Friday 31 July 2015

31.07.2015 Stream

Hello Warriors,

I hope everyone had a nice and productive week like mine.
After all the work today I'm ready for some streaming, will be relaxing to some music and doing Platoon or Tank Requests, we will see.
Have to warn today will be a short stream, need to be awake very early tomorrow as this one has another weekend full with and in tanks! :P

Lets do this: http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2

31.07.2015 Q&A

 Here it is:

- Wargaming is doing a huge amount of work in developing and testing of new modes;
- Currently WG is testing bots, they are allegedly very intelligent and will serve to improve new gameplay mods;
- New motion physics is practically ready;
- Japanese heavies will "not be for everybody" and will suffer from artillery but they are unique in gameplay;
- Czech branch will come until the end of the year, it will be announced at Gamescom;
- Developers will coordinate the improvements of PC WoT graphics with American colleagues from Xbox One team;
- 4 new artillery features are in testing in order to make arty class more of a support class. It's possible alpha and oneshot crits will be reduced and accuracy improved;
- FV4202 tier 10 was originally introduced because at that point there were no other drawings of historical vehicles for that slot available (plus the FV4202 was implemented as "sufficiently historical");
- Steam support for WoT is not considered for now;
- There are no specific plans for armored cars in WoT as they would feel really uncomfortable in WoT setting;
- RBT-5 (BT-5 with rocket launchers) was shelved;
- Multiturret mechanism could be applied to a number of tanks in the game (especially Japanese heavies) but the secondary guns are weak. It's not worth wasting effort on;
- Developers are working on Havok physics
- Developers are no longer publishing 3 month plans because the stuff was getting delayed all the time resulting in negative feedback;
- Sturmtiger was modelled and tested but it will not appear in random battles (too big derp);
- Alternative hulls are complicated to implement, but it is planned. One of the problem is the HDD space (it will take a lot) plus the fact that not many tanks will get them;
- There are no plans for tanks obtainable exclusively for non-clan players;
- 1,5 million chatbans were issued in 2 months on RU server for profanities, there are more plans to fight toxic players;
- WT E-100 will be replaced. It was introduced intentionally as a skill-based tank (heavily depending on player skill) and does not fit random battles very well in some cases;
- Anton "Evilly" Pankov personally sees two biggest WoT issues in tank balance and game performance;
- There was at first no option of using your own tanks in the Domination mode for technical reasons but the developers had to test it, that's why the mode was released with only "special" tanks;
 - KV-5 is doing fine statistically, it's possible however its armor will be reworked in HD ("we'll see what we can do");
- Type 59 in HD should appear in 9.10.



There is a extra important bit from EU (had no other place to put this without it being buried in the amount of info that I'm posting today):

Wargaming’s 17th Anniversary (SEA)

Hello Warriors,

this is what our comrades over SEA  are getting for the Wargaming’s 17th Anniversary:

-From 1 August, 2015 (Saturday) @ 13:30 - 14:00 UTC+8 (06:00 UTC) until 17 August, 2015 (Monday) @ 13:30 - 14:00 UTC+8 (06:00 UTC) 

Discounts


- SPG (available on 1st - 3rd August):
Increased First Victory bonus (All First Victories will provide x3 EXP)

Up to 50% off for the following:
  • All Tier II - V SPGs
  • Consumables

Up to 30% off for the following:
  • All Tier VI - VII SPGs

Up to 15% off for the following:
  • All Tier VIII - X SPGs

Wargaming’s 17th Anniversary (EU)

Hello Warriors,

Well this is awkward... I was hoping that there would be some "secret surprise" today on the EU portal for this but not much has changed from what I posted yesterday. I still hope this is a preliminary and there is more to come!

-From Saturday 1 August at 07:10 until Tuesday 4 August at 07:00 CEST (UTC +2)

Discounts (and the best we have going):
- x3 Crew
- 50%  on Exterior tank pimping
- 30% on standard vehicles (VI-VII)
- 50% on premium vehicles (II-V)

And the missions are pretty much the same:

 "Happy Anniversary"

Conditions
  • Earn a total of 25,000 XP over any number of battles
  • Be in the top 10 players on your team by base experience earned
Requirements
  • Tier V and above only
  • Random Battles only
  • Once per day
 Reward
  • 1 x Personal Reserve: +10% XP boost (Duration: 4 hours, Expiration date: none)

"Party Time!"

Conditions:
  • Finish the mission “Happy Anniversary” a total of 3 times
Requirements:
  • Once per account
 Reward:
  • 1 x Coated Optics
  • 1 x garage slot
 
A Coated Optics means party time? Now wish I was in Russia... at least they have strippers in their parties... Lets hope there is more coming!

Q&A with Yuri Pasholok

Hello Warriors,

Yuri Pasholok, Wargaming's history consultant has kindly agreed to make a historical based Q&A for RSR.
I will be choosing the questions from you in this comment section.

Note: Nothing gaming related.

Is it a bird? Is it a rocket? Its the PasholokMan! :3

Aufklärungspanzer Panther Camouflage Bug / Compensation

Hello Warriors,

on the NA forums, PizzaStorm (Community Manager) has this to say about the Aufklärungspanzer Panther Camouflage Bug:

"Hey Tankers,

We found a bug in 9.9 where the camouflage that was purchased before patch 9.9 on the Aufklärungspanzer Panther, using Gold, did not transfer to the Spähpanzer SP I C if you purchased more than one season.

