SU-100Y - new tier 6 TD in 8.4

Source: ITDUDE, US Forums

Tier: 6
HP: 700
Max Speed: 35/12 (forward/backwards)
Engine: 870 HP
Engine Fire chance: 20%
AP (1,118 silver) pen/damage: 196/440
AP (10 gold) pen/damage: 176/510 (yes, less pen for gold rounds!)
HE (978 silver) pen/damage: 65/580
Vertical Gun depression range: -5 to +15  degrees
RPM: 3.75
Accuracy: 0.38
Aim Time: 2.9
View Range: 350
Radio Range: 440
Cost: 3,250 Gold

Crew:

-Commander/Radio-man
-Driver
-Gunner
-Gunner
-Loader
-Loader

24.1.2013

- Japanese tree: "when it's done it's done"
- there might be new premium arty vehicles, but not hightier ones
- SerB does play random battles on RU server, unfortunately it happens that when he appears in battle, his team goes "OMG WE GOT SERB NOW WE KILL EVERYONEOMG!!!!11111"
- ST-I won't be included in the "Lion of Sinai" medal, but it's possible Chinese IS-2 will
- there is a possibility that the field of Malinovka will be re-worked (SS: as in "made more bumpy") ("if it needs to be reworked, we'll do it")
- Q: "Will the second heavy French tank branch start from M4 (1945)?" A: "We'll see" - no info about when it'll come ("WIDID")
- the MM doesn't "prefer" any battle mode, if you have encounter and assault enabled, on average (SS: !!!!) they should be roughly equal
- SerB states that vast majority of lags is caused by ISP's, SerB advises the players to use "pingplotter" (SS: is that a word for packet tracing?)
- SerB doesn't use interface mods
- there is no difference (in splash) when the arty HE shell hits a spot near a tank and the tank is standing in water or on hard ground (SS: in other words, water does not reduce splash)
- there won't be another "Lion of Sinai"-like archievement for middle-east battles (Centurions...)
- Q: "Why won't there be a Stalingrad map? So that tollerant Europeans aren't offended?" A: "No, so idiots don't ask stupid questions such as 'why is there a map named Stalingrad in the Moscow CW province?' However, idiots will always find things to whine about."
- Chinese players do ask about more Chinese maps, but they don't ask Wargaming, they ask WG's Chinese partners
- British TD and arty branches are ready and will be introduced one after another, Chinese TD's (SS: and arty? not clear) have vehicles missing in mid tiers, the Chinese will have a TD based on the M5 Stuart that will quite possibly use its radio and engine (SS: it's basically a Stuart tank with turret removed and a 57mm gun (SU-76 style) installed in the frontal part), it's possible some other modules from other lowtier tanks will be used in the TD line also
- it's not yet decided whether and how crew perks/skill will work in historical battles
- it's possible Panzer B2 will appear in the gift shop (SS: Russian GS that is) during some special events, not guaranteed however
- (Premium) Type 59 might have its MM weight changed "if necessery"
- drawing distance (SS: NOT view range) depends on the angle and direction you are looking at (diagonally it's longer), it is however the same on all the maps
- SerB states that (Russian) players making clans with names like Totenkopf, Leibstandarte and Das Reich will not be banned straight away, because they are usually just little kiddie idiots. If they keep doing that, they get banned
- SerB is a Russian citizen - he doesn't have clear preference between Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, he might write a memory book when he retires
- autoaim works on both client- and server-side, it's practically useless when the target's movement is perpendicular to yours
- confirmed: new arty pieces (when the arty branch is prolonged to tier 10) do not have to be inserted after tier 6 or 7, but anywhere really, it's also not guaranteed that the economical model (profit, costs) of current tier 8 arties will remain the same at tier 10
- the average age of WG employees is 25-30, but the developers are somewhat older
- regarding the MM, MM does not guarantee you will get the opposite vehicles of the same weight, only the total team MM weights have to match
- other ideas of arty change were considered (SS: changes in the satellite view etc), but those were deemed bad
- new decals and writings might be introduced, possibly as awards (for something)
- ammo size is generally historical, with a few balance exceptions
- Leopard 1 will have the L7A3 gun, it will have "magical" golden HE rounds (SS: earlier HESH was mentioned), that will comply with Wargaming's historical data (SS: the underlining made by SerB)
- FCM50t has the profitability comparable to other tier 8 premium tanks
- Lowe won't be replaced by another tank (SS: no idea where that came from), players won't be able to sell premium tanks for gold
- Chinese IS-2's frontal armor angle is 60 degrees, the 90mm frontal armor is historical and so is the depression
- Q: "Will there be other German post-war vehicles apart from Leopard?" A: "If you find some right ones, we'll implement them"
- Russian WoT portal has the new version of US and French trees (Changes: French - 2nd medium line is gone, US - Christie tanks are gone)
- SLI support is being developed, the number of the patch where it will be is going to be announced
- there are no plans for 2nd tier 1 tanks
- Q: "Will there be a change in the high tier battle economy?" A: "If necessery - and we define what's necessery"
- SerB would like to have a project with a clearly defined "end" (when everything is done and implemented), he states that it is unfortunately not possible
- there might be a transition from the French heavy branch to the TD branch, not clear how
- some map elements are not penetreable (for example telephone booths) because it is technically difficult to implement, but it might be implemented in the future, it's not considered critically important for the gameplay
- T-34-2 is unlikely to get buffed at this point
- it's possible Soviet IS-2 will appear as a tier 8 heavy tank

