坦克世界属于大家的 WGN制作人谈8.5更新
WGNA's Senior Producer Talks About the 8.5 Update
Tankers!
We've recently received a number of questions regarding the economy changes that are slated to come to World of Tanks with the 8.5 update. Players first caught wind of these changes in the patch notes for the 8.5 public test server. Our Senior Producer, Gareth Luke, thought this would be an excellent opportunity to share a little bit of the philosophy behind these changes.
World of Tanks has been built from the ground up as a free-to-play enterprise with competitive play at its heart. For those players that have been with us since the early days, you've seen the progress we've made in providing a truly excellent experience. Our current direction is one aimed at fostering the growth of a community of skilled tankers, and we want our players to drive one another ever upward in ability.
As part of the effort to create an army of skilled tankers, we ran an experiment in the 8.1 update with the sale of our Premium Ammunition. These shells provide no bonus to damage, but have better penetration potential. Previously, this ammo was only available to players that had invested in Gold currency and were typically used in the upper echelons of gameplay like tournaments and Clan Wars matches. Today, “Gold Shells” are now permanently available to non-Premium players, and it's had a positive effect on the overall gameplay for World of Tanks.
In the 8.5 update, we're going to extend that same idea to Premium Consumables: they'll become available to our players by way of Credits. There will be an initial oversaturation of these items in normal battles, but that will stabilize. What we're anticipating is another shift in the way the game is approached by our player base. It's an evolution that we're happy to support.
In addition, we'll remove the Premium requirement necessary to form three-player Platoons and when forming a Tank Company. The reasoning behind this is simple. Players who have dedicated themselves to World of Tanks, from tournaments to major Clan Wars participants, almost all utilize the privileges of Premium, and have a strong social network within our game. Tank Companies and three-player Platoons have been a big part of why they've stuck with the game and have risen to the top.
By granting free access to these social elements of gameplay, we're further leveling the field for all of our players. Playing together and forming these tightknit groups, we fully expect the skill of the average World of Tanks commander to improve. Motivation to keep pace with your peers is a powerful force, and it certainly doesn't hurt that we've got a a $2.5 million dollar prize pool for the 2013 season of our newly launched Wargaming.net League.
One of the hardest things about launching a game into the eSports arena is not only making sure that there are enough skilled players out there to support it, but also having enough knowledgeable players to watch it. We want to make our game attractive to everyone. Once someone decides that it's the game for them, we want to make sure the infrastructure is in place to pull them in from newbie to veteran. The changes coming in the 8.5 update will help make this a reality.
The line between the gameplay experience for a free player and a Premium player is thinning. Not just for skill-based games like World of Tanks, but for free-to-play games in general. There are a myriad of titles out there to choose from and players expect a high degree of production value and support from free-to-play games today.
The changes that we're making are the result of listening to our passionate community; World of Tanks belongs to all of us. Now, let's roll out!
我们最近收到了一大堆与坦克世界8.5版经济系统变动有关的问题。玩家们最开始是从8.5版公共测试服务器的补丁信息上收到风声的。我们的资深制作人，加雷斯·卢克(Gareth Luke)认为，这是一个分享关于这些改动背后的想法的绝佳机会。
坦克世界是一款拥有高度对抗性玩法的、完全免费的游戏。对于那些从游戏早期陪伴我们至今的玩家，你们见证了我们在不断努力提供真正舒适的体验方面的过程。我们现在的(研发)方向，一方面是促进熟练坦克手团体(资深坦克世界玩家团体)的发展，另一方面是我们希望玩家之间能够不断激励彼此提高自身技术。
为了促进资深坦克手团体的组建，8.1版升级补丁中我们在付费炮弹(Premium Ammunition)方面进行了一次尝试。这些炮弹不会提供额外的伤害，但拥有更强的穿透能力。过去，只有充值了金币的玩家才能用上这种炮弹，并且一般只用于高层次的对战，比如竞技场和领土战(Clan Wars matches)。现在非付费玩家也能永久用上“金币弹”了，这一改动对坦克世界的整体游戏体验产生了积极的影响。
在8.5版中，我们打算进一步扩展我们对于付费道具的改动：我们的玩家将可以消费信用点(Credits)来购买这些道具。刚开始的时候这些道具可能会被过多地运用到普通战斗中，但情况会(逐渐)稳定的。我们所期待的，是玩家们能够推动游戏的另一次转变。这是一项我们乐于支持的进化。
另外，在玩家组成坦克连队后，组建三人坦克排需要付费这一条件将被移除。做出这一改动背后的理由很简单，那些全身心投入到坦克世界的竞技场或领土战的玩家，几乎全都是付费玩家，他们在游戏中建立了牢固的社交网。而坦克连队和三人坦克排是吸引他们留在游戏中的最主要原因。
通过免费开放这些游戏中的社交元素，我们为玩家们提供了一个更好的平台(直译：我们为所有玩家进一步铺平了场地)。随着玩家们不断地一起玩游戏、一起建立这些联系紧密的团体，我们预期坦克世界里的指挥官们(意指那些战斗中负责指挥的玩家)的平均水平将得到提高。与你的同伴共同进步是一种强大的力量，而这当然不会妨碍到我们为2013赛季的Wargaming.net联赛准备一个250万美元的奖金池。
将一款游戏融入电子竞技所面临的最大困难，不仅是要保证有一批技术好的玩家来支持它，还包括需要一批有见识的玩家来观看它。我们希望让我们的游戏对所有人都充满吸引力。一旦有人决定玩这款游戏，我们希望确保游戏中的教程能够帮助他们从新兵成长为老手。将在8.5版中到来的改动会帮助我们实现这一点。
免费玩家与付费玩家之间的区别正在变得越来越小。不仅对坦克世界这种强调技术基础的游戏而言如此，对一般的免费游戏而言同样如此。
这些改动是在我们听取了热情玩家的意见后作出的，坦克世界属于我们所有人。现在，让我们一起出发吧!
