Q & A 18. 7. 2016

• Q. What percentage of players uses HD client?
  A. Less than half of them.
• Q. HD client appears to be desynchronized between client and server in the landscape textures. As you can see when you set the landscape details to minimum.
  A. The SD and HD clients terrain geometry is identical on the same settings.
• Q. How about a mode, or a client, based on a subscription? If the new engine is impossible to port to 0.6.4 due to, for example, incompatible audio and graphics, then let the old ones be present, but give it the characteristics balance, the tanks, the map selection of 0.6.4. Or of 0.7.3, 0.7.5… the main thing is that it will be up to 0.8.0. Will you analyze the needs of the community in this direction?
  A. No. We won’t do this.
• Q. 
  Seriously, in this game, the average alpha decreases often, there is no reason to shoot tanks.
  A. If you are playing for a long time, you must have heard about the tests, which were performed by players experiencing this issue. In short: not confirmed.
• Q. What’s important is that the game still has hidden parameters and coefficients added to the RNG.
  A. There are no such parameters. There’s not even a minimal sense to do that for us.
• Q. As soon as the developer say: “Yes, we have hidden mechanisms that interfere with the game,” many will simply consider themselves to be deceived. I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t even aware of the mechanics of the game.
  A. I repeat – there is no such mechanic. Game without this will lack randomness. And believe me, I know what kind of mechanics are in the project and what is planned and implemented.
• Q. Hangar interface on the second test works with a delay (I can feel delay after clicking) in comparison with the live client.
  A. I forwarded it to get checked right after the first reports. It’s being investigated.
• Q. Two fights in a row! Please, comment. The odds of winning, one map, bottom of the list, discrimination based on the tiers (in the first fight you didn’t give me 3 nines, 2 nines and 1 ten in the second).
  A. Comment? Bad luck.
• Q. It is not “bad luck” is very clear matchmaker fail which has to be fought. Especially considering that last point.
  A. I don’t see any serious problems in the proposed balance which would be worth mentioning separately.
• Q. Will patch 9.15.1 come soon? I want to test T57 in combat in HD. How much has it changed its penetration?
  A. Soon. Slightly.

Source: http://wot-news.com/main/postmsg/204518/39007/3/otvety-razrabotchikov-180716

Daily Q & A 27. 6. 2016

• Q. “Version 9.15.1 didn’t bring much, no major changes, some updated content, minor improvements and fixes.”
  So why is it necessary? It will break mods again, I will have to wait until they are fixed again.
  A. Play without mods.
• Q. Why was it necessary to change the minimap, I won’t change my standard map size because of this. Tank icons are giant, tank names overlap. In dense maps you usually can’t make anything out of the map in collision areas.
  A. Troubles with the interface are due to its translation into ActionScript 3. It will be fixed.
• Q. Is there an approximate estimate of how many mods broke because of the transition to AS3 and how long it will take for them to get rewritten?
  A. All modes that change combat interface. I don’t know the time.
• Q. You have T95E2 HD model on the test, but not in the list. Is the list wrong or is the model not in the release?
  A. I haven’t been doing patch notes for two patches already. I’ll ask about this.
• Q. Who tested and and approved the current replacement of my Lorraine in “our game”? Everybody remembers when in the past we got both tanks and 100% of the crew on the new tanks after replacement. Then “free” from the “free to play” (F2P, right!) game disappeared. It changed to this: one removed, the other given. And now we have 9.15.1: tank with full crew removed and given a tank with an incomplete crew!
  A. Is the patch already out? The crew will change.
• Q. It’s funny, but I can’t connect to the test, as it will not accept my account. I tried to log in with empty details and other accounts – everything useless. On the first server the login says “You are disconnected from the server,” on the second server it tries logging in, after a long connecting it says the issue is: “Not completed session on another server.”
  A. The test, unfortunately sometimes glitches like that. It will last until the server reboots.
• Q. Batchat is an adequate substitute for Lorraine, but characteristics are still worse than tier 9 Skoda. Two details: 1. The fourth member of the crew. 2. A bad view range, make it at least 390 m.
  A. 1 – It will be fixed. 2. It is not current. We will need to ask the people who balance it.
• Q. New minimaps are fail. Do them for all of the maps right away or don’t do them at all, what you did resembles some sort of alpha games on Steam early access.
  A. The idea was to check whether such minimap will be liked at all. If so, we’ll do it for the rest of the maps.
• Q. New minimap is better, it’s a fact.
  A. I think so, too. But we decided to first check as a test.
• Q. Did you change something on Object 140 model last patch? I seem to penetrate the area near the drive wheel much less now. As they say, it never happened and now it happens again.
  A. It seems it wasn’t touched. We need to check the model. To make sure.

