November 28 Livestream w/ SilentStalkerFTR on PanzerMarmelade's channel

[Qbicle 99]

Source:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1989542469 (the stream looks long, but the part where SS joined was between 00:58:00 and 02:41:00)

 

YouTube Mirror:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EKMhYoiB84

 

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Situation:

• Core development team practically changed with much of the programmers, vehicle modelling team, and level design team transferred away sometime this year, so they had to get new people in, and they have to start / learn from scratch, which is causing some of the delays
• As a result, these aspects are now the biggest bottlenecks in development

 

Random bits and bobs:

• Devs comb "feedback and bugs" channel on Discord every day or two
• Woody in Griffin 50mm following players too closely and blocks their path back is a known issue. Rate of Decay took so long to come out, because the new AI pathfinding and the train scene at the end were very complicated to develop.
• No ETA for the remaining Black Company Spec Ops missions, but hopefully not as long as the delays caused by Rate of Decay's development
• SS acknowledged concerns that Black Company Spec Ops chain may become very long when they are complete, and it's something the devs are aware of
• He also admits that the Apocalypse + Exodus 5-mission chain (which has yet to be seen in the weekends) will be long
• Cooldown timer problem is a top priority fix, and SS has just completed its design documentation a few hours before stream
• The fact that Exile BP's challenges are already unlocked for since the beginning is not related to the ongoing cooldown timer issue
• When asked if TOS-1M would be nerfed, SS said its performance will be looked into sometime in the future.
• The devs will look into vehicles that are constantly underperforming and make adjustments across the board sometime around March or April 2024
• Regarding German moderators problem, SS said it's not the first time he's heard of this, but there are no plans to replace them as the accusations tend to be unfounded
• KF51 "at worst case" will be sold via loot crate, hinting it would be obtainable via other ways (it should be available in blueprints in current BP shop for 1200 coins per piece)
• The devs are aware that the Bars' current unlock requirement (i.e. play 100 matches with T-80U) is not ideal, as some players resort to leeching and throwing matches. The original requirement was to deal a certain number of damage with T-80U, but it didn't work and the current situation was supposed to be an interim solution, and they did not want to delay its release any further. The next progression vehicles will not feature such requirements. When asked if Bars' requirement can be removed in the distant future, SS said that's possible.
• When asked if weekend Spec Ops should require minimal play time in missions in order to be eligible for the crate rewards, SS said he would look into it.
• Raids aren't coming back
• Past decals won't be added BP shop, because adding items to database is very annoying
• When asked about various vehicles as possible additions to the game, SS said BMP-2M is a realistic candidate to appear in 2024. T-72M2 Moderna is considered boring, and the Strazh (Ukrainian BMPT based on T-64) is unlikely to come. None of them are guaranteed to appear though.
• There was a plan for new battalion reward this year, with a candidate vehicle also considered, but priority was superseded by other more urgent matters. SS will return to this topic next year.
• Tech tree overhaul or changing tiers won't happen, because it causes a lot of mess e.g. internal naming. SS argues that players are also used to established layouts, and changing old stuff may cause backlash, but new additions to tech tree e.g. the Bars, T-80BVM, and Object 292 are fine
• Team damage in PVP won't be removed, because it's easier to isolate and track bad behaviours "like a brothel in a city". Disabling team damage in PvP will cause players to resort to other behaviours that are harder to track internally. In other words, team damage is the lesser of two evils.
• AbramsX blueprints can also appear in the BP shop (1200 coins per piece)
• When reporting a player to support, you won't be informed about the actions they would take, and this is because of GDPR.
• Tiger Claw is shelved, because lot of manual adjustments is required if it were to be overhauled with objective reward multipliers etc (i.e. programming issue), and it was deemed to take too much resource to do so.
• There are development plans for the next 2 years (rough estimate)
• Prospects for infantry management (e.g. movement commands) are gone with Allods Team
• SS is also aware of bots' ATGMs ignoring player vehicles' smoke and soft kill, but this is difficult to fix due to programming bottleneck
• The only Spec Ops map that was not developed in-house was American Dream's first mission (aka Unrest), which was ironically outsourced to a team that usually makes World of Tanks map. The map was handed to the devs as a whole "package", making it very difficult, if not impossible, to modify, and this is why it is poorly optimised, as well as why Wages of Sin took so long to roll out.
• As for friendly damage due to own WP/HE ammunition and enemy vehicles exploding from ammo rack explosions, removing them in PvE would require overhauling ammunition's programming (e.g. WP is currently treated as environment damage of sorts), and results from internal research suggest it's not that the issues are not urgent or frequent enough to justify such endeavour
