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It's been a while, but CSB has now been updated to include new stats and skill trees seen in 0.34. Link: http://csb-hype.5v.pl/ A few things to note: Only English, German, and both Chinese languages are up to date and fully translated. The other languages are only translated up to 0.30 or before. Recommended builds are disabled for now because the old ones are really outdated. You can suggest some here and I will forward them to HYPE for future updates. Andrey Zaytsev's levels 1-2 values for Fixed Position IV skill are at 10%. They might get reverted back to the old values in the future . For reference, the game now rounds that skill's values up or down to the nearest integer, so it can look rather confusing. Freja Højbjerg's Lone Hero skill is currently incorrect; it should activate when there is no friendly vehicles nearby, not enemies, but for some reason this is what's written in the game as well (it was correct before). I've asked HYPE to change this for a future update. Similar to the point above, but even though the game has updated some of the old skills' descriptions, they may actually be incorrect. One such example is Rachel Kramer's Fury Fire, which states reload speed would increase when HP is at 50% or below, while it should be 50% or more. That's the problem with copying descriptions directly from the game, so we may have to carry out tests in the game to verify them if necessary. There may be other errors in the latest build so please do let me know if you do spot any.

Yea the English patch notes are a bit off. According to the Russian counterpart, Sabrina's A3 and B3 will be replaced by what appears to be a Muffler I (reduced camo loss upon firing by 2.44%), whereas D1 and D2 will be replaced with a skill that increases reload speed by 0.6%. Andrey's C1, C4, and C7 will be replaced by the TD exclusive reload buff (also at 0.6% for each skill), while B4 and E4 will be the same as Sabrina's camo loss reduction skill when firing. Lastly, Fyodor Sokolov is also getting the same changes as Maximilian Koenig. Unless the actual update brings changes that are different to what the Russian patch note suggests, then all of the new reload buff skills are at 0.6%, and all camo loss reduction skills are at 2.44%.

Yes but I will explain below. The Eastern Crate (much like the American Dream and Moscow Calling seasonal crates) can drop premium vehicles, as well as tier 9-10 rentals, skins, gold, and even camouflage. However, a number of players started reporting a lack of vehicle drops from seasonal crates this year, and after some hypothesis and cross checking, they find out the chance of a premium vehicle drop decreases significantly if you own all available tier 6 premium vehicles. So the workaround solution is to sell a tier 6 premium vehicle that you already own to increase the drop chance again. Ultimately, I prefer doing it this way because you can get more premium vehicles, and in turn you can reclaim more gold via rental drop (e.g. from Spec Ops crates) compensations.

Got my first Eastern Crate after 2T Stalker's introduction. Sold my XM1 for the second time, and I got a Leopard 2 Revolution together with a Bradley Sentinel skin. My previous Eastern Crate got me an XM1 (after selling it away for the first time) together with a Sprut-SD Titan skin.

NM142 is one of the powercreep victims. Apart from the use of infantry, camo, and MM, C13 TUA can even go hull down and scout in the front line with its tall unmanned turret up there if other players in the team struggle to recon. I once asked SS about this issue in May's Q&A, and he said the devs would need to "address that with a larger batch of balance changes". As of now, 0.33 and 0.34 hasn't fixed this issue yet, and it's quite doubtful if it will happen in the near future.

New article is now up and online: https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/development-msta-s Its history introduction is noticeably short. Single-shot gun with 8 sec reload and two types of HE to choose. The latter kinda reminds me of the HE and HERA that Palmaria used to have before Balance 2.0. I was kinda hoping to see the early prototype of Koalitsiya-SV instead, because it is a prototype and the double-barrel guns makes it look different enough to stand out as a premium vehicle. P.S. SS said the Msta-S can be obtained after reaching rank 25.

The old Object 195 page has now been updated. Also this kek: Anyway, the main text:

