Crew 2.0: Join the New Sandbox Test!

Greetings, Commanders!

With your help, we tested Crew 2.0 on the Sandbox server several months ago. At the time, we received a huge number of questions and comments. After testing ended, we carefully analyzed all your feedback and the statistics we obtained, with particular attention paid to the most controversial aspects that sparked the hottest discussions.

We now invite you to take part in a new Sandbox test and assess the revised Crew 2.0 concept! The test begins on July 20, and each of you will have an opportunity to try out the new ideas and solutions that emerged from your feedback on the first iteration. Join the test, play, and share your impressions—together, we’ll determine the future of the new crew in World of Tanks!

Crew 2.0: What’s Changed?

Let's take a look at the main changes to Crew 2.0 compared to the first test and see how we dealt with the biggest issues of the previous iteration.

• During the first test, players thought that a detailed comparison would show that actual combat performance of the new crew was worse than that of the old crew. We have added the bonus effects of all old skills to the new system and combined them in such a way that a new crew of a certain progress level will never be worse than the old crew.

Thus, after conversion, players will receive a crew that is in no way worse (and often even better) than its old counterpart in terms of combat performance.

• When converting a crew, the system will automatically invest points in the skills of the Training Plan that correspond to the old skills.

A quick reminder: After conversion in the previous system, a player had to distribute Skill Points on their own, investing them in various skills of the Training Plan. Now, the system will do this work for you so that you can jump into battle faster. After conversion, you’ll receive a crew that corresponds to the previous one in terms of the total effects. If you have a few free Points after skill distribution in the new system, you can invest them at your discretion and thereby further strengthen your new crew.

The structure of the Training Plan itself has not changed, but we have revised the content of some skills to make it as similar as possible to the current system. For example, the new Safety Measures skill now combines the effects of several old skills at once. Thus, a crew with new skills will not lose its combat performance relative to the old one—it will often be more effective.

• During the previous test, many of you pointed out that there wasn’t a Commander's bonus, so we brought it back under the Mentor skill, which is available to all crews by default.

As before, it will add 1% to the major qualification of all crew members (except the Commander) for every 10% of the vehicle handling and is rounded up.

• Also, after conversion, each crew, even a newly recruited one and regardless of its level, will have two other skills by default: Sixth Sense and Triangulation (currently known as Sound Detection).

The Sixth Sense perk will continue to work for all crews, and you don’t need to train the Triangulation (Sound Detection) skill, which warns you about incoming fire of enemy SPGs. Triangulation will trigger when an enemy SPG fires and will help determine the direction of incoming shots.

Thus, all new crews will have three basic skills by default: Mentor (current Commander's bonus), Sixth Sense, and Triangulation.

• When converting crews, the XP of zero perks will be taken into account.

This was one of the most discussed topics of the previous Sandbox iteration, so we took your feedback into account and came up with the following solution: When converting an old crew to a new one, there will be no difference between the trained and zero skills when calculating XP. As a result, you’ll receive an Instructor and crew that are equal in combat performance to their current counterparts.

• The maximum number of Skill Points within the Main Progression of a crew has been increased from 75 to 80.

As a result, you’ll be able to train eight skills, which will increase the combat performance of the crew. The amount of experience required to achieve the maximum level has not changed and corresponds to five skills in the current system. Crew progression bonuses (discounts on training, Instructor slot, etc.) are now bound to other levels.

In this new system, a crew of one member with one zero skill and four other fully trained skills will receive the maximum level (Level 80) after conversion. A crew of one member with two zero skills and three other fully trained skills will also receive the maximum level upon conversion.

• When a crew reaches Level 80 (maximum) of the Main Progression, it can’t be further trained using Crew Books.

This step puts all players on equal footing—those who previously could speed up training in the Elite Progression (Professional Expertise) using Crew Books, with those who didn’t have the opportunity. However, you’ll still be able to use Crew Books to train crews within the Main Progression.

Moreover, after a crew reaches the maximum level in the Main Progression, players will be able to further train the crew using Free XP. This is a valuable game resource that requires a lot of work to be earned in battles, and we want you to be able to use it as you see fit.

• The maximum bonus to vehicle handling from the Elite Progression has been reduced from 21% to 15%.

We made this decision to balance the increase in crew performance throughout its entire training progression.

• The Instructor concept has been improved upon.

