Wargaming at Gamescom 2016
Tank Commanders,
Starting from 17th and lasting until 21st of August in the German city of Cologne, the World of Tanks development team took part in the most largest European trade fair for the gaming industry – Gamescom 2016. The developers’ representatives have reported the first details about the upcoming nation of Sweden, shared concrete information about Update 9.16 and answered players questions as well.
We have gathered all announcements made in Gamescom 2016 within this article for easy reference. Read on to find out more!
Update 9.16
New Map: Paris
In Update 9.16, the Paris map will be available for Random battles.
On this new battlefield, densely built-up city streets will safely shelter friendly heavy tanks as they move towards their objectives. The central square is also dangerous and controlled from all sides, while the waterfront bordering the river Seine with an unfinished fountain is suitable for fast and maneuverable vehicles.
First Swedish Premium vehicle: Strv m/42-57 Alt A.2
Update 9.16 will also introduce the first representative of the Swedish nation into the game: The Strv m/42-57 Alt A.2 Tier VI medium tank . "Strv" is an Abbreviation for the word Stridsvagn, i.e. “tank”. The vehicle is a project borne from the installation of a turret similar to those found in AMX-13s on the Swedish-made hull of the Strv m/42 medium tank .
The first Swedish tank introduced into the game will also be accompanied with the appropriate national voice sounds, inscriptions, consumables and camouflages.
New Nation: Sweden
Why Sweden?
Sweden is the biggest tankbuilding country - with lots of vehicles developed independently - out of those that have not been represented in our game yet. The country’s tank building history is quite rich and has allowed us to create two fully set branches of original vehicles, while providing much potential for future development.
Click to enlarge
It is worth noting that the vast majority of vehicles available in the Swedish tech tree are the direct results of Swedish engineering. The only exception is the Tier I vehicle, which was originally purchased in Germany before it was subsequently upgraded and replicated. Almost all vehicles, with a few exceptions, were built in metal at least once.
Future updates will add up to 19 new combat vehicles into the game, which cover the period from 1921 to 1966. There will be two branches: one comprised entirely of TDs and a mixed branch consisting of Light, Medium and Heavy tanks (the latter being at the very end of the line). Swedish vehicles will also bring out some original gameplay elements. For example, TDs of this nation will tend to utilise their advantage of high speed and good camouflage.
Here are several screenshots of the Swedish vehicles in-game:
New Game Event: 100 Years of Tanks
The 100-year anniversary of the first combat engagement by a tank will soon occur in the weeks to come. In anticipation of this date, the development team has prepared a new game event titled “Convoy”, where we will be able to see the first English tank Mark I and to join battles with the Lanchester Armored Car wheeled armored vehicle sometime in September.
The battles will take place on the event map called “The Somme”. Which is specially created for the event and stylized in a WWI setting.
Q&A with WoT Development Team
This year at Gamescom 2016, we have collected your questions to ask our developers at the event, so that they could satisfy your curiosity and give you a little sneak peek into what the future holds for World of Tanks. These are the most interesting questions we received as well as the developers’ answers:
Fisch: Will there be unified Premium Accounts (currency and time) for all Wargaming games?
A: We already have unified Premium Accounts for our PC “World of” titles, so all fans of these games can purchase Premium Account safe in the knowledge that the amount is shared between them. As for the in-game currency, we have considered it, but it is difficult to introduce unified currencies in different MMO projects because they all have different life cycles and economies, so for the time being we plan to keep these separate.
John: Why do I only get 3-4 maps out of over 40+ during a single play session?
A: We made several changes in version 9.14 which were intended to increase the variety of maps available to players, and judging by the actual user stats these changes have been successful. We are continuing to look into potential cases where players may encounter a limited variety of maps and will continue to address those when we find them. It is worth noting that if players filter their random battle types in the settings they will cut down on the potential map variety, as not all modes are available for all maps.
SpectralWalrus: Why are you removing maps from the game completely instead of reworking them?
A: Most of the removed maps are being reworked, so sooner or later we may bring them back.
Claudio_ITA: When will the Italian tech tree be introduced to World of Tanks?
A: Right now our historians are researching European tank-building schools: things such as Czechoslovakian, Polish, Italian, Swedish, and Hungarian tanks. We had more luck with the Swedish tree and there are already 19 vehicles to fill two full branches, so we are aiming to release the nation by the end of the year. As for Italian tanks, they will not be released in 2016, but we hope that we will be able to introduce them in the future.
qqAxeL: Why did you guys make the matchmaking +/- 2 Tiers with normal tanks and +/-3 with scouts? I think it is not fair sometimes.
A; We believe there are a number of ways we can improve our matchmaking. At the moment we are working on a new version of the matchmaker, which will solve our current problems with the team balance. You can expect to see us doing some public testing of this new matchmaking solution later this year.
Alegzandar: Will you apply the same anti cheat system as used in the RU servers?
