Gaming World of Tanks interview - you ask the questions

Find out more about this great game straight from the developer.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2011/03/21/world-of-tanks-developer-interview/1

 

most important question I rekon...Did you think it was going to be this successful? and just to hog it all......are we to expect any surprises in the final release?

 

Are beta players going to get any bonuses in the final game?

Also, is anything going to be done about the 'invisible tanks'?

(Love the game btw)

 

How will you address balancing between players that can afford premium content and those that can't? I distinctly fall into the second category!

 

Will there be cake?

 

First of all, i live the game, and will definately become a paying player.

However, the balancing frustrates me. It's VERY hard to play a significant role in the battle in a field of tanks that is 2-4 tiers above me, something that happens quite frequently.

I honestly believe that the most interesting tiers to play are not the overpowered tiers 8-10, but rather the 4-7 space, because these taks actually have real limitations and weak spots. These tiers also contain the majority of the tanks that actually saw battle in real wars, and are therefor also historically much more interesting then the prototype-only battles you see most of the time nowadays.

However, because of the ccurrent balance in the game, playing these tiers very often feels like a frustrating affair of being trampled by higher tiers, leading you to rush the tech tree and dumping them asap.

Will Wargaming.net attempt to repair this problem, and if yes, how? Matchmaking? Smaller gaps between tiers? Tier-specific tournaments?

 

A couple questions actually.

1) Why is it taking so long to fix the extremely broken viewing system? It was broken last October I believe and 6 months later it hasn't been fixed yet. At this point I barely remember what it was like when it worked properly because I only got to play with a working viewing system for about 2 months, versus the almost 6 months it's been broken.

2) Why is the balance in the tech trees so obviously skewed towards the Russian tanks? The US and German tanks keep getting buffs as well as inexplicable nerfs, in what seems to be an effort to even things out, but they are very clearly inferior overall to the Russian tanks with very few exceptions.

3) When will the autobalance be fixed? It seems that unless you want to play in either the very top tiers (9 or 10) or the very bottom tiers (1-3), you had better get used to being thrown into fights with tanks you don't have a prayer of damaging. One fight you can be the top in the match, the next fight dead last with no hope. Why hasn't this been fixed yet?

4) Why is artillery even in this game? As a former programmer I honestly have to say that implementing artillery may have seemed like a good idea at the drawing board, but when implemented it turns into a poor design decision. Lots of people disagree (mainly those who play artillery and nothing else), but playing artillery both completely changes the gameplay as well as shattering the rules of risk versus reward. That being you get very little risk for ridiculously great reward. Especially when you consider that while a tier 6-7 artillery gets thrown in with tier 8-10 tanks, the repair and reload cost is less than half that of the tanks it's playing with. Not only that but they get the luxury of being able to one shot up to a tier 9 from across the map while in no danger, while no other tanks in the game can one-shot something their own tier or even a tier below them.

 

Are there going to be different match modes?

 

What I would like to ask Wargaming.net is whether the atrociously flawed spotting system is going to be overhauled.

Invisible tanks, tanks reappearing and disappearing in open fields, and tanks not being revealed after shooting (no matter how far away they are) are not great ways to endear a game to your target audience.

I also reiterate the comments made regarding balance by Xtrafresh.

I would also like to find out why developers are so reluctant to post on the Beta Tester's forums. Secondhand knowledge weeks after an issue appears when Russian release is already upon us gives me cause for concern.

 

I'd like to know the following:
- what is one month of premium going to cost?
- are there going to be premium packages (tank X and Y amount of gold)?
- do beta-testers get anything more than a sincere 'Thank you'?

Oh yeah, some obvious things need fixing but I'm you already know this if you read the forum.
That's all really...

 

I really do like the game but there are some major short comings.
The camo system doesn't work properly, or nearly as well as it should. Many people in games complain about it because tanks can literally "cloak" till they are right next to you. The system only checks once about once every 10sec. So you can if your lucky with a fast tank move with out being seen or unlucky only more an inch and be seen. Firing guns has little effect on being seen as well because you can be shooting your cannon right next to some one and wont be detected until the next cycle.

Many tanks have holes in their armor, especially German tanks. Where large portions have no armor allowing module damage by even the weakest of guns or explosive rounds.

