Today, we launch the first Common Test of Update 1.2, bringing some new additions to World of Tanks, so let’s check it out!

New Map: Empire’s Border

You’ve probably heard about this map from Chinese sources. Empire’s Border received a warm welcome and positive feedback from its home audience, so we’re including it into the roster for all regions as it was previously only available on the China server.

Empire’s Border will become the first Asia-set locale to join the game since the release of Update 1.0. Featuring what many consider the 8th Wonder of the World, the map is sliced into two halves by the Great Wall of China, commanding the landscape from higher ground.

The whole locale is split into several altitudes, each offering tactical versatility of its own.

HD Maps

Both Widepark and Highway have been revamped to HD quality, adding an extra level of immersion, while leaving their core gameplay unchanged.

Reworked Maps

Redshire

In the main clash point, the map provided a concealed fire position only to the southern team. The new iteration will fix this disbalance, adding a similar position to the opposing team, so that both sides can take advantage of long-range sniping. While it won’t drastically affect the balance, the improvement will provide equal chances for each team in a particular map area.

Ruinberg

The map will get treatment for an old issue, when the northern team had the advantage of a wider firing range on the radial street all the way up to the square. Both teams will now be provided with equal opportunities to fight for the “small town” and control a huge part of the map once it’s captured. On top of that, the southern team will receive improved defensive positions near the base.

Sand River

Defensive positions for the second team will be improved. Players will be able to take the rocks to the right of the team’s base. In addition, it will be easier to fight against enemy vehicles in the ditch used mainly by heavy tanks.

Paris

The western base will have one of the bushes improved in sector C1, making it equally effective to the respective position of the eastern base.

Overlord

The overall change of the terrain will take place. In the previous version, the map was slightly sloped towards the southern base, which affected the balance. Because of this, when climbing up any hill, tanks from the northern team would get under much heavier fire, compared to of the southern team taking the same hill.

The Second Front

Lots of you have reached tremendous progress in the 1st operation. Your performance is crucial to reap the best rewards, so, way to go, tankers! And, while the first stage is at full swing, this Common Test marks the virtual start of the Second Front’s 3rd operation.

As a reminder, here’s how the personal missions’ core concept looks like:

• The first operation is all about persistence. These are missions that can be completed over time and require you to show your prowess in victory and resilience in the jaws of defeat. These missions have a secondary task that’s not needed to start the next mission, but completing it means doubling your progress towards a blueprint.
• The second operation is all about showcasing your skill in one specific battle. These missions revolve around one match, whether it be dealing a set amount of damage, destroying enough enemy tanks, or any other objective. They are reminiscent of the older Personal Missions.
• The third operation is all about showing consistently good results over several battles. These missions require you to have more than just luck on your side. Prove your worth over a series of battles to complete these missions.

As you can see, the 3rd operation differs from the first two, requiring consistency and precision, first of all. As missions here are spread across several battles (say, you are to deal 3,000 damage or more for 5 battles in a row), there’s a feature that will allow you to put your progress on hold, if you feel like you need a rest before the next stint.

Bots

Certain clusters (for example, the game server hosting players from Latin America) have an issue with long waiting times to get into battle, specifically at the lower tiers. To shorten the queuing time, we are introducing AI-controlled vehicles and would like to test the mechanic during this Common Test.

They will only play on certain maps and between Tiers I–V. Don’t panic, you will always know when you are playing with bots as they will have colons “:” at the start and end of their names, coupled with a specific badge.

The number and classes of bots on each team will always be the same so there is no advantage to one team over the other and will be limited to a certain number per team.

All players testing this feature will be providing feedback for other PvE events we are looking at in the future. Bots will be active straight at the launch of Common Test 1.2, and with the release of Update 1.2, we’ll disable them everywhere. In the future, bots will be released on the LATAM, and possibly Australia, clusters.

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