The die is cast.
Update 1.404 in World of Tanks
is the main attraction in the game industry this year.
Many innovations await players,
bringing World of Tanks to a whole new level
and making it better than ever before.
So, let’s get right into the most important aspects of this update
right now.
Tanks need to change to stay relevant.
We worked hard on this in Update 1.404.
This will be new World of Tanks.
And it has already been appreciated by...
Here's what a specially selected focus group of players says about this update.
This is a completely different game. This is nextgen, this is new experience!
The first of the new mechanics is a short dilation of time in battle.
In a real tank battle,
a commander feels things differently in dangerous situations.
Due to a sudden release of adrenaline, it seems like time slows down.
The tanker makes a decision in a split second.
Now this realistic feature will appear in the game.
Over time, World of Tanks has moved away
from being that slow tactical shooter it was originally designed to be,
and has become something that requires a much higher reaction speed.
But now, we have solved this problem.
Adrenaline is the first activated perk in the game.
When activated, the environment within the vehicle's view range
slows down for a short time.
You'll have enough time to take a sip of tea,
fire an aimed shot, and coordinate your team at the same time.
The environment will slow down only for those who activate the perk.
Other players will continue fighting as usual.
To achieve this, we added non-Euclidean spacetime,
quantum mechanics, and the notion of imaginary time.
Although the mechanics are still being prototyped,
we've already let the famous World of Tanks content creators try it out.
The mechanic… works.
In case of curvatures of non-Euclidean space, please contact Player Support.
The new features of Update 1.404 will affect all game components.
Even the voiceovers.
Previously, the commander's lines were monotonous
and even turned into a sort of a white noise with time.
Now, the voiceovers will be much more useful and diverse.
Because now there's S.M.A.R.T.A.
Wargaming's work on machine learning and neural networks
in collaboration with Cyberdyne Systems
led to the creation of the S.M.A.R.T.A. auto advisor, or SMARTA.
This is a self-learning neuronet that will analyze your actions
and comment on them, based on studying human culture.
“Come with me if you want to win.”
“We need its hit points and motorcycle.”
“Terminated.”
This is only a small part of S.M.A.R.T.A.’s capabilities.
After it's prototyped and improved,
it will be able to give players some advice for more effective play.
“Turn right in 200 meters.”
“200, not 20…”
“Recommendation: play in a heavy tank.”
“Turn left.”
“A bit more.”
“Like this.”
“Try playing artillery.”
S.M.A.R.T.A is still learning, but it gets better every day.
We had improved its learning and communication skills
before we gave the players this feature for evaluation.
You're just an imitation of life.
Can a robot write a symphony or a beautiful masterpiece?
“At least I'm not a streamer.”
Fair enough…
There will also be more enjoyable surprises for you in this update.
After the new graphics had been implemented,
we realized that not everyone liked the photorealistic visuals…
and not all computers can render them.
For the sake of expanding the audience and launching the game on any system,
we added a new setting for the graphics: anime.
Enable the anime filter and enjoy!
All maps, vehicles, and even the in-battle interface
will have a stylish anime drawing.
Also, all in-game entities will have the anime flavor.
For example, Crew Books will be replaced with manga.
In Update 1.404, we'll also add Tier Zero to the Italian Tech Tree.
It will be occupied by the so-called Da Vinci tank.
This is the first documented historical project of a real tank.
We obtained the blueprints by Leonardo himself
in the totally classified archives.
So, the vehicle will be historically authentic.
The tank will also have 400 mm of effective wooden armor
and will be propelled by the power of 8 humans.
The guns will have a unique firing mode—
a devastating salvo in all directions—
because we really need more mechanics in the game.
Altogether, this makes World of Tanks more normal.
Perhaps… We haven't fully tested it yet,
but we're sure we're moving in the right direction.
And now for the main news of this year.
Wargaming presents a hardware platform designed specifically for World of Tanks.
World of Tanks Update 1.404
will be the first and the only project for the new platform.
This is the result of five years of work by the SerB's Design Bureau.
Its characteristics outmatch all its analogues five generations ahead,
because it's created considering the experience of Wargaming specialists
in drawing the new vehicle branches.
This is the tank console.
You will only be able to play World of Tanks on it,
but in stable 25 FPS! That's more than enough.
Everybody knows that the human eye can see only 24 frames per second.
In the 25th frame, the console will show the offers of the Premium Shop.
The tracks mean you don't need to bother moving the device,
while the embedded audio system makes the sounds of hits with HE shells
even louder and tastier.
We don't provide guarantees for the test consoles, but the test participants
will receive a Small Repair Kit and a Fire Extinguisher
as a gift. Just in case.
These are all new features of the upcoming update.
Purchase a new game console and heat up the whole house without problems.
Enable the anime filter, click the never-changing “Battle!” button,
and destroy your opponents in slow motion following advice from S.M.A.R.T.A.!
Good luck on the battlefield! Share your feedback about Update 1.404!
Why, Mr. Developer, why?
Why do you continue making tanks? You have so many opportunities!
Why don't you introduce planes and spaceships to the game?
Because everything is possible…
But what's the point?