Pictures from Navigator81

http://imgur.com/a/b80i7

-Bismarck might lose the German hydro and get a regular one (good riddance)

-IFHE works on carriers dive bombers, but dev says it will be removed (won’t work for carriers). Also, they will buff the 25% penetration to 30% penetration.

Source: RU Forums, summarized by Takeda92

We hope the holiday season was enjoyable for you and we sincerely apologise for the lack of proper communication on why we did not release the Christmas Convoy for our European Server yet.

Let me give this another try as I think it is important that we own up to our mistakes and listen to you at the same time. First and foremost we felt that time-gating access to this new and exciting ship (releasing packages in intervals of time, from most expensive to least expensive) would be against our players’ interest and we wanted to ensure that each player had access to Graf Spee while retaining the choice between having additional discounts on content bundles or purchasing just the ship.

This unfortunately was incompatible with the mission format of the Christmas Convoy, which led us to believe that it was better to not participate than to make the missions only available over Christmas to those who are spending a lot of money. We do understand that it felt like we withheld content from you and I do personally feel sorry for that. Since this content was time and money gated we felt it was the right thing to do, but we should have better communicated our reasons and for that we only have ourselves to blame.

We did negotiate with our global team and the other regions to adjust their original plan and can now happily say that Europe is ready to join the Convoy on 2 January. The change to the other regions primarily means that they will catch up with Europe and also offer Graf Spee unbundled and bundled earlier than planned, so the missions will become available to all owners of Graf Spee.

The Convoy Campaign will start in Europe on 2 January (00:01 UTC) and will last until 18 January (23:59 UTC) synchronous with the other regions. This means that all the content of the in-game missions will become available on Monday for everyone, regardless of which package they purchased. Those of you working hard on the “Hunt for Graf Spee” campaign mission chain – you will have access to all of the mission content upon completion of the 4th mission of said campaign.

Special information for everyone who purchased camouflages (in-game or through the Premium Shop) that are available as mission rewards in this Christmas Convoy Campaign:

If you complete the mission granting you the respective reward camouflage before 18 January (23:59 UTC) and bought any or all of the Campaign Camouflages, you will receive an equivalent compensation in Doubloons after the end of the Campaign (on or before 21 January). This affects the Campaign Camouflages for the following vessels: Fuso, Leander, Admiral Graf Spee, Budyonny, Bayern, Farragut and Tirpitz.

Since the other regions did have a head start on the missions, if the players there spent $100 or $75 respectively, we wanted to make sure we compensated the European players who also invested a comparable amount into getting the new ship. Therefore, all players who purchased the Admiral Graf Spee Supreme offer before this article was published will receive the last 4 mission rewards (Fuso + distinct camouflage + port slot, Bayern + distinct camouflage + port slot, distinct camouflage for Admiral Graf Spee, distinct Camouflage for Tirpitz) regardless of their completion after the end of the campaign (on or before 21 January). Attention – purchasing the Supreme Bundle after this message is published will not unlock this benefit!

We understand that the communication around this has been terrible and I apologise for all the unrest during this festive season. I wish you all the best for 2017 and am looking forward to seeing you on the seas!

With kind regards,

Markus Schill

General Manager Wargaming Europe

Source: KaZanova, WG Staff

„Hi Everyone!

