We offer you to remember everything that happened in 2019, how the developers made us happy and vice versa, caused a storm of indignation. So which direction is the game heading?
Greetings, tankers! With you Wotpack and today we offer our version of what made us happy this year in the World of Tanks and what, on the contrary, upset us. If we missed something important in your opinion, then do not hesitate, write in the comments, share your thoughts.
General points
First, let’s talk about the events that affected the whole year. To begin with, the resumption of cooperation between Wargaming and Amazon has returned to us the opportunity to receive, almost for free, cool packages with these and other premiums under the Twitch Prime Live stream. Also, in February, the updated referral program 2.0 returned to us, which was continued in September.
This year, a record number of premium tanks were released, among which there are really interesting models:
The last 2 tanks first appeared in New Year’s boxes 2020 (we were even lucky to get them, video in the review).
If the previous technique could only be bought for donation, then the developers can be praised for 3 marathons this year for:
Since spring, a new balancer has been operating, which is still “learning” to this day. Battles at the bottom of the list have become much less frequent and often throws towards single-tier vehicles. Now the matchmaker is configured so that there are fewer battles with the dominance of one class and a decrease in SPGs in battle.
And then let’s go in order, in chronological order.
February
Update 1.4
In this patch, clearly a positive moment is the increase in performance in the game, the developers have made the load of the cores more even, so many players have noticed an increase in the frame rate per second (FPS). But I had to abandon Windows XP.
Also this month a new branch of French wheeled tanks was introduced:
This decision is rather ambiguous. Many players were against the introduction of wheeled vehicles because they do not meet the standards set in the game. But the developers said that most of the players spoke positively, so we got new cars in the random. With their appearance, the overall average time of battles accelerated and a lot of deer appeared, which at the beginning of the battle simply rode and merged.
However, over time, people understood how to play, and now, if the “wheels” do not imbue in random, then they may well affect the outcome of the battle, especially at high levels. This innovation still has opponents who argue that these LTs need to be removed from the game and supporters who have already pumped them out or are pumping them, simultaneously playing for their own pleasure (it cannot be denied that the technique turned out to be fun).
Slightly reduced the difficulty of the LBZ in the second campaign.
March
Update 1.4.1
There is nothing to complain about here. A great feature has appeared – blueprints. They are regularly dropped from allowances or in some Twitch Prime promotions. Blueprints allow you to get a discount on vehicle research up to 100%, thereby speeding up pumping on the way to the Top.
You can also create them yourself from elements of national and unique fragments.
We also added the ability to change the appearance of the tanker in the Garage – Crew Member Skin… This innovation does not carry anything important in itself, but fans of customization have gone.
April
We cannot ignore the opening of the WoT Classic server, where we were given the opportunity to ride the good old “Tanks” version 0.7.0.
Then everything was more hardcore in terms of the level of battles and the absence of a “light bulb” from the commander, old-school physics, and gold shells only for gold. Despite the lags and long queue, the event deserves a positive assessment.
May
Update 1.5
One of the biggest patches this year. Someone he has pleased with the up of the Swedish bands Emil I, Emil II, Kranvagn; and some were upset by the nerf of Type 5 Heavy, Type 4 Heavy, FV4005 Stage II.
The developers “killed” the high-explosive nagibators: the “Japs” could inflict damage simply by shooting at the body, and the British babakha sometimes gave out a colossal alpha from the land mines.
A new branch of Swedish medium tanks with interesting hydropneumatic suspension mechanics:
But the rebalancing of the sau also became a controversial issue. If several gunners focused one heavy, then we can say that he played enough, because he did not even have time to get out of the stun, and it is almost impossible to play with a shell-shocked crew. Therefore, the arte changed the stunning parameters and the range of the fragments.
Added “blacklist” – the ability to block some cards. We’ve all been waiting for this, a very useful feature. We are definitely waiting for the expansion of slots for prohibited cards (now you can remove one + one more if you have a PA).
Replacing a regular premium account with a tank one. This is a really cool idea, because the functionality of the prem has expanded significantly:
- plus one card ban;
- daily combat missions (you can farm bonds);
- backup silver storage;
- controlled x5 to experience;
- bonus to silver farming when playing in platoon.
The black market literally blew up the gaming community, because for the first time it was possible to buy premium tanks for silver, promotional tier 10 vehicles also for silver, and some rare tanks only for gold. The servers could not withstand such an influx of people, there were a lot of glitches, nerves, but overall the idea is cool, many players who did not have the opportunity to buy a premium tank were able to take at least one “eight”.
Reworked Ranked Battles. In places it has become a little better, but it has not done without jambs.
June
Update 1.5.1
Not the most global patch, but it was marked with positive points:
- As part of the rebalancing of medium tanks, the Leopard 1 and STB-1 branches were upgraded;
- added training materials, now it’s much easier to pump the crew (and in particular the lamp);
- session statistics migrated from mods to the game.
We returned the Kharkiv map, but the feedback from the players about it is mixed.
August
Update 1.6
Added a branch of British light tanks (regular, not wheeled, and thanks for that). It did not arouse interest among domestic players, and it was released more with the expectation of Europe.
Disable allied damage. On the one hand, this is good, because there is less harm from fools who cannot hit enemies, so they shot at allies. On the other hand, the friendly lifer was the only method of influencing the heavy tanks playing in tank destroyers or light tanks, which sat on lines 2-3, not wanting to shine.
We have revised and simplified many personal combat missions again. It was all the same suggested itself.
The most interesting event of the month is the tank festival. The idea with tank tokens looked interesting. So far they still looked damp, but in the future the developers promised to make them more interesting.
The greatest impressions were made by the events of Steel Hunter (an event in the style of “Battle Royale”) and Big Races.
October
Update 1.6.1
Now the game has a multinational vehicle on which players can switch between two nations (so far only on the T-34-85 Rudy). Convenient for leveling the crew and completing campaigns. Again, changes in Ranked Battles, added “non-combustible points” (alas, the chair under us still does not burn less because of this). But everything got better, the developers have brought to mind the previous processing.
Not without a jamb – the regime promised for Halloween did not come out. In fact, it’s better this way than if the mode was started in its raw form and with a bunch of bugs, then the players would be even more outraged. But next year there will certainly be something great!
November
A veteran program under which all players received gifts, including a new Super Hellcat tank.
December
The last month passed relatively calmly, without loud changes. Noteworthy is the introduction of a function to hide the nickname and statistics in battle – Anonymizer. A new two-gun mechanic has been added to the game and the Soviet back-up of two-gun tanks will be released early next year.
By tradition, in honor of the New Year’s offensive, the developers have again added Large New Year’s boxes with premium tanks, gold and other buns. Should I open them? A controversial issue, therefore, as part of a test purchase, we took 80 units (20 of each type) and found out where tier 8 premature tanks most often fall – review + video here.
Outcome
Well, the year turned out to be very busy. We received a lot of events, promotions and new technology (although not everyone liked it). The developers continue to modernize and optimize the game, make balance changes. Even if not everything turns out well the first time, almost all errors are quickly eliminated by micropatching (of which we saw a lot this year and often rearranged the mods after them).