SturmTiger in 8.4? A FAKE

A Russian WoT news site reported that Sturmtiger would be implemented soon.

Source: http://wg-news.ru/novaya-nemeckaya-premium-artilleriya-postupit-v-prodazhu-v-blizhajshem-obnovlenii/

Unfortunately this was confirmed by The_Chieftain and Falathi from the Polish EU forums to be a hoax. Ah well. Maybe next time :)

30.1.2013

- SerB considers the winrate of a player to be the indicator of that player's skill
- SerB confirmed the fact that when the arty branches are prolonged to tier 10, various arty branches will have new machines inserted on various tiers (SS: eg logically, it's not sure T7 will go to T9 and T8 to T10 automatically)
- 15vs15 companies won't be cancelled according to SerB, they make a great training ground for the CWs
- looks like the Fog of War won't be in randoms after all
- the devs don't introduce a bigger number of low-tier premiums into the game (despite having them prepared in advance) because sometimes, the vehicle designed to be premiums are used to "patch up" the holes in regular trees and to supplement upcoming branches
- it's not totally excluded for 3 branches of the same class to exist in one tree
- the spare tracks mounted on hulls/turrets of the ingame vehicles do not count as armor
- the 59-16 Chinese LT has an autoloader on its top gun. At the same time it can mount a rammer. The rammer reduceds the autoloader loading time, not time between shots - and it's not a bug
- tier 10 TD's have lower MM weight than tier 10 heavies
- Q: "Do you plan to improve the premium account by allowing to buy shorter period premium account?" A: "Yes, we are currently thinking about allowing the player to buy one second and one milisecond premium" :)

Storm on the topic of 7x7 companies (7x42)

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/147171.html

Basically, Storm confirms they are working hard on the 7x42 companies (ESL format). It seems to be planned that it'll work like WoW dungeon finder and arena (for those familiar with Warcraft): you'll be able to make your own company, or make just a part of the company and the rest will be assigned to you automatically, or you will be able to enter a queue, if you have a suitable tank and you will automatically join suitable battles.
This game mode will work with player ratings and teams will meet the teams of similiar ratings. This system will be built for massive use (SS: not as exclusive as for example current company mode) and it is expected many more people will play this mode, because it's easier to find 6 other members than 14.

Storm states that he wonders what will become of the current 15 vs 15 companies. He sees only two uses for them left: first as a training for clanwars and second - players can build an elite company and go decimate noobs. Currently the idea within WG is that the old companies will be removed and reworked, but it's not really decided all yet.

In the discussion to the article, Storm mentions that he's afraid that when this mode is introduced, old companies will have only few (bad) players left and they won't work anyway. He also states that the statistics of some company modes (4-6) are very bad and that not many play them. He also mentions that Clanwars will be globally reworked.
This mode will be totally separated from random battles, which will NOT have a skill MM.

Oh and WoT-ish game (unclear whether WoT or some other port) will be made for gaming consoles, if I understand this correctly.

29.1.2013

(SS: the amount of bullshit I filtered today is high, therefore the questions will be shorter)

- Q: "Do you fear the War Thunder competition?" A: "Most of all, we fear Farmville" (SS: SerB didn't say exactly Farmville, but its Russian equivalent, I changed it to make the joke more comprehensible)
- BT-5 might become a Chinese premium LT, but not in next few patches
- IS-3 confirmed NOT to become a premium tank
- SU-85(i) and Panzer IV Hydro are not going to be sold in the shops, they are promo/gift vehicles, not clear when they will be given
- It's planned to introduce the possibility to view replays straight from (within) the client (SS: so there will be no need to quit the game and doubleclick the replay itself)
- You recieve less XP by firing on targets that are lower tier than you
- the devs have no relationship with the WoT wiki
- Q: "Will there be British tier 8 heavy?" A: "When it's planned, I'll tell you. It's not possible to answer all of the questions related to various nation - tier tank combinations."
- Recon and Situational Awareness skills work the same way.
- there is no plan to add the Syria flag
- SerB actually misses the times when there were fewer players asking more intelligent questions
- SerB states that all the archives WG collaborated with caused some problems and almost all the problems were settled
- Q: "When dealing with Support, they sent me a program called "wot_check" for testing the client. Do you plan to put this program into the client to fight illegal mods?" A: "We won't comment on this."
- Q: "Did you consider adding ingame voice communication for random battles without the platoons?" A: "We did. It was terrible. Scrapped the idea."
- M47 Patton? "maybe, if we ever need a tier 8-10 vehicle" (SS: this was related to the whole Patton tank family question, whether we will see all the Pattons - M46, M47, M48)
- it's probably not possible to make the ingame platoon voice chat permanently on without the need to press the butten, "there are problems with that"
- different types of shells have different colored tracers, HE shells have orange tracers, so that the arty can recognize other arties. subcaliber (APCR, APDS) shells have light, short and transparent tracers (because it's basically just a small piece of tungsten flying), AP shells tracers look like subcaliber shells tracers but a lot more clear (they are longer, more visible and less transparent). HEAT tracers are yellow and very thin. Tracer colors are the same on all the servers.
- the devs are thinking about adding the Fog of War in random battles
- there will be no multiclassing (SS: a Hetzer with a 150mm short howitzer mentioned, that could work both as TD and as an arty at the same time), in the early development the devs thought about changing the class of the vehicle by adding different modules (for example SU-122 and SU-152 could work as an arty as well as a TD), but this idea was scrapped soon