How are the Chinse doing? RU server statistics

Number columns, from left to right: Amount of battles played total, amount of victories total, winrate, amount of tanks. What does it tell you? Compared to the introduction of the alternative US branch or even the British tanks, Chinese tanks are actually way more popular. As you can see, most people used free XP to skip straight to tier 5 and from there it goes roughly equally, although the heavy and light branches seem to be marginally more popular than the medium branch. However, considering the light and medium branch end up merging, altogether they are more successful than the heavy branch. How much - too early to tell.

The filth of the EU community

Hello everyone,

today, I am going to write about something pretty serious, at least in my eyes. As some of you know (and others might have figured out from the blogspot.cz domain), I am Czech. For quite some time (practically my whole WoT career, until December 2012) I was a part of the Czechoslovak community and I left for reasons unrelated to this article.

However, after more than a year spent on the official Czechoslovak forums, I must say that I consider the Czechoslovak community to be one of the worst EU server communities, possibly THE worst. While some members are quite nice people and great to talk to in real life and in the game (you know who you guys are, next beers are on me), I have never EVER in any other forum section (I generally go thru the German, Polish, sometimes French and naturally the overall english sections) seen such vile hostility, anti-semitic and anti-Polish rants and more. Especially the last issue seems to dominate the Clanwars, but not only that. Last November, during the Polish Independence event, the Czechoslovak thread about this was the only thread from what I could see that degraded into a vile anti-Polish rant. It was so bad the Polish community organizer had to come in and actually apologize for the Polish having the event. It was totally humiliating. I know I myself sometimes made "siemka" jokes in the English and Czechoslovak forum sections both, but this was just ugh....

Of course, it wasn't the only case. Only yesterday in an official forum CW thread some pretty vile comments sprung up. Everything started with player Cnnk (who is Czech, but also a member of a Polish clan) posting that certain Czechoslovak clan (CTB-P) spouted anti-Polish bullshit in Clanwars chat.

Translation: What happened yesterday on the CW channel around 21:45 ...that was again an example of the Czech cream of the crop - insulting Polish, insulting homosexuals, insulting the Jews... genocide, threats.. etc. I can take a lot, for in my whole time this was for the first time when I took screenshots a bit and sent a support ticket ....some people should really think on their behavior - especially the CTB-P clan, of which most of the offenders came, including its leadership...

Well, it didn't stop there. The mentioned clan came to have a "nice chat" in that thread.

Translation: And we can get insulted by the Polish? You didn't see that? You cowshit... don't forget to send screenies to support, you collaborator. It was a Polak who provoked it, you didn't see that? How do we calculate the escape velocity of a Jew from a concentration camp? The height of the chimney + wind velocity. PS: black humor






As you can see, such "jokes" of poor taste are not banned from the CZ section of EU server. At least not for a while - I really hope the Czech mods will pull their shit together and ban these fuckers. If there is something I really can't stand, it's antisemitism. Also, as you can see, a Czech player playing with the Polish players is not tolerated and is called a "collaborator" (as in "with the enemy"). Anyway, Cnnk reacted by stating he'd like them to get banned for this, because they behave like pigs. The reaction came swiftly:

Translation: For cNNk - Pigs? Are you normal? Looks like my taxes are paying for the computers in Bohnice mental asylum! That's where you belong, for starters. You aren't supposed to talk about us, you asshole! Mind your own business and keep us away from your conversation, did someone attack you? If you don't like what we write in the chat, leave and go play tic tac toe... you'd be better off with other mental retards talking about new pills! You are a complete shit, who acts like a nations delegate! The worst people come from Poland and that's a fact, but everyone gets mad when they hear the truth. Go play in a sandbox and don't talk about us you pig! Or the Polaks (SS: "pšonci" is a derogatory Czech term for Polish) will learn what "Vanďák" is. (SS: Vanďák is a local name for the town of Varnsdorf, which is partially Polish - basically it's a call for national conflict).

