Sandbox Server: Week 2

There is an NDA for the Sandbox, and I can't tell you anything about the happenings on the server itself (like no hard stats) but I can give you opinions. (I know, loopholes for days) So here is what I think about Sandbox 2.0 (or week 2). I'm pretty sure that this is mostly about direct video, so I may hint around some statistics in this post (i.e. M48>AMX 30B)

Arty
My initial impressions came from a blog post from Rita's Status Report Blog (Check her out btw for leaks) describes a change to the artillery "stun" effect which basically crippled everybody last iteration. I thinks this does not meet the issue that artillery is not rewarding at all, as there is little damage and the same overall reloads. I think this will meet everybody's needs in the sense of less "troll" mechanics, and still a place for artillery.

Death Star and Death Barn
The FV215B 183 and the FV 4005 Stage II received some heavy gun nerfs to balance their HE and HESH rounds against the current importance of armor. These rounds were doing guaranteed damage in a way that does not suit the game as a whole, as well as allowing them sometimes get lucky and one-shot tanks. There is also a clear difference between the two, the Death Barn tends to be more snipey/less heavy than the Death Star.

The Classes

Juggernauts/Heavy Tanks- E 100, Maus, JPZE 100, Death Star, E3, E4, IS-4, Type 5 Heavy

Assault Tanks- E5, 113, FV215B, IS-7, 263, AMX 50 Foch

Cavalry/Brawling Mediums- 140, 430, 62A, E 50M, 121

Fire Support Tanks- Leo 1, Patton, T57, 30 B, Batchat, Centurion AX, TVP, STB-1

Tank-Destroyers- 268, Grille 15, Death Barn (also keep in mind that the 263, JPZE 100 and E3 have TD-like gun statistics)

Scouts- RU 251, T54 Light, T49

Artillery- G.W. E 100, T92, 261, Conq GC, Bat 155



Juggernauts have high health pools and the largest guns. They are not good for sniping and have poor mobility and soft statistics for their guns. Their DPM is okay due to their higher alpha damage but bad rate of fire.

Assault Tanks are sort of fast and mobile, with mid range guns and decent armor. Their guns have decent statistics and have okay DPM- a bridge between Cavalry and Juggernauts.

Cavalry (great name for this WG)- Fast tanks with good armor and great DPM. They have good aim time but bad accuracy so are only good at close range engagements. They have similar amounts of penetration as heavy tanks.

Fire Support Tanks are mid to long range sniper/support tanks that have good aim time and the best DPM in the game. They also have excellent top speed and better view range than Cavalry. Their gun handling and accuracy are also stellar but they don't have much armor.

Scouts- Have great view range and mobility characteristics. They are the fastest tanks in the game.

Artillery- They are support tanks that do low damage and provide assistance to allies by "debuffing" enemy tanks and tracking them.


Connectors
Keep in mind that there are many tanks that are sort of "in between" the average for their own class. They resemble a mix between two different sets of characteristics. (i.e. the JPZE 100 is a cross between an E 100 and a Grille 15, it has an accurate gun and also has a large health pool with armor, but no mobility.



Conclusion
I think that Wargaming is heading in the right direction and the change that buffed the medium tanks to their old top speeds was straight out of one of my posts :). This might prove that Wargaming is looking to the community for input? Either way, these changes support more dynamic gameplay and specific classes as well as tanks that bridge the gap to make each tank feel unique and not left out of the competition.


-Spirtwalker