[WoWP] World of Warplanes To Go Closed Beta Soon

World of Warplanes closed beta will start May 31, 2012.

Since Global Alpha launch on February 23 this year, World of Warplanes has got more than 600,000 applications for global alpha from players around the world, with 100,000 coming in first 24 hours. Thousands of players have been granted access to World of Warplanes alpha version, and the army of test pilots will be increased drastically once the game enters Closed Beta.

Applications made during global alpha stage will be eligible for priority processing in closed beta.

You can apply here:
NA - https://na.worldofwarplanes.com/ga/new/
EU - https://eu.worldofwarplanes.com/ga/new/

[WoT] Digging Through Archives: SU-76 with 57mm automatic

During the development of both each game of World of .. series (all being on different stages, for sure) we have gathered lots of curious materials on tanks, aircraft, and ships. Our in-house military experts are working in archives of many countries, eg among the team in Russia we have got proficient Yuriy Pasholok, a complete military addict,  who has access to the Central Archives of Ministry of Defense (see those red "ЦАМО РФ" letters on the images below) containing some great stuff. Will be sharing some of those from now on. 

Above is the order on research and future production of 57mm automatic gun for light tank destroyer - SU-76M. The vehicle was also intended as anti-infantry one. The document dates back to May of 1945.

Basic gun requirements are as follows:

• Caliber - 57mm
• Muzzle velocity - 1000 m/s or 3280 fps
• Vertical elevation - -10 -  +15 deg
• Horizontal sector - +/- 15 deg
• RoF - 70-80 rpm
• Should be serviced by 1 loader and 1 gunner
• Loading - both manual and automatic

It was supposed to be not a self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, but a tank destroyer, somewhat close to basic SU-76 with S-60

Approximately this way:

[WoT] New in WoT Digest. Part 2.

This is the continuation of part 1 published a few days ago. Numbers in the headings don't represent priority, they represent order. :)

N7. New physics and maps overhaul

The new movement physics has been in development for quite a while. Testing results, after the completion of the first iteration, showed that, on the one hand, falling from steep hills is obviously great fun, but on the other hand the number of cases when your vehicle gets stuck in an unusual way and can't move has increased big time, and those all were new spots, cause the old ones like tops of huge stones and premises of buildings have been successfully fixed and got rid of. E.g. on Abbey map, there is a particular building one can fall through, getting right to the first floor. And get stuck over there. With somewhat simplified models of buildings, it's hilarious when Tiger tank sits on wooden floor on first storey. And there is a number of similar hm.. not exactly faults, but discrepancies that are to be found and fixed prior to the release of the new physics. The majority of the maps are to be adjusted, eg also on Abbey map, there is a sort of drained bed left from the river, quite a deep one. It's that deep that you can't get out of it once you get there. Disappointing really! In this case, it was decided to create a number of so-called "death zones" marked with special textures, where tanks will experience sudden death be destroyed right when they manage to get there, since there is no way out for them. The required global maps overhaul is currently in progress and is expected to last for a few more months.

N8. EU tree

EU tech tree is a sort of all-star team, comprising vehicles from Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Romania, etc., basically each and every European nation that has produced at least one vehicle suitable for the designated time line. Among those nations there are a few quite big ones in terms of tank production, like Italy, Poland or Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia), we haven't really made up our minds on. There is a possibility that separate trees for at least some of them will be made up. However they still can be incorporated into one common, larger tree. The only real problem with that kind of joint tech tree is that there is an obvious lack of high tier vehicles. Having digged up a bunch of military archives we made the issue less acute. However it still exists. We have managed to complete draft EU tech tree, that's of course raw and not polished at this stage, it can and will be changed hundred of times before the official announcement comes. It's quite safe to say that the tree will get its own (oh yes, it was hard) tier 10 HT, tier 9 MT and TD, and top tier SPG. So the tree is going to be quite branchy, though  getting tighter to the top tiers.

N9. Hardcore mode

Having tried some modifications of it during the alpha back in 2010, with no HPs, crits without saving throws for modules and crews, we have come to the conclusion that it is .. really boring. The idea itself hasn't been dumped completely yet, however the priority is set to low. Even though the basic hardcore variation is not that hard to introduce doing away with HP-system and saving throws, making fire deadly for the crew, etc.

