[WoWP] Planes Need Some Love

Do you play World of Warplanes closed beta? Why? Why not? Will you join open beta once it starts?

What do you think of the current attack planes role in combat? If it's not ok, how would you change it?

Do you happen to know that NDA has been lifted?

Share your thoughts!

[ALL] Bunker Party

As you might know, this year Wargaming is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Following Slavic drinking tradition, we are going to throw parties all year round. Not that personally I'm a party goer, but couldn't resist giving this one a shot.

Preceding Russian gamedev expo KRI 2013 which we are skipping this year because of WG devcon we had a press-conference followed by party in the one and only extant Cold War underground bunker situated at 65 meters underground in the center of Moscow which territory contains an interactive museum, conference-halls, a restaurant, a banquet-hall. 

Bunker-42 in Moscow

It's really deep underground, good that they have elevators. Though on my way there, I used stairs which somewhat regretted afterwards.

Floor minus 17

All communications are on the "outside"

There used to be no red carpet back in the 60-ies

Labyrinth

Wargaming eye-check

There event started with press-conference for ~250 attendees dedicated to WG anniversary. Victor K. went deep into the corporate history, starting with DBA online (first online try), great Massive Assault series which brought company some fame, but not money, and work with publishers. 

World of Tanks became "all-in" project for Wargaming. The company invested all of its remaining resources men- and money-wise, so it was either win or lose. Luckily, the first. The key success factors were experience earned with previous projects, smart game concept, solid corporate culture, lots of luck, and support from East-European market at early stages after the launch. Nowadays World of Tanks covers most of the planet, probably apart from Japan, Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. The company itself saw a 25-fold increase since the start of the project and now has personnel of 1500 in 14 offices around the globe.

Press-conference hall

My spot

WoT Blitz closed demonstration was there

After the press-conference we had first closed demonstration of World of Tanks Blitz, mobile game of iOS and Android, in Russia. Even though the game is still at pretty early stage (pre-alpha), it us already able to generate a lot of fun in dynamic 7 vs 7 tank battles, even though the demo build contained only 2 maps and 9 tanks. This demo was hopefully the last one where we used on i-devices, next time will try to go for cross-platform warfare. 

The main comments on Blitz were - connection requirements, beta/release dates, integration with PC WoT (practically covered in previous posts here and here)

My only concern now is whether the mobile market ready for that kind of deep and real-time challenge or not. :) 

[WoTB] Any Questions?

As you might have seen WoT news has started its new season. In the first episode it mentioned WoT Blitz, WoWS, and GPG / Chris Taylor.

If you have got any specific Qs on mobile tanks (I saw there were some on the forums), I will be here to provide replies. Fire!

[ALL] Supporting Education

"MMO maker Wargaming is to sponsor Britain’s Royal Air Force Museum and plans to build an education centre that will offer attendees the opportunity to learn STEM subjects... 

The World of tanks creator will be funding an exhibition at the RAF Museum, which explores the background of its Dornier 17 recovery project, taking place in both London and Cosford.

As part of a £75,000 grant, the museum will develop new approaches to the display and interpretation its Dornier exhibition, such as augmented reality version of the Dornier flying above the Museum, giving museum visitors a glimpse of the aircraft as it would have been seen in 1940."

Full text. 

Accidentally found this on the web. Guess, UK players will forgive us for the late introduction of British tanks, planes, and ships.

[WoWP] One Step Closer

 
With the release of 0.4.2 update controls-related issues have almost been overcome. Now we have got fully functioning game economy, basic equipment, consumables, and ammunition.  Plus there have been many other important changes introduced.

What's your impression of the current state of the game? What does it lack, if any, to go open beta?

Share your thoughts.

PS: removed the poll since it wasn't functioning properly (you'll have to agree that it was awesome)

PPS: If you look into - \res\packages\airplanes_common.pkg\vehicles\airplanes\common\decals\decoration\byPlane\ you will see a small heads-up :)

[WoT] Leo 1 and Not Only

Update 8.5 is finally live for EU, NA, and SEA servers. What do you like most and least about it so far. Share your thoughts here.

