Developer Q&A 09/02 - Results

[MrConway]

 

As you might know, we held a Q&A with developers on Facebook Live yesterday, for those interested you can view it here.

 

For those of you who didn't catch it, here is a rough summary of what was asked and answered.

 

Whats the point of inventory if the option "buy" is missing.How long will we have to wait until half functional inventory will be fully functional? (TaintedSoul, EN)

• The main point of Inventory is to sell things. You can buy things in other places. WoWs was not designed for buying in bulk. The ability to buy like that would have to result in decreasing overall number of discounts

 

Why did the US CAs get a shorter reload, but no range increase? E.g. Baltimore (YC_Yello, DE)

• Ballistics and armor are the most realistic in the game. US CA ballistics are not good for long range and that’s how it was designed. If this will not be enough we’ll look into it again but less likely it will be a range buff if at all.

 

One update later, how did players adjust to the skill change?

• So far it seems that he skill changes are working well and the goal to get more diversity in builds is well on track. Additionally, the Elite XP feature proved to be very good and should help in customizing your captains.

 

Why have you decided to do the next season of ranked battles in tier 7 while the tier 6 and then tier 8 system seemed to be appreciated by many players ? (Webley_Mark; FR)

• Choosing the tier for RB is a challenge. We need to pick a tier with lots of interesting ships. The devs personally would love to play tier X RB season exclusively but not all players have them. The recent introduction of new ships has created a really big pool of ships worthy on this tier.
• Tier V was chosen as an experiment but also based on a tier V internal tournament. The gameplay should be an interesting change of pace to top players. According to players diversity is important and the change of tier as well.

 

What is the “specialty” of USS Black?

• The main feature will be the radar. It is still undergoing production tests at the moment. Perfect ship for close engagement and capping.

 

When you will finally fix the broken chat? Chat windows get erased even when they are active and open.(note: chat also gets completely erased when there are more participants in the chat window) (Avalon1270, CZ)

Can we expect to have the accent letter 'ą' not erase the chat message any time soon? (PanNickt, PL)

• The letter ą should be fixed by now. As for the rest of the chat, the engine of that feature is being updated and as soon as this happens we will start introducing improvements.

 

Russian Destroyers – can we have possibly a brief historical background (and design philosophy) for the Project 40N (new Tier X) and the difference between the normal DDs and “Leaders”?

• 40N – A modern 1944 project, designed by Central Construction Bureau no.17 as a replacement of canceled Project 25 with emphasis on AA and modern dual purpose guns. Not built in the end – cheaper and simpler Project 30 and 30bis was built instead (Ognevoi)
• Difference between normal DDs and “Leaders” – Destroyer leaders were kinda intermediate category between destroyers and light cruisers – they are more heavily gun oriented, but also bigger, the standard destroyer line should be closer to other nation’s DD branches.

 

Same for Okhotnik – both are projects that are not too well known in the West, so what is the background there?

• Okhotnik was a project for a destroyer with a heavy gun armament created in 1917 by Colonel Matrosov – a prolonged Gavriil class with an extremely heavy armament of 8x130mm guns. The project was presented quite well, with only several recommendations from armament specialists. However, technical specialists highly doubted its propulsion efficiency. This project will be implemented in WoWs as a rather special ship.

 

ARP ships – any more will come? Musashi perhaps?

• Nope, the cooperation with ARP ended so no new ARP ships. However we can look forward to more interesting partnerships in the future.

 

When will we see Musashi in-game? Perhaps for Free XP like Missouri?

• There is nothing wrong with repeating the Missouri experiment but right now we have no official announcements about any specific ship – we have to refer to the usual “Do not ask us “When”" in Q+A – we cannot answer.

 

Subs in WoWs? Sea mines?

• If we ever decide to implement such a huge change into the game we would most definitely not announce it on a Q&A. But Sub_Octavian would like Battle Dolphins and suggestion from chat was also sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.

 

Why Premium days are withdrawn – if you don’t play why does your time run out?

