Armored Warfare: World of Tanks formerly from Obsidian

[Duraframe300]

Anthony Davis As alwaus

 

[Anthony Davis]

Anthony Davis As alwaus

So just to be clear, a lot of the stuff he says is missing is more accurately stated as "turned off". He played a "non-progression" version of the build where everything, dealers, upgrades, currency, etc - was all turned off.

He is right, the levels do look amazing. The urban level he mentioned is newer, and still has iterations to go. The good thing, is that Crytek has a lot of automatic scaling implemented for details and levels of visual fidelity. You can turn the game down to medium and it will still look stellar. For example, on max settings the level might have 4 million vegetation objects loaded - whereas on medium it might be half that or even less.

I can't talk about it - but he is correct, we are currently throwing around some ideas for refactoring the artillery plays and the options other players have to deal with it.

His Cons are also accurate. We are currently iterating over our server arbitrated movement system - I don't know what version of the build he is playing but it has to be at least 6 weeks old. Anyway, when we initially turned on server arbitrated movement, there was a lot of lag and popping. We have since refactored the system and seen a LOT of improvements. We still have a lot more work to do of course, that's the nature of a game like this, you never stop working and improving it.

Part of the technical challenge - is that our auto-cannon weapons are much more like a real auto-cannon, in that I can just lean on the button for 200 rounds. Each round of course is modeled and networked - so on a game with 15 AFVs vs. 15 AFvs (worst case scenario), you can have (potentially) thousands of RMI calls per frame, even when batched. This is something that WoT didn't really have to deal with because of their era, and in the edge case vehicles (like the premium combat car) they can fudge it. Anyway - we got a great networking and gameplay team and they are handling it.

Anyway, I'm super happy some people are starting to see the game!

 

[omega21]

" it’s either OP as fuck (it can fire guided missiles, so you can imagine the joy)"

Excellent.

 

[Destroid]

Anthony Davis As alwaus

So just to be clear, a lot of the stuff he says is missing is more accurately stated as "turned off". He played a "non-progression" version of the build where everything, dealers, upgrades, currency, etc - was all turned off.

He is right, the levels do look amazing. The urban level he mentioned is newer, and still has iterations to go. The good thing, is that Crytek has a lot of automatic scaling implemented for details and levels of visual fidelity. You can turn the game down to medium and it will still look stellar. For example, on max settings the level might have 4 million vegetation objects loaded - whereas on medium it might be half that or even less.

I can't talk about it - but he is correct, we are currently throwing around some ideas for refactoring the artillery plays and the options other players have to deal with it.

His Cons are also accurate. We are currently iterating over our server arbitrated movement system - I don't know what version of the build he is playing but it has to be at least 6 weeks old. Anyway, when we initially turned on server arbitrated movement, there was a lot of lag and popping. We have since refactored the system and seen a LOT of improvements. We still have a lot more work to do of course, that's the nature of a game like this, you never stop working and improving it.

Part of the technical challenge - is that our auto-cannon weapons are much more like a real auto-cannon, in that I can just lean on the button for 200 rounds. Each round of course is modeled and networked - so on a game with 15 AFVs vs. 15 AFvs (worst case scenario), you can have (potentially) thousands of RMI calls per frame, even when batched. This is something that WoT didn't really have to deal with because of their era, and in the edge case vehicles (like the premium combat car) they can fudge it. Anyway - we got a great networking and gameplay team and they are handling it.

Anyway, I'm super happy some people are starting to see the game!

World of tanks might not but some of the aircraft in Warthunder have over 10 machineguns and cannons, with historical rates of fire at 500+ rounds per minute each.

 

[leferd]

It boggles my mind that they have over 500k+ signing up for the beta.

 

[Szioul]

And the War Thunder servers seem to ignore 4/5 hits if you keep firing without pausing. I've noticed it in ground vehicles and people are saying it also happens in air combat.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

No invite, wot faggotry.

What British tanks are in the beta/alpha currently?

 

[Destroid]

And the War Thunder servers seem to ignore 4/5 hits if you keep firing without pausing. I've noticed it in ground vehicles and people are saying it also happens in air combat.

