f13.net

[ This game is not an MMO but since everybody is putting multiplayer online games even if they aren't MMOs in this section and I don't want to have to move all the crap that's accumulated in here I'm just going with the flow and putting this in here too ]

Armored Warfare (http://aw.my.com/us)
Twitch.tv game directory (http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Armored%20Warfare)

World of Tanks clone with modern day armored vehicles developed by Obsidian Entertainment (yes that Obsidian) and published by My.com/Mail.ru (i.e. don't expect your information to be private (http://pando.com/2014/05/22/mail-ru-launches-in-america-as-my-com-ceo-admits-russian-government-could-grab-user-data/)) currently in CBT that you can buy into with their Founder Packs (http://aw.my.com/us/founders-packs).

The game is supposed to have a PvE campaign but that's not in the game currently. Also the posted servers schedule appears to be just the times when the servers are guaranteed to be up. I was able to log in to the game during "off hours" last night but I was never able to actually play a match cause there weren't enough of us online to satisfy their matchmaking rules (peaked at about 35 of us in the queue at once).

I'm glad you are willing to be the canary in the coal mine for this one. No way am I throwing money at a founder's pack on some WoT clone untested. You are doing us all a big favor by having a peek at this.

I fully expect Aba to play this and amass 20k games before it releases.   :awesome_for_real:

I didn't realize this was open yet, I'll have to go check my game email.

Ya, not touching that.  I feel nervous enough as it is dealing with WG and XVM.

Played in the open stress test this last weekend. PvE mode was fun and low stress. Main Battle Tanks (MBT) dominate play too much. See http://armoredtalk.com/2015/09/27/quick-start-guide-to-armored-warfare-for-world-of-tank-players/ for a quick comparison of WoT to AW. Open beta start announced tomorrow.

The arty mechanics look interesting. I haven't tried it myself but have watched a few streams of it. Rumors have it WoT will borrow some of those mechanics in their arty overhaul.

I played 2 games of PvE and 2 games of PvP in arty. I unlocked with only a few hours left in the stress test and although wanted to try is not what I enjoy. When arty launches shells at you a voice shouts out incoming. If were shot from other side of map then you have a few seconds to respond but if was closer then can get hit right away. You don't have any of the really long shell times that exist, particularly post arty nerf (8.5?), in WoT. Generally damage is not any worse than getting hit by a real tank. Arcs don't appear to be very high so low buildings or rocks do protect you. Aim circles are tighter than WoT. When playing an arty you get red circles on map that tell you were arty on other team fired from. Supposedly the circles get smaller if fire multiple times from the same location. I tried counter battering once but have no idea how close I got to hitting. I would guess if platooned with a light or AFV you could tell them where to spot or kill the other sides arty.

When I was watching if you fired 3 times without moving the 3rd shot would reveal your exact location to enemy arty.

Played stress test as my IRC buddies recommended it, and splashed out on Lords of War today. I played lots of WoT.

I kinda like the faster paced game, and some new dynamics (missiles, rapid fire, different arty) and the modern maps and tech. This could be a regular for a while.

I like that the tanks start off being fun.

That's a huge plus.  WoT is painful until tier 5.

The -3 degrees of gun depression on one of the starting tanks can be frustrating. That is worse than any tank I know of in WoT. The french light tanks in WoT have -6 which I thought was bad before.

Head start open beta started last Thursday for those that bought a founder package. The $70 Lords of War gives stuff valued at over $100 if bought seperately. The other 2 lower costs packages only save you about $1 and $3. You can still buy a founder package up until Thursday when open beta for all starts. This is the new open beta so many are doing where it is really release because is no wipe for official release.

This is really fast game. Playing WoT and Warthunder tanks previousle will give you a headache (heavy tanks driving like 50km/h).
There is a few things that still need to be covered to make it really fun - like spoting/camouflage mechanic rework, sound fx, tanks feels to light (feels like driving cartoon boxes).
It can be a good game. Oh and it looks like they listen to community.

Too many things about the game bug me. Probably will only play it sporadically in its current state.

So many things better here than Wot, I'm playing on the EU server if anyone wants to platoon (BlindSide).

Yes they've definitely learned from WoT mistakes. However the fundamentals in the game are messed up.

Please list them.  I find the faster pace of this game to be a turn off.   :geezer:

I'll get out my bullet points.

