Happy anniversary, World of Tanks: Wargaming's flagship product has been around for (almost) a decade

Released officially on August 12, 2010, World of Tanks quickly hit the one million registered players milestone. Back then, the game was quite different than the one available right now, but some key elements remained, such as the top-tier Russian and German tanks — the IS-7 and Maus — although their stats were nerfed and buffed multiple times over the decade that followed.

Although there are still a few whole months ahead of the 10th anniversary day, Wargaming has decided to kick off the celebrations with today's game update, a refresh that brings the current version to 1.9. Its highlights include a lot of tech tree changes (fortunately, those who were gathering experience to research certain vehicles that have been (re)moved will receive compensation for their previous efforts), increased hit points pool for low-tier vehicles, as well the beginning of a long path full of missions that leads to August's anniversary.

Obviously, Wargaming couldn't have missed this opportunity to also kick off a series of special deals that bring iconic special vehicles in the reach of new players, but they don't come cheap. The list of such vehicles includes — for now — the Russian KV-5 and KV-220-2, as well as the American M6A2E1. Since the celebration of this anniversary will last until October and consists of five acts, there's much more to come. 

Before you head into the game, you might want to check the screenshots below — these all come from my collection of screenshots I've taken since the early World of Tanks 0.6.x days, so there's a lot of stuff you surely missed and you will never have the chance to experience in the game.