N10. Medals and achievements

The set of medals and achievements is being worked on towards its expansion (and some modification as well) at the moment. So the introduction of mastery badges, which was in my opinion rather successful, is not the final step in this direction. We are planning to introduce some stuff, including things that will be displayed during the battle, allowing to tell noobs from pros assess the performance of team mates and enemies. The details on this will follow later.

N11. New chat system

Upgraded chat system with lots of new functionality, comprising groups and statuses, is currently in the works and can be expected after a few updates.

N12. French TDs

As of now, the use of auto-loader for TDs is still vague, however this hasn't been set in stone and even though at first stage those vehicles may manage without it, the feature can be introduced later. Talking about the peculiarities of TD line as a whole, it resembles the existing French tank lines to a high extent, with pre-war models being heavily armoured and slow monsters, and post-war vehicles with almost no armour at all that are extremely mobile and can bite hard. TDs will be pretty much behave like tanks, which is no wonder since they were based on tanks.

N13. Sturmtiger

The vehicle is somewhat special for several reasons. First of, it fires rockets (which means special effects are required), then goes caliber (380mm is more than any of SPGs currently has) - it causes some balance issues related to amount of damage per round, huge reloading times, and extremely limited ammo (6 rounds). Raise KV-2 with 152mm to the X power and you will get the approx gameplay for Sturmtiger. :) The priority for the vehicle is currently set somewhere between medium and low.

N14. 7.4 update

As announced it will include French TDs and SPGs, a couple of prems, and some functionality including two new variations of standard battle mode and yet not revealed features. Public test will start not before long...

[WoWP] Me-262 HG III: Hochgeschwindigkeit

German aircraft manufacturing corporation Messerschmitt AG started the new program  named Hochgeschwindigkeit on February 16, 1944. The program aimed at development of high-speed modification of Me-262 jet. The research was carried out in several directions simultaneously ranging from Me-262 HG I, slightly different from the basic model, to really drastic metamorphosis - project  Me-262HG III. The latter had been worked on since December 1944. 

One of the main differences between Me-262HG II and Me-262HG III subprojects was the shape of the wings, namely wing sweep was increased to 35° and 45° respectively. Also both prototypes got lowered canopy, borrowed from Me-262HG I. It reduced drag, however made visibility somewhat worse. Me-262HG III differed from "prototype II" in terms of layout of engine nacelles. Having gained aerodynamically perfect form, they were located close to fuselage. This decision, on the one hand, reduced drag, on the other hand, the designers had to rework the construction of left and right gears (chassis). They were made to retract into the fuselage, in addition to that the "much beloved" narrow gage from Bf. 109 appeared on the new creation of Willy Messerschmitt as well. Another problem related to the change of engine layout was loss of air on its way through intake tube (the same issue popped up during the development of promising single-engined fighter - P.1101).

During the development of Me-262HG III several tail assembly and engine options were tried. As a basic decision it was planned to use the same tail assembly from Me-262, also the designers considered V-shaped tail assembly and even a truly exotic layout option with cabin being in rear (fin). 

Normally it was planned to mount 2 Heinkel HeS.011 engines, however this relatively compact motor, making draught of 1300 kg / 2870 lbs, had never been good in mass production thus an option was needed badly. And the alternative was found in most common German jet engine of that time - Junker Jumo 004. On of the Me-262HG III prototypes allowed to mount 2 Junker Jumo 004 engines with draught of 1050 kg / 2310 lbs each. However future modification of that motor promised some outstanding draught of 1800 kg / 3970 lbs. Models with the highest thrust-to-weight ratio allowed Me-262HG III to reach transsonic speed. Me-262HG III project was also used in development of night fighter that was in intended to replace Me-262B.

Unlike Me-262HG I model that actually made it to the sky and Me-262HG II that had been prototyped, the most perfect modification of "Swallow" remained as a scavenging duct model. The project started too late to have a real impact on the WWII outcome.

However there will be a chance to change things in game, piloting the tier 10 German fighter creeping the enemy planes and dominating the sky. 

Me-262HG III in blueprints

Me-262HG III rendered

[WoT] New in WoT Digest. Part 1.

With this post I'm starting a series of digests covering some new and to some extent already announced features and content that are planned for World of Tanks in the foreseeable and hm.. less foreseeable future. 

N1. New game modes

This is definitely N1 of all times and currently has the highest priority possible. The development of the new game modes have been broken into several development stages. The first ones in queue will be modifications of the current standard (random) battle mode already familiar to players and. The victory conditions are going to be the same: either base capture or total destruction of enemy vehicles, however some things will be modified.

