Patch 9.19 is Here

The information is taken from the various pages on the WOT website. I thought it more valuable to consolidate it all in one place to save navigating around

What’s new

Ranked Battles mode

Ranked Battles is a 15v15 mode exclusive to Tier X vehicles, where the first team to eliminate the opposition or capture their base secures victory. Basically, the setup is the same as Random Battles. And that’s where the similarity ends. Ranked Battles is all about individual results. Your ultimate goal here is to put on a stellar individual performance to climb the ladder, earning ranks and rewards along the way. Unlike Random Battles, your success depends more on your than your team’s results. The more successful you are in battle, the higher your rank in a special Random Battles ladder. However, teamwork still matters as your camp’s victory significantly raises your chances at earning a chevron.

Matchmaking. The matchmaker puts you in a team with players whose rank is similar to yours (±1). It will also create a team of comparable skill for you to compete against. Just as with Random Battles, if getting a ±1 match would take too long, the matchmaker will loosen its restrictions a bit to get you in a battle quickly. The two teams will always have the same number of players with any given rank. Simply put, you play alongside tankers of similar ranking and have competition to match. The higher your rank, the higher the competition that you face.

Progression. Getting in the Top 12 by XP on the winning team earns you a chevron, taking you a step closer toward earning a new rank. So does getting in the Top 3 on the losing team. If your team wins, but you end up in the Bottom 3, you don’t earn a chevron, but you don’t lose one either. Players who rank 4–15 by XP on the losing team lose a chevron. Lastly, if a battle ends in a draw, the Top 3 of both teams get a chevron, while the Bottom 12 each lose a chevron. The 1st rank will cost you just one chevron, and the higher you climb, the more chevrons it takes you to progress.

Upon reaching the 1st and 5th ranks, you progress is saved so you don’t have to start the grind all over if you end up losing a few battles. On top of that, after you reach the 5th rank you get an option to prove your skill on a certain Tier X vehicle by leveling it to the max. The rules remain the same: participate in Ranked Battles in this tank, and the better your individual performance, the faster you progress. Just one exception here: the number of vehicle ranks isn’t limited.

Timeline. Ranked Battles are divided into seasons. The first season will consist of four 7-day stages. When a new stage begins, rank leveling is reset to the beginning. The progress achieved by the end of day 7 is included in the leaderboard. When the season ends, your results over the last 28 days are totaled and you receive rewards, depending on your final standing.

Improved Equipment

Packed into 9.19 are six types of Improved Equipment. They all work like the most popular consumables, with one small yet significant difference: newly added items grant a bigger bonus to combat parameters. Also, it’s impossible to mount similar types of regular and Improved Equipment at once, e.g., you can’t equip a tank both with Rammer and Innovative Loading System. You’ve got to choose just one, when readying for a battle.

Venting System adds 7.5% to all crew skills
Stabilizing Equipment System lowers dispersion during movement and turret rotation by 25%
Innovative Loading System cuts loading time by 12.5%
Wear-Resistant Gun Laying Drive reduces aiming speed by 12.5%
Experimental Optics boosts view range by 12.5% up to 445m
Extended Spare Parts Kit cuts repair speed by 40%

To stock up on Improved Equipment, simply left-click the equipment slot in the Garage and pick the item you want. It’s mounted just like regular consumables, can be removed for Gold and installed at any given time and on any vehicle that can have this particular type of equipment. For example, the Venting System won’t fit on a vehicle with an open cockpit, and you can’t equip an autoloader like the Bat.-Châtillon 25 t with an Innovative Loading System.

Directives

Along with Improved Equipment, Bonds can get you special Personal Reserves called Directives: six for Equipment and another nine for Crew. Once activated, they are good for one battle. Depending on the type, they bump up vehicle combat parameters, boost Crew skills and perks you trained or temporarily enable those you haven’t trained yet. Equipment Directives increase the bonus currently mounted equipment grants to a vehicle’s parameters. Let’s say you equipped the Tank Gun Rammer, Stabilizer, and Coated Optics. The next step would be activating one out of three Directive types that go with these Equipment types.

To stock up on Directives, left-click the newly added square to the right from Consumables to open the dialogue window. Then, just left-click a slot there to go over the list of Directives, pick whichever you want, make sure you’ve enough Bonds for it, and go ahead. To prevent spending Bonds to get Directives by accident, the “Auto-resupply” option is disabled by default. Just flag it to enable auto-resupply.