• We thought about this issue and this is why we have introduced economical flags – they give you a Premium like boost but you pay for those only for each battle. This is supposed to be a solution for people who don’t want to buy premium time.

 

Are we planning on capping the number of DD’s in game?

• We would rather not use this method. We capped the number of CV’s but that’s a special class. Capping this would be cause big issues to the way the MM works. The promise we give our players is that they will be in battle very soon after they hit the battle button. The solution is in balance changes of all classes till we achieve the equilibrium.

 

Any news on hiring Italian speakers?

• We are hiring! Come to us! We have cookies!

 

Can we expect more line splits in the future?

• We will try to avoid line splits overall but if we have to we will. It’s better to tweak the line. The players find it stressful and this is the reason why we want to minimize splits occurring.

 

Do we plan to introduce DX11 or DX12 support?

• We want to keep up with new technologies and we are working on it but we have no announcements except for a promise of a graphic upgrade coming this year.

 

Does the MM take the WR into account at all?

• No. Such change would create huge queues and big problems for MM. If you want to play battles matched by skill you need to play RB – they are much more adequate to the players’ WR.
• Tier, class, nation are all the facts the MM knows.

 

XP winnings for CV’s – currently players with AS setup suffer from not being rewarded for their work 

• Spotting torpedoes is a new thing that gives you XP and CV’s are naturally more likely to do that. This should be a good addition for players in terms of XP and credits.

 

Players are worried that this season of RB’s will be dominated by Premium ship. Any tips for non-premiums for the coming season?

• We have premiums on all tiers. Sub_Octavian will play the Kiev and then switch to the new Minsk once the line split will occur. Fiji is an awesome choice as well especially for good aiming players
• Gneisenau and Hiryu, (Belfast and Scharnhorst)

 

Any chance for scaling interface to 4K?

• We want to do this but the point is to also monitor the hardware our players use and right now there is only a small number of them using 4K. We now concentrate on Clan functionality and other features.

 

Convoys in game?

• Our gameplay modes team is developing several very interesting missions. We have no new announcements right now but you can expect this year to be very interesting!

 

Why did we not receive a reward for the 14th account level ?

• You already got the reward for the 14th rank but it was in your 13th level so nothing is lost.

 

Can we have a Dasha Q&A?

• Guest appearance only at best unless you come up with some good, relevant questions for her!

 

How about Dasha being a ship captain?

• We will definitely think about it

 

Are you planning to do something about this horrible flash menu which is currently in the game? You should re-write it all to 3D rendering, because it’s very slow even on high-end PCs, and a lot of people I spoke about this with agree. author: anve8004

• As with chat and DX11/12 and 4k resolutions, the dev team is working on improving the game’s looks, but needs to also remain accessible to lower end setups.

 

Why there is such a big % of RNG in this game which degrades it to an average shooting game for kids? author: Killerianus

• WoWs is a shooter type game – slower, more tactical, but still. Bear in mind that at scales and distances involved here, sniper rifles really do not work anymore and if anything, RNG in game is far lower than in real naval gunnery.

 

By KuroNyra : Would it be possible to have a way to shut down the whole interface of the port to takes screenshots of your ships ? At the moment you can do it with a right click from the mouse, but there's still the cursor that on certain screen resolution can be simply put on the side. That would a great wallpaper generator.

• If you take a screenshot using PrintScreen, the game takes a screenshot without the cursor.

 

By Finitan: Would it be possible to have a way to set a certain speed (like 12 kn for ex) with a speed regulator ? Or more different tuning of the existing one ?

• We are not considering this option right now.

 

By Finitan: Is it scheduled in an update that the MM takes in account also the number of ships who can use smoke generator and the number of ships equipped with radar ? I'll explain : Last game this morning in tier 7 the opposing team had 4 DD + 4 CA RN. In ours, 3 DD + 1 CA RN. Tier 5 to Tier 7 and no Indianapolis so no radar. Even we suceed to take back 2 points of capture out of 3 we lost the game as it was impossible to destroy them all. There was smoke always everywhere. It was well played from their side, but the feeling was a bit like if you were playing with 2 cv in the opposite team and us none. And finishing the first of the losing team didn't really confort me. But what could we have done more ? Hopefully we had two good CA players (a graf spee and a leander, I was in Shchors) otherwise it would have been over really quick. We finished the game alive but jaded.