Source: http://wot-news.com/main/postmsg/202499/38628/3/otvety-razrabotchikov-27062016

Mikhail Shotin Q & A

Answers from the community manager Michael Shotin about Sandbox on WargamingFM.

• We already have the first impressions, we’ve collected the feedback, reviewed it and sent it to the developers.
• We will not hurry this anywhere, when we know that everyone is happy, we will release the prepared thing.
• There were two waves of invitations, those people whom we have chosen ourselves, on our decision, and the application on the portal. The main criterion was having a tier 10 tank.
• Yes, in the Sandbox there are players who do not have a tier 10 tank, but there are very few of them.
• Applications will be reviewed continuously.
• The second wave has already started.
• While there is no limit, we must have a certain number of people on the server.
• Applications will be reviewed in a queue.
• In the future, we will change the acceptance criteria.
• The current task isn’t to kill or nerf some particular class, the task we have is different, to create a general balance.
• The personal missions are in very early stages of balancing, it’s too early to say anything. Of course, there will be changes, if required.
• Additionally, we will be  sending questionnaires to the Sandbox participants.
• On this server we plan to test other features, but for now it’s only the balance.
• Right now there’s a limit of 3 arties on each team on a test server.
• The LT-SPG cooperation is not changing, now LTs will have a better quality.
• Currently we are working on the balance of tier 10, tiers 6 – 7, for example, we will get there, but later.
• The main task in development of the MTs is like this: So that the MTs stop penetrating HTs frontally from 400+ meters, we want to return to the role that was in the game before.
• Rebalance affects the economy, but it will be fixed later, at the final stage, along with the bonus for tanking.
• We have negative feedback about the sound of stunning (debuff), but all these sounds and preliminary icons will change more than once, especially technical parameters of tanks.
• Gold is disabled in Sandbox in order to collect good feedback, but any changes on the sandbox we consider as potential ones to move to live server.
• Those who have been invited will not be kicked out.
• During the selection of applications, we do not look at age.
• We are thinking about rewarding Sandbox testers.
• We are experimenting with the stun duration now.

Source: http://wot-news.com/main/postmsg/201379/38488/3/otvety-mikhaila-shotina-o-quotpesochnicequot-na-wargamingfm

