World of Tanks Game Balance Designer Q&A


Who is a game balance designer

He adjusts the characteristics of tanks and develops combat mechanics. Combat mechanics are what the World of Tanks gameplay is built around: shooting, armor penetration, reloading, modules, crew, detection and camouflage.

Roma is not involved in the development of game modes and maps – this is the work of game designers and level designers. Questions about the balancer are also not for him.

Is it possible to achieve the perfect balance?

– Yes, but for this, you will have to close the development and no longer add new content. Balancing is an ongoing process. When new tanks, classes, nations, and mechanics are added to the game, they affect the entire ecosystem, which is why you constantly have to tweak something.

Imagine that equipment appeared in the game that adds + 10% to durability. A tank with 2000 HP will receive twice the bonus as a tank with 1000 HP.  You can replace durability with any other indicator – detection range, camouflage, damage, speed, etc.

It turns out that even small innovations can excessively strengthen or weaken some tanks. Now imagine how many things you need to take into account, introducing complex mechanics like field upgrades.

– How do you understand that it’s time to change the characteristics of the tank?

— I rely on statistics, player reviews, my own vision and plans for the development of the game. 

Subjective impressions and experiences of the game can often be deceiving. For example, on the forum they can massively complain about the excessive power of a tank, but if you open the battle statistics, it turns out that its effectiveness is within the normal range. Or vice versa.

– If the feedback from the players and the statistics converge, we take the tank on a pencil. If time passes, and the reviews do not change and are again confirmed by statistics, we determine how serious the problem is. Further, the rebalance of the tank falls into the plans for the near or medium term.

About the new flamethrower tank

Closed testing of a new mechanic in World of Tanks — the flamethrower — will begin soon. The flamethrower tank should become a support vehicle with a limited range. Roma about developing new mechanics:

– We create a flamethrower tank exclusively by the Minsk studio.

— I often hear that new mechanics “break” the gameplay. Aren’t you afraid that the flamethrower will become such a mechanic? 

— Players have been with us for many years, World of Tanks has become a part of their lives, they worry about the game, so they perceive any changes with caution. Someone wants more new content, while someone else wants the game to be touched less. But the game needs development, and we try to introduce changes smoothly so as not to disappoint either one or the other.

Regarding the mechanics of the flamethrower – no, I’m not afraid. Everything will be pretty balanced there.

We will tell you more about the flamethrower tank a little later.

Wheeled tanks and self-propelled guns

I ask Roma how the fights will change if these classes are removed from the game. 

— Arta and wheeled lights are links of the same chain, like signs in “rock, paper, scissors”. It’s not worth removing them. I myself often push opponents, and when there is no arty, I clearly feel that it’s hard to play: opponents with impenetrable turrets cluster in such a way that you can’t smoke it out, and there is no one to shoot at them – when there is no arty. It is enough that we reduced their number in battles.

With the “wheelers” the situation is similar: They became “toxic” – so their speed was cut and reduced their number in battles.

– Wheelers attracted fans of fast driving; specialized EBR mains appeared – and this is great. Wheeled LTs have a somewhat negative effect on tracked ones, but here it is more likely that you need to deal with the latter.

The 25% rule and ground hits

You’ve probably noticed that the damage you deal doesn’t match the average damage of your weapon. The fact is that any shot can cause damage within ± 25% of the average value indicated in the characteristics. 

If the average damage is 100 units, then the actual damage will fluctuate between 75–125 units. The same rule applies to armor penetration. 

Why is this rule?  Perhaps it would be better without it? 

– This is a tribute to the historicity, which is very well laid down on the gameplay. In reality, it is also impossible to say with 100% certainty whether the projectile will penetrate some kind of conditional armor or not. If we remove this mechanic from the game, then the sight will always be either red or green, but the uniqueness of the game lies precisely in the yellow sight, in the element of randomness that it adds.

– And if we reduce the spread, say, to 10%? 