I voted for PVE, because we haven't had new PVE maps for quite some time and they tend to have higher replayability. IIRC the last ones were reworked versions of existing maps in 2018, such as Harbinger, Starry Night, Stormy Winter, and Ghost Hunter. https://imgur.com/92p9dEQ Old Harbinger map. More screenshots here (originally shared by Silentstalker on official Discord server) That said, the recent reworked PVE maps now tend to look too similar to their PVP counterparts. I wish to see more modifications and visual varieties as with the early versions of the said maps, like how Stormy Winter was a snowy town and not just the same old refinery, while Harbinger had an overhead bridge that you need to pass under before you reach the town centre (not that it was a popular map back then due to enemy spawn locations, but it sure looked very different when compared to its latest iteration). The idea of spec ops isn't bad, because it, while having some critical flaws, does offer some new story elements and atmosphere as well as different gameplay / mission flow from time to time, but I won't tend to replay campaign missions that often, and some players may get bored of playing the same missions repeatedly while waiting for the next chapter to come. Queue time can also get longer as a result. Adding gameplay elements that require or promote teamwork sounds good on paper, but given the experience with random players nowadays, this is usually not a good idea to have for a game like AW. Ultimately the game is more or less about looking for enemies and wiping them off the map, and this is what a lot of players tend to care more than other gameplay elements (damage assist, capturing etc). Labyrinth kinda falls under this issue too because while players have to capture all 14 points to win, it's people who deal damage get the most rewards. Adding elements that require team coordination risks failure due to players not focusing on objective or even griefing. Moscow Calling's delivery objectives are particularly notorious for this. Sure, one can always argue that players should platoon up for the best outcome, but this tends to get a lot of resistance for all sorts of reasons. Dodging map-based enemy fire in Spec Ops is a pain, and I don't enjoy it. It's worse when I thought I am way clear of the danger zone or targeting laser, only to be hit by enemy fire anyway. Moreover, some stages have a high number of fast moving helicopters and gunships that a team should take down in order to progress the mission, and this can be very problematic when a team consists of random players doesn't have the appropriate vehicles to counter such threats (e.g. helicopters in Moscow Calling chapter 2, gunships in American Dream), and possibly causing players to feel they are forced to bring said vehicles in order to complete the missions ("I can't trust other players bringing an AA or using one for intended purpose so I must bring one myself"). I sometimes hypothesise a gameplay mode featuring problem solving scenarios with randomised factors that can replace Heroics mode for battalion or specific teamplay. What Spec Ops has done right sometimes are the secondary objectives - by completing side objectives that has an impact on mission flow or helping the team overall (activate UAV, calling for friendly support fire/airstrike) gives a better incentive than just destroying or capping random places on the maps (even backtracking) for some bonus credits while others hoard all the damage and assists. I do hope this can applied on existing PVE maps as well. While the extra lives help increase the chance of a mission success, as Haswell has replied this now promotes a different kind of gameplay. Rushing into certain places to trigger mass spawns, take some damage, back off and heal while continuing to spot and deal damage at the same time. This leads to some players arguing that HP is a resource that you should spend and trade with aggression for better reward.

Found this sneak peak tweet saying Object 195 will be the tier 10 reward vehicle for the upcoming BP. @Soren said it's legit so I guess I'll believe it. IIRC Object 195 has been in the game files for quite some time, and there is an article dating way back to February 2017 saying it was originally going to be a progression vehicle. Nevertheless, those who have been tracking past articles and files would have expected this to come as a premium vehicle soon or later. Question is how the devs will make it stand out from the existing 152mm MBTs like T-14-152 and Object 490. Maybe a autoloader clip or ready rack together with some other gimmicks?

As the upcoming's BP will be Russian themed, it seems fairly likely that one of the rewards will be an SPG. IIRC it may either be 2S19 Msta-S or 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV as SS mentioned in the June 24 Twitch stream.

Dug up an oldie but goodie from last year: Also this

Source: https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/maintenance-october-22

Results from my 50 + 5 crates: Over half of the crates dropped rentals, and I got less than 1 part per crate (excluding special crates). There are talks of how the very first few crates tend to have better drops than the rest, and this does look quite plausible here. It's also amusing how I got 11 rentals in a row; a friend of mine got 9 rentals in a row in his 10-crate run, and that doesn't look encouraging for prospective spenders (if there are any). He got 99 parts at the end, and among them 60 parts are from special crates, including one that dropped 50 parts. Even then, he said he felt doubtful on buying crates because he doesn't know how many more rentals he would get from crates before getting the single part he wants. Thanks for the anniversary event. Congrats to those who got the tank within 50 crates. For those who didn't get it, you're not alone. Business is business, I guess? But I will leave that for others to discuss.

You probably won't notice the model changes just by quick glance (or if you don't care about them in the first place). So far the most significant changes on the Abram models are the turret proportions, most importantly on the turret face angles and height. Other smaller changes are on the gun barrel width, surfaces and props such as Combat Identification Panel and crosswind sensor sizes. Sure, they bring very little to no impact on gameplay, but I guess it's something the devs want to do to satisfy some of the really early complaints on Abrams models' quality. Still, they already announced armour bugs on some of the skins in advance. I won't be surprised if there are other bugs hidden in the new model update.

A friend of mine got 9 rentals out of 10 crates. I sure don't look forward to opening mine. https://prnt.sc/uygiil

The Archangel XM1A3 skin has now been revealed on the official discord server Also from SS:

Highly unlikely, unless the feature got delayed to become a launch feature for new update e.g. 0.34 or 0.35. Otherwise it'd be released directly live for testing or direct implementation. For reference the infantry deployment feature was first tested on live server mid-0.30 without going through PTS.

Source: https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/maintenance-october-1 Looks like high tier HESH and PISH are getting a nerf again (understandably, but hopefully not by too much like how they used to do with PISH balancing in the past). After initial response and saying they won't add Battle Hardened preferential MM, they're now going to implement anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ BMPTs are getting simultaneous firing back on the twin autocannons, but there's still no mention of different RoF between BMPT 2000's AP and HE rounds (I reported this way back in PTS1). ---- BTW when did tanks start firing ATGMs again? Was this from Sept 24's patch? I'm pretty sure that they were not supposed to use them at 0.33's launch, yet it's going back to 0.32 status in that aspect.