Developers’ Sandbox Q & A 15. 6. 2016

• 1. Shooting
  Accuracy will change to about average between the state that it is in now and what it was before the patch 8.6. This should lead to nerf of derps and increase the role of spotting.
• 2. Loss of armor penetration at a distance
  Loss of armor penetration is now at a distance of 50 meters from the start, instead of 150.
  AP penetration at a distance of 500 meters will be reduced by 33% compared to the nominal value. APCR – 40%. HEAT will become projectiles for long distances.
• 3. Agility
  There will be unifying of technical statistics – all tanks will get hull and turret rotation nerfed. All in a way that LTs and MTs can outturn HTs and TDs.
• 4. Specialization
  MT, HT and TD is too universal, compared to LT and Artillery. You will see greater class specialization:
  • Close combat MTs (T-62A, 121)
  • Breakthrough tanks (IS-7, T110E5)
  • Tanks (E-100, Type 5)
  • Second line tanks (AMX50B, Patton 3)
  • Glass cannons (Grille 15, Obj. 268)
  • Scouts, spotters (T-54 mod., Ru 251)
• 5. View range
  Everyone will get view range decreased, except for the scouts, who will get buff.
• 6. Artillery
  • Decreased view range, maneuverability.
  • Aim time and gun turning spread reduced
  • Aiming marker will be added, which will be visible to allies.
  • Perhaps the Battle Assistant will be added.
  • Reduced penetration (will be about 1/10 of caliber)
  • Increased  splash radius (up to 16 meters for some arties)
  • In case of direct hit from arties you will lose no more than 300 – 500 HP
  • “Stun” – tanks, falling within the range of splash, will be given debuff of 50 % for all the actions of the crew for 10 – 20 seconds (shellshock, they will be temporarily contused), depending on the proximity to the epicenter hit. During the duration of the effect, artillery will be given experience and credits as if the tank was tracked. Now support will be arties’ basic earning.
• Q. “Sandbox” will be released today?
  A. The test will start tomorrow (16.06).
• Q. Not all “chain letters” have been sent?
  A. Newsletter on the first iteration of the test will come today (15.06).
• Q. That’s all a lot of people to recruit (in the sense of needing to recruit them, not in amount of applications) for this test, will there be NDA?
  A. Lots.
• Q. Artillery can hit allies with splash?
  A. Yes.
• Q. What will be the point of tier 10 arty? Besides medals mechanics?
  A. Damage and stun.
• Q. And how will “damage and stun” on tier 8 differ from “cause damage and stun” on tier 9 and “inflict damage and stun” on tier 10?
  A. It’s the same as now.
• Q. 261, compared with 212, has smaller caliber, less damage. It compensated with AP, accuracy and rate of fire. Now, the only advantage is RoF. Will this be changed during the rebalance?
  A. That’s not planned. Some changes can generally happen, but not in connection with the rebalance and improving of the logic in the branch advancing.
• Q. The usual tier 10 arty which previously inflicted 1 – 1.5 k of damage will now only do 300 – 500, i.e. tier 8 arty that deals 500 – 800 damage will now do 100 – 200 damage? I’m not even talking about arties below tier 8, there won’t make sense to shoot, the shell will not make back the credits for the shot.
  A. The splash damage radius will be increased. There will be additional profits for arties’ hits.
• Q. As well as experience for tanking? And “will be”, will be right away, in the sandbox or in patch 9.16? Or simply “will be” meaning they will come with sandbox release…
  A. This won’t happen in the sandbox, but eventually it will.
• Q. Aren’t you afraid the economy of the game will collapse?
  A. We are afraid of that.
• Q. How about testing it, then? Without an understanding of the economy in experience and silver, why do all the changes?
  A. Test is directly about the gameplay and balance. Depending on what changes will be declared fit, the economy and profits will be adjusted.
• Q. Aren’t you afraid that the camping tanks are so uncomfortable to play that arty hate will be even stronger? All crew members injured immediately for 20 seconds – very, very unacceptable.
  A. We decided that this option is better than getting a large one-time damage.
• Q. Arty splash is 800 square meters. One arty can easily splash 2 – 3 tomatoes, driving through their lovely corridors. Two arties will make continuous stun. Will this mean a platoon of Bishops or FV304s will never fail?
  A. You take the maximum size for a splash of the most powerful arties and project it on the rapid firing little arties. What for?
• Q. And in the light of the upcoming changes, how will you buff / nerf premiums?
  A. They will be okay, like now.
• Q. Loss of armour penetration now starts at a distance of 50 meters from the start, instead of 150.
  A. Instead of 100.
• Q. All HEAT in the game is for gold.
  A. Because of its randomness when hitting various angles of the tank…
• Q. Earlier, I played Maus and angling the turret 30 – 45 ° I only heard hissing HEAT penetrating through its cheeks. The rest bounced, so you slightly underestimate HEAT.
  A. HEAT’s parameters will be reviewed.
• Q. HEAT module is random because of hitting modules and objects and for other shells you have increased the spread with distance, meaning you decrease the skill role and increase the role of RNG?
  A. HEAT parameters were also changed.
• Q. What should I do with the damage done to the allies, who are slow and within the 30 meter splash?
  A. 15 meters is maximum.
• Q. What is the deeper meaning of the team damage in this game?
  A. “Like in life.”
• Q. In real life tanks get lost in open field? In the real life knocked out track is repaired in 15 seconds? In real life gold healing kit instantly revives everyone?
  A. There are compromises in the game, we can’t do without them. But we don’t really want to undo all of the elements of realism.
• Q. After each SPG shot there’s now a penalty for the team damage.
  A. We take that into account.
• Q. This is only the first public iteration of the sandbox, out of dozens. There are FV304, leFH and similar arties. Will they cause at least some damage?
  A. Yes.
• Q. Another question, with technical parameters don’t you want to add more stuff and more perks to rebalance crew and equipment?
  A. It’s a later plan. Otherwise we will work on several fields at a time.
• Q. You already work on them instead of the obvious changes to matchmaker and maps.
  A. Matchmaker and maps will also get fixed.

