In August, World of Tanks celebrated its 10th anniversary. During this time, the project managed to attract gamers all over the world,
In your opinion, what is the most important update World of Tanks has received in 10 years? In addition to version 1.0.
Perhaps this is update 0.8.0, which was released in 2012 and became the most voluminous at that time. In it we added physics to World of Tanks, which gave the game a completely new gameplay, improved lighting, sounds, added shadows and introduced a fifth branch of tanks - the British one. Innovations have changed the game for the better and added realism. The tanks themselves received mass and certain movement characteristics depending on their type, speed and weight. For example, light tanks were able to easily climb high hills that were previously impossible to climb, and heavy tanks were able to easily move vehicles in front. That same year, we received our first Golden Joystick, a prestigious award in the “Best MMO” category.
Another one of the most important was version 1.10, which came out just recently. This is one of the largest updates to World of Tanks since the release of 1.0. In it, we completely redesigned the equipment system: we expanded the selection of new equipment and the ability to change the parameters of what was already present in the game. Thanks to this, players can experiment and customize the technique to their taste. In the same update, we added seven Polish medium tanks to the game, returned the redesigned Pearl River map, which was removed from the game in 2015, improved the communication system between players, making it more informative, and introduced many other major and minor innovations.
</ img>
What do you personally lack in World of Tanks that you would like to add?
We've been missing a new crew system for a long time.a topic that has not been touched upon at all since 2013, and even then we touched upon it rather conditionally. Now the crew system - and this opinion is shared by our entire team - needs to be reworked. We have already shared the first drafts, collected a lot of feedback, communicated with bloggers and are soon preparing to release our common vision for changes to the crew system into the Sandbox. This is the biggest thing the game is frankly missing right now.
If we talk about fashion, then literally a couple more yearsago, I myself had a game with a bunch of modifications that allowed me to use different sights, log tank damage, and so on. Since then, many of these solutions have already moved into the game, including session statistics and others - most of the mods that are needed in “Tanks” are already in the game. However, we are not stopping our work and will continue to add the most successful custom modifications to “Tanks,” because this makes the game more comfortable for players.
</ img>
As for me, I’ve been playing for over a year and a half nowon a clean client without modifications. From time to time I use Armor Inspector, with which I can study the weak and strong points of tanks right in the Hangar. In essence, knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of technology is the main thing that a player must accumulate and be able to apply on the battlefield. Armor Inspector also helps in studying new tanks and their armor. We really miss this modification in the game, and we are working to implement it. For now we are just working on the idea itself, because it has quite a few pitfalls, but it is a very convenient and useful feature, and we will find a way to add it to the game.
Every game has problems that are not visible in internal tests, but appear on release. What was the biggest problem that the World of Tanks developers had to solve?
Flaws that appear on a release over a period of 10 yearsEnough, now they are reduced to a minimum. And the reason for this was precisely the solution to our biggest problem - “Rubicon”. The update that we planned to be a key update over the last couple of years ended up losing 80% of the planned innovations and had to be cancelled. This, to put it mildly, upset the players and demotivated the team. How did this happen?
At that moment the game was at its peakpopularity, we received awards one after another - and at some point we didn’t notice how we entered a creative crisis. There were a lot of ideas, and we were in a hurry to share them with the players, not yet knowing how these ideas would be received and whether this was really what the “tankers” needed. In general, we made a lot of big announcements and began to develop what we promised. And then it turned out that, firstly, the team is growing at a breakneck speed, and not all new employees have time to catch up with the pace of work of experienced team members; secondly, it turned out that not everything that we want to do is what the players want to see in the game. Or, at least, not always in the same form in which we see a new feature or mechanic. What happened as a result: the mechanics that we were already going to introduce into the game turned out to be not what the players needed in tests, there is no time for improvement, and most of the update just needs to be “cut out”, abandoned. This led to the fact that the release of the loudly announced “Rubicon” did not take place.
Of course, this was shock therapy for the team.The understanding has come that everything needs to be changed - from development processes to approaches to announcements. We learned our lesson, came to our senses and began to regain the trust of the players little by little. We revised the processes for developing new features, prescribed rules for announcing innovations: now we never report exact dates in the early stages, but only say that work is in progress. In principle, this is how other gaming companies work. About processes: today, before we roll out a new feature or mechanic, we first check that everything is working correctly, and then we allow players to try out the innovation on a special test server - in the “Sandbox”. After that, we collect feedback, make the necessary adjustments, and only then release the innovation into the game.
How many people are currently working on World of Tanks, and who makes key decisions about the game?
