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Mar 30, 2013

30.3.2013

The biggest news of the day is the sacking of the EU supertesters I suppose. That will make a few people... unhappy (check the previous post).

Anyway as for today's news:

- it's possible the shell velocity for each shell and gun will be made public (disclosed, for now it's secret)
- regarding the IS-3 model "fix" from the unofficial patchnotes: Wargaming fixed the "overhang" above the mantlet
- the US premium TD will be implemented, but not fast - Storm states they have no patch to put it in, as all patches already are full (SS: as in they have their content decided)
- the point in the 3001, 3601 etc. tank names (SS: earlier VK3601, now VK36.01) was added because it's historical (SS: the first number indicates the prototype weight in tons, the second is the version of the prototype)
- ST-I model was checked, it's correct
- Durchbruchwagen is still planned for tier 5, will be implemented later
- premium tanks tier 9 and 10? "No"
- the details about the tier 10 "reward" tanks (Object 907, M60, Failowe) will be published later
- the fate of Panzer IV Hydro is not yet decided
- the XP needed to level up the light German tanks will be reviewed, wait with XP decisions until the patch test
- you can't get a defender medal by killing a capper after the base was fully captured
- water does not diminish the effect of a HE shell, it's also not planned
- there is a hidden parameter "quality of the suspension" in the game, that affect the vehicle performance

EU supertesters fired

Source: http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/228026-eu-supertest-program-closed/

So, basically all EU supertesters have been fired. Regrettable, but it's the only way they could have dealt with the flood of leaks.

My thoughts? It was basically the only thing WG could have done to prevent leaks. Keep in mind that even though some of the leaks went thru me and my blog, others went thru various Russian sites and blogs, so the issue is by no means closed. Still, too bad.

Silentstalker vs CZ/SK community: how and why?

Hello everyone,

once in a while, I get asked, what's the problem between me and Czechoslovak community in WoT (by Czech community I do not mean all Czechoslovak players in game of course, but some (not even all) Czechoslovak players from the unofficial and official forums). I never really bothered to answer, but seeing as the unofficial community made a thread bout how happy they are I am banned from the EU forums (tbh, ever since my ban, I think I have more readers than before, yesterday I broke the record with nearly 60 thousand hits per day), I think it's time I recount the whole story of what happened. I offer no proof (most of this happened long time ago and was deleted/threads disappeared etc.), either take my word for it, or don't, simple as that.


Those of you, who don't care and don't like HURRRDURRR DRAMA, you might as well skip this article. 





Still here?

You've been warned :)

In order to understand, you have to realize the Czechoslovak World of Tanks community, you have to understand it is split into two parts: the unofficial and the official one. The reason for this is that World of Tanks was very popular from the beginning, but Wargaming reacted slowly and the official section came to be only when the unofficial forum was in full swing. That's why the official section was never as frequented as the unofficial forums (in Czech nicknamed "neofiko"). The unofficial forum even registered the worldoftanks.cz domain (which got stolen inbetween but that's a story for another time). Also, the important thing to know is that the unofficial and official forums were largely hostile to each other (with players from the unoffical forum coming to the official one and spamming ads on their forum over some threads). I shall furthermore refer to the official forum as OF and unofficial forum as UF.

Another thing that you need to realize is that most of OF and all of UF is utterly anti-Wargaming. Any change/problem/decision of WG gets bashed to no end, there is a lot of whining, bitching and practically zero constructive content. If you don't believe me, look in the current CZ/SK OF section, you'll see. Moaning everywhere.

I came to the whole OF/UF conflict around June 2012 (or so, can't remember exactly), because I joined a clan called Steel Vortex (it still exists as far as I know), led by Kvetule9_CZ, a Czech female player and one of the head honchos of the UF (she was a redactor or something). I didn't expect much. The OF community was rather OK at that point, Tuccy and Czechout were doing an okay job. The problem was, Steel Vortex (SV) was in a state of "war" with some other clan I forgot the name of, they broke down later on. One of them (a 40-year old truck driver, a complete retard - yes, I do think he was mentally impaired, he disappeared shortly after this incident, because he got flamed by the entire UF) started insulting Kvetule9_CZ, because of how she looks (primitive stuff, really). So, what I did was the first time I encountered his platoon (on my side) in random, I teamkilled them both, they went moaning on the UF and that was "strike one" for me. The situation got contained, I "apologized", but it left an aftertaste.

"Strike two" came some weeks later. This was a good one, that convinced me that the UF was a bunch of retards. Basically, what happened: UF was tied to this Czech weekly streaming show called Tankodrom (it still exists, by the way). Someone started a rumor, that Wargaming will support this web show with some substantial money (2000 Euro per month or so). As with typical Czechs, fighting for this fictional money started. Basically, they all wanted to get rid of the person who was pushing hard for the complete unification of UF with this stream, so UF gets a share of the money (his name was/still is Argo37). Kvetule9_CZ was quite annoyed and I, in a typical whiteknighting fashion, offered to help. She introduced me as a "lawyer friend" and I pushed Argo37 into resignation. Overall, it was a "victory" and things calmed down, but the fact the entire UF staff fought like animals over the money that didn't even exist left me quite disgusted (the fighting was ugly, with real life threats etc.) - in the end I told everything that happened to Czechout (who I was talking to on regular basis), who made sure UF wouldn't get any WG support (let alone money) ever again and - after some UF member called openly her a whore - made her openly hostile to UF.