Source: http://wot-news.com/main/postmsg/200698/38396/3/v-ozhidanii-pesochnicy-otvety-razrabotchikov

Q & A 12. 6. 2016

Yuri Kuryavyi (Wargaming Community head) replied for a special WG event in Bishkek.

• The first changes on arties you will see the Sandbox test server.
• Next week there will be all the information on the Sandbox, official technology data and much more.
• Our goal is not to remove the artillery from the game, but to make it popular and necessary + it should not cause negative audience.
• At the moment there is no need to open a server in Central Asia.
• Yes, the Swedish branch is confirmed for this year, but the exact dates can’t be told. Now the priority is Sandbox and balance.
• Smoothbore guns – we’ll see, but now we focus on other stuff.
• 50vs50 battles – no comment.
• We have ideas for new game modes.
• “Cheats” (or rather prohibited mods) – to close the sites is not a solution for us as a company. Now our task is to change the game so that either it doesn’t make sense to use the “cheats” or it’s impossible to do. We are developping an integrated system – as soon as it is ready, we will immediately show and tell you.
• Maps Berlin and Paris are likely to get added to the randoms.
• Teamkills can’t be removed – this is a core element of gameplay.
• More recently, we have started the work on season 2 of personal missions, when it will be finished is unknown.
• Personal ranking by region, the best player and so on – We’re working on those, how and in what form it will be I won’t say exactly, because this thing is in an early stage of development. There will be a complex rating based on all aspects of the game, extended randoms rating and more. We are working in this direction, the ratings are very important and we understand that.

Source: http://vk.com/wall-70226354_240522

Q & A 11. 6. 2016

Konstantin Soldatov (Foton64rus) during stream at Amway921:

• KV-2 will soon come in HD
• Smokescreen – I can’t say anything…
• New camouflages are planned
• It is necessary to redo perks – it is necessary to face this problem and also solve the problem of the game’s high entry threshold
• Hydraulics to Sweden Strv 103 (with hydropneumatic suspension) will come eventually, you will have to wait for now, not everything is ready – all is in the making and it will be extraordinary

Alexey Ilyin (Inaki) during stream Tank football:

• Every time the ball in the center appears, it appears at different height
• The ball are two connected turrets, this technology has been used in 2014 as well

Murazor during stream at Jove:

• 268 5 is not guaranteed to be a personal mission reward and as such, there are no decisions on the tank yet
• We are actively look at the statistics and monitoring Grille 15
• Pilsen map is one of the most balanced maps at the moment

Storm responds to Learn:

• Evaluating a complex change of the characteristics of ALL the tanks and changes of some of the game mechanics and rules and changes in certain characteristics of individual tanks with shouting: “buffed/nerfed” is, so to speak… extremely foolish
• Did you know about the bounce mechanics and that it is not taken into account in the blocked damage?
  For me it was a surprise, even though I have played this game for 4 years.
  Why are then such missions as HT-13? How to use the skill to do them? If a bounce from a Borsig is not counted?
  If the projectile we are talking about reaches armour group where penetration would cause damage and ricochets, or bounces it, it will be counted to damage blocked. Cases when hit without damage will not be counted as blocked damage:
  1) The projectile ricocheted off spaced armour or mantlet before they reach the armour group, where penetration would deal damage.
  2) The projectile penetrated the spaced armour, but did not hit the armour group where penetration would cause damage.
  3) The shell didn’t penetrate the track and didn’t reach the armour group where penetration would cause damage.
• In the first iteration of sandbox, tier ten will be rebalanced, right? And what’s next? Will the tier ten changes come to live server or will you wait for results on the other tiers?
  We will wait for the results on the other tiers.
• How many tanks are there in the game right now? 400+? Will this come before the Sun turns into a red giant?
  No.
• Storm, don’t you think it’s logical to start balance 2.0 by balancing all tanks that can participate in tier 10 battles?
  There is a certain logic in balancing only tier 10 first as well. We will get to all of the other ones anyway. We don’t have to look at any tanks beside tier 10. Only they will get modified. And what leaked out – it’s incomprehensible stuff / mixture of several old versions of the test.
• I was interested in removed videos. They were removed after the Rubicon’s ASAP failure and didn’t return until now.
• Storm, why does sandbox have a separate forum and is it possible to get an invite?
  Well, it’s a separate test. Like betatest. And it’s to not interfere with the rest of the forums.
• The question is about Pz 5/4 getting transferred to tier 5, and at last changed to a good tank, but I’m interested why guns of Pz 5/4 and Pz IV hydrostat are the same, but the characteristics of the reload and reticle spread are different. Will the characteristics of guns be unified for these tanks?
  No. Such changes for the hydrostat are not planned.
• Storm, when will sandbox come?
  When it is ready. Wait for the official information.