Only on the development and operation of tanksPC employs more than 1,000 people in several countries. We need our offices in Paris, Austin, Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul specifically for operations, communication with players and support. The largest development center is located in Minsk; large teams also work in Kyiv and Prague. Each area - development, operations, marketing, design, etc. - has a chapter. In turn, the heads and key employees of all departments working on World of Tanks are included in the so-called board - a council, a management body that makes key decisions on strategy.
</ p>
How much has that “core team” changed? Are World of Tanks being made by other people in 2020 or are they still the same developers who were at the origins?
Of the 70–80 people who participatedin the release, the majority still work for the company (and the tank team itself, as I already said, now consists of more than 1000 people). Today they watch the development of the product like parents watch their child, give advice and help develop the game thanks to their knowledge and experience.
The gaming industry is a business, and a rather risky one at that. Did Wargaming have a “Plan B” in case World of Tanks failed, or did World of Warships and World of Warplanes subsequently become so?
No, at the time of launch it was in developmentonly World of Tanks. At the time of creation, we only had enough funds to produce this game, and in the end we didn’t even have enough. Therefore, it is impossible to say that we expected “if the Tanks don’t fire, another game will,” we cannot: we had one prototype, not two or five.
The team was passionate about the project, everyone worked very efficientlyand harmoniously. Already at the alpha and beta testing stage, we began to understand that the game would be a hit: the audience was growing so quickly. We promptly translated the game into English and began preparing spare servers: we felt that we would definitely need them.
World of Warships and World of Warplanes we decidedto do it later, although the company had the idea of a game about ships quite a long time ago. We realized that military subjects were something we were good at and decided to expand our portfolio. These two projects became games with their own audience: not a replacement for “Tanks,” but a development of the line.
</ img>
Which version of World of Tanks is more popular now - computer or mobile Blitz?
World of Tanks on PC remains our mosta popular product with more than 160 million players registered around the world. From a profitability point of view, in 2011, World of Tanks and I were included in Superdata reports for the first time, and since then we have practically not dropped out of them, finding ourselves in the top 10 games every month.
World of Tanks Blitz also shows verygood results. In June, “mobile tanks” turned 6 years old, during which time the game was downloaded more than 137 million times. This is a significant age for a mobile game, which few reach, and I know that my colleagues have big plans for the development of the product.
With the latest WoT update for consoles, PS4 and Xbox One players can play together. When will a PC connect to them and what’s stopping developers?
Despite the fact that the console "Tanks" came outfrom World of Tanks on PC, it is still a separate game. Other people are working on it on a different continent. The World of Tanks Console team has its own vision of the project with its own game events and customizations. What plays a role here is not the input method, but the players: the console audience is different from the computer game audience. And World of Tanks is no exception.
Why World of Tanks for PC and consolesSo different in terms of content?
The difference is in the audience.Firstly, World of Tanks players on PlayStation and XBOX. on average younger than the “tankers” on PC. Secondly, console tanks are more popular in those countries where the popularity of consoles themselves as a platform is higher. This is also why the game is more oriented towards other console games than towards its “big brother”. Yes, World of Tanks on PlayStation and Xbox has a lot of its own game events, customization elements, and so on. The players love it.
Both console and mobile versions of World of Tankswent far from the original, each in its own direction, in accordance with the requests of its audiences. If we compare “Tanks” on PC with a mobile game, then in World of Tanks Blitz everything is different: different maps, different tanks, the game is 7x7, not 15x15. Console "Tanks" are closer to this, but they also have their own content, their own progression.
</ img>
All three games have different engines, so the physicsmay differ slightly, although it, of course, is infused according to similar parameters. The physics of projectiles, for example, is the same, but the progression and variety of the vehicle fleet differ from game to game. World of Tanks Blitz is a mobile game and can afford to go into such cartoonishness and fantasy. The console version is larger, the maps are all different. From a technical point of view, they differ a little less, because they are all made with the same aim, but on different engines.
About crossplay:in 2013 - early 2014, when we launched console projects, there was no talk about crossplay at all, in particular about crossplay between mobile and PC. The only cross-play that we got back then was “Tanks” for Xbox 360 and Xbox One. And World of Tanks was the first game to receive such multiplayer crossplay. And now, when technology already allows this, the games have diverged so much - in content, maps, progression, etc. - that it is simply not possible to unite them on one battlefield. In fact, today these are three completely different games.
World of Tanks is partly a historical game that uses symbols that are prohibited in some countries. In which countries did WoT have to be censored, and what had to be changed or removed?
</ img>
Any information related towith organizations and people convicted by international tribunals or recognized as terrorist, socially dangerous and illegal. This includes prohibited Nazi symbols, Nazi terms and designations (for example, “SS”) and names of Nazi figures. German vehicles in World of Tanks are designated by the cross of German tank forces.