– Why? This will not affect your level of play or behavior in battle. The probability distribution is arranged in such a way that the chance of extreme values ​​falling out is noticeably, noticeably lower than the average ones. Therefore, most likely, you will not even notice the difference between ± 25% and ± 10%, because in both cases the average values ​​\u200b\u200bwill most often fall out. But the number of epic shots and emotions will decrease.

– There are times when I get into a tank, and in response to me – “did not hit the armor.” What does this mean, where did I end up?

– This means that you hit the tank, but the shell did not hit its armored hull. For example, a projectile can break through an external protective screen, or get into the chassis or optics, but not touch the armored hull. In this case, you will not cause damage to the enemy, but you will probably damage one of the modules.



The armored hull is everything that is highlighted in color (except for the gun).

When asked whether the projectile could fly out of the circle of information or fly through the tank, Roma answered unequivocally: “No, if this happened, then this is a bug.” But it should be borne in mind that when the tank is aiming, the ground may fall into the circle of dispersion, and it may seem that the projectile “intentionally” flew into it, but it simply flew to the edge of the circle. It is important to distinguish between how mechanics work and external factors like a bad internet connection. With a bad connection to the server, anything can happen, including incorrect display of the projectile flight and the position of other players.

Single-tier battles and balance of teams by rating

At first glance, this may seem like a good idea, but in reality, single-tier battles are more intense and monotonous. With the current spread of ± 2 levels, somewhere it “hurts” you, and somewhere it’s very good, in general, the load is more even. In addition, if all the battles are the same tier, the motivation to explore new tanks disappears.

Balancing teams by rating will also make the fights more intense, increase the time in the queue, and at the same time will not solve the problem of an equal distribution of forces.

– If the “purple” player gets into the team with the “red-yellow” against the “green” team, the average rating of the teams will be equal, but we understand that this is not the case. And the situation with “we lost because they have one more green” will continue. But trying to explore how to give the player more of a sense of fairness is definitely worth it.

“Gold” shells – for “gold”

These shells are so-called because until 2013 they could only be bought with gold. Now they are sold for credits, but they are expensive.

— Don’t you think that if you start selling “gold” shells again only for gold,  it will become more interesting to play? 

– Old players, perhaps, will become more interested for a while, they will remember their youth, so to speak, but I doubt it for new ones. And the second is much more than the first. Imagine: you are a “poor” student who started playing Tanks after 2013, and suddenly you see that now, instead of 4800 credits, the projectile costs 10 gold. What will be your reaction?

“Over the years, the “skill” of the players has increased, so the fights have accelerated”

There are fights, the outcome of which is determined in the first minutes, and then one side simply “finishes” the other.

— There is a problem with turbofights, we are aware of it and are constantly thinking about how to improve the situation. There are plenty of reasons. One of them, in my opinion, is the “skill” of the players. Over the years, it has greatly increased, and now the mistake of even one tank is not forgiven: the enemy immediately tries to use it to the maximum and the turbo drain begins. A typical example is the LT at Prokhorovka: if one team’s “LT” merged, while the other one remained alive, that’s it.

The topic of balance is very extensive and interesting, so let’s discuss!

49 thoughts on “World of Tanks Game Balance Designer Q&A

  1. Gold ammo nerf or remove its needed because it makes tanks like maus outplayed by other tanks
    Why have premium projectiles when u actualy can flank
    Lazy, they promote lazyness at WG
    Everything is working as it should be eh?
    Jokesters

      1. Regarding balance:
        “– Yes, but for this, you will have to close the development and no longer add new content.”

        OMFG so much this…just stop w/the F’in Ebolamobiles, flame throwers, Screw 2.0 and other random crap nobody wants (more stickers, etc.) and just focus on fixing the fetid pile of crap that this game is becoming (I’ve played since 2011 and despite the fact that could end up bottom tier in a massive spread or have 4 arties-or more- per side I’d still prefer that over the crap this game is today). Please WG just fix your crap and stop adding more corn to the pile. Thank you.