RU server winrate statistics 14.1.2013 - 28.1.2013

Source: http://wotbase.ru/archives/2270/%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%B4-14-01-2013-28-01-2013.html

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28.1.2013 (special)

Interview with Evily, the head of Russian community department (if I understood correctly, can't find the guy)

Source: http://world-of-ru.livejournal.com/1527906.html

- There will be more events of the type the Chinese have now ("top 100 experience"), in the future there will be XP tables too
- no additional info on the historical battles, ATM the devs are working on CW's
- the closest new mode is the garage battle, needs a lot of re-balancing (Storm adds:
- this year, the Global Wargaming League tournament is coming, it will be a mass event, it will run in seasons and the prizes will be in gold
- 10 new maps planned for 2013, part of them will be "Asian-style", part will be "city-style" á la Himmelsdorf, Stalingrad is possible (Storm adds: 11, not 10)
- there might eventually be special maps for CWs only
- 30vs30 battles are really badly playable, especially in random battles
- a system is being prepared where everyone will be able to deselect 1 map (and that's still considered according to Storm)
- Komarin won't return in 0.8.4
- Serene Coast winrate for bases is unbalanced, one has 58 percent winrate, the other 42
- Westfield assault will be remade (perhaps even removed)
- T-50-2 will be replaced in 0.8.6 (not totally 100 percent), according to Evily, first comes British TDs, then German meds, then British arty, it is confirmed the devs don't to put out too many tanks at once
- the new German med branch will start with VK3002DB (SS: as planned previously)
- T57 nerf will be discussed after 0.8.4
- tier 10 arties will come until the end of summer
- one more medium branch for the US confirmed
- French medium and heavy 2nd line not planned for 2013
- Japanese tanks don't have priority atm, so that's until the end of the year
- Japanese hightier tanks are "rolling coastal defense fortresses", they had tanks planned with 150mm, 200mm, 280mm guns
- regarding the FV215b TD: confirmed ("a 180mm gun based on the FV215b vehicle"), but the HT FV215b stays, after the TD comes, the devs will see, they have a good replacement tank drawings. Devs are not happy with the FV215b performance.
- there will be hightier premium meds for all nations
- premium WZ-111 heavy tank will be on the EU server a bit later
- T23 will most likely become a tier 6-7 premium tank
- SU-100Y will cost as much as other tier 6 TDs
- the platoon-infested battles are not regarded as a problem
- WG will buy rights for some mods and implement them in game
- voice chat in random: no
- gold shells for credits will not be removed, the experiment was a success
- the possibility to "freeze" premium accounts won't be implemented as the premium isn't that expensive
- in order for a ban to be considered, the player has to collect 5 report tickets
- a special tank game is being developed for the pads
- national voiceovers are planned

Regarding the new light tank branches

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/146522.html

A player on the developer's blog argues that the best solution how to deal with the blind light tank branches would be to raise the current tier 5 light tanks to tier 6, because they are balanced as T6 vehicles anyway, to put something new at tier 5 and to finish the branch with two more vehicles (the Aufklärungspanther T7 and RU251 T8 for Germans, Walker Bulldog for Americans, "something" for the Russians etc.) - the moneymaking potential would be the same as with the French and Chinese T6 light vehicles in this case.

Developer Makarovslava states to this: "Basically, this is what we are planning, but the T-50-2 will most likely not stay in the new line, there is an "armored moped" needed between the T-50 and MT-25"