We would like to thank you for your feedback that allowed us to improve the new commander skill system! Today would like to update you on the changes we’ve made since the initial announcement.
Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary. Announced adjustments and features may change multiple times during testing. The final information will be published on our game’s website.
Summary of the new skill system features:
- Each commander will have a separate skill section for each ship type. Skill points are distributed separately within each section.
- Only the skill set for the ship type being played is active in battle.
- As skills have become more specialized, and their total number has increased, the maximum number of skill points was increased from 19 to 21
We are planning to update the skill system in update 0.10.0
What has changed?
Economics
- The cost of retraining for doubloons was reduced from 750 to 500 doubloons.
- As commander retraining now costs half the amount of XP, the ability to accelerate retraining time using credits was removed.
- Commanders with less than the maximum number of skill points (<21) will earn additional Elite Commander XP equivalent to 5% of the received commander XP.
Skills:
- We’ve updated the skill sections for each ship type.
- Skills were distributed in each section within particular categories:
- Attack
- Defense
- Support (only for aircraft carriers)
- Enhanced skills were adjusted to the new system.
The updated list of commander skills can be found here: Commander skills’ matrix. Please note: The names of the skills are not final and may change.
With the release of update 0.10.0, for the duration of the update, you will be able to reset commander skills for free, and the retraining cost in doubloons will be discounted by 50%/
After the commander skill system update we will keep a close eye on the performance of all ships and make changes if deemed necessary.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
| Will my 19 skill point commander become a 21 skill point commander with the release of the system? | No, after the update the number of skill points of your 19-skill point commanders won’t be changed. |
| Battlecruisers that used many BB skills can no longer use them. How will this be adressed? | Yes, these ships will no longer be able to use some of the BB skills, mainly survivability ones. However, instead there will be some new skills that enhance their attack performance. For example:
|
| Why did you remove BFT and AFT from the cruiser skill tree? This will greatly affect cruisers with small calibers. | These skills were useful for a small number of cruisers, and in the new system we want almost all skills to be useful for ships within the class. Instead of BFT and AFT we added some other ones, like Demoman (Maximum damage of main battery HE and SAP shells +10%, Detectability range of a ship with main battery guns with a caliber higher than 149 mm +15%), which will be useful for light cruisers. This skill, and some other ones are particularly useful for cruisers with small caliber guns. Nevertheless, we’ll keep an eye on these ships after the skill system update and make changes if deem necessary. |
| Why did you nerf the secondaries skill accuracy bonus? | Now the skill doesn’t depend on the ship’s tier and doesn’t reduce the number of targets to a single one. We consider it to be even more useful for secondary-spec battleships, in spite of the skill’s decreased accuracy bonus. In addition secondary builds have become more diverse. The skill that increases the firing range of secondary batteries (Secondary Armament Balistician) has become one skill point cheaper. We are also planning to increase the base secondary battery firing range for some battleships in the future. |
| What about the performance gap between players with and without unique commanders? | Unique commanders won’t become any stronger after the update of the skill system, because we didn’t change their talents. As for the enhanced skills, they were only adjusted to the new skill system. We don’t believe that they will become more effective and give a bigger edge to their owners than before. |
| Why did you leave the Marksman skill on battleships? You encourage passive gameplay! | Battleships differ in terms of gameplay – some, like Yamato, are played at distance, dealing damage and providing their team with an HP advantage by the end of the battle. Others, like Kurfurst, are pushing forward to provide a tactical advantage for the team and make enemies retreat. We want our new skill system to be able to emphasize and enhance all these playstyles. Besides, the skill will not change anything much, because if a player likes to stand and fire from long range, he will do it with or without this skill and players who like their battleships to be more of a brawling type will not select it, taking skills that improve close-range performance instead. |
| Will the skills that enhance standard consumables also affect consumables with special parameters? | Yes. Skills which enhance, for example, standard “Repair Party” or “Smoke Generator”, will also affect the “Specialized Repair Teams”, “Crawling/Exhaust/Short-Burst Smoike Generator” and other consumables with special parameters. |
| Do I need to respec all my commanders after release of this feature | No, your commander skills will be automatically redistributed to be as close to your previous build as possible. If you are not satisfied with your automatically picked skills, you will be able to redistribute the skills for free for the entire update 0.10.0 |
| If I transfer the commander from a tech-tree battleship to a tech-tree destroyer, will I have to undergo retraining? | Yes, the commander will have to undergo retraining in order to be transfered to a different tech-tree ship. |
| Will I be able to choose skills on all 4 pages fоr one commander, and then transfer him to ships of different types without resetting the skills? | Yes, but you may be required to retrain the commander. However, if you transfer the commander to premium ships, no retraining is required |
| As you are reworking the skill-system now, how about adding templates and the ability to save different skill sets (e.g. one for random battles, one for competitive play)? | We are not planning to implement this at the moment. |
Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary. Announced adjustments and features may change multiple times during testing. Source: WoWS Devblog
Meanwhile in WoT: ..we can hear the crickets chirping…