Version 8.2 Public Test [UPDATED]

[Updated] On November 28 02:00 AM PDT (10:00 UTC) the Public Test Server will be stopped. We'll keep you updated about the next iteration of the Public Test start. 

Tankers!

The public test for version 8.2 is here! Taking part in the public test is your chance to let us know your thoughts and suggestions on forthcoming updates.  This means we can review your feedback and make any further changes before the update goes live.

All World of Tanks players are eligible to take part in the public test as long as they registered before November 19^th.  You don’t need to be an experienced tester to join in; you just need to be willing to try out as many of the new features as you can and send us your feedback!

Main Features of Version 8.2

• New American Tech Tree branch
• New Premium tanks
• New medals

The full list of the patch notes is available below. 

How the Public Test Works

To participate in the test you need to do the following steps:

1. Copy the game client to the separate folder
2. Install a small launcher update found here (8,74 МB)
3. Update the game via launcher 4.1 Gb approximately

Attention! Please be sure to install the test game launcher in a different folder, rather than the current game client version! Also switch off the game client before installing the update. Only players who have registered prior to November 19, 2012 at 0:00 UTC can participate in the Public Test.

Please, keep in mind certain special features of the public test server:

• Payments are not accepted on the public test server.
• For the first iteration all test accounts will receive a one time crediting of:
  
  • 100,000,000 Free XP
  • 100,000,000 Credits
  • 20,000 gold
• Progress won't be transferred to the main NA server.
• Credits and experience rates will not be increased for this test.

Scheduled server restarts: 

W.o.T. Common Test1 cluster - 10:00 PM PDT (05:00 UTC) daily. Average duration will be around ~25 minutes.

Content

• New line of American tanks added: light Т21, light Т71, medium Т69, medium Т54E1, heavy T57 (one can start researching this line from medium М7 tank).
• New premium tanks available for purchasing: British heavy tank TOG-2, British TD АТ-15А, French heavy tank 1945 FCM 50t.
• Reworked the following maps: Prokhorovka, Redshire, Erlenberg, Ruinberg.
• Reworked sounds for ricochets, tank hits, and penetrations.
• Reworked sounds for round hits into landscape and other objects.
• Reworked sounds for low-caliber guns.
• Added Jordanian flag to emblems.
• Added the “Patton Valley” achievement for the destruction of 100 M46 Patton or M48A1 Patton III. 
  
  • After the update releases, all previously destroyed tanks (of this type) will be counted.
• Added “commemoratives” – achievements without a grade, which can be granted to a number of players in each battle:
  • Lucky’ – Witness the destruction of an enemy vehicle by an enemy team player. You must be 10 meters or less from the enemy vehicle at the moment of its destruction.
  • ‘Cool-Headed’ – Survive at least 10 ricochets and non-penetrations in a row from enemy team players.
  • ‘Spartan’ - Survive a ricochet or non-penetration from an enemy team player. Your vehicle must have less than 10% of its hit points left.
  • ‘Ranger’ - Destroy all enemy light tanks (at least 3) in the course of one battle.

Game mechanics

• Fallen trees are counted as masking cover (like bushes) for the visibility system (fallen trees were excluded from the calculation of visibility earlier).
• Reduce or completely removed tank vibration when rolling over rubble, rails and small objects.
• Increased radius of gun firing and hits sounds, Changed the way these effects sound at a distance.
• ‘Brothers-In-Arms’ perk now gives a bonus to the ‘Mentor’ perk.
• Changed to armor values more in line with historical real-world vaues for Т-34-85, IS, Matilda (British) tanks.
• Changed the hull weight of the Churchill LL tank from 22000 kg 20869 kg.
• Changed the weight of the AEC A190 engine from 400 to 800 kg.
• Changed the hull weight of the Valentine LL tank from 8700 kg 8300 kg.
• Reduced the research cost of the 2x Leyland E164 engine for Matilda tank to 310 experience points.
• Increased the research cost of the Churchill tank after the Matilda tank to 11500 experience points.
• Fixed the mechanics for receiving the “Sniper” achievement.
• “Patrol Duty” achievement is now counted in the “Kay’s Medal” achievement.
• The Panther M10 added to the “Hunter” achievement.

Graphics and technical improvements

• Draw distance (settings/graphics/draw distance) increased for minimum graphics quality from 400 to 600 meters, and from 1000 to 1400 meters for maximum graphics quality.
• Improved rendering performance of trees and vegetation – this should reduce fps drop in the sniper mode when one has a large amount of vegetation on the screen.
• Low performance improved for some configurations (mainly for Radeon VGAs) for the following maps: Steppes, South Coast, Highway, Mines, Widepark, Abbey.
• Fixed the incorrect auto-detect of the Texture Quality in the Graphics quality menu.
• Reworked and optimized some destruction effects of buildings and objects.
• Some objects were reworked and readjusted based on the taxing of system resources.
• Added the shadow of the vehicle in the garage space.
• Added the effect of decreased brightness and density of emblems and inscriptions while in post-mortem mode.