  2. =)))))) WoT balance department is super incompetent, who doesn’t know that?
    They leave OP tanks being OP for years to milk as much as they possibly can then nerf them to pretty much unplayable level.
    This kind of “interviews” does absolutely nothing but waste everyone’s time.
    You will not feel better about the game’s situation but be even more worried simply because of their greediness & incompetence.
    I’m looking for those Experiment Equipments so I can bully those “red” ones even harder =)))))))

  3. Total noobs fagots cowards working at Wargaming for the Balance.
    i could do a better Balance, and i would do it in one day and for free.
    In fact i have the balance in paper allready, they just need to look at my work.

  4. Here are some Examples because i rebalanced every tank in the game, and its too much Data for this website.

    Panther 8,8cm
    Aim time 2.40 -> 2.10
    Dispersion 0.31 -> 0.30
    Top Speed 46 -> 55 km/h
    Front Hull Armor 85mm -> 100mm

    VK168.01(P) & Mauerbrecher
    Health 1700 -> 1800 (Weight 40 t more then O-Ho with same HP)
    5% Faster Reload
    Dispersion 0.38 -> 0.36
    Top Speed 20 -> 22 km/h
    Machine Gun Hull Weakspot Removed

    VK75.01 (K)
    5% Faster Reload
    Dispersion 0.37 -> 0.35
    Top Speed 30 -> 33 km/h
    View range 380 -> 390m

    AMX 65 t
    Front Hull Armor 100mm -> 120mm

    Maus
    3000 -> 3200 HP
    Top Speed 20 -> 21,6 km/h
    Stationary camo 2%

    Type 5 Heavy
    2900 -> 3200 HP
    5% Faster Reload with AP Gun
    View Range 400 -> 410m (because highest Tank in Game)

    E100
    2700 -> 3000 HP
    Top Speed 30 -> 32 km/h
    Stationary camo 4%

    Pz.Kpfw. VII
    2500 -> 2900 HP (Because of Weight)
    Dispersion 0.35 -> 0.31 (Rear Turret benefit from stabilization)
    Top Speed 33 -> 35,7 km/h
    Terrain resistances 5% Improved
    Side Cheek Weakpoint Armor 160mm -> 180mm
    Stationary camo 6%

    Object 705A
    2450 -> 2800 HP (Because of Weight)
    Dispersion 0.42 -> 0.38 (Rear Turret benefit from stabilization)
    Top Speed 40 -> 42 km/h
    Terrain resistances 6% Improved
    View Range 390 -> 370m (because of low silhouette)
    Stationary camo 14% (because of low silhouette)

    ST-II
    2500 -> 2650 HP
    6% Faster Reload
    Dispersion 0.38 -> 0.37
    Top Speed 40 -> 42,7 km/h
    Terrain resistances 6% Improved
    Stationary camo 10% (because of low silhouette)

    IS-7
    2400 -> 2650 HP
    2% Faster Reload
    Dispersion 0.38 -> 0.37
    Terrain resistances 4% Improved
    View Range 400 -> 380m (because of low silhouette)
    Stationary camo 10% (because of low silhouette)

    IS-4
    2500 -> 2600 HP
    Dispersion 0.40 -> 0.39
    Terrain resistances 4% Improved
    View Range 400 -> 380m (because of low silhouette)
    Stationary camo 10% (because of low silhouette)

    60TP Lewandowskiego
    Stay on 2600 HP
    Terrain resistances 4% Improved
    Top Speed 35 -> 38,5 km/h
    Stationary camo 8%

    AMX 50 B
    2100 -> 2600 HP (Because of Weight)
    Terrain resistances 5% Improved
    Stationary camo 5,5%

    T110E5
    2200 -> 2550 HP
    Top Speed 37 -> 38,9 km/h
    Stationary camo 6%

    Object 277
    2200 -> 2550 HP (Because of Weight)
    Terrain resistances 10% Improved
    View Range 400 -> 380m (because of low silhouette)
    Stationary camo 13% (because of low silhouette)

    T57 Heavy Tank
    2250 -> 2550 HP (Because of Weight)
    Top Speed 35,4 -> 39,4 km/h
    Stationary camo 6%

    WZ-111 model 5A
    2200 -> 2500 HP (Because of Weight)
    Dispersion 0.37 -> 0.36
    View Range 400 -> 380m (because of low silhouette)
    Stationary camo 13% (because of low silhouette)