Meanwhile if everything works out well, the upcoming 8.6 can be the biggest thing since awesome 8.0.

Recent poll results: How long have you been in WoT?

• since closed beta - 176 (31%)
• more than 1 year - 139 (24%)
• since open beta - 115 (20%)
• since release (April 12, 2011) - 77 (13%)
• 6-12 months - 30 (5%) 
• 3-6 months - 19 (3%)
• less than 3 months - 8 (1%)

[WoTB] First WoT Blitz QA (Glafi.com)

What minimum Android version that will be supported by World of Tanks Blitz?

Minimum system requirements for both iOS and Android haven't been finalized yet. Android 4.0+ and iOS 5.0+ will definitely be enough. However it's more about the device than OS itself. 

What minimum display size supported by World of Tanks Blitz?

From a personal standpoint 7'' devices provide the best user experience for World of Tanks Blitz due to the weight and size. Generally speaking, screen size is a secondary parameter, first of all, the device should be able to run the game itself. We are developing all the screens and UI elements for both smartphones and tablets to ensure comfortable play on any supported device regardless of screen size.

What will minimum device specs (memory, CPU) be?

At this stage it'd be easier to talk about supported devices. On Apple side we support iPad 2 and newer (3, 4, mini), and iPhone 4 and newer (4S, 5). As for Android, it's tricky because of fragmentation, Tegra-3-like devices will definitely be supported. 

What's the expected client size (Mb, Gb)?

The main content of the game are naturally tank 3D models and maps that require quite a lot of space, so the client size can easily go up to 1GB and even more. So as to allow players to jump into the game more quickly, we are planning to have a "light" client with the basic client package, while other required resources will be downloaded separately.

Will mobile and PC versions share same account or the current players will have to re-register?

Our current World of Tanks players on PC (and World of Warplanes testers) won't have to register once again so as to start playing World of Tanks Blitz on mobile thanks to Wargaming.net ID service. 

What distribution model will World of Tanks Blitz use?

Here at Wargaming we adhere to free-to-play. :) It worked out well for PC game, it works well for mobile these days. So everyone will be able to download the game for free and start playing. 

Are you going to use premium account system? What will it be like? 

Yes, we are planning to use premium account system in World of Tanks Blitz as well. Sure thing, premium account will speed up the progression. At this stage the exact mechanics is not finalized and it may differ from PC side. 

Is World of Tanks Blitz more of an independent game or a port from PC platform? 

We regard World of Tanks Blitz not as a downscaled version of "big brother", but as an independent project which is different from PC version in a lot of ways, e.g. content-wise. Of course, the mobile version will get its own unique features.  

Will we see companies in release version? 

For World of Tanks Blitz we are planning to implement a company mode similar to PC version. Can't give more details on it at this time - a lot can be changed subsequently. 

What tank classes will be in game? PC version has LTs, MTs, HTs, TDs, SPGs.. What will we get on mobile? 

For initial release version we are planning to add medium tanks, heavy tanks, and tank destroyers. I'm a big fan of SPGs and most likely the list won't be limited to the mentioned classes.

How many tanks will each branch have? 

For the launch we are going to have 3 factions - USA, Germany, and USSR. Each nation will get 3 tier 10 branches, 1 per tank class. All in all about 90 tanks. 

Anything about physics and damage model? 

We have managed to make our BigWorld technology work for mobile. This means that we will ensure the safety and security of all transactions as we do on PC. For players, it means that World of Tanks Blitz will take full advantage of tank movement physics (implemented in PC version in 0.8.0 update), accurate penetration and damage models that proved their worth on PC.  It doesn't mean there will be no changes, mobile gameplay is somewhat different and some changes may follow.

How many maps will release version get? 

Can't give the exact number yet, enough to ensure to diversity of gameplay. :) We are building maps for World of Tanks Blitz from scratch, this means that location-wise it will be a new experience for current WoT players.