• You feel like you are driving a tank, there is real sense of momentum.
• Thus you feel like you are shooting at tanks, they don't just magically stop.
• Terrain does what you would think it would do, no more shaded spots that make you feel like you are driving through dark matter. The interaction with the environment is realistic and less frustrating.
• You don't lose half your HP when falling off a two foot drop (in fact you lose none).
• Arty can't one shot you..
• No gold ammo.
• Schematics give you reasons to train other tanks other than ooh shiny.
• Matchmaker doesn't outclass you, Tier II battle everyone is Tier II and a few IIIs thrown in
• PVE - practice and grind your stock tank without the nuisance of being outclassed, grab some friends and you can grind without the nuisance of assholes
• Unlimited garage slots and barracks
• RNG is reduced.

I've only played it since yesterday this is what I've garnered.

Is the collector's edition/package worth it?

Thanks for taking the time.  That helps a lot.

Oh and I forgot to mention RNG has less effect on your shots. You only notice it at long distance.

I played the stress test on recommendation of some buddies, and enjoyed it enough to fork out for the Lords of War pack and I havent been disappointed. It plays at a good pace, and feels less campy than WOT did, even the Tier 1 M113 was fun to play. Just need to learn the maps better, Ive wandered into a spot and half a dozen shots have instakilled me as i didnt realise i was parading around in full view in front of their team.

I don't think they've announced the store pricing for things like premium time and gold and credits yet so it's hard to know for sure but assuming their pricing will be close to Wargaming's store pricing in World of Tanks then yes the collector edition packages are worth it -- i.e. the pricing of the sum of their individual parts is more than what you are paying for the package.

For the $40 packages you are essentially paying for the premium time, gold and credits and getting the exclusive tank for free. For the $75 package you are doing the same and getting all of the tanks for free (plus more).

Here's how the math works out using World of Tanks pricing. We'll use the lowest per unit bulk pricing we can get from the World of Tanks store just to make the AW pricing as unfavorable as possible.

For gold and credits you can buy 10k gold and 10 million credits for $100 in WoT. So for 6.5k gold and 6 million credits in AW we'll assume the price is $60, and 3.25k gold and 3 million credits is $30. 360 days of premium time in WoT is $96.49 which I'll round up to $100. So 120 days of Premium in AW is $33 and 60 days of premium is $14.

So the $40 packages are worth $30 + $14 or $44 just for the gold, credits and premium time -- i.e. you are getting the exclusive tank for free. The $75 package is worth $60 + $33 or $93 just for the gold, credits and premium time. So you are getting a bunch of tanks and all the other stuff for less than you would pay for the other stuff.

I don't know the tiers of all the AW tanks you get in the package and I'm not sure the credit pricing of those premiums but if we assume each one is worth ~$10 of gold then the $75 package is worth $93 + ~$50 or $143.

The MOWAG Taifun II looks like a badass TD, it comes with the collectors edition.

If you want to play this in the next month I suggest you start your download now. I have been downloading for about an hour and barely have 2GB down. I am guessing their server is getting hammered or they are throttling bandwidth something fierce. For the first 20 minutes I was getting about 150kb/s and the estimated time for completion was over a day  :ye_gods:

Something about this one is way more sticky for me than WoT. Don't misunderstand, I am not trash talking WoT, it is just that something about this tank game appeals to me much more. I also seem to not suck as bad in it.

I am sure this has been answered before, but are there going to be wipes, or whatever we do now is gonna be final?

No more wipes.

I am Pennilenko in game, if anyone wants to hang out with a terrible player.

Played a dozen games or so. About to get a tier 2 tank. I don't like the way the tanks drive- I feel like I am cruising around Tatooine in Luke's landspeeder.

They're modern tanks. Modern tanks are a lot faster and more maneuverable than people think. Not landspeeder level, but they "sprint" and turn a lot better than most cars will.

Wap I wouldn't judge it on the Tier I vehicles, but there is a lot more momentum to the way the move around.

I've been watching Zeven's twitch stream to assess this game.  Zeven is one of the top WoT players and seems a decent source for comparative analyses as he played WoT at the highest levels.

The XM800T is fun as fuck. It strikes me that the tank roles are more clearly defined.

Remember the whole thing about you being tier 1 and only being matched with other tier 1? Not true anymore.

Yeh the MM is actually -1 +1.

Not even. I just logged in for my third match ever, so I am clearly tier 1 in a tier 1 tank, and I got matched with tanks up to tier 3.  :oh_i_see:

Yeh so if you are the -1 you can be matched with tanks two tiers up, but it's not common.

Some guides here  (http://armoredtalk.com/2015/09/27/quick-start-guide-to-armored-warfare-for-world-of-tank-players/)  and here  (http://armoredtalk.com/2015/10/04/garbads-guide-to-aw-consumables-refits-equipment-commanders-and-crew/)

I really suck at this, but I am having a ton of fun.

Did you end up with the collectors edition? look like very good value actually.