As for Attack & Defense (draft name) game mode base capture mechanics, there is only one base on the map that belongs to the defending team. The attacking party has no base at all and its mission is to either capture the only base or destroy the defending team. 15 min time limit can and most likely should be reduced for this mode.

Counter battle (draft name) game mode also offers only one base which is located somewhere near the center of the map. Base capture mechanics also is to undergo some changes, thus when tanks of the two opposing teams are in base capture circle, no points are awarded at all. The rest will be the same again with hits on enemies break the capture progress, etc.

The above two variations of standard battle game mode, Attack & Defense and Counter battles, are planned for 7.4. Both are currently in testing.

The next step will most probably be long-awaited Historical battles. This kind of entertainment, being a variation of company battles, is going to be available for organized teams (we do plan some simplifications for individual players of how to find the suitable company). Visually the mode will resemble Clan Wars "in miniature". Expected time of completion a single scenario (battle) is going to be up to 2 hours. Consequently, in terms of time "consumption" and  player commitment, Historical battles are expected to take place somewhere in between Company battles (with 1h per day) and Clan Wars (with 3-6h per day). Currently we are polishing the concept of this game mode to prepare it for the production. The main feature of Historical battles is obviously historical setups of the vehicles, broken into periods. Playing a 1941 battle, there will be no Tigers and IS's available, in 1943 you won't see any T-54s and E-50s... Actually, there will be no T-54s and E-50s at all in this mode :). At first Historical battles are going to be limited by World War 2 time line, later on the period can be extended (eg include Korean War and the respective vehicles fought there).

Looking into even more distant future, can't but mention one more game mode that has been talked about - Garage battles. In this mode you can choose several vehicles to play in one particular battle in succession, one after another. Garage mode will indeed offer totally different experience giving players a chance to actually revenge themselves in the same battle, using another vehicle. If they are lucky and/or skilled enough, for sure :)

N2. Revision of T-50-2   

With most of the in-game vehicles being rather close to their real-life counterparts, there are some exceptions to the unwritten rule. The most vivid example would probably be tier 5 Soviet light tank T-50-2 which in reality was totally different. As for the in-game one, it has got the name of laws-of-physics-breaker.  The real T-50-2 produced by Kirov plant was, truth to tell, a mediocre light tank, especially in terms of mobility. The in-game version does look like a sort of motorcycle, which is really disappointing. The group of our military and tanks experts is currently digging up the archives to find a suitable replacement or even two :) (there are different crazy ideas). The bottom line is that such revision of T-50-2 will most likely happen. Eventually.

N3. French premium HT

All factions, except for French at this time, enjoy their own high tier premium heavies. Soon we will get rid of this unfairness, introducing one of the post-war heavy tank projects (most likely without auto-loader) for France. At this stage we are still not sure whether it is going to be tier 7 or tier 8 to fit the balance.

N4. Armoured Skirts 

Also has already been mentioned before. This is really quite time- and effort-consuming task mostly even not from a coding side, but from modeling point of view.  So taking into account always limited resources and manpower, it was decided that new tanks (everyone wants Brits to arrive, right?) should have a higher priority than skirts, however this hasn't been dumped out of plans completely. According to the current concept, skirts are planned to be introduced as an unique module, like Additional armour, that can be mounted on a vehicle. This would change not only the visual looks of the vehicle (making it really cool), but also the hitbox itself, providing extra protection. There are even more relevant ideas, however with this being a long-term plan, details are to be shared later. 

N5. 30 vs 30 battles

Bigger is better? There is a special project within the team which goes under the internal name "boundless-land". Its goals are: 1) increase of map size and 2) introduction of 30 vs 30 battles. The issue is really complex affecting performance, both client and server sides, to a very high extent. And currently we are still researching the possibilities here, meaning the "enlarged" battles also belong to long-term plans.

N6. Commander's Tanks

This is going to be a separate type of tanks. The concept of Commander's tanks is the following: 

• these are the vehicles with slightly inferior performance than regular vehicles of that tier, to make for that they have got certain special "abilities"
• those who would drive commander's tank will get a commander's chart or map, allowing to assess the situation in battle and give orders to the team
• only these tanks would enjoy special consumables like Airstrike, Reconnaissance, and some other things, representing a form of joint, team weaponry

Since commander's tanks are still at concept, design doc stage, some things may and most likely will be changed during production.

