Some believe the range isn’t actually limited to 500m, can you speak about the engagement range limits?
The range of view is limited to 500 meters whilst the engagement range entirely depends on the type of ammo and it is limited to approximately 700 meters. With the patch 0.6.4 we will adjust the engagement range for all ammos and those limits will be slightly enhanced.
In regards to pay and cash items - Do they affect overall progress and in-game actions/success? Some believe that upon reaching tier 10 you would then have to pay $10 a month to continue playing, is that true?
It’s all simple: paying will save you time. It won’t help you get an overpowered tank or gun; it won’t double your engine power or tune up your chassis; it will just let you advance through the tech trees faster. That’s it. You can buy a premium account and will be getting 50% more credits and experience per battle. You can buy a premium tank that has better profitability regarding the same credits and XP you get, but it is by no means better than vehicles of the same tier. You can buy premium shells that have better penetration values but deal less damage. Thus, you can buy yourself a more convenient play, but you cannot buy yourself skills.
We already have a number of players who reached 10-tier tanks without investing a single cent into the game. Those are very skillful and experienced tankers. Still, the advancing becomes much more difficult without paying for premiums starting from units of tier 7 and higher. Usually, non-paying players do like this: they play a match with their 9 or 10-tier vehicle which is not profitable due to high repair expenses, and then they play some battles on their 4-5-tier tanks which are usually profitable in any way. Thus, by playing on lower level vehicles that bring lots of credits these players earn enough for repairing their high-level tanks. It means that this type of users invest more time than money into the project and we are absolutely calm about it.
Crew skills: How much impact positive/negative do tank crews have on success? Can you give some examples of how a trained tank crew would fare against an untrained crew?
Your crew act as a proxy operator between you and your tank and affect some of the more important properties of vehicles in game. Through battles, a crew gains experience the same way vehicles do, and over time crewmen improve their vehicle operating level, and later, acquire new ones. Even with the same hardware on the same tank a difference in crew skills can have a dramatic effect on the battlefield. Every crew member is trained for a certain vehicle and role, each with their own levels of proficiencies.
Thus, advancing your crew is as much important as advancing your steel pet.