Vyacheslav Makarov’s Livejournal answers:

• In my opinion, about half of the stuff that we have on the balance sheet is due to the fact that at the start of the testing we focused on middle tiers for operational reasons. Therefore, it’s desirable to test speed-viewrange-damage on tier 10 and then build, based on this balance, down the tiers. Naturally, the lower tiers will be gradually added to the test. Even ranked battles will be based on tier 10s, of course, so this is important.
• Sergei Borisych! I really thought that he was on his rocket flying to colonize Mars, but as it turned out – it wasn’t so.
  Rocket launched, yay!
• Will there be an LT based on E100?
  Absolutely.

Source: http://vk.com/wall-70226354_239846

WoWs Q & A 9. 6. 2016

• How does the Preventative Maintenance skill work?
  The skill affects all modules. It decreases the chance that a module will receive a critical hit by 50% – However the chance of critical hits depends on the module’s health; the lower the health of the module the higher the chance of critical damage.
• What is planned with regards to the unbalanced matchmaking and „Fail Divisions“ – dragging low tier ships into high tier battles?
  While fail divisions are annoying, they are not that common – though of course when they happen, they do hurt. However the priority for matchmaking is getting rid of matches unbalanced for other reasons than this. In one of the updates following 0.5.7 we plan on introducing an improved matchmaker that would make sure that top tiers in each category are well balanced, to avoid situations such as 3 Tier X battleships on one side, one on the other. This is however still in development and we will inform you about details when they get closer. Once this is up and running, the devs will have a look at other annoying things including the fail divisions.
• Smoke screens and Situational Awareness
  Currently smoke does not look that great and it is very unclear for player where it is and if you are in smoke or outside. We are working both on reworking the smoke and on implementing in game clear indicator of smoke extent.
  As for situational awareness, as most people here probably noticed, there was a major Forum storm after 0.5.5 that unveiled a so far unknown property of the Situational Awareness skill. The team repeatedly checked the skill to see if there are any other issues connected, but the skill itself is working without change since early Alpha. Now that this was shown to be an issue, though, the entire SA system will be reworked to more accurately reflect when you are spotted and when you aren’t – and to get more intuitive (and most of all, with proper descriptions).
  Note: We have forwarded the devs your findings about the smoke generation intervals/rules – we are currently waiting for reply.
• Why do Secondaries have such terrible accuracy?
  We feel that they are very powerful as is and if they are too effective then we aren’t encouraging skillful play
• Anti-aliasing. Currently it does not look too appealing, any plans to improve it?
  We are working on improving it at the moment. It’s not actually a change to video tech, but actual changes in model. We are thinking on how we can do this quickly and with high quality. 0.5.8 there will two ships with these improvements – and if they work well, more will follow.
• Will we be able to compare ships in port?
  Not soon, but thinking about it. First we plan to show more details in port – some cool changes will hopefully come within next updates, among others  things we plan to let you see better how your ship(s armor works. We cannot tell yet when exactly, as the tool is still in development, but for sure it will come this year.
• Could we see a rework of the Captain Skills or Upgrades?
  Captain skills: Currently we are not too satisfied with them. Many players are using lower tier skills and not really the more expensive ones – we will work on making the skills overall more accessible and more useful, so that all have their uses. One of the goals will be getting rid of “must have” setups and introduce more choice and tradeoffs.
  Upgrades: There is a similar situation here – you can check changes to upgrade system in public test of 0.5.7 and obviously the development will continue.    
• More ship customization?
  We are working on it. More ships are getting permanent camouflages, we are introducing new commemorative flags and special event camos (note: For us it is for example the MGT-20 events camouflage and flag for our large offline events this year). We know that many players would love to hoist more than one commemorative flag on their ship – we are thinking about system, that would allow just that.