Yes, I don't regret it. I used some of my gaming budget that I had set aside for other games that I didn't end up buying because of mediocre reviews.

The PVE in this is a really fucking nice feature for when you are frustrated and just want to screw around with a new tank or whatnot.

Edit: Another feature that I enjoy but might seem lame for some, is the ability to pick crew faces and names. Also, I am a sucker for the female crew voice overs.

Have worked my way up to tier 3s in one line. I think I like the tech tree/advancement system. The tanks still handle very strangely. And WOW. The players are AWFUL. I have barely started and I have a postive k/d already. Unfortunately the maps are so large that it is pretty hard to carry a team to victory no matter how well you play.

Its also a problem that there is no real sidescraping - most of the time you will exchange hits. Encounter more than 2 at once and you are dead.

Nice! I think I'll pick one up myself.


I think the tanks handle a bit more realistically. They seem more reactive to the environment, if you're sliding around a lot you're probably on sand or similar. You should try driving the wheeled tanks like the Dragoon, they're mental, steering is way over sensitive.

The MM actually tries to make games +0. If not enough people to fill a match then it starts adding any other tiers. During the open weekend some matches I had were +4. Friday evening most of my tier 3 games were all tier 3s however by 4 am (I could not sleep) the matches were only 10 on 10 and +3. I don't think tier 1 is a good level to PvP. People get though the tanks too quickly and move on. Most newbies doing PvE in tier 1.

I am more irritated by the match maker for PvE. Bought a brand new tier 4 tank and wanted to get some upgrades before doing PvP. Joined a PvE match and got paired with a tier 6, two tier 4s, and tier 3. The computer players were almost all tier 6. The PvE does not know how to handle different tiers. It just uses the highest tier tank in the match. People who play with friends all at same level have a big advantage even in PvE. Can blow through games quickly if all the same.

I never joined any type of group in WoT,  I might actually find a group to hang with in this game. The caveat being that they have to be tolerant of bad players.

Reading another guide (http://armoredtalk.com/2015/05/11/armored-warfare-vs-world-of-tanks-how-aw-is-different-from-wot/) interesting points on the AW MM system or the proposed one for this game.


The wagons have circled (I jumped on the band-one).

I am liking this a lot, but I wonder if I am reading the queue right. I don't think that we can see the number of total players but only those who are queued up with us at any given time. Yet, the numbers seem surprisingly low compared to the first few days. Is this not popular yet? Seems worthy.

It does not show how many games is up and running nor people that are spinning their tanks in the garage. I didnt find any statistics page for this game yet.

Yeh I think as it stands the matchmaker won't work as intended, not enough people in the queue. From watching the twitch streams that if you go up tier 6 you're immediately matched to anything as they're so few tier high tiers.

Another problem is everyone is trying to play arty so they can get the best commanders :(

Reading through the forums the official Dev explanation of how match balancing is supposed to work - http://aw.my.com/en/forum/showthread.php?6655-Matchmaker-in-Armored-Warfare/

After experiences with WG this transparency is refreshing.

Also how they try to balance the games is exactly how it should be done.


Disclaimer:This doesn't mean your team won't melt.

The WoT Wiki has a very detailed description of how MM works in that game so it's not like WG is hiding how broken their system is.

That article was from 8 months ago and I have seen talk that they ultimately want it to work that way but the swapping of players based on rating is currently not happening. So unless someone can find a recent dev post I would not assume it works this way.

I think it's still early days to figure out whether it works or not, due most players not having any rating or a correct one. As far as balancing the teams per class, it works far better than Wot ever did especially in Beta. The days of 12 arty matches weren't that long ago.

Trippy, does their detailed description in the Wiki mention the game steering as per their patent (http://www.google.com/patents/US8425330)


Now maybe AW will have some hidden doomswitch, but for now we can be idealistic and hope they right the wrongs of WG.

WoT doesn't use that in their MM.

MM video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwGiwkPqmbw

Wiki page: http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Battle_Mechanics#Matchmaking

If they did I doubt they would put it on their wiki, anyway the matchmaking in Wot is fairly pants. Hopefully Obsidian do a better job of it in AW.

I don't know why they wouldn't -- it would make the game more enjoyable.

Yes it is.

Edit: en dash

My perception of that mechanic is that it creates a lot of matches where only one side can win. To me that seems backward, it just sounds like a patch up job. Why not just try and balance the game at the source?

No it doesn't. Battle level is essentially vehicle tier. So there's a bunch of stuff in that patent about how to adjust whether or not you are top tier or bottom tier including factoring in win/loss percentage.

Edit: redundant redundancies

Right I'm probably reading too much into it, challenging doesn't necessarily mean put you with a bunch of 45%ers.