For example, if you purchased three Desert camos for the Auf. Panther, then the bug only gave you one Desert camo on the SP1c. This bug may take time to iron out, but in the meant time, we want to compensate everyone this affected with the applicable gold amount for the their missing camouflage."



Apparently there are also players complaining that the Aufklärungspanzer Panther's Loader and Radio Operator were retrained for the Panther 8.8, rather than a light tank and they can't use them in their LTs anymore. There was no answer still from staff on that issue.

If you have these problems make sure to contact the Support Team of your server.


NA discounts and rewards

Hello Warriors,

in the NA server, from Friday, July 31, 04:20 PT / 07:20 ET until Monday, August 3, 04:20 PT / 07:20 ET will have the following discounts:
  • 50% Gold/Credit on Crew (Re)Training & Skill Reset
  • 50% Credit on Regular Vehicles, Tiers II - V
  • 50% Gold on Premium Vehicles, Tiers II - V

Also during this time there is a set of missions:
  • "The First Steps" (Damage three (3) or more enemy vehicles in a single battle you will earn a Small First Aid Kit);
  • "Making the Grade" (Destroy three (3) or more enemy vehicles in a single battle you will earn a Manual Fire Extinguisher);
  • "Class Favorite" (Earn the Confederate achievement and you will get a Large First Aid Kit);
  • "Head of the Class" (Earn the Top Gun achievement and you will get a Automatic Fire Extinguisher).

 Note:
  •     Random battles only
  •     Tiers III - V only
  •     Repeatable

And if you complete both "Class Favorite" and "Head of the Class" you will earn:
  • 15% Experience-booster (Duration: 2 hours, expires September 1)
Note:
  • Once per account
Have fun!

FV201 (A45) Bundles (were) available

Hello Warriors,

according to "jigzy" in the EU forum, the FV201 (A45) Bundles were available in the gift shop and then got removed 10 minutes later.



This is basically the same bundles the other servers got with the FV201 (A45) missions
And if EU keeps this plan then this is actually good news, not only is fair as we get the same as the other instances (even if later) and everyone has the chance to get the tank for free through the missions instead of a +-50Euros bundle.

Battle of Kursk

Hello Warriors,

WG RU has a new re-enactment video, this time is about the Battle of Kursk (English Subtitles available):

Armored Warfare: T-72A

Hello Warriors,

Armored Warfare has a new tank in focus, the T-72A, you can read about its history and how it got applied in-game here: http://aw.my.com/us/vehicles-focus-t-72a


I seriously need to put my Challenger I aside and start playing with other tanks too...what about, when EA4 arrives I unlock and buy all the tanks and do a Tank Request stream like often do when I'm streaming WoT?  The AW lads gave me a bunch of Credits and XP, might as well make a good use of it. :)

Thursday 30 July 2015

Turán 3 Prototype

Hello warriors,

this is the upcoming tier 5 premium German medium tank, Turán 3 prototype. You can read more about its history here: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/06/04/hungarian-armor-part-7-turan-iii/

This appearance likely means that the Hungarians (who could in theory build a branch up to tier 7-8) will not appear in the game as a separate nation. According to the leakers this is going to be a regular premium vehicle (available for money).


Description:

A prototype of a Hungarian WW2 period medium tank with a long 75mm 43M and with improved armor compared to the previous variants. It was never mass produced because the armor production in Hungary stopped in Summer 1944

Tier: 5 MT
Hitpoints: 570
Engine: 260 hp
Weight: 20 tons
Power-to-weight: 13hp/t
Maximum speed: 40/20 km/h
Hull traverse: 34 deg/s
Turret traverse: 29,2 deg/s
Terrain resistance: 0,959/1,151/1,726
Viewrange: 330
Radio range: 636,6

30.07.2015 Q&A

 Here it is:

- Hungarian tanks will appear in the game. According to supertesters, "Turán 3 Prototype" should appear on supertest soon (what kind of crews or tree will it have is unclear);
- CW tanks will not be sold for money. For now.  (Storm: "for now, I don't foresee it");
- Storm is now collecting feedback on the Domination mode;
- WG is working on PvE mode;
- Storm personally likes the latest iteration of the Domination mode the most;

Have a good day!

Armored Warfare: Artillery Support Shells

Hello Warriors,

The Armored Warfare lads have posted an article showing in more detail on how the Support Shells for Artillery will work, there is a lot of details so I will post the link to make sure you wont miss anything: http://aw.my.com/us/news/general/feature-preview-new-artillery-shells


They actually nailed right my only concern that could make this be a failure, the artillery will be rewarded for supporting random players:

"When using smoke rounds, artillery players are rewarded for breaking enemy line of sight to their allies."

"When using illumination rounds, artillery players are rewarded for spotting enemies as well as any damage dealt to targets that are spotted."

Cant wait to test this out on the 13th August. :)

Wargaming's 17th Anniversary Missions

Hello Warriors,

was going to take my IS-3 for a random walk (have to keep the crew going if want that 6th skill to see the light of the day!) and while browsing the mission panel noticed that the Wargaming's 17th Anniversary missions have been placed:

-They will take place from 1 August, 7:10 (CET) until 4 August, 7:10 (CET)




Note: the missions are only visible on EU, went to check my NA and RU accounts and they are not showing up yet.

