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World of Tanks' 9.1 update rolls out football mode and more
World of Tanks' 9.1 update will officially go live in North America on June 17th, states a press release issued today. Well, technically, it's already live in Europe, it's going live in Korea on the 12th, and Americans will see parts of the update on the 13th too, but by the 17th, you'll have it all. The update includes a World Football Championship mode (seriously), which boasts brief 3v3 battles on a a version of Himmelsdorf "transformed into a football field"; two legendary Historical Battles (The Siege of Tobruk and Bryansk Front) and a new winter map (Kharkiv); and tweaks to "iconic" maps including Arctic Region, Tundra, Komarin, Windstorm, and Northwest. The 9.1 video is tucked beyond the cut. [Source: Press release]
World of Tanks Blitz coming to iOS on June 26th
World of Tanks Blitz, the mobile version of the popular online tank title, will be hitting the Apple app store on June 26th. Wargaming said that World of Tanks Blitz will be exclusive to newer iPad and iPhone owners. The game's been in a closed beta and soft launch in various regions, but will officially release later this month. In it, players will choose from 90 armored vehicles from USA, Germany, and USSR to fight in 7v7 matches.
E3 2014: Hands-on with World of Warships and World of Tanks Blitz
If Wargaming.net is known for one thing, it's for being big. Nowhere is that more evident than E3, where displays for games like World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, and World of Warships typically dominate the show floor. Naturally this year's big reveal is the new Warships title. Although it's the third World of vehicles battler, gamers who haven't played the previous two won't be at a disadvantage. That said, it's the hands-on with World of Tanks iOS version that really got my attention.
E3 2014: Hands-on with Skyforge, World of Speed, and Armored Warfare
I won't lie: I went to an E3 meeting with publisher My.com thinking only of Skyforge. I'd heard about Armored Warfare and World of Speed, but I didn't expect much from either title. I'd seen tank games and racing games trying to move into the MMO sphere, and while they were sometimes interesting, I didn't pay a whole lot attention. And ultimately they weren't as interesting to me as Skyforge, but I did walk away thinking they are titles that will appreciated by a portion of the MMO audience.
Armored Warfare accepting applications for closed beta testing
Guys, Armored Warfare is totally not a World of Tanks clone. Guys? Guys? C'mon, don't give me that look. It's not! Well, maybe it is a little bit. The question is, then, will it be better or worse than its competition? Armored Warfare is a "tanktical" (their words, not ours) shooter that features all sorts of heavy combat vehicles. One key difference between it and World of Tanks is that Armored Warfare's lineup is more current, ranging from the 1950s to present-era tanks and other armored trucks. Obsidian Entertainment is pushing Armored Warfare hard these days in preparation for its E3 showing. The title has begun to accept closed beta applications and has put out a new trailer that you can check after the break.
Heroes & Generals vidlog details new guns, tanks
Heroes & Generals is getting fairly frequent updates these days, and even though the free-to-play MMO shooter is technically still in beta, developer Reto-Moto has a polished and playable game on its hands. The latest Videolog, number 12 if you're keeping score, summarizes content additions from the last two "Patton" updates, including an extensive list of new tanks and infantry weapons. You can watch the full seven-minute clip after the cut!
World of Tanks launches update 1.2 for the Xbox 360
If you like to get your World of Tanks fix on your console, we've got good news. The latest patch for the game's Xbox 360 edition has launched, and it brings with it new premium Soviet tanks along with all-new weather effects. Now you can experience the joy of firing your tank's main gun in the middle of a rainstorm as well as on a nice sunny day. Seven maps are in the rotation for weather variants at launch, with more planned for the future. Not enough for you? Well, the update also adds two new maps, Fisherman's Bay and Abbey, which should give you all sorts of new terrain to deal with. The American tank tree has also been expanded with seven new vehicles, one each for tiers IV through X. You can start enjoying the update today, and you can check out the patch release trailer just past the break. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
Heroes & Generals patch is the biggest content update since open beta
Heroes & Generals' latest update is live, and the 'Patton' patch marks the largest set of content additions since the World War II title went into open beta. There are nine new tanks as well as personal vehicle loadouts which provide players with unique sets of upgradeable rides. Reto-Moto has also added entry-level submachine guns and tweaked the game's introductory experience to ease players into its persistent strategic shooter. You can view the full press release as well as a new video after the break. [Source: Reto-Moto press release]
The Mog Log: Why aren't there more tanks in Final Fantasy XIV?
