Update 8.6

New Content

USSR SPG line has been reworked:

• New SPGs added: 
  • SU-122А (Tier V)
  • SU-14-1 (Tier VII)

Now the tree will look like this:

• Tier II SU-18
• Tier III SU-26
• Tier IV SU-5
• Tier V SU-122A (new vehicle)
• Tier VI SU-8 (moved from Tier V)
• Tier VII S-51 (moved from Tier VI) ======  Tier VII SU-14-1 (new vehicle) 
• Tier VIII SU-14-2 (moved from Tier VI)
• Tier IX 212A (moved from Tier VII)
• Tier X Obj. 261 (moved from Tier VIII)

 German SPG line has been reworked:

• New SPGs added: 
  • G.Pz. Mk. VI (e) (Tier II)
  • Pz.Sfl. IVb (Tier IV)
  • G.W. Tiger (P) (Tier VIII)

Now the tree will look like this:

• Tier II G.Pz. Mk. VI (e) (new vehicle)
• Tier III Sturmpanzer I Bison (moved from Tier II) ==== Wespe
• Tier IV Pz.Sfl. IVb (new vehicle) ====== Tier IV Sturmpanzer II (moved from Tier II)
• Tier V Sturmpanzer 38(t) Grille (moved from Tier IV)
• Tier VI Hummel (moved from Tier V)
• Tier VII Gw Panther (moved from Tier VI) 
• Tier VIII G.W. Tiger (P) (new vehicle)
• Tier IX G.W. Tiger (moved from Tier VII)
• Tier X G.W. E-100 (moved from Tier VIII)

USA SPG line has been reworked:

• Added new SPGs: 
  • M44 (Tier VI)
  • M53/M55 (Tier IX)

Now the tree will look like this:

• Tier II T57
• Tier III M7 Priest
• Tier IV M37
• Tier V M41
• Tier VI M44 (new vehicle)
• Tier VII M12 (moved from Tier VI)
• Tier VIII M40/M43 (moved from Tier VII)
• Tier IX M53/M55 (new vehicle)
• Tier X T92 (moved from Tier VIII)

French SPG line has been reworked:

• Added new SPG:
  • AMX 105 AM mle. 47 (Tier IV)
  • Bat.-Châtillon 155 55 (Tier IX)

Now the tree will look like this:

• Tier II BS
• Tier III Lorr.39LAM
• Tier IV AMX 105 AM mle. 47 (new vehicle)
• Tier V AMX 105 AM mle. 50(moved from Tier IV)
• Tier VI AMX-13 F3 AM (moved from Tier V)
• Tier VII Lorraine 155-50 (moved from Tier VI)
• Tier VIII Lorraine 155-151 (moved from Tier VII)
• Tier IX Bat.-Châtillon 155 55 (new vehicle)
• Tier X Bat Chatillon 155 58 (moved from Tier VIII)

New Premium Tank

 Introduction of new Premium tank: British Tier V Heavy Tank A33 Excelsior.

Camouflage

Added new camouflage patterns for the following nations:

• USSR: 1 winter and 2 summer.
• Germany: 1 desert and 2 summer.
• France: 3 summer.

 

Graphics

New map added:

• Sacred Valley (Korea, Autumn)

Graphics have been improved on the following maps:

• Murovanka
• Widepark
• Airfield

VK 16.02 Leopard tank model has been significantly improved.

Visual changes have been made to ‘Ruinberg’ map.