New maps coming

 Hello Warriors,

New maps screenshots, this is from closed section of the RU forums (for supertesters).

Berlin:


Studyanki (Poland):


Czech map:

T1 HMC (tier 2 artillery)

Hello warriors,

this is the T1 HMC, another new member of the American artillery line - this time on tier 2


Description:

The Howitzer Motor Carriage T1 vehicle was built in the autumn of 1930 on the chassis of the T2 light tank. Parts and elements of the T1 Cunningham were used in its creation. The development however took place in the middle of the Great Depression and that is why it was stopped after building one prototype.

Tier: 2 arty
Hitpoints: 80
Engine: 89 hp
Weight: 5,165 tons
Power-to-weight: 17,23 hp/t
Maximum speed: 34/12 km/h
Hull traverse: 20 deg/s
Turret traverse limit: 60 deg
Terrain resistance: 1,151/1,342/1,87
Viewrange: 280
Radio range: 265

Maus Cat Tree

Hello Warriors,

Vladimir C. knows that I love cats and shared this video with me of a MAUS cat tree!
To all cats and tank lovers:


I can imagine the cat meowing "Yes... Yess Hooman! I approve of this prototype model for the world  domination plans. Now! Make it a real tank and I will spare your soul after lashing you to within an inch of your life. And then, I'm going to love you, violently!"


Small Edit: Thank you to "eelco berg" in the comment section, he pointed out that there is currently a contest going on in the forums where you can earn this Cat-Maus tree: http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/511777-artistic-contest/

Czechoslovak crew faces

Hello Warriors,

here are the Czechoslovak crew faces, the seventh from the left is Tuccy, former WoT Czechoslovak community manager and current World of Warships manager:


What you think about them and whats your favorite?
Mine is the twelfth from the left... its the facial hair. :P

PAK 40 German 75mm anti tank gun video

Hello Warriors,

Roy H. , a very nice gentleman that took me home during Tankfest has shared this video of a PAK 40 German 75mm anti tank gun with a dude that apparently fires on the READY command!


Wednesday 29 July 2015

29.07.2015 Stream (ended)

Hello Warriors,

blog work is done for today so I will be doing my scheduled stream as usual: http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2

193 Tanks, EU/NA/RU.

Hoping to get some Luchs... *Evil Smirk*


29.07.2015 Q&A

Here it is:

- Q: "Will 88mm L/56 be buffed so it is like in Blitz?" A: "It would be easier to just ask Blitz to nerf it";
- Changing the 88mm L/56 and other guns that are installed on many tanks at the same time is not trivial because they are so widespread;
- It's not true that Xbox WoT will lose some features just because they are not possible to put easily into the PC version;
- Storm states that some Youtubers like Murazor are spreading lies and whine about things (in this case +/-1 MM they want) because their Youtube income is directly dependent on this whining;
- Tank profitability coefficients were not touched in 9.9;
- Storm states that the Japanese Tiger is not in the same situation as the Mauschen was (OP versus lower tiers, underpowered versus higher tiers);
- According to Storm, WoT on Win10 results are not bad;
- The best Windows to run WoT with (IF you have sufficient hardware) currently is Windows 8.1;
- There are currently no special optimizations in the game for Dx12;
- UI in WoT will be reworked to ActionScript 3;
- According to Veider (balance developer) Windows 10 work well.

Armored Warfare: Early Access 4

Source.

Hello Warriors,

the phase 4 of the Early Access from Armored Warfare will take place between August 13th and August 30th. And this time the test will be open 24h a day.

This client brings new languages (German, Polish and French) and more will be added in the future for non-English speaking players.

Another very interesting update, Artillery will have special support shells:

  • Smoke shells (available to all artillery vehicles), creating a large smoke cloud that breaks the enemy line of sight;
  • Illumination shells (available to artillery vehicles of tier 6 and above), spotting enemies for 10 seconds in 30 meter radius.
(Will definitely be testing these out on my livestream!)


These are the main features and updates:
  •     Retrofit system is now available (more information available in developer diary article)
  •     Advanced artillery support shells
  •     Several new vehicles (T-54, M48 Patton, Object 430, Centauro 120, FV721, Begleitpanzer 57, T-72A) with Centauro 155 removed from the dealer tree for rebalance
  •     Game economy overhaul
  •     Significant increase in the PvE rewards, new PvE missions
  •     Large optimization bundle
  •     Rebalances of certain vehicles
  •     A large number of bug fixes and improvements

If you want to see in detail all the changes hop into the patchnotes:  http://aw.my.com/us/news/general/early-access-4-patchnotes

Gojira Tanks!

Hello Warriors,

while navigating through the EU forum waters found this fan-made video of the Japanese HTs called "Godzilla Tanks":


These are cuts from the Japanese Tiger video but the soundtrack from the first "Gojira" (1954) movie makes it very honorable!


Name changes of Japanese tanks *UPDATE*

Hello Warriors,

here is the updated names of the Japanese Heavy tanks (by progression):

  • O-I Experimental
  • O-I
  • O-NI (formerly known as O-I 100)
  • O-I 120

O-I Screenshots

Hello Warriors,

the last batch... the tier 6 O-I:


Stats and model.