First, note that Instructors have been renamed since the first test:

After completing the first iteration of testing, players noted that Instructors received a random set of certifications that were not always needed for a particular crew and did not allow you to significantly enhance a single skill. Now, after converting and assigning a Standard or Valuable Instructor to a crew, you’ll be able to select a certification and nation (if it isn’t predetermined), as well as skills of the selected Training Course. You can change your selection as many times as you like until you click Apply.

Also, Unique Instructors (which were not available in the game during the first test) will be added. Crews created within partnership programs (e.g., Sabaton, The Offspring, characters from The Boys, etc.) will belong to this category. For them, certifications and skills will still be selected automatically with the bonuses that are most demanded for their vehicle.

The system of receiving bonus Skill Points (provided by Instructors within the selected certification) has also changed. Now, Instructors either give additional Points to a certain skill (if it’s not trained to 10 Points) or increase its maximum level (if it’s trained to Level 10 or higher).

In the new system, a Standard Instructor will occupy one slot, and, in addition to the bonus Skill Points provided, they will increase XP earned by the crew by 10%.

A Valuable Instructor will require two slots. They will increase the XP earned by the crew by 40%.

Finally, crews created within partnership programs will be considered as a single entity: the Unique Instructor. It will occupy 4 slots and increase the XP earned by the crew by 100%.

• The mechanics of how directives affect the skills of the Training Plan has been changed.

As with Instructors, directives will also provide additional Skill Points depending on Skill Level. If your current Skill Level is lower than 10, the directive will add +5 Points; if it is equal to or higher than 10, you will increase the maximum skill value by +1.

List of Crew Skills for which directives will be available:

1. Artillery Observer Guide: improves the Fire Adjustment skill
2. Gunner Guide: improves the Vulnerability Expert skill
3. Natural Cover: improves the Concealment skill
4. Safety Measures Guide: improves the Safety Measures skill
5. Steady Hand: improves the Smooth Ride skill
6. Combat Course: improves the Clutch Braking skill
7. Survival Basics: improves the Pain Threshold skill

The maximum Skill Level that can be reached with the Instructor and directive bonuses will be 15 Points. All additional Points that your crew receives provide the same skill increase.

• The amount of XP that a new crew loses for being retrained to another vehicle for free or for credits has been decreased.

Compared to the first test, the cost of retraining a crew for gold and credits remains the same. However, we took your feedback into account, so when retraining a crew for credits or for free, the crew will lose less XP:

• When retraining a crew for free, it loses 200% of the XP needed for training from the beginning of the current Skill Level to the beginning of the next one (or 300% of the XP if the vehicle type is changed). In this case, the skills of the Training Plan are reset for free.
• When retraining a crew for 500,000 credits, it loses 150% of the XP needed for training from the beginning of the current Skill Level to the beginning of the next one (or 200% of the XP if the vehicle type is changed). In this case, the skills of the Training Plan are reset for free.
• When retraining a crew for 750 gold, it is trained to operate a new vehicle without losing XP. You can also reset skills of the Training Plan for free, if you want.

Join the test and share your feedback on the suggested improvements! Now let's take a quick look at the other mechanics of Crew 2.0 that haven't changed. We’ll also talk about the new features that await you in the second test. Let's start with the feature that players are most interested in: the conversion of old crews into new ones.

Crew Conversion: Taking the Changes Into Account

• Conversion for each particular vehicle will be performed manually by the player. This will allow you to decide how to use such a valuable resource as Crew XP.
• All crew members who have not yet been recruited will be waiting in your Garage to be converted and assigned to the vehicles of your choice.
• When converting an old crew into a new one, its Skill Points will be automatically redistributed in a way to replicate (to the maximum extent) the effects of the previous crew—or even slightly improve them.
• You will be able to retrain old crew members to any qualification of any vehicle of the same nation under standard conditions: for free, for credits, and for gold. When retraining a crew for free or for credits, it will lose less XP of the major qualification than it did during the first test. After retraining, this crew can be converted into a new one.
• When converting crews, the XP of zero perks will be taken into account.
• Immediately after logging into the game, Standard and Valuable Instructors will be automatically credited to your account. Unique Instructors are credited when the leader of a group crew (for example, the Offspring band) is converted and a new unique crew is created. For Standard and Valuable Instructors, players will be able to select a nation and certification, which provides a bonus to the skills selected within it.
• In the new system, directives will be automatically converted into new ones at a one-for-one rate. However, the total number of directives for crews will be reduced to seven types. Directives will provide additional Skill Points depending on Skill Level. Bonus Points of the directives and Instructors are not counted when unlocking talents.
• All crew members in the Barracks whose experience is not enough to train at least one skill will be automatically converted to Crew Books of the corresponding nation, which can be used to improve new crews during their Main Progression.
• The total amount of experience for Crew Books will depend on the total experience of all crew members in the Barracks who have fewer than one skill. Calculations for each nation will be made separately, and rounding will be done in the players’ favor.
• Personal Training Manuals on accounts of players will be converted to a Universal Training Manual.
• All crew members with enough experience to train at least one skill will remain in the Barracks. They can be sent to whichever vehicle you want and converted into a new crew. Bunks in the Barracks will be converted to Retraining Orders at the following rate: 16 bunks for 1 Retraining Order.
• Each vehicle slot in the Garage will automatically come with a Dormitory for the crew of this vehicle. If necessary, additional Dormitories can be purchased.