I’m sure you have seen news about Public test 060, if not plz read it here
One of the features for test is, new commander skills
So let me share a bit of explanation of why we did it.
What we didn’t like?
1.           5 levels of commander’s skills made for too long of an upgrade at the end, and it was hard to justify the usefulness of 5 points.
2.           Different numbers of skills on different levels, and “way too deep upgrades” also reduced variability – for each ship / type, in many cases, there was only one optimal combination. This negated the purpose of the skills – together with upgrades, they allow players to fine-tune the ship for individual styles of play.
3.           In the current version of the game, there was an imbalance of certain skills in either cost or effectiveness.
4.           There were only a few skills suited for aircraft carriers.
5.           Current skill classification focused on the obvious – on the characteristics affected, not the style of the game.
6.           There was a “practical” limit (18 points) and a “theoretical” one (19); after these, a commander’s development was completely unclear.
How did we deal with these issues?
1.           Now the maximum cost of a skill is 4 points. The maximum number of points is 19; the speed of upgrading at the end was increased, and in the beginning – slightly reduced. This sets a smoother and more interesting tempo for upgrading a commander at all stages.
2.           The number of skills increased, the matrix grew “in width”. As a result, we get a lot of interesting new combinations, and a far greater variability.
3.           Many skills were changed for the better balance. For example, Preventive Maintenance – previously a very expensive skill with an unjustified-for-five-points effect was slightly weakened and moved to level 1 – now, the bonus looks more appealing, considering the new cost. Basics of Survivability and Basic Firing Training, on the other hand,  were too powerful for the previous cost of 1 point (and therefore, uncontested) – they were moved to level 3 (and Basic Firing Training got an increased effect on AA defenses).
4.           2 specialized skills were added for aircraft carriers.
5.           Classification was revised in terms of playing style. New skill groups — Endurance, Attack, Support, and Versatility — provide a better understanding of the purpose of the skills.
6.           After receiving the 19th skill point (which in the new version has an adequate cost, and not the previous 9,999,999 XP), a Commander starts earning special, Elite Experience. It can be spent profitably: upgrading other commanders, quick retraining, or redistributing skills.
What changes to gameplay should be expected?
1.           There will be fewer universal skill sets in the game and far more specialized ones focused on a particular approach to a ship. For example, a battleship will be easier and more effectively upgraded for survivability of anti-torpedo armament, but to fit everything fully into one skill set will be difficult.
2.           There will be specific skills, around which interesting tactics can be built. For example, Radio Position Finding will let destroyers and cruisers effectively specialize in fighting for points and hunting destroyers. Inertia Fuze for HE Shells motivates players to change firing HE shells from “throwing fire around” into aiming at weak points and doing direct damage. Adrenaline Rush will encourage the most aggressive play, and will provide an opportunity to emerge victorious from a complex combat situation – and so on.
3.           With the release of this version, all players can reset their skills for free. Furthermore, new elite experience will allow continuing redistribution in the future, so that experimentation will not have to be paid for with doubloons.
Any compensation?
Sure, for your comfort there will be certain measures to make the readjustment process easier. The exact mechanics will be announced later.”

PS: Mutsu is now tier VI

Tier VII – Nagato BB

Hull A – Removed
Hull B
Air Defence
40mm “HI” Type91 – Removed
25 mm/60 Type96 Twin mod .1 – New
Main Battery
Reload Time changed from 35 sec0nds to 32 seconds
Traverse Speed changed from 3.3 to 3.8
410mm AP/APC Type 88 changed to 410mm AP/APC Type91
Damage changed from 12,400 to 12,600
Projectile Speed changed from 790 to 806
Hull C
AA
25 mm/60 Type96 Twin mod .1 – New
25 mm/60 Type96 Triple mod .1 – New

Tier VIII – Amagi BB

Hull A – Removed
Hull B
Air Defence
25 mm/60 Type96 mod .1 – New
13 mm/76 Type93 Quad mod .1 – New
40mm “HI” Type91 – Removed
12mm/62 “HI” Type – Removed
Hull C
AA
25 mm/60 Type96 Twin mod .1 – New
25 mm/60 Type96 Triple mod .1 – New
13 mm/76 Type93 Quad mod .1 – Removed

Source: gamemodels3d

Big thanks to Urakaze for translating.

Some changes were made to the new captain skill tree:

-Tier 2 skill [Two is better] (Sends two catapult fighter/spotter per use of consumable and increases cruising speed of the seaplanes by 20%) was moved to tier 1 in the support skills category

-Tier 1 skill [Evasive Maneuver] changed: -40% detectability of carrier attack planes, +15% survivability of carrier attack planes, but -30% to the speed of attack planes returning to carrier

-Tier 3 skill [High Alert] (-10% reload time of damage control party) was moved to tier 2 in the defensive skills category

-Tier 1 skill [Fog for the fog god] (+20% radius of smoke screen) was moved to tier 2 in the support skills category

-Tier 2 skill [Basic Survivability] (-15% time of fire, flooding and module incapacitation) was moved to tier 3 in the defensive skill category

-Tier 3 skill [Firey Takeoff] changed : enables carrier aircrafts to take off and land even when the carrier deck is on fire, +100% carrier burning time

-Tier 3 skill [Demolition Expert] changed : +2% chance of fire for HE shells and bombs

-Tier 4 skill [Keen Intuition] changed: Displays the direction of the nearest enemy to you, enemies detected by the skill receives a special warning, this skill cannot be used to detect carriers