O-I Experimental Screenshots

Hello Warriors,

more Japanese HT screenshots, this time from the tier 5 O-I Experimental:  


Stats and model.

O-NI Screenshots

Hello Warriors,

new screenshots of the O-NI, the tier 7 Japanese tank, formerly known as O-I 100 (It got unhistorically renamed):


Stats and model.
Extra Size comparison.

CW: Global Map Closing

Hello Warriors,

if you been paying attention to CW, currently there are 2 Global map versions, the standard and the recently-introduced test version that is doing fine.
On 1 August, 11:00 CEST (UTC+2), WG EU will freeze the standard version and on 3 August, 11:00 CEST (UTC+2) it will be completely purged.


Make sure to pack your bags and take care of your businesses before it closes. :)

Source.

WoT- Carrousel de Saumur, France 2015

Hello Warriors,

little video about the Carrousel de Saumur, France 2015 from WG EU:


Sad, this time they didn't had that pretty girl from Tankfest giving the community bags... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Japanese Tiger English Version

Hello Warriors,

WG EU Youtube channel already posted the English version of the Japanese Tiger video, very surprised, usually it takes them months until they release their versions after RU. Anyways... do keep this speed please!

As promised yesterday:


Tuesday 28 July 2015

Japanese Heavies Q&A with Daigensui

 Hello Warriors,

as promised here is the "Japanese Heavies Q&A" with Daigensui, these questions were picked from the comment section of a previous normal Q&A:


Is there a possibility to have a t8 prem for the IJA HT?
- Yes, although it will take a while.

For the Type 5 HT, is the gun originally from 14cm naval gun.
- Yes.

How much of the line is created by WG/you (due to lack of historical data) ?
- There was constant communication and cooperation. So say which part of the line was made by which is impossible to say, never mind needless.


Regarding high-tiered Japanese HT armaments.
Considering the cooperation between Rikugun and Kaigun was unlikely since the Rikugun and Kaigun were not on good terms at the start of the war , is it even possible for Rikugun to obtain 12,7 cm and 14 cm Naval Artillery to be mounted on their tanks and have ammunition supplied to them? 
- If we suppose that IJA supplied the hull for use in coastal defense, then it is possible. After all, IJN did do their own modifications with Chi-Ha with 12 cm guns.


Is the O-I 120 model correct? According to SoukouDragon's article from 2013 there is no 4th turret (third miniturret) behind the main turret: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2013/11/19/superheavy-japanese-tanks/- About as "correct" as possible. Plus, you have to realize that there are quite a few artist's interpretations that are not based on actual blueprints or interviews with the engineers who worked on the projects.

WoT Xbox One Launch Trailer

Hello Warriors,

this is the Xbox One Launch Trailer for World of Tanks:


This one actually looks pretty cool.

Map "Crab"

Hello Warriors,

here is a video preview of a map called "Crab":


There is no date for when it will be appointed for supertest.
Technical name: st_ballance_map

Snapping Tortoise vs Passive Tortoise

Hello Warriors,

decided to upload a highlight from last night's livestream where I made 6500 damage with my favorite Tank Destroyer:


You can see the results difference between an aggressive Tortoise and a passive one and how to use the field to the vehicle advantage.


Love comes in many forms, even a Tortoise one...


Meeting my lover. I present you, the Tortoise. :P
Posted by Rita Gamer on Domingo, 28 de Junho de 2015


Last Saturday got authorized by a curator from The Tank Museum and went back for a revisit, but this time I got to be on the Tortoise! The Staff as usual were all very charming, will be showing with time what I am allowed to. I'm such a happy lass nowadays...

Pz.Kpfw. IV hydrostat. on Sale

Hello Warriors,

from 28 July, 07:10 until 30 July, 07:00 CEST (UTC+2) the Pz.Kpfw. IV hydrostat. will be on sale for 99.99 Euros on the EU server for the first time.

The package also contains 30.500 gold (price calculated) which makes the tank and garage slot a "free" bonus.


What you think about the tank and the package?

Japanese Tiger video

Hello Warriors,

WG RU uploaded a video about the Japanese Tiger but the English subtitles are very "Me Tarzan You Jane". I will repost this once it comes in English:


Japanese Tiger Fixed

Morning lovely Warriors,

I woke up to the good news that the Japanese Tiger broken gun mantlet is now fixed!

The fix came in this micropatch and this is how it looks like now:


Before:


*Happily Dances her way to the coffee machine*

New Chieftain screenies

Hello Warriors,

2 previews of the Chieftain have surfaced:



Have a good night!