To the surprise of pretty much no one, tanks are the rarest thing to find in Final Fantasy XIV at the moment. It's so rare to see a role other than tank in need on the Duty Roulette that people take notice of the times when it changes. Everyone knows that tanks are in short supply, leading to the supposed "tank rewards" introduced in 2.2 that don't seem to hit the mark. I've seen a number of posts in which people ask why there are so few tanks and what can be done about it, and most of them seem to miss the mark, either by completely misunderstanding what tanking actually entails or by misunderstanding why people aren't tanking. Really, I don't think it's terribly complicated. Why aren't there more tanks in Final Fantasy XIV? Three pretty straightforward reasons, none of which tends to be addressed when I see people asking that question.
World of Warplanes update brings more American heavy fighters
Wargaming is announcing the release of the newest patch for its flight combat MMO World of Warplanes today. Update 1.3 introduces a new line of American heavy fighters and an auto detect feature for graphic settings so everyone isn't playing on the medium setting by default. Wargaming will also be attending the Chicago Comic Con and Entertainment Expo where it will host two panels on World of Tanks and World of Warplanes. For those who can't attend, a stream will be available on the con's Twitch channel. [Source: Wargaming press release]
What's going wrong with tanking in five player content?
Tanking is not always easy, mind you. But tanking can be an incredible amount of fun, and I hope that it'll make a real comeback in terms of popularity when Warlords of Draenor goes live. Right now, I feel like a few problems really keep tanking from being as universally popular as it could be. Difficult to get starting gear - For most people, it's hard to get started as a tank. Gearing is an issue, because some tanks (DKs, warriors and paladins) need specific tanking gear, while even the leather tanks still generally use different stats to some degree, different enchants, different weapons for tanking than DPS or (especially) healing. This is a problem the gearing changes in Warlords should really help with. Where can you learn it? - Tanking requires a different skill set from DPS or healing. While proving grounds exist, they don't really teach the most important part of being a tank - reacting to other players. It can be hard as a new tank to walk into a dungeon having never done it before. That leads into the third difficulty of picking up tanking. Dungeons don't provide any sort of experience right now - With the wildly disparate gear levels on people running random dungeons, you can have a tank in 450 gear trying to hold aggro off of players in 580 gear. While it can be nice to be the tank in 580 gear, even you might have trouble when groups don't cooperate, run ahead of you, pull mobs half way across the zone, and generally simply refuse to act like any kind of groups at all. This is something I'm hoping the gear squish and ten levels will do away with - we'll all basically be on the same page when Warlords dungeons are being run. While there are still a lot of places where tanking is both fun and rewarding - raiding (especially in a guild group, be it heroic, normal or flex), challenge modes, even in LFD or LFR if you get lucky - I do think it can be a lot to ask a new tank (whether or not she or he is a new player or just new to the role) to grow a thick skin fast enough to deal with the toxicity possible in the current random queue environment. Which is a real shame, because tanking is fun - it can be stressful, and oftentimes groups have an expectation of a tank doing the work of knowing how every fight works for them, but that's not always a negative.
