Najnowszy przegląd wydarzeń 2020 roku

New Balance: The Next Steps

We discussed the details of the New Balance features coming out in Update 1.9 in yesterday’s article, so make sure you didn’t miss anything!

Blueprints

Blueprints are a popular new feature and very many players are using them. However, there are still issues that need to be resolved. For example, if a tree of some nation is already researched but you still have national blueprint fragments, you can’t do anything with them. This is one of the problems that we are working on, and we are thinking how to solve it in a way that benefits everyone. In any case, blueprints will continue to develop.

Special Shells

Currently, special shells have an ultimate advantage. There are whole subtypes of vehicles with good dynamics and gun handling that benefit the most from Premium shells. However, these shells make well-armored vehicles with supposedly good survivability suffer, which in turn means that the impact of those well-armored vehicles in battle is reduced. Currently, our main goal is to give these vehicles more weight in battle and help them to play a more important role thanks to their survivability.

On the Sandbox server, we tried decreasing the DPM of special shells, and it was received well if we separate this particular change from the rest of the New Balance changes. We still have a lot to do related to shells—for example, we still need to work on HE shells but haven’t made a final decision on increasing the base damage for standard shells yet. So, we are looking at the shell rework as a whole in order to come to a more systematic solution.

Also, we don’t intend to reintroduce purchasing special shells for gold, because we want every player to have equal conditions.

More About HE Shells

The way we wanted to rework HE shells didn’t quite work out. We want to make this shell type more predictable and understandable. Players must understand how much damage they deal or receive if a shell penetrates and if it doesn’t. If a shell penetrates, the logic must be close to the armor-piercing shells, and we are moving in this direction.

Artillery

We will not remove stun from allies, but we will check the settings of the stun system. Stun as a mechanic will not disappear. We can’t go back to armor-piercing shells like it used to be in the good old days. There will be no Premium arty, but we will continue working on SPGs.

Crew 2.0

Crew 2.0 is a complex system and we’re still working on developing various concepts for its implementation. As soon as we have an acceptable solution for both players and our team, you will definitely have the opportunity to try out all the possible changes on the Sandbox open server.

We plan to launch testing around the summer of 2020. At this point, you will have the opportunity to try out the redesigned Crew and, if you like it, we will continue to work on appropriate conversion and compensation mechanics, as well as other aspects of this feature.

What to Expect on Sandbox

• We will implement a new entity—the Unit. It will comprise four crews. Each Commander can be trained to a particular vehicle. All crews within a Unit are united by nation and vehicle type (for example, medium tanks of the U.S.S.R.). Units have levels which determine how many perks the Unit’s Commanders can learn. Each Commander can have their own set of Perks/Skills. In fact, a crew can be assigned to four vehicles (+all Premium vehicles belonging to the same nation and type).
• There will be so-called Special Crews—these are counsellors who will strengthen the Commanders.
• The perk system will be significantly reworked to include more perks, which will each have a level. Perks will be divided into five branches (by analogy with crew members), with each branch ending with two ultimate perks to choose from. To learn them, a player will have to work hard on the branch.
• This system will be „integrated” in a Commander, who basically represents an entire crew.

We will test the system on Sandbox. Some of the new perks will resemble the old ones, and situational perks will be added which will reflect the player’s behavior (e.g. a perk that speeds up reloading when the vehicle durability is low). A total of 35 perks are planned, 10 of which are ultimate.

The main rule: a crew makes the gameplay more enjoyable but does not provide a considerable advantage. Diversity will increase, and stronger perks will be used situationally.

Equipment 2.0

We want to diversify the usage of Equipment and move away from identical standard setups. We want to add new types of Equipment that influence new characteristics that were never affected before. We also want to simplify the system of Equipment types and their prices.

Currently, we think that vehicles will have slots for certain Equipment types. For example, one for gun handling, another for concealment or defensive equipment. This should lead to each role and vehicle type having certain bonuses that you will be able to apply to them which will help make their roles and play styles more prominent.