Ships and Nations

• What was the weirdest thing you encountered in ship design?
  Emden’s fake smoke stack, initially everyone thought it was wooden, then they found it was more like cocertina top hat – folding, canvas on skeleton. Note: While at some time in the future we will see Admiral Graf Spee in game, she will most likely not have a fake turret – at least not initially. After all, unlike Emden, this disguise was rather short-lived.
• Pan European tree – will we see it any time soon?
  Not in plans in the short run – we first want to introduce bigger navies.
• Will we see ARP Takao?
  While we want to do as many ARP ships as possible and we have Takao model (after all, her sistership Atago is in game already), we would like to introduce the historical Takao first.
• For Mikasa Appreciation Society: Are there any changes planned for the Mikasa and will we see more classic era battleships or armored cruisers for her to play with? Why not simply improve her secondaries?
  Currently we have no plans to change Mikasa. She was an experiment and her play style does not really suit our game. The system does not allow currently things like manual control of secondaries and simply improving the secondary battery would make her overpowered and, worse, an ideal tool for botting. This is also why we do not plan to introduce any more ships of this kind for now.
• What is the situation of Royal Navy?
  Resources are collected, now we are working on models of the first branch to come – should happen this year.
  What will be their „thing“? Depends on how the development and balancing goes, but for sure they will be beautiful.
• And what will be the leitmotif of German battleships, to come this summer?
  Think Tirpitz, but without torpedoes – relatively smaller guns, with flat trajectory, pretty decent armor and speed.
• What are the plans to address carrier gameplay, especially various loadout and US carriers?
  There are no ground-shattering plans for now, but one of the main things in the close future is making the support carriers – fighter/dive bomber loadouts – more useful to the team, giving fighters other things to do than just shooting down planes.
  As for US carriers, the lines are not intended to be equal, so the game style will always be different. For now the US are less affected by defensive fire, for the future see above. Once fighters will have more things to do, US support loadouts may be far more interesting than now.
• Some older ships in game have relatively simple armor models – while in reality they were more complex. When will they be upgraded?
  Soon. We are currently working on a comprehensive reworking of armor models. First examples are the new top hulls for German cruisers introduced in previous updates, in 0.5.7 we bring all destroyers to the new standard and more ship classes will come in the following updates – the goal is to make all armor models as accurate, as possible. Overall more complex shapes of newer models tend to slightly improve overall effects of the armor.

Development

• Are there any plans to do more with PvE modes?
  Answer: Yes, there definitely are. PvE allows getting away with unbalanced battles and focus on interesting ships. We cannot share much more, but currently we are working on adding PvE elements to maps (such as coastal guns) – and we will expand on it.
• What does it take to add a ship into game?
  All in all roughly half a year of work. The process works like this:
  o    Decision to include ship and how/where has to be taken (devs/publishing)
  o    Archive digging – the more plans the better – British archives usually have 5 basic plans of ships, often with less details, German plans are usually very detailed – in some cases plans do not agree with each other etc.
  o    Main model is built – including small technical details; these can be shared among ships (boats, guns…)
  o    Textures – first the technical part, then the art part
  o    Engine – Magic happens in the Game Design department; Armor models, balance, weapon stats…
  o    QA – internal tests, Supertest; Public test / live balancing
  o    Ship is ready to sail!
  •    Bonus: Same with maps:
  Currently it takes us 6 weeks to build a map – first comes the gameplay design (plan), then the basic modeling (creating everything out of few basic shapes), then details and atmosphere, including weather and skybox – the designers try to go for interesting real life details. On map inspired by Hawaii there are several interesting vintage cars; one of upcoming maps will have a well known landmark from French coast
• Clans – what is the future?
  Working on them, likely to come this year but we do not want to disclose more details until they are settled – we are gathering experience from clan system on all our platforms. We will also work on clan-related “end game” content for them.
• Weather – when will it come to more maps, what about physics effects of waves?
  The cyclone is currently in stock for more maps – again, this happens already in 0.5.7. More changes will come this year.
  Waves are hard to do;
  o    It means adding 3rd dimension movement along all axis (pitch, roll, yaw);
  o    It also makes mess of minimal ranges of guns – harder to get used to it, might make hitting ships at close range harder;
  o    It also means making mess of armor – with ship rolling, armor penetration would get less predictable as there would always be more random factors involved. It would work both ways.
• How does the community influence a decision? 
  A lot. However – the development team has a core design and they want to stick with it. That does not mean feedback is ignored – but player’s feedback often focuses only on one aspect of a complex thing. We are gathering feedback from all our languages on a weekly basis – as well as detailed feedback coming with every new patch. In this, EU region shares the challenge of gathering a lot of different language’s feedback with the South East Asia region. The development team is interested in both these forms of feedback a lot – there is no “Russian bias” here and reports from all regions are appreciated and useful.
  The developers themselves also read the forums (mostly RU and EN – both in EU, NA and SEA).
  One thing players are really good at is finding obscure bugs.As mentioned above, the Situational Awareness discussion was started on EU forums and seems to be mostly EU player thing – feedback gathered on this occasion did lead us to start a discussion about the entire mechanic – what role does the skill serve, how it should work, why does it exist, why the 3s delay… And it will result in significant improvements during this year.
• Sound – recently there is a lot of complaints about the citadel damage sound – are any changes planned?
  As the citadel hit sound (and some others) is rather unpopular and could cause issues to people, reworking. Generally following feedback very closely.

