This feature was available to the RU players for quite a while now, when the PlaySpan database hack, I personally inquired about this feature to be implemented, this was about 3 weeks ago.
By linking your game account to a mobile phone, you will always be able to regain access to your account should there be a problem. If you have activated this feature, you can change your password to a new one, by requesting a verification code to your mobile phone, thereby saving account safe from scammers.
When you bind your account to your mobile phone, the number will only be used to send you a SMS with the codes. We will never use your phone number to send spam, either from ourselves or any third party companies. Activating the feature to bind your account to a mobile phone does not require spending any money – it is a completely free service.
If you are interested in extra protection for your WoT account (EU server) follow these steps - from the WoT EU portal.
Linking your account to your phone gives you the following:
A higher level of security for your account, absolutely free
The ability to quickly regain control of your account should your password or email be compromised by a virus or keylogger
Mobile confirmation for important account security actions (such as password changes), or purchases made through WoT EU portal
Yes, I said launch; although Piranga and IGP will claim 'Open BETA' there are 2 facts that support the actual release of the game:
there will be no more database wipes
IGP/PGI are accepting cash payments for MC purchases
The MWO 'open beta' launch was the most idiotic and rushed I ever saw a game company do, ever.
If the game tanks after few months I won't cry over it one bit, I have spent no $ and I will not spend money ever again on a BETA product after WoT and BF3.
The community raised the MM issue for a very very long time as the games was in CBT and Piranha did nothing, well they did laid out a plan on how MM would look like but actually implementing it in the game ... nope.
Before the launch and whatnot I had the impression that they will also patch the game to correct the overgrown repair bills and the junk that still is the Mech Lab - the patch on the 29th was non-existent. Maybe the patch that is planned for today will solve some of the issues, hopefully.
Will MWO hit rock bottom, or it will survive? either way, I blame the founders who let Piranha run wild and do things to the franchise none did before them.
The founders, instead of voicing concerns and push Piranha into addressing them, they praised the game and give them a free hand.
Piranha also bluntly lied to their community and to their potential customers that the game would not offer premium (for $) tactical advantage, the YEN-LO-WANG does exactly that - pay2win, you bet your ass.
To make matter worse, they removed the chassis of the similar mech from the game, claiming it was nothing more that an test bed for the premium mech - this is a lot like WarGaming did with the PZ4, took it out of the game and made it a premium tank.
I advise you to not spend cash on the game unless you feel that your purchase is warranted.
Even with it's faults I will still try and play MWO, I desperately need a distraction from WoT.
Good news everyone!
Piranha Games announces that MWO OPEN BETA will start 29th of October, around 19:00PM GMT.
Piranha Games president, Russ Bullock, had this to say:
I would like to address this to the core community of MechWarrior Online. You guys are absolutely the most loyal community in all of gaming, intense! But far and away the most loyal. To explain what I mean by loyal let me start out with a huge thanks to all of our Founders. The program was quite obviously a huge success, in fact at 5.2 Million it has set a new high bar for these types of programs. That is a huge statement to just how amazing the MechWarrior franchise and it’s unique and exciting play mechanics are, and now a whole new generation of gamers are about to learn that. These founders have made it possible for us to make the game better and to make better choices these past 4 months, with each of those choices leading to a better overall product.
What does it all mean for existing CLOSED BETA testers.
Open Beta is the final reset. Once it happens, won't be any other reset ever again. They will be resetting C-Bills, MC, XP, GXP, mechs, and inventory. The only thing you get to keep is the friends list. However, if you have a Founders pack, everything will be added from that pack. Also anything you’ve purchased (with MC) will be added back.
Piranha will also add a founder's premium account button. What this does, the premium account swill be reset once OPEN BETA hits; the button, once pressed will start the clock on the premium account. It is a once time deal, once started it can't be reversed, so use it wisely.
[following part was added oct 28th]
What to expect on Monday the 29th:
Servers will go down between 4-5PM GMT and will come back up between 7-8PM GMT.
