Hello, my name is Michael Zhivets. I am the Producer of World of Tanks.
OK, first question! How much have the game tactics changed as a result of the new physics? How do the players use it?
We knew that game tactics were going to change with the new physics engine. Now everything is different! Players are already looking for new approaches to
the game. For example, clan members are uploading videos showing the new arty and TD positions available. It's hard to predict all the effects of the new physics
immediately, as it will take a while for players to find all of the new possibilities open to them. The most obvious thing is that there appear to be a lot of new positions that
could not be reached before. This is probably the most important change. There will naturally be loads of other things, like falling into chasms or on top of other tanks,
but I don't think these features will be widely used. Judging by the public test, we can tell that players use game physics to reach places they couldn't reach before. Other
features, like jumping or falling, won't be used often because, as you can imagine, players don't want to damage their own tanks. That is exactly what we were thinking:
there won't be any mass "fall-and-crash" maneuvers done just for laughs. You see, people try to keep their vehicles safe. They feel like the battle is real. Don't forget that
players experienced no permanent consequences during the public test and they were still afraid to get hurt! Therefore, I think there will be far fewer instances of these
events in actual gameplay.
Have you seen any surprising tricks or gimmicks that used the new game physics?
We have been testing the game physics for quite a while and observed a large number of iterations during the super test. There were many amusing things; for
example, pushing a tank uphill with several other tanks or trying to flip the vehicle upside down by hitting it hard on the side of the hull. There were more too. For
example, you can accelerate and smash into T-95s, which will flip them onto their sides. After that, you can fire into the hull floor and tear them to pieces. But, to be
honest, we've tried 99% of these tricks ourselves, and there has been nothing particularly new or interesting so far. However, I am sure that when the patch is released
and hundreds of thousands of players start playing, they will definitely discover something exciting.
How fast can you accelerate now? Where can it be done best and which vehicles should you use for better results?
You can accelerate to higher speeds now. Before, we had a speed limit of 72 km/h, which was mandatory for all vehicles. Now that the game physics are more
realistic, you can use gravity to accelerate very quickly. For example, you can drive down hill and exceed the previous speed limit easily. I've seen players speeding their
vehicles up to 140 km/h, but that was the top speed. At this speed, you might experience glitches from time to time; for example, a tank can slip through an obstacle or a
building and then can get stuck inside. This doesn't occur often, so we don't plan to introduce a new speed limit just yet. We will observe the situation and study how
things are working. If many of these issues occur, we might limit the top speed or make changes in our calculations to get rid of them. The best tanks to try accelerating
quickly are vehicles that are already fast, for example, T-50-2, Hellcat, or ELC AMX. You know all these tanks already, and they can accelerate pretty effectively.
What will the developers focus on next after the game physics are introduced? What tasks have the highest priority?
I would like to mention two major features which are very important. These are the upcoming game modes: "Historical Battle" and "Garage Battle". We've
promised to introduce these for a long time, and we'll work on them as soon as we finish debugging and tuning-up the physics, graphics, and other features that will be
introduced in version 8.0. After we sort out all of the issues with this version, fix all of the bugs, and introduce all of the updates, we will start working on these upcoming
modes. I see this work as the most important and significant part of our future development for the project. We have been thinking about them, fleshing out the details,
analyzing, imagining various cases, and so on, but we'll start actual development soon.
Tell us a bit about new graphics. Are there any changes planned after version 8.0 is released?
Changes will take place far beyond the current state introduced during the public test. Our graphic designers are working on the maps and adjusting the
brightness of the lighting on those that are too bright, particularly "Fjords" and "Malinovka". We plan on dimming the lighting on those maps, and we're also checking
other maps. This means that the lighting will be a little different, even in version 8.0. After this version is released, we will continue working with graphics, since this is
only the beginning of these improvements. We will introduce a range of additional features and will adjust, readjust, and update the lighting on all of the maps. I think
that, during the public test, many players realized that the ten new maps which were changed with the new graphics were improved over the old ones in their quality, and
the changes definitely are for the better. So we plan on reworking the remaining twenty maps so that each of them will be better.
How much will the sound in the game change? How soon can we expect these changes to come into play?
You will be able to see some of the changes in the 0.8.0 patch, which is coming soon. Sound effects indicating tank movements and track movements will also
be improved, as well as firing sounds. The players' reactions showed us that some of them disliked the firing sounds in version 0.8.0 and so we will try them again. As you can see, right now we are working on changing and improving the whole sound of the game.
After we have finished recording the firing sounds, as well as the sounds of the tanks moving on various surfaces, we will thoroughly update the sound of the tanks' engines. There is a lot more work yet to be done. We'll try to make different engine sounds for different
tanks, as well as different engine sounds for different levels of engine power. We may even introduce sounds to indicate gear changes, but this requires some complex mechanics and because of this, I think it might be done later. The whole sound of the game will
change dramatically and you'll be able to experience some of these changes in version 0.8.0.
Why are there no female characters in the game? Why do you discriminate against women?
We had female crews in mind a long time ago, but we haven't managed to introduce them so far; nevertheless, it's highly possible that female characters will appear in "World of Tanks".
How often do you plan to introduce new British vehicles after the British line of tanks is launched? Do you have any plans to introduce British TDs and SPGs?
Certainly! The schedule for introducing new British tanks will be much the same as for introducing the French ones. First, we introduced medium and heavy tanks to the main branch, then added TDs and SPGs. I think we'll do the same with the British branch
- we will release British tanks in sequence with others. For example, we will introduce some British tanks, then release a patch featuring tanks from other nations, then we are likely to introduce British TDs and SPGs, then one more patch with other tanks, and then
the rest of the British branch.
Do you have any plans to introduce any exotic vehicles, for instance, multi-turreted tanks?
We have planned to add multi-turret tanks for a long time, but there are a number of difficulties with implementing these vehicles, so I regret to say this has been postponed for the time being.
Do you plan to add extra tank Tiers? Do you have any candidates for Tier XI?
We definitely don't! The 10th level is the top one, and we won't introduce Tiers XI or XII so, as you can see, there is no need to be concerned about this issue.