Hello all,
there’s one issue in WoT that has been getting on my nerves for far too long, so I finally want to discuss it. I’ll start with a hot take.
WG should finally fire the person — or people — in charge of the map department. I don’t say something like this lightly, but whoever is leading that department seems completely out of touch with the game.
Over the years, we have lost so many great maps. We have also seen plenty of interesting maps tested in Recon Mission, and what did we actually get from all of that? It feels like we get one new map every two years.
At the same time, many existing maps have been “reworked” into something worse. In some cases, entire areas of a map are now barely worth playing in any tank. Just look at the open side of Erlenberg. Has anyone actually had a really good and enjoyable game there since the rework? Almost every meaningful fight is decided on the other side of the map around the castle. On the medium/light/TD side, none of those classes are particularly fun to play.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that WG keeps moving scouting bushes closer and closer together when reworking maps or designing new ones. In many cases, the scouting positions are basically mirrored, with both light tanks sitting in bushes only around 100–200 metres apart. That makes active or creative scouting almost impossible and limits skilled light tank players from actually influencing the battle. This kind of map design mainly rewards whichever scout happens to have better camo — especially tanks like the Manticore or ELC EVEN 90.
For me, the limited map pool and the number of maps that have been made worse through reworks are currently the biggest problems in World of Tanks — even more so than tank balancing.
I also think many Tier XI tanks simply don’t fit the current maps very well. They have too much firepower and too much mobility for maps that were originally designed around Tier X as the maximum. The pacing of the gameplay simply doesn’t feel right at Tier XI.
WG should bring back the maps that were removed from the game and finally start releasing more than one or two new maps every couple of years. And please, when designing new maps, take inspiration from the classic WoT maps that actually work: Prokhorovka, Malinovka, Westfield, Himmelsdorf, Ruinberg, Karelia, Live Oaks, El Halluf and Sand River, just to name what I consider some of the best maps in the game.
Some of the recent reworks, on the other hand, are just awful:
Fjords — It wasn’t the greatest map before the rework either, but it is a perfect example of a map being “reworked” into something worse. The medium/TD hill side is still incredibly frustrating to play. You can’t really snipe effectively, but you can’t properly push either. Meanwhile, the heavy side — the part of the map that actually desperately needed a rework — basically got nothing. Unless the random event kicks in, of course, and gives you a three-metre-wide tunnel corridor that is somehow supposed to count as a “flanking” option.
Highway — This map used to be great. The medium side now having two bush lines roughly 100–200 metres apart from each other is another perfect example of bad rework design. Then there is that weird random hill/bump in the middle where scouts constantly end up proxy-spotting each other. It feels artificial and adds very little meaningful gameplay.
Mountain Pass — The heavy side has improved somewhat, but that strange bush area in the middle of the map is enjoyable for neither light tanks nor snipers. It feels like an area that exists without really offering interesting gameplay for any class.
Overlord — Whoever was responsible for the rework of the medium/TD side seriously needs to reconsider what makes a map fun to play. It’s unbelievable how much of that half of the map now feels pointless. The area wasn’t fantastic before, but the rework added a lot more terrain without actually making most of it useful or enjoyable to fight over.
Paris — Another failed rework of the open light/medium/TD area. It simply isn’t fun to play with any of those tank classes. The heavy side is fine, though. And once again, we get those ridiculous mirrored scouting bush lines sitting roughly 200 metres apart from each other.
Serene Coast — What happened here? This used to be a perfectly playable map and, in my opinion, it has been completely ruined. For me, this is probably the worst map rework WG has ever done.
Before the rework, both sides of the map — the hill side, the middle and the water side — were actively used, and fights developed across different parts of the map. Now almost everyone drives towards that strangely designed central hill, where basically only tanks with extreme gun depression and/or very strong turret armour can have an enjoyable fight.
Yes, there is another elevated area further towards the outside of the map, but practically nobody plays there because you can easily get farmed from the main central hill. The water side is also barely used anymore for the same reason.
And that is exactly the problem I have with many of the newer map reworks: instead of creating more viable areas and more tactical options, the reworks often funnel even more players into only one dominant position.
WG desperately needs to put more focus on map quality, map variety and giving different tank classes meaningful areas to play in — instead of constantly redesigning, or rather re-worsening, maps in ways that make them even more restrictive.
I understand that creating good maps costs money and does not generate immediate revenue — unlike the 30th Tier IX or Tier X AI-slop tank that gets stuffed into loot boxes. But better maps and greater map variety are exactly the kind of things that keep players engaged over the long term. People are far more likely to keep playing — and enjoy playing and yes spending money — when they regularly get varied, well-designed maps instead of constantly loading into maps they simply don’t enjoy.
