World of Tanks

[Merusk]

My problem with the T-50 has been the envy I have when in a game with a 50-2 as well.   Sure, the 50 is zippy, but the -2?     Plus it has a 76mm gun vs the 50's max 57mm.   That makes a lot of difference against higher tier arty.

[Tmon]

That 76 is not all that wonderful.  I run mine with the long 57mm.  Sure it takes a few more hits to kill arty but it will punch holes in most anything you run into (if only from the side for tier 8 and up heavies) which comes in handy when you can get laid in alongside a high tier TD or run into a Panther II driver who doesn't really understand how to fight his tank.

[Der Helm]

including 2 Panthers (only like 20 left in world) and the only operable King Tiger tank.  Tank Nerd.

I once got a private tour of the tank museum in Munster,Germany. Walked into a dark hall, guy turns on the light and I was standing right in front of a Tiger tank. SUPRISE!

Those things are huge.

[apocrypha]

I'm not a huge fan of the T-50, but to be honest I suck at playing scout tanks generally. I'm 5k XP away from the T-50-2 though, so maybe I'll give that a go and see if I'm less sucky with it 

Found some useful links that might be of interest:
VK2801 guide - very comprehensive, useful for anyone, not just 2801 drivers.
Map strategies - fairly brief but good overviews and handy maps.
Assorted articles - from the same place as the maps guides, some generally useful condensed info on things like penetration, accuracy, etc.

I'm trying to decide which of the following tanks to purchase next: Panther II, Tiger, Jagdpanther, AMX 13 75, S-51, T-50-2, T-43. Any of those stand out as really fun tanks to play?

[Amarr HM]

VK2801 guide - very comprehensive, useful for anyone, not just 2801 drivers.

Wow words, nice though may have a read of that later.

[Tmon]

I'm not a huge fan of the T-50, but to be honest I suck at playing scout tanks generally. I'm 5k XP away from the T-50-2 though, so maybe I'll give that a go and see if I'm less sucky with it 

Found some useful links that might be of interest:
VK2801 guide - very comprehensive, useful for anyone, not just 2801 drivers.
Map strategies - fairly brief but good overviews and handy maps.
Assorted articles - from the same place as the maps guides, some generally useful condensed info on things like penetration, accuracy, etc.

I'm trying to decide which of the following tanks to purchase next: Panther II, Tiger, Jagdpanther, AMX 13 75, S-51, T-50-2, T-43. Any of those stand out as really fun tanks to play?

For me the T-50-2 is the most fun of that bunch.  I like my Panther II but I don't think of it as fun.  The 13-75 can be a lot of fun but it's not nearly as fast or nimble as the 50-2.  I use my 50-2 as a palate cleanser after long drawn out high tier heavy battles, it's nice to jump into something where running around like a spider monkey on meth is an appropriate play style.

[Engels]

That said, the Panther II is on the way to the E50, which is the bestest tank in the game EVAR!!1

[Furiously]

That said, the Panther II is on the way to the E50, which is the bestest tank in the game EVAR!!1

You are batchat insane!!!!

[snowwy]

So 7.3 is out on russki servers. Had a fully upgraded IS-4 with a 100% crew in 2 different skills. Got an IS-8 with a 100% crew + one extra skill at 100%. Not bad.

edit: besides a fully upgraded IS-4 of course

[Nebu]

Help me decide: E50 or E100. 

I'm about to get my first tier 7 and I'm not sure which tree to take.

[Furiously]

Both.

[Nebu]

Both.

Help a guy out.  Which will be best to take first?  Is one better for cash farming?  I'm open to suggestions.

[snowwy]

All depending on playstyle. I ran the russian side of the tech tree and have everything unlocked there except for artys.  Have a T-54 in my garage, but i suck horribly at medium tanks.
I prefer TD's and heavies.

[Furiously]

Both.

Help a guy out.  Which will be best to take first?  Is one better for cash farming?  I'm open to suggestions.

You will probably make more money in the E-50.

[veredus]

E-75 then E-50 then E-100 imo.

[Abagadro]

E-50 is a great medium. Probably my favorite even though I initially went with the T-54.   E75 is fun too.  E100 is a "dear arty shoot here" sign on your head and you will NOT make money with it.  It will cost you money to play half the time. In actuality anything over tier 8 (which all 3 of those are) are not reliable credit makers.  You need to have a T5/T6 (easy 8 is a great credit farm if you like meds) or T8 premium to support your high tier forays.

