Version 9.16: Release on Wednesday 5 October

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Commanders,

Across the studio, teams have been keeping a steady hand on the wheel for the launch of Update 9.16, which is going live tonight. There’s a lot of cool stuff on the way, and it won’t be long until we can all check it out in-game. So, before deployment commotion reaches its peak, let’s give these new features some well-deserved attention. But first, there are a few purely technical issues to keep in mind:

What's New:

When the work on 9.16 started, we went through forum threads and social media to see what you thought, so we could prioritize the items on our to-do list. During update testing, you shared with us an incredible amount of feedback, helping us fine-tune each and every new item on the list. As always, your efforts help make World of Tanks a better experience for everyone, and we’re extremely excited to share the final result with you.

This is a brief summary of what’s in 9.16: 

First Swedish Tank:

Because we’ve been pretty preoccupied with fine-tuning the very core of the game and fixing issues you were most vocal about, we haven’t expanded the World of Tanks roster for a while. But now it’s time to open up the ranks again! With this update, we’re bringing you the first Swedish tank: the Strv m/42-57 Alt A2. It’s also the game's first Tier VI Premium medium tank with a drum-type magazine.

New Paris Map:

The second long-awaited content addition is the Paris map. You enjoyed it in Rampage mode and wanted it for Random battles. And here it comes, adjusted off your feedback.

The Paris map will appear twice as frequently as a standard map in the rotation starting with the release of Version 9.16 until 19 October at 07:00 CEST (UTC+2).

Popular Modifications:

We keep on enhancing the UI by implementing popular modifications to the game. Introduced in 9.16, the dual-level carousel allows you to display more vehicles. Battle UI is now a lot more informative. Newly added special indicators provide a full picture of what’s happening in a battle: you can see how much damage you deal to enemy tanks with every shell fired, as well as how much damage you block and receive, and where it’s coming from. Damage indicators are also instrumental in tracking your progress for Personal Missions in-battle. What’s great is that you can choose the features that are most relevant to you and switch off the ones that aren’t, right from the settings panel.
 

Vehicle and Crew Recovery:

There’s no need to contact the Customer Service Center to claim back your accidently sold Premium and Rare tanks, and dismissed crew members. You can get them back with just a few clicks right in the Garage.

Improved Spotting Mechanics:

Server code performance has been optimized considerably, reducing the time it takes to display a vehicle model upon spotting.

Vehicle Comparison:

You can pick up to 20 vehicles at a time and carefully examine them in-game, whichever configuration you choose—standard, current or the one you have selected right on the Comparison Screen. You can also pick the crew training level you want to see. It doesn’t matter if they’re vehicles you already have, you’re thinking about researching, or one that a fellow tanker has; any nation, class, type, and tier.

Battle Chat Modifications:

At its core, World of Tanks is a game of skill and teamwork. However, this focal point is oftentimes blurred with mean, salty messages in Battle Chat. Many of you reported that it's still a major issue even with the chat banning system in place. By taking on your feedback, we implemented a few changes to Battle Chat, which are designed to prevent toxic behaviour, abusive language, and cheating. Cross-team chat in all battle types except for Team Training was disabled, and you can now instantly mute players that are getting on your nerves in the same-team chat.

New Minimaps:

Along with addressing issues you reported at the launch of 9.15.1, we introduced 30 more minimaps, reworked into a new format: Cliff, El Halluf, Ensk, Erlenberg, Fisherman's Bay, Kharkov, Lakeville, Malinovka, Arctic Region, Murovanka, Prokhorovka, Swamp, Paris, Widepark, Westfield, Steppes, Siegfried Line, Winterberg, Ruinberg, Redshire, Mittengard, Ghost Town, Himmelsdorf, Fjords, Airfield, Serene Coast, Live Oaks, Highway, Abbey and Mines.

Improved Battle Missions Screen:

We made it easier to check the progress for Battle and Personal missions. First off, you can get the full info on them right in the Garage and will get notified about completing a certain mission or a condition in combat. Also, navigation options were expanded so that you can browse the list of missions for a selected vehicle, which are arranged by type. So, you can pick a tank and get a full breakdown of ongoing and completed missions. Acting upon your requests, we also implemented an awards carousel.

Revamped Notifications Center:

Notifications are now arranged in three groups—general and personal notifications, and invitations—making it much easier to keep track of the latest announcements and browse all of them.

Along with working on 9.16, we have been keeping an eye on your feedback regarding new features and improvements you’d like to see in the game. You can be sure we’ll be bringing more of them to you in future updates.

See you on the battlefield,
 

The World of Tanks Team