World of Tanks' 9.0 out this week, includes Historical Battles
Wargaming has released World of Tanks' ninth iteration, complete with redesigned battlefields and vehicles and a new game mode called Historical Battles. "With a focus on competitive balance and exciting gameplay, combat locations including Severogorsk, Pearl River, Malinovka, and Serene Coast have all received an overhaul," Wargaming says. The firm has also revamped many of the game's vehicles with new high-resolution models and textures. Finally, the new Historical Battle mode aims to recreate famous tank engagements and simultaneously fill your garage with credits and XP. Don't forget to watch the Update 9.0 trailer after the break.
World of Tanks Xbox 360 gets Update 1.1
World of Tanks' console drivers have a reason to rejoice: Update 1.1 has arrived for the Xbox 360. The update has a slew of goodies for players to dig through, including recruitable crews for tanks, the map of Himmelsdorf, and five British vehicles. Crews earn experience through battles, level up, and add perks and abilities to the tank commander. We've got the new trailer for World of Tanks Xbox 360 Edition and its 1.1 update after the break.
Warlords of Draenor: Tanking and the future
One of the things I'm thinking about lately is how tanking is changing in Warlords of Draenor. In at least one major way, it's not changing - Active Mitigation established itself in Mists, based in part on DK tanking in Cataclysm, and it's going to be front and center in Warlords of Draenor. But right now, AM tanking heavily relies on four stats (depending on the tank class) and all four of those stats will be gone come Warlords, meaning that we're looking at a pretty significant change depending on the class. The remaining stat, mastery, is probably going up in value, and in addition, we'll have crit, haste, readiness and multistrike to consider. But stats aren't the whole of the game, and they're not the whole of the changes, either. In addition to new stats, there are the abilities each tank will see affected by readiness to consider. There are also Draenor Perks for each tank spec, granted randomly as we level from 90 to 100. There are changes in what abilities exist, in what specs get them. Vengeance is gone, replaced with Resolve, buffing our self heals and absorbs. In short, while the basic idea remains the same - generate resources via attacks to spend on damage reduction in one fashion or another - how we go about it, how it interacts with us has so many changes that it's worth discussing in length. There's so much change coming in that I don't pretend I'll catch all of it, which is why we have comments, after all. So what do I expect to see out of tanking coming 6.0? It should be noted, this discussion is based on the Warlords alpha patch notes and such datamining as I've looked over, and I freely admit I only tank on one class, so while these are general observations I may be missing key class specific factors.
World of Tanks makes more per user than LoL, GW2, and everyone else
Wargaming's tank-based lobby battler generated more revenue per user than League of Legends and Dota 2 over the past 12 months. In fact, World of Tanks generated more ARPU than any other major F2P title, according to Superdata. "There's World of Tanks, which has a monthly active user base of around 9.1 million and makes $4.51 per month per user. And there's League of Legends, with 58.5 million average monthly actives over the past twelve months, and a $1.32 spend per user. Five times the audience, but less than [a] third of the earnings per player," Superdata says. After WoT, the top five includes Team Fortress 2, Guild Wars 2, War Thunder, and PlanetSide 2.
