Commanders!
After the announcement of previous changes and based on the Common Tests results where we suggested our changes to the crew perk system, we received many questions and comments from you. Many of you shared your feedback about potential issues with the new system. We would like to thank all active players again for taking part in the future of World of Tanks. Your feedback is what helps us work out different ideas and understand which direction development should take.
In Update 1.20.1, the Crew Perk System Will Remain Unchanged
The results of the first Common Tests clearly showed us that the suggested changes to the crew perk system required serious improvements. We took into account the point that this new system will increase the skill gap between newcomers and World of Tanks veterans with experienced crews.
As a result, at this stage, we have decided to keep the current crew perk system without changing familiar mechanics. We won't add new perks or rework existing ones in Update 1.20.1.
No action will be required from you with regard to the crew perk system after Update 1.20.1. You won't need to train new perks, adapt to reworked ones, or retrain your crews—in the upcoming update, all current mechanics will remain unchanged. For example, Firefighting will still be available for the crew members of all major qualifications.
However, those improvements that will help make the entire system more comfortable and useful will be released in Update 1.20.1. We will also continue working on updating the crew perk system, taking into account your feedback and data gathered during Common Tests. We will need time to address the issues with more complex aspects of this feature.
For now, here's a summary of the crew improvements that will be released in Update 1.20.1.
Perk Training and Major Qualification Level
There will no longer be skills in the updated system—they will become perks. In the new system, all perks become active immediately once you start training them, even when trained to 1%. At first, their effect will be minimal, but the more you train a perk, the more its effectiveness increases. The same applies to Brothers in Arms—even if only one crew member has the perk trained, the entire crew will reap the advantages of the bonus.
The Mentor perk has become more convenient: Its effect now also works for the Commander.
Additionally, the major qualification level now affects almost all perks (excluding Brothers in Arms). The higher it is, the stronger the perk effect.
Combat Interface for Perks With Situational Effects
When updating the crew perk system, we tried to make it not only more comfortable to use but also more informative. To do so, we added separate icons to the combat interface to display perks with a situational effect.
The situational effect triggers and provides a bonus only when the conditions to activate the effect are met in battle. For example, some perks with such an effect are Adrenaline Rush (accelerates gun loading if the vehicle has under 10% of its hit points left) and Jack of All Trades (enables the Commander to replace knocked-out crew members).
Each time the effect activates, the corresponding perk icon will appear on the combat interface. This way, you'll see right away that the perk has triggered. You can enable and disable the display of perk icons in the game settings.
Interface Rework: Clearer and More Informative
To make the crew perk system even more informative, we’ve also reworked some in-game interfaces.
- In the characteristics window of any vehicle in your Garage, you'll see how all current perks affect these characteristics. Now you will be able to understand more clearly how particular perks improve your vehicles.
- Perk descriptions and pop-up tooltips in the Garage, as well as descriptions of the directives for crew, have been reworked to become clearer and more informative.
Finally, an enjoyable bonus: There will no longer be a penalty to the earned Crew XP if you finish a battle with injured crew members.
Once again, thank you for participating in the Common Tests and for sharing your feedback. We look forward to better engagement with you through future developments!
We continue our consistent work on improving the perk and crew system to make them more versatile, useful, and convenient for all players. The listed changes lay a strong foundation for other crew improvements that we will announce in the future. Stay tuned!