[Merusk]

It sucks that you need to drop that much ($50) on a T8, but Ab is right about making money.   I have a Type 59 and it's the only way I make money. The Tier5's make too little per win and the T-29 almost always costs more per match than I win, even if I *DO* survive.  The only time I make cash at it is if I'm running premium status, fire less than 8 shots and survive.

[Furiously]

I usually make money on my T110.

[Tmon]

I usually make enough to support my tier 8-10 habit with my tier 5s and 6s , but for serious cash grinding I fall back on my Lowe, t34 and type 59 with dash of the M6 premium.  If I'm running on standard I use the Lowe,  t34, and my beta sherman fortunately the t34 and beta sherman were free and I bought the lowe when it first came out and was moderately inexpensive.

[apocrypha]

So in the last 3 days I've spent nearly 3 million Cr on a T25/2 and a T-43 only for them to announce this special yesterday.

50% discount on the following vehicles:

    Medium tank tier VII Т-43
    Medium tank tier VII KV-13
    Heavy tank tier VII IS
    Tank Destroyer tier VII SU-152
    SPG tier VI S-51
    SPG tier VI SU-14
    Medium tank tier VII PzKpfw V Panther
    Medium tank tier VII VK 3002 (DB)
    Heavy Tank tier VII PzKpfw VI Tiger (P)
    Heavy Tank tier VII PzKpfw VI Tiger
    Tank Destroyer tier VII Jagdpanther
    SPG tier VI GW Panther
    Medium Tank tier VII T20
    Tank Destroyer tier VII T25 AT
    Tank Destroyer tier VII T25/2
    Heavy Tank tier VII Т29
    SPG tier VI М12
    Light Tank tier VII AMX 13 90
    Heavy Tank tier VII AMX M4 (1945)

 

Oh well, still 5 other tanks on that list I could buy by the end of the week if I'm lucky 

[Nebu]

Figures.  I bought my 3002 on Saturday.   

[Mortriden]

Hilariously, I have most of those tanks already.  The 5x XP will be nice though and the half price equipment.

[Engels]

I have saved up 10 mil credits as of yesterday. I'm gonna go to TOWN on eqipment. I'ma gonna put vents on my Tetrarch 

[Merusk]

5x exp? Crap, it was bad enough dealing with the 3x exp idiots in the last 48 hours.

Ah well, it's just more xp towards that Pershing and T-110 I really, really want, right?

[Engels]

Yes, yes you do. Pershing, Patton, M103 and T110 are some of the most satisfying and versatile tanks in the game, period.

[Merusk]

My XP just comes so. damn. slow.  Part of it is I suck (hooray 24% survival & 53% hit rate!) Another part is just that it takes SO MUCH to grind up these days.   I'm at 20k/ 100k to get to the Tier 8 heavy, then there's a whole world of grinding after that to get to the M103. So. Slow.

[Nebu]

My XP just comes so. damn. slow.  Part of it is I suck (hooray 24% survival & 53% hit rate!) Another part is just that it takes SO MUCH to grind up these days.   I'm at 20k/ 100k to get to the Tier 8 heavy, then there's a whole world of grinding after that to get to the M103. So. Slow.

My solution was to play off hours.  My stats during prime time are terrible.  During off times, I'm a beast!  The xp gain playing against bad players is wonderful. 

[Engels]

I am not by nature an FPS player. I don't do particularly well at twitch stuff, but WoT lets you grow in other ways, such as situational awareness. For example, Aba is the best player in the clan. Can he hip fire shoot faster than the rest of us? Not particularly. What he can and does do is respond to growing threats while others (myself included) keep on our merry way. If Aba sees that there's gonna be trouble back at base, he'll turn around to stop it, even if he knows it pretty much guarantees he'll die.

Don't get me wrong, he curses like a sailor all the way back to cap, and lets the rest of the team know what a bunch of morons they are, but he has a higher victory rate for it.

This is stuff anyone with a bit of a brain will learn in time; early identification of threats and how to try to counter them. That's what brings out the better players.

Amarr, with his lousy connection via his freakin' cell phone, is probably better than 99% of WoT players. I don't think he can rely on twitch mechanics.