Added after reading comments on forums to clear up things a bit: Commander's tanks are intended for CWs mostly, and probably (if it works out) for companies, not for random/standard battles. 

In the next post I will cover such points as new physics, new tech trees, hardcore mode and other important things.

PS. Latest poll results.

Q. What do you prefer?

• flight sims - 534 / 27%
• flight arcades - 301 / 15%
• mixtures of the above two - 882 / 45%
• don't like flight games at all - 362 / 18%

Total votes: 1943. The next poll is up.

[WoT] Questions and Answers. Session 1.

Questions and answers session for World of Tanks. The user questions (italics) were gathered on EU  official forums. The answers (bold) are brief and concise to save your time. If something needs clarification, you can ask in comments.

a question.. you will create a factions mode!? example: usa tanks versus German tanks, or Russian versus France etc. thanks

That's called historical battles in our interpretation. However not all the combinations will be possible. Only those that took place in RL. 

When will you (Wargaming) realize that the Match-maker is not WORKING AS INTENDED, but that it actually does need some work?
Also, when are these long awaited new game modes planned for release? DO NOT SAY "Soon" - you said that ages ago. 

1. The new MM system is currently in the works, it's really a difficult and time-consuming task, thus the new system has to be really working smoothly before we can release it.
2. Two new game modes are planned for 7.x series. 

Have you decided on a general "theme" for British tanks yet? US tanks are mobile and comfortable
German tanks have accurate guns/good armour and burn like empty crisp packets Russians Have good armour/Gun power French tanks have autoloader's and high penetration guns
British tanks have...?  

Difficult to say at this stage, since the we haven't done any kind of tuning yet. My personal expectation is that they will balanced all around, sort of jacks of all trades. However this wouldn't apply to each particular vehicle of course.  

Q: Any plans for the future patches to remove the nerf which occured to the French tanks? Tier 8 and up? Mostly the Batchat?
Q2: Why a tier 9 French med has the same top gun as the Lorraine 40t? Could it get atleast a better aim time or rld time to blance it out coz fo the tier difference? Since I can understand alot of ppl did cry about the Lorraine or AMX being op when having such a gun on that tier, but at the same time it is terribly underperforming against Tier 10 tanks.  

1. Currently there are no such plans, the adjustments that took place in 7.2 were needed indeed. Stat-wise most of the top-tier French tanks are on par with their counterparts.
2. As a BatChat driver, I'm fine with its current performance. In general tier 9 meds, being closely balanced, enjoy slightly overrated performance. BatChat win ratio according to 7.3 data from RU side is the highest of all tier 9 meds.  

Seriously, this is a post from a "guy" that feels threatened in his IS-7, fearing that he will no longer be able to noob around in his easymode tank, bouncing off every shell the E-100 have to offer. But ok, i bite the troll. IS-7 have more penetration, better frontal armor with virtually no weakspots, vehicle is smaller, more agile and faster than E-100. So besides having a tiny bit more HP, and ability to ram other tanks, what does the E-100 really have to offer, that justifies a player buying it over the IS-7? To my question: When are E-100 going to be buffed, and what changes are being considered? 

As of early 7.3 data, E-100 performs (48.2% win ratio, 458 exp) in line with 50B and IS-7, being slightly worse than IS-4 (48.3% and 465 exp respectively) and T-110 which is in the lead. With this gap of E-100 not being dramatic, presently we are not considering any changes to it.  

Do you acknowledge that team balance and matchmaking are terribly broken and will take steps to fix it sooner rather than later? Or as far as you're concerned all is good on this front and won't do anything? By "terribly broken" I mean that I can actually guess the winner team as soon as I see the setup in most matches. 

No, I don't.  

Q: Can there in future be some kind of achievment added for the most usefull tank in a LOST game? Damage dealt and/or base capture/defense wise.

After a brief thinking, I do like it. Really. Will consider it for WoWP at least.  

Does the new MM takse into account the winratio of a player whem making teams?

No, it doesn't. 


Heard that the Type 59 is once again available, on the Russian cluster. Any comments on that (or was it just a rumor)? Will it be added back on the European one as well?

This tank is not going to be returned to the in-game Stores in the foreseeable future. It can only be available during various special offers. 


Q: Are we getting clan logos in this patch?

Yes, they are enabled. Finally. 

