Commanders,
We'd like to comment on a few of the major points we believe haven't been addressed in enough detail. We hope this will better explain the background of our decision.
Accessibility and casual players at high tiers
An understated point so far has been what this mode is supposed to be and who it should cater to, with the assumption being that it should cater to the highly skilled top player bracket, based just on the naming alone. Of course we do want to cater to these players and yes, this mode is meant to be competitive, but we do not want it to be hermetic or exclusive for those top contenders.
In that sense, it is not meant to mirror the current community tournaments and offer the exact same experience. That said, having a rating-based match-maker and ladder brackets is likely to create a similar environment at the top, but lower brackets should still allow more players to participate, compete, farm oil and reap certain rewards. It simply makes more sense for us to make any new feature attractive for the broadest amount of audience we can, which in this case means catering both to the very top, as well as the mid-to-high skill population. We believe that being inclusive will allow us to both grow the competitive community and make it more vibrant and alive. Having more players participate means that all brackets are also likely to be more interesting and diverse, with more room for experimentation and innovation, before the peer pressure of the best clans pushes you towards using only the most effective of setups. It also reduces the risk of running into operational issues like insufficient match-making population.
For those reasons we chose to offer a rotating selection of 3 tier 10 rental ships, to allow more players access to the mode. We do not believe allowing this is somehow disrespectful to our community, as it's hard to see these ships as a reward due to their temporary nature. They don't give you any bonuses nor are they exactly as good as the ships that you normally unlock - they cannot equip camouflages and can only participate in Clan Battles. Essentially they give you just a taste of the ship, but to really master them you'll need to unlock them yourself. In this case they are meant to be a tool for us to ensure access to the mode for the majority of the current audience.
Carrier gameplay and influence on a battle
As we've already stated, the decision to not include aircraft carriers into the first season is based on observations from tournaments and preliminary tests with Clans. We know that the current role carriers currently have is a function of players actually playing the current mechanics as effectively as they can and that it's up to us to change those mechanics if we believe that's necessary. However, such changes reach further than just competitive play and we are not ready to do that yet. This, along with the comparatively small (even though quite elite) population of carrier players has also contributed to this decision. We will continue working on and improving the CV class both through balance changes within the existing mechanics, as well as prototyping bigger changes in the background.
We do believe that the incoming changes to the smoke mechanics which were tested on the 0.6.11 PT server, coupled with the absence of carrier spotting will make battles in this season more dynamic and will contribute to a bigger variety in terms of team line-ups (though we know that this is a contested point of view). Especially the lower brackets should see people willing to try out "4fun setups", simply because in the beginning it will be hard to accurately predict behavior patterns with these new mechanics. The main point here though, is that this is only the beginning and that this setup is not forever. During and after the first season we will look at the numbers and evaluate the feedback from the community, based on their experiences in this mode. We ask you to try the new meta and tell us what you think - this feedback, both positive and negative, will help inform the direction we will take the CV class as well as Clan Battles going forward.
The influence of feedback
We appreciate the effort the clan community is putting into helping us shape Clan vs Clan gameplay. While we know that some clans didn't and don't agree with the direction we are taking, there were also those who did. The fact that these opinions were mixed gave us the confidence to move forward with this setup and the fact we are also seeing positive reactions (not exclusively of course) from all the regional communities now validates this to an extent. However, we've noticed some disgruntled comments aimed at shaming or singling out the feedback of players who support the announced meta. This kind of behavior is not acceptable. At no point in time does feedback you (or we) don't agree with become less valid and this does not justify any attacks on such players or groups. We value the feedback of all players and player groups greatly and we ask for it with the faith that it will be provided without any hidden agenda, as it helps us stay on course and improve in all aspects of our work. We firmly believe we could not do it without the community.
In the time until the start of the season we will do our best to address any other major points we see surfacing in the community.
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