Developer Digest - Pt.7

Welcome to the seventh issue of the Developer Digest series, this time with answers from the Fireside Chat!

It seems to me we have too many premium vehicles in the game!
We've got full vehicle lines planned for release this year. While we have a good number of premiums right now, that ratio will continue to shift in favor of progression vehicles the longer AW is out. Since full lines take longer to make, one-off premiums or "hybrid" premiums like the M60-2000 (built mainly out of existing vehicles) don't have to wait for the rest of a line to be complete before being released.

Are the developers happy with the Terminator vehicles?
The Terminator family is in an awkward spot and it needs a better role on the battlefield, as it does not fit into the typical AFV role. It's something we've been discussing over here as a group and will address in the future. We'd like for it to take on a more "brawler" friendly role, but for it to do so, we need to first make ATGMs much more viable then they are now. This is a high-priority task for us.

I think the Update 0.16 module hitpoint changes are a mistake! Vehicles in PvE will get completely wrecked.
So after some further evaluation of the module changes for 0.16, we are going to be retracting the track/engine changes we were planning. We do want to re-introduce these changes (probably in 0.17), but not until we are sure they will not overly affect PvE players. This might come in the form of reduced module damage in PvE vs. PvP due to the increase in potential incoming damage. In our own tests, we felt the changes worked ok in PvE, but we'd rather be safe than sorry. We will still keep the external fuel tank, ammo rack and crew changes.

Richard Taylor, Armored Warfare lead developer, answered a number of community questions during the recent Fireside Chat event.

• The original reason behind giving the M1134 faster guided missiles was to boost the vehicles that have to rely solely on guided missiles and have no other weapon
• The developers are not entirely happy with current ATGM gameplay and will discuss changes to it
• Lords of War statistics will be separate from other statistics in the Dossier for each participating player, but the teams will have their own statistics as well
• The developers are working on a big PvP-targeted project. PvP is currently the focus for major improvement
• Artillery class changes are still being considered and there are some ideas to make it more a support class than a damage dealer
• Solo play is supported in the Lords of War mode, but the main focus is on organized teamplay
• Update 0.16 is bringing the option to disable the shadows in battle in order to increase performance. Another feature is the reduction of FPS drops. These two steps are part of a first round of optimizations, more will come in the future
• The Highwall map is the top candidate for an overhaul, the developers are not happy with it (especially the central area)
• Frontline, a new, upcoming map, is quite different from previous maps and the developers are looking forward to feedback. It is large and open
• Artillery and Tank Destroyers will both be expanded to Tier 10 – the Tier 10 Tank Destroyers are likely to come first (sooner rather than later)
• Tier 10 artillery might be achieved by shifting existing Tier 8 SPGs to Tier 10
• The developers are planning a dedicated Light Tank line
• The DRACO will likely become a Tank Destroyer
• More artillery vehicles (fill-ins for the gaps) are not planned for the near future. The developers are now focusing on improving artillery mechanics
• Armored Warfare's official release is planned for this year, there will be no more progress resets
• The French line (with Leclerc) is currently in active development
• Regarding the Light Tank class, the developers want to improve their mobility and their speed loss when turning. Individual Light Tanks will have their hitpoints buffed and there are plans to improve the Light Tank special ability

That's it for today. See you in the next issue!