Q: Why are the developers so keen on implementing the tanks historical weaknesses, but not their historical strenghts? And dont say its balance issues becouse the balancing in this game could be done ten times better tbh.

Of course it can be. On top of that, the balance is probably one of the very few things, everyone has its own special/unique attitude to, thinking that
only
their opinion is right, while everything else, including impersonal data, makes no sense. However I do admit that the overall balance is improving in the long run. With each influx of new vehicles (and we add them every update) we sort of undermining the current status quo or shaking it at least which requires some time to settle things down. And the ongoing revision of the tech trees only complicates the process.  

Q. Does this mean that the Japanese tech tree will be delayed and not here this year as estimated?

I would say that the chance of arrival of Japanese tanks this year is rather low. However, there will be other delicious tanks. Probably, for some players, they will appear even more delicious than the whole Japanese tree.  

is the maus/e100 equal to the other T10 tanks of the other nations now? in my oppinion its not, we dont have anny benefits with the slow big tanks now, with all the hi penetrations guns that have come in the latest paches. is there going to be some increace in the performance of the german T10s ? and do you know when the second gun on the maus e100 will be enabeled?

Currently only T110 stands out from tier 10 crowd, the rest are quite close to one another in terms of performance.

[WoT] In Development: Vol. 5

With the "soviet" 7.3 update fast approaching live EU and US servers (RU release has just taken place while you still have some time to grin IS-4 :)),

the development team is now switching its focus to the next step, namely 7.4 update. The upcoming update is supposed to be more than just a content patch.

While the exact content and features for the next update, which is 7.4, is still to be finalized and extended.

1. Extension of French tech tree
• SPGs:
• Renault BS
• Lorraine 39 L AM
• AMX 105 AM
• AMX-13 F3 AM
• Lorraine 155 (50)
• Lorraine 155 (51)
• Bat. Chatillon 155 (features cassette reloading or autoloader)
• TDs:
• Renault FT AC
• Renault UE 57
• Somua Sau 40
• S 35 CA
• ARL V 39
• AMX AC de 100
• AMX AC de 120
• AMX 50 Foch
• MT:
• Renault G1R
2. New premium vehicles previously available only to supertesters:
• Soviet premium heavy tank of tier 8 Object 252/IS-6
• German TD of tier 8 JagdTiger mit 8.8cm KwK 43 L/71
3. Two new maps:
• Wide Park. This map is based on Munich landscape and contains a large city part.
• Airport/Airfield. The map features airport located in the desert.

In addition to that we can expect a bunch of new premiums available for supertesters only until 7.5. 

Also at this stage a lot of work is being done on the following stuff:

• multiple UI improvements, especially the design of tank trees
• new camo patterns
• new game modes - Assault and Counter battles, both entered the final production stage
• new sound effects
• improvements to the current team damage reimbursement mechanics

The updates of the 7.4 current status will be provided closer to its release date.

[WoWP] Questions and Answers. Session 1.

Questions and answers session for World of Warplanes. The user questions (italics)  were gathered on EU and NA official forums. The answers (bold) are brief and concise to save your time. If something needs clarification, ask in comments.

Here we go:

Will you have vehicle/nation specific crew/weapon/engine sounds or the generics ones like in WoT?

The sounds will mostly be similar to WoT, however in WoWP we are planning to pay special attention to national crew voice-overs (each nation will get its own voice-over) and soundtrack to make it really catchy and matching the game style.

I was just wondering how the CBT will start. Do we get an e-mail or will we have to keep watch to the WowP portal.

The announcement will be loud enough so as those who are insterested don't miss it. Of course it will be mentioned on the portal, but not only there.

Having flown other prominant flight sims, such as FSX and the succesful IL-2 series, and also holder of a pilot's licence in real life, I am interested to know how many feature's you are planning to include in game. For example will we be able to use airbrakes to give us an advantage in dogfights? Airbrakes are also essential for the ground attack aircraft that are on your tech tree. Can we use flaps to decrease the turning circle and allow us to fly slower + more lift? Also will the game have true to life physics, or will it be another game where the plane's auto-right and automatically turn and bank when you move the stick?

We are not exactly doing a sim, that's why WoWP will be more of a genre mixture. Both landing and take-off are not considered vital for the intended gameplay. Currently we are not planning to include air brakes. As for flaps control it's already in the game and functioning. Flight model is going to be rather complex allowing aerobatics, stalling and such stuff, however we really want that in-game players fight vs players not vs their own aircraft or ground.