As an aftermath, one of the staff on UF made hits that he'll extort Wargaming somehow (there was an issue whether the NDA some people signed was legal or not, all kinds of internet lawyers and morons started claiming it isn't). I changed my Teamspeak nickname and joined in disguise their "secret" TS session, where some of the UF staff ranted about how they want money from WG (!) and that they will sue if they get nothing (!!!) and that Tuccy was a retard. I didn't record the session of course, but it did convince me that UF is just a shithole.

"Strike three" came in autumn. By that I was firmly convinced the UF people are absolute filth, truly disgusting (by the way, Georgee, who started the SS thread, is their head honcho, typical...). Some of you remember the "fake Chinese goldsites" affair. Basically to sum it up - a website offered cheaper gold than Wargaming, because the site was running a credit card scam. A lot of people in Czechoslovak and Polish community (where it is known as "Allegro gold" after some e-auction site I believe) fell for it and subsequently got banned.

Basically what happened: a guy named Kanar (yes, it's the SAME guy from the anti-SS thread) started an open thread (!!!) on UF, where he promoted the credit card scam site with "we get even with Wargaming who is cheating us anyway bla bla bla". A lot of people wrote in the thread about how they bought this cheap gold. I mean... openly! Without any limits, anyone could see who posted there under their game nicknames! It doesn't get more retarded than that. What I did was I told Czechout about the thread. Obviously, people from the thread were investgated and mass banned. They then came en masse whining to the OF. I laughed my ass off at their rage, it turned into a flame- and troll- fest.

That was pretty much enough for me to consider everyone from the UF and half of OF that supported these morons a total filth and I started bashing them openly (with Czechout's support actually, she hated the morons as much as I did).

Proverbial last drop came later in autumn with the "Polish independence" weekend special. I have made some joke "Siemka" threads in my time, but this turned into an ugly anti-Polish and anti-semitic rant on Czech forum - both UF and OF members were bashing the Polish, Jews etc. and MANY people got banned. I joined the flameward on Wargaming's side and bashed the shitheads, kindernazis and other filth. In the end, the Polish community organizer had to come in and apologize (!) for the Polish actually having a special. I have never felt more ashamed for being on the Czech forums, it was just... bleh. Anyway, from that point, I was labeled as a "WG stooge" and "snitch".

In the Czechout affair in January, most of the Czech community sided with Czechout (because - let's face it, she was handing out bonus codes like there's no tomorrow and of course, one does not simply side with Silentstalker). So yeah, from that point, it just went downhill, but yea, that's how the whole "Silentstalker is the satan" started.

The common misconception is that I hate all Czech players or forummembers. I don't. In fact, I don't have problem with most people, I enjoy talking for example with lonigus and others.

I don't claim to be a nice person. Hell, I'm an asshole, most people know that. But given the fact the UF started a thread about me again (hurrdurrimfamous), I see no reason why not to tell my side of the story, since people ask from time to time.

VK2001D and VK3001D screenshots

Source: KrasnayaZvezda, US forums

A note on nomenclature: Most people, who don't read the historical literature were used to the different nomenclature system: VK3002DB, which means "fully tracked vehicle, 30 tons, 2nd prototype, Daimler Benz". The D instead of DB means the same thing: Daimler Benz - just that one system is used by H. Doyle and the other by W. Spielberger. They both work the same.

VK2001D


VK3001D


EU Q&A

Hello everyone,

so, today (or yesterday), a new batch of EU Q&A was open - you know, the thread where you can ask the developers anything and after 4 weeks or so, you get answers for about 5 percent of them. I saw the questions and I was like... "damn, I think I know what SerB will answer to this!"

So, let's play a little game.

I'm gonna answer the questions EU players asked right here and right now. When there are official answers from developers, we can compare it and we'll see how accurate I was. I am willing to bet I won't be far from the truth, given the fact that the answers usually don't differ from the one on RU server.

And yea, I know the system is crappy, but it's all the EU server has. I have the feeling Overlord is working on something better for the EU, but could be just a hunch. So, let's get to it.

Izroda: When will the test server for next patch be up and when can we expect 0.85 to go live?
Answer: Devs will NEVER give you an exact date when the live patch is scheduled. Best guess? Test begins on monday/tuesday and will last two weeks. You won't get the official answers till then most likely.