Never had a problem with hit reg in ground battles. With air it's hard to say, people say the 'sparks' are from a desync with server and client, which I suppose happens a lot more in air given the high speeds and sudden vector changes involved, relative to the tanks. And I'm playing with a minimum of 200 ping

 

[Haba]

No invite. Is dark. And cold.

 

[Ulminati]

I'm suffering from panzer withdrawal

 

[Haba]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can't say I'm terribly excited by AW any more.

- Everyone always knows when they are spotted and when they are being targeted
- Artillery is the same shit as WoT
- Hitpoints, just like WoT
- Little skill involved in hitting and penetrating tanks
- Same clusterfuck of random matches as WoT and WTGF (no cohesion, no co-ordination)

Frankly the concept of zero-armour tanks with hitpoints doesn't really resonate with me. I can see the point from gameplay balance perspective, but it just ruins the whole ideal of "tanks tanking it out". I mean, if you shoot an armoured Lada Niva with a 100+ mm gun...

 

[GarfunkeL]

But wasn't Anthony Davis talking earlier about RL specs for armour and guns and whatnot?

Arcade will surely sell more than sim, that's obvious. Still a shame.

 

[Luka-boy]

Hitpoints? Damn it

 

[Destroid]

Wow, they were't joking about cloning WoT.

 

[omega21]

It is as predicted, shovelware for Obsidian to get some shekels

 

[Anthony Davis]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can't say I'm terribly excited by AW any more.

- Everyone always knows when they are spotted and when they are being targeted
- Artillery is the same shit as WoT
- Hitpoints, just like WoT
- Little skill involved in hitting and penetrating tanks
- Same clusterfuck of random matches as WoT and WTGF (no cohesion, no co-ordination)

Frankly the concept of zero-armour tanks with hitpoints doesn't really resonate with me. I can see the point from gameplay balance perspective, but it just ruins the whole ideal of "tanks tanking it out". I mean, if you shoot an armoured Lada Niva with a 100+ mm gun...

As cool as Mr. Jingles is, he is not correct on several things. He is telling you how he thinks it is.

Let's go over these:

- Everyone always knows when they are spotted and when they are being targeted
Partially true. Everyone knows when they have been spotted. They do not know when they are being targeted. There may be upgrades for vehicles that let you know when your vehicle is being lased. I'm not sure if any vehicles have it by default.
Here is a critical part - Once an artillery round OR ATGM has been fired and is incoming - then and only then do you get the warning.

As far as the Sixth Sense for free - would you prefer us to do it the WoT way and make you grind up a skill and then pay gold to retrain it? That's what pretty much everyone does right now in WoT - because Sixth Sense is amazing - but it seemed abusive to us.

- Artillery is the same shit as WoT
The current implementation in that Alpha build is for the most part the same as WoT. There are other subtle differences, but that isn't relevant as it is changing. This was a mistake to include artillery - I'm not sure why we did, but it is coming out of the next Alpha test to reduce confusion.

- Hitpoints, just like WoT
Hit points are an artificial "soft" value that allows us to game-ify and balance the game against 100% realism, which would not be fun. We could have gone the War Thunder route and have just components and crew members and you keep rolling as long as the vehicle can - ultimately we decided that type of game was not as fun. We do have other variables in the game though - for instance you *CAN* have your tank taken out and not destroyed just by having all of your crew incapacitated. But yeah, if this is a deal breaker for you - then you probably don't like WoT and you won't like AW either.

- Little skill involved in hitting and penetrating tanks
Not true. This is a "fake" test. There are 5 vehicles that have all been artificially inflated or deflated to put them all at the same tier. This was not a test for vehicle details, it was a gameplay and server test.

- Same clusterfuck of random matches as WoT and WTGF (no cohesion, no co-ordination)
I don't know what you mean here. We haven't announced anything about how we will do matchmaking - and this is just random people playing a random PVP map. They aren't platooning yet nor are they in battalions. Are you complaining because the people don't seem to be organized? Please clarify what this complaint is about.


Frankly the concept of zero-armour tanks with hitpoints doesn't really resonate with me.
The stingray does not have zero armor - he even bounces a shell off of his turret in the video. He is mistaken.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

So what you're saying is that we should wait with judging the game until you come through with invites so we can try it ourselves? Sounds reasonable.

