Good day everyone,
World of Tanks Console is continuing its series of premiums based on the tanks featured in the WoT: Roll Out comic series, the newest offering is the Sherman Firefly “Boilermaker”.
The tank will be available in several bundles as well as an operation for the chance to earn it for free.
Loot Drops
Purchasing the Boilermaker will enable loot drops for victorious battles from November 1st to December 1st. Loot content includes:
• 2,000
• Small First Aid Kit
• Large First Aid Kit
• x5 Crew Experience
• Small Repair Kit
• Large Repair Kit
• x3 Experience
• 1 Day of Premium
Ace Operation
Purchasing the bundles will unlock a series of Ace Operation: Earn 20,000 XP in the Boilermaker for 1 day of Premium and 30,000 silver.
Exclusive Skill
And in a move that will no doubt cause a bit of controversy, purchasing the bundles will also grant you access to an exclusive crew skill: Last Stand
“Last Stand” Skill: Boosts Crew proficiency when your vehicle’s HP is less than 10%.
The crew is available only through purchase of the bundles and is tied with the tank crew, so will work in any tank the crew is placed in. The effects will also stack with equipment and other perks (vents, BiA etc.)
Note: According to the tanks Tankopedia page, Boilermaker will have no XP or Credit bonus. (Edit: this is confirmed as a bug in the portal display. Proper bonuses are 30% XP and Credits)
While this is a welcome asthetic change considering the console team’s recent free tank offerings (this monstosity for example), its a shame that its being tied with WoT Console’s ongoing free tank operations (PC players familiar with gameplay during your rental events will know why a decent portion of the console community are growing fatigued) and a blantant go at Pay to Win content.
While it is arguable that World of Tanks across all platforms has had pay to win elements, it’s amazing that the console team puts something so blatant up for grabs. The first exclusive skill (offering reduced gun dispersion) that was tied to a premium bundle caused no small amount of uproar on the Console forums and other community sites. So its amazing that while the PC team can halt an entire update (10.0 Rubicon) because of controversy in the community, the much smaller console team can’t be bothered to either release these new skills/perks to the entire playerbase or simply not putting them in at all. Seeing how novelty ideas become mainstays of Console marketing (T26E4’Freedom’ spawning a whole series of flag inspired tanks) it looks like perks and skills being locked behind a paywall are here to stay. I can only hope its something the PC devs choose not implement from the Console game.
“Note: According to the tanks Tankopedia page, Boilermaker will have no XP or Credit bonus.” – this is confirmed a typo, both are at 30% bonus
Thank you, I’ll edit accordingly
plz, WG …. those tanks from comic, must come to PC too….. ^^
it looks ridiculous to me but i would at least like the option of it on pc 🙁 (the revenant panther is so insanely cool looking i would get that in a heart beat)
also totally agree paying player only crew skills are a TERRIBLE idea the free bia crew with things like the cromwell b are kinda sketchy but full on brand new crew skills exclusive to only paying players is just a big middle finger to people who cant afford to pay for it.
Why does it have a gun coming out of its gun (or is it just me seing bad) ?
Off the top of my head, its to disguise the fact that its a 17 pounder. German crews knew to look out for them, so Firefly crews would attempt at making it look like the old 75mm.
I’m sure someone more knowledgable will correct/elaborate though.
When the firefly first landed in France there was only a single firefly in a platoon of regular 75mm gun Sherman. There was concern that the 17pdr tanks would be a prime target so they tried to disguise them and also made fake extensions for regular 75mm guns to confuse observers. This never really mattered in the field and with the number of firefly increasing to 50% of British tanks was discontinued. The paint job on the barrel is standard issue but the bag in the middle is a field improvisation.
its to fool eneys into thinking it has small gun
Oh ok, thanks 🙂
Now I have a good question: Are the tracks extra armor?
Yeah, its all spaced armor
wow that must break down alot to need all those tracks
One of the few times that I am gel of the console crowd. The fact that the Firefly on PC doesn’t have the barrel camouflage as standard makes me a bit butthurt.
Have seen a picture of a Sherman just like this, believe it was Canadian. They added on the extra track on to try and counteract the Panzerfaust and its HEAT warhead. In reality, it was more of a physiological boost than anything else. Tests done by US Ordinance found that the small amount of ‘spaced’ armour provided by the sandbags, or in this case, tracks, actually helped the Pazerfausts’ warhead to penetrate. They still did not outright ban this ad-hoc armour, however (there were concerns that this improvisation in the field would cause increased wear and tear on the front suspension and the track), noting the physiological boost it gave to the crews.
Not all Allied commanders approved of this practice though. Here’s a picture of a sheepish Sherman crew after just being told off be Patton himself; http://www.warlordgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Fully-sandbagged-Sherman-tank.png.
The other thing that’s key here is it will have a 500 hp engine rather than the standard 460 hp engine on the tech tree Firefly. It should move around a little better.
why is it that the pc players constantly whine about the stupid shit the console is doing, omg, premium firefly with spaced armor and BIA when hp is below 10%. seriously. are you fucking kidding me, give me a break, the pc doesn’t do stupid shit like this for a reason. and the cheapest bundle is 4170 gold, for something that is ALREADY in the fucking tech tree
Um, you can also earn it for free but they haven’t announced it yet.