    113
    2300 -> 2450 HP
    Dispersion 0.35 -> 0.34
    View Range 400 -> 380m (because of low silhouette)
    Stationary camo 13% (because of low silhouette)

    Rheinmetall Panzerwagen
    1600 -> 1650 HP
    12% Faster Reload
    Dispersion 0.35 -> 0.31
    Stabilization during movement 5% better
    Shell Velocity 1200 -> 1478

    WZ-132-1
    1500 -> 1750 HP (Because of Weight)
    Dispersion 0.40 -> 0.36
    Stationary camo 19,96% (because Obj 430U have allready 17,44 Base Camo)

    Object 430U
    Dispersion 0.38 -> 0.36

    AMX 30 B
    Dispersion 0.35 -> 0.32
    Shell Velocity 1100 -> 1478

    Centurion Action X
    1950 -> 2350 HP (Because of Weight. 19t more wheigt then Obj140)

    E 50 Ausf. M
    2050 -> 2400 HP (Because of Weight)

    M60
    2000 -> 2200 HP (Because of Weight)
    Stationary camo 8,5%

    M48A5 Patton
    2000 -> 2200 HP (Because of Weight)
    Top Speed 45 -> 48 km/h
    Stationary camo 9%

    1. Revert arta nerfs back to 7.0 days remove stun shell remove arta missions.. Put back arta missions 101 back in.. Shrink bert back down..

      — I rely on statistics, player reviews, my own vision and plans for the development of the game.

      ^they do not play their own game^

      Until wg uses console wot balance for arty and balancing im done with wot pc.. So im sorry everyone its been nice.. Ill be playing dragonflight i cant stand clownworld anymore.. Good bye Wargaming undo the arty nerfs and let arty punish hulldown tanks again and let derp guns comeback yes even type5 1300 alpha derp.. I hate how bad this game is.. I cannot support it anymore.. Its hulldown or go fuck your self.. Also ebrs are only going 60miles per hour they are not formular 1 cars… You people need to stop saying stuiped shit.. I go that speeed on a bike.. In a gocart and do those tricks.. Snowflakes..go touch grass please… Console lights go 90kph all the time and they have no problems with it.. o7 take care everyone.. Its been an honor.. When the demands are made ill return..

    2. LOL, this guy actually has no clue what he is talking about.
      Some tanks are bad and they need buffs yes.
      But a lot of tanks in this list are already super good.
      E100, 60TP, IS-4, Obj.277, E50M, M60. Buffing these tanks will make them OP, that’s not balance anymore.
      If 50B get 500 HP buff, EVERYONE will play it =))))))))
      E5 & T57 HT are a bit lack luster yes, but straight up add 300-350 HP shows you truly have no idea what you’re saying.
      Somebody said this guy is a clown. I guess he was not totally wrong =)))))))

      1. Maybe you dont play Clan Wars. I played Clan Wars over 7 years.
        Nobody Competetive Plays E100 or IS-4 or E50M or M60 in Clanwars.
        Everybody Competetive Plays OP Tanks like EBR, Chieftain, Object 279, and maybe 1-2 niche tanks like STB.
        Maybe you dont know it, but the Mentioned Reward Tanks are OP.
        So we need Buffs for Tanks nobody Plays in Competetive.

        1. CW, Rank, Onslaught or whatever with similar formats should never be used as something to look at when balancing tanks.
          Why? Because all of those modes are not for everyone and they use specific strategies to be successful. In other words, those modes are super situational and you have to be very tricky to make the most use possible.
          The only acceptable way to draw datas for balancing tanks is on a fair ground, Random.
          What datas should we look for? Top players’ results, super simple. Because those are players with the most knowledge of the game. If they have better results with a tank of the same type than others then there you have it.
          That’s why MoE requirements are usually what you need to look for to judge which tank is good or bad. “Usually” because some tanks are favoured by “purple” players, so they have higher than normal EVV, such as Manticore, such as CS-63, such as AMX M4 54. Some tanks that only dedicated players have like Chieftain, 279e of course will have super high EVV.
          You seriously have no clue what you’re talking about.