A New Website
A complete overhaul of the existing website is coming
New Forum Structure
Beta Forums will be closed. Content will be saved
New players will gain immediate access to the game
New content such as the training grounds and BattleMech details
All BETA Players
Your stats will be reset to 0
All of your items and BattleMechs will be removed from your inventory
All Mech XP and GXP will be removed
All Mech and Pilot Trees will be reset
All C-Bills will be reset to 0
All premium time will be reset to 0
For the Founder Player
Premium Time restored to full
MC restored to full
1-4 BattleMechs injected
1-4 MechBays injected
NOTE: Premium Time will be ticking down again. You will receive one final reset in the near future to restore your premium time to full. When this happens, a time inject button will be made available. This button will allow you to chose when your Founder's Premium Time begins. More details to follow in the coming weeks.
For the BETA Player who purchased MC (mwomers.com/buy)
For each MC transaction made, your MC will be reset to full
Example: If you purchased 1250 MC for $6.95 and 3000 MC for $14.95, you will receive 4250 MC after the reset. NOTE: All purchases made with MC (Premium Time, MechBays, and BattleMechs) will be removed. SPECIAL NOTE: For players who purchased the $9.95 MC Package, you will receive MC appropriate to that level (which is more than originally injected). The $9.95 package has been replaced by a $6.95 package.
A Small Economy Tweak and Other Fixes
On Monday, there will be a tweak to address some of the repair bill issues
Double Heat Sinks will be fixed between the 29th and November 6th. Details forthcoming
A tweak to MechLab UI is coming ASAP to address concerns over the Loadout/Upgrade tab. This tweak will allow you to fully spec your BattleMech before committing to a purchase/change
After the utter failure of delaying this patch 3 days, Piranha finally deployed it - one step closer to the OPEN BETA.
With this patch, they wiped out the mech bays and returned the founder's mechs, the XP gained from 18th of September and 75% of the C-Bills earned since same day. It's good, I actually had the chance to by my 1st Atlas and have a go with it. I like how it plays, you actually feel like a fucking killing machine and not the meat in the grinder.
The ugly part of this patch .. they went nuts and did something people are hating them for.
1st of all, they split the Mech Lab into 4 sub-sections:
Loadout - you customize your mech's weapon loadout
Modules - you purchase and equip extra command modules that give speciffic bonuses or abilities
Upgrades - you upgrade your mech's internal structure, armor and heat sinks
I don't see the problem you may ask, the problem is that every time you switch from one section to another, you have to save the config, thus paying C-Bills. The problem is that you're unable to see how all fits with Endo-Steel, Ferro Fibrous Armor and Double HeatSinks versus a standard config - you have to waste C-Bills. I'm not happy about this and others aren't also.
One other thing ... you have to pay again when switching from an upgrade to a standard structure vs Endo-Steel (for example) you think you already own it, the fact is you don't!
They've put out for sale their 1st premium mech, the YEN-LO-WANG hero mech
based on a customized Centurion chassis, and offers a 30% C-Bill income boost.
The ugly thing about this is they broke a promise of theirs, they said they won't offer exclusive premium content (namely weapons and mechs).
Although this mech is not better than his chassis brothers (there are some reports saying this mech have some special abbilites that the standard chassis versions do not have), it's the 1st drop towards pay-to-win content. I'm not happy about this one bit!
And there's the cost of it, 30USD, doesn't even come with it's own bay slot(!). Man, I pay less for my monthly internet bill (and includes fiber link 100Mbps internet connection, cable TV and phone services).
As it was announce earlier this week, HAWKEN closed BETA will start soon.
Interested in having a peek at the gameplay for yourself? go to MMOBOMB.com and grab your key.
Looks like WG is ready to publish the 0.8.1 update. The RU server will get it tomorrow! Still no ETA for EU.
