Official statement: We have collected a huge amount of statistics and a huge amount of feedback, both of which we’ll need to analyze now. We will then start working on the next milestone. Due to this, the Sandbox server will be shut down on the 21st July (~11:00 MSK – 10:00 CEST) temporarily.
The development team is thanking everyone who took part in testing, wrote commentaries and asked interesting questions.
In the next week, we’ll tell you about which conclusions we made and which thoughts occured after processing the information. We’ll also tell what to expect in future iterations of the Sandbox. Watch the news!
We can already say as much: the next step will be adding tier 8 and 9 tanks. We plan to fix most of the bugs found by you and continue work on game mechanics which were already implemented. More information about the changes and launch date will come in the future.
FAQ
Q: You have stopped testing after one month already, how come?
A: Besides working on the Sandbox and the new balance we have to further develop and support the live servers. Thus, the decision was made to pause Sandbox to handle statistics and feedback and focus on the tasks on the live servers and resume running Sandbox after tuning of tier 8 and 9 tanks based on the collected data has been conducted.
Q: Why can’t you leave the server open while balancing work is being done?
A: We don’t want to diffuse the players’ attention, since there will be a new patch and other activities on the live server.
Q: What about the forum?
A: The forum will continue to function, since we’ll need time to analyze the players’ feedback. Moreover, we’ll publish additional information about changes applied on the Sandbox: we want to make the decision-making process transparent for the players.
Q: Does pausing the Sandbox mean that tier 10 balance is satisfactory?
A: Not quite: the current balance is acceptable to continue testing while adding tier 8 and 9 tanks to tune balance on several tiers. The testing “in a vacuum” was necessary to determine a starting point for further development.
Q: Are the current penetration, precision and penetration loss over distance values final?
A: No, they are not. We tested these parameters only in tier 10 battles. To make a final decision on these settings, we have to see how tier 8 and 9 vehicles perform.
Q: Will there be a wipe after resuming Sandbox?
A: Exact information will be available shortly before the start of testing.
Q: Will participants of Sandbox be able to participate in the second iteration?
A: We’ll allow access for all players who have it at the moment.
Q: What are the requirements to participate in the next iteration?
A: The decision about criteria for selection will be available shortly before the start of testing.
Q: Can you announce some approximate dates for the start of the next iteration?
A: Currently the date is not final and we’re not ready to announce it yet, but it’s planned for somewhere in the middle of autumn.
Q: Why can’t you allow access for all players?
A: Firstly, we’re limited by technical constraints of the server and cannot allow acces for everyone. Secondly, we have to attract various player types at different times, this will be even more important when testing tier 8-10 tanks. Despite these limitations, we expect that everybody who desires to play on the Sandbox server will get this opportunity.