• MM does not take this into account and we do not plan to in the future – ships without smoke generators usually have other benefits that let them employ different tactics. One thing to realize with smoke is that whoever is inside needs to stay pretty slow.

 

Boris_MNE: You still believe that IJN Destroyers are absolutely fine, especially on higher tiers? If I may point out: easily spotted torpedoes, huge reload time, plenty of radars,scouts, rl etc.

• As mentioned last time, balance is a long distance run. The stats and feedback are being tracked, and if the IJN DDs are shown to be less than competitive after adjusting for all the recent changes (both to them and to skills), steps may be taken.

 

Player: ghashpl Question: Cyclone, Epicenter and Bastion modes were supposed to make gameplay more dynamic. Aside the fact that Bastion being removed, did the other two modes have a positive impact on gameplay dynamic? How do your findings about battle dynamics correlate with a growing number of units with smoke generators?

• As mentioned in last Q+A, Epicenter seems to be doing OK. Bastion really needed a major change / rework and as the team has other priorities now, it was taken out.

 

Player: ExecutionInProgress Question: Can we expect an another Campaign coming to the client? Would it be possible to have more permanent, long lasting, campaigns always present in the client?

• We have two permanent campaigns, we will be running various temporary campaigns.

 

What is the "surprising new nation" that was announced for the end of 2016?

• The Commonwealth, specifically Australia – and the Pan-Asian tree.

 

Will the bugged skill description be fixed in 0.6.1? Some descriptions aren't there at all, it is missing in the tool tip and in the API, in all languages. (by P4nz3rwels)

• Bugs are not really the main focus of these streams – if it was already reported to support or through forums, it is on the list of things to fix and will be dealt with in due time.

 

When will new maps be introduced? (by YC_Yello)

• As often as possible J the map design team is working  on new maps and ports all the time.

 

Are we going to introduce new campaigns? If yes, will former campaigns be eliminated?

• Yes, the two campaigns running now are permanent, but there will be more temporary campaigns in the future

 

Are we going to introduce events for clans with rewards for all members?

• Possibly.

 

Are we going to introduce new nations/lines? Which ones?

• Yes. Check the 2017 preview video!

 

[Niaro]

Sub_Octavian will play the Kiev and then switch to the new Minsk once the line split will occur

 

 

So you going to split the Tree in the middle of the season?

[MrConway]

 

 

So you going to split the Tree in the middle of the season?

 

Well, we can't put development on hold for 1,5 months just to make sure there are no changes during ranked.

[Kais_S012]

still no news on when this 'good year for carriers' will actually be made a reality

[Sailor_Bear]

So we can now say... Russian DD split for 0.6.2? 

 

[El2aZeR]

US CA ballistics are not good for long range and that’s how it was designed.

 

Isn't that kinda a lie? According to navweaps.com a US 8"/55 gun firing the SHS shell outperforms both their Japanese and German counterparts in penetration capability at all ranges. Or is this simply referring to the higher time of flight and shell arcs?

[WestyII]

Russian Destroyers – can we have possibly a brief historical background (and design philosophy) for the Project 40N (new Tier X) and the difference between the normal DDs and “Leaders”?

• 40N – A modern 1944 project, designed by Central Construction Bureau no.17 as a replacement of canceled Project 25 with emphasis on AA and modern dual purpose guns. Not built in the end – cheaper and simpler Project 30 and 30bis was built instead (Ognevoi)
• Difference between normal DDs and “Leaders” – Destroyer leaders were kinda intermediate category between destroyers and light cruisers – they are more heavily gun oriented, but also bigger, the standard destroyer line should be closer to other nation’s DD branches.

 

Same for Okhotnik – both are projects that are not too well known in the West, so what is the background there?