This is a list of the notable changes between 0.8.0 and 0.8.1:
Content:
Added base British Tech Tree: medium tanks branch with FV4202 as Tier 10 and heavy tanks with FV215 as Tier 10 tank
Following Premium vehicles were added to in-game store: Tier 7 Soviet TD SU-122-44, Tier 7 German MT Panther M-10, Tier 6 German MT Pz IV Schmalturm
Following maps were reworked and optimized for new render graphics: ‘Province’, ‘El-Halluf’, ‘Dragon Ridge’, ‘Abbey’
‘Dragon Ridge’ map re-introduced to random battles
‘Prohorovka’ assault map removed
Inscriptions on USSR tanks were reworked for better visibility and entertaining
Inscriptions of all nations were reworked to be readable from a distance
Game Mechanics:
Added possibility to purchase premium rounds using credits in addition to the current gold variant (prices are based on 1 gold = 400 credits exchange rates)
‘Insufficient credits’ status added to the module hint
Added possibility for a platoon creator to exclude game modes for the platoon – this means that platoon will enter only game modes, which are selected in platoon creator options
For majority of tanks systemized and readjusted speed of tank burning (minor corrections)
Added Object 263 to the description of the ‘Lion of Sinai’ achievement
Technical Optimization:
Some objects on several maps were optimized for new render
Optimized drawing speed of some small objects
Fixed incorrect brightness of effects (too dark or too light) on some maps.
Fixed the productivity slump for several hardware configurations
Fixes:
Fixed rare issue, which caused player be balanced into game modes he previously excluded
Fixed a wrong possibility rate to be balanced in a game mode, if one of game modes is excluded (for example, this caused player be balanced to often to ‘Encouter’ game, if ‘Assault’ if excluded)
Fixed the bug, which caused throwing tank out after it drove inside a bunker
Fixed the errors in placing of objects and lighting on maps ‘Ruinberg’, ‘Widepark’, ‘El-Halluf’, ‘Airfield’ and ‘Himmelsdorf’
Removed tank ‘shadow’ from the hangar for cases, when the vehicle is still in baltte
Removed gap between tank and surface in standard hangar
Fixed mistakes in models of following vehicles: Pz IV Schmalturm, SU-122-54, Superpershing, VK 3002 DB, VK 3001(H)
Fixed mistakes in display of camouflage patters on SU-100-M1
Fixed incorrect display of emblems and inscriptions on following vehicles: AMX 13F3AM, D2, SU-122-54, MkVII Tetrarch, VK3601H, Т110Е5, AMX 50 120.
Fixed the display of SPG schematics in status window during the battle (previously tanks were displayed instead of SPG
Fixed the display of SU-122-54 turret armoring
Fixed the slop angle of lower armoring plate of IS-7 (changed to historical)
Fixed the slop angle of lower armoring plate of IS-3 (changed to historical). Fixed armoring of tank’s bottom
Fixed poor visibility of the projectile when firing in the sniper mode.
Fixed rare "freeze" of the game at start of battle.
Fixed rare "freeze" of the game when exiting to hangar
Fixed severe FPS drop, which happened 2-3 seconds after entering Sniper
Fixed water display artifacts with enabled antialiasing
Fixed the incorrect re-initialization of dynamic shadows after switching over to the game using Alt+Tab
Fixed the display of grass in Sniper Mode with this option disabled
Fixed rare incorrect interaction between water and fog
Fixed many small interface errors of after battle statistics window
Fixed error of replaying the base capture sound during replay pause
Fixed the rare error with stop of replay reproduction after rewinding
Chat messages returned to replays
Fixed battle replay is not ending when the battle is over
Fixed inability to resume battle recording after turning it on/off
Fixed the incorrect work of minimap in Clan Wars battles (with Fog of War enabled)
Fixed the impossibility to reconnect to Clan Wars battle, if replays are enabled
Fixed the memory leak upon radial menu opening
Fixed the update of tank icons in nation tree in research menu
Fixed the incorrect status for researched modules on vehicles that has not been yet researched
Fixed the intersection of ammorack blow-up icon with damage numbers
Fixed the incorrect sound for hitting the stone surface
Fixed the call of battle menu only after second pressing of ‘Esc’ button
Fixed rare bug with unavailability of mouse cursor in battle menu window
Fixed some small errors in ‘Exterior’ menu window
Fixed some grammar errors in German inscriptions
Fixed the receive of a daily suspension, if account was online for more than 25 hours
Removed possibility to retrain crew to ‘Observer’ tank
Fixed incorrect display of penetration mark after ricochet
Fixed the impossibility to make a screenshot with active battle chat
Fixed the display of 3 types of shells in Hangar for tanks, which have only 2 types of ammunition
Upon entering XP exchange window on elite vehicle, which has not all modules researched (due to addition/change of vehicles within update), exchange XP unchecked for it, but vehicle will still be in the list
Fixed emblem: added Myanmar flag, corrected description for Taiwan flag
Clarified terms for receiving the award "Sentinel"
Fixed hanging up of the camera when giving a command in the Radial Menu
Fixed the missing skill training percentage when choosing a crew member
Editor's note: Looks like WG is completely desperate if they push gold ammo directly in 0.8.1. Initially they said the gold ammo testing will be continuous until 0.8.2 and then decide if it's a go or not - of course they lied. This is the beginning of the end.
