A Q&A was held on the 22nd of May for the Asian server, during which the questions from the players were answered by Maxim Chuvalov (WoT Publishing Director) and Andrey Bilteskiy (WoT Creative Director)
A summary of the most important news:
Halftracks? No, we don’t have any such plans, as they were mostly infantry support vehicles. We think that they would be too weak, and the gameplay would be painful. They aren’t as fast as LTs, nor well-armed. Maybe they’ll have their niche in future PvE modes.
Will more wheelies get added, any plans? We are researching wheeled vehicles for different nations, eg. the UK. We have plans to add new ones, but not this year. We are turning our attention to British wheelies, because the Brits, among few, have tried to put heavy armament on such a platform. The French ones are aggressive spotters, but this time we’ll try something different.
Each year we have plans to add a lot of new machines, but we aren’t physically capable to do so, thus some go to the “storage”. From time to time we peek inside and pull out something.
Permanent PvE modes? No, we don’t have such plans. We’re still learning and gaining experience in PvP modes, but not PvE. Before we add something permanently, we want to make it good.
Will the experience in improving AI for PvE modes be used for developing bots on the latino and aussie servers? PvE bots are simplified PvP bots, which we do use. PvE bots are more rigid, they use predetermined actions, and PvP bots try to analyze their environment and adjust to the current situation, eg. by taking cover when in danger. In general, our IT department is getting better, thus our PvP bots are too.
Will historical battles return? We tried it, and it was a disaster. Road to Berlin is the mode into which it’ll evolve. The main reason for the failure of historical battles was that nobody wanted to play with a Pz. III when they could use a Tiger, or a BT-7 when an IS was available.
Will Japanese TDs be added into the game? Yes, they are currently in development, but there’s nothing to look forward to this year. We are looking through the archives, but there’s not much. We are conscious that the community wants them. When there is some info, we will share it.
Will smoke grenades and machine guns get added? Machine guns – no. We did have a prototype, in which machine guns penetrated the armor, or destroyed tracks, but they didn’t go into internal testing. This doesn’t mean however that we won’t reconsider. Regarding smoke grenades, we already have them in Frontlines. They’re not the tank launchers, and they aren’t that popular, but we are considering introducing them into random battles, either to most of the tanks, or only to chosen ones. Special modes also mean that both might appear at once.
We have a lot of maps with water – amphibious vehicles? Most of the maps don’t have that much water, and thus, the special trait of such vehicles wouldn’t get utilized properly. So no, no amphibious vehicles for now.
More modern tanks, like those from the Vietnam War, or Cold War in general? Actually yes, the M60 for example was used in Vietnam. A tank in WoT shouldn’t have a smoothbore gun (it’s less accurate but way more powerful), shouldn’t use composite armor, or any form of active protection. If we add something that doesn’t have weakspots, or can just pen anything, we will ruin the core experience.
Closing the client to watch a replay is uncomfortable, any plans for in-game functionality? We understand that this system is outdated. We want to fix that, but it’s a complicated system, and needs a lot of work. Sadly, it’s not our priority.
Night battles, weather fx? We have night battles on consoles, and personally, I don’t like them. We have tank outlines, which ruin immersion. We are working on an event which you’ll see this year. Weather affecting tank stats is not a good idea, because the battlefield is filled with people with different goals, like some want to spot, and adding additional randomness isn’t good.
Restricting arty numbers? Limiting the amount of SPG to three per side resulted in more battles in which arty wasn’t present, or is in lesser number of battles, like one or two per side. If we restrict the number to two, it will increase the amount of battles with arty present. Yes, there will be less per battle, but 95% of the battles will be with them. We fear that if we drastically reduce the number of arty per battle, in the long run it could cause a situation like in ranked, where teams group in one spot and the battle is over hard.
Implementing artillery restrictions we analyzed mathematical situations and three is a sweet spot of sorts, more or less would cause the gameplay to suffer.
The EBR? Yes, that question is becoming just as popular as RNG and SPG. We plan to change the stats, we showed it already.
Limiting the number of special ammo per battle? No, everything comes down to math – only 15% of the ammo used is special ammo. Limiting it would be very drastic, and could lead to situations where a lower tier tank wouldn’t have enough shots to take care of a tough tank of a higher tier.
On average the players shoot 33% of their ammo, and 15% of that is special ammo. We want to incentivize the players to use normal ammo more often, rather than use hard limits.
