Mikhail Shotin was interviewed yesterday on Wargaming.FM regarding Sandbox, here’s what he had to say:

– We already have some first impressions, collected some feedback which is being analyzed now;
– We’re not rushing anything and will only release to the main server when everyone is satisfied;
– There were two invitation waves at first, people who we chose and applications through the portal. Main criteria was owning a tier 10 tank;
– Yes, there are people on Sandbox who do not own a tier 10 tank on the main server, but there are very little of them;
– Applications are being considered constantly;
– Second wave is launched already;
– There are currently no limits, but we have to keep a set amount of people on the server;
– Applications are being considered as a queue;
– We’ll adjust application criteria in the future;
– We do not have the task of killing or nerfing this or that specific class, we have the task of creating a different balance;
– It’s too early to talk about rework of personal missions, it’s only a very early stage of balancing yet. There will be changes if needed;
– Additionally, we’ll send questionnaires to Sandbox participants;
– We plan to test other features on Sandbox too, but it’s only balance for now;
– Currently, there is a limit for 3 SPG’s per team on Sandbox;
– We’re currently working on tier 10 balance for now, 6-7 for example will be tested too, but later;
– The main task regarding MT’s was the following: to prevent MT from penetrating HT’s in the front from 400m+, we wanted to bring back their role they had earlier;
– Rebalance will affect economics, but this will come later at a final stage + bonus for tanking;
– There are negative concerns regarding the debuff sound, but all sounds and icons are preliminary, everything will change more than once, especially the tanks statistics;
– Gold is deactivated on Sandbox to collect feedback accordingly, however all changed on Sandbox are potential changes for main server;
– Everyone who recieved an invitation will not be expelled again;
– While choosing the applicant we do not look at the age;
– We’re thinking about rewarding Sandbox participants;
– We’re experimenting with debuff duration for now;

On WoT supertest, the ActionScript 3 interface API is currently being tested. When introduced to the main server, this means that most flash/UI-based mods will stop working until modders reconfigure their mods to use AS3 instead of the AS2 currently in employ.

– “Sandbox” (rebalance test server) will come in June;
– 9.15 to be released on 24th May;
– It’s not good that everyone on the test is shooting gold, maybe something will be changed;
– The replacement of Waffle E100 is the last change in tech trees before the global rebalance;
– Football this summer – watch the news;
– Replacement of “Domination” is not to be expected in the near future;
– There is a 2nd season of personal missions planned, but no deadlines yet. Mistakes from the 1st season will be accounted for;
– Identification (certificates) of mods – one possible realization of combatting illegal modifications;
– No marathons to be expected;
– Bonus for “tanking” is postponed for now;
– Bonuses for medals – was discussed, but nothing more. Medals are supposed to be commemorative anyway;
– Bug with clan camo will be fixed, but not in 9.15;
– No return of the Waffle is planned, not even a reworked one;
– No buff for Löwe is planned;
– There is a solution for the new “mortar” exploit, will be fixed, but not in 9.15;
– Wheeled vehicles are not planned;
– FV215b was planned to be replaced by Chieftain, but nothing certain yet;

Answers from Fadal:

– one of the first steps to combat illegal mods is the identification of mods, individual access keys, we’ll see how this works out;
– bots will also fall under this system;
– we’re continuing development on DX11, the optimization factor in 9.15 is good, about 30%;
– haven’t heard of any plans to apply changes to compensate damage taken from allies;
– forget about tanks 2.0 for now, it will come in due time;
– hidden statistics – some will come very soon;
– moving trains will not come, would eat up too much resources;
– 2nd season of personal missions won’t come soon, isn’t even planned yet;
– even if there are to be limits for gold ammo loadout, those would come in global rebalance, but unlikely;

Storm answers on livejournal:

– i don’t quite understand why there is sometimes no difference in terrain passability between hard and medium terrain, but a difference between medium and soft? Type 5 is too fast on soft terrain, but Type 4 is too slow, while having a difference of 0,5hp/t? can you elaborate? – i can’t, this is not my work;
– T54ltwt nerf is really scrapped? – yes, really;
– when is 9.15 planned to release? – when everything’s ready;
– [about Grille15 crew retrain] why can’t players choose to retrain or recieve compensation? – nothing like this was done before, we’re doing it as always;
– is it so hard to just drop the perks? – no comments;
– will gold for WTE100 camo be returned? – camo will be transferred to Grille;
– what is the reason for STA-2 DPM nerf? – the buff to other stats;
– sniper view x16 and x25 will be implemented, but what if some players find x25 to be too big? can he choose between x16 and x25? – we’re discussing it;
– 112 price is being lowered, any compensation? – no, compensations are not being applied here;

Murazor answers:

– is the question about 112 stats somehow inconvenient? or you just don’t know? you answer a load of questions about the Pershing gun, but not about the 112? – you know what’s happening with the 112, such a decision was made internally, maybe something will change in the future;

The WoT launcher will recieve a new auto-update function, which will allow updates in the background.

The launcher will now also be available in the Windows system tray:

A message will pop up when updates are about to be installed, allowing to postpone them:

On the supertest, the following two new maps have appeared, no names are known yet:

[UPDATE]: The left map is called “The Ridge”, the right one “Secretplace B” (both working titles)

 

Also, Studzianki seems to be almost finished:

Reliable sources tell that the version 9.15 is planned to be released on 10th May (RU cluster). Official announcements are to be awaited.

This information turned out to be a rumor, Konstantin Soldatov denied that the patch will come out at this date. It will probably take a few weeks until the release.

In the 9.15 client, two new garages were found.

The first one is themed around Tankfest and seems to be made for the EU server:

 

The second one is beach-themed, it is unclear what its’ purpose is yet: