Update 1.14: Common Test 1 + Patchnotes

The first Common Test of Update 1.14 is going live and will feature the long-awaited Czechoslovakian heavy tanks with their hallmark unusual gameplay and autoloaders. The performance of popular Premium vehicles was improved, and you’ll have the opportunity to try out a fresh Random Battles map—Safe Haven. Plus, you can explore our special training mode, Topography. Finally, we’re changing the conditions of Personal Missions for artillery and giving you a sneak peek of Frontline 2021. Jump in and share your feedback!

Welcome to Safe Haven!

Starting with Update 1.14, a brand-new Random Battles map, Safe Haven, will become available. This 1000×1000-meter summer map is set in 1960s Japan and will give you the opportunity to battle in a demilitarized civilian port that is gradually crowding out a small fishing village.

Safe Haven is divided into two large and distinct gameplay sectors. The first is the harbor area with plenty of cover where brawlers and heavily armored tank destroyers will fight face-to-face to decide who’s the strongest. The second is a picturesque green area where faster vehicles will feel more comfortable. There are also favorable firing points for artillery and ambushing TDs.

Improve Your Skills in Topography!

The most experienced commanders may sometimes find themselves returning to the Garage too soon because they’ve chosen the wrong direction or flank, even on the most familiar maps. And for those who have recently joined our tank community and don’t know where the key positions and shelters are in different locales, this can be even more frustrating. To help newcomers navigate maps in World of Tanks, we’re introducing a new training mode—Topography.

In this single-player mode, you’ll be able to master the basics of playing on maps of different difficulty levels. The training will take place in a single mission format. First, you need to choose a map and one of four scenarios on it. The scenarios differ according to the base where you start the mission, as well as the vehicle type: armored or maneuverable.

Entering the battle, you’ll find yourself on the selected map with the objective of destroying AI-controlled opponents. To do this, you will need to move in different directions and travel to firing positions. A map is considered explored if you complete all 4 scenarios on it.

Completing all missions and exploring all maps will significantly improve your skills and prolong your time in battles. We’ll tell you more about Topography in a dedicated article coming soon!

Ruinberg Map Rebalancing

Balance changes for the Ruinberg map have been added to the Common Test. The purpose of these changes is to fix the imbalance between the teams that is presently in favor of the lower base.

In the current version of the game, the team at the lower base has a significant advantage in taking control and holding positions in the suburban area in the eastern part of the map. This allows seizing the initiative in battle and significantly increasing the chance of winning it. The area is captured through the effective use of a convenient position in the central part of the map, which allows firing at enemy vehicles in the suburban area while staying relatively safe. Also, the arrangement of structures in the suburban area allows the lower base team to extend their advantage and control the battle both in the open part of the map and in the area of the city’s central crossroad and square.

The following changes are coming to the Update 1.14 Common Test:

The arrangement of structures in the suburban area has been changed to make this area equally convenient for both teams
The convenient position for the lower base in the central urban area has been changed
The firing positions in the southeastern part of the map will become more dangerous for supporting allies in the suburban area as the chance of being spotted will be increased

Other Map Changes

During the Common Test, we want to test fixes for incorrect vehicle behavior on slopes and large objects such as stone blockages. On these surfaces, tanks can slide and roll down as if they were on ice.

We have a solution to fix this issue, but changing the required mechanics may lead to situations where vehicles can gain access to non-playable zones on the maps and cause gameplay issues. Our task is to identify as many of these situations as possible and assess the likelihood of fixing them before Update 1.14 hits live servers —or, if there are too many fixes, to migrate those improvements to the next version.

Your help with fixing this issue will be invaluable, so please let us know of any new surfaces where you experience this phenomenon, or non-playable zones on maps that have now become noticeably more accessible with the release of Common Test 1.

Changes to Personal Missions for Artillery

In Update 1.14, we’ll simplify some Personal Missions for artillery. When reworking missions, we focused on more challenging tasks because they greatly affect your overall progress in Personal Missions. Less complex missions such as SPG-2.1, 2.2, SPG-4.1, 4.2 etc. do not require updating, because they are already achievable and easy to complete.

We tried to rework the missions for a certain amount of stun and damage, because these are the parameters that were changed in Update 1.13. The rest of the missions, in our opinion, do not require updating. The missions’ changes, in numerical terms, are not so significant, because SPGs can still effectively stun enemy vehicles with the first shell and deal damage with the second one.

All these changes will not be included in Common Test 1, but will be available with the start of Common Test 2.

