Patch 1.13 in World of Tanks - First impressions

World of Tanks patch 1.13 shipped yesterday and I've gotten to play a handful of games in it. So here's a hot take of my first impressions:

Arty changes

Players: "3 arty in a battle is too many."

Wargaming: "We're adding new tracers! We're changing their ammunition! We're creating a new Commander skill that will give you a tiny warning that an arty shell is incoming! We added a circle to the minimap to show you where the arty shot is landing!

Players: "Mmmkay...but, 3 arty in a battle is too many."

Seems to me that all these other changes are just a bunch of fiddle. Would have been easier, and ultimately more satisfying, to just cap arty at 2 per battle. 

The new tracers make it a little easier to spot where arty shot you from. In theory it should be easier to counter arty now, but I'm skeptical that many more arty players will counter than did before.

On the plus side, they may inadvertently back into the solution if the new changes make it annoying enough to play arty that fewer people do it. Fewer arty in the queue theoretically means fewer 3 arty games.

The arty campaign missions are another issue. A lot of players play arty JUST to complete the missions, and the missions are probably harder now with the ammo changes, and all the changes to make it easier to locate arty.

Cap arty at max 2 per battle and remove the arty missions. Arty problem is probably solved.

Sound detection

We have a new skill called "Sound detection" that warns of an incoming arty shell and the direction it's coming from.

But is a second or two warning a big deal? Not in most heavies that move too sluggishly to really get out of the way. Especially if you're facing the direction the shell is coming from.

And it's a Commander skill and the Commander is already one of the busiest crew members (Sixth Sense, BIA, Recon, Camo, etc. etc.). So really are you going to add "Sound detection" to many tanks? 

If it were a Loader skill, or a skill you could put on ANY crew member, sure. But Commander? Meh.

HE changes

I'm not 100% clear on what the changes are, but after playing a couple of games I can say that tanks that depend on HE seem to be effectively nerfed. If you're bottom tier, you're now reduced to slapping vastly better tanks for tiny bits of damage, instead of occasionally landing a solid hit previously.

Supposedly HE shots into the wheels of wheelies will now have an effect - that would be good, if it's true.

Tactical view

They've tweaked the camera in World of Tanks so that there's a "Tactical View" - sort of like a bigger zoom out. Too early to tell, but so far I like it. Not sure how many players ever get out of Sniper Mode to use it, but maybe it will be a useful view to build situational awareness and supplement the minimap.

Other changes?

I can't say for sure that some other mechanics or maps changed but...had a battle on Mountain Pass from the North spawn. Despite the fact that our LT went to the usual LT spot, the enemy team was able to cross to the SW corner unspotted. That suggests either a nerf to spotting, or that the map was changed such that the enemy team was able to drive thru without any of them getting lit. I suppose that's an improvement since the south spawn always got screwed trying to cross to the SW.

Right before that battle had a battle on Paris and likewise...our Senlac was basically in the middle, and the entire enemy team was able to cross to the heavy brawl zone mostly unspotted. That's pretty unusual and makes me suspect there might be some change to spotting or the maps.

The last observation I have is around speed...granted this is a VERY limited sample, but I wonder if they adjusted ground resistance or something. Granted I wasn't playing LTs this morning, but it felt like the tanks I was playing were more sluggish than before. Maybe I'm just imagining that, we'll see.

Initial reaction to 1.13 in World of Tanks?

For me the biggest current problem in WOT is that most games are fast stomps. Did they fix that? Here are my last two battles from this morning's session:

So no, they didn't. Completely one-sided games that are over in 4-5 minutes still seem to be the norm.

What do you think of 1.13? Let us know in the comments below!

GLHF!