Changes to Sound Design in the Special Test:

Replaced the current FMOD sound engine with Wwise.
Emphasised the informational component of sound. Now, the players always hear the most important in-game events first.
Fully reworked all gameplay sound content.
New battle ambience is composed of unique content, recorded at various proving grounds.
Increased the overall distance at which important sounds are heard. Now, all events for shots, explosions and hits cover the whole vehicle visibility range (~600m), creating a more informative and immersive combat environment.
Reworked the sound design for both arcade and Sniper aim modes.
Fully reworked the sound of vehicle engines. The new sounds are based on authentic recordings of WWII armoured vehicles.
Fully reworked the sound of vehicle tracks. Now, as with engines, the sound of tracks changes depending on the manoeuvres of a vehicle.
Fully reworked the sounds of gun shots, both inside and outside of vehicle turrets. However, the current system of calibres has been kept.
Fully reworked the sounds of penetration. Now, not only can a player identify the calibre of the penetrating shell—they can also identify how much damage the penetration caused to their vehicle.
While in Sniper aim, players can now identify by ear from which direction their vehicle was hit.
Reworked the sounds of tracers. Now, there is a discernible difference in how shells of different calibres sound when hurtling in close proximity to your vehicle.
Reworked the sounds of vehicle explosions.
Reworked and re-implemented the special sound upon causing a critical hit.
Introduced sound notifications upon destruction of vehicle modules.

Changes to Physics in the Special Test:
Increased the mobility of light and medium tanks.

Light and medium tanks will be more mobile, due to the fact that they will no longer lose speed when driving over various terrain irregularities (bumps, rails, etc.).
Vehicle turns

While on the move, press SPACE and a directional button to execute the clutch-braking manoeuvre(not available for tank destroyers and SPGs).
The ability to control turn radius

While turning, release the forward directional button to decrease the turn radius. Press forward again to regain speed.
New ramming capabilities

You can now turn over enemy vehicles by pushing them off steep hills.
Reticle stabilisation

By popular demand, the reticle and camera in Sniper aim are stabilised as much as possible. The “gun rocking” mechanics have been disabled.

Q: Can you buff the IS-4?

A: We haven’t collected the statistics yet.

More posts will come later, luckily this is freshly translated by Alex.

Just wanted to add that just a day before the Paris attacks, other terrorists killed 43 people in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon (this small country is located between Syria and Israel, and has access to the Mediterranean Sea). I do not know why the maistream media does not cover those, at least around here. Every life matters.

Back to the q&a:

Q: Why do some maps get remade and others don’t? I think there are maps more in need of reworking than “El-Alamein”, for example “Canal”.

A: There are enough problems on “El-Alamein” The hills on this map were not originally conceived as comfortable positions for TDs, but it turned out that they started to use these points to control almost the entire map. There was also an “imbabalcony” (imbalanced balcony) and control of it often ensured victory. There was also a slight imbalance in the starting points of the teams. All this led to a lack of diversity in the tactical actions on the map. The same can be said of other reworked maps.

We haven’t forgotten about “Canal” – one of the next maps to be reworked.

Q: Why did “Baltic Shield” become unavailable for high tier vehicles?

A: We have removed the tanks of high tier from “Baltic Shield” because of the small size of the map and the “cleansing” of the bushes. During the 2.2 update tanks of all the levels could play on this map, since it was temporarily redone in the style of Halloween.

Q: When are new maps coming? How many are coming before New Years?

A: We have 2 maps planned for release before the middle of spring, one of them will come before the end of 2015.

Q: When will hills with bushes for TDs get removed from the red line?

A: We are not quite fighting the phenomenon of “TDs on the red line in a bush”, and with the excessive efficiency of such positions. When many of the maps were created, most of the places that have become the favourites among TDs, were not considered as the position for this class of vehicles. When we identify such imbalanced positions, we decide to change the map. This work has been done on the “El-Alamein”, “Baltic Shield,” “Echelon” and “Burning Sands.”

Q: Will there ever be optimisation for the bushes?

A: Optimisation of vegetation has, largely, already happened, but we are constantly making small improvements. If your device can’t cope with rendering the bushes, try lowering the graphics settings.

Q: Will “Mines” be reworked? I think that too big an advantage is given to the team that has the most medium tanks.

A: The map is already planned to be changed. We will take into account comments of players, statistics, and explore unbalanced positions. (Seb: Dora the Map Explorer :D)

Q: Do you plan to increase the size of maps and teams to make them large locations?

A: Increases in the size of maps and teams are not planned.

Q: Will there be multilevel maps?

A: These locations are planned. Testing has shown that this is an interesting and promising variant of maps, but revealed a lot of controversial issues and challenges. At the moment we are looking for solutions to these problems. If we can prove playability of multilevel maps for all classes of vehicles, these kind of maps will go through development. However, we can’t give out any dates.

Q: Why are developers reworking old maps so that playing TDs becomes impossible?

A: Because TDs shouldn’t be able to shoot the whole map, instead, they should only be able to shoot down a select direction. Otherwise the battle turns into a stalemate.

Q: When will we get city maps?

A: Soon, however, devices of past generations don’t always have enough performance and memory to run such maps. These maps require more time for testing and optimization, hence the increased development time.

Q: Why does the spawn-point for heavy tanks appear to be a more convenient spawn for medium tanks? This happens often on “Winter Malinovka”.

A: This will be fixed when the map is reworked.

Q: Will we be able to shoot through walls/fences/cars without losing the shell?

A: Right now shells disappear as soon as it hits anything. There are plans to change to the WoT PC system, but it’s a bit early to talk about when this mechanic will come.

Q: You went through a lot of work redeveloping “Burning Sands” and “El-Alamein” – these maps seem brand new. Why not bring back the original versions of these maps alongside the new ones?

A: You need to understand that we don’t start digging up a map just because we want a new version. We look at what needs fixing on those maps, that’s why there is no point in bringing back the old maps.

Q: Is there a limit on maps due to size of game client?

A: Every new map brings us closer to the limit, this doesn’t mean there won’t be new maps and tanks. We are trying to vary the battle locations and, at the same time, control the client size.

A bit of off-topic about economy and finances of Cyprus.

– During the Cyprus bank crisis in November 2013 Wargmaing and hedge-fund, Third Point, each acquired 30% of shares in the Cypriot Hellenic Bank paying 40mil Euro each. Before the acquisitions the main shareholder was the Church of Cyprus. A year later, both investors spent 45mil Euro each to purchase additional shares.

– We can’t exclude that Wargaming has professional economists and financiers. But from what is written above, it’s very likely that the appearance of the office in Nicosia, Cyprus, isn’t just because of the purchase, but from a complicated financial operation on the basis of the financial crisis in Cyprus. It’s likely Wargaming has invested in Cypriot economy and, as a result, has got an office.