What about perks for crew in wowp ? If warplane like Me109 C1 have 4x MG17 and 2x 20mm cannon, its possible to switch between ?  like LPM-MG PPM-Cannon

Crew progression is going to be more advanced in WoWP in comparison to what we have got in WoT, containing greater rpg elements. Mostly because of the comparatively tiny crews in WoWP. Yes, it will be possible to switch between the two.

When talking about the adding of the British tree, you tend to stress it will be soon, more so than you did with the French and WoT. Does this mean we probably won't have to wait as long as we did for the French to be added in WoT?
 
Yes exactly, it's quite safe to say that Brits in WoWP (the initial line) will arrive earlier than French tanks it WoT.

Considering that dogfights were much more dependent on skill than tank battles, how will this affect the matchmaking? I mean, even the tier 1 fighters could take down an advanced WW2 plane with enough skill.

Indeed the influence of skill level will be higher than in WoT by all means, we are planning to smooth over the rough spots tuning the matchmaking.

You've stated that light bombers will be added, now these bombers needed fighter support because they couldn't defend themselves very well. This means we will need alot of teamwork to actually play these roles and judging by the WoT community, these people have never even heard of teamwork and don't have a clue how to do anything other than hide or go forward. Do you have any plans to force these people into actually working as a team? Perhaps a hefty bonus for taking out fighters that are firing at your bombers?

That's actually the reason why bombers were not chosen as a separate class in WoWP. As well as ground attack aircraft those will need to focus mainly on ground targets and require certain support from the team. From our side we would encourage team play by clear designated class roles, clear and concise UI, and advanced tutorial.

I just wondering about the difference game types, al i have heard (read) about it sound intresting but just thinking how it will be when i load up my heavy assult plane with bombs/canones and was hoping that it would be an ground assult map but no it was an plane escort mission i ended up with.
we got the posibilities to pick each fight?

We are planning a couple of game modes for release, most likely that would include some sort of escort with significant PvE element and aerial deathmatch with both aerial and ground targets.

And for secound when i applied for the alfatest i choosed joystik but it showes that my old dusty stick not working anymore, will that have some thing to say on the outcome to be accepted to GAT?

Not at all. We welcome the use of all types of controls.

 will it be a major difrence between the alpha and beta testing or will it be as any other update? I`m not experencd with beta and alpha testing of a game so that is why i am wondering.

In closed beta we will be inviting more players to join than we do now. Of course at that stage we will have far more stuff to try and test as well.

are some planes oversized or undersized in comparison to other planes ?

Intentinally - no. :)

At the start of the round will we ever have the chance to take off from the runway(like in combat flight simulator 3)?

Currently everyone start up in the air. We would like players to focus on the combat itself.

I wasn't perfectly sure what you meant in an earlier post, when you said something about it being keyboard + mouse only. Did I understand that right, or are you planning support for joysticks and pads? Can't wait to be approved by the way, and please thank the Devs for me, for the awesome job!

Sure thing, they are already supported.

Considering the recent post about the community's artistic side and the fact that the reward is acceptance into GAT, does this mean that any applications to GAT are now no longer being accepted?

We are inviting more and more players in as the alpha testing progress. Plus your application will be still valid for CBT if you are not accepted by then .

Is the whole game about WWII-Aircraft or are we going to see more modern planes also?
Our time range is 30-50, so we are starting with basic biplanes and going up to early jets.

Will there be a Cockpit-View or only Third-Person-Perspective or both?

Only the latter.
Can you already estimate how big the Game-Client will be?

Approx the same size as in WoT. Currently it's about 1.5Gb

When you open game for more players? CBT or so...

CBT which start around E3 will be more "public" than global alpha, however both limited access and the NDA will be in place. The game will be fully open during open beta stage - OBT.

WoWP will have AA guns? If they are in game, will be available for players like arti in wot?

Yes, there are AA guns controlled by AI.

Tail-gunner will be controled be AI?

Yes.

High tier Planes will have misiles (like X-4)?

Yes.

What type of customization we have in wowp?, example, you can swich diferent machineguns/canons, or/and you can add more or remove machineguns/canons. Example of 4, 190WA4 basic = 4 canons and 2 guns, if you can customize, 4 guns, or only 2 canons and 2 machineguns....

That's not exactly customization. It's upgrading, currently we are working on different setups of upgradable modules for aircraft, which won't be limited to weapons only.

