World of Tanks 1.7.1: Double-barreled tanks are finally here

World of Tanks has been stuck for a very long time and I know for sure that this is not only my opinion. The arrival of the three dual-barreled heavy tanks that have been finally added to the Russian tech tree brings a mouthful of fresh air to this title that promised a lot almost a decade ago and failed to fulfill most of those promises. Ladies and gentlemen, World of Tanks 1.7.1 is now live and there's more to it than the new Russian heavies.

The three non-premium dual-barrel heavies that come with World of Tanks 1.7.1 start at tier VIII and can be researched by playing the tier VII KV-3, which leads to the IS-2-II. The successors of the IS-2-II are the tier IX IS-3-II and the top-tier ST-II. After playing only one battle in my near-stock, 75% skill crew (except for the 100% commander) IS-2-II I can say that these new steel beasts do not seem overpowered at all, although I am sure that many people will complain about this as it usually happens with new tanks that offer new mechanics which can give good players a certain edge in some situations.

The Demount Kit is a great addition to the game because it gives the player a chance to remove complex equipment without spending gold as it was the case until now. However, to gain the Demount Kit one has to be lucky — it can be obtained only from the large Reward for Merit (we are talking about a certain chance for it to drop, so not every large Reward for Merit will come with a Demount Kit).

Finally, there's also the upcoming Team Clash event that might sound interesting to some World of Tanks players. I will be honest and I will confess that I usually skip such events because I can't find time to check out the game too often and events that involve playing a bunch of daily battles for a week or more end up annoying me a lot, so... why bother? 

Anyway, World of Tanks 1.7.1 might be late with the dual-barreled tanks that were supposed to be in the game more than a month ago, but it definitely feels like an improvement. My screenshots and two introductory movies worth checking out from WarGaming can be found below, as usual.