And to top it off, one last player from the same clan posted a really nice wish:

Translation: We might not be a better race, but to meet such a collaborating cripple like you are.... I can only say a few words... take a pill and change the tyres on your wheelchair and go play with your own kind and I think the avatar you are using is your authentic photo and that speaks for itself.




Nice, isn't it? This is not an isolated incident. This sort of shit happened several times in the past. I have never seen such crap in other sections. Anywhere. To be fair, other "usual" forum members didn't approve of this crap, but this is why the Czechoslovak community has (often rightfully) the reputation of one of the worst and most aggressive communities of WoT. Yes, I do not like them in general. That much is known and after the "Czechout incident" and their reaction to it, I like them even less. But that doesn't change the fact that this sort of shit really shouldn't happen.

Storm writes on the topic of maps for the third time

A reaction and summary of cca 500 player posts written under the previous article (Storm summarizes the player input)

"Negative vote" leaders (maps considered worst by players)
- Dragon's Ridge (bad gameplay in general, only a small part of the map used)
- Port - annoying tank "rocking" when driving over the railway all the time, annoying "maze" of railroad wagons, upper spawn area easily scoutable (lighteable) by scouts on the bridge, lower spawn area too difficult to scout and to shoot at
- Serene Coast - too few ways to attack, often ends up in a "standoff", the hill is dominating too much
- South Coast - generally considered as "bad", many players are annoyed by the map being labyrinth-like
- Widepark - railroad camping, arties die too fast, the upper side gets scouted too quick

Negative moments of the other maps, that are frequently mentioned by players
- Ruinberg - make the roads straighter (SS: possible sense also "not so full of holes") and to remove the broken terrain in the east open part
- Karelia - too much broken terrain (SS: "bumpy")
- Abbey - too bumpy on the left flank (SS: Russians call it "the ear"), one base can be scouted easier than the other
- Prokhorovka - too bumpy, players complain mainly about the field part
- El-Halluf - too bumpy on the slopes, too little cover from arty
- Redshire - too little cover from arty after the middle "ridge" was lowered, the northern side is dominating
- Highway - southern team has it more difficult to go to the city, there is the railroad and not enough cover for one side
- Cliff - players are annoyed by the fact that scouts can reach the mountain now - if the teams generally have slow tanks, a scout from the northern team can easily get on the top of the mountain and light up the entire map from there

Most frequent wishes
- open maps such as the Steppes
- more sand and snow maps
- more clean city maps, such as the Himmelsdorf
- many players wish special maps designed for the new modes

Individual bugs
- crossing the railway - there was already one case of fail on the test server where on the Ensk map, while crossing the railroad, you rock the tank so much that actually you get stuck under one of the rails, this is just an example of railroad bugs
- small tanks, such as the Somua get stuck on the railways often, M41 got also stuck badly in some situations

Also unpopular is the inability to destroy the house accessories, such as the stairs, ladders etc., it's considered a nonsense that stairs can stop a 50 ton tank going full speed ahead. And also the indestructible tractor.

SS: So much for the article, this whole thing (asking players what they want) is Storm's own private initiative - after that, he'll take the results as an input for the map-making developer section. The results of this debate will be discussed with the mapmakers tomorrow. Russians also cry out for more "Russian-themed" maps, but that's not really considered as the maps are made for all the regions.

