World of Tanks players were used to premium ammunition costing gold, the in-game currency that you buy with real money, but since the 8.1 patch, Wargaming gave everyone a chance to buy them using the credits they earn through playing, effectively making the ammunition free. In a video posted on the World of Tanks website today, game designer Stanislav Kargin explained how making these pay-as-you-shoot shells available to everyone would help less established teams who are on a budget win their way into tournaments.
“There are veteran teams who have an abundance of gold to spend and there are newer teams who don’t yet have those resources,” said Kargin. “It simply opens up the possibility for anyone to obtain premium ammo without having to invest their money beforehand. This will help teams to make the leap from pub matches into tournaments, even if they don’t have any gold.”
In other words, he’s hoping that skill will out, and that teams (and players) with deep pockets will not keep outgunning opponents who would, if the playing field was level, wipe the floor with them. Premium ammunition offers players different (and, some would say, more powerful) types of shell that they can load into their tanks for several gold a shot. The price quickly adds up and they can be en expensive choice for a player. To ensure that these rounds are still considered valuable, even by those spending credits, they’ve had pretty hefty prices slapped on them. If I wanted to buy just one 85mm shell for my mid-tier SU-85, for example, it’d set me back 2,800 credits.
Kargin said he’s aware that some players are concerned the game may be flooded with premium ammunition, or that it may change the balance of play and the capabilities or vulnerabilities of certain tanks, so his team are keeping a close eye on the game and are prepared to adjust both the price of the shells and, if they feel it’s necessary, the performance of some tanks. “If some new feature goes wrong, we always go in and make changes,” he said. He added that this may pave the way for some premium consumable to also be bought with credits instead of gold.
Kargin also used the opportunity to answer some questions from the community, adding that Wargaming are planning to implement a long-overdue chat log for the game, that they want to balance the number of scout tanks that appear on each team and stating that a new tutorial map is on its way “very soon.” Here’s the full video.