In Development: Marks of Excellence

Tank Commanders,

We've been hard at work on Update 9.1 for weeks now, and we're finally ready to give you a little sneak preview about what's coming up next: Marks of Excellence.

It's by no means a game-changing feature, but we think it'll be a pretty cool thing when it goes live, so read on to learn more about it and why you should care!

A short history about Marks of Excellence

Soldiers of any army in history have always attempted to show off their combat expertise, usually with a custom set of decorations that signify the number of kills they have made throughout the battles that they had participated in.

This was true as well for some tankers who served in the Second World War. For them, each mark signified a vehicle destroyed with a shot from their tank. Crews usually recorded their kills for bragging rights, although it was also utilized as an unorthodox method to determine skill levels within tank squadrons.

Nevertheless, it never received widespread adoption; the sheer volume of tanks used in battle, along with the chaos that inevitably followed made it so that few could tell whose shell delivered the killing blow with certainty.

Marks of Excellence in World of Tanks

With the release of Update 9.1, we'll be bringing Marks of Excellence into the game for all players to achieve and earn. There are three seperate ranks of Marks of Excellence available for each tank you own. To get these Marks, each player must prove that they're better than the rest before unlocking them for use.

Unlike real-life however, these will not be based on the number of kills gained on the tank itself, as those are relatively easy to score. There's no point in earning the Marks if a Type 59 can get one by defeating a T1 Cunningham in a 'fair' one-on-one duel, or if a Tier III sneaks in a killing blow in a match comprised mostly of Tier VIs.

Instead, we'll be using the 'Average Damage Dealt' property to decide who's eligible for a Mark of Excellence. Unlike the number of kills gained or victories in battle, the average amount of damage inflicted by a player is directly influenced by individual skill level and not by the effectiveness of the team or platoon. Spotting damage will also be considered, which means that light tanks successfuly in scouting roles will have a much easier time earning the top ranking Mark than their peers.

Some Important details

As Marks of Excellence are a (albeit minor) feature with many moving parts surrounding it, a few things might go unnoticed if left unspoken. Therefore, here are some of the more important details surrounding Marks of Excellence:

1. The number of Marks a player can earn is determined by their overall performance:
1. 1 Mark: Be one of the top 35% of players for damage dealt in a particular tank
2. 2 Marks: Be one of the top 15% of players for damage dealt in a particular tank.
3. 3 Marks: Be one of the top 5% of players for damage dealt in a particular tank.
   
   
2. Spotting Damage will also count towards the Average Damage Dealt property.
3. Performance calculations for all players will begin upon the release of Update 9.1, placing all players in an equal standing.
4. Calculations are conducted soon after the conclusion of each battle, allowing dynamic tracking of a player's performance.
5. Marks earned for a tank will also display specific information when highlighted, allowing players to learn their relative skill level for that tank compared to other players in the server.
   
   
   
   
6. Players may opt to disable the display of Marks for their tanks if they wish, as well as Marks on the vehicles of other players. This can be done in the Settings menu.
   
   
   
   
7. The rankings for a player in any given region will only be compared to other players within that region only. In other words, a player on the Asia Server will never be compared to players on NA, EU or RU servers, and vice versa.

Marks of Excellence for each Nation

It goes without saying that each nation's vehicles will have a different design and placement for Marks than the others. Most, if not all of the designs that we have opted for are based on research, collaboration with war historians and wartime photographs.

In the following screenshots, we'll show you just how these Marks will look like in the game.

USSR

Soviet vehicles will feature a red star with a white-to-black border as their Mark of Excellence design. Each vehicle can have up to 3 stars, which will be placed on the gun barrel and a short distance away from the mantlet.

China

The Marks of Excellence for Chinese vehicles will feature a red star with yellow borders. Similar to Soviet vehicles, the 3 stars are also aligned along the gun barrel, with a space between the mantlet and the first star.

USA

American tanks will feature the classic white star with black borders as their Marks of Excellence. However, these Marks will be placed directly at the center of the gun barrel's length, with a maximum of 3 available for each tank.

Germany

German tanks will possess up to 3 groups of narrow white rings with black outlines as their Marks of Excellence. The Marks are located close to the compensator of the gun.

France

French vehicles will sport wide bands of white rings as their Marks of Excellence. A maximum of 3 Marks is allowed, which are placed a third of the length between the gun compensator and the mantlet.

Britain

Like French vehicles, the Marks of Excellence for British Tanks will also be wide white rings. These are spaced one-third of the way between the compensator and the mantlet.

Japan

The Marks of Excellence for Japanese tanks will feature red axes with black borders. The three Marks for each tank will be located close to the mantlet with a small space in between.

We hope you enjoyed this little preview of what's to come. Check back often - we'll have more details on Update 9.1 soon!

Roll out!