Hey i accidentally entered the Ru site of world of warplanes , and out of curiosity i used google to translate . Turns out hey have a lot more contests wich ... doesnt sound very fair to me .Could we get more contests too ? Also , dont take this as an insult , its just a desperate man begging for alpha acces.

We are inviting approx the same percentage of players in every region. So the number of contests in terms of GAT invitations doesn't really matter.

will there be stalls? (esp.due to low airspeed)  what about plane-ground interactions? Will we crash into the scenery if we're not careful (or if we stall )?

Yes to both. However auto-pilot will be in place to prevent uncontrolled maneuvers from player's side. Of course it will still be quite possible to actually crash.

Are crews going to be visible in the aircraft? In WoT, there are no crew in open vehicles. However, in the teasers, I noticed that aircrew were visible. Will we be able to see our crews?
Yes, the crews are visible both in combat and in hangar.

i was wondering if there are going to be objectives in this game or is it goin to be like WOT where you just start shootin ppl up

Game modes with different objectives are planned, apart from standard deathmatch and shooting ground targets, we are also working on escort mode, where you need to make sure your VIP(lane) survives or destroy the enemy's one.

"Planned" or "in" is the question here, simply because WoT has been running now forever on one mode and it was promised long ago that new modes were coming so "stay patient". So if I were to hear "planned" I'm just going to assume they're not happening any time soon. I would like to see their "planned" content timeline as well.

WoWP will start with at least 2 game modes and advanced combat tutorial. Unlike WoT.

Question: will exist something like a "blinding sun"?
 
Yes, this effect is planned.

will you restrict the tiers of planes fighting each a little bit more then in WoT. I would love to be in Dog fights with only tier 5 planes, rather then battles with planes from tier 4-9. Especially if I'm the Tier 4 plane. I know the waits would grow, but still. I'm imagining the tier 10 planes almost never being bothered by the lower tiers.

The MM spreads most likely will be tighter than it WoT now, however tier 5 only battles are not exactly the pattern we are aiming at.

Will the all planes be able to gain the same heights? I've been wiki'n the planes and noticed the different ceiling levels. Will a tier 1 plane be able to reach the same in game height as a tier 10 plane?

No, we are capping the max heights artificially for the sake of gameplay. In general fights will take place on a lower heights than they did historically so as to enable taking advantage of landscape and fighting ground targets.

If Sim, can you stall out. does weight vs power effect climb rate/angle. On A scale of 1 - 10 (1 ace combat - 10 L-2 Sturmovik ) .. where would it land ?

Stalling is in place, however deadly maneuvers are prevented by auto-pilot. Weight vs power effect climb rate/angle will also be added. Closer to arcade than to sim. You can't control air-fuel mixture.
  

A lot of people are going to play this game and I wanted to ask if there is any sort of plane customization being implemented. I ask this because a lot of pilots in WWII had custom symbols or emblems on there planes usually self chosen ones and it would be a really cool way to see what people come up with on their planes.

We are planning to implement advanced customization tools to the game. E.g. the camo system is already in. Each plane will get a set of unique camos, unlike WoT where camos are mapped/tiled for all vehicles of a particular nation.

Are there any plans to Introduce Compatibility with Linux platforms Given the growing popularity and use of platforms like Ubuntu?

Official Linux support is not planned in the foreseeable future.

1. Will there be a fuel limit or just no fuel at all?
2. Is there going to be mid-air crashes or not?
3. Will there be any mountains or hills you can crash into or land on?

1. No fuel limit just like in WoT.
2. Yes, sure thing. Ramming FTW!
3. Many mountains, hills, towers, etc to crash into. :)

1. Since there will be no stall from maneuvering how realistic the world physics will be?
2. What the max altitude a plane can climb?
3. Will the bombers have rear gunner protection?
4. Will the planes have gas or ammo or even better the pilot him self weak areas?
5. Will there be female pilots?(For the USSR mostly since historically there were many women soldiers and pilots)
6. Well the skies are different from the ground and there are not many places to hide, what about the visibility? Can i spot a plane in an open sky up to 1000 - 2000 meters?
7. What about pilots skills and perks?

