Overlord and his answers regarding new branches

Overlord has posted a new blog about the future of the branches. I'll point out some of the more interesting questions and answers, I hope hope he doesn't mind. Not all of them, so feel free to read it for yourselves. As always, the questions and answers are modified to be comprehensible (and to remove typos).

Source: http://overlord-wot.blogspot.cz/2013/01/wot-do-you-love-tanks.html

Q (Vipez): Why don't you (instead of new trees) complete the old tech trees and stop putting in more nations... atleast until the "big 3" are complete with all their tds and heavys and stuff?
A: Heh, I believe they are never complete :)

Q: Italian tanks in the EU tree? A must!
A: Sure thing, they are.

Q: Do you plan to add more SPGs?
A: Each tree should have them. Plus there will be tier 9 and 10 SPGs. No ETA, sorry I don't do that.

Q: Have you considered the wheeled armoured fighting vehicles?
A: Nope, not considering them at this stage.

Q: 8.4 content?
A: I have checked with Storm - he says 8.4 will bring British TDs.

Q: Overlord, what about Polish branches? Is there any?
A: Polish and German communities on EU are approx equal in numbers. We will definitely include Polish tanks - however at this stage it hasn't been decided how exactly. It can either be a separate, rather tiny tree, or some substantial part of common EU tree. The same as Italy btw

Q: Do you have already the materials for the Japanese and the EU tree?
A: For Japanese - yes, for EU tree - partially. Japanese will likely come first, the way we initially announced it.

Q: On the topic of Chinese tanks being brought in...
A: Have to account of interests of varios servers and regions - RU is the largest, China is second largest, EU - 3rd, US - 4th. We also have SEA and Korea, both are growing fast. Thus most of the decisions are dictated by global vision.

Q (by me): A rather long question

a) Japanese tanks - earlier in 2012 (nov/dec) there was an info by SerB and Storm that they managed to secure some new Japanese archive and that they still missed the plans for top tier heavies at that point. Does WG have enough data to implement top tier Japanese heavies now?
b) Polish tanks - there was an info (by SerB I believe) that he had enough data to implement tier 7,8,9 Polish tanks, is that so, or was it just the rumor?
c) Is there a candidate considered for tier 10 Polish tank (of any class, something else than the funny Lem tank), or are they still looking?
d) Is there some other candidate for tier 10 Italian tank than the M47 Patton (with the 105mm L7)?
e) Are there any hightier (7,8,9,10) Hungarian tanks available WG found about or are they still looking?

A: a) As far as I'm aware there is still not enough reference material to make up the whole tree, however our guys do know where to dig and whom to approach.
b) In my opinion, up to tier 7-8.
c) Nope, there is no such candiadate. That tank was more of a joke.
d) We are not considering Patton at this stage.
e) As far as I'm aware guys haven't found those yet, however they haven't been working a lot on EU tree.