A: We have been reviewing our anti-cheat situation overall and are committed to continually improving things for our community. We will continue to evolve how we handle cheating in all regions.
RicoPro22: Have you considered operating an official mod store so that you can assure that they are virus-free?
A: Yes, we have definitely considered it. We love our mod-making community and we want to make it easier for players to use mods (while at the same time protecting the players from cheat mods). We are looking into a number of options right now and when we finalise our plans, we will be sure to update everyone.
faros78: Are you planning on adding more Tiers to World of Tanks like Tier XI and XII?
A: For now there are no such plans. We are working hard to improve the core gameplay: the matchmaker, vehicle balance, core mechanics, interfaces and so on.
Angel_Arrow: Can we expect weather effects similar to the console version to come to World of Tanks PC?
A: Recently we moved to a new version of Direct X and now the development team is working to improve our in-game visuals and performance, and weather is one of the things we are looking at. However, there is nothing to announce yet.
KyllerX7_: There are some rumours about an upcoming World of Tanks with modern Tanks, named World of Tanks 2.0 – are these rumours true?
A: Just rumours: We are still fully committed to World of Tanks and have a huge team continuing to work on new updates, features, and content for it!
Good_Looking_Corpse: Do Wargaming have any plans to change personal missions in the future to try and prevent mission rigging?
A: Definitely: We are working on it right now – not only are we working on the missions themselves, but also on both the Garage and in-battle interfaces to make them more user friendly and easier to track.
Johnville: Is the T25 pilot number 1 going to replace the T26E4, a.k.a the SuperPershing, if it is ever to be released, possibly in the upcoming months?
A: We have special plans for the T25 Pilot tank – stay tuned!
Damage_inc: Will the iconic Tiger 131 be coming to the game and if so for which Tier?
A: We don’t have any plans to make any announcements on the topic of specific, individual tanks right now. For the moment, we are focusing on the new Swedish tech tree.
Elad_Israel: Is there a chance we will see Israeli tanks in the game?
A: We have no plans to introduce them in the near future. It would be quite hard to create a full tree of ten Tiers, but we are continually researching options.
Youwillneverwalkalone: How long does it usually take to create a map in World of Tanks?
A: It depends on the scale and setting: If we are talking about a completely new setting with all new objects, it could take up to 9 months for the full cycle including map creation and testing. If we reuse objects, the process could be shorter, like 6 months.
don't_panic2: When will you finally rebalance Artillery?
A: We are working on this right now, and we have a number of prototypes that need testing. Players already saw one of them on the Sandbox test server. We want this class to fulfil its role and not be a toxic class for other players.
demidieu12: Hello developers. When will the modes Domination, Rampage and the personal missions be back in the game? Thanks in advance for the answer!
A: Thanks for the question! We will definitely use some of the mechanics that were introduced in these modes. We have been considering ways to rework the modes themselves, but we have no plans to re-release them at the moment, because we are focusing on the core gameplay and the improvement of random battles.
tinade29: I would like to know when is Wargaming going to make Strongholds more dynamic? The project feel unfinished and dropped.
A: Work is going on to improve Strongholds and make them much more interesting to play. We don’t have a set date to announce yet, but stay tuned!
starfighter44: Why when we are in a platoon do we not start on the same position on the map? Especially in assault mode, it doesn't make sense to have to cross the map to play with your friends.
A: Good thought – we’ll look into it.
tizzos24: It would be nice to see medals, ribbons, or actions display in battles the same way they are available in-game for World of Tanks Console and World of Warships. It would help to know when we hit a tank or destroyed an enemy and would improve the gameplay. Thanks for your time!
A: As part of version 9.15.1, we just moved to the Action Script 3 platform, which will allow us to further improve both the Garage and the battle interfaces. There will be UI and UX improvements with every upcoming update. We appreciate the feedback!
DerEiserne: Is there going to be a unified clan chat where you can add sub-clans in the same way we currently have the regular clan chat (not closeable, not a regular chat channel and configurable by clan commanders)?
A: We are reviewing some options for reworking the chat and we’ll consider this, however it’s not in our current plans at the moment.
KommandeurT72: Are there any plans to make the WT auf E100 available again?
A: There are some ideas, but nothing detailed yet.
Juliusz_97: Are you planning to expand the British, German or American tech trees?
A: Potentially, but it’s not where our content builders are focused right now. For the moment, we’re hard at work getting ready to release our Swedish tree.
Kamil11101: Are there any plans to factor in the manufacturing quality when calculating penetration chances? Steel of the same thickness had different properties depending on how good the production process was.
A: No, our penetration mechanic is already a pretty deep system, accounting for armour thickness, angling, shell types, velocity, and falloff. We don’t want to make things harder for our players to understand by adding another variable that would be difficult for players to see or track. While we could always refine it with more options, we don’t ever want to lose sight of it being fun first.