SPG	Operation: StuG IV	Operation: Т28 Сoncept	Operation: T55A	Operation: Object 260
SPG-2: Time Is Money (Stun)	Stun enemy vehicles for 50 seconds in total.	Stun enemy vehicles for 100 seconds in total.	Stun enemy vehicles for 120 seconds in total (140 seconds before Update 1.14).	Stun enemy vehicles for 160 seconds in total (180 seconds before Update 1.14).
SPG-4: I’ll See You Through (Stun)	Stun an enemy heavy tank or tank destroyer for 30 seconds in total.	Stun an enemy heavy tank or tank destroyer for 50 seconds in total.	Stun an enemy heavy tank or tank destroyer for 70 seconds in total (80 seconds before Update 1.14).	Stun an enemy heavy tank or tank destroyer for 100 seconds in total (120 seconds before Update 1.14).
SPG-9: Collateral Damage (Critical Hits)	Damage or destroy modules or injure crew members, totaling at least 3 modules or crew members.	Damage or destroy modules or injure crew members, totaling at least 5 modules or crew members.	Damage or destroy modules or injure crew members, totaling at least 7 modules or crew members (8 before Update 1.14).	Damage or destroy modules or injure crew members, totaling at least 8 modules or crew members (10 before Update 1.14).
SPG-10: All Included (Complex Condition)	Cause, or assist in causing 1,000 HP of damage by stunning or immobilizing.	Cause, or assist in causing 2,000 HP of damage by stunning or immobilizing.	Cause, or assist in causing 2,700 HP of damage by stunning or immobilizing (3,000 HP of damage before Update 1.14).	Cause, or assist in causing 3,600 HP of damage by stunning or immobilizing (4,000 HP of damage before Update 1.14).
SPG-12: The Evil Eye (Stun)	Stun enemy vehicles for 50 seconds in total.	Stun enemy vehicles for 100 seconds in total.	Stun enemy vehicles for 120 seconds in total (140 seconds before Update 1.14).	Stun enemy vehicles for 160 seconds in total (180 seconds before Update 1.14).
SPG-14: One of Us! (Stun)	Stun enemy vehicles for 70 seconds in total.	Stun enemy vehicles for 100 seconds in total.	Stun enemy vehicles for 140 seconds in total (160 seconds before Update 1.14).	Stun enemy vehicles for 180 seconds in total (200 seconds before Update 1.14).
SPG-15: War Gods (Top Player, Assisted Damage, Damage)	Be among the top 5 players on your team by experience earned. Enable your allies to cause 1,000 HP of damage to enemy vehicles by stunning or immobilizing them. Cause 1,000 HP of damage to enemy vehicles.	Be among the top 3 players on your team by experience earned. Enable your allies to cause 1,500 HP of damage to enemy vehicles by stunning or immobilizing them. Cause 1,500 HP of damage to enemy vehicles.	Finish the battle as the top player on your team by experience earned. Enable your allies to cause 2,100 HP of damage to enemy vehicles by stunning or immobilizing them (2,300 HP of damage before Update 1.14). Cause 2,700 HP of damage to enemy vehicles (3,000 HP of damage before Update 1.14).	Be the top player in the battle by experience earned. Enable your allies to cause 2,900 HP of damage to enemy vehicles by stunning or immobilizing them (3,200 HP of damage before Update 1.14). Cause 3,700 HP of damage to enemy vehicles (4,000 HP of damage before Update 1.14).

Operation: Excalibur
Operation: Chimera
Operation: Object 279 (e)

Patchnotes

Maps Training

New Mode

A new training mode has been added: Topography.
This is a single-player training mode that allows you to learn basic tactics for Standard Battles on 15 maps.

New Branch of Czechoslovakian Heavy Tanks

Four Czechoslovakian heavy tanks (from Tier VII to Tier X) have been added to the game.
The main feature of these vehicles is the choice of two top guns (starting from Tier VIII). The first gun fires in classic (cyclic) mode, while the second features a two-shell autoloader.
Both guns for each of the three vehicles are equal in battle performance allowing players to choose the gun that best suits their personal playstyle without losing firepower.

New Frontline Season

From August through November, 4 Frontline stages will take place.
Players will be able to use Tier IX vehicles, provided certain conditions in battle are met.
The Combat Reserves system has been reworked, and 3 new Reserves have been added.
Players will be able to earn Battle Pass Points.
Balance changes have been made to strengthen the positions of the attacking team. Access routes to large-caliber guns (at the final stage of the offensive) have been improved.

Interface

Some improvements to the Tech Tree have been made. An option that allows the automatic selling of old modules when purchasing new ones has been added. Also, visual module dependency (eg, for turrets and suspension) has been introduced.

Bootcamp

The window for selecting a nation has been improved: All nations in the game are now displayed, but, as before, you can choose a vehicle only from 3 of them.
Some visual changes have been made.
Auxiliary windows in the guide have been updated.

Maps

A new 1000x1000m summer map has been added for Random Battles: Safe Haven. The map is set in 1960s Japan and is based on a demilitarized civilian port.
Changes were made to the Ruinberg map to fix the imbalance: The team at the lower base now has a significant advantage in taking control and holding positions in the suburban area in the eastern part of the map.

Improved Movement Physics

We have changed the behavior of vehicles when interacting with stationary features on maps, like rocks, debris, ruins, slopes, etc. Now, vehicles don’t slide over such objects and behave the same way as they would on normal terrain.