British TD winrates - RU server

11.3.2013

- Q: "When will SerB stop making a god out of himself?" A: "Already stopped, when I made one out of myself."
- SerB states that devs have full right to buff/nerf gift tanks, just like they have principially full right to buff/nerf premium tanks
- M1932 Christie tank (SS: very fast, theoretically up to 200 km/h) might be introduced one day, but it's questionable whether the tank really reached such speeds
- Japanese Type 100 (O-I) - SerB states the 100 means 1940, which most likely means the year when the project was initiated. SerB also states they have info on some other Japanese nomenclature, but he won't publish it now, he'll check the documents first
- Italian OF-40 is highly unlikely to appear
- Italians have superheavy tank concepts "not for the feint of heart" - from these series
- regarding the White Tiger ingame event (SS: 1 "White Tiger" vs 15 T-34, RU server only) - no such game mode is planned, because too few players would want to play the "T-34s"
- assault, meeting engagement, escort mode in Clanwars? "we have some ideas but for now we won't implement that"
- jungle maps have been postponed
- SerB on the difference in online numbers between RU, EU and US servers: "That's because here we troll players and there we don't. Recently, we made a trolling session on US server and the player amount increased by 2 percent. But seriously: here, we have a tank on a pedestal as a monument in each city. In Europe - most players are the Germans and the Poles. In the first case - each grandpa fought on a Tiger. In the second case - everyone knows Sharik" (SS: Sharik is a dog from an iconic communist TV series "4 tankists and a dog" about wartime Polish tank crew - a lot of Soviet propaganda within that one)
- there is no guarantee the Germans will have a T5 heavy, the fact the Americans and Soviets have one doesnt mean the German tree has to be the same
- T7 VK3002DB won't have a new top gun added
- the Patton Valley medal did not decrease battle lifespan of T9 and T10 Pattons
- SU-122-44 does not stand out statistics-wise
- SU-101 was picked over SU-122-44 for the T8 spot, because SU-122-44 was only a paper project
- T-35 is rather bad in it historical configuration, it's too early to talk about it according to SerB
- fan-sites have no influence on game development
- SerB states that if he was to replace the IS-7 for a more realistic variant that he wouldn't have to nerf too much for it not to become too overpowered, IS-4 would have a problem, as its native gun doesn't penetrate well
- when new camo patterns are implemented, those who bought permanent camo will not be able to select them for free
- when VK3601 becomes a heavy tank, its characteristics might change, but the probability of that is small
- unclear whether the client-side physics (Havok) will enter all at once or one effect at a time (independent suspension, turrets flying off etc.)
- FV215b TD and HT have the same hull, including the fuel tanks placement
- 0.8.6 - no Soviet medium line
- SerB states that WoWp BigWorld is better optimized client-wise than the WoT one
- Leopard 1 will definitely have thin armor, but as for other characteristics - depends on tests
- P.40 and 44M Tas will most likely become medium tanks, Japanese Type 95 - most likely a heavy tank
- 75mm Celere Sahariano is according to SerB perhaps not a fake, as it is mentioned often, but he will see what kind of turret it gets, as the gun wouldn't fit the original turret
- there might be a ping counter in the hangar, but not soon, as it represents a load on the server

10.3.2013 part 2

- confirmed: old render settings will not return
- new Russian record: 815079 players at the same time
- the game models in the future will be made more detailed

- there will be no Soviet tanks in 0.8.6
- Christie tanks will come in 2014, because there are more interesting tanks scheduled to be implemented first

Wargaming plans for 2013

Wot-news.com made a summary article, what waits for us in 2013. I don't think it's an official Wargaming text (can't see source quoted anywhere) - still, it's good. Main points:

- according to the developers, 2013 will be all about team competitions and e-sports
- 7/42 companies will be implemented
- 2013 has 6-10 patches planned (2 of which are out already), new tanks and maps are planned for most (perhaps each one) of them
- up to 11 new maps are planned for 2013
- 0.8.5 will have the German medium branch (VK2001DB, DW, VK3002DBv1, Indienpanzer, Leopard prototype, Leopard)
(SS: also apparently the 3 Soviet light tanks: T-60, T-70, T-80 at tier 2, 3, 4 probably)
- 0.8.6 will bring the new Soviet medium branch and possibly the replacement of T-50-2 with MT-25
- tier 9 and 10 arty - early autumn, after that the British arty will come
- premium Type 59 will not return regularily, might be a part of events/special sales, but the Chinese premium heavy WZ-111 might make an appearance
- Japanese tanks will appear either at the end of this year, on early next year, some of them are confirmed to have autoloaders
- replay mechanism will be changed this year too, replays will be stored at WG server