Source: https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/maintenance-september-24

Two post-Q&A answers: It would be funny if they add woke Magnus in the game.

SS did say 0.33 will come in mid-September on the official discord server, so this more or less confirms that the devs are pushing for the update one way or another, i.e. get the update live first, then fix bugs or other issues along the way. I don't agree with the direction the game is going with some of the mechanic and balance changes, but I guess we will see how this will pan out on live. It's the latter. Everyone should be back to 0/500 for the new 2T Stalker contract. Any progress on the current contract will be gone. Unless something breaks or some new unannounced "feature" is in the way.

I come to play AW only because of the PVE, but I understand there is still a core base that mainly plays PVP. IMO the devs should continue developing content for both PVP and PVE, and have some assets like map creation shared across the modes; spec ops is nice, but there are a lot of assets in the latest seasons that just aren't being used anywhere elsewhere. Right now apart from game balance / power creep issues, there are lots of content that just feel like deadend: GLOPS has a lot of potential, but suffers from numerous problems, and to PVE players it's really just another PVP but with respawns; there isn't much "PVE" for them to do apart from 3rd faction bots on some maps, which aren't even mission critical. Giving PVE players something specific that they can go for while PVP players aim to intercept attackers / defend objectives would be an interesting direction (if it's possible). Heroics is another mode that would seem like too much of a hurdle for ordinary players. It does has its appeal for requiring strategies different from ordinary PVE play to achieve the goals. Maybe a new mode featuring varying enemy classes and/or lieutenant archetypes on rotation on specific maps can let players try out different strategies (like a puzzle mode of some sort). Then we have the low tier vehicles. I still think their balance is wack after Arabian Nights update in December 2018, and they are barely touched afterwards. Low tier vehicles should allow players to learn the ropes and let them slowly climb to the more advanced, high tier vehicles, but instead they are encouraged to be progressed in a fast rate and be left forgotten afterwards. Missile damage proportion is also crazy (1/3 to 1/2 HP per hit to some MBTs), or that tanks have difficulties surviving them (some tanks can't even tank missiles in the turret). It's hard to recommend people to come to play the game with those things in mind.

Source: https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/maintenance-august-27 No direct mention of uber invisible infantry in PVE, but this may be related to the abovementioned bug.

Bob, Teykey, and others have already given out detailed feedback on this thread, so I'd just drop down some thoughts instead. MBTs drift a lot. Not as much as the light tanks did some time ago, but still very noticeable. Having it buffed a bit can be a good thing as driving up hills can be a pain, and the decision to make them accelerate much slower past 32 km/h that the devs made last yearwas a strange one. However, they also seem to move too fast now, potentially outrunning TDs and outmaneuvering LTs. MBTs now reload quicker, and Chinese/Russian tanks have significantly higher DPM. T-90MS can have 2500+ more DPM than the Leopard 2A6. Why is this a good idea? Abrams' AP and HEAT-MP now share the same base damage before applying randomisation. It's difficult to see why one should bring the latter into battle anymore. It's sad to see how T-14's 125mm HEAT offers greater damage and penetration than XM1A3's 140mm HEAT-MP. Although this is said to be in live server as well, it is odd seeing the gun shells (calibre and even name) on MBT have different damage to those on LT or TD. T-90s now have really high HEAT resistance even on the lower front plate. Western MBT HEAT actually won't penetrate those area anymore, at least not reliably if it's even possible. It's true that MBTs can now swap shells very quickly, but I'd think players would be more inclined to bring one type of shell instead i.e. AP. Some vehicles that are said to be available for PTS phase 1 don't actually appear, or at least for some people (e.g. Type 96A, Type 99). On the other hand, there are also reports of players being able to bring vehicles outside of the list into battle (Black Eagle in particular). Restricting PTS' opening hours to one particular region and pointing fingers at people not participating don't help, even when they don't represent the majority of the entire player base. Looking back at one of the 0.33 Rebalance articles: Aren't the changes in late 2018 precisely what killed the balance and fun for low-tier gameplay? Now much of those vehicles don't get a revision anymore because "players tend to skip them and there's little point to invest development", but this is pretty much a vicious cycle of "players don't find low-tier fun → there is little incentive to play them → seldom play them or don't play them anymore → devs use that as an excuse to not do anything about them → ♻". The same can also be said for artillery. And now this is the argument for changing much of the gameplay element for high tier vehicles, this does not bode well with players even before the PTS kicks in. What shall we expect for the second phase? What will get noted and changed after this phase? Should we embrace any kinds of expectations? There is already much pessimism and a jaded view that the devs would push on no matter what and ask players to adapt (or indirectly getting them to leave in this particular case).

RIP to infantry commands but that was kinda expected. As for the Cougar FSV, that has been around in the files for quite some time and the 3D model can still be previewed on a certain website Other unused models include the XM723 and Piranha IIIC. There was even a BMP-3M with 57mm gun at some point even before Balance 2.0 became live. It makes me wonder what they'd want to do with all those models apart from leaving them in the not-so-forgotten realm.