Though bugger if I haven't had a ton of games in WOT recently where every single player on my team was 45% WR and I just don't know how a matchmaker system can allow that.

Man this game is buggy, get kicked from server. matches and it doesn't try to reconnect you. Not good.

I was literally about to pull the trigger on the Emperor pack, but I think I will wait until they get things stable so I am not wasting premium time.

e- just downloaded a micropatch- wonder if that unfucked things?

Is it just me or is there an annoying little delay between when you press your mouse button and the tank actually fires?  Even with good latency, I still get a small and annoying delay.

Yes there's a delay.

https://aw.my.com/en/forum/showthread.php?31503-Shot-delay&p=450583&viewfull=1#post450583

Well I've stopped getting server disconnects, but I got booted from a match earlier straight to the garage. I think it's my connection dropping, but the way the game handles it is woeful. Makes no attempts to reconnect.
I was going to buy the emperor pack also, but with these issue I just bought a months premium and the MBT-70.

Weird I don't really notice the shell delay, or at least it's very minor for me.

Q&A where devs talk about the shell delay. (http://aw.my.com/us/news/general/developer-questions-answers-9)

This game feels much more arcadey than WoT and I'm not entirely sure I like that.  I like using more modern tanks and a PvE mode, though. Especially since the PVP matches take between 3 and 5 mins to set-up when I feel like playing and the PvE took about a minute.

Once again it looks like people will prefer PvE over PvP by about a 3:1 ratio when given the option. Quelle surprise!

I don't think that's the case with World of Warships, but the rewards for playing PVE in that game are horrible compared to pvp.  As far as I can tell from what I read on the forums, PVE in AW is very lucrative which gives very little incentive to jump into the PVP queue.

PVE is nice to have but gets boring fast. So far my favourite line is the Wheeled TDs. The Dragoon and ERC are particularly powerful, the APS on the ERC is very useful with all those missile spammers. The one in the middle (LAV-300) is difficult to play though, poor gun depression and large size.

Running into the same problem here as in WoT- SO. MANY. TERRIBLE. PLAYERS. It feels like 90% of the matches are complete routs. Nothing more fun (especially as arty, which they force you to fucking grind by hiding the good commanders there) than looking up 2 minutes into a match and see that 6 of your teammates have thrown their tanks away without killing a single enemy among them. Scouts who hide in the back, MBTs who are afraid to to get shot by anything, arty who do nothing but try to CB all game long, etc.

Hell is other people.

Yeh the player base is just as aggravating as Wot.

So seems if you bought premium time in the last month, they refunded all the gold. Something to do with the server instability I've been told. Worked out nice for me, cause I ended up buying the Emperor pack on top of two months premium. Now I just have a ton of gold.

Haven't had a server disconnect since the last patch, seems much more stable now. Also fixed the ramming damage bug.

I'm enjoying hopping-in and running a few PvE matches. So long as I avoid PvP I'll avoid spending money and raging at my team and my own shitty play. (And any future Stats mods that double down on both factors)

Liking it a lot, just feels a little too fast.

ed: As if to reiterate how terrible the playerbase is. I failed a PvE mission just now. Tier 4 medium mission, I was in the T-62, bottom tank. I got top tank with more spots, kills and assists than the #2 tank, a light Tier4 and was within 800 damage of the T4 MBT.  :awesome_for_real:

So I've watched some PvE in this game and it looks like mini missions with enemy tank spawn points that replenish if you hang about. Is that accurate? Basically a Call of Duty model?

From what I've seen they spawn based on the objectives of the map.  The one I failed on was an assault on a chemical plant, you had to capture the base which works similarly to the WoT capture circle.

The various AFV and MAs and MBTs in the first wave were set in place but had to be scouted out for you to see them. (or wait for them to see you and fire on you) There was a 'reinforcement' spawn that came from the edges of the map once we started the capture cycle. That seems to be the most standard set-up at the low-end.

I had another mission where there were a series of 3 capture circles with a timer, each with 3 waves of enemies but I've only seen one mission like that so far.

The reason we failed is the PC AFVs like to think they're MBTs and REALLY want to get kills. Since they have fast reload/ fire vs. an MBTs main gun they'll sit there and just lay into an NPC tank not realizing they're trading 25-35% of their hitpoints per kill.  So when the last wave spawns it's fairly easy for them to get cleaned-up by one or two light tanks or enemy AFVs. Particularly so when they just sit in the damn cap circle with no cover.  :awesome_for_real:

My MBT died because I didn't have any fire support and had to 'tank' 4 different NPCs firing on me while the sole Arty player was positioned uselessly as he couldn't hit the capture circle from where he was at on the map.