Balance is a serious issue, the top 3rd of games essentially get all the kills while the lower 2/3rds are cannon fodder. Often games are setup as all Tanks on 1 side and all tank destroyers on the other leading do a camping fest where nothing happens for the first 5-7min.

There have been many complaints about bias in tank design. The "Dev-54" being the worst, it seems that consistently one nation, Russian, has been always made to be be better then the rest in the top tier tanks. T-54, Object 704, IS-7, SU-14, T-44, etc. And other nations tanks and tech being very poor, German guns are just about as accurate and powerful as any other but they are not for balance reasons but when asking the devs when Russian tanks are not Nerf for balance the answer is they want to keep historic stats. I want to know why the two difference standards for nations.

 

I agree with Xtrafresh and Kamikaze-X, its a bit annoying when your being fired upon from 10 feet away and the guy does not appear or when you are looking at someone and you know they are there and they don't show up. Then how i am a low tier tank and i get put in a match with tier 8- 10 tanks all across the board.

is there something going to be done about the tank armor and shell damage? I am using a KV-3 and I can be taken out in one shot from a stupid M37, also I fire on tier 3 and 4 tanks and all I hear is "Bounced off or that didn't go through" Then you hear the famous " direct hit or one more like that and they are done" well that would nice if health actually came off of the enemy tank.

I would also like to know how much will it cost for premium accounts and gold?

 

Will there be another soft-wipe before the official release of the game and will we know in advance what the premium accounts will cost and if they are one time or Wow style payments?

 

Will we be able to create a platoon without a Premium account?
Will you raise the platoon size limit to say 4-5 players?

 

When are you going to introduce British tanks? since they did have a fairly significant impact on WWII.
What are they going to do about the T-54 overkill?

 

Will there be any chance of a sort of Hardcore mode? so maybe this spotting system is taken out altogether where tanks are spotted in the normal way while they are in the open or not hidden properly, where they cant be spotted through a mass of forests with a red outline saying shoot here. Also to maybe remove the hit points system so if you do hit a tank in a known weakspot you destroy it, making the game at least feel like you have a chance against higher tier monsters.

 

If you have not already (as far as I can tell, you have not), when will you be upgrading to the BigWorld 2.0 engine? Is this even possible at this point? Why did you not start with BigWorld 2.0?

Do you guys have a rough estimate (or better yet, rough date) of when US Tank Destroyers will be deployed?
What about a rough estimate for French tanks (the next in line last I heard)?

How are the English Voice Pack fixes/adjustments coming along? Potential dates (I like dates, obviously)?

Why start the German fixes with the Maus instead of something more used, like the King Tiger?

Think thats it for now. <.<

 

Are you going to be addressing the massive hit-reg issues that plague the big tanks when they get in close to each other? So many times I've poked an IS4/VK45 gun through an enemy only to do no damage at all with a scored hit.

 

I want to like the game, I really do. but there is such a laundry list of grievances I have with the game that I won't be returning post hard-wipe.

1) balance: the game doesn't have any in anything except T2 tanks.

2) no platoons unless you're a premium player. seriously guys.... MMO that is supposedly free to play base without the ability to group with friends?

3) nationality stacking: not playing Russian? you lose. (unless you're German arty or a leopard...)

4) Tiger lights on fire like a zippo, first time, every time. (comfirmed by a 35 match streak where I lit on fire at the first hit in every single one)

5) most fights without minimum 1 kill = loss of credits without premium.


premium players having a slight edge I can live with. the experience grind I can love with. the above? no way.

 

Why hard wipe other online games released successfully without hard wipes. The balance still has not been addressed since beta and beyond?

Are you going to make the game less Russian dominated i.e. T44 T54 but no M48 or M60 and the overpowered IS series...

Worst of All the artillery no where in history was a single artillery pieces so accurate and small calibre artillery so powerful 90 % of your potential customers hate the arti feature. Games that have no arti are more enjoyable and you see players commenting on how happy they are its not present if you haven't perfected it why include it till you do or not at all. How about in-game Mods not the forum mods in-game to watch out for arguments and rude players that get out of hand and distract from the game.

Are you going to reward long-time Beta players with a tank or tanks not just a token small gold allotment.

The grind is not worth going through again with these things not addressed...