Monday 27 July 2015

27.07.2015 Q&A

 Here it is:

- Storm: there will NOT be +/-1 MM - not in PC and not in Xbox version of WoT
- Some HD model vehicles were not outsourced but were made by WG artists themselves, for example the "Berlin trio";
- Storm doesn't think the new 9.9 shadows are too blurry: "earlier it was even worse";
- When balancing light tanks, Wargaming is analyzing: damage, spotting and spotting damage, assisting damage, popularity, average life span in battle and other variables;
- Premium vehicles are tested more rigorously than regular ones and that's why corrections in their characteristics are rare;
- Shell behavior is simplified for game purposes, various nuances such as APC versus APCBC are not considered;
- The "shaking" of sniper mode after shooting is a client-side feature for "lovers of realism and immersion";
- Tier 8 premium Sturmtiger will not be implemented (yes, someone asked that);
- There is no specific "maximum aim circle size" in WoT. There is gun accuracy, aim time and aim circle size modifiers from turning the turret, hull traverse and movement speed. These modifiers are then applied to the base value.
- Mauschen wasn't introduced because it was too overpowered on tier 7 and 8 due to its armor and gun but completely sucked against 9 and 10. The VK4502B switch was delayed. In the future it's possible the vehicle will be switched to something else entirely.
- Community opinion is relative: the fact that some 100 players on some forum somewhere are angry at certain feature does not mean that the entire community is.


27.07.2015 Stream (ended)

Hello Warriors,

I hope everyone had a relaxing Monday as mine!

Will be streaming for the next couple hours some World of Tanks. Still feeling a bit tired from my last couple days so will have a relaxed night.

Lets do this: http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2


Note: Q&A may come later.

Armored Warfare: Developer Q&A #6

Hello Warriors,

AW published their #6 Developer Q&A, if you have any more questions just drop them in the comment section bellow, SilentStalker will be around to answer, even if I have to drag him. :P

How do you determine which tier a vehicle will end up ? It is weird to see a tier 7 Warrior only have autocannon while some tier 5 and 6 vehicles do have ATGM or auto cannon to deal with various threats.
First and foremost, please keep in mind that the tree you are currently seeing in the game is not finished and might be changed at any point during the Early Access stage. With that being said, we are generally trying to match certain eras to certain vehicles. Lower tiers represent the 50’s and 60’s while tier 8 represents for example the 90’s to contemporary vehicles. Using your example of the Warrior, the vehicle was built in very late 80’s while the missile-shooting Soviet BMP-1 production started in mid-60’s.


Will the developers consider faster implementation for less known vehicles if there is a proper thread with enough information (background, sources, suggestions about balancing) to work with in the suggestion sub-forum ?
We would like first to implement the best known and most important vehicles before we start delving into the obscure. On the other hand any and all info provided by the community helps us in implementing the vehicles the players want and if we have to choose between two candidates with one candidate having a full exposition and a support thread on the forums, we will naturally listen to the voice of the community.


Will every tier 10 have its corresponding tier 1?
Not necessarily. Trees can be asymmetrical and one tier 1 can branch into multiple vehicles.


How do you approach the ideas and suggestions that are coming from the community on the forums? I would like to see how you work that through and what your criteria are.
We do carefully read the forum feedback. It might sound like a cliché but it is not. With that being said, there are certainly some criteria we are sticking to. Threads with obscenities calling us names will likely not catch our attention when searching for quality feedback. Threads charged with emotions against a certain feature usually do not contain good feedback. We only ask all players to give the features we are preparing a fair chance – it’s completely possible for some elements or game mechanisms to be completely overhauled based on the community feedback but for that we need honest and unbiased opinions.


How will the retrofit system play out?
It will be a system of upgrades to the vehicle replacing the traditional “equipment” mechanism from other games. Players will be able to modify their tank to boost some of its characteristics.

Czechoslovak army in color

Hello warriors,

check out this film in color of the Czechoslovak army, you can see the LT Vz.35 (upcoming tier 2) at several spots with the famous three color camouflage:


 Cant stop whistling to the music...

Insider Talks: Huge chunk of Q&A (Action X, Gaijin, balance and more)

Hello warriors,

a batch of info from the Insider. What's cooking in Wargaming?

- Future game installers and launchers will now have the option to repair your game installation, in case something goes corrupt or a file is missing or someone messes up on the mods, the game will be downloading only the files needed instead of the entire client
- the new function of WoT installer would be able to tell if your graphics card's drivers are updated or not, this may only work with certain card makers
- Installer can now check if your PC meets the requirements to play the game, and if it does it can calculate and offer you the best client quality (SD or HD)
- following the success of the Xbox "moon battle", a new mode (also for Xbox) will appear, this time on Mars!
- the rumor that +/-1 MM was tested on Xbox is a complete fake according to the Insider
- it seems that the French Sherman Revalorisé will be a regular premium shop vehicle
- it's possible that the players will be able to test the Action X Centurion (FV4202 replacement) in 9.10 test. Whether it will be implemented or not depends on player feedback. If it's very negative, it can happen that the switch won't be implemented yet.
- developers are still trying to rebalance gold ammunition. There will be an internal test of gold ammo nerf (only internal test for now)
- ALL PC devs confirm and agree that its very hard to push changes in the PC version of WoT mostly because players' overall negative reactions to change ("damned if I do, damned if I don't), while Xbox changes and content are easily pushed and much more prone to be accepted, Xbox has not disappointed so far

Insider on the "Gaijin" scandal:

Wargaming legal and advertising dept. paid very close attention to the Youtuber scandal form Gaijin. What came from it was the following memo in abridged details: 
 
We'll let people publish their videos, and we'll simply let the community to decide about them, we'll stick to our official informative videos as usual.
 