WG announced today the upcoming tanks that will be included in the 0.8.1 update, namely the British tanks.
Light tanks:
Cruiser Mk I
Valentine
Cruiser Mk IV
Covenanter
Cruiser Mk II
Cruiser Mk III
Crusader
Medium tanks:
Vickers Medium Mk I
Vickers Medium Mk II
Vickers Medium Mk III
Infantry Tank Mk II Matilda
Cromwell
Comet
Centurion Mk I
Centurion Mk III
FV4202 (105)
Heavy tanks:
Churchill I
Churchill VII
Black Prince
Caernarvon
Conqueror
FV215b
Source:WoT.RU Update: added some more pictures of british tanks, specifically the Conqueror tier 9 heavy tank and FV215b tier 10 heavy tank. Update 2: added short preview video by WG
Many of you may not heard about HAWKEN, the game is a fast paced free to play multiplayer 1st person shooter with mechs, based on UDK engine.
Here's a (old) gameplay video to make an idea on what the game has to offer:
Meteor Entertainment, the game's publisher, has announced the Closed BETA date, 26th of October.
nVidia is giving away 10000 CBT keys, interested? head here: link
Register to win an exclusive Hawken beta serial code from NVIDIA and be one of 10,000 gamers to experience the Beta Weekend Event from October 26th – 29th, 2012. Winners will be chosen at random and all registrants will be notified on October 26th of the results.
Note: existing ALPHA testers are automatically invited into the CBT
Yesterday, Piranha announced the 17th battlemech that will be introduced in the MechWarrior Online game, the Highlander. Link
concept art
According to the BattleTech, the Highlander, is an assault mech. Thus in the same category as the Atlas and the Awesome.
The Highlander is a 90ton mech, built by StarCorps Industries and entered service in 2592 and it was designed as a dedicated city and installation defender.
Tech specs
Mass: 90 tons Chassis: Star League XT Armor: Grumman-3 Ferro-Fibrous with CASE Engine: GM 270 Speed: 54.0 km/h Jump Jets: HildCo Model 10 Armament:
2 x Medium Lasers
1 x SRM-6
1 x LRM-20
1 x Gauss Rifle
BV (1.0): 1,838 BV (2.0): 2,227
Note: BV stands for battle value
Variants
HGN-694 - Introduced during the FedCom Civil War, this Highlander variant replaces the missiles, medium lasers, and jump jets with two Large Lasers and a Heavy Gauss Rifle. The M-7 Gauss Rifle remains in place. BV (2.0) = 2,358
HGN-732b - The 732b model is a upgrade of the classic 732 built exclusively for SLDF Royal units. This variant drops two heat sinks and a ton of SRM ammo. Artemis IV FCS is added to the LRM and SRM launcher, while the heat sinks are upgraded to doubles. Additional short-range firepower comes in the form of a medium laser added to the right torso. BV (2.0) = 2,335
HGN-733 - The 733 model is a downgrade of the Highlander, although it weathered the use of more primitive technology better than other SLDF designs. In place of the Gauss Rifle the 'Mech now carries an Mydron Class B Autocannon/10 while the rest of the Highlander's weapons have remained the same. The armor has also been upgraded by two tons, providing even more protection than the original 732 model. The speed profile of the Highlander maintains the original models maximum speed of 54.0 km/h. BV (1.0) = 1,424, BV (2.0) = 1,801
HGN-734 - The 734 Highlander emphasizes its role as an urban combat 'Mech, produced by the Lyran Alliance in the wake of the civil war. The Gauss Rifle has been replaced with a massive LB-X Autocannon/20, the medium lasers have been upgraded to ER Medium Lasers, the SRM-6 was upgraded to a streak version with another Streak SRM-6 launcher added, as well as an ER Large Laser. Upgrading the standard fusion engine to a new Light Engine and removing the LRM-20 launcher allowed these changes. BV (1.0) = 1,889, BV (2.0) = 2,214
