Famous players in World of Tanks: from showmen to diplomats. Who else plays World of Tanks? Special feature on extras and nerds Changing performance parameters

Never played tanks before. A few years ago, on a wave of hype, I spent a dozen battles in World of Tanks Blitz on iOS, but deleted the app a week later.

Complete World of Tanks I decided to install it because of the special football mode that was released during the 2018 World Cup. I performed football challenges for several weeks, and at the end of June I wanted to completely remove the game from the computer.

Stopped several million earned coins and tens of thousands of free experience points. Not bad luggage for a novice tanker, I decided to try regular battles.

I started looking at the statistics of the players and was a little surprised. Often there are accounts with 60-70 thousand fights. Just think about it: 70 thousand fights in 8 years the existence of tanks is about 25 battles per day! Every day without days off for eight years!

I was not so drawn in, literally in a month I felt all the problems of the game in its current form. Here are the top four player complaints about WOT today:

1. Famous random

So-called VBR (great Belarusian random) do not notice only new inexperienced players. Everyone understands that there should be an element of surprise in the game, and at first you take a lot of what is happening for pure chance.

With experience, you understand that the role of randomness can be too big in some fights, and after several thousand fights, you begin to suspect him of bias.

Almost all game indicators, when calculated on the server, are calculated using random variables, but the pattern of falling out of certain values ​​can hardly be called random. IN similar games a simple “equalization” of players has long been used so that even the most inept can win.

Gave some good fights - get ricochets and misses, quickly merged in several rounds in a row - you get hits with any shot.

Random manifests itself in everything: in accuracy, in the probability of breaking through or rebounding, and in the damage done. Indications may deviate by 25% from the normal value, both up and down. So two games in a row can differ dramatically in terms of game interest and luck of the player. It's so noticeable that something needs to be done about it.

In one game, you aim at the enemy, look for vulnerable points, wait for full information and hear the annoying “didn’t break through”, and in the other you shoot almost at random, when the aiming circle is several times larger than the enemy’s tank, regularly earning frags.

Idea for Wargaming: In real life, this doesn't happen. Twisted even more spread of parameters for FBG. Make defective shells that do not explode, spontaneous breakdown of equipment out of the blue and sabotage the orders of the commander of the crew.

I'm not against randomness in the game, but there are too many of them in WOT. See how often one tank can pull out a fight against three or four opponents, how regularly the enemy has 5-10 hit points left after a shot for sure, how many hits happen in the last second before the tank hides in cover or comes out of light.

The general statistics of the players clearly illustrates the situation. Most tankers have between 40 and 60% wins. The most inexperienced manage to win four battles out of ten, and those who have been playing for several years cannot make less than four defeats in ten battles.

Conclusion: those who play for fun, sooner or later abandon the game due to the large influence of randomness.

2. Too frequent changes

Eight years is a very long time for such a project. The developers are great fellows that did not allow the project to die and regularly stir up the interest of users in tanks.

Unfortunately, sometimes the methods of influence are too radical.

Innovation in the game is great, but why touch something that has been working for a long time.

Concepts "upnuli" And "nerfed" so firmly entered the vocabulary of WOT players that not a single conversation between tankers is complete without them. Almost every month the game is updated, bringing new and new edits.

New maps appear - this is good, new tanks are brought in - also excellent. But when begin to rethink the parameters of technology, which has been in the game for several years - this is very frustrating.

The player went through a certain branch for several months, endured all the difficulties of uncomfortable tanks, accumulated precious experience and coins. As a result, I bought the coveted car, and it was "nerfed" (reduced performance) in the next patch.

What to do? A few months of playing down the drain? Selling a tank at half price, spitting on time, experience and money?

The developers of the game offer to just wait. Perhaps in a few months (or years) the tank will be recognized as too weak and it will be “upgraded” (increased parameters).

In other words, a player must have in his hangar not one, but 5, 7 or 10 top tanks in order to play not on the one he wants, but on the one that is in this moment"bends".

Idea for Wargaming: it's time to make a tank horoscope. Jupiter is in the constellation of Orion - penetration of German tanks has deteriorated by 8% until the next full moon.

There are test servers in WOT, where new vehicles are tested, they actively invite players to try out different modifications of tanks before putting them on public display. Why is it impossible to successfully fit new models into the existing system without balancing old tanks?

