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For Some, ‘World of Tanks: Blitz’ 2.8 Update Might Have Pushed the Game into Pay-to-Win Territory

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When I wrote a few days ago about the World of Tanks Blitz (Free) 2.8 Update, I described how I was glad Wargaming.net had decided to make higher Tier tanks more affordable to play by decreasing repair costs and increasing profitability. And up to that point, all was well. But then I started hearing complaints about the new passive consumables called Provisions that many felt pushed the game into pay-to-win territory. Provisions are activated automatically and have a permanent effect throughout the battle, and they aren’t cheap. For instance, if you buy Improved Fuel for 6300 credits, you get 10% to engine power and 10% to turret traverse speed, both of which are substantial boosts and can really tilt the balance towards the tank with the provisions on board.

World of Tanks

Keep in mind that World of Tanks Blitz has always had consumables, but those had substantial cooldown times. These new provisions, though, are equally expensive and have no strategy behind their use, and that’s part of the issue here I think. If you add a consumable that clearly makes a player better and has no downside to its use, then all you’ve done is ensured that those who can afford to pay for that consumable for every single battle will have the upper hand.

Currently, there’s a petition in the WOT Blitz‘s forums asking Wargaming.net to adjust the credit earnings and make consumables and provisions cheaper so they are accessible to everyone in order to even the field. I don’t know how valid the concerns are in terms of the math (whether adjusting earnings and prices will allow all players to have an equal advantage), but what I can say is that paid advantages in F2P competitive multiplayer games are not the path to an entertaining game.

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  • 49 Comments

    1. zeratulo

      Is pathfinder coming out tonight? That's the only big upcoming release I can think of.

      1. Eli Hodapp

        That's what's so odd about this, there's no publicized big releases to speak of at all.

      2. Bradley

        April 26th for PACG.

      3. Eric Wilson

        more likely they are restructuring how they release "Best New Games"

    2. skitch

      What about Warbits by Riskylab?

      1. Eli Hodapp

        No active iTunes links yet, or word on whether or not they got the memo to reschedule their launch.

        edit: Huh, nevermind I guess they are still releasing at some point tonight.

    3. Bradley

      Isn't Warbits coming out?

      1. skitch

        Snap

      2. Mince0

        Unless there one of the mentioned developers asked too reschedule! Oooo I'm curious!!!

    4. scottsoapbox

      I bet Apple didn't want to compete with the new Kindle launching this week.

      1. Bloodangel

        Doubt it that about kindle as we are talking about apps, not hardware

      2. Patricia Anaka

        Apple has nothing to worry about with that new Kindle.

        1. Alex Wolf

          Dont u get jokes??

    5. whitestatic

      Duke Nukem Forever 2.

      1. Ghostwalker

        HL3 confirmed.

    6. StumbleSojourn

      It's a great week for cubephiles.

    7. bossjaja

      You guys, I've got it all figured out. The secret AAA game is none other than Superman 64 iOS!

      1. Joshua Woodward

        YEA! Um m, wait! Erm, I'm not sure what to say anymore, such a good one here. :-) What a "great" game that was.

      2. barefootdragon

        E.T. For iOS.

      3. boydstr

        Yeah a real great game!!!😉

    8. boydstr

      One of the nicest things about this topic is fantasize what will happen I hope for a port of a well known Nintendo game.

      1. Joshua Woodward

        That would be worthy of a change in release scheduling.

        1. xelasnewo

          Pokemon would be GOD!

    9. Pedroapan

      Half-life 3?

      1. Gegoben

        LOL

    10. Joshua Woodward

      FFXI mobile??? That would be amazing. It better not be for a Call of Duty, or yet another MOBA/CCG/RPG clone, or a Madden game.

      1. barefootdragon

        You forgot the endless supply of endless runners.

    11. skeletors helmet

      If Warbits doesn't come out tonight I think I might cry. I've been following this game for literally years

      1. Reilly Stroope

        Me too.

        1. skitch

          I see what you did there

    12. orangecan

      The risky labs press kit still says tomorrow for the warbits release date so fingers crossed

      1. orangecan

        Although unfortunately it also says the multiplayer is provided by gamecentre so that's anyone with the bug (including me) ruled out...

        1. mr_bez

          I've been playing the beta version of Warbits for a while. I joined the iOS Public Beta program last week so I could download iOS 9.3.2 Beta, just so I could play multiplayer Warbits. Game Center's still running for me again after a week and the game is fab. I strongly recommend you download Warbits and the 9.3.2 beta tonight!

          1. Pedroapan

            I second all of the above.

          2. Cccee

            I third the motion. So far so good with me too for GC since 9.3.2 beta! GC has been running great...knock wood!

        2. mr_bez

          And if not, there's plenty of single-player stuff in there to tide you over until 9.3.2 goes Gold!

          1. orangecan

            Aaah that's really good to hear it's been fixed - it'll be a buy for me then and happily hold off on multiplayer till then.

    13. ttocs

      Still waiting for the plants vs zombies clash Royale style game.

    14. Eric Wilson

      My guess is that they are planning to re-struture how featured games are released (like they recently implemented for, "Best New Apps"). Instead of releasing several, "Best New Games" on Thursday, they will funnel 1-2 per day.

      1. Cccee

        I tend to think its something like this too, rather than the release of a specific game.

    15. lewsheff

      I heard it was Silent hills iOS!!!!!!

    16. lemessie

      Really?

    17. sobriquet

      So, about those bookmobiles...

    18. luckystrikeguy

      Since no one knows I'll keep dreaming and hope that one day red dead redemption comes to iOS

      1. boydstr

        Should be nice🙈🔫

    19. ImJPaul

      Kazaam iOS version 2.0. Can't wait!

    20. EvilDucktator

      Half-Life 3, an iOS exclusive 😋

    21. theonetruejm

      Granblue Fantasy official US release?

    22. Aaron C

      Lots of weirdness for the appstore for me.. Last night I couldn't get to the redeem screen, now I can get there but it keeps showing up 'Can't connect to app store' messages... I reckon they're just updating the backend or something and don't want to f* it up...