And during our trip in Chatham we also had the opportunity to talk with Tom Putzki, he is the Communication Director EU East and he knows a lot, and with that I do mean a lot, about the German forces. So we started talking about World of Warships, which I think can become bigger than World of Tanks, and we also found out that the Germans, known for there great armies and tactics, actually never had a whole fleet. Something that surprised me, since we all know how strong the German submarines where.
365Gaming: Hello mister Putzki, some people already know you, but for the people who don’t know you. What is your function within Wargaming?
Tom: Hello, my name is Tom, Tom Putzki. I’m the Director of Communication Europe East for Wargaming and next to that I’m also running the German office in Berlin for Wargaming.
365Gaming: So, today we are here at the Chatham Historical Navel Dockyard celebrating the launch of World of Warships. For us it’s the third big game when it comes to the World of series, we now have World of Tanks, World of Warplanes and the brand new World of Warships. What is your view on Warships for the future?
Tom: Well, if everything goes right it can become a strong competitor in the future for World of Tanks globally. Because, the game has legendary ships with enormous firepower, enormous presence and the main difference between World of Warships and World of Tanks is that this game is fulled with unique vessels. For example Warhsips like the Hood, the Bismarck, the Arizona, the Yamato and the Minekaze. These ships are one of a kind.
If you look at World of Tanks, they also have great tanks, for example, the Tiger Tank is great, but it was build 2.500 times, same goes for the Sherman, it was build around 50.000 times, the T-42, that was a legendary Russian tank with which they marched to Berlin, but still, it was build 40, 50, 60.000 times. And in World of Warships we have unique vessels which where really important and that’s a huge different compared to World of Tanks. And also, if you play the game you can see how historical correct and detailed these humongous monsters of steal are build.
365Gaming: And when you look at the game, we think it’s a great game for some nice eSports events. Is that something Wargaming is thinking about in the future?
Tom: To be honest, of course we are thinking about the options. But the game has just been released and we need to see what the community thinks of the game. What are their wishes and their requests, but we just introduced a new ranked system know called “Ranked Battle” which basically it the first step when it comes to eSport.
365Gaming: During our trip we crossed the English Channel by night. So we started wondering if it might be possible to play the game at with some other weather conditions or maybe even at night?
Tom: This is of course an option for the future, but for now, the game is brand new and for a new title we did something enormous. We already announced two new nations who will enter the game within 2 weeks after the launch. The Germans will enter the game with a Cruiser line and the Russians will enter the game with there Destroyer lines. So two complete new nations just after a release is some great news.
365Gaming: A source told me that you play World of Warships together at the office. Do you have a favourite ship of class?
Tom: At the moment I have two favourite ships. My number one is the Tirpitz, because I think the ships is (to quote my colleague Marcela): immaculate. And I love the Japanese Destroyer the Minekaze. It’s just an awesome ship. I just love to launch torpedoes.
365Gaming: And when you talk about World of Warships, there are a lot of ships in the game that where never build. Is there a reason why there are a lot of prototype ships in the game?
Tom: Of course if you compare it with World of Tanks, we started with three nations and small tech trees, now we have seven nations and more than 350 tanks, of course not all of these tanks have been build. It’s the same thing with World of Warships. We need to find nations that are big enough to have their own tech tree. Best example, my own nation, the Germans, in real life, we never had an Aircraft Carrier.
Germany never had one, we almost did, but when the Graf Zeppelin was almost completed, in 1943, it was demolished to build other things. So it never went into service. Germany also had two battleships, the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. And two, uh… maybe Battleships called the SMS Ersatz Gneisenau and the SMS Ersatz Scharnhorst. And this is not enough to build a complete tech tree, so we need these prototypes, these blueprints to complete the tech trees.
And like I said before, these are all indiviual ships. And the fleets for Japan, Great Brittan and the United States where big enough to cover everything, but not Germany’s fleet. So if we want to have Germany in the game as a nation, and that is something Wargaming really wants, than we need to focus on building a tech tree that does have enough aircraft carriers, some more battleships, even if they didn’t get build. So we really need these prototypes for the game.
365Gaming: So, like you said, Germany didn’t have an entire fleet, but for exemple, you need about 7 or 8 aircraft carriers in the game to get to tier 10. Did Germany have enough blueprints for all the classes?
Tom: Yeah, there are more than enough blueprints. Like I said before the Aircraft Carrier the Graf Zeppelin was almost completed, but the Germans had plans for a whole range of Aircraft Carriers. In total there are more then enough to complete the entire tech tree.
365Gaming: Thank you Tom for your time, it is always a pleasure talking to you. We are really looking forward to all the new ships!
And the update is now live. The Soviet Destroyers and German Cruisers our now live in World of Warships.
In the wake of World of Warships’ release just over a month ago, captains can now get behind the helm of vessels from two distinct nations: Germany and the Soviet Union.
On the horizon for the German fleet are Dresden and Hermelin cruisers, swift vessels capable of running rings around opponents. If that’s not enough, this new line of German cruisers boast great endurance—especially as players progress up the Tech Tree—along with solid armor and powerful guns.
The Soviet Tech Tree is ready to make some waves with Izyaslav, Gnevny and Tashkent destroyers—plus many more. These vessels are the sharpshooters of the sea; easily picking off targets from afar with their hard-hitting canons and superb accuracy. Soviet destroyers are also extremely rapid making them a hard target to scuttle. When adding their strong anti-aircraft armaments and rapid turret rotation into the mix, players have a set of devastating attack runners on their hands.
For the latest information, visit the official World of Warships website.