The same thing happens regularly with new tanks. At first they are very good, so that the players want to buy a new product, and after a few months, when every second person acquires a car, its performance deteriorates.

It still happens sometimes "hidden nerf" tanks. The developers leave all the displayed indicators in place, but change several parameters “under the hood” that affect the balance.

So, for example, they can change the coefficient of soil resistance for a tank. At the same time, the power in the parameters remains the same, but it will start to accelerate or turn differently.

Even premium tanks (which are bought with real money) degrade over time to motivate players to buy new. If someone gives a couple of thousand rubles for good equipment, then six months later his tank turns out to be a banal average car.

Conclusion: most players have no desire to follow every change in the game and revise their hangar after the next patch.

3. Greedy economy in the game

Experienced players began to often complain about the lack of silver. This is the most easily earned currency, but it is always scarce.

In a month of playing, I almost upgraded one of the simplest and most popular branches of Soviet heavy tanks. The hardest thing was to accumulate exactly silver. Even the experience that you can’t buy for any money somehow dripped into the piggy bank, but the coins didn’t want to accumulate.

At the initial levels, the player is generously presented with silver, the repair of equipment is cheap, the shells are inexpensive, there is always enough for equipment. With each next level of technology, the prices for tanks and components grow significantly, repairs become more expensive, and ammunition becomes completely gold.

In theory, the damage inflicted by the player increases, which should result in more coins earned, but that was not the case. This is where the famous random comes into play.

Even good players on good vehicles often face a series of annoying misses, ricochets and non-penetrations, and after all, each projectile fired is worth at least 1000 coins. Five shots "in the milk" and even in case of victory the player can go negative.

If, at the same time, the equipment also needs to be repaired, then three unsuccessful battles in a row hit the budget hard.

Idea for Wargaming: why hasn't fuel and food for the crew been introduced into the game yet? This is a guaranteed pumping of coins after each battle!

Experienced marketers have cleverly broken down targeted pumping of funds into small micro-transactions. Proudly showing off 50K silver on the screen after the battle turn into 3-5 thousand after the repair of equipment, replenishment of ammunition and the purchase of equipment.

As a result, if you play without investments, it will be very difficult at the last levels. Money will not be enough every now and then, you can gain experience relatively quickly to buy the next tank, but it will take two to three times longer to save coins.

You may even have to sell the previous favorite tank that you are used to. In return, you will receive a stock blank, which you will have to pump again, and the “consumables” for it cost twice as much.

Conclusion: regular gifts, rewards for simple tasks and all kinds of promotions do not solve the problem. The developers need to rethink the economy of the game, it has become too greedy for the players. It is very difficult to play at high levels without investment.

4. "Zadrotstvo" at the last levels

From my own experience, I can say that I experienced maximum interest and pleasure when playing tanks of 6-7 levels. Tanks drive smartly and quickly, shoot moderately accurately and often, bring in a lot of money and regularly.

The price of mistakes increases many times, the risk is almost never justified. It's easier to take a pre-determined position and try to shoot opponents than to lead the attack of your own team.

As a result, skirmishes on tanks of the last levels turn into a dull "nerd". Ten people gather in a narrow passage in the middle of the map, hide around the corners and try to quickly lean out to make a shot.

At the same time, you also have to target miniature hatches, towers and other weak spots of opponents. This is how eight out of ten fights on such equipment go.

Pavel Sukhanov, better known on the Internet as Amway921, has been making entertaining and educational videos for one of the most popular online games World of Tanks for seven years.

Its audience is almost two million subscribers. Pavel Sukhanov everyone knows who has ever installed on their computer the famous game dedicated to network battles between formidable armored vehicles.

In an interview website Amway921 talked about why millions of people play World of Tanks, shared the secrets of the blogging "video kitchen", commented on the main change gaming industry recent years- the dominance of online entertainment over all other projects - and explained why in network games no soul.

Why watch someone play an online game?

“When we were kids, we used to visit each other and just watch someone play the console. Over time, this has grown into the fact that now we can watch someone play via the Internet. And they look, basically, not at the game itself, but at how a person reacts to what happens in the process. It has become for many people a huge part of their evening leisure.

There is a certain departure from natural media needs - before, when everyone watched TV, people had no choice (people were shown only what they “needed to know”). In my opinion, on-demand TV will replace regular TV very soon.”

Why has World of Tanks become one of the most popular online games in the world?

