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Jan 10, 2013

10.1.2013 part 3


- an updater for the test client is not planned (according to SerB it's a waste of time)
- Serene coast is doing statistically fine
- SerB thinks that teamkilling penalties on testserver are handled independently from main account, but he isn't sure
- module crits and caused engine fires do not count towards teamkilling damage
- devs take info about the tanks from books and archive copies, SerB states that if he stacked the copies of the archive files on top of each other, the height would exceed 8 meters
- nations, which will have tanks (SS: not full trees, only tanks, maybe even one at a time from that respective nation) implemented into the game: "Finland, Poland, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia" (SS: WTF, no Czechoslovakia? Then again...)
- the rumors about some regular tanks being transferred to premium status (รก la T34) are false
- the devs don't see the fact that Panzer B2 cant penetrate the Matilda as that much of a problem ("don't play with it")
- Question at SerB: "Are you the right hand of Viktor Kisliy?" (CEO) A: "Viktor has many right hands"
- ROF is a balance value, it won't be changed to historical values with some tanks (SS: players whining that IS should fire faster)
- the reason why the originally planned German medium branch got changed the way Storm presented it two weeks ago was "internal decision"
- the game will be developed within technical limits, high-end laptops should be able to run it on medium details at least (that is the hope of the devs)
- Leopard 2 is not planned as a tier 10 heavy (SS: yes, people actually ask that)
- 1-1,5 min waiting times when playing arty in the night won't get shorter before the number of arties actually drops

10.1.2013 part 2


- SerB states that the child protection is the duty of the parents (eg. no additional child protection features planned)
- Crusader is not designated as a top tier scount (never was)
- there is no automatic punishment system for insults (in contrast to teamdamage and teamkills) because insults don't directly influence the game
- lower frontal armor of E-100 won't be changed
- multithreading (real multicore support) - "only if there is middleware that can do that available for the render system we use" (SS: there was a more complicated answer but I am not a tech guy, not sure how to translate that)
- regarding the fact that the British don't have a hightier scout: "complete symmetry of branches was never intended"
- regarding Mr. Doyle's opinions and research, they were taken into account when considering German tanks, but real tests proved more important
- the ST-I model in game is historical, it is based on the original drawings from the archives
- SerB answering to a whiner, who asked "when will you stop adding new tanks and focus on quality instead?" "We won't. We are very sorry that this fact upsets you"
- the chance of transmission catching on fire is the same as with the engine (in case of E-100: 15 percent)
- the angles and sizes of IS-4 hull and armor will be re-checked by Storm (based on player complaints)
- devs state that the whine about 0 damage hits comes from basic misunderstanding on the player side as to how the game system works
- Q: "Will the Leopard 1 have the Rheinmetall 120mm gun?" A: "Why don't we just make it with a gauss gun?"
- the profitability of the SU-122-44 is considered okay
- AT-15A MM spread is considered okay
- it's "possible" that there will be premium vehicles in 0.8.4 (SS: it was confirmed before the SU-100Y will appear)
- T57 Heavy stats don't stand out too much according to SerB
- Type 62 will return to the game store? "If it does, I will let you know"
- regarding the "historically inaccurate horsepower" of the M12 engine: "we'll use the resources we think are right"
- SerB personally hates nazis and nazi-lovers and bans them (related to some player question, why are nazis treated so harsh in the game)
- dynamic elements in the maps (moving trains, minefield...) - "you can wait for them but the result is not guaranteed"