HGN-736 - This ComStar version of the Highlander introduced in the lat 3050s has been upgraded to carry the improved C3 computer, as well as upgrading the LRM-20 with an Artemis IV fire control system and replacing the SRM-6 to a Streak SRM-4. This was accomplished by replacing the twelve single heat sinks of the 732 model with ten double heat sinks and by only using one ton of ammunition for the upgraded SRM launcher. BV (1.0) = 2,118, BV (2.0) = 2,255
HGN-738 - Another upgrade by the Lyran Alliance following the civil war, the 738's largest weapon is its Heavy Gauss Rifle. The long-range missile launcher is replaced with an LRM-15, though it is guided by an Artemis IV FCS, with an ER Large Laser providing additional long range firepower. Should an enemy unit close, the 738 can bring a pair of ER Medium Lasers and a Streak SRM-4 to bear. Though the 'Mech utilizes a standard fusion engine, the concentration of ammunition in one torso and the Gauss in the other make it extremely vulnerable to critical damage, even with the inclusion of CASE for the ammunition bins. BV (2.0) = 2,413
HGN-641-X-2 - This ComStar developed variant is equipped with a pair of Artemis IV-equipped MML-7 launchers with four tons of ammo. It keeps the Gauss Rifle of the standard Highlander and mounts a pair of ER Medium Lasers. CASE II systems protect the Gauss Rifle and missile ammunition from explosions. A C3 Slave unit allows the Highlander to share targeting data. Light Ferro-Fibrous armor and a Reinforced Structure provide protection from weapons fire. To make room for all the equipment, this Highlander uses an XL Engine and XL Gyro.
Custom Variants
HGN-732 Colleen - This version replaced the standard weaponry with an ER PPC, a prototype Streak SRM-6, twin Medium Pulse Lasers, and a pair of LRM-15 missile launchers. Fourteen double heat sinks keep everything cool. BV (2.0) = 2,127
Notable Pilots Rhonda Snord, who commanded Snord's Irregulars after her father Cranston Snord retired, piloted a Highlander. Davis McCall of the Gray Death Legion found the plans for the Highlander in the Helm Memory Core and put every cent he could find into building a Highlander for himself to replace his Rifleman that had been destroyed in the fighting on Helm.
Fair bit of warning: this will be somewhat of a long blog post, bare with me.
Let's start with MechWarrior OnLine (MWO) since the NDA was lifted and the information out there just got a bit numerous.
What's the state of it? well, the game is still in closed BETA, but the open BETA stage is closely drawing nearer. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, the developers are ironing out the last bugs server side and touching the client where it needs some "love".
Who will MWO appeal to? if you are a MechWarrior series fan, this is for you, also if you are a BattleTech enthusiast. The game is hard on the new comers and frankly Piranha has done nothing to ease the pain of the soon to be open BETA testers. The game badly needs some very well done tutorials, mostly on the mech fitting.
1st there are the trial mechs, basically they are pre-build mechs that have some not thought thru build, they will bet the job done, but playing them is a pain. The job being gathering enough C-Bills to buy you 1st real mech chassis.
After gathering enough credits, you will buy you 1st mech, but you get hit with a big dilemma keep the setup intact or tune it? If you decide to tune it to your gameplay style, and I strongly suggest you do customize it, you get hit with a MechLab that is unfriendly environment. If you do not know what to look for you will either end up making thread on the forums, ask friends or just simply quit the game.
Just look at it:
The weapons are not grouped by type or range, they're just thrown in. If you do not know that pulse lasers have shorter effective range than their regular counterpart you will find it the hard way, during battle. Or that LRMs (log range missiles) will need at least 180m before they can arm, thus detonate on impact.
