– Rebalancing shells. Open test in the sandbox.
Last December, we announced ( https://vk.cc/9rXaP9 ) a reduction in the damage of special projectiles by 25–30% while maintaining their armor penetration. This decision was perceived ambiguously by the gaming community and required additional testing. Therefore, we decided to revise the concept. And now we ask you to test it in the Sandbox.
How will be tested?
The test will be held in an open format on the Sandbox server that is already running.
Reasons for change.
1. Now a significant part of the players when choosing shells is guided only by their armor penetration. It is this parameter that serves as the main criterion for the difference between a special and basic shells. The remaining combat characteristics (for example, normalization, breaking through obstacles, rebound angle and flight speed) are often ignored.
2. When using special shells, players are guided by the momentary situation in the battle. Shooting special shells, they get a clear advantage during the battle, without serious consequences, but pay for it at the end of the battle, spending more credits.
One of the key goals of rebalancing is to make the selection of shells in the battle a more responsible and thoughtful process due to the consequences that it entails. We want, when choosing the type of shell, you take into account not only its armor penetration but other factors as well.
** Simultaneously with the change in the mechanics of shells, we send for testing a corrected progression system for increasing hp for tanks from I to VI. This change was previously tested at the supertest and received positive feedback.
Rebalance of the shells: the main changes.
After the supertest of the first version of the changes, we decided to consider another option to improve the situation with special shells. The new solution, for the test period, will consist of two large parts:
Increased hitpoints for all tanks in the game:
On the test server, an increase in hitpoints is not the same for all vehicles and will depend on two factors:
1. From the current number of hit points on the machine itself in relation to other tanks.
2. From vitality. This is an aggregate parameter that takes into account mainly the strength of the tank.
Here is how it looks on an example. If Maus and Leopard 1 increase their hp by the same percentage, then thanks to Maus armor, such an increase will benefit much more. Therefore, in the “Sandbox” the value of increasing the hp of each specific tank will primarily depend on how effectively this tank can use its hp in the current combat conditions. Armored vehicles that can “nab” a large amount of damage and have a high survivability, will receive a slightly lower increase in hp compared to less armored. This is necessary in order to maintain an adequate balance of survivability between machines.
The value of increasing the strength of various machines in the testing process will vary from 15% for heavily armored vehicles (for its level) to 30% for vehicles with weak armor and on average will be about 26%. For example, the mentioned Maus and Leopard 1 will receive an increase in hp by 18% and 29% respectively. These values are tested, and we will change them, if necessary, according to the results of the Sandbox.
Increase one-time damage of the base shell:
On the test server, it will increase by different values and will depend on two factors:
1. From the caliber of guns. Larger calibers in the Sandbox will get a bigger boost, small ones a smaller one. For example, now at the VIII level with a caliber of 90 mm, the average damage is 240 units, and after rebalance it will increase to 315 units (an increase in damage will be 31.25%). In a 150 mm gun, the average damage is usually 750 units. After the rebalance, it will increase to 1060 units (increase in damage – 41.33%).
2. From the level of the machine. This factor during testing will not have as much influence as the caliber of the gun, but it can lead to small differences in values. In this case, we will keep the dependence of the average damage on the level of technology on identical calibers. For example, at level V, a 105 mm gun can now inflict 300 points of average damage. At the time of the test, it will receive an increase of 33.33% and will already apply 400 units. At level X, the most frequent damage of a 105 mm caliber gun is 390 units. After a rebalance, the damage will increase by 34.62%, to 525 units. The difference between these two tools will be slightly more than 1%, but it still will.
It is also worth considering that if the machine has a high-explosive base shell, then for the test period it will receive an increase in damage. But this increase will be less: approximately of 22%, depending on the specific gun. Despite the smaller percentage increase for high-explosive shells, due to the peculiarities of their damage mechanics and the ratio of the effectiveness, other basic shells will remain the same.
*** In the course of testing, we will promptly change the growth values of the machine hitpoints and one-time damage of the base shells in order to achieve the optimum ratio.
In this case, the damage of special shells will remain the same – during the upcoming rebalance, we will only affect the basic shells.
With these measures, we strive to increase the amount of damage inflicted by the base shells in relation to other types of shells. And we also want the players to have a large variability when choosing the type of shells, taking into account the specific combat situation.
The logic of the use of shells on the test in the “Sandbox”.
• Potential damage from base shells will be higher than all other types of shells. In this case, as before, you will have to carefully target the vulnerable zones. The base projectile will be the most attractive in terms of a combination of armor penetration, one-time damage and price.
• Special shells retain the highest armor penetration rate of all types of shells, and with it a higher probability of causing damage. The new concept assumes that the proportion of damage to special shells in the total damage inflicted will be less. These will be optimal shells for firing at well-armored targets.
• It will be easiest to do damage high-explosive shells on a test, as now, but due to the low probability of penetration, its actual damage will be minimal. HE can still be used situationally, for example, to knock down a base capture, destroy equipment with a small margin of hitpoints, cause increased damage to weakly armored targets, or increase the probability of inflicting small damage to targets with strong armor.
Thus, each type of shell during testing will have high efficiency depending on the situation in the battle. At the same time, the need for a correct choice of the shell will add variability to the combat process, will be able to more strongly influence the combat situation and, accordingly, increase your combat effectiveness. This statement we want to check during testing.
**** As part of this test, we do not change the parameters of high-explosive shells (except for basic ones), but we will definitely take into account the change in their combat effectiveness. After receiving the test results from the Sandbox, they can also wait for a change.
Test regulations
The described changes will affect all the machines in the game, so we would like you to also test them on equipment of all levels. During the open test on the Sandbox server, pumping from I to X level is available, and its speed is significantly increased.
Test participants:
• receive an unlimited amount of credits and gaming gold – you only need to go into battle and earn experience for pumping selected machines;
• will be able to quickly pump equipment of any class and level;
• will be able to use without restrictions the different types of shells and equipment;
• to facilitate the work of the balancer in battles from I to V level can get with bots.
Given that the test server, players will be available only five nations with simplified development trees.
***** Economic indicators – the cost of shells and repairs – we left unchanged at the time of testing. But after receiving the results we are going to carefully analyze this aspect of the game. Probably, it will also require adjustments and improvements.
Your feedback is important to us!
The sandbox test is necessary to assess the viability of our ideas and ensure the correctness of the calculation of specific numerical values. And if necessary, adjust them in accordance with the data obtained. But the most important thing is that you have to try each change yourself and evaluate it in a real battle.
source – wotexpress