World of Tanks shows off new game modes for 2014
World of Tanks continues rolling along and updating, and it has some big features on deck for 2014. The latest video development diary shows off some of the new game modes which will be coming to the game in the near future, starting with Fortifications. The Fortification system allows clans to build structures and collect bonuses while at the same time defending their fortifications against other clans. The result is a complex interplay of new elements like pillboxes and aerial strikes that give both sides the tools to take fortified structures or defend them as needed. That's not the least of the additions being made, however, as Historical Battles are also incoming. While this game mode has been in discussion for a long time, due to massive differences in tank capabilities, it's been tricky to create battles with an equal chance of victory for both sides. The solution is asymmetrical team composition, a rebalancing of stats for this specific game mode, and respawning lighter support tanks. Take a look at the video past the cut for a more in-depth examination of these changes. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
World of Tanks crowns new e-sports world champion
In the ultimate showdown between hulking metal death machines, World of Tanks has crowned one victorous team that emerged triumphant over the battlefield. Wargaming announced today that team Na'Vi won the world championship in the grand finals of its e-sports league. The new champions will take home $110,000 in prize money, with the runner-ups Virtus.Pro and The RED Rush: Unity receiving $100,000 and $40,000, respectively. The Wargaming.net League World Championship took place in Warsaw, Poland, as 14 teams battled over three days for the top spot. According to the studio, "millions" tuned in to watch the grand finals on Twitch. [Source: Wargaming press release]
Warlords of Draenor: Vengeance is now Resolve
This is one of the bigger changes (and one closest to my heart now that I'm tanking again) - Vengeance is gone in Warlords of Draenor, replaced with Resolve. Resolve is basically Vengeance minus the stacking buff to attack power, because of the way Vengeance interacted on certain fights. To put it into perspective, last night was my first night seriously tanking, and I was number four on total DPS - it would have been far higher had I not forgotten I was tanking for the first fight. At present, with Vengeance and tank AoE for purposes of picking up threat (plus, I admit, some fairly beefy Shield Slams once Vengeance stacks all the way up) you can see some ridiculous tank DPS, easily surpassing dedicated DPS players. The solution being implemented here is to overall increase tank DPS without an unreliable mechanic like Vengeance adding different attack power depending on how much damage the tank takes. This also removes the temptation for tanks to deliberately take more damage in order to get Vengeance stacked up faster. So Vengeance is gone, and Resolve is implemented. How does it work? Resolve improves self-healing and absorbs done by the tank to the tank (so no, it won't buff priest bubbles) based on the damage taken (ignoring avoidance and mitigation, same as Vengeance now) within the last 10 seconds, and your Stamina. This means stuff like Death Strike, Shield Barrier, things of that nature. If you cast a heal on someone else, Resolve won't buff it. Each tank class' tanking mastery will now add 12% attack power, and the amount of attack power will scale with mastery as well. This is in addition to current affects, not replacing it - your tanking mastery will do what you're used to it doing, it'll just also do more. Brewmaster monks will no longer deal less damage. That 15% damage penalty? Gone. The goal here is for tanking damage to remain meaningful without overshadowing dedicated DPS players, something I feel is profoundly fair. Whether or not it works out for all classes we'll see when we get a chance to test it out, but the basic principle is sound - with tanks now using crit and haste (and the new stats Readiness and Multistrike as well - see Blood Craze here for just one potential use of Multistrike for tanks) we're in a situation where tanking DPS will likely go up just because they're wearing the exact same gear as DPS players. The age of Vengeance's unpredictable scaling probably needed to end. The section of the patch notes detailing the change is, as always, behind the jump.
Wargaming earmarks $10m for e-sports, WoT up to 80m registered players
Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi recently announced that the developer behind World of Tanks and World of Warplanes will invest $10 million into its burgeoning e-sports business. Kislyi said that 30,000 pro players fought in 120 WoT tourneys in 2012 while in 2013 those numbers rose to 200,000 players and 1,000 tournaments. "With our e-sports team we founded a company within the company," Kislyi said. "They take care not only about game features to cater to spectators, but also about the physical organization of the tournaments." Kislyi also explained that the e-sports initiative was driven by player requests rather than Wargaming desires. Finally, Kislyi said that World of Tanks now boasts 80 million registered players.
World of Tanks unveils new 7v7 combat mode
Wargaming.net has just announced a brand-new combat mode for its tank-flavored MMO World of Tanks. The mode is a 7v7 random battles mode called Labyrinth. David Bowie is not included, but a new vehicle is: The only vehicle available in the upcoming mode will be the German self-propelled gun Karl-Gerät that will be added with Update 1.04 as well. Tankers will also get an original battle arena, developed specially for Labyrinth, as well as a new medal, awarded for exceptional performance in the new mode. The translated version of the latest WoT developer diary discusses the new combat mode in depth; we've got it embedded below. [Source: Wargaming press release]
