New Additions to the German Tech Tree
A new set of tank destroyers have been added to the German line:
Marder III (Tier IV)
Pz.Sfl.IVc (Tier V)
Nashorn (Tier VI)
Pz.Sfl.V (Sturer Emil) (Tier VII)
Rhm.-Borsig Waffenträger (Tier VIII)
Waffenträger auf Pz.IV (Tier IX)
Waffenträger auf E 100 (Tier X)
More New Tanks
Added the Chinese Premium vehicles T-34-3 and 112 to the in-game shop
Added T7 Combat Car (tier II light tank) plus Garage slot for all pre-existing accounts (see here)
The following vehicles are added to the Premium Shop:
Tier VI Chinese Light Tank: Type 64
Tier V Japanese Medium Tank: Type 3 Chi-Nu Kai
New Game Mode: Team Battle
8.9 will introduce a new game mode to find in your battle selection dropdown menu; Team Battle! Here's the rules in brief:
The maximum length of a battle is 10 minutes
Battles are of the standard type
Each team can pick vehicles no higher than tier VIII, and point costs of no more than 42. For example, tier I vehicles cost 1 point, tier II costs 2 points, and so on
A standard team consists of 7 players. Teams which consist of 5 or 6 players are permitted to participate; however, for each missing player, the team will lose 1 point
Team Battle offers more concentrated matchmaking for teams/players, pitting similarly-skilled tankers against one another.
Rebalancing
Most notably, due to the new German TD tech tree, the Panzerjäger I and Marder II were rebalanced. Many more tweaks to tanks have been made in this version, which you can find in the full Release Notes linked below.
Personal Rating Changes
Personal Rating is a representation of a player’s skill and experience within World of Tanks. By participating in games, a player learns the nuances of tactics and game mechanics, polishes new skills, and starts to learn the game in general. But in the first version of ‘Personal Rating,’ the importance of the battle amount was overvalued. That’s why we decided to rework the influence of this parameter. Now, during Personal Rating calculations, the amount of battles is a coefficient which multiplies the sum of other formula components.
Reduced the battle limit for Personal Rating calculations
Added limit to avoid dramatically increasing rating by abusing several percentage parameters
Removed low limits from 'average damage' and 'average XP per battle.' This was done in order to improve player statistics, and players who want to improve and show class in overall game skills without concentrating on one parameter and disregarding another.
New Map: Northwest
This rustic, rural location may have been a peaceful, agricultural haven at one time, but these days, it is only host to hostile machinery. Northwest features a scenic, pastoral setting marked by farm equipment and open fields.
This map provides a good variety of high and low hotspots, as well as plenty of camouflage opportunities, as the map is peppered with trees. Don't get too distracted by the scenery, because getting caught in the open on Northwest is a recipe for destruction.