Equipment slot properties will be based on roles. There will be no restrictions for setups but some equipment will be available only to certain types of vehicles. There will be no penalties, only improvements. The bonuses will not be too strong—we want you to look for the right combination of equipment for your playstyle in a certain vehicle.

All this will be tested on the Sandbox server.

Ranked Battles 2020–2021

For 2020–2021, Ranked Battles will return to World of Tanks with 3 engaging Seasons. Depending on your results across all three Seasons, you can earn the ultimate reward—a Tier IX tank. Its name, class, nation, and characteristics are top secret and will be published at a later date.

Based on your feedback, we slightly revised some gameplay mechanics to get you more involved in playing in Leagues. To do this, special daily missions will be available for those who qualified for Leagues. We’ll also rework the mechanics of earning Bonus Battles, and shorten your journey through each Division.

Vehicle Rebalancing

This year, we’re going to continue the rebalancing work we started in 2019 for some popular vehicles. We have already adjusted the characteristics of the Leopard 1, the STB-1 and other great tanks, and now it’s time to take another step forward and adjust the performance characteristics of the E 100 and the legendary IS-4, among others.

In the German branch, we plan to rebalance not only the E-100, but also the VK 36.01 (H), the E-75, the Tiger I and the Tiger II.

For the Soviet nation, in addition to the IS-4, we aim to pay close attention to the KV-3, the KV-4, and the ST-1.

In the American branch, the T32, the M103, and the T110E5 will be subject to rebalancing.

This list is not complete, and it is possible that other tanks will be added to it in the future.

We are also thinking about options for rebalancing wheeled vehicles. Players have a hard time hitting the wheeled vehicles, so it should be fixed in the first place. The effect of damaged wheels is minimal—it insufficiently affects the overall maneuverability and mobility of the vehicle. It needs to be fixed and we will take care of it this year.

The 10th Anniversary of World of Tanks

2020 marks the 10th anniversary of our game, and we’re going to celebrate this milestone in a big way, together with all of you! Large celebrations will kick off in April 2020 and will last until the end of the year.

We have prepared a lot of engaging events and a huge amount of other game content for you. The Anniversary will consist of five thematic stages, each of them corresponding to certain milestones of World of Tanks which have left their mark in the hearts of players. Veterans will smile and remember the good old days; novices will be surprised to learn some curious facts about our project.

Together, the five stages of the Anniversary will demonstrate how much World of Tanks has changed and grown over the past 10 years. Celebrations will culminate in August 2020, and sure enough there will be plenty of pleasant surprises during this month! A feast of special gifts and rewards galore await each and every player, so be sure to party with us!

Other

Battle Formats. Do you plan to return the removed battle formats or implement the ones that are used in events like Team Clash?

The 7/54 format was removed permanently and will not return. Team Clash showed us that players actually enjoyed the 7/70 format, so we want to launch it once more but without binding it to any specific game event. We want to see how players perceive the gameplay itself, whether they enjoy everything. If all goes well, we will consider the options for its use, the rewards and other things. Only then, after implementing the improvements, we will launch it, if needed.

The 7/70 format will not be the new eSports but rather WoT-sports for amateurs.

Game Events Overlapping Each Other

Recent DDoS attacks seriously affected the schedule of the game events, so for the good of players, we had to move some events. The choice was simple—either cancel some of the events or overlap them. We chose the latter. It will not happen again in the future.

We are also planning new activities for clan players, in particular in Random Battles.

Bond Shop. Will the items be updated?

The items in the Bond Shop will be updated approximately once every 6 months. We will update the Shop this year and will use the start of the new Ranked Battles season as a reference.

UI Issues. How and when do you plan to fix the transparent textures that can’t be shot through and „slippery” objects?

This is a systematic issue connected with the use of third-party technology in our engine. The issues arise when different technologies are interacting—we had them before Update 1.0 but they were less frequent. We are working on the fix, but these issues also require some participation from the owners of the technologies, and it takes time.

Thank you again for your feedback! Stay tuned—as soon as new solutions are ready, we’ll definitely invite you to test them on the Sandbox server.