Whiskey_CZ: Do you plan add to German tech tree more moder tanks? (1945 up)
Now in German tree are only tanks of WW2, in 8.5 we will see first tanks after war in their tree (Indien-panzer, Leopard I,...). You said that you had vehicles for 4 TD line, will be in one of line "Kanonenjagdpanzer"?
Answer: This was actually asked on the RU server several times. The reason why Kanonenjagdpanzer was not introduced is that while it is a late design (1960), its quality doesn't reflect that. It's a tier 6 material at best and that tier is mostly occupied by mid-war vehicles. That's why it's difficult to implement. My guess? There is a small chance it will appear as a premium vehicle, but the general answer is "no".

Yannik1904: Will the "Sturmtiger" be introduced into the game?If yes,when?
Answer: Yes, 2014

Hohladungsholger: 
1.When will you add tier X artillerys to the game?
2. Why have differents tanks with the same caliber of their weapon different shot sounds ( SU-8 152mm----SU-152 152 mm)?
3. When  will the maps "Komarin" and "Swamp" come back to randoms?
4. Are there plans to add british artillerys in the next patches?
5. Could you buff IS-8 cause its frontal armor is rubbish in contrast to other Tier IX heavys. In reallife he had 240 mm I think

Answer:
1. KTTS ("when it's done it's done") (SS: 0.8.6)
2. Because in real life the guns shot different shells
3. KTTS (SS: was scheduled for 0.8.5, was missing from the preliminary patchnotes, so either 0.8.5, or 0.8.6)
4. Yes, 0.8.6
5. WG buffs vehicles as needed.

R4F431: Do you plan on adding bullet drop the players them self must compensate for? because then it will make firing gold shells, or expenisve shells in general a little bit more unsure.
Answer: No, if WG wanted to have that, they would have done that from the beginning. Besides, it would be pointless and confusing.

principat121: Do you plan to modernize the UI in the garage?!
- for example the functions for sorting tanks are worth to reworking! Because when you have a really lot of tanks then non of the existing mechanism is usefull
- or puting whole crews in and from tanks could be intruduced (yes, there are mods, but officially...)
- something I have forgotten
Answer: The vehicle selection and filter interface will undergo an overhaul, it is planned.

builder396: When can we expect independent wheel suspensions to be added, and will this change be only optical or will it actually include driving performance?
Answer: With the introduction of Havok, KTTS (SS: the independent suspension is internally tested at this moment. Wargaming will never tell when exactly is it coming, but rough estimate is Fall 2013)

Smederevac94: Hi WG, 1.Do you have any plans for Tiger 2 speed in the future, because it is little a 28 km I think hi deserve 32 or 35 km. 2.Do you have any plans for E-100 gun (150cm) in the future, because 15 cm gun has the worst penetration 176-294 that is so little.
Answer: We buff vehicles as needed

IgnacM991: 1. Are you going to seriously rebalance and remodel the artillery's role on the battlefield? If yes, then when? SPGs are successfully killing the game on higher tiers ATM! You may have your stats, but it's fun what really matters and even 3 high-tiered SPGs can make a match awful for slower, bigger tanks.
Answer: The number of artillery in high tier battles should drop with the introduction of tier 10 arty.

Dead3yez: Will there be a second US medium line? What characteristics will this medium line have that separate it from the existing US mediums? Is there also going to be a new US medium premium tank available to buy? When can we expect new US mediums?
Answer: Possible, wait for the announcement (SS: WG will not tell you such things in advance, but I think  we might see two more American branches at some point: the Yoh heavy branch and the T95 medium branch, which most likely won't have any really special traits)

Rongkong: Can we expect updated engine-sounds in the near future or do we have to rely on Gnomefather's mod? The actual ones are quite lame compared to the real world sound and i expect the Leo 1 to have an very inapropriat sound as well.
Answer: Okay, here I am not sure how exactly will Wargaming answer. On Russion forum, the question was answered so that the devs are happy with the current  sounds and that finding realistic sounds of tank engines is extremely difficult, as very few are in running condition. Possible, in distant future.

Psysiphos: do you consider adding more expensive premium ammo that has far higher damage AND penetration?
Answer: If needed (SS: this sort of questions is typically either not answered at all, or with "po neobchodimosti" = as needed)

sparkase: When can we expect to get the Churchill AVRE ?
Answer: This won't get answered - and if it does, then by KTTS, or 2014

Elmis66: According to tech tree on webside there's going to be second soviet medium tanks branch. What patch are they planned for and what will differ them from existing ones?
Answer: Wait for the announcement (SS: possibly 0.8.7 or 0.8.8, not sure, but they sure as hell won't tell)

So, let's see how close I get :)

Just a few tips in case you guys missed that:

- never ask devs about when exactly will there something be, they won't answer
- don't bother asking for buffs and nerfs, the answer will be always "as needed", if there is any answer at all
- don't bother making suggestions about mechanics/physics, anything you propose was already proposed ten times over on RU forum (trust me, that's true)
- don't bother making any suggestions that would complicate the game (clutch, shell drop etc.) - if the devs wanted something as fundamental, they would have implemented this in the beginning

If you want to find out, when something will be introduced, ask like this: "Is there a chance that XXXXX might appear in 2013?"