• Okhotnik was a project for a destroyer with a heavy gun armament created in 1917 by Colonel Matrosov – a prolonged Gavriil class with an extremely heavy armament of 8x130mm guns. The project was presented quite well, with only several recommendations from armament specialists. However, technical specialists highly doubted its propulsion efficiency. This project will be implemented in WoWs as a rather special ship.

 

Wait, what? More Paper Soviet Ships? 

Why? At this rate a child in Russian could draw a project and it will appear in game. 

[Takru]

 

What is the "surprising new nation" that was announced for the end of 2016?

• The Commonwealth, specifically Australia – and the Pan-Asian tree.

 

Should this really read 2016? Pan Asia was introduced well before the end of said year?

Also, Commonwealth... moaaar sheeps?

[_FTD_]

 

Wait, what? More Paper Soviet Ships? 

Why? At this rate a child in Russian could draw a project and it will appear in game. 

Who cares... the more ships the better, for me at least.

[T0byJug]

 

What is the "surprising new nation" that was announced for the end of 2016?

• The Commonwealth, specifically Australia – and the Pan-Asian tree.

 

 

You saying there is going to be a full tech tree line in for Commonwealth and not just Prem ships??

[T0byJug]

 

Wait, what? More Paper Soviet Ships? 

Why? At this rate a child in Russian could draw a project and it will appear in game. 

 

Its a primarily Russian Development team.. If this game was developed in UK we would have had 10 RN tech lines by know.. we have to just live with it as  _FTD_ said more ship the better. At least we get more RN and another nation this year garanteed

[mtm78]

I like the idea of more DD's being released maybe we will finally see less BB's due to people switching to cruisers to hunt them

 

Also thanks for making a summary MrConway

 

edit: also please look at Flamu's video about Black and reconsider....... 

[Niaro]

 

Wait, what? More Paper Soviet Ships? 

Why? At this rate a child in Russian could draw a project and it will appear in game. 

 

Yay.. HMS Vanguard as T10 RN BB confirmed. Riiight?

[WestyII]

 

Yay.. HMS Vanguard as T10 RN BB confirmed. Riiight?

 

I dont mind 'some' paper ships, just the quantity we have now. More specifically the quantity of Paper Soviet ships. 

 

Im well aware of the Russian Team and their bias, but I can still moan about it . 

 

But literally half of all Soviet ships are Paper/fictional. I think there is ~30 Paper/Fictional ships in the game. 11 are Soviet. - To me this is far too many.

 

Figures may be slightly wrong, but that is still rubbish. 

 

 

[AlwaysBadLuckWithTeams]

Niaro, on 10 February 2017 - 04:35 PM, said:

 

 

So you going to split the Tree in the middle of the season?

 

Well, we can't put development on hold for 1,5 months just to make sure there are no changes during ranked.

 

What is the chance of them being "spot-on" ? Neither OP like quite a few ships at release nor UP because of last minute nerfs like the German dd ? Wouldn't you prefer to do the tuning between seasons ?

 

And here I thought you introducing the IJN dd split right after the end of a ranked season was intentional. Guess I was wrong.

[Historynerd]

Any news on hiring Italian speakers?

• We are hiring! Come to us! We have cookies!

 

 

 

 

 Are we going to introduce new nations/lines? Which ones?

• Yes. Check the 2017 preview video!

 

Not to be cynic or pessimist, but this is how it went down in WoT:

 

 

 

[AntTiger666]

ARP ships – any more will come? Musashi perhaps?

• Nope, the cooperation with ARP ended so no new ARP ships. However we can look forward to more interesting partnerships in the future.

 

 Voiceovers for Arpeggio ships are now accessible to all players (including players who do not have any Arpeggio ships) in the "Voiceover modification" list in the "Audio" tab

 

Along with the silence from both Asia and Ark Performance, i'm losing alot of hair 

When will we see Musashi in-game? Perhaps for Free XP like Missouri?

• There is nothing wrong with repeating the Missouri experiment but right now we have no official announcements about any specific ship – we have to refer to the usual “Do not ask us “When”" in Q+A – we cannot answer.

 

looking forward to see what else WG has to offer in that department

 

Can we expect more line splits in the future?