 

[Anthony Davis]

So what you're saying is that we should wait with judging the game until you come through with invites so we can try it ourselves? Sounds reasonable.

I doubt I can swing invites for you guys - but I can ask.

If you guys are already signed up at My.com, and you pressed the Beta button on the AW page, you will eventually get in when we go to Beta testing.

(Right now we are just testing Alpha stuff)

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

No worries, I just like begin annoying. I did sign up, even filled the survey.

 

[Anthony Davis]

I went and I asked. The Alpha invites are limited and there are no more. I can get you guys into the beta for sure though once that starts.

Also, go sign up at My.com and fill out this arty survey. You want your voice to be heard, this is a way to do it:

http://aw.my.com/us/news/general/armored-warfare-artillery-survey

 

[Shadenuat]

Lel, artillery
If Obsi just shouted "Same as WoT, modern tankz, better production values, NO ARTILLERY!", Kartoshka would lose it's 50% servers population probably in day 1 game came out

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

BTW I'm hoping you're making some kind of pre-game lobby where you can pick your vehicle. It would remove a lot of frustration from begin stuck with wrong tank on wrong map, or something stupid like all arty team on city map.

I filled out arty survey. I don't think removing artillery from the field and replacing it with of site barrages is actually good idea. Sure it will work well enough but it's easy way out. What it will also remove is ability to sneak up on arty and murder the crap out of these bastards. Seriously scouts would lose a lot of their purpose. I think somewhat in-between system could work well. Normally arty will fire short area targeted barrages but will have ability to do single aimed shots at targets actively lighted up by scouts. You know kind of make it more of a team effort.

 

[Anthony Davis]

BTW I'm hoping you're making some kind of pre-game lobby where you can pick your vehicle. It would remove a lot of frustration from begin stuck with wrong tank on wrong map, or something stupid like all arty team on city map.

I filled out arty survey. I don't think removing artillery from the field and replacing it with of site barrages is actually good idea. Sure it will work well enough but it's easy way out. What it will also remove is ability to sneak up on arty and murder the crap out of these bastards. Seriously scouts would lose a lot of their purpose. I think somewhat in-between system could work well. Normally arty will fire short area targeted barrages but will have ability to do single aimed shots at targets actively lighted up by scouts. You know kind of make it more of a team effort.

I don't know what the final plan is - but my personal view is different.

Not every vehicle has the same advantages on every map. You gotta take the good with the bad and rise above it.

Also, I don't play arty, hahaha

 

[Haba]

I don't think hitpoints are bad per se, but when you have visible hitpoints dwindling down it is radically different from having to live with the uncertainty. Pre-killcam WT did it really well, you never could be sure if you'd actually finished the enemy off (unless their ammorack just blew up). And similarly you'd dread every incoming shot. Receiving enemy fire while sitting in a giant steel coffin should be a terrifying experience, not something you can calculate (I'm still fine, I have 500 hitpoints left!)... Immersion wise, y'know?

I don't know what you mean here. We haven't announced anything about how we will do matchmaking - and this is just random people playing a random PVP map. They aren't platooning yet nor are they in battalions. Are you complaining because the people don't seem to be organized? Please clarify what this complaint is about.

The thing that has really started to bother me with WoT after 10k games is the fact that randoms are so very... random. The whole design makes any sort of teamplay and strategy practically impossible, even when platooning. Fast matchmaking, fast matches. All you have is the 30 seconds countdown to discuss "strategy", which usually boils down to pinging the map desperately when your team mates leave a flank open.

Personally I think I'd prefer a short preparation phase before combat and maybe a team captain who'd be able to designate targets and propose tactical manoeuvres (flank here, retreat back to here, set up an ambush here etc.). Probably not feasible wish, but it sure would be great if this could be facilitated somehow.

Skill-based matchmaking would alleviate this a little bit, but even the best players have trouble reading their team member's thoughts...

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

That's brilliant and all but it hinges on random people actually following orders and matchmaker selecting appropriate people for team captains. Actually wasn't Mehwarrior Always Online supposed to have this kind of thing? Wouldn't hurt to look at what their idea was.

 

[Luka-boy]

Well, the hitpoints system is a deal breaker for me, so I guess this won't be a game for me after all.

Still, good luck with it. You're a bro, Anthony