User Interface

• Battle Interface: module icons (bottom left corner of the screen) will now have a a repair progress indicator.
• Fixed sharp camera shifts when interacting near or with other objects (tanks).
• The distance between the icons of the tanks in the Tech Tree was reduced.
• In the tank tech tree,  the way back to the full tech tree for the nation was changed.  It's now a flag instead of a link that reads 'Back to Tech Tree'.
• In the tank tech tree, the research cost and the purchase price for the tanks and their modules will be displayed--regardless of whether or not you've already purchased them.
• In the tech tree, If there is a shortage of resources or experience, the pop up will show how much experience or credits are needed for research and purchase.
• In the tech tree, vehicle experience representation has been changed.
• When viewing players on your team from post-mortem mode:
  • Fixed drowning indicator display.
  • Added the display of ‘empty ammorack’.
  • Added the status of tank modules and tank crewmembers to the available display.

• Removed display of damage to allies from after-battle statistics.
• The login message ‘Cannot connect. Connection is blocked by firewall’ changed to ‘Unable to connect to the server. It may be that the  server is on maintenance or you may need to check your connection settings.'
• The old message for a failed attempt to connect to the server was changed:
  • "The login packet sent to the server was malformed" to "Error in authorization on game server. Your game client version is outdated or damaged’

• Changed armor display interface (without displaying the armor itself) of the SU-5, T-46, КВ-13, SU-85B, SU-101, Object 268, KV-2, KV-3, IS-3, KV-4, IS-8, ИС-7, ISU-152, VK 4502 A, PzV Panther, Centurion, Centurion Mk3, FV4202, Covenanter, Cruiser MkI, Valentine, Caernarvon, Centurion, M6.
• Restructured the visualization of the British tanks.
• Fully reworked the design of tank selling window.

Fixes

• Fixed a rare bug that occured when a projectile disappeared after penetration of the mantlet, hitting the gun but the gun was not damaged.
• Fixed a rare bug with the disappearance of the shell after penetrating the spaced armor and the subsequent rebound of the main armor of the tank.
• Fixed "flying" tanks at high ping and significant loss of data packets.
• Fixed displacement and "tugging" of aim in the sniper mode.
• Fixed an abnormally high damage from ramming in some cases.
• Fixed a low cost of repair of the tank in case of flooding.
• Fixed blocking of a flooded tank after battle on the global map.
• Fixed a bug where a destroyed ally’s tank continued to gain experience for the damage of spotted enemy vehicle during the battle.
• Fixed the rare issue which caused players to be placed into excluded game modes.
• Fixed the disappearance of destroyed vehicles burning effect when at close distances.
• Fixed the display and collision models discrepancy of some buildings and objects.
• Fixed possibility of entering ‘before-battle UI’ of special battles, which one cannot leave afterwards.
• Fixed the rounding discrepancy of W/L ratio percentage when viewed in different windows.
• From the after-battle statistics ‘battle efficiency’ tab, we removed the damage dealt to own vehicle.
• Fixed the error in which an Ammo Rack critical hit was not being counted in after-battle statistics.
• Fixed the error that displayed an SPG as a tank on the minimap.
• Fixed the sniper reticule settings from having an effect on the arcade reticule settings.
• Fixed some errors in the display of after-battle statistics.
• Fixed camouflage errors of the Pz V/IV, A-32 tanks.
• Fixed models and textures errors of the Object 268, T-46, IS-8 vehicles.
• Fixed inscriptions and emblems of the KV-5, M5 Stuart tanks.
• Fixed destroyed models errors of the Gw Panther, Е-100, Lowe, Grille, Lorraine39 L AM, Lorraine40t, T25-2, Panther M10, Object 212, Object 704, AMX 13F3AM, AMX 105AM, ARL 44, Matilda (British), AMX13-75 vehicles.
• Fixed incorrect shot effect of the 8.8cm KwK43 L/71 gun for the Tiger tank.
• Fixed incorrect exhaust effect of the В-2К engine for the KV engine.
• Fixed names of some American tanks.
• Fixed incorrect displaying of hit/penetration marks on the KV-1S, Т110Е4.
• Fixed the receiving description of the “Top Gun” and “Sniper” achievements.
• Fixed the description of the “de Langlade's Medal” achievement.