Depending on the type, Improved Equipment costs from 3,000 to 5,000 Bonds, while Directives are priced at 2–12 Bonds. To put it into perspective, Bonds are rewarded at the end of each stage, with the amount you earn tied directly to the rank you’re at, as well as by the end of the Season, with the amount depending on your final standing in the leaderboard. If you finish a stage at, let’s say, Rank IV, you gain 400 Bonds. Rank III brings in 300, Rank II gives you 200, Rank V earns you 500, and finally, if you don’t make it past Rank I, you get100 Bonds. If you rank among the first 10% players on the leaderboard, you get 5,750 Bonds. Tankers who arrive among the 2nd 15%, will be credited 3,250 Bonds. Those who squeeze into the 3rd 25% earn 1,500 Bonds.

Interface Improvements

Starting in 9.19, you can get a full breakdown of missions, events, and Premium Shop special offers:

The “Strategic Operations” tab informs you on all battle missions available for the vehicles you have in the Garage.
The “Tactical Operations” tab features a complete list of ongoing specials, events, and missions (chained missions will be brought together for easier navigation).
If you want to get up to speed with sets of events and operations (marathons, etc), the third new tab will have full info on them.

Small Enhancements

Many players asked for a female voiceover option, and in 9.19 you’ve got it. This new set of voice messages, called “Commander,” can be activated in the sound settings. Along with this, some of you told us that you didn’t like having to recruit all-female or all-male Crews to benefit from the “Sisterhood of Steel” or “Brothers in Arms” perks. Now, these perks are compatible, and mixed Crews with both get a 5% bonus to the Training Level of each of their members.

Full List of Changes

1. Ranked Battles

Ranked Battles is a 15v15 mode exclusive to Tier X vehicles, where the first team to eliminate the opposition or capture their base secures victory. Basically, the setup is the same as Random Battles. And that’s where the similarity ends. Ranked Battles is all about individual results. Your ultimate goal here is to put on a stellar individual performance to climb the Leaderboard, earning ranks and rewards along the way. The more successful you are in battle, the higher your rank in the special Leaderboard of the Ranked Battles.

Matchmaking
Progression
Timeline
Economy
Leaderboard
Improved Equipment
Directives
Badges

These are detailed above

2. Missions 2.0

The visual and functional part of the Missions and Specials window underwent considerable changes within the first iteration.

The Missions tab will become available in the Garage: it allows displaying the corresponding screen. Missions are conventionally divided into three tabs: Events, Missions, and For Selected Vehicle.

Events: tasks that require considerable efforts (for example, marathons).
Missions: tasks that can be grouped according to their idea (for example, daily missions, Training Missions, etc.).

Each mission is displayed as a tile; all missions are logically sorted: high-priority missions are displayed at the top of the list. Each mission (tile) can be opened to view its detailed description. The new design of the Missions will simplify understanding of this game entity by players.

Now Specials are available as a Store menu option. There are various specials in the game: basically, the discounts for vehicles, consumables, experience conversion, etc. Each special is represented with a tile with a detailed description of the discount, its amount, and other information. All specials are interactive: specials can be used right in the game client by clicking on the corresponding tile.

3. Clan Management

The update extends clan management options. The following will be available in the game client:

Distribute gold from the clan treasury
Change ranks of clan members in the game client
Transfer Clan Commander’s permissions
View detailed statistics of clan members

4. Improvements to Strongholds

The below awards that could be received for Stronghold-related activities up to version 9.17.1 were transferred to the Special category:

Skirmisher
For Decisive Battles
Capturer
Fortress Crusher
Retaliation

5. HD models

The following vehicles were reworked to the HD-quality:

KV-13
Т-44
IS-2
BDR G1B
Renault FT 75 BS
Renault UE 57
Renault FT AC
Alecto
Excelsior
Vickers Mk.E Type B
STA -1
MTLS-1G14

6. Sound

Added female voiceovers. The National voiceover option was replaced with the Commander option that provides voice notifications that depend on both the nation and gender of the vehicle Commander. Thus, if the crew Commander is female, the voiceover will also be female.

7. The Tank Company Battle mode was removed from the game.

8. The Recruit Training missions were disabled.

9. Changes to the Matchmaker

Some changes to the matchmaker to decrease the number of one- and two-tier battles in favor of the 3/5/7 system.

The number of one- and two-tier battles will decrease in favor of the 3/5/7 system. The change will be noticeable at high battle levels (vehicle tiers: VIII to X).
Most three-tier battles will be created according to the basic 3/5/7 pattern.

Slightly tightened the requirements for matchmaking in terms of Platoons, SPGs, tank destroyers, and light tanks, which will decrease the number of battles with the corresponding imbalances.

10. Changes to perks

The Sisterhood of Steel perk now becomes Brothers in Arms, which allows mixed crews (female and male crew members) to benefit from this perk.

11. Changes to Controls

Changed the operation logic of the button that locks turret rotation: the Auto-Aim button is now used for locking the turret. Previously, the default button for locking the turret rotation was RMB.