Other

• Can you share any silly or fun moments from the game development?
  None. Game development is Hell and serious business!
• Will it be possible to look around from the crow’s nest?
  A new camera system is planned for a future update that will allow the player to look around freely. First steps – new post-mortem observer mode in 0.5.7!

Source: http://www.himmelsdorf.com/questions-and-answers-st-petersburg-may-2016/

Q & A 2. 6. 2016

• Q. Is it possible to name the bugs in 0.9.15 that you have already identified / analyzed that are already being fixed?
  A. No.
• Q. Why don’t you remove the ability to climb almost vertical objects?
  A. This is a side effect of a mechanism that prevents you getting stuck to obstacles.
• Q. Isn’t it easier to remove this mechanism than to climb at objects you shouldn’t?
  A. Then you will again get stuck in the corners of the landscape.
• Q. I have a question about the priority of another found bug. I decided to make a second attempt to get it to you through the bug tracker, the shell leaving the reticle during traverse – it is, after all, a bug (the first try ended in a verdict, “This is not a bug”).
  It was required to collect a large amount of experimental data to justify the bug, and I discovered rare bug with (just one in a few hundred shots) arty hits leaving the reticle, that is not associated with modes or with lags. However, it turned out that it is just imaginary: the player sees the projectile leave the reticle, sees the hit out of the reticle, but the measuring mod displays the coordinates of getting hit within a circle, and these coordinates do not match the place hit, as seen by the player.
  How big is the the importance of this bug according to you? It’s not real circle miss, but it only appears so to the player. If the importance is high, I will prepare a bug report within a couple of days, if it’s low – a couple of weeks. High?
  A. At the moment all efforts are focused on the revisions of “hot” issues from 9.15. So by your classification – “low”.
• Q. Will there be an in-between hotfix patch?
  A. Yes, like after each patch.
• Q. Thank you. Will it happen this week or will have to be patient with tanks? (Client hangs at the exit to the hangar, it’s impossible to play).
  A. This is caused by mods.
• Q. Were there any reports on the slow loading of vehicle models?
  A. There were. But without any proof.
• Q. Are there any plans to rebalance the Soviet 122 mm “Destroyer” for medium tanks? T-44 or T-34-2 have the opportunity to install this gun, as an alternative, but tier 10 gun leaves something to be desired. Are there any plans to tweak the characteristics of 122 mm gun for these tanks: T-44-122, T-44, T-34-2? On T-34-3, you already buffed this gun.
  A. “They won’t be changed for now, they will get reviewed during global rebalance.” Really.
• Q. I found 2 bugs.
  1. The unknown window. Maybe because of the mods, but it hasn’t happened before.
  2. If you make a shot in the arcade sight, and then go to the sniper sight, additional effects still happen (they used to disappear). If you make a shot in the sniper sight, then additional effects don’t occur, as it should be. All of that happens with disabled additional effects in the sniper sight.
  A. I gave these for review. So far, no comment.
• Q. What about “Confrontation”? It was the only mode that turned out pretty well. Return it fast
  A. It is necessary to polish it, but it might happen.