This post and the fact

22.1.2013

- Russian server new player record is 728k at the same time
- the Tiger(P) might appear in historical battles, because one vehicle fought in real life (SS: I hope I translated this correctly)
- it's not clear whether there will be more "boss battle" events (SS: regarding the White Tiger event where 15 T-34's fought against the special Tiger P), not specifically denied however
- there will probably be no developer plan published for 2013 (Serb thinks it's not really needed)
- there is no way of detecting whether the camo bonus on the fallen tree is "working", Serb states "use common sense" (SS: it was answered earlier that the camo bonus of the fallen tree activates only when the tree hits the ground and "stops" moving - and only for the crown part of the tree)
- SerB doesn't watch WoT streams
- it is possible that the whole German arty branch might be lifter up by one tier when the tier 10 arties come (eg. new vehicles get inserted at tier 2-3), it's also possible that ALL arty vehicles might be rebalanced in connection with that
- SerB answering to a player complaining about the Chaffee not having any advantages over T71: "Neither of them has any significant advantage regarding their sum of characteristics. If there were any advantages found, the characteristics would get changed. There is no need to lobby on their behalf, we are not the US Congress."
- the devs are tracking average battle time, it's roughly 7 mins and it didn't change too much in last year
- the type of shells loaded has no influence on the vehicle's MM (SS: if you load gold ammo, you won't get worse MM)
- regarding Chinese crew radioman perks - they always apply on the person that is responsible for the radio (historically), f.x. Type 62 - the commander etc.
- Leopard 1 will most likely have the L7A1 gun (the same as the FV4202 has), it will probably fire HESH shells as gold ammo
- the chat quickcommand "ready!" is not planned for near future
- there are "several millions" of players, who play the game at least once per month, but the exact numbers aren't disclosed apart from the public PR releases
- when tier 10 arties are introduced, the XP and credit price of the whole branch unlock will be roughly the same as with the other branches
- SerB states that the players do prefer the tanks of their own nation (Russians the Russian tanks, Germans the German tanks etc.)
- it's not excluded more TOG-2-like tanks (WW1 relics, slow, lot of HP) will be introduced
- no plans to increase the crew rank beyond "Major"
- no hardcap (SS: as in maximum number per battle) planned for light tanks (because they have the same gameplay as other tanks and because SerB views the hardcap as a temporary and bad solution) - Storm earlier said there would be a solution for light tanks, but that's more along the lines of "the same amount of scouts per battle"
- according to SerB, all the server populations had their difficulties: "Americans don't like challenges, Russian servers had performance issues and the Chinese love pay-to-win".
- player rating re-work? "if we plan to do it, we'll tell you sooner or later"
- the new German medium line won't have its modules unified with other German lines, as the guns and the engines are quite different
- Q: "EU server has march for 8.4 and the RU server has february, will you troll us every month like that?" A: "Will you troll us every day by not reading previous answers and posting bullshit?"
- the Chinese tier 2 Vickers' cylindrical turret is historical
- the prepared Stalingrad map is meant for WoWp, not WoT (SS: there were rumors of Stalingrad map being prepared)

21.1.2013

- Chinese M5A1 Stuart radio module will not be compatible with the US tree, despite the fact it's basically the same radio ("Chinese tankists educate themselves with Chinese translations of the US radio operating manuals. In this hard work the American tankers can't help them in any way.")
- French B2 premium arty has the same MM as every other tier 4 arty, despite the rumors of it having "special" MM
- the Leopard 1 in the game will be the one with cast turret, not the one with the welded one
- Q: "Historical sources (Doyle) mention 80mm frontal armor on the VK4502 both Ausf. B and Ausf. A, why is it not like that in the game?" A: "Here (for the rear turret variant) we applied the Ahnenerbe technology, otherwise Germans would get rather sour" (SS: "Ahnenerbe" is one of the SerB's running jokes, he explains every German (unrealistic) buff with "Ahnenerbe magic")
- Q: "Will the tier 10 arty cost approximately the same as other tier 10 tech?" A: "We'll see"
- premium tanks don't differ from promo/gift tanks principially in anything
- Storm commenting the fact that the 8.4 patch in the RU "in development" section is scheduled for February and in the EU one for March: "both are correct"
- fog in Dragon's ridge has no masking effect
- Soviet ZIS-30 TD (57mm ZIS-2 gun mounted on the T-20 "Komsomolec" tractor) - maybe, definitely not in 2013
- M48 tank will not be replaced by M60 (SS: emphasis on "replaced", eg. M60 might appear alongside it), because "M48 is where it belongs" (SS: as in "on its place")
- Q: "When will be the German 2nd branch and German tier 8 prem medium tank?" A: "Germanlovers und Germanloverettes nicht erste post of the topic readen? Ordnung mus zajn, darum fircen tage nicht schreiben" (SS: sorry, this is just really hilarious in Russian, very hard to translate tho. The original: Немцефилен унд немцефилкен нихьт ерсте пост тема читайнен?
Орднунг мус зайн, дарум фирцейн таге нихьт шрайбен! - one of the funniest things I've ever read from SerB)
- if the tank gets destroyed by killing off the entire crew but it has HP's left, the whole crew will recieve an XP penalty for dying (SS: there was a rumor they don't)
- SerB on whether the teamdamage penalty system will be reworked: "If necessery. And we decide what's necessery."
- Q: "Why do you answer the way you do (SS: sarcastically etc.), did you see somewhere World of Warcraft, Terra and Aion developers answering questions like that?" A: "Show me the Aion, Terra and World of Warcraft design vice-president's answers, and I will think about my behavior :) " (SS: later SerB states he considers his way of answering normal and basically he doesn't give a damn about AION)
- (related to the previous question) Q: "You'll sing a different tune when WoT has a good competition, I'll see how you talk then" A: "Yes, we are scared of this terribly good competitior for three years already, still nothing happened, so far we are still alive" (SS: after that a bunch of troll questions and answers follow in relation to how War Thunder will kick WoWp's ass - SerB trolls for a while and then replies "If you like it so much there why are you here?")
- currently an unified menu interface for WoT, WoWp and WoWs is in development ("when it's done it's done")