Software Update: World of Tanks Blitz 5.0

World of Tanks Blitz has its origin in wargaming, the creator behind World of Tanks, World of Warships, World of Warplanes, Master of Orion, and Total War: Arena. It can be seen as the little, fast brother of World of Tanks, and is a free-to-play online game in which players battle each other in teams with tanks from roughly the period between 1925 and 1965. The game is free to play, but uses microtransactions to buy better ammunition or premium vehicles, for example. The game runs on Android, iOS, Windows 10 and macOS, in addition, a version is also available via Steam. Version 5.0 was released a few days ago with the following announcement:

Update 5.0

Commander!
Charge your tablets and mobiles, and check your Internet connection. The next game update will be released tomorrow—on June 20! The update number, round like the turret of the AMX 40, implies some major changes. You will enjoy easier equipment unlocking and a bright morning on Vineyards, and you will never again forget to resupply your ammo before battle. But that’s not all. Read on for the details.

Equipment

The equipment unlocking process became simpler, and Spare Parts will be gradually removed from the game.

• Timers for unlocking equipment were removed. Now slots are unlocked instantly. All previously unlocked equipment slots will remain.
• Any equipment slot can now be unlocked using credits instead of Spare Parts:
  • The cost to unlock level I slots remains the same: 2,000–300,000 depending on the vehicle tier.
  • Level II slots—from 2,200 to 350,000 depending on the vehicle tier.
  • Level III slots—from 2,500 to 400,000 depending on the vehicle tier.
• Players will not be able to earn Spare Parts anymore. Upon the release of Update 5.0, Spare Part boosters will be automatically converted into Spare Parts at the following rates:
  • 1 Standard Spare Part booster = 80 Spare Parts
  • 1 Rare Spare Part booster = 200 Spare Parts
  • 1 Special Spare Part booster = 280 Spare Parts
• Until the release of the next update, the following special bundles will be available in the Offers section of the in-game Store:
  • 30 days of Premium Account for 220,000 Spare Parts
  • 7 days of Premium Account for 80,000 Spare Parts
  • 120 for 120,000 Spare Parts
  • 1,200,000 for 100,000 Spare Parts
  • 60,000 for 5,000 Spare Parts
• In the version coming after Update 5.0, all unused Spare Parts will be automatically converted into credits at the rate 12 for 1 Spare Part.
• Each vehicle with at least 6 unlocked equipment slots will get the Strong-willed rare camouflage when Update 5.0 releases.

Balance Changes

• X – STB-1
  • Aiming time was decreased from 3.9 to 3.5 s.
  • Dispersion at 100 m was decreased from 0.345 to 0.326 m.
• X – E 50 Ausf. m
  • Reload time had decreased from 8.13 to 7.48 s.
  • Aiming time was decreased from 4.2 to 3.8 s.
  • The maximum gun depression angle was increased from 6 to 8 degrees.
• IX – WZ-120
  • Reload time of the 122mm 60-122T gun was decreased from 11.51 to 10.55 s.
  • 13:05:12 Andrey: By the way, will we add any gifts?
• VIII – AMX Chasseur de chars
  • HP was increased from 1,350 to 1,450.
  • Traverse speed was increased from 41.72 to 45.89 deg/s.
  • Top forward speed was increased from 57 to 60 km/h.
• VIII – AMX 13 90
  • For the 90mm F3 gun, dispersion on turret traverse was decreased.
  • Dispersion on the move and hull traverse was decreased.
  • Crossing capacity on soft terrain was improved.
• VIII – leKpz M 41 90 mm
  • Aiming time was decreased from 3.9 to 3.7 s.
  • Dispersion at 100 m was decreased from 0.364 to 0.336 m.
• VIII – T49
  • 90mm Gun T132E4: Aiming time was decreased from 4.5 to 3.6 s.
  • 90mm Gun T132E4: Dispersion at 100m was decreased from 0.355 to 0.336m.

Other Vehicle Improvements

• Lowe: The collision model was fixed, the transmission was separated from the engine.
• АТ-1: The maximum gun elevation angle was decreased to 23 degrees to avoid gun textures overlapping with hull textures.
• IS and IS-8: The maximum gun depression angle during the turret’s backward traverse was decreased to 3 degrees to avoid gun textures overlapping with hull textures.
• IS-2: to avoid confusion with its Chinese “brother”, the Soviet IS-2 was renamed to IS-2 (1945).
• A new rare attachment—Flagship— was added for Soviet Tier X vehicles: IS-4, IS-7, T-62A, Object 140, Object 263, and Object 268. Cost: 4,000.
• A new legendary camouflage—Hunter—was added for the ISU-152. Changes the vehicle name in battle to ISU-152 Hunter. Cost: 1,590.

General Changes

• On May 25, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. It is aimed at ensuring compliance with data collection standards and keeping players informed of what kind of personal data the company collects, how long it is stored, and for what purposes it is used. In this regard:
  • Upon first launching the application, the player is asked to confirm that they accept the terms and conditions of the License Agreement and Privacy Policy.
  • The Legal Information item was added to the Garage sidebar menu, where the player can read the License Agreement and find information about holders of rights to the software and technologies used in the game.
• The Vineyards map was reworked: evening twilight was changed to morning lighting, the layout of capture points was adjusted in Supremacy mode. Cover and shoot-through positions were re-arranged.
• Players will no longer enter battles without shells. From now on, if less than 25% of the ammunition remains on the selected vehicle, the “Battle!” button will become inactive and the player will be asked to resupply ammunition.
• 13:08:36 Andrey: Sounds good.
• Cooldown boosters can now be combined into more powerful ones as follows:
  • 3 Standard boosters = 1 Rare booster
  • 2 Rare boosters = 1 Special booster
• The average damage column for each vehicle was added to the Vehicles tab of the player profile. And upon tapping the icon of any column (sorting change), the vehicle list is automatically scrolled upwards.
• Target tracking accuracy in Auto-aim mode was improved on mobile devices. Now, the server is engaged in the tracking process. This allows for minimizing reticle jumps in the case of high ping or small, but sudden movements of a vehicle. As a result, aiming at short and medium ranges was improved.
• A pre-battle timer was added for tournaments.
• Replays can now be watched in Editor mode.
• The menu button was removed from the display screen for replays. Instead, the Back button was added to the upper left corner that allows players to exit from the replay.
• When the game client window is inactive, the game icon for the Steam version will blink on the Windows taskbar when a battle starts or if an opponent for a quick tournament has been found.

Bug Fixes

• The issue, where the game client froze upon first spotting a vehicle with camouflage, was fixed. Previously, the game collected data required for camouflage rendering immediately upon first spotting of the vehicle. Now, this data is collected when the battle is loading.
• The character limitation for training room descriptions was extended to 400.
• The issue with the Stridsvagn 74A2, where the camera was positioned too high in Sniper mode, was fixed.
• The Elite Experience earned on Premium vehicles is now converted to Free Experience before the Experience earned on researchable vehicles.
• Error 505, which occurred during the update of the Android version of the game in the Play Market, was fixed.
• For the Windows versions of the game, the issue with crashes during an attempt to record a replay if there was not enough space on the device, was fixed.
• The issues with sounds playing during pauses and after rewinding were fixed for replays.
• Various screens, notifications, and descriptions were improved.
• General bugs and client crashes were fixed.