Crew Skills Update: A Revolutionary New System
Update 1.26 will introduce a reworked Crew Skills system. With this update, we aim to improve the overall gameplay, increase the value of skills, and make the game more balanced for all players.
The system includes new skills, a rebalance of existing ones, and flexible skill management.
Skill System Evolution
We are constantly striving to enhance the game experience and make it even more exciting and enjoyable for all players. This is also evidenced by the update to the crew skills system, made based on your feedback and after thorough testing.
By improving the skill system, we aim to achieve several goals:
- Diversify the gameplay.
- Increase the value of skills as one of the main elements of the game.
- Reduce the gap between newbies and experienced players.
Now, every battle will be fairer and provide more tactical options, regardless of your skill level.
Key Changes to the Skill System:
- No more than six skills.
- Combined specialties.
- Overall skill effectiveness.
- New and changed skills.
- Post-progression.
- Skill reset.
- No more than six skills per crew member. Each crew member can now learn a maximum of six skills, including “zero” skills, which do not increase the cost of learning subsequent skills. You will not be able to get a seventh skill using crew instructions. We believe this is one of the most important changes to achieve balanced progression and prevent overpowered crews. It will also allow us to add new skills without increasing their combined impact on your combat effectiveness. Excess skills for existing crew members will be removed, and players will receive national training materials as compensation.
- Additional skills: Crew members with multiple specialties can use the additional skills system. It allows you to learn more skills within additional specialties without spending experience or training time. The new system provides flexibility. It is also fairer for players who have crew members with multiple specialties. Up to three skills can be learned for each additional specialty without spending experience.
- Shared skill effectiveness: If several crew members have the same primary specialty (for example, two loaders), the effectiveness of their skills is distributed between them. To achieve maximum effectiveness of a skill, both crew members must fully train it. This change will ensure balance between vehicles with different numbers of crew members.
- New and changed skills. More than ten new skills have been added, including “Coordination” for the commander, which speeds up aiming after spotting an enemy for a while. In addition, existing skills have been rebalanced, including “Sound Reconnaissance” and “Firefighting”. The emergence of more diverse and useful skills will increase the choice of strategies in battle. For example, “Coordination” can give a critical advantage, because you will have time to shoot faster at an enemy that has just been spotted.
- Post-progression. Having studied the six main skills (and received gold frames for their icons), experienced crew members can help train new recruits. Half of the crew experience earned in battle by tankers who have fully studied the six skills will be taken into account in post-progression. For every 100,000 experience, you will receive a reward in the form of a universal training manual. This feature stimulates constant development and rewards experienced players with valuable resources for training new crews.
- Skill reset. Crew member skill resets are also coming to nullsec, allowing you to configure a completely new set of skills. Two new buttons in the Barracks allow you to learn and reset the skills of all crew members. For the first 30 days after the update goes live, you can reset skills as many times as you want for free. After that, each crew member (including new ones) will have one free reset. We want you to experiment with different configurations and find the one that best suits your playstyle.
- Changes to pre-battle instructions:
- The “Duty First” instruction has been replaced with the “Meticulous Preparation” instruction, which grants the “Practicality” skill to the crew.
- The “Increased Attention” instruction has been replaced with the “Increased Vigilance” instruction, which grants the “Sound Reconnaissance” skill to the crew.
- Outdated instructions on player accounts are being converted to new ones.
Detection Circle and “X-Ray” Skills
“X-ray” skills are activated when an enemy is within 50 meters of your vehicle in any game mode. For example, the “Close Combat” skill speeds up gun reload by 2.5% when the enemy is 50 meters or closer to you.
At the same time, the detection circle that guarantees automatic detection of enemy vehicles varies depending on the game mode: 50 meters in Random Battles, Frontline, Grand Battle, etc., but only 25 meters in Onslaught.
This means that in Onslaught there may be a situation where the X-ray skill is triggered because an enemy approaches within 50 meters, but you still won’t be able to see them, since the detection circle radius is 25 meters. For example, if an enemy is 40 meters away but hidden behind a wall, the “light” will come on, signaling the skill’s activation, but the vehicle itself will remain undetected.
This is done deliberately to increase the tactical diversity of the gameplay. Smart players can use this mechanic to gain strategic advantages.
Crew Configuration Changes
Currently, the crew configuration of some vehicles:
- Has one crew member with a second specialty, which is the primary one for another, or
- Has several crew members with a second specialty, which is not the primary one for anyone.
With the new skill system, in the vast majority of such crews, only one tanker will have this specialty as the primary (in the first case) or additional (in the second case). Thus, the system will become simpler and more convenient, while the crew’s efficiency will not decrease. We will compensate in the usual way all experience spent on training skills of those crew members who will lose an additional specialty.
Example: The AMX 50 B currently does not have a crew member with the main specialty of “loader”, but the commander, gunner, and radio operator have it as a second specialty. After the introduction of the new skill system, only the gunner will retain the additional specialty of “loader”. The others will lose it.
Compensation Rules:
Players whose crews exceed the limit of six studied skills will receive compensation in the form of training materials of the corresponding nations. This will allow them to invest excess crew experience in other crews without losing progress and ensure a smooth transition to the new system.
The amount of experience compensated by training materials is calculated as the experience of the crew member, divided by 4.5.
Example: You have several German tankers, whose total experience invested in skills above the sixth is 9,000,000 units. You will receive a German training manual, which gives 2,000,000 Crew XP when used.
When you first log into the game after the update is released, you will see a window with information about how many training manuals you have been awarded.
Crew UI Updates
The updated interface will be intuitive, making it easier to manage skills and distribute them among crew members. You will also be able to select several skills at a time and assign them all with one click. The tooltips for each skill contain additional information, including its effect on the vehicle’s performance characteristics, etc.
Updated Vehicle Comparison Screen
The in-game vehicle comparison screen now includes detailed skill information. This will help you make informed decisions when comparing different vehicles and their configurations.
Free Skill Reset
For the first 30 days after the release of Update 1.26, you will be able to reset your crew skills as many times as you like.
This should give you enough time to get to know the new system, experiment with skills, and find the perfect build for your playstyle. After that, each crew member will have one free skill reset that can be used at any time.
*** To activate the 30-day period, log in to the game before the January 2025 update goes live.
source – wotexpress eu
