NA Server Clan Commander Caught Using Illegal Mods

The commander of the NA server clan(11ADR) Noobwargamer_Reborn, was recorded on twitch.tv using illegal mods. Someone watching the stream did a video capture and uploaded it.

Another video link here:
https://oddshot.tv/s/z2Oorr

He is using mods that show laser beams of where gun barrels are pointing, tracers that stay after a shot is fired, deforestation mods that remove bushes and leaves, and possibly an aim bot.

He also has another account named: noobwargamer

Multiple players field support tickets about this.  I wonder if Wargaming will ban him or if they don't care?

FPS comparison of 9.20 vs Sandbox on the same map tested with multiple graphics cards

With the upcoming high quality maps being previewed in videos and tested on Sandbox, many World of Tanks players wonder if the better graphics will make their gameplay experience worse due to lower frame rates in game.

I luckily had the opportunity to compare WoT 9.20 and Sandbox.  I had a replay of a battle on the Mines(Hills) map from the south spawn that I recently watched, then I played a battle this morning on the same map from the same spawn on Sandbox.

This game me a unique opportunity.  In the Sandbox battle, I could drive to similar locations during the battle on sandbox that were used in the WoT 9.20 replay and use it as a comparison for FPS in game.  Due to RNG and player movements, I can't say its an exact comparison.  However the battles both progressed similarly.  I first drove my medium tank to the rock around F4, then fell back to help a teammate progress up the 1-2 line area following the movements in the 9.20 replay.  The 9.20 battle was a tier 9 battle and the Sandbox battle was a tier 10 battle.  Both battles were in medium tanks.

New World of Tanks HD maps video

World of Tanks North America released a new video showing the latest HD map updates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOd65TpsLcY

Overall, I like the appearance of the new maps.  The current maps do look dated, especially at higher resolutions.  The new maps make World of Tanks look like a more modern game.

I saw the ship on the Himmelsdorf map and I wonder if its the Tirpitz, Scharnhorst or another German ship? If you think you know what class of ship it is, comment below with information about why you think its a certain German ship class.

How to change your field of view setting for 21:9 and other non standard aspect ratio monitors in WoT

The Ultrawide 3440x1440 and 2560x1080 monitors are becoming more popular.  According to the Steam Hardware Survey and other resources 21:9 aspect ratio monitors are greatly increasing in popularity.  However World of Tanks does not properly support the proper field of view for 21:9 aspect ratio monitors which can lead to the edges of the image appearing distorted and/or parts of your field of view being cut off on the top and bottom of the screen that would be visible when using the 95 Field of View (FOV) setting with 16:9 aspect ratio monitors.  When you use the 120 FOV setting, the edges of the screen still appear distorted.  However 120 is the limit of the in game slider in the graphics options.

Another issue is some player who stream World of Tanks play the game in a window and not in full screen mode so they can monitor the stream and have other streaming related apps open on the same monitor.  Sometimes the window size they sue for World of Tanks is a non standard resolution if they resize WOT to take up a certain space on the screen.

I found a fix for this issue that takes only a few minutes and can be done by using notepad.

Step 1:

Open file explorer and go to:
C:\Users\**Your User Name**\AppData\Roaming\Wargaming.net\WorldOfTanks

Full Size Image Link

9.18 Matchmaking Bug

It appears that not only are tier 8 tanks hampered by the post 9.18 matchmaking and only get to be top tier 15-21% of the time when they were top tier 35-41% of the time pre patch 9.18.  In addition to that, there is another matchmaking bug.

The tier 8 solo platoon bug has been confirmed to be on the NA server as well as the EU and RU servers.   If you create a platoon, don't invite anyone, then play tier 8 tanks you get tier 8 battles over 50% of the time in tier 8 tank.  Some players are reporting that they get tier 8 battles 100% of the time.  Post 9.18 tier 8 tanks were getting tier 8 battles about 20% of the time in the 7 PM to 11 PM time frame.  The bug more than doubles your chance of getting a tier 8 battle in a tier 8 tank post 9.18 and sometimes gives you all tier 8 battles depending on the server population.

One EU streamer did this for about 4 hours yesterday and got almost all tier 8 battles in his tier 8 tanks.

This bug also seems to work with other tiers with mixed results.

Wargaming management in Mink stated they are aware of the bug and plan to fix it.  There is no estimate on the fix time frame though.