Basically they will make sure never to harass youtuber publishers that can criticize the game, and instead will let the players decide if the video is right or wrong - just to give you an example, there are published videos from players where they are being banned, after shooting a teammate repeatedly, and cussing at WG for it, WG will not incur in these videos, because the players fault is evident and are being chewed out by other players. Other times, theres an evident abuse of game's mechanics (refer to Sela's ban due illegal mod usage) and WG will only stick to punish the offender but never beyond the game's jurisdiction.
 
However another "less amicable" side of the memo says that they won't shape the game based on streamers or Youtuber opinions regardless of how "vocal" they can be ie: (some guy who whined to no end when his Yamato got nuked by a barrage of torpedoes, made a page-long text on why carriers were bad, either way he got chewed by players). Another cases of this include Garbad, Murazor, UNICA, etc. but they will simply not perform any kind of action that could harm them, like, for example, delete Youtube channels or so.
 
Balancing vehicles

WG's main balance factor, despite what anyone says is NUMBERS and MORE NUMBERS, not whines (except when they come with fatal errors or crashes, etc) but it has one drawback:

As an example: T-34-85M usage is so low that there isn't enough data to actually process a buff on its gun (just like the Rudy), and it doesn't help the fact that unicums/blues drive the tank mostly, where they completely outperform the usual average, so in this case, the numbers lie because they dont represent a total overall. AMX 40 and Churchill Gun Carriage (tier 6 TD) is another example of this. In this case other balancing factors come to play, but that'll be disclosed in another post :)
 
 Japanese tanks

Dev motto: "Japanese heavy tanks are difficult to drive? Don't drive Japanese heavies, let the unicorns do that then."

Overall the stats of Japanese tanks are "average" and displays that actually more skilled players tend to play them than the usual, this will be expected on the heavy branch: "those who know how to use them will have a Maus at tier 5". However the STA-1 and the STB seem to be doing pretty well even in Clan Wars.
 

- Some devs and admins play WoT on normal accounts in RU/EU/NA, nobody knows it's them and even participate in Clan Wars, they don't have any plans on sharing their names to the world.
- Devs and admins don't get free stuff on their regular accounts, they have to pay for everything they want, but they do, sometimes, get a few freebies for 3 days premium time or small amounts of gold (500g or 1200g bundled, etc) about once a month, even codes for them to give away but wont use on themselves
- A dev used to stream in twitch as a regular player in EU server, nobody knew it was him, can you guess who it was?
 
- apparently, NA houses more purple players than EU/RU but they have a consequently smaller playerbase ratio, the larger it is, the fewer the number becomes, this doesn't reflect that "America is better", in fact RU seems to take the lead on this, despite having the largest number of tomato players out there, they have truly terrifying skilled players. At some point a coalition of 5 clans & subclans in RU almost took over the entire continent in a global map, the only closest to it were players from Sweden or Finland in EU where they managed to make a flag out of the Clan Wars map for a time.
- A dark day for Greece and Italy: seems like their economic situation got reflected ingame too, most of the income WG makes coming from Greek players has been cut in half, and so does their skill
- Darker for Germany and UK: German and British players now took the lead as the players with most ingame reports (insults, racist remarks, etc) in EU, that doesnt mean German/Brit = holocaust, it's mostly reflected by server behavior due vacation period and due some ongoing rifts with German clans against their peers in global maps, or just overall douches, "play fair and leave your holocaust at the door!"
- Polish players? they re STILL the ones with the least reports, now along Switzerland and Sweden, Italy and Spain! rejoice :)
- regarding some strange remarks in EU and NA forums saying ragequits and such: game's not dying, or having less players - if anything, the amount of players keeps increasing specially in NA and some parts of western EU and in a minor way in ASIA (however China reported a staggering increase as well), and doesnt seem to be in decrease anytime soon, "lol game is dying" is just a kids tantrum. And the appearance of AW testing hasn't affected it so far.
- The trend to blame non-americans for game losses in NA server continues to some degree. Insider: "the best I can say to them is: "folks, you are full of crap :), skill isnt relied by geolocation or birthright so stop spewing bullshit"

Oh and G anniversary bundles? Lots of discounts for all clusters are coming, Xbox  is having them on the 15th or so. And it seems theres gonna be the mandatory 5x weekend in all clusters, so be ready!

 
 
 

 




Sunday 26 July 2015

26.07.2015 Q&A

Hello Warriors,

there is no Q&A. Today things are gladly quiet as this one is reaching fever levels of exhaustion. Had a interesting adventure with tanks yesterday.

The Author of this photo decided to make a "Dwayne Dibley" joke while I was trying to pose nicely. :P

Living the StuG life!
Posted by Rita Gamer on Domingo, 26 de Julho de 2015


Have a good weekend! :)

New WoT statistic

 Source.

Hello Warriors,

there is a new WoT statistic to replace WN8, its the Lumberjack rating!

Here you can see the top players that are the most offended by trees: https://stats-sig.eu/web/lumberjack-stats

Those stat treepadders making global warming worse... :P

uhoh...

I would like to see a statistic being made on the environmentalist arty players that drown the most to give new houses to coral and fishes!

New USA Tech Tree

Hello Warriors,

with the recent changes being done in some tanks this is how the US tech tree should look like in the future:

Tank found in a lake

Hello Warriors,

starting a bit late as I'm feeling exhausted from yesterday. Will check if missed something interesting for you and then head back to bed to my kittens and blanket cocoon.