More random battle modes like CTF or S&D? Lately we are introducing more modes/events. Some players might have noticed mechanics from other modes, like destroying cannons in Frontline. Those all are tests of some mechanics.
New personalization options like custom, simple shapes? We try to improve this aspect, and we plan to add styles which one can modify. We’re also working on something really good, but we won’t spoil it yet. We will increase customization to the point where we hit a physical hurdle (like HD models which eat a lot of resources). When we hit such a limit, we’ll need to rebuild the game again.
About 80% of all players didn’t stylize their tanks manually, only using premade styles.
The devs contemplated adding more options, but then they were confronted with reality – almost nobody would use them, and something ready-made like the Black Widow was a smash hit.
We are aware of the current limitations of the personalization system and we are thinking about expanding it, but not now.
Frontline has a very cool and precise minimap, why not add it to randoms? Yes, more, better, and soon. We won’t go into details, but we already tested a prototype.
We want to add a better comms system, inspired by Apex Legends.
Tank parts falling off, dents, etc.? Yes, there’s a chance for that, and we will look at it closer, but it’s not an immediate matter. Again, there are some hindrances which we can’t go past.
Region exclusive events? Yes, for sure.
A Japan style map? We don’t have one planned for this year, but maybe in 2021, although not for sure. We currently are focused on event maps, which takes time, and renovating older maps is also a thing in the queue.
Will specific regions have ways to customize events, like CW? Yes, you have this now – specific regions have rules adjusted to their needs. If you have some suggestions, pass them on to us.
There are however some limits, like in CW it’s not just the global map, but also elements in the game client. Different CW versions mean different client data, and that means more tests and resources used.
Will global chat or horns make a comeback? Maybe, we are gauging player reactions. Some are satisfied, some are not.
Horn volume increase? It should all work now, a micropatch was issued recently.
Plans to expand small trees, like Italians or Poles? Yes, definitely, this year. Italian HTs which will double the tree size, also Polish and Czechoslovak machines, which we will tell you about later.
Adding a mechanic which would encourage counter-arty? It would give birth to situations where one or all arty focus on each other, instead of supporting the team, which would be bad.
Adding mechanics to help lift an upside-down tank? Yes definitely. We don’t want magic tricks like pushing a button and we want something to match the universe of the game, including improved communication with allies.
Would you want to add something? Direct communication with the players in the form of streams is something good, we would like to do it more often.
Are there some museums that shaped the game, or helped to make it? At least three – Kubinka in Russia, Bovington in UK, and Saumur in France. The Stalin Line near Minsk also was sort of an inspiration.
We also cooperate with other museums, and private collectors, who helped us with things like recording sounds.
We had a lot of trouble making the Japanese tree, since a lot of the archives are in the hands of the royal family, which thankfully allowed us to copy them and use them for game purposes.
How long have you worked for WG? Andrei six years, and Maxim over ten.
“If we add something that doesn’t have weakspots, or can just pen anything, we will ruin the core experience.
Hasn’t WG already done that with many of the higher tier Russian tanks and the reward tanks?
Just because something has weakspots, it does not mean they are viable targets or even weakspots at all (see Object 430U hatches, or Object 268 V4 rangefinder).
All the same, some gold ammo can pen almost everything, but since “almost” is not 100%, it’s fine.
That’s actually cool. Italian heavies “doubling” the tree’s size means they will start from Tier 2?
Adding a mechanic which would encourage counter-arty? It would give birth to situations where one or all arty focus on each other, instead of supporting the team, which would be bad.
Not to mention that this will make life harder for those poor arty players, and we don’t want that, do we?
“On average the players shoot 33% of their ammo, and 15% of that is special ammo.”
So assuming 3% is HESH, half of all shots are gold? or is it 15% of 33% = 5% gold?
The half one is far more realistic, but they love to claim how it is absurdly low amount.
33% is of the total ammunition capacity. The claim is that 15% of all shots fired are premium rounds, which makes sense.
What doesn
t make sense is to take into consideration the battles of all tiers. They water down that percentage by taking into account tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 battles where gold is almost never used.s well over 50%.Let them give the percentage of tier 8,9 and 10 battles. I can bet my sorry ass that it
GG WG – successfully playing dumb since 2015.