The MechLab tells you none of that, and it's bad. I had to look on the forums on some dude post who bothered to gather the data and make it understandable to players, Piranha didn't do that ... shame!
Don't get me started on weapon grouping and chain firing. I had to ask on the forums how to enable chain firing. In the end someone told me there is a key that enables that, backspace, but this key is not even mentioned in the noob notes you get when entering BETA and not even in the key mapping list .. the fuck!
Oh, and by the way .. if you go crazy with the mech customization and decide to revert to original factory defaults, good fucking luck with that! There is not way to revert back!, the only option is to sell your mech and buy it back .. the fuck!
Gamplay wise, MWO falls in the category of the tactical shooter/FPS. Did I mention you are stuck in the 1st persom mode?! now you know ...
Untill new modes are developed and released, the current game is 8vs8 with each side having a "base" that needs to be defended/captured, similar to WoT. But because the number of mechs in the game is a lot lower than you get used to WoT gameplay, the loss of a single mech can be disastrous to the outcome of the match. Losing a light can be overlooked, but when you lose the assault mech(s), that will weight heavy on the team.
Even if the game is in CBT, I did saw a fair number of AFK farmers ... fuck the skies! I can't escape them even in MWO, god dammit! Seeing how an founder Atlas AFKs in the base while the rest of the team tries to do something, just makes you wanna climb on the walls.
DO NOT think that MWO will be free of imbeciles and other similar types of non-players. Although the game is pretty strict on the player-base requirements, the usual suspects will try and infect MWO too.
Oh, forgot something, currently there is no server for EU, so you will have to connect to the US one, thus expect 140-160ms ping and sometimes more. Good luck aiming that gauss and hitting what you aimed at. This is why I try to stay away from ballistic type weapons and build my mechs laser boat or missile boat.
The are a lot of things to talk about, but hopefully Piranha comes to their senses and release a patch next week that will fix the current issues and readies the game for the real open BETA, this time ... hopefully.
Now let's jump to World of Warplanes (WoWp)...
One word: junk! I'm sorry for the people at WG working on this project, but I wasn't so much bored by a flying combat game since the Spectrum days, no joke!
Due to the NDA I cannot say much about anything but, the game is in a sorry state. I've been testing the game for almost one year now, since the APHA stage and I'm sorry to say that WG moves very very slowly developing this game.
There are some gameplay videos on YouTube that are approved by WG and clearly show the poor state of the game. The engine is badly written, not optimized, and barely keeps a decent above 30 framerate. For and action type of game, it's bad.
A jet to barely crawl in the sky, sorry, but that's not a jet, it's turtle with a rabbit strapped on to make it go faster. Bad joke.
The controls are horrible, the joystick has input lag. Playing with a mouse and keyboard, although an option, is out of the question.
Even overlord himself admitted they took a peek on the competition, namely Gaijin's WarThunder.
And this brings us to the next one: WarThunder: World of Planes (WT or WT: WoP)
Gaijin, the developer, is a pure russian based team and comes to no surprise they do things similar to WarGaming, lack of communication in particular. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, trying to communicate with them on regarding an issue is like talking to a dead horse.
The game ... trying to no break the NDA here and posting as much as there is public info about it.
The game is currently in closed BETA and features, for the moment,only the part of aerial combat called World of Planes. More to come once the games enters open BETA, when that is? your guess is as good as mine, since you know .. communication, there lack of.
The engine is beautifully created and can sustain a hi framerate even on high settings. At least Gaijin developed their engine in house and did not spent 45mil USD on the company that made it (Wargaming .. anyone!?).
Just look at it, and this is actual gameplay, no CGI overdone effects and stuff like that (WG WoWp trailers .. anyone!?)
No amount of words can be placeholders for actually experiencing the game for yourself. I't just beautiful.
The game has large maps and tries to not concentrate the cobat in one spot, so far it does it's intended purpose.