“The success of this game, I think, is due to the fact that we all have a memory of the war. Almost every city has a pedestal on which a tank stands. People love tank museums. The history of the Great Patriotic War is a stronghold for our country. Victory Day is celebrated every year on a larger scale. This game is just about that.

The developers organized everything very subtly - there are tanks in the game of different nations, and they play it all over the world. It is interesting not only to the Russians. However, in our country, this whole tank story is most warmly received. This game was the first in such a setting (the environment in which the action of the game takes place - ed.), which is why it was able to gather everyone who had been waiting for such a topic for a long time from computers.

How are themes for videos and streams born?

Streamer Pavel Sukhanov (Amway921).

“Popularity can only be won by doing something different every day. This is the whole point. You don’t have to be some kind of academician and constantly invent something. All ideas lie on the surface. You just need to alternate them, from time to time returning to the past. At first glance, it seems that there is nothing new in the game, but, in fact, there is quite a lot of news. There is no information vacuum when I have nothing to say to my viewers. I constantly analyze what works better, what people like more.

I experimented a lot - I went to the production of computer mice and then posted a video report on the channel, interviewed various interesting people. But still, videos about tanks are best watched. That is why in Lately I try to pay more attention to the World of Tanks game, diluting the content with other games from time to time. I don't wait for inspiration because I've been crazy busy lately. I can't even sleep properly.

Recently returned from Cologne from the Gamescom conference. Was in Paris at a tournament on the game " Rainbow Six". In parallel, I try to release a video every day, and stream every evening. I don’t have time to phlegmatically draw up some kind of schedule, to assume something. ”

Why are online games replacing single player games?

“This is a very painful and bitter issue. In our childhood the most popular games, of course, there were games "to pass", single. You could always save, exit and continue from the same place another time. Over time, MMOs (massively multiplayer online games - ed.) came into our lives. They have no beginning and no end. Most often they are free. The authors of this kind of entertainment live off internal transactions, when players buy some premium (with special characteristics - ed.) tanks for real money, for example.

In a short time, such games will earn many times more than any, even the coolest single player game. In our time the world computer entertainment is arranged as follows: artists for the sake of creating, no longer come to it. People are making money. You won't get much out of a one-time sale. Only the in-game trade in “colorful clothes”, swords and other things that are of no value brings a stable and large income. This is very sad. I hardly remember any good singles lately. And in general, you can buy a game on Steam, play it for a couple of hours and return it back.

The status quo is killing the industry. IN singles there is a soul, but online there is great amount the time it takes to achieve something. But there is simply no ultimate point in MMOs.”

About the lifespan of an online game

“I have been to China several times and saw an amazing picture there - the online game market there is simply huge. The life cycle of any gaming multiplayer entertainment is there for a year or two. Developers provide users who invest a lot of money in the game with real benefits. And this is absolutely not a shameful story. Such projects earn a lot of money very quickly, but they don’t last long - who likes to lose if you don’t want to pay? The company closes, changes the sign, changes the game and starts all over again.

Amway921 peers into the future of singles.
Source: personal archive of Pavel Sukhanov

But such games as World of Tanks or World of Warcraft, in some incomprehensible way, outlived everyone and still collect a large number of players online, although the numbers, of course, are no longer as high as before. I don’t know how long the Tanks are destined to live - maybe fifteen years in total they will last (recently the game turned eight years old - ed. note) ”.

In what direction is World of Tanks developing?

“In general, I like everything. The game, of course, has a lot of minuses to this moment. Developers often do not enter into dialogue with the players. Many people don't like it. But the thing is that they have their own trade secret. There are also a number of technical limitations that are not visible to the common man.

Fulfilling all the wishes of users is simply dangerous - constantly adding or removing "sticks from the designer", you can ensure that everything collapses. On the one hand, developers seem sluggish and inert, but on the other hand, you understand everything perfectly when you communicate with them. Some news is constantly appearing: just recently, information appeared on the Web that wheeled armored vehicles would appear in the game.

In general, the situation is eternal - "swan, cancer and pike." It is impossible to make everyone happy. You enter the game and artillery shoots at you and you don’t like it, but the artillery player likes it. And that's probably okay."

About artillery

Do you love artillery like I love my rabbit?
Source: personal archive of Pavel Sukhanov

“In general, they will lift me up on a pitchfork if I start to justify artillery. But seriously, it's kind of different. The developers have always believed that this class of technology should make players move. But all the players at all times noted - the meaner the artillery, the less movement. No one wants to take damage, so everyone hides and stands. After the rebalance (changing the characteristics of in-game weapons - ed.), everything became livelier.