If we add something that doesn’t have weakspots, or can just pen anything, we will ruin the core experience.
how stupid or arrogant you must be to say this when you have imbecile Type5, Maus, 430U, 279e and more RETARD tanks without weakpoints ingame, AND fckin P2W ammo which guess what, allow you to pen almost EVERYTHING, but by fkin PAYMENT ?!?!?
fkin DISGUSTING !
All of the tanks mentioned have weakspots.
ah..really??
show me the proper ones for Type5 , Maus and 279 for STANDARD ammo
(279 have cupolas, but ONLY this, and considering their size…its not a PROPER one)
Type and Maus are slow enough to flank them with nearly every tank. Type 5 can be penned frontally with the typical medium tank in the hatches and the cupola. Maus has effective 260 armor at the turret. Most mediums can penetrate this.
Go sleep dude,you are either too tired,or halucinating, unless you show me how to flank a Type, Mouse, Chieftain, 268, 430U, etc etc 2 min into the game in a 15 vs 15 scenario with lights, artys and TDs waiting for targets, in todays corridor maps, and im not even talking about city maps.
And while you’re at it,show me in which meds you can reliably pen type 5s hatches with about 270-280 armour, and Mouse’s 260 armour turret ,unless you sling the “specials” ffs…..
Smart@ss……
“Flanking” is WGs fairytale, so you get the feeling of having tactical choices,when in reality they never want you to have easy side-rear shots.
They should have at least 1500X1500m maps to offer flanking opportunities,and im not talking about maps that are supposed to be “1000X1000”,but have at least 40% unplayable areas (mountains,lakes,rivers,sea,woods,cliffs etc etc)
what is said above OR…just teach us how you can flank a superheavy with ANOTHER superheahy.
Because you said this is their weakpoint !
SO HOW CAN YOU FIND THIS WEAKPOINTS IN THEIR DIRECT COUNTERPART ?!?! ANOTHER SUPERHEAVY??
just tell me how can you flank a Type with a Maus or oposite.
and penning the hatches anc cupola…are you talking about WOT ?!?!
250-260 pen vs 270 armor ?!?!
WHAT ABOUT OTHERS WITH 250 OR LESS PEN !?!?!
fkin idiotic…
Type 5 and Maus are bad examples since there is no problem with these vehicles unlike 279, 430U or Chieftain. Really never had any problems with the slow heavies while playing mediums or even lights and I’m switching to gold ammo against them only when time is of the essence and I need them to be delt with quickly. Otherwise I can’t say need it to fight against them.
the problematic tanks are those that are also too mobile to have such hard to hit/unreliable or none existent weak spots. Their mobility gives them the advantage to rush into positions where you cannot dig them out of. Maus and Type are unable to do that so they are often enough caught out of position or flanked and then go down rather quickly.
“We are looking through the archives, but there’s not much.”
Why are you lying? The top tier candidates are already in Blitz and the lower tier tanks aren’t a mystery either, just look at some of the fan suggestions.
Just because they are in Blitz, doesn’t mean they will appear the same in WoT PC.
true, if not for the fact we know the those are good enough and if they are still slightly off we are still talking about WoT and so “balance”/gameplay is more important than historical accuracy (a bit more armor here or there and we get competitive TDs)
since from Tier 6 through Tier 10 it is all a bunch of Chi-Ri based TDs they can simply make the whole line a auto-reloader line (we know that at least the 3 Ho-Ri’s were planned to be auto-loaded), rate of fire is obviously something they can work with for balance reasons
“Implementing artillery restrictions we analyzed mathematical situations and three is a sweet spot of sorts, more or less would cause the gameplay to suffer.”
Restrict it to one because while arty would be in every game at least it wouldn’t be a total fucking cancerfest like it is with 2 to 3.
“Adding a mechanic which would encourage counter-arty? It would give birth to situations where one or all arty focus on each other, instead of supporting the team, which would be bad.”
First off if you do it in a ping based system that gets ever smaller as the arty continues to fire in the same spot it would be perfectly fine. Secondly it wouldn’t be bad because if anything it would force arty to move and likely stop those clicking assholes from being able to play without any risk.
Good luck forcing arty to move when on many maps you only have a handful of spots where you can support your team reliably.
Their problem, not mine
Same could be said about the current arty.
Only the ones who play against them have an issue not them
So everyone has an issue.