What type of maps will we see in-game comparing to PC (city, open, mixed)? 

We are not focused on one single map type, on the contrary we are striving for diversity as much as it is possible. Artisits and designers are experimenting with settings, terrains and heights. Right now we have got a desert map, a city map, and a map based on legendary Karelia from WoT PC, and a couple of others in production. Each location will get its own unique terrain elements providing broad tactical options for players. 

What will be the controls?

Controls will use full capabilities of touchscreen devices. That's our main goal to make controls easy and comfortable, right now we are experimenting with different schemes, and doing focus test to shortlist the best option that we are going to show to players. We aslo consider supporting new physical game controllers (bluetooth joysticks) and  other devices that have potential.

What's the release time frame?

It will be released when we get the release quality and are satisfied with the result. Right now we are at pre-alpha stage - not ready to show the game to public yet. The development goes as scheduled and we are making good progress. 

Interview for glafi.com (translated from RU). Link to the original.

[WoT] Digging Through Archives: Maus - Origins

That's how the original design of what later would be know as Pz.Kpfw.Maus tank looked like. Pz.Kpfw.

VK 100.01(P), blueprint KV3381, June 4, 1942. The vehicle is still within 100 ton range, the "inflation" to infinity hasn't been started at that point. Armour was similar to VK.70.01(K), 149mm  15 cm KwK L/40 gun was suggested as main armament. In general it looked like German version of KV-5.

However, the vehicle just wasn't meant to stay in that weight class. On the 15 of May Adolf Hitler decided that weight would be increased to 120t class. Porsche guys had to follow.

[WoT] Are you an oldfag of WoT?

Taken from RU livejournal community, translated, and slightly modified.

You are oldfag of WoT, if:

• played WoT even before closed beta started for EU and NA
• remember single EU&NA forums and client, EU&NA migration and server-split
• remember when only English localization was available
• remember the recess of closed beta
• remember what rush across the Malinovka field-of-death is
• know how to block the path in Himmelsdorf
• saw original Pagorki map
• saw/used non-nerfed SPGs
• know how to play KV-2 with derp gun
• know how to kill Maus when 2nd top tank is tier 8
• know how to tie the game on the old Erlenberg
• remember teleports
• remember massive lag spikes when
• remember when T-44 was the best MT, and S-51 - best SPG 
• saw T-54 "dev edition"
• saw non-pitted Karelia
• remember good olg Komarin camping
• remember 1st Championship WoT Closed beta
• remember the launch of global map
  blocked Maus in a group of tier 2-3 light tanks
• remeber the DOG
• remember when tracks were repaired separately
  remember "when is the wipe/reset?" questions in chats and on forums
• first hours since release when gift and pre-order tanks couldn't penetrate each other

Feel free to add. :)

[WoT] 2nd Anniversary WoT

It has been 2 years since World of Tanks went live on EU and NA servers on April 12, 2011 starting with 0.6.3.11 update.

Not going to do deep retrospective, no doubt that lots of things have been changed, improved, and added since then:

• ~3 times more tanks and maps (6.4 - 8.4)
• Multi-cluster support, camos, replays (7.0)
• French tanks (7.1)
• Economy overhaul (7.2)
• Encounter battles and Assault, transmission change for E-50 and E-75 (7.4)
• Tier 10 meds (7.5)
• New renderer, physics, emblems and inscriptions, horizontal tech tree (8.0) Well, 8.0 was a big hit :)
• British tree finally, prem shells for credits (8.1)
• Chinese tanks (8.3)
• Combat tutorial (8.4)
• Platoons of 3 and companies for standard account, prem consumables for credits (8.5)

And many more are planned for future.

What are you most memorable moments and personal milestones of World of Tanks? Let's recollect together.

What are the things that have kept you playing for so long (based on the current the majority are playing more than 1 year) and what are you looking forward to in future? Particular features, modes, content, overhaul of the game, etc?

PS: how do you like the specials, hangars, and other anniversary celebrations?