10.1.2013

- even though Mr. Hilary Doyle states that the lower mobility of the German vehicles is a myth, the devs state that he's only one of the experts and that their lower mobility is noted in various other sources, according to Wargaming their own expert (Jurij Pasholok) was one of those people who actually livetested a Panther in Kubinka, so he has first hand experience (SerB states that it's not possible the Kubinka Panther was broken or something like that)
- Doyle notes that the name of the engine intended for the VK3002DB is MB507 - in the game, however, the Maus engine has the same designation. This is not going to be changed (devs don't state why)
- KV-1, T-34 and Panther turret rotating speeds won't be changed (they don't match Doyle's date)
- Doyle states that the weight of the Schmalturm is actually less than the weight of the "regular" Panther turret. According to the devs, this is not true, as the geometric calculations suggest otherwise
- when balancing the artillery, taking only winrate into account isn't enough, as it is balanced separately (SS: no point then in asking "what winrate will be low enough to stop arty nerfs")
- devs state that the IS-7 gun has such a long time, because it is long and heavy
- the reasons GW Tiger and GW E had their mobility reduced lies in balancing, the devs don't think they overdid the mobility nerf too much
- devs won't disclose any info regarding to the technical aspects of the game programming (the way the game calculates actual movement etc.)
- there will be a second french tier 10 heavy tank, it's supposed to have very thick frontal armor (both hull and turret), but the sides and rear armor will be weak, the second French heavy branch won't have autoloaders (confirmed), not decided where it will start though
- shots to external modules (that don't generally count in the post-battle debriefing) do count when calulating the "sentinel" medal
- there will be a feature showing the quality of the player directly in game (SS: player mentions some sort of official XVM, but that is unlikely, more like some sort of special skins and decals for high winrate players)
- approximately 20 percent of players removed the "assault mode" from their games via the settings
- Chinese inscriptions on tanks meaning: "use google" (SS: much simplier - hover the mouse over the respective decals and a popup text with their meaning will show)
- so far, no other than "historical" insciptions on tanks are planned
- Clanwars mercenaries in their current form were cancelled, because they'd only be made of clan players who want to gear up
- there will be an option of playing CW's without joining any clan though, the devs are working on it
- devs don't think that the Chinese IS is overpowered even though it has 300mm gold pen shells, because its mobility is worse than its Soviet counterpart
- the only Soviet tanks with autoloaders are the T-64, T-72 and T-80, they won't appear in the game
- devs don't consider the Marder II overnerfed
- there will be no penalties for arty players, who favour shooting enemy tank destroyers (SS: meant as "tank destroyers who camp the base and don't pose any danger, while enemy meds and heavies pose a much higher threat")
- SS: one player posted 9 whine/bullshit questions in a row, got 9x14days (126 days) of RO ban... holy shit
- regarding the turrets flying off: the devs are not sure yet how they will do it, if the turret wreck will be a material object and others will be able to see it and crash into it, it's not done with Havok anymore, it requires server resources. The devs prefer the ripped-off turret to be material, but aren't sure if that's gonna work
- effect of tracks flying off is purely cosmetic, so that can be done client-side
- the winrate differences between servers are only very small
- after 0.8.3, average damage done by arties is expected to drop by cca 15 percent, mostly because of the close range fighting
- the "live" tank (who shows as live, but counts as destroyed because the crew is dead) is not considered a bug, won't be "fixed"
- according to SerB, it's pointless to file reports against an arty that shoots an enemy tank that is hugging your tank, kills it but damages you in the process - "part of the fight"
- according to SerB, the arty mobility nerfs won't affect good artillery players, because a good artillery player doesn't troll around in TD mode, quite the opposite
- there is apparently a plan to merge the Clanwars into one huge superserver where US, EU and RU clans will be fighting each other, the devs don't consider it a problem there might be a national rivalry (anti-russian insults etc), but - they won't implement this into random battles, where it would be a problem (or they will but in limited fashion)
- the new perks might be in 2013, not sure how many. Radioman skills and perks won't be reworked ("if you don't like them, don't train them")
- the camo check interval (rumored to be 5 seconds) will shorten - depends on the server resources
- there are plans to change the shell system (new types etc.) - no more details
- there are studies being conducted on the AT-15A prototype (this might make Listy happy) regarding its characteristics
- according to the devs, E50M is not completely fictional, it's fully within the spirit of the late war German designs, there is no suitable tank of its tier to replace it, the design was consulted with experts (Doyle, Jentz), it wasn't even possible to push the medium German branch up one tier (the German vehicles simply weren't that good). The vehicle isn't completely fictional, as it represents post-war development direction (French-German cooperation). Its gun is not completely fictional either, as there were plans for such a gun but the data didn't survive the war, so the devs used the L7 as analogy.
- the ingame ST-I suspension is almost identical to the one of IS-4
- in 0.8.0, camo coefficients for tanks were changed to fit the new render, but the equation itself wasn't
- US arty M52, M53, M55, M109, US medium T42, Russian Object 103 and German VK3002DB Ausf. B in the game? "no comment"
- FCM36 Pak40 and B2 LeFH105 premium arty are French because the German branch had enough premium vehicles of its own, B2: it's not planned to be made German
- the regular AP and subcaliber AP penetration decals are the same
- the 30 second battle countdown starts approximately when 2/3 of the team are present
- the time gap between the point of base capture and return to hangar is 5 seconds. If in those 5 seconds a tank is destroyed (regardless of which team), the 5 second timer resets, so if the tanks are killed left and right during that period, it can reach a rather long time (even a teamkill can reset the counter)
- a HE arty shell that penetrates a tank hull and explodes within has the splash of 0 - it hasn't been decided whether this will get changed
- no plans for other gold shells for the tier 9 Patton
- no plans for radical change of TD gameplay
- no plans to improve the Superpershing turret rotation speed
- SerB: technically there are enough vehicles for 5 German TD branches, 3 without the "paper" vehicles (SS: the term Serb used is "a stretched vehicle" - might also mean vehicles buffed beyond their actual parameters)
- theoretically second branches of arty are possible, but there will most likely be none
- a huge change for 2013 (think "new physics" magnitude)? "I'll let you know when I'm ready"
- there is a rule that an arty cannot kill more than half of the crew in one shot
- devs think that the current sound quality (regarding the engine sounds) is quite okay, it'll improve though
- Storm prefers AT-15A to SU-122-44 because he doesn't like the aiming time and the accuracy and spread of the Soviet tank
- the devs state that rather than developing the system where the tanks are covered in mud when they pass it, they'd prefer to work on the game optimalisation
- SerB: we don't guarantee that the E50M will remain to be the tank with the most accurate gun around
- the idea that there will be two types of game clients: one for weak computers and one for strong ones has been scrapped, "for technical reasons"
- it's not out of the questions that there will be more tier 10 vehicles (of all classes) with unlockable modules, but SerB states it's not planned specifically
- no plans to reduce the XP requirements for skill and perk training
- no plans to move the game to another engine
- according to SerB, 3 arties per team is an optimal average number, when the number drops to that, there will be no more nerfs needed
- Swiss Panzer 58 and Panzer 61 both fit into WoT timeframe, but SerB won't comment on their implementation to the EU tree
- 2013 E25 confirmed
- IS-7 and IS-4 have the similiar fuel tanks layout
- SU-101 winrate is fine according to devs
- when vehicles of the same tier have 3-4 percent winrate difference, it's a reason to rebalance (it has always been so)
- Storm doesn't consider the scout flood a MM issue, we can expect to see 10xScout + 5xArty teams further
- standard render will most likely not be further developed
- Christie tanks rolling around on wheels 100 km/h? "no"