18.1.2013

- the free camera mod was banned due to "game decisions" (SS: abuse), including the fact that players could watch for falling trees, destroyed objects etc. freely with such a mod
- second branch of German meds will not use the 88mm L/100 and 75mm Konisch guns
- it's possible visual upgrades for hangars will be introduced
- Chinese IS-2 has higher penetration values because of "late model shells"
- the goal the devs want to reach regarding the arty balance is 3 arties per team on all tiers
- no plans to change the Object 261 gun model (SS: some player claims it was thicker in real life and it had a muzzle brake)
- no other tanks suitable for the role of tier 5 Chinese medium have been found (SS: actually Kuomintang was using Shermans too, but they weren't implemented, because they were completely stock, they'd be a direct copy of the existing Sherman without different guns etc.)
- SerB won't disclose how teamdamage points are exactly calculated (SS: not the damage itself, but how much of what you need to get banned - this is related to the issue that TOG players keep complaining that retards actually ram them intentionally and by damaging themselves, they actually cause the TOG player to accumulate teamdamage points)
- the asterisk in the TOG 2* name is historical
- superplatoons (5 members) won't be implemented, they would be too unbalanced
- snow on the maps (like it was in the hangar during the seasonal christmas hangar event) would reduce the performance too much, for now anyway
- it's possible hitpoints will be modified for the historical battles, not yet sure
- regarding the Chinese tanks: the tier 10 heavy and medium vehicles' plans impressed SerB quite a lot, altogether these two projects roughly form an equivalent of the Soviet Object 167M (T-62B, the D-83 122mm version), the medium vehicle with its 122mm cannon and the heavy with its 68 degrees frontal armor - and all this despite the fact that the Chinese didn't know about the Soviet prototype research, they archieved it on their own (apparently, the frontal armor shape, similiar to the one of the IS-7, evolved from the IS-3 concept). Regarding the Chinese cast turret shape - there were other turrets, welded ones (to compensate for the low depression of the guns), but those came later, not in the 60's. There might even be a book about the Chinese tanks from WG. As for the T-62 similiarity, the Chinese acquired the T-62 first in 1969 during the Sino-Soviet border conflict at the Damanskij island.
- the turret rotation speed is a balance parameter, all tanks have it higher than they had in real life
- battletier of all non-premium tanks won't be lowered (SS: no idea why someone asked such a stupid question)
- SerB answers on the question how would an appearance of a T-54 tank company influence the war in 1942: "If they appeared in Ural (SS: where the factories were), positively - if they appeared on the front, German engineers could get a lot of ideas from them also"
- the armor value displayed in the tank statistics is the most characteristic one of the concerned part, usually it's also the thickest part
- tier 10 "121" does NOT equal WZ-121 aka Type 69, it's a different project and an early version at that (there is only a very weak connection between 121 and WZ-121)
- the T1E6 gun has a maximum range of 375mm (as far as SerB remembers)
- the dynamic tank naming is principially possible (but not sure to be implemented)
- it's possible that there will be a Soviet arty or TD based on the T-27 tankette implemented into the game
- two-barreled tanks might be introduced into the game, it is theoretically easier to implement than multiturret designs, but also requires some work
- machineguns (as secondary weapons) won't be implemented because it would strain the server too much, however the Soviet 12,7mm DShK will appear as a main weapon at some point most likely
- it is not planned to introduce antiaircraft (and amphibious) tanks in forseeable future (SS: regarding the possible introduction of the T-90 AA light vehicle)
- elite Chi-Ha roughly corresponds to the Japanese Shinhoto Chi-Ha

8.4 WILL bring the British TD's

Well, apparently Overlord got confused and wrote earlier today that there will be no British TD's in 8.4, giving some guys on EU forums nearly a heart attack :) It got sorted out quite fast though. Thanks for the news, Overlord :)

Source: http://overlord-wot.blogspot.cz/2013/01/wot-do-you-love-tanks.html?showComment=1358500123268#c5615116135126582253

8.3 arty splash changes

Object 212 — earlier 6,54 -> now 6,07 // Golden shell 9,16 -> 8.49
Object 261 — earlier 5,14 -> now 4,91 // Golden shell 7.62 -> 7.28
GW Tiger and GW E — earlier 7 -> now 6,44 // Golden shell 10,02 -> 9,21
М40\43 — earlier 6,54 -> now 6,07 // Golden shell 9,54 -> 8,49
Т92 — earlier 9,14 -> now 8,13 // Golden shell 13,09 -> 11,64
Batchat and Lorraine 51 earlier 4  -> now 3,97 // Golden shell 5,38 -> 5.34
АМХ 13 (tier 5) earlier 3,81 -> now 3,78 (gold shell removed)
SU-8 stock gun 2.36 -> 2,49 // top gun 3,81 -> 3,78
SU-14, S-51, Object 212 stock gun 3,67 -> 3,66 // Golden shell 5,13 -> 5.11
Hummel and GW Panther – no changes
GW Tiger stock gun earlier 4,55 -> now 4,45 // Golden shell 6,57 -> 6.37
М41 earlier 3,81 -> now 3,78 (top and stock gun) // Golden shell 5,34 -> 5,30
М12 earlier 4 -> now 3,97 // Golden shell 5,38 -> 5.34
Tier 6 Lorraine earlier 3,82 -> now 3,78 (gold shell with 5,2 splash removed)
Tier 2 arty (except for the Bison that didn’t get changed) earlier 0,92 -> now 1,09
SU-26 earlier 2,36 -> now 2,49
SU-5 earlier 3,67 -> now 3,66
М37, Priest, Wespe, tier 3 and 4 French  — earlier 1,75 -> now 1,91
Grille – no changes — 3,57