10.3.2013

- currently, Soviet tier 7 and 8 light tanks are not planned
- Object 120 will not appear in World of Tanks
- AI controlled tanks? "no comment"
- Clanwars are still considered to be in beta stage, that's the reason for the often CW breaks
- Q: "How come the AT-15A is such a poor farming machine and SU-100Y is much better?" A: "I won't give you any farming guarantees" (SS: which means - whenever a premium vehicle comes out, wait for a while before you buy it, according to SerB the fact it's a premium tank does not apparently mean it's going to be a viable moneymaker - statistically-wise, AT-15A seems to make about as much credits due to its low alpha as a regular T7 vehicle)
- regarding the (still existing) bug where when you buy a golden shells for silver and when you fire all of them, the game starts buying new ones for gold - "don't use automatic ammo reload"
- premium tanks profitability is set so, that in the hands of a statistically average player, a (for example) tier 8 premium tank has to earn more credits on everage than a tier 7 regular tank, there are no exceptions to this rule
- when calculating the profitability (SS: from the previous answer), premium account is not taken into consideration
- the gold price in the shop is proportional to the tank profitability, but the corellation between the two is not linear
- there will be a new tutorial (part 2) where the modules etc. will be described
- the same turret on different hulls can have different rotating speeds (SS: concerns the KV series)
- Storm considers these railway models in the new Live Oaks normal (SS: thanks god Storm doesn't work on the real railway)
- Dragon Ridge and Serene Coast will not return in 0.8.5
- this year, there will be winter maps, jungle maps - most likely not
- the idea that each nation could buy a special "test" crew, that acts as 100 percent for all the tanks, but doesn't gain any silver or XP was not considered
- the devs "did not promise" to return more settings to the old render (SS: not a long time ago, the devs mentioned they won't develop the old render anymore)
- Storm will investigate possible error in JpZ E-100 armor (E-100 has 130mm armor above tracks while the Jpz has only 120mm, despite the fact the hull is supposed to be identical)
- pushing enemies to their death (for example into a hole, water etc.) will count as a kill, this will be implemented in one of the following patches

Another German T7 LT alternative

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/169871.html
Author: sandmann_bk

A Russian author (player) publishing on the developer blog found an interesting alternative for German tier 7 light tank - the Hispano-Suiza HS 30 mit 90mm Bord K.

This light tank (or tank destroyer, depending on the classification) was built on the multipurpose HS 30 hull, developed in Switzerland by Hispano-Suiza. Several vehicles utilizing this hull were in West-German service - amongst them being the Schützenpanzer-lang IFV as well as self-propelled mortars, tank destroyers and other light vehicles. It was constructed in 1958, but this particular vehicle was not accepted in service neither in Germany nor in Switzterland. Another project, the Kanonenjagdpanzer HS 30 with the gun installed directly in frontal plate was also not successful - the Bundeswehr adopted the Raketenjagdpanzer I (also built on the HS 30 chassis) instead. The Germans didn't scratch the cannon-armed tank destroyer idea completely, but they built it on another chassis.

Specifications:
Tank weight - 11 tons
Engine - 220-240hp
Maximum speed - 58 km/h (other sources state up to 65 km/h)
Armor thickness - 10-30mm
Armament - 90mm DEFA or Mecar

And this is how the vehicle looks now:

9.3.2013

- second American medium branch, turreted British tank destroyers: "no comment"
- Leopard 1 won't have its gun stabilizer included directly into its stats, but you will be able to mount it as an equipment
- second US artillery branch based on M1XX designs (M107-M110) - "if necessery"
- regarding Wargaming acquiring "original plans" from archives and the possibilities of other companies getting them - "Understand, noone will give us the originals, we are making copies. Thus, any company or person can make such copies."
- SerB states that one sheet of copy costs from tens to hundreds of Rubles (SS: one Euro = cca 40 Rubl), but the expensive part is actually looking for the documents, that requires a large amount of trained people
- teamkill automatic ban system does not work in training rooms
- both viewrange-enhancing skills work the same, there's no difference
- SerB states that when selecting the US T10 heavy, the M48A5 (with M68) was skipped intentionally - instead, the Patton 3 with 90mm stock gun was selected so that there was room for unlocking a new gun.
- regarding bots in WoT: "to make them ground-based is quite difficult"
- there will be new hangars implemented
- devs won't touch players (SS: regarding yet another whine about skill MM)
- there is an interface bug with the chat windows - they don't close when you press the "x" in upper right corner, will be fixed
- the fact that on AMX M4 the gun has full depression only when turned to the front of the tank is not a bug, it's intended
- old aiming circle (0.3.3) will not return
- there is a bug that when you drive on certain hard object (for example the concrete pavement in Ensk), the terrain passability counts as if you were driving on the ground beneath the object, will be fixed
- it's possible each nation will get its own hangar
- Q: "Storm, how dow you feel about the anti-tank butthurt site http://tankam.net/?" A: "http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/kingofgame/47397647/15804/15804_900.gif"
- Q: "Will it be possible to put wallpapers, move furniture etc. in the hangars?" A: "That's Sims"
- the only platoon balancing is that both teams have to have the same amount of platoons +/-1. Both teams are balanced based on the tank weight
- VK2001DB and VK3002DB will be in 0.8.5
- premium tanks will not be sellable for gold
- regarding the tutorial: "It's done for a person that sees the game for the first time, not for an experienced player. For newbies it works perfectly." (SS: regarding the issue where you have to shoot the Tiger 2 in the front even when you know it won't do shit, it's counterintuitive for older players)
- tutorial was tested on people who never played WoT before