Differently from WoT, buying a new unit, in this case a plane, won't mean you get rid of the old one. There is a repair system in place that works on crew experience and allows you to not spend credits on repairing the plane, you leave it to the ground crew and they will repair it in a set time frame based on their skill level. What this also do, is allow you to chose another plane in it's place and jump back into combat.
There are a lot of things to say about WarThunder, but I really want this game to enter open BETA and gather some much needed attention from players.
The game already includes 5 tech trees with 2 more on their way (WG is working on the 3rd for WoWp with 4th only after the game is released ... I'm still laughing).
It will also feature naval warfare and tank combat, and when this game will hit the market, WarGaming will get hit in the guts so hard ...
This was it for now, hope I didn't bore anyone to tears.
Well, the day has come, I play WoT since July 2011 and 23 hours from now, my premium account will expire, along with that will also expire my will to play World of Tanks. I'm done!
For more than 2 years I hoped the developing team, and especially the community coordinators responsible for communicating with the players, would actually get off their asses and do some community work; and I'm talking about the WoT EU team ... no dice.
It started with overlod .. I noticed thing weren't quite right when he told us, during the closed beta, that we the EU beta testers weren't actually testing anything, we were there so no specific reason.
I've been a BETA tester for many other games and we had tasks to perform, specific bugs to hunt for, in WoT CBT we did none of that.
Now that overlod has heft WoT and joined WoWp, god what a junk of a game WoWp is .. but about this some other time, I'm under NDA; the job of community coordinator has been handed to ectar, another "character" who has absolutely no clue about how WoT works, just look at the posts he makes and U'll understand.
Why I'm quitting?!!? ... well, I'm sick and tired of wasting money on a company that treats us, customers, like dirt.
The latest example can be found in the thread created because of the Sunday 30th of September downtime, the thread created by customers, asking for 1 day of premium account back was met with disrespect from the support team and eventually closed, because the "thread ran it's course" .. what the fuck is that supposed to mean?! link
Their "new" idea of letting players buy gold ammo for credits, although stupid and imbecile, I really hope they go trough with it; it mostly mean the end of WoT and I can't wait to stand here laughing my ass off.
May sound like rumbling, and maybe it is, I'm just typing anything that rumbles through my mind right now.
Gajin, the competition, in case you did not know about them, is very close to enter open BETA with WarThunder, a multiplayer experience that promises air warfare, naval warfare and tank warfare in one single package. Go check it out: link
One single beef I have with Gaijin as developer, they behave the same way WarGaming did when the game was in closed beta, the same soviet mentality applied then and it's true for Gaijin. You try to talk to them, to raise some issues and in return you get hit with a stone wall, silence, nothing, not even "fuck you dear closed beta tester" .. nothing.
There is also MechWarrior OnLine, a game that will mostly appeal to old MechWarrior series fans and BattleTech universe fans. For everyone else will be a hard step to climb, for the non-initiates in the intricacies of a mech, fitting it, balancing the firepower and heat management will be a big hurdle that many won't pass. I will dare to say the mech fitting is as complicated as the ship fitting in EvE OnLine is.
About a week ago, Piranha announced that MWO will enter open BETA today, the 16th .. well, not gonna happen since it was discovered that the server has major issues with lag and there are also issues with the client that need fixing, so the open BETA was delayed until further notice.
Piranha, yet another example of a developer who does not listen to their testers or they do it too late, ending up costing them. The CBTs have continuously warned Piranha that MWO was (still is) not ready to go open BETA in the current state, but they're pushing it, most like for financial reasons.
It is known that a lot of founders reimbursed their founder packages after getting fed up with the dev team. I do not blame them at all. Since BF3 I decided that I will not spend another dime for an unfinished product, ever.
Saying all of this, I also decided to change the name of the blog, since I won't be covering WoT especially from now on. I will also cover MWO, WarThunder (as NDA will allow me), WoWp (NDA here too) and maybe other multiplayer games; maybe Hawken too, but currently the game has ended it's ALPHA2 stage, so it's premature.
