Compiled from here. Answered by Creative Director Andrey Bitletsky, Publishing Director Max Chuvalov, and Executive Publishing Producer Artem Safronov. A bit late, I agree, but I have been super busy with tests this week.
Q: Is there any truth to the rumors of buffing the German tree?
A: We are planning to look into overall balance of all trees across all the nations in 2019, so, to some extend, there is 🙂
Q: Will the german lines be getting some love any time soon? I really like the german tanks but the tier 10’s aren’t desirable at all for CW, except for the maus in niche strategies.
A: Yes, not only the Germans.
Q: Have you considered the premiumfication of tech tree tanks? Sort of like camo, so you could change it from tank to tank, but it’d give extra money and xp. Of course, sold at premium tank price.
A: This seems similar to the enrichment feature on WOT Blitz. Is that what you are describing?
Q: With the news of the T-50-2 on supertest I wonder:
1. What are the chances to see the Aufklärungspanzer Panther back in the game?
2. If it gets back can tankers with 1000+ games on this lovely tank get a special edition with the 105mm derp gun please? 😉
A: We seriously tried, but so far we are not happy with what we have got. We’ll continue to try.
Though, we are planning a surprise for the vets of the game very soon, as well as to announce a different German LT in the near future.
Q: I know that you guys are working on Frontline, and are looking at doing something early 2019. Any details on next iteration, like tier, new map or anything else?
A: We are looking forward to launch Frontline as a more complex activity in 2019 indeed. Seems more like H1 2019 as of now. We will disclose more info on Frontline in December @WG Fest in Moscow |MC
Q: Are there any plans to expand the American tech tree?
A: We are looking for any traces of vehicles we are missing all the time, and as soon as we collect enough materials, we definitely will. Right now we have sources for just a few tanks. If you’ve got any good references (like metal or wooden prototype photos, blueprints photocopies, technical design documents), please let our team know. Not kidding |AB
Q: Welcome gentlemen and thank you for taking the time to attend this community forum.
As a 6 year player, who plays nothing else, I worry about the new players, who are just starting out and the affect that seal clubbing has on their early game experience. The game has to continue to bring in new players and offer them a fun, challenging environment. Loading into a battle against a triple platoon of clip fed double blues/purples, (to use the XVM term) only kills their fun and forces them elsewhere. Think about restricting access to the early tiers based on Win8 or win rate.
Also since I mentioned XVM, is there the possibility that WG’ing will block its ability to highlight who the better players are. Its no fun for them when they are arti focused. Part of the whole arti complaint is when a player gets perma tracked and focused on by 3 arti all at the same time. Arti wouldn’t have the bad rap it has if every tank player looked the same.
Any who, keep up the great work, I just love this game, and you’ll be happy to know, I’ve spent enough, on WOT, to buy a decent used car. lol…
A: Thanks for the worm greeting!
We are well aware things are not rainbow and unicorns for the newcomers, and are looking into it right now. On some specific realms we are also trying to introduce AI opponents for new / low tier player, that should from our POV ease their burden. Some new features are coming too, but it is too early to talk specific yet.
We are also investigating how to resolve XVM/stream hunting issues without denying our modding community the ability to create cool things. You can trust us to announce the solution as soon as we will be confident we have found one. |AB
We decided to award this post with the amount of gold to buy a decent new tank 😉 |ALL THREE
Q: How goes work on re-balancing ammo types to operate more as strategic options and less an ‘easy button’ in the case of ‘gold’/premium rounds? Is there a timetable for this rework currently?
A: It is in works at the moment, please stay tuned for more news at WGFest. |MC
Q: I assume that Wargaming like most companies have some set metrics on how they measure the success of the game as it stands.
What are the current metrics you use to decide if the game is healthy and trending in the direction you intend and how do you measure them?
And if the metrics are not being met or are trending in a bad direction what are your plans to correct course? Or conversely if the metrics are being met and everything is going according to plan, what are your plans to keep expanding the game and increase the player population?
A: You are totally right. We are watching you! Jokes apart, we are monitoring both community sentiments and health metrics such as engagement of the audience. We see how players react to activities, updates and features. We are always trying to understand what went wrong exactly and how to solve it. That could seem easy from a player’s perspective, but believe us, this game is a huge ecosystem without easy solutions to an issue. There always could be dozens of interdependencies that are not visible at the first glance.
We try to listen and communicate with players as much as possible. Thanks for that opportunity to speak to you here=) |MC
Q: Any plans to reduce the max number of SPGs permitted per game from the current 2 in Ranked; 3 in Random; 4 in Grand Battles?