 A metal detector lad found a tank in a lake, which tank you think it is?


The lad says "German", "88mm" and "type IV" on his video description. I ask you because Ive seen metal detector guys going so far as calling a AA gun a Tank... :/

Saturday 25 July 2015

25.07.2015 Q&A

- there's a bug in the IS-7 model, it will be fixed
- Storm doesn't think the 9.9 patch is as catastrophic as the 9.0 "New frontier" patch - "Critical problems were fixed fast and conclusions were made regarding the process of bugs "infiltrating" the release version. No need to panic."
- the reason why a bugged M46 HD model was released was bureaucracy according to Storm: models were tranferred between people and departments many times and the model got "stuck" somewhere in the process. According to Storm that's the price of working as a big company. The models will be fixed soon.
- Russian players made many ironic comments about the Russian patch 9.9 motto: "Quality is the most important thing!", Storm reacts: "Slogans are always bad :("
- according to Storm, the Japanese Tiger model armor issue is not as bad - it's not like anyone can hit 0mm of armor and penetrate easily, the 0mm mantlet has 100mm of Tiger frontal turret armor behind it
- multicore support will come soon (but not in 9.10)
- according to Storm the information that +/-1 MM is being tested in WoT Xbox is a fake

T3 HMC and T18 HMC renders

Source: wot-news.com

T18 (newly of artillery class)






Achtung!

Morning lovely warriors,

just to warn that today I will be posting information later during late afternoon (unless is something really important, expect nothing).
I Wont be at home, have a full day with tanks ahead of me. So excited!

Wish me luck! <3

Friday 24 July 2015

24.07.2015 Q&A

Here it is:

- It's possible that WoT for Xbox will have +/-1 MM, there is no info on such a plan for PC;
- Storm admits the armor of the Japanese Tiger is screwed;
- Storm has no influence on how WG marketing or support works;
- Currently WG is not even considering captured vehicles at all (like Russian Panther or German T-34);
- According to Storm, even the bugged Japanese Tiger mantlet does not allow HE shells to penetrate and hit for full damage, the 0 damage spaced armor still acts like spaced armor and the shells detonate on the surface;
- According to Storm the Japanese Tiger bugged mantlet is not a serious problem;
- There were rumors that Veider (chief balancer) left WG, it's just rumors;
- Apparently under certain circumstances a clean (non-modded) client does this:

- Not all WG vehicles make it to the full game, some are simply unbalanceable;
- Compared to some (rejected) vehicles, Japanese heavies are well balanced.

24.07.2015 Stream

Hello Warriors,

Blog work is pretty much done for today, unsure if there will be a Q&A, will see if something comes up and then multitask jobs for you.

Anyways! Today will be streaming World of Tanks while wearing Jingles couture. :P


He knows how much I love my M3 Lee... hehe

Lets do this!  http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2

WoWS: Bad Advice

Hello Warriors,

World of Warships has a brand new video series called "Bad Advice" that will teach players both basic and advanced naval techniques at the sheer incompetence of a little captain:


This is adorable..Bad advice number one: Always use AP.  :)

Double Tank Rental for EU

Hello Warriors,

WoT EU has a double tank rental mission!


From Saturday 25 July, 07:10 until Tuesday 28 July, 07:00 CEST (UTC +2) we will be able to rent the AMX CDC or 8,8 cm Pak 43 Jagdtiger.

There is a catch although, or a couple of them... we not only must chose one tank to rent but it will have no crew and the rental of the tank and garage slot will last 3 days.


The missions to unlock the rentals are quite simple:

Conditions
  • Make 15,000 XP in any number of battles;
  • Be in the top 10 players on your team by base experience earned.

New Ranzar Video

Hello Warriors,

Ranzar video is up, this week a little bit earlier than usual:

Enjoy!

Evilly Q&A

Hello warriors,

Anton "Evilly" Pankov, WoT producer, answered some questions about World of Tanks

- There are no plans to make map pinging a platoon only option;
- The XP for tanking mechanism had a significant flaw in it, allowing heavily armored tanks like the E-100 to grind insane amounts of XP. Wargaming fixed it but it needs to be tested, it won't come anytime soon, there are no plans to introduce it in upcoming patches yet (there's no ETA);
- WG is internally testing the render range switch from square to circle, when it is ready it will be introduced to test server;
- The VK4502B switch is no longer sure, it's possible it will come in the future but for now the matter was shelved;
- Some Xbox and Blitz exclusive features could appear in PC version in the future;
- There is more space for experiments in the console mechanics (PC version is too rigid, the players are used to the current setup and take any changes or experiments poorly);
- Currently Wargaming is working hard on the Domination variants and Steel Hunt, not on fan modes;
- Players will be "very happy" on 5th WoT anniversary (meant for RU server specifically).

joking... he was talking only about RU server. :)



T82 HMC (tier 4 arty)

Hello warriors,

the T82 is another American TD that is being changed to artillery. Here's how it looks now.


Tier: 4 arty
Hitpoints: 160
Engine: 296 hp
Weight: 14,599 tons
Power-to-weight: 20,28 hp/t
Maximum speed: 64,4/12 km/h
Hull traverse: 32 deg/s
Turret traverse limit: 39 deg
Terrain resistance: 1,151/1,342/2,205
Viewrange: 300
Radio range: 750

Hull armor: 28,6/28,6/?

