[Sandbox] High-Explosive Shells Revision: Join the Testing!

Zapfhan: Hello fellow tankers On October 25, another small update will be released on the Sandbox server. In the past period, we have collected the statistical data for HE shells with different efficiency settings, from the highest to the lowest possible values. Today, there will be released the micropatch, where we will test the updated mechanics of averaged HE shells settings values, compared to ones from the previous Sandbox iterations.  What will be released today? Today, we will continue testing with updated settings of mechanics of causing damage, and with reduced damage per shot values of HE shells. Here is what will be changed:  After the first iteration, we increased the damage by 75%. The HE shells with such settings have demonstrated excessive efficiency. Thus, when comparing the new values with the ones from the first iteration, the damage per shot value has increased by 40% in the current iteration.      The splash damage to armor will be reduced by approximately 20% as compared to the second testing iteration.  There will be reduced the damage, caused by armor spalling. In the current iteration, this damage will be reduced by approximately 30–35%.  There will be reduced the damage within the burst radius. In the current iteration, the damage value on the edge of splash will be 0.2 (0.1 in the first and 0.5 in the second iteration). In addition, there will be changed the dependency of damage drop-off from distance to explosion—the damage drop-off will be more even with respect to the new extreme value.  To achieve the collection of pure statistical data, we will remove the improved HE shells for USA light tanks and Japanese heavy tanks. THIS IS NOT A BALANCE MEASURE, and we are not trying to remove this type of shells forever: within the testing, we are adjusting the efficiency of standard HE shells in the first place. Only then, based on their settings, we are planning to change the improved HE shells. During testing, the improved HE shells of these vehicles were used excessively often; we collected the data on these shells and leave only the standard HE shells to achieve pure data collection.        Why do we change the damage per shot value? We continue searching for the best suitable ratio of damage caused by HE shells, their efficiency for situational use in battles and the extent of their use in battles. We used the HE shells with low efficiency during the first tests, and used the HE shells with considerably higher efficiency during the second test.   This resulted in their considerable extensive use in battles. And we think that HE shells demonstrated excessive efficiency during the second testing iteration: we consider it the threshold value and will not test higher values.  At the moment, we are working on the midpoint solution based on the previous iterations.     What about changes in the mechanics of causing damage? It presents a pinpoint changing of mechanics, that works in the same way as reduction of damage per shot: we correct causing damage with HE shells for vehicles with different armor. Changes in splash damage will affect all vehicles but will be most noticeable to vehicles with weak armor. The mechanics of causing damage with armor spalling will be also applied to all vehicles but will have the strongest effect on medium and heavy armored vehicles. Changes to distribution of damage within the shell burst radius—with introduction of the new setting, the external modules will be damaged in the areas that are closer to the shell burst point. This will reduce the number of cases, when firing at turret results in damaging of tracks.    What did we learn during testing? Thanks to your feedback and statistical data, we made sure the mechanics works without technical issues: there have been detected and fixed several bugs.   Now, the result of firing with a HE shell has become more predictable and firing at vulnerable spots of vehicles provides predictable result.   I.e. players have the idea of the approximate amount of potential damage when firing at the specific spot, and this amount of damage will be predictably higher when  firing at a vulnerable spot of a vehicle. Which means that we have to find out the correct values for HE shells settings.  In addition, your feedback provided the clear idea, that a part of vehicles, that fire with HE shells due to their specific gameplay, are important for players. And we take into account this idea in the process of development of separate and individual changes to such vehicles.      What's next? We offer all players to join the Sandbox testing or continue it. In the nearest future, we will continue collecting the statistical data and release additional changes to HE shells settings and mechanics for causing damage. Each change will approach the HE shells settings to their final values. Consequently, the gameplay for HE shells will gradually become closer to the one we are expecting on live servers. These are the settings, the players' feedback on which is of particular interest to us.  By collecting data and your feedback on the changes, we will be able to make the next step towards our goal—the complete reworking of HE shells mechanics. And your feedback presents the key aspect of making decision on the future changes.