Added base British Tech Tree: medium tanks branch with FV4202 as Tier 10 and heavy tanks with FV215 as Tier 10 tank. IMPORTANT! Please, take in count, that economical, research, and characteristics balance of British vehicles is not yet ready and will be changed
Following Premium vehicles were added to in-game store: Tier 7 Soviet TD SU-122-44, Tier 7 German MT Panther M-10, Tier 6 German MT PzIV Schmalturm
Following maps were reworked and optimized for new render graphics: Province, El-Halluf, Dragon Ridge, Abbey
‘Dragon Ridge’ map re-introduced to random battles
‘Prohorovka’ Assault map removed
‘Insufficient credits’ status added to the module hint
Game Mechanics:
Added possibility to purchase premium rounds using credits in addition to the current gold variant (prices are based on 1 gold = 400 credits exchange rates)
Added possibility for a platoon creator to exclude game modes for the platoon – this means that platoon will enter only game modes, which are selected in platoon creator options
Added Object 263 to the description of the ‘Sinai Lion’
For majority of tanks systemized and readjusted speed of tank burning (minor corrections)
Chat messages returned to replays
Upon entering XP exchange window on elite vehicle, which has not all modules researched (due to addition/change of vehicles within update), exchange XP unchecked for it, but vehicle will still be in the list.
Technical Optimization:
Some objects on several maps were optimized for new render
Optimized drawing speed of some small objects
Fixed the productivity slump for several hardware configurations
Fixes:
Fixed rare issue, which caused player be balanced into game modes he previously excluded
Fixed a wrong possibility rate to be balanced in a game mode, if one of game modes is excluded (for example, this caused player be balanced to often to ‘Encouter’ game, if ‘Assault’ if excluded)
Fixed the bug, which caused throwing tank out after it drove inside a bunker
Fixed the errors in placing of objects and lighting on maps Ruinberg, Widepark, El-Halluf and Himmelsdorf
Removed tank ‘shadow’ from the hangar for cases, when the vehicle is still in battle
Removed gap between tank and surface in standard hangar
Fixed mistakes in models of following vehicles: Pz IV Schmalturm, SU-122-54, Super Pershing, VK 3002 DB, VK 3001H
Fixed mistakes in display of camouflage patters on SU-100-M1
Fixed incorrect display of emblems and inscriptions on following vehicles: AMX 13F3AM, D2, SU-122-54, Tetrarch, VK3601H
Fixed the display of SPG schematics in status window during the battle (previously tanks were displayed instead of SPG
Fixed the display of SU-122-54 turret armoring
Fixed the slop angle of lower armoring plate of IS-7 (changed to historical)
Fixed the slop angle of lower armoring plate of IS-3 (changed to historical). Fixed armoring of tank’s bottom
Fixed water display artifacts with enabled antialiasing
Fixed the incorrect re-initialization of dynamic shadows after switching over to the game using Alt+Tab
Fixed the display of suspension tracks while in air
Fixed the display of grass in Sniper Mode with this option disabled
Fixed rare incorrect interaction between water and fog
Fixed many small interface errors of after battle statistics window
Fixed error of replaying the base capture sound during replay pause
Fixed the rare error with stop of replay reproduction after rewinding
Fixed the incorrect work of minimap in Clan Wars battles (with Fog of War enabled)
Fixed the impossibility to reconnect to Clan Wars battle, if replays are enabled
Fixed the memory leak upon radial menu opening
Fixed the update of tank icons in nation tree in research menu
Fixed the incorrect status for researched modules on vehicles that has not been yet researched
Fixed the intersection of ammo rack blow-up icon with damage numbers
Fixed the incorrect sound for hitting the stone surface
Fixed the call of battle menu only after second pressing of ‘Esc’ button
Fixed rare bug with unavailability of mouse cursor in battle menu window
Fixed some small errors in ‘Exterior’ menu window
Fixed some grammar errors in German inscriptions
Fixed the receive of a daily suspension, if account was online for more than 25 hours
Removed possibility to retrain crew to ‘Observer’ tank
Fixed incorrect display of penetration mark after ricochet
Fixed the impossibility to make a screenshot with active battle chat
Fixed the display of 3 types of shells in Hangar for tanks, which have only 2 types of ammunition
Disclaimer: These patch notes originated from WoT SEA forums, but have been removed for some reason
