they give 220 pen to poor t32? renegade has 226
T32 was good before this if you knew how to play it well. Pretty thick frontal turret with great depression and a decent reload for it’s alpha, these buffs to it are more than it needs to be honest. E5 had that armor taken away because people would shoot front track wheel and almost never pen seems they gave it back which is interesting. I’ve always had a soft spot for m103 always liked it so surprised it even got any buffs let alone to its gun.
good luck doing anything with the current 198mm pen and 0.41 accuracy (less accurate than an IS-3, right). Your method of playing it well is to avoid higher tier tanks at all costs?
But 10 more pen is still nice and T32 also gets better gun handling and 400 more dpm. It’s going to be very good.
I personally like the change to the E100 but I feel the changes to the E75 are unnecessary because the tank was already decent to begin with. If they do the changes for the E100 then I will most likely buy it back.
• Е 75—from 36 deg/s to 28 deg/s;
• E 75 verstärkteketten—from 39 deg/s to 30 deg/s
i think you´ve got a tipo right there, because currently the E75 has got 28 deg/s with the stock tracks and 30 deg/s with the upgraded ones.
Otherwise these are actually pretty good news :3
No bias at all… RUS gets mostly buffs, the rest minor buffs and strong nerfs.
Poor Tiger I & II drivers. The only thing they had was DPM and its being nerfed. They are still a joke.
T110E5 still useless with the giant tumor on the turret-
Just remove all the nations WG except Russia, every random match has half the player playing an OBJ anyway.
You need to suffer from absolutely insane German persecution complex to think that German tanks are getting a raw deal here. The IS-4 is the only RU tank that actually got a meaningful buff. The KV-4 and KV-3 are still going to be bad. The ST-I changes have almost no meaningful impact, meanwhile the E-75 is going to be the best tier 9 tank in the game. The only even vaguely questionable changes are the Tiger I getting a ROF reduction in exchange for higher alpha.
Agree that Tiger I is getting nerfed to DPM for alpha that is still low for its tier (British sadness aside), but Tiger II is getting buffed to DPM as well since the reload time for the 10.5 guns arent changed. What is sad though is the VK 4502 A, still keeping 320 alpha while being just as weak as the Tiger II (for different reasons of course)
The DPM isn’t getting nerfed do the math, it will actually end up with 4hp more DMP not a meaningfull increase but the DPM will be mostly the same.
no no no NO fkin NO ! NOT LESS WEAKPOINTS IS WHAT IS NEEDED !!!
what is this misery on IS4?? more fkin P2W goldspam required? !?!? Completely no fkin weakpoints frontally???
disgusting ! WEAKPOINTS ARE VITAL !!
E100…looks good, but the 15cm gun could receive 800 alpha if all others receive some alpha buffs…why this one not?
What exactly means “improved armor” for M103?/ NO FKIN WEAKPOINTS AGAIN??
Same for E75…
Yo, dude, the LFP on the IS-4 is still going to be a really serious weakspot. The UFP shoulders are also not getting buffed and those are going to be weak if the IS-4 angles its armor.
“shouders” and LFP are not so weak in fact, NOT AGAINS STANDARD AMMO
UFP IS gettng buffed
and as soon you just angle this tank at 45 degree now is practcally imbepentrable?? from ANY point??
And the “weakpoints” are again, weak for…fkin GOLD??
this is just misery not balance!
You’re really overstating the amount of protection that the LFP and the shoulders have, If the tank is pointing forward, the LFP is pennable by… almost everything except tier 8 medium and lights with standard ammo. It can angle, but then the shoulders on the UFP are weaker and those become pennable to most tier 9 and 10’s with standard ammo too.
If this tank hides the LFP behind a rock, yeah its going to be extremely strong, but that’s true of the vast majority of tier 10 heavies ATM. The IS-4 isn’t going to be any worse than, say, the Object 705A or Super Conq.
no, im not !
this is how it looks for its OWN STANDARD 258 PEN AMMO ! At its WEAKEST part
https://imgur.com/PSEvejY
what about lower ones???
BALANCED RIGHT??
fckin p2w MISERY !
Same for all tier 10 heavies that boast armor really, no weakspots for standard ammo
WG is up to its usual crap. They are making tough tanks even tougher, removing weakspots and dumbing the game further. It requires less skill every time, just spam gold.
Except both E-100 and IS-4 are going to be way more resistant to gold. And they still have their weakspots.
Throwing bones after breaking promises.
But will they finally give the T110 tanks the correct models?
These changes are much needed. Now we just need to have the maximum plate armor on the 430U turret reduced to 250mm. … Also reduce the guns damage from 440 to 400.
Not sure if VK 3601 H’s buff is to make it a stronger heavy or a better HP piñata to farm on.
Dont think 208mm for tier 8 is enough for the T32, now that there are so many overarmored tanks at tier 8. Even 248mm pen APCR for that gun is hardly a dummy’s round, you will have to aim properly still. Shortened reload is welcomed though, at least you can trade with mediums better.
Interested to see what changes will happen to M103’s armour, its roof problem is at least 10x as bad as the IS-4’s.
No comment on E5’s mini turret problem, personally I dont understand why a weakspot on the left is a problem when you can limit sidescrape moves to the right side of the tank. M103’s roof problem is visible from either side, in comparison
A waste of time inthe E5. The problem is not firepower, the biggest problem is the weakness of the tower commander. Simply fix that and leave the rest like this.
It’s so hard to understand this?
Because fixing that makes it a superconq clone and that’s boring. If the E5 prioritizes firepower over armor… it may not be that good, but at least it will be different. This game has too many tanks already that are trying to be the exact same thing. We don’t need even more.
What about T34???
All 88 L71 guns will change damage or only for the heavie line?
what will happen with panther II and also with the 88L100? will be rare if it not make the same damage with the same guns.