        2. Btw, buffing tanks that are not OP is not the way to balance.
          What we need is OP tanks getting nerfed.

    3. ….. from the high of data and feedback collected by your servers and your large staff that work on it with large amount of time and experience, i suppose….

  5. If he wasn’t under heavy observation from his bosses his answer would’ve either been
    1. The corrupt person side: “Lol we don’t balance, we just do a week’s work per year, address some complaints to make players more willing to pay and then let it stagnate again until the new complaints build up and do over.”
    or 2. actually a decent person working for a sad company: “We balance the tanks that we can in the game but the higher ups will limit our options and change things to be overpowered to promote sales, that we can not touch and more importantly, we can’t touch tanks that would compete with their sales either. For example, the “free” bond tanks are all intended to be kept average to bad so there’s a reason to go out and buy a “proper” premium tank. We tried balanced lines like the YOH tanks, but the company reported bad sale responses so now we have to push poorly designed OP stuff out just to pull in interest. We’re trying to fix the mess within a minefield of constraints.”

    1. Anyone with any experience working in corporate sector can definitely tell it’s #2. “You may be the head of balancing, but you must balance it so that we can meet the xyz revenue target. Here’s the list of expected revenue goals for each new OP premium we’re putting on sale next quarter. Balance around that. Once we sold enough now OP premiums to those idiots you can revisit and rebalance them so they don’t break the game. muwahhahaha….”

      ( last sentence is the only one that’s untrue)

  6. Wow quite ridiculous answers from wot.
    “Turbo battles because players have increased skills”
    Total nonsense!!!!!!

    1. It actually makes perfect sense. Ever notice how low tier battles are more likely to be drawn out fights because all the noobs don’t know how to capitalize on advantages and one skilled player can turn around a loosing game? Meanwhile top clan matches are often decided by a couple small misplays and can be over almost instantly?

      1. You dumbass cúnt. Good players don’t even play this game. The overall skill level is trash. The reason battles are quicker is because the constant increase in penetration and alpha. Then with constant increase in view range and firepower from equipment.

    1. I don’t even know why we get wot Russia news. It’s a totally different game now.
      More crap posts from shitty paki blog tap

  7. There are two things this man is not:
    1/ A player of WoT, he may know someone who knows someone that plays it, but from his answers, he has not a single clue of the gameplay
    2/ a problem fixer, he is a Muppet doing what he is told to do and for that interview he repeats what he has been told to say.
    That man could be a politician though with his ability to give an answer that doesn’t answer the real question.

    There are very simple things to fix:
    MM with only a +/-1 and make sure the picture is balanced as well. I have collected datas of my last 3500 games in tiers VIII in platoon (a little more moderate when alone) 45% bottom tier by -1 or -2, 40% middle or unique tiers and a staggering 15% top tier, for my 122TM this means I often face tiers X are rarely tiers VI

    RNG yes you have +/-25% diff in DMG but that is when you pen since you also have +/-25% chances to bounce or glance if only you hit first because of the +/-25% chances to miss even full aim.

    Oulala WG doesn’t want super op killing platoons of 3 arras or 3 ebr but they are totally fine with 3 279e, T95 chieftains, obj 268\4, Mauss bla bla bla fix that shit too please WG

    Stop it with the idiotic barillets, reloader, auto reloader… When I started they were few 2 or 3 nowadays from tiers VI you have so many of them and in tiers X almost 6 to 7… No need to have skills, shoot from afar, then rush clipping the crippled

    Do we really need to speak with the nonsense high depression, Hervey armoured hull down swarms of those pieces of sh*t tanks? Such a lack of originality…

    And last 44+ maps with the ever flawed ones never fixed like Mines and Tundra and still a pathetic map rotation with playing 3 times the same ones and almost never others.

    Et voilà

    Anyway this game is dying, it has no competitor wich is why they are still here, complacent and totally ignoring the ones that feed them. The day another decent company comes in, we burry them and I will go back to my other hobbies.

