World of Tanks Is Just About Ready For Ranked Battles

Wargaming's Update 9.19 for World of Tanks went live on Wednesday, and it's on the verge of unlocking ranked battles for high-tier players. We last covered ranked battles when they were "still in the early stages of development" back in March, but now they're almost ready to be tested on live servers. The test season will start in about a week and run for four weeklong stages, with ranks being reset at the start of each stage.

The video above outlines how these battles will work. They'll be standard 15v15 PvP matches, exclusively using Tier X tanks, with matchmaking that uses players' ranks to set up teams to be as equal as possible. The top 12 players on the winning team, along with the top three on the losing team, earn a chevron. All other players will lose a chevron. Earning chevrons gains you ranks, and the higher you climb in rank, up to rank six, the more chevrons you'll need to advance. You can lose ranks by losing chevrons, though there are some limitations to this.

In addition to the usual rewards, players advancing in rank will get extra rewards. At the conclusion of a season, players will earn bonds, a new kind of currency that can be used to buy better equipment, or directives, a new type of consumable that improves currently mounted equipment.

Update 9.19 also adds HD models for 12 tanks and UI improvements that make missions and specials easier to find. Finally, you can now have female voiceovers and even mix your male and female crew members. You can larn more about this update on the World of Tanks site.