Update 1.16.1 Common Test Is Here!
7 min readIn Update 1.16.1, you’ll be able to experience battles with the new aiming interface features and test the trade-in feature with several improvements. Plus, Frontline returns to World of Tanks with balance adjustments. We’re also giving you a sneak peek of an additional time-limited Chapter of Battle Pass that will become available at the end of the seventh Season.
Frontline Is Back!
There will be several launches of Frontline in 2022, with the first one kicking off in May. Launches will take place during the final period of each Battle Pass Season.
Frontline’s core gameplay remains unchanged, but we’ve made some game and map balance adjustments to this fun mode to make it even more enjoyable.
- We also reduced the first defence line base capture time from 2 minutes and 30 seconds to 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
- Engineering and Smoke Screen Combat Reserves were swapped in their categories. Engineering Combat Reserve was moved from Tactical to Recon Reserves, and Smoke Screen was moved from Recon to Tactical Reserves.
- Additionally, Smoke Screen now not only conceals all allied and enemy vehicles in and behind the smoke, but it also reduces the effectiveness of the enemy crew by 15%.
- We also changed the order of Combat Reserves and slot configuration for SPGs. Now, they will unlock as follows:
- Attack Reserves
- Recon Reserves
- Tactical Reserves
We’re sure that these changes will make Frontline even more attractive and allow you to farm a ton of credits.
Rendering Obstacles Inside the Vehicle Collision Model
This improvement will be useful when aiming at enemy vehicles that are obstructed by bushes, fences, or other obstacles. When you see a vehicle in the crosshair, obstacles inside its collision model will be highlighted with two of the following types of special rendering, depending on whether the shell can penetrate them or not:
- Texture (for penetrable obstacles with loss of armour penetration). This type of rendering is applicable to fences and other small obstacles and will only work for AP, APCR, and HE shells because they penetrate some obstacles but lose armour penetration. HEAT shells don’t penetrate such objects.
- Fill (for impenetrable obstacles). This second type of rendering will be used for houses, stones, terrain elements, and destroyed vehicles.
If a vehicle is obstructed by two obstacles at once, one of which is penetrable while the other behind it is impenetrable, then priority will be given to impenetrable obstacles. This means that you will see Fill in the area where they intersect.
When moving the crosshair away from impenetrable obstacles, their rendering inside the collision model (Fill) will not disappear immediately but will fade away with a slight delay (about 0.33 seconds) so that you can clearly see which areas you will not be able to hit.
There are obstacles in the game (e.g., haystacks, wooden fences, etc.) that are destroyed only visually and do not interact with shells. Given this, such obstacles will not be Filled.
Vehicle Outlining by Collision Model
Currently, vehicle outlining highlights the entire visual vehicle model. This is not always convenient when aiming because some small vehicle elements (e.g., fenders, machine guns on the turret, etc.) are not included in the collision model. These elements do not interact with shells, which simply fly through them. With the introduction of new 3D styles with numerous decorative “through” elements (e.g., coiling, camouflage nets, etc.), these situations can become even more frustrating, especially in the heat of battle and for less experienced players.
To address this issue and make your gameplay experience more comfortable, we’ll improve vehicle outlining. Now the hull and turret of all vehicles will be highlighted by the collision model (i.e., the parts that can interact with the shell). The guns of some vehicles will also be included in the collision model. The suspension will still be outlined by the visual model for all vehicles in the game.
IMPORTANT
By default, rendering obstacles inside the collision model and vehicle outlining by collision model will be disabled in the game settings. To enable these features, do the following:
- Head to the Reticle tab in the game settings.
- Click the new Outlining tab.
- Tick the Simplified box.
Plus, you can enable the display of penetrable and impenetrable obstacles in this tab. To do this, select Texture for penetrable zones and Fill for impenetrable ones.
Trade-In: More Options and Opportunities
We’ve updated the trade-in feature that allows you to exchange Premium vehicles from your collection. With these changes, we’ll be able to expand the number of possible offers on the trade-in list and make them even more attractive to you.
We’ve also improved the feature’s interface in a special section of the in-game Store, making it clearer and more user-friendly. The whole exchange process is now simpler and more understandable. You will instantly see which vehicle you are trading, its value in gold, and how much additional gold you’ll need to get the new vehicle you want.
Finally, you can now start the exchange either by specifying the vehicle you want to purchase or by specifying which vehicle you want to trade-in. You will see all available trade-in options to help you make the best choice.
The trade value of certain vehicles has been increased from 50% to 60%. Trading in these vehicles reduces the purchase costs for new vehicles even more.
The Trade-in event during the Common Test also allows you to purchase vehicles previously only available for real money. Please note that these offers only serve testing purposes. They do not indicate any immediate changes to vehicle costs or availability on the main servers with the release of update 1.16.1
Battle Pass: Test an Additional Time-Limited Chapter
An additional time-limited Chapter of the seventh Season of Battle Pass is available for preliminary testing! This Chapter is not associated with Update 1.16.1 and features a special challenge. It will unlock toward the end of the Season around May.
During the Common Test, we only test Chapter mechanics. The progression system, number of Stages, values, and various characteristics are subject to change after their release. All rewards listed in the game client are not final and will not correspond to those in the final version of the Chapter.
The main test reward for this extra Chapter is the 122 TM, a Tier VIII Chinese medium tank. This vehicle serves a purely technical role—when the additional Chapter hits the live servers, you will receive a brand-new mystery Premium vehicle as your main reward instead. It will be available in the Base Rewards Track.
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