9.1.2013 part 2


- the rumor that the contract for the game is written for 5 years and then the development will stop is false (there was a rather funny string of questions, ending with SerB going into full ragemode: "there has to be a brain in the head - without it the thinking doesn't work and (from that) comes the spamming, whine and crap")
- Q: "Will KV-5 get a new gun?" A: "Will you bring up here all the retarded rumors, or only half of them?"
- there are various reasons for (for example) the D-25 gun not penetrating the T49 mantlet - impact under high angle, hitting the gun itself etc.
- fun fact: tracks can absorb (the way SerB calculated it) up to 18 thousand HP per battle
- according to devs, antialiasing works normal atm
- there might be a better render of metal glints and reflections "if needed/possible"
- it's possible new camouflage patterns will be added
- currently, the arty view size (scale) does not correspond to the scale shown on the minimap, will be fixed
- complete list of 0.8.3 changes - when the patch goes out
- the French have enough vehicles for two more lines (med and heavy), but those are not ready yet, more details when SerB decides what goes where
- "historical battles" have, according to SerB one problem: in theory everyone wants them but in reality, noone will play them
- SerB states that the trees released on WoT Wiki are not up to date
- it IS possible not to penetrate external modules (for example Maus has the tracks armor of 70mm)
- the mods have a rough idea of how many people are using mods, but they won't comment on how they got them
- there is no official statement on gold ammo for credits yet, but most likely it will stay
- the arty and tank shells have the same penetration model, they also lose penetration with distance (AP shells)
- French T7-8 medium premium tank? "no comment"
- there is no plan to show the trajectory angles of shells (SS: some shells - mostly from howitzers - fly in higher arcs, but how high - that won't be indicated)
- the next premium tier 8 medium tank will belong to the "nation that needs it" (SS: related to the question whether it'll be a Chinese vehicle) and it will be similiar to the Type 59 prototype
- there will be further graphics optimalisation
- the devs are satisfied with the 2x-XP-per-first-battle system
- the Chinese tier 6-8 light tanks have the same MM as their French light counterparts
- the rising number of artillery does influence the future map design
- it's not planned to indicate (extra reward) the tank that did the most damage to the enemy
- there are no incendiary shells in the game "because the devs didn't implement them" (SS: what an enlightening answer)
- rough history of the "121" tank - an attempt to create a worthy opponent for the T-62 with the limited resources available, there might even be a book on these Chinese projects
- there are no plans to create a separate "superheavy" class of tanks (devs considered that, but decided not to do it)
- the work on the new MM is underway
- devs don't think that the Dragon's ridge player experience is bad
- new maps are being developed (again, no specifics)
- no tier 11 planned
- IS-6 won't get an armor buff
- the clan functions are being worked on, no more details
- the Russian and Chinese versions of IS-2 were roughly equal
- Karelia is the oldest map, then came Malinovka and Himmelsdorf
- the game mechanics work absolutely the same in all the modes (companies, random, training...)
- stock tanks do NOT have a better MM than fully equipped tanks (SS: this was tried, didn't work)
- there is no gun in the game, that could reliably penetrate the Superpershing thru its thickest armor (the frontal armor screens), you have to aim for the weakspots
- Japanese tanks are going to be unique (SS: reaction on the rumor they will "feel" like German tanks)
- Japanese branch will have no King Tiger equivalent