[Ginaz]

I am not by nature an FPS player. I don't do particularly well at twitch stuff, but WoT lets you grow in other ways, such as situational awareness. For example, Aba is the best player in the clan. Can he hip fire shoot faster than the rest of us? Not particularly. What he can and does do is respond to growing threats while others (myself included) keep on our merry way. If Aba sees that there's gonna be trouble back at base, he'll turn around to stop it, even if he knows it pretty much guarantees he'll die.

Don't get me wrong, he curses like a sailor all the way back to cap, and lets the rest of the team know what a bunch of morons they are, but he has a higher victory rate for it.

This is stuff anyone with a bit of a brain will learn in time; early identification of threats and how to try to counter them. That's what brings out the better players.

Amarr, with his lousy connection via his freakin' cell phone, is probably better than 99% of WoT players. I don't think he can rely on twitch mechanics.

It still boggles my mind that even after playing 3k, 4k, 5k or more games people can be so bad.  I'm not talking about missing shots or being too aggressive or something like that, the general situational awareness of most players is fucking horrible.  Its frustrating at times and I tend to lash out at the offending morons more than I should.

[UnsGub]

It still boggles my mind that even after playing 3k, 4k, 5k or more games people can be so bad.

The learning curve on this game is very deep.  Down to each tank on each spot on each map.

Driving and shooting requires practice and lots of it.  Take a break for a week and one becomes rusty.

Once good at driving, aiming, and shooting then you can start managing your teammates and setting up or responding to the enemy.

Team play is huge and once one tiers up and encounters platoons on a consistent basis it does not matter how good or bad an individual is they are not going to consistently win against three players working together.

[Merusk]

Are you talking clan or pubbie games, Engles?  I'm not doing the clan thing and have no plans to ever do so.  I simply don't want to devote any more time to the game than 5-6 matches an evening and 10-15 on the weekends.

I've tried turning things around in situations like you mention, but find I'm usually popped before I can do shit.  It seems that when I get bad, bad teams the others are in 2-3 platoons and actually working in unison.  For example, last night 3/4 of my team went to the valley while I and 3 others had to defend town.  Me as a KV and the others being med & lights vs T8's.. it was useless as they surrounded then popped us one by one, even as I tried retreating to take potshots and slow them down.

Nothing seems to help pubbie games when you're a solo player. You have nothing to rely on and simply wind-up eating more losses than you care to for stupid reasons like "Well everyone thought ignoring <x key spot> was a good idea.

You're all totally right on the situational awareness, though.  I've gotten in the habit of calling shit out in chat rather than clicking to the "hay there's no green dots on that part of the map!" areas.  It helps a little but not much more. 

[UnsGub]

Nothing seems to help pubbie games when you're a solo player. You have nothing to rely on and simply wind-up eating more losses than you care to for stupid reasons like "Well everyone thought ignoring <x key spot> was a good idea.

When solo you do have an effect it is just limiited verse playing in platoons.   Lowe and KV-5 players with 40% win rate are not random.  They are bad players in top tanks. Solo with a top tier tank is huge and good players can get 60% wins.

I typically play the speed bump, scout, bait, or defend a side of a map.  Damaging enemies and giving teammates an extra minute or two to push or retreat is very effective.  Kills, cap points, living to the end, awards are not common rewards, just the win.

[Engels]

Merusk, I'm talking primarily about pub matches. The dynamics of clan warfare are entirely different from the few sound thrashings I've received, so I can't comment on that.

You're right about solo vs platoon tho. It does increase your odds to win by a big margin if you have two supporting players. Even just the one other toon mate is good, sometimes actually better than two, since coordination is easier.

It does increase your chances if your toon mates pick complimenting tanks. Not everyone in a Lowe, or everyone in TDs. There are only going to be rare occasions where that combo affords a benefit. My fave combo right now is T110 (or M103), Patton and T30.

[Abagadro]

Man, they would pick a time when I'm going to be out of town for half of it to have a 5x special. GRRRRRRRR.

[Tmon]

In addition to the 5x they have also released bonus codes.   ENDWARNA if you are on US server or if you are on the EU server ENDWAREU 

http://worldoftanks.com/news/1248-victory-day-bonus-code/

In honor of Victory Day and the ongoing Military Month specials we are pleased to offer you a fantastic bonus code:

Extra Combat Rations - x5
Case of Cola - x5
Chocolate - x5
Improved Combat Rations - x5
Strong coffee - x5
1 day Premium Time