Reworked animation of base flag

New birds have been added to Ruinberg and Lakeville

Visual models of the following tanks have been improved:

• VK 16.02 Leopard
• Matilda Black Prince
• SU-85B
• SU-14
• T26E4 Super Pershing
• GW. Panther
• SU-26
• Hummel
• Е-100 (turret has been moved 10 cm closer to the front)
• SU-18
• Object 212
• Т-54
• BТ-2
• АТ2
• Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. G
• Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf. C
• Matilda IV
• Sturmpanzer II
• Aufklärungspanzer Panther
• T57 Heavy Tank
• M2 Light Tank
• AT 8

Damage model of the following tanks has been improved: 

• SU-8
• SU-85B
• Cromwell
• Comet
• Matilda Black Prince
• SU-5
• SU-76
• Т95
• Т92
• M12
• M41
• M7 Priest
• T57
• G.W. E 100
• G.W. Tiger
• Hummel
• Pz.Kpfw. V/IV
• IS-6
• Pz.Kpfw. III/IV
• Object 268
• FV215b (183)
• Wespe

Ammunition and Penetration Mechanics

• Rebalancing of premium shells has been performed:
  • Price adjustments have been performed according to the efficiency value, which was calculated for each type of shells accounting for its penetration value and damage.
  • The price for some APCR/ACRP shells has been increased and for some of them reduced.
  • The price for almost all HEAT shells has been increased because they turned out to be cheaper despite having the same efficiency as APCR/ACRP shells.
  • Almost all premium HEAT shells remain without any changes except for some HE shell types.
• Rebalancing of HE shells has been performed:
  • Armour penetration of high tier HE shells was decreased
  • Middle-tier HE shells (105-122 mm) armour penetration was significantly decreased
  • Premium shells which have had their characteristics changed have been reimbursed with credits equivalent to the shell purchase price for Version 8.5
• Reworked additional absorption bonuses for Spall Liners:
  • Small Spall Liner - 20% (was 15%).
  • Medium Spall Liner - 25% (was 15%).
  • Large Spall Liner - 30% (was 15%).
  • For heavy tanks of more than 70 tons a super-heavy spall liner has been added with an additional absorption coefficient of 50%
  • All spall liners on vehicles with weight above 70 tons have been dismounted, moved to depot and changed to ‘Super-Heavy spall liners’
• New rules for how HEAT shells work:
  • HEAT shells will start to ricochet if the impact angle equals or is greater than 80 degrees. (please note that every shell can have slightly different settings). The armour penetration after ricochet will remain the same.
  • After successful penetration, a HEAT shell cannot ricochet inside the tank (as the shell is transformed into a continuous stream.)
  • After successful penetration, the HEAT shell will lose 5% of armor penetration value for each 10cm of travelling distance (50% for 1 metre travelled between the spaced armour surface and armour)
  • After successful penetration, the force with which the HEAT shell continues to travel through the armour will lose a penetration value equal to the amount of armour hit and will take into account the angle of impact between the armour and penetration spot.
  • Suspension now also counts as spaced armour
• Tracers have been temporary turned off:
  • Removed all tracers from unspotted enemy vehicles, except for SPG tracers
  • The area of the SPG aiming mode, in which tracer fire of non-spotted SPGs could be seen, has been reduced.
• Shell normalisation for all ACPR and ARCP shells decreased from 5 to 2 degrees