Banned in many countries in the Asian regionJapanese imperial flag in the form of a rising sun with rays. When releasing the game in these countries, we replaced it with the current national flag of Japan - a red circle on a white background.
We also had to replace the flags upon releasein China. In China, it is generally prohibited to use real symbols of any state in games. Therefore, instead of flags, we used symbols that are associated with the country, but are not its official symbols. For example, for UK vehicles, instead of a flag, a red lion is used on a white background.
Who is the biggest WoT fan who has played the most hours in World of Tanks?
We do not count the time, but the number of fights,conducted by one player, because match times may vary. To date, the player sashapobedit has the largest number of battles - more than 255 thousand battles.
The most striking or memorable skating rink in WoT from your own gaming experience.
Of course, tascher fights are always memorable.I remember almost all of Kolobanov’s medals very well: it’s hard to forget a battle when you’re left alone on the map against an overwhelming number of opponents, and it’s certainly impossible to forget how you destroy the last vehicle with the last shell. Mostly the memorable fights are from the very early ones: then emotions were over the edge, not so many fights had been fought yet. Now, when tens of thousands of battles have already been played, emotions are mixed, even cool battles are forgotten.
If we talk about one of the most memorable fights,Then, perhaps, context is also important. I now remember this fight. When we presented World of Tanks at the first exhibition in America, at E3 2011, we had activity at our booth for players, personal competition. It was necessary to show the best result in terms of the amount of experience earned during the battle. This result went to the top, the best players received various prizes throughout the day.
</ img>
We were at the exhibition as developers,and the press interviewed me. And right during the interview, the journalists asked me, they say, would you like to go play now, show the game to American players, give some advice. At that time, there were already several winners in the top who took first place during the day - they had about 1,700 experience points per battle. I took an interesting German tank VK 36.01, with the famous Konik cannon, sat down at the computer, equipped it as we know how, and in the very first battle, right during the broadcast, at the same time telling along the course of the action what I was doing. Essentially, playing for fun, I managed to gain more than 3400 experience, destroy 7 or 8 enemy tanks and damage the rest thoroughly. At the same time, I ended up at the bottom of the team’s list, that is, I played with tanks of higher levels than mine—that’s why I ended up gaining so much.
And then the whole crowd from this standwithout stopping to watch my game. After that, they probably didn’t let me go for another hour: they asked me questions about what tactics, what tank, how to play it, and then everyone went to equip these VKs and ride them. The guys really had euphoria, because the guy sat down and, oh, he scored twice as much as the winner of the previous day, sitting chatting with the press and playing on camera.
I wouldn't say it was my best fighton this tank, but like this, you know, sitting down to play on camera is usually difficult, nothing happens. And then it just happened, the whole audience applauded, so, probably, this fight can be called the most memorable. It was in 2011, nine years have already passed, and I still remember it very well. It was, of course, phenomenal.
Demographics of World of Tanks:
</ img>
What is online in 2020?
- Anyone can watch online in any regionanyone can do it every day, this is open information. As for the peak figures, in the CIS region this year 700 thousand simultaneous online players were recorded, in Ukraine the maximum was almost 150 thousand.
Male to female ratio
- 98% men and 2% women.
What is the average WoT player?
- This is a working married man, 32–35 years old, with two children and a higher education.
In which country is the game most popular and in which country is it least popular?
- World of Tanks is most popular in Russia and post-Soviet countries. Ukraine is in the top 5 in terms of the number of registered players in the world - more than 8 million. Macau has the least number of registered players.
The best-selling tank in the entire history of World of Tanks?
- Let me remind you that our game is free, 70% of playersThey don’t make any contributions to the game and research tanks rather than buy them. The most numerous premium tank in the game is the Tier V Soviet heavy tank Churchill III.
I can’t help but remember the legendarycar - Type59. This tank became the first “Chinese” introduced into the game, although there was no Chinese branch at that time. The Type 59 was a Tier VIII premium vehicle, with good damage, fast, maneuverable, and a good income earner. Literally everyone wanted to get it, so they started actively buying it. And then the abundance of “types” began to break the balance, so the tank had to be taken out of sale. And this is just a month and a half after its appearance! “Type” remains the dream of many today, a collector’s tank.
Which tank do players most often complain about, calling it an “imba”?
There is no one constant “hero”: new cars constantly appear in the game, players learn to play against them, and we ourselves monitor the statistics and balance the vehicles.
