World of Tanks has just received the 8.8 update and it is out and ready to play today! The update brings a long list of improvements, tank changes, balancing, fixes, and even new tanks!

The major additions in terms of new tanks is the introduction of a second Soviet Medium tank line that offers a different play style and approach than the current Soviet Medium line offers. While both tier 10 Soviet Mediums feature the same gun, the T-62A and Object 140 have quite varying stats when it comes to top speed, turning rates and armour values. It is also still possible that in future patches the Object 140 will receive changes to these values or even to its gun for balancing purposes, while the T-62A is likely to remain as is for the foreseeable future.

Beyond the new Soviet line there is also new additions and changes to the German tree; there is a new Durchbruchswagen 2 that is a tier 4 heavy tank, there is also a new VK 30.02 (M) that is a tier 6 medium tank. In addition, the VK 30.01 H has received a stat overhaul and is moved to tier 5 as a heavy tank.

The Chinese have also received two new tanks, both are Premium tanks and cost roughly 40 Euros each to purchase and are only available currently through the gift store.

In addition to all this, the patch features a new map called Tundra, which is based in Soviet land during Autumn. There is also an Encounter variation now of the Mountain Pass map. Bugs have been fixed on Karelia, Severogorsk and Airfield. At long last, 3 reworked maps have been added back into the game namely Serene Coast, Komarin and Swamp. Serene Coast and Komarin has received significant map changes, while Swamp has only received minor changes in order to make it better balanced and more fun.

Important to note this patch is that if you own the T26E4 Super Pershing, this tank has received significant stat changes to its armour and other values, as a result players who previously owned this tank can now sell it back for the original Gold value. Players who did not own this tank yet can now purchase it once again (it was removed last patch from the store).

There is a new mission feature that allows players to earn a variety of rewards, the current set offer in-game currency rewards, XP rewards, free premium/standard equipment and consumables, and income or XP multipliers. These missions will only be available for a set time-frame and will then cycle to new missions and at one point these missions will also be used for players to receive free tanks! Neat! In addition to the new mission interface, the player Service Record has received a complete overhaul, so be sure to check that out in-game.

For an overview of the new maps and map changes watch the video above.