Other Changes

• Changed mechanism of camouflage calculation when using camouflage pattern and camouflage net:
  • From now on, values for vehicles with camo patterns and camo net will be cumulative.  This means that now the camouflage net and camouflage pattern will provide fixed bonuses which will only differ based on the class of the vehicle (for example, TD's will receive the highest bonus)
  • This means that the camouflage net and camouflage will give a significant camouflage bonus even for big turrets.
  • To avoid side-effects of having nearly invisible TD's, it was decided to decrease the overall camouflage bonuses provided by bushes and fallen trees by 20%.
• Increased income for high tier tanks:
  • For Tier X vehicles (excluding SPGs), average income increased by 10%.
  • For Tier IX, VIII, VII, VI vehicles (excluding SPGs), income has also been increased but by less than for Tier X vehicles.
• Changed the mechanism for shot accuracy calculations. Now, the amount of shells falling on the side of the aiming circle will decrease by 20%. Shells will fly more accurately and closer to the aim centre
• Changed the mechanism for calculating damage and penetration. The extreme numbers will be seen 5% less, while the average amounts will be seen more often
• Removed decreasing coefficients of XP received from dealing damage with TD or SPGs. TDs will receive 33% more XP from damage, while SPG owners will notice a 50% boost in the same parameter.
• Added an ‘assist’ bonus for tracking enemy: if you track an enemy and allies deal damage to it, or even destroy it while it’s still tracked, you will receive an XP bonus. The mechanism will work similarly to the one applied currently for damage on spotted vehicles.
• A mechanism for determining the bonuses (XP, credits, frags count) to be received for damaging or killing tanks with physics (eg. pushing into water or from the cliffs etc.) and by whom, was added.
• Added a new camera mode which swings slightly when firing or getting shot, and added a compensation mode for vehicles moving in Sniper mode (can be enabled in setting by selecting ‘Use dynamic camera’ option)
• Rebalanced Tank Company requirements for different types of tanks. Now all ‘divisions’ will have same requirements for Medium and Heavy tanks, TD’s and SPG’s:
• Junior – Tier IV
• Medium – Tier VI
• Champion – Tier VIII
• Absolute – Tier X.
• Limitations for light tanks will still be in place
• If a player is banned for teamkilling, he’s now immediately kicked out of a current battle, rather than waiting for the battle to finish first and being banned afterwards
• Encounter battle has been added to the following map:
• Mines
• Lakeville
• Redshire.
• Improved after-battle statistics
• Reworked the list of World of Tanks awards on login screen
• Removed the following inscriptions: "Popeye", "Mickey Mouse", "Betty Boop". All players with these inscriptions will receive compensation corresponding to the method of purchase (credit or gold) and time remaining (in case of inscriptions purchased for credits)
• Small improvements to the screen for special battle (display of nation, type or Tier limitations)
• All new accounts will now receive Tier I tanks with 100% crew

Rebalancing

• Inclination and declination angles on Matilda Black Prince have been increased.
• Balance changes have been made on map ‘Fjords’. In addition, one-storey wooden houses can be now destroyed.
• Balance changes have been made to the “assault” game mode on Westfield.
• ‘Widepark’ map is now only available for random battles with Tier IV, V and VI
• Full rebalancing of SPGs (full list will be available in the appendix)
• Overall velocity of SPG shells decreased (10-15% for regular guns and 50% for short ‘mortar’ guns)
• Rebalancing of income values for most vehicles

Sound Improvements 

• Sound processing module has been reworked. Now it’s possible to play more sounds with less sound distortions and while using less system resources.
• Changed mechanics of ambient sound placement on the map. Removed ‘dead zones’, increased volume of wind in SPG-view, created new events for water, industrial objects and fire
• Decreased amount of sounds for tank ground hits while driving though uneven areas
• Increased distance of fire sound, changed dependence of sounds on camera position, added physical model of hearing sounds from a distance
• Increased distance of other tank sounds to add ‘Doppler effect’ to increase reality of two vehicles moving side-by-side
• Increased variety of tank hit sounds
• Changed sound of tank destruction
• Added 3D parameter. All players with 5.1 multimedia-systems will experience a greater level of realism in the game.

Technical Improvements 

• Reworked mechanism for informing about the lack of memory
• Added an automatic quality regulation system to tune special effects depending on resource usage and system performance. This will reduce quality of effects (explosions, smokes and fire) automatically if fps drop is detected
• Made some improvements and corrections to the mechanism displaying dynamic shadows. This leads to an overall improvement of shadow quality with fewer artifacts. 

Fixes

• Corrections have been made to names of French tanks and their modules.
• Fixed the low turning speed of some vehicles on bridges
• Added small corrections to battle and video tutorials
• Fixed wrong effects displaying when destroying some objects
• Fixed discrepancy between actually damaged parts and the resulting visual damage models of the affected buildings and objects
• Fixed damage models of small ambient objects
• Fixed errors and improved display of dynamic shades
• Partially fixed issue with NVIDIA 309 and newer drivers conflicting with WoT client which sometimes could result in a crash