However, there is no happiness from artillery - just as it fired at the equipment of players with good statistics, it shoots. I can justify its presence - this class has fans, but for me personally, since I play on other tanks, it infuriates and angers endlessly. Being a wolf, I can justify the existence of sheep, but I will not begin to respect them anyway.

Why didn't World of Tanks stay in esports?

“Our favorite game is 15x15. Speaking in this vein about esports, then gathering 30 people on stage is very difficult. What if there are 20 teams? They need to be transported different countries, to settle in hotels ... There were experiments with a variety of formats, both 5x5 and 7x7. In eSports world game of Tanks could not exist in the form in which the players fell in love with it. That is why viewers did not watch the broadcasts, since nothing could be learned.

The second point that ruined the whole idea is the completely careless work of the employees of the eSports department that once was. What time and opportunities they missed! How many times have the players asked them to do something... But they always had their noses up to the sky and the CSF (sense of their own greatness - approx. ed.) of the level of Mont Blanc. They spit on all the wishes of the players and did what they needed. Basically everything fell apart because they irresponsibly burned through huge budgets.

The return of World of Tanks to eSports is almost impossible. Now many top players gather their teams and arrange "sabantuychiki" clan upon clan. Recently LeBwa(former esportsman Dmitry Palaschenko) arranged a tournament with the participation of the strongest European clan. It was very cool! Everyone was interested in watching the battle. But we cannot do it systematically and professionally, with a million cameras, with commentators, so that everyone has a salary. We did all this on a voluntary basis.”

If you want to do something well - do it yourself

During the streams, Pavel does not always play tanks - he recently assembled a LEGO Bugatti Chiron on the air.

Once again, we continue to destroy myths and cut the skin from potatoes. So, last time we settled on the fact that, unlike Slava and Murazor, we are well aware that the potato continues to slowly go to the bottom. No, they are probably also aware of this, and almost certainly know more than us, but again, unlike us, they are obliged to pretend that everything is fine until at least Monday. Work is like that.

I really love the WOT-NEWS site. For detailed and very interesting statistics. It would seem that there is not and cannot be anything new, but sometimes, after a little thought, one can come to very interesting conclusions. For example, are you curious to know how many players REALLY get into World of Tanks? There is nothing easier. This site will help us once again.

Most recently, in the summer, the game event "Birth of the Titans" took place. Clan activities of this kind take place regularly, and enjoy great, perhaps well-deserved popularity among the top clans, and slightly smaller nerds, and are even regularly noted in various scandals and scandals about fake fights.

According to the conditions of the event:

Players will be presented with a choice of three Tier VIII tanks, of which only one will be available that is not in the player's Garage at the time the event ends:

Soviet heavy tank KV-4 Kreslavsky.
British medium tank Chieftain/T95.
Soviet heavy tank IS-5 ("Object 730").

Exactly two weeks have passed since the end of the event. Tanks received and distributed. We look.

The total number of issued tanks in the region of 7 thousand units. Is it a lot or a little? Who played in similar events, knows. THIS IS NOTHING. For those who have not played, I will give estimates of the planned gaming activity, the potatoes themselves " The main prizes of the Birth of the Titans game event will be 15,000 Tier VIII premium tanks".

That is, according to the calculations of potato marketers, the summer clan event should have received at least TWICE MORE PLAYERS. And if you compare it with what it was literally two years ago, this is generally Achtung and hell. When the IS-5 was first issued, almost 20 thousand units were issued, and more than 30 thousand were issued for the first clan tanks M60, Superlev and leftover 907.

That is, the average number of clan potato nerds, in two years, according to the most conservative estimates, has decreased from 3 to 5 times. With what, in fact, is the best marketing, along with game design, in the world and congratulations.

Has this affected the overall online and potato income? Don't know. I think yes.

Computer games have long ceased to be a hobby for children. Tonight, spending an evening playing Civilization or raiding World of Warcraft is an activity that is just as good as going to the movies or hanging out with friends at a coffee shop. Among avid gamers were seen Hugh Laurie, Chuck Norris and Vin Diesel with Elijah Wood. the site decided to tell which of those people, whose name is always heard, is fond of video games.

