There were a series of questions that showed up in the comments on our World of Tanks review. So GDN gathered them up, pulled in some questions from the reviewer and myself 
and forwarded them over to Wargaming.net, makers of World of Tanks. Here’s the result.
Questions from Michael Oliver - reviewer
Are there any plans to overhaul the spotting system? It appears to be the dominant complaint about the game, invisible tanks seem to distress those players who don’t fundamentally understand how the spotting system works. (Perhaps an in-depth look at the spotting system)
Let me explain the problem with the spotting system and invisible tanks. In World of Tanks, each tank model now has a limited number of checkpoints that are used to reflect the unit itself when it’s spotted. As for the moment these points are limited in number and they are static, the problem of so-called invisible tanks may occur. For instance, if the enemy tank stands not far from you, behind, say, the telegraph pole and the checkpoint on the gun is covered by this pole, the tank model may become “invisible”. This is ridiculous and we understand it.
The good news is that the problem will be solved with the patch 0.6.4 release. We will add more checkpoints to each tank model and some of them will be dynamic. Moreover, we will increase the scanning frequency of those checkpoints. Thus, the problem of spotting system and invisible tanks will be solved pretty soon.
- Are there any new game modes in the works?
Now we are into making two additional modes: Survival and Head-On Battle. Moreover, we are going to shamelessly steal various modes from different games that can work for World of Tanks [smiles]
Questions from comments on the GDN World of Tanks Review:
Matchmaking: Many users are unhappy with it and state it doesn’t work very well. (we believe it’s just a matter of not enough people). How is matchmaking being handled? How does the game choose players and teams?
The purpose of match-making system is to form teams of equal "weight" from players who are in line. "Weight" is the number that describes average battle performance of particular vehicle.
At the moment "weight" is calculated on the basis of vehicle’s tier, type, and equipment installed.
Platoon "weight" exceeds the total "weight" of the same individual tanks that are not in platoon. For instance, platoon of 3 Tigers has more "weight" than 3 individual Tigers that are not platooned. Apart from total "weight" equality condition, match-making system ensures that both teams have equal "weight" of SPGs.
Each vehicle has a limited set of battles it can join. Consequently, there is a limited set of other vehicles to oppose for each particular tank. We are also going to add "weight" adjustments on the basis of player record/statistics on a given vehicle in future.