Source: http://wot-news.com/main/postmsg/198658/38150/3/otvety-razrabotchikov-2062016

Q & A 30. 5. 2016

With Slava Makarov

• As for the problem with platoons of tier 10 artillery and tier 8 LTs – it’s still undecided, but personally I am in favour of removing the artillery option to platoon!
• I looked at the statistics. Artillery platoons are part of the balance problem. As long as they are here, it will be a mess.
• Writing a new balancer is the top priority. And modeling an algorithm based on the numbers of different types and tiers in the game seems to be having a problem with arty platoons.
• The most interesting thing to me – what is happening with 50vs50?
  We played the prototype. Prototype seems OK.
• LT platoon may come out and say – tier 9 HT with tier 7 LT will receive a permanent penalty. That’s not fun for them.
  This will get repaired only by changing LTs as a class and the emergence of usable tier 10 scouts. This is planned as part of the rebalance. We have very long discussions regarding this. There are problems with the balance of tier 10 LTs, but it can work in the role model.
• The average player can do Orlik’s medal in tier 8 LT, what will happen with Bulldog and Ru at tier 10?
  Well, one option is to change the classification of the whole class, MT can be a scout, too.
• Have you gotten the tier 10 LTs over all these years? I mean, will we wait for them long in case they get introduced?
  Pasholok has them.
• The arty influence should get bigger, including through the reworked mechanisms.
• Artillery platoons are not necessary.
• Artillery platoons are such a big problem that they appear in as many as 5 % of battles. Urgent decisions ahead! Nobody mentions the fact that maps are shit, LTs are dead, 3 tanks in the whole game have armour and the stupid 25 % random spread.
  What urgent decisions are you talking about? The only urgent stuff being done is the complete rebalance.
• Well, then start working on the maps!
  The maps are also in the plans to get fixed.
• T-64 won’t come to WoT.
• Didn’t you consider limiting the arty platoons to below three pieces?
  We did. It’s not necessary. It’s a burden. Plus, it doesn’t solve the gameplay issues. Two synchronised artilleries, if they were successful before, will simply destroy any two unsynchronised artilleries. You can of course pile up the burdens, but it’s easier to not overcome difficult problems heroically and simply remove them completely.
• I’ll get to 15×15 randoms, count the problems and work on fixes!
• Veider wrote about Czechoslovaks that they are not imbalanced? What will be the rebalance process in this case?
  They are good tanks, but overall not imbalanced. At the moment I can fix a hundred minor balance bugs or work on balance 2.0. Guess what I chose!
• And how will personal missions work for LTs and SPGs and everything?
  System of personal missions will get a rework.
• The last two patches we are gradually improving.
• Where were you and other people during the test two years ago, when it was still possible to fix something, not getting stalled on Rubikon?
  I wasn’t allowed into tanks, sorry. They allowed me to get back to work in January.
• The last two years the game was developed by people who have since left Wargaming, meaning there is no way to ask them.

Source: http://vk.com/wotclue

Q & A 28. 5. 2016

Stanislav Kargin (veider) – Game Designer of WoT answers streamer T_killa aka Tenb_

• 268 5 won’t be in any branch, can’t say more.
• New maps are developed, I saw the new ones, they seem good.
• There was a rumor that totally all of us play DotA, it’s not true.
• AMX M4 mle. 49 will be sold.
• Statistics on Grille 15 already fell down by 3rd day. Win rate is now at 49 %.
• Rumors about the Czechslovak tiers 9 – 10 being wildly imbalanced are false.
• New branches in the current nations are in plans.
• ISU-130 (a tank for moderators and volunteers) will be buffed in the next patch.
• A solution on LT8 – SPG10 platoon (platoon bonuses and penalties) is already in solving!
• Chinese tanks are doing well, it’s just people rejecting them. According to statistics they are all doing good, especially the MTs. But the tanks play peculiarly.
• There are plans to flatten Prokhorovka map, but not by much.
• Maps Konigsberg and Minsk, I don’t know about them.
• Type 59’s statistics hasn’t changed much since its withdrawal from the store.
• First aid kits and repair kits working like in WoWs – it is an option being considered.
• The ability to remove 2 – 3 – 4 maps for yourself (map picking) is n option that’s with us all the time, but no decision on it, it has its pluses and minuses.
• When rebalancing artilleries, we will take into account the problem of dominance of TDs, we will monitor it and react immediately.
• Swedes will come until the end of the year, they will have a unique and original top tier tank.

Source: http://wot-news.com/main/postmsg/198155/38051/3/otvety-stanislav-kargin-veider-28052016