The most “imbo” tanks can be called those thatWe reward players for clan activities: T95/FV4201 Chieftain, which is awarded for getting to the top on the Global Map, or Object 907. Of those that can be upgraded, the Tier X British heavy tank Super Conqueror is very strong. Object 279, a tank that players can receive for completing personal combat missions, also has high performance in battles. These are the top cars that stand out based on statistics. Yes, and we ourselves see that, according to the players’ impressions, they are the “coolest”. Again, we try to keep the technique balanced by making changes. This is a dynamic process.
Recently, the “Battle Pass” appeared in WoT. Why and why did you decide to add it, and how successful was the system?
We are constantly adding different challenges to the game.and LBZ (personal combat missions - editor's note). Thanks to them, players can receive additional content: equipment, customization elements and bonuses that can be used to upgrade existing vehicles. Some people do them for the rewards, others for the pleasure they get from completing the challenges. The Battle Pass is one big challenge that can be completed in parallel with others for more rewards.
We have already thought about the concept of such a passfor a long time. Unlike console tanks, World of Tanks on PC did not have a pronounced seasonality, so it was difficult to tie it to something specific and make it relevant to our audience. The main difference between the “Battle Pass” in World of Tanks and other games is that it has a free part, available to all players, and a premium part – the usual embodiment of the “Battle Pass” according to the principle of other games. Wanting to adapt the Battle Pass to the realities of our game as much as possible, we wanted to give non-paying players the opportunity to take advantage of this functionality. As a result, the Battle Pass in World of Tanks looks different, and one of its parts is available for free to all users.
The effect for the company was good:“Tankers” began to play more with a variety of vehicles, and the players themselves perceived our skip option positively. Their reaction is the most important thing for us, and we are pleased with it. Now the team has a lot of ideas on how to develop this functionality, and we will implement them in the next seasons of the Battle Pass.
</ img>
“I’m a fan and I want to get to work with you, how can I do this and who is most often missing from the team?”
In fact, over these ten years, our teama lot of Tanks fans came. One of the examples is Anton Pankov: it all started with the fact that he wrote to Slava (Makarov - editor's note), asking for a key to the closed beta - or to alpha, no one remembers. And Slava Makarov gave him the key. And now he is the product director of World of Tanks. Anton tells this story in “Online Developers” - a new format for communication between developers and players.
Wargaming has 17 offices in different countries around the world,In each of them they work on different parts of both the same game and different projects. Accordingly, different specialists are needed. For example, in Kyiv, where they also work on World of Tanks, we are most often looking for gameplay developers, game designers, 3D and 2D artists. To apply, just go to wargaming.com/careers/ and select the Kiev office - you will see all the company's current vacancies. If a person wants to get into the “tank” team, then knowledge of the product will be a big plus.
How do you plan to surprise players in upcoming updates?
In addition to the large-scale 10th anniversary celebration, whichdoes not end in August, we are actively working on new maps and new branches of tanks. Above I have already talked about the Polish branch; a new branch of Italian technology will be released before the New Year.
It is important for us to please tankers with entertainingevents. We continue to develop the game events and modes that our community loves. Recently, the Battle for Berlin event took place, where players fought against artificial intelligence on three specially redesigned maps and the new Berlin map. The Kiev studio Wargaming was actively working on the mode, and the players were satisfied. Tankers also periodically participate in various events in the “Front Line” mode.
We are working on a restart periodicallybased on the “Steel Hunter” game event, which is what is called “Battle Royale” in World of Tanks. It became available to tankers again on August 17th. In addition to this, we are also preparing new seasons of the Battle Pass.
Last year we didn't release a game eventon Halloween, this year it will definitely take place, we will work it out well. By the way, our colleagues from Kyiv are also working on it. We are currently working on a number of improvements and functional changes: we are working on reworking the crew to make the skill system more variable, this will significantly diversify the game.
And, of course, we are already working on plans for 2021year. We have a lot of ideas, more than can be implemented in one year. But we are all very passionate about the project and want to make it even better, so we are trying to realize the maximum planned. I would especially like to thank our community and bloggers, who also generate interesting ideas for changes and share them with us.
For players who want to know more:
- Rockstar angered GTA Online players by deleting progress for exploiting game vulnerabilities
- Rocket League will be more free on PlayStation 4 than on Xbox One
- Get stuck in The Division 2: a skyscraper clearing mode will be added to the game, which is constantly changing
The best accessories for gamers at a bargain price
- 10 best selling gaming mice with Aliexpress
- 7 best mechanical keyboards on AliExpress
- 10 Cool AliExpress Microphones for Stream
- 10 controllers for smartphones and tablets that improve the chances of survival in PUBG and its analogues
- 10 best selling TWS headphones with Aliexpress for up to $ 25