• Banning players for teamdamage with settings disabled - forcing players to adhere and punish if they don't is bad - forces people to leave
• Skins like Nakidka are expensive to make - essentially up to 75% of a new vehicle model, but they also have less programming to worry about
• BPs are always designed and catered for more seasoned players, and are not recommended for new players with few vehicles available, who should proceed with progression and contracts first
• SS doesn't want more player designed flags or battalion logos, as the Flag Parade contest was a mess back then
• SS objects to the idea of solo only missions, because cooperation is big part of AW's experience. Furthermore, if a solo mission is rewarding enough, then players may resort to grinding that instead.
• As for PvE missions with randomised objectives like those on Albatross or Leviathan, SS thinks it may be possible to implement something similar on other existing maps.
• Reusing assets from new maps (e.g. textures) on old maps requires a huge overhaul, so this notion has been rejected
• Game performance issues partially tied to old engine, but SS thinks there are still some merits to the CryEngine.
• SS thinks the game's current minimal PC requirement is still correct
• No new rocket artillery planned in the near future after TOS-1M
• No plans for new progression Balkan vehicles, and SS thinks there are more interesting choices for progression vehicles over those
• When asked if mega bundles can be sold with a plethora of items, SS said bundles are limited to 9 items at most, but old bundles with "rare" items like titles do return now and then
• No plans for large wheeled based SPGs like DANA
• Half-tracks too low tiers and not worth the trouble to implement, and they would probably work like wheeled vehicles
• Technicals won't come - maybe as a joke vehicle at most
• When asked if car bomb skin for K-153C can become available, SS said it's possible. They also thought about actual car bombs (e.g. those in Famine), but it's not very fun except the one who is blowing stuff up
• There will be a winter marathon, including 1k gold reward. There will also be Christmas presents.
• Players in Discord are not representative of the average playerbase or community in general
• S Tank would be tier 5 at most, and it would probably require developing dedicated mechanics for it, which is not worth the resources as casemate vehicles are rare. Implementing existing mechanics does not necessarily mean it would be free of trouble (see Jaguar's suspension for example).
• That said, the devs did look into VT tanks, but such vehicles are considered complicated, and the devs are not desperate enough for them yet
• Samuel Thrope's redesign will hopefully come sometime next year. SS said he has too much to do and this got pushed further down the pipeline.
• Will there be more low tier vehicles? Yes.
• Change vehicle properties akin to the existing skin system is being considered
• The idea of having different loadout sets as a QoL improvement was considered approximately 2 years ago with the old devs, and while it's possible to take a look at it again, nothing is guaranteed as usual
• SS won't discuss cheating accusation or anti-cheat measures on streams
• It is technically possible to implement an "invisible camo" (i.e. no pattern, showing only the base paint underneath), but there are no plans to do so
• The ever increasing number of premium vehicles is not seen as a problem, and SS says there are ways to obtain them without paying for them (e.g. contracts, prizes etc)
• Engineering vehicles were once considered as a new vehicle class. They would work like summoners that can create obstacle mounds or fixed emplacements, but they would not be played as support only vehicles (i.e. they can still dish out damage on their own)
• As for why K-153C is at tier 9 in the first place - the devs simply wanted to have a high tier assault buggy back then.
• "Will SPG get HE shells that are comparable to TOS-1M's rockets?" Artillery overhaul is underway and they will be looking into that.
• AS90 contract should come Q1 2024 at best, with arty overhaul to come sometime before it
• Technical integration of models is taking time, and it's lagged behind because development of Exile BP took priority

 

Upcoming new content:

• UAV launchers -there are screenshots of them posted on Panzersofa. The devs are still working out how to implement or balance them (e.g. should they contribute spotting damage for the player?), and there will be at least two types of drones: attack drones and recon drones
• Lynx IFV based on the one used in trials - exact configurations TBC
• Autocannon will return to Wiesel in one form or another - either as an optional turret on progression or as a separate premium vehicle, but it would be a gift or a reward if the devs go for the latter, not to be sold. It was supposed to come in a marathon around September, but pushed back due to Exile BP taking priority.
• A new competitive PvE game mode is being planned, but it is not easy to develop. There are also plans for a new PvP game mode, but it's even more complicated. When asked if it's horde mode, SS simply replied with "no comment".

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Qbicle
Added YouTube mirror (see edit history)

[Azdule 27]

Thank you for the write up :)