At first, the author of the article planned to write about celebrities spending time playing WoW. However, having wandered around the expanses of the Web and having read more than a dozen materials on this topic, it was decided to talk about people who prefer to pass the other evening behind the levers of military vehicles. So, which of the famous people likes to participate in tank Battles World of Tanks?

Moscow TV presenter Nikolai Kamka familiar to viewers on the programs "Killer League" and "Laughter without rules."

He described himself as "born in the USSR, growing up in the dashing 90s, studying in the calm 2000s". Married, raising a son and trying to educate his wife. From hobbies - music, sports and, as it turned out, periodic races in WoT. Admittedly, the favorite tank is the IS-7, since it has good armor and probably "beautiful leather interior".

When asked which fight was most memorable, he answered: "He recently returned from vacation, went in, earned a warrior, a master, a main caliber, a steel wall and something else, as well as a reproach from his wife that" they did not have time to arrive, he already got into the tank. "And after that he left satisfied. Not I wanted to spoil the good impression." In the future, Nikolai plans to download something with a "drum" or t57 heavy, or a "waffle".

Yuri Tsarev He is 43 years old and has been an entertainment broadcaster for 17 years. At the moment, Yuri works at the radio "Mir" and a TV presenter on STV.

He is married, his son is 16 years old, his daughter is 9. For the third decade he has been doing karate (black belt) and goes to the gym several times a week. At the same time, the total experience in MMORPG is 9 years. World of Tanks fell in love with what is possible "relax mentally and switch well from internal dialogue with yourself to gameplay".

He confesses his love for the Soviet tank destroyer SU-100, as he likes her gun and the ability to "farm silver". The most memorable fight was one round on Malinovka, where he was able to arrange an unrealistic dressing of the enemy team. However, suspicions arose that at that time he simply ran into a group of inexperienced players.

Chief editor of the Moscow magazine ComputerBild Nikolai Levskiy told the site that since childhood, computers have always been with him, which influenced his future career. For the 15th year out of 32 years of his life, Nikolai has been closely connected with the press and the world of PR in the IT field. He rose to the rank of editor-in-chief, but this honorary position does not interfere with sometimes relieving stress after a hard day's work through a couple of fights (15-20 minutes a day) on a German tank destroyer.

The German tank destroyer Ferdinand has become a favorite vehicle due to its high damage, excellent mobility and the difficulty of penetrating it head-on. The most memorable event in the game is the achievement in the form of two "Warrior" awards in the first two battles on Ferdinand.

Ukrainian showman and TV presenter Eduard Matsaberidze "I was born unexpectedly in 1982, unexpectedly graduated from school in 1999, also unexpectedly entered and subsequently graduated from the university in 2005". After getting acquainted with WoT, according to his confession, "life begins". The second hobby that competes with tanks is football. Eduard is a fan of the English club Manchester United.

The favorite tank before the sudden rebalance was the AMX 50 Foch (155). This vicious Frenchman liked his good frontal armor and his speed. It was on this machine that the most memorable battle took place, when Eduard was left alone against the BatChatillon 25t and five self-propelled guns. After a successful shooting of the drum, only Foch and three "arts" remained on the field, and the remaining time until the end of the round "the chat was just full of comments, advice and selective abuse from the enemy in the direction of his own "art".

Now they are trying to learn how to play on "level 10 waffle", because so far on this machine only 53% of victories.

Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of Belarus in Russia, ex-head of the press service of the President of the Republic of Belarus Pavel Legky said that his favorite tank is the KV-1, since "it turns out to play with best results, often manages to "make" armored vehicles of a higher level, it is not bad in situations where you have to act alone".

Most of all, Pavel remembered two battles: "when I made eight frags (the map, it seems, is "Pearl River") and when I had to play alone on the map "Karelia" in defense against five opponents - the tank survived, got "Warrior", we won".

Married, raising two sons, while, if there is free time, he is engaged in physical education or reading. For this reason, there is little time left for tanks. When it is possible to launch the WoT client, it downloads "art".

As the diplomat told us, World of Tanks is a kind of small adult hobby, and even a bridge from childhood to adulthood. From a boyish age, Pavel was fond of military equipment, especially armored vehicles. In his opinion, such projects are for the benefit of our society.

"From whatever point of view you look, tanks are useful. Unless the optometrists disagree with this, well, you don't have to sit at the monitor for days on end", - Pavel Legky shared with 42.TUT.BY.