Commander,

We’re constantly working behind the scenes on new ways for World of Tanks Modern Armor to provide a fun and engaging gameplay experience for all tankers.

The changes we’ve been exploring are what you can broadly call “quality of life updates.”

In this article, we want to cover the proposed plan for some of the changes we’re looking at, talk about why we want to make these changes, and get into some specific details. These changes are planned for release over the next five seasons, starting with the July 29 update.

Our goals for this strategy are straightforward:

• Improve the overall quality of player matches
• Re-level the playing field
• Encourage meaningful gameplay strategy

We plan to accomplish these goals by improving the following areas of the gameplay experience:

1) Quality of Battles

• We want to increase average match times to encourage strategic gameplay and find additional ways to reduce frustration and add more fun.

2) Tank Balance

• We see a benefit in incentivizing Tech Tree progression and re-leveling the disparity between Tech Tree and Premium vehicles.

3) Gameplay Balance

• We’re planning to rework loadout customization options to support a greater number of meaningful choices and tactics, and also explore other ways of mitigating steamroll matches.

Within those areas, here’s what we’re specifically working on:

• Balance changes for Tech Tree and Premium tanks
• Terrain handling for Cold War mode
• Player performative matchmaking
• Commander Skills/Equipment/Consumables
• Maps and base capture rules

Some of these changes will be coming in the July 29 update; others are further down the line. Let’s dive in to each of these areas and give you an idea of what we’re changing and general timelines we’re targeting for these changes to go out.

Balance Changes for Tech Tree and Premium Tanks

Here’s our strategy for upcoming balance changes:

• Group Tech Tree and Premium tank rebalancing changes together to roll out in select season launches, or later in a season
• Gather Supertest, Community Contributor, and player-base feedback on Premium tank changes
• Bring the players along on the journey and provide transparency of the changes

Our next wave of balance changes will be coming in the July 29 update:

• Tech Tree and Premium tank balance adjustments
  • Lots of “stock tank” loadout improvements
  • General stat-based improvements (damage, armor, penetration, speed, etc.)
• World War II mode, mainly Tiers VIII – X, all nations
  • 120+ tanks
    • Shell alpha damage updates
    • ~60 medium tanks
    • ~50 heavy tanks
    • ~15 tanks destroyers
    • A few Premium tanks

Details about all these changes will be available in an article to be published alongside our update notes on Monday, July 28.

We’ll be reviewing Premium tanks considered overpowered and/or toxic by the player base and implementing balance changes to level the playing field between Premiums and Tech Tree tanks.

• This will start with a small sample size, with some releases later in the season. Included in this small sample will be the SU-152 “Taran” and the FV4003 Centurion Mk. 5 AVRE.

More Premium and Tech Tree tanks will be reviewed and rebalanced in future season releases.

Terrain Handling for Cold War Mode

We would like to increase terrain resistance for heavier Cold War tanks to improve gameplay variety.

To that end, for one week starting on July 22, we’ll be running a live test of updates to terrain handling stats on several Cold War tanks:

• Tank Class: Heavy tanks, tank destroyers
• Eras: Escalation (Era 2), Détente (Era 3)
• Dates: July 22-28, ending with server restart on Tuesday, July 29
• Maps:
  • Fisherman’s Bay
  • El Alamein
  • Swamp
  • Pearl River
  • Severogorsk
  • Dezful
  • Cao Bang
  • Mannheim
  • Fredvang
  • Nebelburg
  • Azure Coast
  • Vineyards
  • Karelia
  • Siegfried Line
  • Dukla Pass
  • Kaunas
  • Safe Haven

IMPORTANT NOTE! During this week only, the map rotations for Eras 2 and 3 will include only the maps listed above. This will help us get as much testing data as possible.

During this test, Cold War Eras 2 and 3 heavy and heavy tank destroyers will drive and handle more slowly on difficult terrain such as dirt, mud, sand, etc.

Our goal with updating terrain handling for these vehicles is to improve how tank roles affect the battle experience:

• Reduce teams that group up in too-large numbers, rushing forward on the map
• Increase match times to allow time for players to pursue their battle plans
• Support additional strategic gameplay
  • Naturally improve light and medium tank roles

Player Performative Matchmaking

This season, we’ll be updating the game’s matchmaker to consider both a player account’s winrate and that player’s winrate with the selected tank. This is in addition to the player’s battle count.

• This will be shipping with the upcoming July 29 season release.

Future improvements to balance using additional player stats are planned for later seasons.

Commander Skills/Equipment/Consumables

When it comes to Skills, Equipment, and Consumables, we’d like to create more player agency and gameplay choice and encourage variety in your loadouts by helping you feel that you have a valid assortment of “good” choices.

We’re planning a reduction in “low-usage” skills and Equipment as well as other improvements to the player experience. Here are some examples of improvements under development:

• Sixth Sense added to all Commanders, freeing up a Skill slot
• Enhanced Target info added to all tanks, freeing up an Equipment slot

We’re committed to a smooth rollout of Skill changes to that respects your current loadout choices. Our target for these updates is the autumn season release. Look for an article that further details these changes soon.

Maps and Base Capture Rules

We have several updates for this area of gameplay that we’re exploring for a later release:

• Remove maps not viable for Cold War rotation (maps that are smaller in size or generally have short match times)
• Change game mode rotations, reducing Standard Battle and increasing Team Destruction
  • A live test of the game mode rotation changes is targeted for the final week of September.
• Prevent early base captures that end matches too soon

We’re sharing some details now to be transparent and to invite your thoughts. So, send us your feedback on Discord or any of our other social channels!

We look forward to improving your quality of life in your matches, and we can’t wait to see what you achieve. See you on the battlefield!