As many of you have already noticed, an article was posted today covering some upcoming preliminary changes to the KV-5, along with some guidelines of what we are planning for the future of tanks with preferential matchmaking. A particular section of the article has been (fairly) causing some consternation, and we would like to address it.
Perfecting Preferential Premiums
We don’t want to turn an assault tank into an ambush vehicle. We want to preserve or even emphasize their distinct features.
At the same time, we plan to give players the opportunity to decide whether an updated tank is relevant for them. Accordingly, every tanker can exchange a particular machine through the special trade-in option for an exclusive list of tanks not available in the common trade-in (don't worry, tanks available in the common trade in are also included). The cost of this kind of exchange will not exceed 2,000 Gold. Thus, each owner of a preferential Premium will have two options:
- - Keep their machine after its specs have been improved
- - Exchange it for another, more suitable vehicle, with a small surcharge in Gold
Your reactions to this news have largely been negative and I completely understand - something you purchased is being changed and you are being told your primary alternative if you don't like it is to spend more gold. Intentions here were noble - the gold value of the KV-5 is only 7,500, so a full gold refund would actually leave you 4,500 Gold short of even being able to purchase a tech tree Tier 8 Premium like the T34 (12,000) , or 5,000 short of the Löwe (12,500). The idea was that players would have the option of a scale of vehicles to choose to swap for directly, all of which would be of significantly greater gold value than a refund. This was not presented well, and we hear and have shared your feedback on this announcement immediately. We will be reviewing this plan with the global team and will share updates with you on any changes when they are ready.
Our primary goal here is to solve the problems in Matchmaking currently being caused by vehicles with preferential mm by re-working them in a manner that maintains their unique characteristics but balances them for normal matchmaking appropriately. Ideally we can do so in a way that leaves all current owners satisfied with their performance, but we did want to assure people there would be other options if they are not. In the meantime, please check out the changes to the KV-5 listed in the article above and let us know what you think. These are early yet, and will go through several rounds of testing and data/feedback review before being considered for the live server.
Thank you for your feedback and have a great day on the battlefield,
CM
Edited by CabbageMechanic, May 21 2018 - 22:53.