A: We don’t have any intent to do that at the moment. However, we are researching various opportunities, for example at the TVIII Grand Battle Event we’ve launched yesterday the limit is lowered to 3 SPGs per team. We’ll see what that means once the data is analyzed |AB
Q1: Are there any plans on making World of Tanks servers worldwide? IE: All servers are the same, using a system like other games to ensure low ping for everyone?
Q2: Are there any plans to reduce RNG? It is currently +/- 25%, which is too great for a modern game. Something along 10% would be better.
Q3: Would it be possible to make the Clan Wars battle screen better? My idea is to have a single screen, where officers can pull the players into the required battles, instead of having to close every battle screen, to go to a new one.
Q4: Will the test client be coming to the WGC?
Q5: Can we get a sound events list that is updated? As a sound modder, it would be nice to be able to mod all the sounds (Making a sound overhaul mod is something I want to do).
Q6: Would it be possible to speed up the login process? Maybe allowing for the game data to be saved in the same directory as the game would fix this for those of us that install the game on an SSD, that is not the C:.
Q7: When we hit battle, we are locked to that screen, could this be undone? I would love to be able to do other things while waiting for a game.
Q8: Will downtime ever be announced ingame? Alot of players want this, yet it has not been done.
A1, There are no such plans
A2, Well, for each player rng could be perceived differently, so considering that the perfect set up does not really exist
A3, It is possible to improve most of the interfaces, but we prefer to move consistently. Relatively to the clans we have plans to rework and enhance certain aspects during next year
A4, Yes, we considering to do that at some point
A5, That is worth to consider, we will check that and follow up there. Thanks for pointing that out
A6, We have plans to improve that aspect soon
A7, That cool idea, but the solution could be quite complicated both technically and in terms of the UX
A8, Yes, we considering to do that in game through pop up screens |AS
Q: Are there currently any plans to balance out the power imbalance that exists at tier 10?
A: Yes, not only for T10s |AB
Q: Do you have any dates yet for lower tier tank rebalance?
A: No dates yet, but it is coming |AB
Q: I’d like to know if there are even hints of the new bots and matchmaking that are being rolled out on the Asian server — coming to NA?
A: If they do good there, we will VERY seriously consider this option |AB
A2 from Senator_Ratbat (WG Employee):
For now they (bots) are present in the South American periphery to help with low tier matchmaking. Ping might be terrible but you can check their behavior out by switching to SA server. As for +/-1 it’s Asia only while the team looks at the data over a period of time. Bots are active during the entire time the SA server is available.
Q: What steps is Wargaming taking to increase the server population on the NA server and to retain new players?
A (from NA employees):
-As far as increasing the population, we have persistent and targeted acquisition campaigns that run on a variety of platforms, if you watch WoT videos or like us on Facebook you have probably seen our ads pop up. This is something we are always trying to improve.
As far as retaining new players, this is something we are constantly monitoring the performance of and trying to improve (sorry for being a broken record but it’s true – we look at numbers related to both of these every week). Boot Camp was a good start and we are looking to further improve it in the near future. We are also working on better ways to direct new players to useful content like our Explaining Mechanics series, which are an extremely useful tool for learning the game.
-On retaining new players I’d like to better understand where players struggle and better connect them with materials (videos / guides) to accelerate their learning. It’s not always easy to find helpful content on your own so it will be better if we can direct you to it. When you don’t know what skills you need to develop you can’t visualize your path forward. So this could be something we can work with the community on. What kind of skills do you guys think a new player would need to be successful in their first 100 battles, then 200, then 500, etc.
As far increasing the population, this is something we’re figuring out. In NA there is a LOT of competition for your time as a gamer. Expanding the audience means finding other gaming communities that might be compatible with WOT. We had an experiment with Warhammer this year and I hope we can do more things like that.
Q: Hello thanks for giving up your time to do this, the Na community of teen feels left out of the loop so it’s nice to be involved.
(Context) In August 2017 WGNA announced the East and West servers would join to form a central server and Asian players would get a server transfer to a Asian server and EU players would get a server transfer to EU. Well the Asian players got a transfer but the EU players never did, it’s now over a year and we have not had any news at all, there is even a 50+ page on the forums where every post on the last 30 pages asks the same question of “when?”
(Question) When do the EU based players on the NA server get a server transfer?
A: Currently we do not have simple solution for transfer, but we considering to prepare that within 2019. That not necessary mean that we will start doing transfer right afterwards, because that structure could require certain period of stabilization. |AS
Q2: Why was there a simple solution for NA to Asia (took 3-4 months) but not NA to EU (15 months and counting)?