• We will try to avoid line splits overall but if we have to we will. It’s better to tweak the line. The players find it stressful and this is the reason why we want to minimize splits occurring.

 

i hope to see more to spice up the line variety 

[Exocet6951]

 

I dont mind 'some' paper ships, just the quantity we have now. More specifically the quantity of Paper Soviet ships. 

 

Im well aware of the Russian Team and their bias, but I can still moan about it . 

 

But literally half of all Soviet ships are Paper/fictional. I think there is ~30 Paper/Fictional ships in the game. 11 are Soviet. - To me this is far too many.

 

Figures may be slightly wrong, but that is still rubbish. 

 

 

 

It's "only" 30% , and even then debatable as some of the paper concepts were re-applied to ships actually built.

 

 

But it's funny that people always fall back to the good old "It's paper russians!", but fail to concede that the German branch, out of 32 ships, has 7-9 paper ships (unsure if Z-46 and Z-52 were built or not), which is really pushing it to "Russian paper" levels of fantasy designs.

[Loran_Battle]

When you will finally fix the broken chat? Chat windows get erased even when they are active and open.(note: chat also gets completely erased when there are more participants in the chat window) (Avalon1270, CZ)

Can we expect to have the accent letter 'ą' not erase the chat message any time soon? (PanNickt, PL)

• The letter ą should be fixed by now. As for the rest of the chat, the engine of that feature is being updated and as soon as this happens we will start introducing improvements.

 

Do we plan to introduce DX11 or DX12 support?

• We want to keep up with new technologies and we are working on it but we have no announcements except for a promise of a graphic upgrade coming this year.

 

DX11 release date: October 27, 2009 

DX12 release date: July 29, 2015

 

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX#DirectX_11

 

such technology, much new, wow

 

And they took 2 years figuring out the chat is bad? Nice. So its gonna take another year or so to actually do something about it.

 

[ApesTogetherStronK]

Are we going to introduce new campaigns? If yes, will former campaigns be eliminated?

• Yes, the two campaigns running now are permanent, but there will be more temporary campaigns in the future

 

Myself and several other players have been done with the two permanent campaigns for quite some time now. I'd achieved the final reward in both campaigns before Christmas, barely a month after they were introduced if I remember right. I 100%'d Science Of Victory last month, and the only reason I haven't done the same with Honorable Service is because some of the requirements are totally RNG based or I don't have a carrier at tier 8+. 

 

My point here is, they really weren't very long. Granted I play quite a bit, but I imagine people who only average a couple games a day are finished or close to it by now, so if these campaigns are to have any longevity beyond a couple of months, they need to last a lot longer. 

[aquiles7389]

Ballistics and armor are the most realistic in the game

 

Either you are realistic (Exact numbers) or you are not...And you are not.

 

What is the "surprising new nation" that was announced for the end of 2016?

• The Commonwealth, specifically Australia – and the Pan-Asian tree.

 

WOW! Such nation, much wow...

 

 

And all the bad jokes you picked to avoid answering more important questions....Terrible Q&A

 

But hey, thanks for anwering some questions, its something.

[ArkIndoril]

I know he didnt say exactly, I dont believe they have at all

but does anyone have a good estimate/leak of when the soviet DD split will be happening?

im at the end of the ognevoi and considering if I can cram grind my way to tashkent in the remaining time

[mtm78]

I know he didnt say exactly, I dont believe they have at all

but does anyone have a good estimate/leak of when the soviet DD split will be happening?

im at the end of the ognevoi and considering if I can cram grind my way to tashkent in the remaining time

 

Community contributors are testing them, you can watch Flamu play them on Twitch right now. Usually this means they will be released next patch ( unless they get delayed ). 

[Hardocky]

Needs more campaigns and a new tech tree. Last tech tree was 2 months ago

[ArkIndoril]

 

Community contributors are testing them, you can watch Flamu play them on Twitch right now. Usually this means they will be released next patch ( unless they get delayed ). 

 

and next patch is coming...(ive no idea on patch timeframes)