  8. Can’t believe people still crying about “gold” ammo.
    But then average skill is 47% win rate

    1. glad that i left world of tanks because of super bad balance and addition of overpowered stuff to game. Now that i see this post i completely lost hope with this game i can finally stop following it lmao

  9. These are pretty puzzling answers to be honest.

    Arty

    At least the guy is honest in saying that, without arty, hulldown tanks are very hard to counter. Question then – why did you nerf HE and made even the strongest arty deal, at most, 400-500 damage, this with a 45 seconds reload (that’s what, 4-5 shells in an average battle?)?.

    25% RNG

    It is, in fact, very noticeable. When I’m in a 750 alpha tank and I roll 600ish damage, only a blind person would not notice. It is also noticeable with tanks with a low rate of fire – you won’t shoot a lot, so you will see what each shot does pretty clearly.

    OP tanks not being nerfed

    This is the most laughable one. There have been strong complaints about Chieftain and Object 279 since their introduction, and both have had unicum/purple average winrate for years. If feedback and stats are taken into account, then why are these tanks still unnerfed?

    gold ammo

    There should’ve never been no gold ammo to begin with, it’s that simple. It is completely pointless to have other ammo types when gold ammo has such a big advantage, but of course this means that playing a techtree/reward tank will result in a loss of credits, while playing a premium will severely curb its ability to make credits (you know, one of the big reasons why premium tanks are bought).

    tl;dr – WG won’t change anything and we might as well stop asking them these questions, the only important aspect is that people will keep shooting gold ammo and keep paying for premium content.

  10. “– And if we reduce the spread, say, to 10%? 

    – Why? This will not affect your level of play or behavior in battle. The probability distribution is arranged in such a way that the chance of extreme values ​​falling out is noticeably, noticeably lower than the average ones. Therefore, most likely, you will not even notice the difference between ± 25% and ± 10%, because in both cases the average values ​​\u200b\u200bwill most often fall out. But the number of epic shots and emotions will decrease.”

    So what you are saying is either that you are too lazy to change it (since it won’t change anything) or you are lying and know that it will change things. If it won’t change anything, just change it since it won’t affect anything (supposedly).

    I have suggested that RNG should be changed to 10% for shots up to say 150m, 15% 151 – 250m, 20% 251 – 400m, and 25% 401m+.

  11. I like how WG admit to turbo battles but deny skill based mm would work.
    Then on the forum the usual wankers ask for evidence of turbo battles 🤦🏼‍♂️ how deluded can these forum trolls be 🤷🏻‍♂️

  12. First part and already a line of bs . So he saying everything already in game the is perfectly balanced . Also what a dumb question of course it cant be perfect but it can be much better match making is so bad right now its insane .

  13. RNG part is a simply lie.
    Less RNG is better for prediction that will make the game better for skilled players that can see what will happens.
    So the risk of going to kill a 360 HP tank with a 400 dmg gun will not exist because the minimum will be 360 so, if you pen you kill it.
    Now if you go against a tank with 360 or even 310 hp you got the chance to get destroyed by RNG.

  14. Nothing said here is new or shocking, WG wants the game as it is now and nothing we will say or do will make them budge. I’m amused that the guy contradicts himself on balance despite his job being game balancing though – if feedback and statistic determine balancing decisions, why have Chieftain and Object 279 never been nerfed despite being the most dominant Tier 10 tanks (purple average winrate for both) since their introduction, and mandatory for clanwar?

    It’s best to either be able to enjoy the game as it currently is, or quit and stop giving them our time and money.

    1. Yes it’s in the EULA that they won’t take or consider feedback so what is the point of common test and sandbox.
      I only play frontline than the shitfest of random battles.
      Randoms are infested with zero damage platoon rigging companies.
      So that’s it play, lose and have fun or quit and uninstall.

  15. I was about to post a big text showing how to make the game more balanced or funn but WG doesnt care about balance or funn, just the money and all around it, im tired of posting stats showing the game is pay2win also they NEVER do someting to make the game funn or less stressing and frustrating.

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