A2: There is no simple solution, thats the problem, so because of that instead of using ad hoc invasive solution we would like to come up with the comprehensive tool that would let to make transfers more easy. |AS
Q: How do you guys decide when/what premiums to put into the tech tree? Is it strictly based on release date, or are there other factors involved?
To clarify, I mean old premiums that have been around a while that are normally sold in sporadic bundles e.g. skorpion or t26e5
A: Many factors affect that decision. For example tank’s performance could influence that. Release date matters as well, but it is not the only reason. |MC
Q: Has /u/CabbageMechanic brought you to Franklin’s BBQ in Austin? If “No”, please introduce him to the Gulag in Siberia this coming January 😉
A: Getting the train ready! |ALL THREE
Q: How long is the development cycle for maps, from conception to deployment? Just looking for an idea for how often new or revised maps would be coming out.
A: Well, we are not doing them one by one in succession, thought the time to market varies based on how much people are working on building maps at any specific moment, versus how many people are building props for the future maps.
You might also consider that each individual map design pass is relatively short, but the number of passes depends on the Supertesters reception and some automated checks. Once it is done and we are happy, the map’s grey boxes version is passed to the art department, where they either build props for it first and then construct it, or just construct it in case we’ve got all required props in our library.
All in all, if I will imagine clean streamlined development of a completely new map with all new props, it will take somewhere in between 4 to 6 months, and about twice as long for the Grand Battle map. You don’t want to know how long the Frontline map took… |AB
Q: When are you going to add Chieftain mark 6 ?
Are you going to implement reward tanks that only avalable with bonds ?
A (TragicLoss, WGNA):
This is the most recent information on the Chieftain tank:
Do you know when we will be getting the Chieftain Tank?
A.B: That depends on what Chieftain you do mean. Right now we are considering adding a Chieftain and US T95 hybrid, known as Chieftain/T95 – the product of standardization and parts interchangeability projects initiated by the UK, United States and Canada in 1957 – 1959 when both the Chieftain and T95 were still in development; but it is unlikely we will add the Chieftain Mk I any time soon.
I believe all Clan Wars tanks are now available only with bonds.
Q: Under previous balance methodology, premium tanks made more credits + additional crew experience were generally balanced against their than their tech tree counterparts by making them a bit ‘weaker’.
There has been an alarming trend of premium tanks being better than their tech tree counterparts by a large margin. Such examples are as follows:
T26E5 vs T32
Obj 252U vs IS-3
Centurion 5/1 RAAC vs Centurion 1
Skorpion G vs Rhm-Borsig
And most recently, LT-432 vs LTTB.
This slope trend is also noticeable with more recently released tanks essentially requiring premium ammo to penetrate the armor profile.
What steps and ideas are being pursued (if any for that matter) to try and bring a semblance of balance back to the gameplay?
A: You see, there are two trends actually. First one is the one you pointed at, the another one is the “Fix my weak premium tanks please, they all suck and I can’t play”. Both are quite massive, and we are trying to balance somewhere in between.
Additionally, we are usually very cautious about touching Premium vehicle we already shipped, thus at some point did few vehicles that would remain competitive over longer periods of time. You listed some of them. It is especially important note in the light of the upcoming overall re-balance I’ve already mentioned here tonight.
Right now, if we believe a particular tank is standing out, we’d rather restrict the sales’ frequency (like for Obj 252U/Defender, Skorpion G, RAAC etc.) than jump on it with a Serb’s nerf bat.
By the way, many players of our CIS community calls 432 way to weak, and asks for it to get buffed right away, and this is a good indicator the vehicle is quite fine. So it is very subjective. In case data will display it is indeed OP, we’ll restrain ourselves from offering it, until, for example, the upcoming tech trees face lifting is done. |AB
Q: The SEA server has recently implemented +1/-1 Tier matchmaking.
Will you be looking at the resulting server data to see if that reduces the seemingly increasing number of 15-0/14-1/13-2 curb stomps that are occurring?
A: This is not entirely correct. It has a higher rate of certain two-tier templates (including two new two-tier templates) compared to the MM that is serving you guys now, but it is still +2/-2 architecture.
But yeah, we made it exactly to track some specific issues that the current templates-based MM solution has with the current queues across all the regions. As I’ve already said earlier, we might even consider to widen this experiment if it will run according to our expectations. In any case, our findings are the key component of the ongoing full MM re-design. |AB
Q: With the success of the 30 v 30 tournament on NA will the special battle interface ever support 30 players in queue?
A (WGNA Employee): We could bring this up to the MOD team, maybe they can prepare something in the short term. Once BigBrother is back from vacation we’ll revisit this question.