The Tank Museum arena aerial view

Hello warriors,

during Tankfest at The Tank Museum I've noticed there was a drone flying around the arena the entire time, finally was able to find its footage online, it belongs to "Elevation Imagery ltd.". There are a couple videos, they are short so will place multiple:

Tiger day 2015:


Challenger 1, look at that sexy thing, look at it!


Chieftain:

Thursday 23 July 2015

Gaijin versus Youtuber situation update

Hello warriors,

the "Gaijin versus Youtuber" situation reaches its final stage as reported by the Kanobu portal. Here's what happened yesterday and today:

Yesterday night

- Yesterday, Gaijin tried to pressure and coerce the Youtuber Alconafter into signing a contract. The contract was pretty brutal, basically it binds the Youtuber to Gaijin. This contract would forbid the Youtuber to criticize War Thunder under a penalty of 10 thousand USD for each "contract breach". The contract further forces (!!!) the Youtuber to make 4 positive War Thunder videos per week. Funnily enough the contract would be made according to the law of Cyprus.
- This extortion was performed by Pavel Kulikov, Gaijin's chief of operations;
- In the night, the Youtuber was further pressured to the point of blackmail: "either sign the contract or you will not get channel back" - "the removal of Youtube complaints has one condition - the signature of the contract".

From the transcript of the Youtuber and Pavel Kulikov's communication that Kanobu has at disposal, Kulikov admits that the channel was not blocked just so, they wanted the Youtuber bound by this contract. On War Thunder forums, he however stated the opposite.

During the morning today, the Youtuber could not sleep and was further pressured. Luckily for him he did not sign any NDA, else he would be defenseless and could not publish the story. He also promises never to publish anything about War Thunder again, he's done with the game. At this point, Pavel Kulikov changes his tone and offers another option: Gaijin would start a "new" channel with the Youtuber's name on it. He'd have only access to it, he wouldn't own it. There he could post anything apart from WoT, WoWs and AW. The Youtuber naturally declined.

Now it gets interesting.

Japanese Tiger armor thickness issues

Thank you Denam Y.

Hello warriors,

a post in the NA forum was brought to my attention and looks like the Japanese Tiger was not exactly manufactured with Japanese precision. Large parts of the mantlet are 0mm thick - the area behind them is covered by the 100mm frontal turret armor itself but a small area to the left of the 0mm zone only has the 0mm hole behind it, making the frontal turret very easy to penetrate.


I went even further and got my investigating feet in a training room and made a video to show you how easily the tank and its crew get wrecked with HE:



Have a good day!

23.07.2015 Q&A

Here it is:

- There are no crew visual models in WoT due to the 12+ rating of the game;
- WG developers are satisfied with the difficulty of the personal mission where players have to set enemy tanks on fire;
- Regarding the mobility of Japanese heavy tanks: "Sure, they won't pass through some places but what can we do when the Japanese liked them big?" (RG: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  );
- Pro-Ukraine slogans are now banned on RU servers;
- Polish tanks are planned for 2016.


And the daily, thank you for the birdy that sent this:


WG Exclusive Gamescom trailer

Hello Warriors,

here is the Wargaming's exclusive Gamescom trailer:


Armored Warfare: Narrows Map

Hello Warriors,

Armored Warfare has introduced a new map called "Narrows". For a second it crossed my mind if they had taken the name too literal and had created a "bottle-neck" map but no, this is the trailer:



There are also some screenies for you:

T3 HMC (tier 2 TD)

Hello warriors,

meet the T18 replacement, the T3 HMC (as was predicted a long time ago:  http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/01/12/getting-rid-of-the-overpowered-t18/)



Description:

This is a light infantry and tank support self-propelled gun. It was developed in 1938 based on the T1A3 light tank chassis. A single prototype meant for trials was built. Due to a large number of technical and ergonomic issues that appeared during the trials the vehicle was not accepted in service.

Tier: 2 TD
Hitpoints: 122
Engine: 288 hp
Weight: 9,21 tons
Power-to-weight: 31,27 hp/t
Maximum speed: 72,4/7 km/h
Hull traverse: 34 deg/s
Turret traverse limit: 26,7 deg
Terrain resistance: 1,247/1,342/1,918
Viewrange: 270
Radio range: 325

Hull armor: 15,9/12,7/?

VK4503, premium tier 7 German HT

Hello warriors,

an interesting tier 7 premium vehicle appeared on the supertest, the VK4503 heavy tank. Basically a Tiger II predecessor.



Description:

A variant of a German heavy tank from the end of WW2. On 12/10/1942 the project received the designation Tiger III (VK 45.03). Only existed on paper.

Tier: 7 premium HT
Hitpoints: 1500
Engine: 700 hp
Weight: 65 tons
Power-to-weight: 10,77 hp/t
Maximum speed: 38/12 km/h
Hull traverse: 28 deg/s
Turret traverse: 28,2 deg/s
Terrain resistance: 0,863/0,959/1,822
Viewrange: 380
Radio range: 646,6

Hull armor: 100/80/?
Turret armor: 100/80/?