1. Flight model is going to be quite complex allowing aerobatics and preventing player from commiting deadly maneuvers.
2. It will be different for different tiers/groups of tiers. There would be an artificial cap to keep fights closer to the ground, so as to enable players to take advantage of landscape and fight ground targets.
3. Some ground attack planes already have it.
4. Yes, each plane will get its own weakspots, realistic armouring is already in place. Pilots are currently exluded from the hitbloxes for gameplay reasons.
5. Possibly.
6. Yes, enemy can be spotted being a few kilometers away.
7. Since planes obviously have smaller crews than tanks, we will pay special attention to crew progression devising a lot of skills and perks some of which will progress simultaneously.

If your question is not on the list, you can ask in comments to this post or in the respective Q&A thread - EU or NA. 

[WoT] Public Test of 7.3

After the release of 7.2 update all 3 main WoT servers have set new CCU records proving to a high extent movement in the right direction (the capacity of server hardware for EU recently has been almost tripled and ready for more players). However there is still a lot on the to-do list.

With the upcoming 7.3 we strive to stick "one content update per month" schedule which this time is pretty close to be kept. The public test of 7.3 has been up and running for quite enough to share the feedback. The list of changes can be found eg here. 7.3 is primarily a content update which also brings lots of bugfixing and improvements to the earlier 7.2. It's 7.4 that is supposed to bring far more significant changes and a bunch of new features, the two new game modes are undergoing final polishing.The expansion of French tech tree, SPGs and TDs, is also coming.

Let's see what we have got here.

• 2 new maps. Note, that there are no city maps among them, the next city-based map is likely to come next update.
• Huge Soviet revision announced long time ago finally completed. The newcomer heavies are T-150, KV-4, ST-1, and also we have KV divided into two, and IS-4 moved one tier up.
• 2 new French prems tanks after testing on live server by supertesters are now available for everyone.
• The next bunch of prems that are going to be tested right according to the same procedure are IS-6 and "golden" JT with 8.8cm.
• MM spread for tier 5 heavies is reduced by 1. That should be considered as the initial step the impact of which is to be assessed further on to identify whether similar changes are to be extended and if yes to where exactly.
• Apart from that there have been extensive bug fixing, including massive bug with "blach terrain" for old Radeon graphic cards. The descriptions of crew skills have also been extended. 
• Clan logos are finally displayed in the client.

Commenting this post leave your feedback, ideas, and suggestions regarding the 7.3 public test. And a small reminder: 7.3 is still in testing and currently it's not the quality and experience of the release version.

[WoWP] Conquering the Sky

Eastern Europe has become a major center of free-to-play MMO action games under the aegis of Wargaming.net, with the major three development offices: Minsk (Belarus) for World of Tanks, Kiev (Ukraine) for World of Warplanes, and Saint Petersburg (Russia) for World of Battleships.

While aerial and naval games are being developed by two separate studious, both of them can't but benefit from the experience and resources of WoT team, which is naturally the largest one of the three. The Minsk HQ provide both technical and methodological assistance to achieve better quality of the trilogy.

As mentioned before, World of Warplanes is being developed by Kiev-based partner studio - Persha Studia, comprising more than 100 professionals with a huge background in game development. The development process is guided and mentored by Minsk producing team. The cooperation includes regular mutual visits, feature planning, milestone approving, and both managerial and design video conferences scheduled several times a week.

Minsk producing team is also engaged in general communication and facilitation of all project activities, which means promotion, marketing, global operations, video and audio production etc

Technical assistance is also extremely important. WoWP benefits greatly from the usage of shared resources, which includes but not limited to:

• the usage of joint technical resources;
• server and hardware maintenance;
• data logging;
• joint server and web deployment, ie release of updates for all regions;
• high-level web resources - clan wars functionality, portal including single account for all WG games and account management tools;
• misc front-end resources - bonus codes, payment system, etc;
• misc back-end resources - administration panels, support software;
• advice and expert evaluation.

Besides WoWP can rely on cooperation with the community and customer support teams of WoT to provide better service for players at any stage.

WoWP is going to be a lesson learned from WoT in every possible meaning. What does WoT lack for?

• new game modes? There will already be a few upon the release of WoWP.
• tutorial for new players?  It will be added during the beta stage, so as testers could give their feedback which will allow us to polish the tutorial prior to release.
• fair matchmaking? In WoWP it will be totally different, the balance of aerial battles doesn't assume that eg tier 4 and tier 8 planes will normally fight alongside.
• Strong PvE element? Sure thing!

 With the features above and many more to come announce WoWP is planning to be more successful than WoT in both NA and EU.