This past May saw us test changes to the KV-5. Had they proven agreeable, they would have been applied to other preferential tanks. The results didn’t align with the intended outcome, however, and the majority of player feedback was negative. As the feedback and testing showed, the reason you take these tanks onto the battlefield or bring them into your Garage in the first place is their preferential status and unique characteristics. In response to your comments, we went back to the drawing board to work on another round of adjustments.

Here's a look at where the current setup is falling short and how the upcoming changes address those areas.

Basics

Problem: Tanks with preferential status are likely to get matched into two- or one-tier battles, where their status combined with combat parameters does more harm than good. In certain battles, they can’t compete with Tier IX and feel inferior against regular Tier VIII tanks.



Goal: Improve the experience for preferential tanks while keeping the preferential matchmaking parameter and their unique characteristics intact.



Solution: All-around vehicle rebalances on a tank-by-tank basis combined with matchmaker rule revision. The latter is aimed at reducing instances of getting matched at the same position (top/middle/bottom) on the list for several battles in a row.

As a side note, regular Tier VIII vehicles face a similar issue with matchmaking, amplified by the fact they also compete with Tier X tanks. Matchmaker rules revision is designed to better the experience for them, too.

Vehicle Rebalances

We'll kick-off the preferential tank revision by tweaking combat parameters. We originally set these parameters so tanks can play comfortably and competitively in Tier VIII-IX battles, where they are weaker than other machines in combat given their stats. With this in mind, at Tier X, these tanks would be ineffective, which is why they have preferential matchmaking. We will definitely look at their stats to ensure their effectiveness is comparable with the performance of Tier VIIIs and remain competitive in those battles.

There is no blanket solution to this problem, so we’ll address it on a tank-by-tank basis, starting with Tier VIII vehicles. Combat parameters will be improved to better suit the Tier spread, while also keeping their gameplay-defining characteristics intact.