Commander: Face of the Crew

In battle, the vehicle will still be controlled by all crew members who belong to the particular crew. In the new system, all crew members who keep their personalities will be visually represented by a single Commander. You can change the Commander's name and surname, as well as their appearance.

Crew Skill System

Each crew will have their own Training Plan that contains five Training Courses:

• Tactical Training
• Gunnery Training
• Technical Training
• Operational Training
• Driver Training

Each course will comprise five skills and two talents. As you earn experience in battles, the crew will increase their Skill Level and receive one Skill Point for this each time. Players will be able to invest it in any of the skills within the Training Plan for free. A maximum of 10 Skill Points can be invested in each skill. Any skill begins to work once you have trained it (i.e., invested at least one Point into the skill).

The maximum Main Progression level that a crew can reach is 80. As the Skill Level and the number of invested Points increase, the battle performance of the crew's vehicle will improve. However, a crew can earn a maximum of 80 Skill Points.

Upon reaching Level 80, Skill Points are no longer received, and the Elite Progression (Professional Expertise) will be unlocked for the Commander. With each new level of Professional Expertise, the crew will receive a small increase to vehicle handling. Its maximum value is 15%.

Talents

Upon investing 30 Points in a specific Training Course, you will be able to choose one of the two talents available within that course. These are special skills that trigger when a certain situation occurs in battle. Unlike skills, talents become available immediately after being unlocked, and no further investment of Skill Points is required. Skill Points from instructors and directives do not count towards unlocking talents!

If necessary, you can reset all Skill Points or redistribute a part of them again without losing XP that has already been earned by this crew. To do this, players will need to use a Retraining Order or pay a certain number of credits. This will allow you to experiment more freely with various combinations of skills and talents, adjusting the crew to suit your playstyle and selected vehicle.

Instructors

All special crew members (e.g., Snow Maidens or Battle Pass heroes, etc.) will become new characters: Instructors. They will provide additional Skill Points (on top of the 10-point limit) to the crew and increase the XP earned after each battle. Instructors will be displayed in the Garage with a special icon next to the crew image.

Up to four Instructors can be assigned to a crew. This functionality gets unlocked gradually, as the crew achieves Level 20, 35, 50, and 65. The more Instructors assigned to a crew, the more XP it will earn after battles.

Instructors are divided into three classes, depending on their value:

• If a special crew member had one zero perk, a Standard Instructor will be credited for them to the player.
• Valuable Instructors will be credited for all special crew members that had two zero perks.
• Crews created within partnership programs will become Unique Instructors.

Rewards for Participation in the Test

During the test period, you will have access to special missions on the Sandbox server. For their completion, you’ll receive useful rewards in the main game client.

How to Participate

• Download the Sandbox launcher.
• Install the Sandbox client by launching the downloaded file. If you're running the Game Center for the first time, you'll have to authorize and restart the downloaded installation file.
• Wait until the Sandbox client is downloaded and installed.
• Open the World of Tanks tab, select World of Tanks Sandbox, and click Play.

START TESTING!  

The cut-off (game progress, achievements, etc.) was made on July 4 2021, except for the in-game currency values, which are test values only.

Join the Test and Share Your Feedback

All of the improvements mentioned above are a new working concept that needs to be checked and thoroughly tested by players. We really need to collect as much feedback, opinions, and impressions as possible, and we hope you take an active part in the test and make your contribution to the new crew system and how it will be implemented in the game.

Join the test and share your feedback, Commanders! Together we can make World of Tanks even better!