Q: Hello, and thank you for your time! Any info on the changes to the matchmaker, which were mentioned back when preferential premium tanks were revised?
A: The development of a new architecture is on full steam right now, and we hope to get it done somewhere early next year. We are also doing some live testing on Asia region that is related to the development. Based on its outcomes, we will update you guys on the next steps. |AB
Q1: Did you ever notice that having any kind of explosion on the ice of Glacier, the sands of Sand River and the coal heaps of Pilsen always results in the dirt crater texture on the ground? Now that you do, are you thinking about adding more variation to craters left by explosions?
Q2: Could the game engine even handle the ability to shoot down scripted planes flying over our maps (planes that would always crash far outside the map borders and wouldn’t return after being shot down)?
Q3: Are there any plans regarding the SU-122-54?
Q4: We have no desert grand battles map. Are there any plans to change that?
Q5: Do you consider further 2D customization of vehicles consisting in allowing the player to compose his own division/unit number (3 digits maximum, a few fonts to choose from) that can be displayed on turret sides and hull ends, allowing for the recreation of some historical tanks?
Q6: Will you consider adding alternate antennae for tanks, depending on their radio modules? For example the command Panther had a really nice antenna.
A1: Man, I will stop sleeping from now on… Cmon, you guys should well know that things like that will come at a price. More materials are needed on the landscape to link FX with the interaction, and we did as much as our players’ hardware allowed us to. Our render guys are eager to do lot more, as soon as an opportunity will arise.
A2: It actually does, it’s just off and ON only for devs 😉
A3: We do, but I won’t talk about them now, sorry
A4: We are running some GB experiments right now, and are about to ship a steppe environment GB map very soon. If both are successful, we will consider the mode’s repertoire expansion.
A5: Yes, absolutely, follow us on the WGFest English stream please for more info. |AB
A6: (Seb: DEVS SKIPPED MY QUESTION!!! 🙁 )
Q:
- What is your favorite tank to play?
- Do you have any plans to rework consumables or equipment in the future?
- Will any maps in the future ever have the ice from Mannerhiem Line/Arctic Region (could be driven on gently, but also shot out and broken) again? I know that last one is oddly specific, but I loved that ice.
A:
- Leopard 1. I know it is oddly specific, but I love that tank 😉
- We do, but it looks like a quite distant future to be honest. Please follow us at WGFest English stream to learn what we are planning to do next.
- We actually lack winter maps in the game now, so I think it is a cool idea to consider for a future one. |AB
Q: Will 430U get a nerf soon? Are there any new Russian tanks being added?
A: We will look into it and others too as a part of the upcoming vehicles revamp. So, I’d answer – maybe.
We got something fun in our sleeves for Russian tanks fans, check our WGFest English stream, please. |AB
Q: What is the expected release schedule for the crew rework? Will Sixth Sense be a default skill?
A: No particular date, mate, we’ve learned our Havok lesson well too good. Speaking of Sixth Sense, this is what we are thinking of at the moment. More details will be revealed the next spring, I suppose |AB
Q: 1.I have watched the advancement of the official bots though at least 4 versions or so also with the advance of AI, Machine Learning and or deep learning could we see these technology to the bots in wot for more rapid development of this part of the game? 2. Will players be able to get the 8 bit tank badge that the bots have at some point?
A: 1. We are closely monitoring the bots behavior at the moment and try to improve them. No plans for ML and DL at the moment. 2. No, but the “Human” badges for bots is a funny idea) |MC
Q: Are there going to be more crossover skins in a similar vein to the Warhammer 40k skins?
A: Well, despite that looks cool, that kind of styles is quite hard to produce, so we carefully choose what kind of event or partnership to do. There are some ideas, but not for the near future. |AS
Q: Will you ever fix the poor terrain hit boxes that cause you to shoot at invisible walls rocks terrain etc that are located on every map and pretty much at every area?
Edit: remove SPG
A: We are constantly fixing them every update. If you have any specific spots that are not yet fixed, please provide re-plays or coordinates for the Customer Support and we’ll try to prioritize such fixes.
There are no plans to remove SPGs. They are an integral part of the game’s ecosystem, and despite we are well aware some people hate them, they serve their purpose. What I can promise is that we will look into the class once again over the next year. |AB
Q: Any plans to fix the mm? any plans to buff to T110E5?
A: Yes. Possibly, do you already miss the days of it reigning supreme? 🙂 |AB
Q: Are there any plans to release Premium SPGs?
A: We actually have one lefH (and the Sexton I), but we did not sell that for a while. Relatively to the future we currently do not have plans to introduce new premium SPGs. |AS