Magic circle: …TD – Heavy – Medium – Light – SPG…
TD screams eff SPGs
Heavy screams eff TDs
Medium screams eff Heavies
Light screams eff Mediums
SPG screams eff Lights
..remove SPG…and weak ones will scream because of something else…they can always find something…and no wonder in this broken game 😀
..how many times SPG saved your pitty armor?
..how satisfying is it to find lonely SPG which can be easily outspotted?
Say..I hit FV4005 3 times..with american IX spg…2 times it was in “TD” mode…
From those two hits with my gun’s alpha 1000…i tricked FV by relocating and hitting his turret from behind…for only 400….
Second shot he got left from his gun…for 900…nice low roll….but till…survived with 100hp….
Both shots face face – no cover and like 50m.
When, if not this time, damage dealt should be at least the alpha….15mm armor on the Barn?
If the Barn can one shot 1800….?
Or FV183…
But they have stolen WTEs…
“If we add something that doesn’t have weakspots, or can just pen anything, we will ruin the core experience”
Lmfao,they say that with Chieftains,279s,430Us,S.Conqs and 278s in the game…..,😄😄😁🤡😎
saying this and contradicting my post at the same time…really? -,-
pretty much confirmed things already talked in other Q&A’s, although in a more “friendly” and not so sarcastic manner
key points:
»Italian heavies and Polish mediums likely to be the 2 new lines they promised for 2020
»Japanese TD’s will be different from WoT Blitz, hopefully make more sense than those, like getting the order of the Ho-Ri designs right
however I got confused when they talked about British wheeled vehicles, where in history is the UK known for
« We are turning our attention to British wheelies, because the Brits, among few, have tried to put heavy armament on such a platform »
where? maybe if you include the Commonwealth and thus thinking about the South-African Rooikat, which normally would be too modern, but then again we have the top EBR with a turret designed in the 1980’s, because actual British armoured cars with “big” guns are only 2
1) Vickers Mk.11 LRPV with Vickrs VFM 5 turret and low-recoil variant of the 105mm L7, from the 1990’s
2) Simba armoured car with low-pressure 90mm gun
all the British armoured cars we know are mostly designed for reconnaissance and infantry support with small guns (at most 3inch/76.2mm caliber) or autocannons
maybe there are some in the archives, but then again since the WWII their role has remained the same and so that possibility seems strange (normally each country develops according to their own doctrine/experience)
France (because IRL the EBR role was different), Italy and the US are the nations that fit the profile of fire-support wheeled vehicles (sort of like wheeled tank destoryers) rather than what we currently see
Hello fellow tankers,
Should you feel that Wargaming is not respecting any EU regulations e.g.
– to fully disclose the characteristics of the digital goods a.k.a. premium tanks it is selling (dispersions, profitability etc.)
– making unilateral changes to the game and digital goods a.k.a. premium tanks it is selling
– chat bans for undisclosed infractions and refusal to quote phrasing that lead to the ban
– sequestering all paid goods and denying access to all paid goods in all its games in order to extort the player for charged-back amounts
YOU can file a complaint here:
http://www.consumer.gov.cy/mcit/cyco/cyconsumer.nsf/All/3EAEDA376CC4D577C2257FD50026A9F2?OpenDocument
Home page here, look for the “File a Complaint” to the bottom right:
http://www.consumer.gov.cy/mcit/cyco/cyconsumer.nsf/index_en/index_en?OpenDocument
World of Premium Tanks ~ will always be a shit game to play no mater what WG do to Vehicles, Arty, and blah blah etc..
while the MM is so F—-d up as it is, Vehicles get MM created by ‘type’ and ‘tier’ and ‘equal’ish numbers’ – as Tanks fight only themselves in WG clever quick MM system
MM see’s zero difference in ~
a Unicum 60+% win rate < OR > a 2500k battle, 500 WN8 with43% Winrate
and yes often 1 team will get the Tomatoes, noobies and average
other team
very good to excellent and Unicum skills players for entire team
while this clever MM marketing shit goes on and on
makes zero difference to anything WG does with improvements to WOT until this is fixed
((never ever will be it provides perfect quick 4 min turbo battles > back to garage> buy Gold and etc ..
WOT is a brains out shoot em up nothing else (that is now expensive to play
Italian, polish, and czechoslovak tanks.. bruh, my dinner came back