World of Tanks

[Abagadro]

The BT-2 is a fun tier 2 tank I would recommend. I play it regularly still.

[Strazos]

Was having a decent game, but then no one wanted to help reset...welp:


Outscoring and Outdamaging everyone else on your team like that is just annoying.

PS - TRIPPY HALP, I don't know how to re-size! 

[Nebu]

I feel ya.  My first 3 matches last night: 3600, 3800, 3300 damage.  Loss. Loss. Loss.

Finally got wins in some 1000 damage matches.  Not happy.

[Sir T]

Heh, I had this a few nights ago. 4800 damage. Result Draw

http://wotreplays.com/site/321024#malinovka-suranis1-amx_50_100

[angry.bob]

I'll openly admit that I'm a pretty random player based on a lot of factors, but the playstyles of people the last month has just really sucked and frustrated me. Heavies hiding and sniping from the far rear - too far to see the stuff that's being spotted, people splitting into groups to cover areas at the start of the match and then next thing I know they've turned around and formed some shitty clump near the spawn, blah, blah, blah.

[Merusk]

Yeah the heavy sniping is getting worse and I have no idea why.  I had a Tiger II sitting on the boundary lines today in a tier 9 match.  WTF.

[CaptainNapkin]

Thanks for the tips folks. I picked up that BT-2 as my first T2 tank. Played a match before dinner with it and while it ended up a draw, I did well and liked the feel of it. I need to put more time into it but seems like a solid recommendation. First night I did horrible but I seem to have improved a bit with last night's battles. http://www.noobmeter.com/player/na/TheToxicWaltz/1005932324

[Furiously]

World of Warplanes is offering a $100 pack for 1 year of premium + 8000 gold. It's not a horrid deal if you will be playing tanks for a year. (The premium in planes is shared with tanks, and eventually with warships.)

[Nebu]

World of Warplanes is offering a $100 pack for 1 year of premium + 8000 gold. It's not a horrid deal if you will be playing tanks for a year. (The premium in planes is shared with tanks, and eventually with warships.)

Quite a good deal.  It's like getting 8k gold free.

[Strazos]

I'm torn, because I recently re-upped for 6 months of Premium - I don't know that I'll be playing WoX games a year and a half from now.

[angry.bob]

World of Warplanes is offering a $100 pack for 1 year of premium + 8000 gold. It's not a horrid deal if you will be playing tanks for a year. (The premium in planes is shared with tanks, and eventually with warships.)

Quite a good deal.  It's like getting 8k gold free.

PLus you get the preorder only tier V preorder only carrier version of the aircobra.

[WayAbvPar]

We'll see how I do at the poker tables this week. I might dump another $100 into this game after all.


This game was hilarious. 3 kills in my M40/43, all via TD method. Our Leopard was watching me and singing my praises. I was cackling the whole match.

[Ginaz]

I got the AT-8 TD last night.  In 16 games I had 33 kills...and 6 wins.  Completely my fault I bet.

I've actually been doing better the past few weeks, despite the onslaught of shitty teams.  Over the past 2 weeks I have 154 wins in 276 games with 415 kills.  I'm really enjoying the E-25, as well.  A 54.5% win rate in 189 games with about 350 kills.  If it is in a tier 7 game, it can be a little death machine.

[Nebu]

I got the AT-8 TD last night.  In 16 games I had 33 kills...and 6 wins.  Completely my fault I bet.

British TD's are beasts against people that don't know their weak spots.  By that, I mean most people. 

When I see a Brit TD, I usually move to a different flank and save them for last.  Most of them have such terrible mobility that it's easier to move around them than to engage them.

[Strazos]

Helm and I took out a T-29 with just a M4 Sherman and a T-49 - I laughed real hard.

We still got lots of dumb teams.

[WayAbvPar]

Monster game from Katiri (Furiously) in his M40/43, with an assist from yours truly in the same tank. Brothers In Arms, basically won the game for our team. It was fun, and intense!

[Nebu]

Great work...  Wish I could have been there.  I had to run off right after you sent me the platoon invite. 

[Furiously]

I went one way, the rest of the team went another.... Then I spotted their team and the others all sniped away...

Vehicle: T34
Experience received: 1,834
Credits received: 112,716 (fine: 135)
Battle Achievements: Patrol Duty

[Sir T]

Yeah the heavy sniping is getting worse and I have no idea why.  I had a Tiger II sitting on the boundary lines today in a tier 9 match.  WTF.

Cant believe I missed this. The reason is bloody simple - the accuracy buff in 8.6. All of a sudden tanks that previously could not hit anything at 5 yards can reliably hit stuff at long range. Combined with the Arty nerf that means that there no reason to get out of a bush as even an IS3 will be a decent sniping tank. Why the hell do you think that the KV-1S has gone from a tank that was rarely seen to suddenly filling entire tier 6 matches? Because its big derp gun can now hit and pen things half the map away. Before it was useless, now its the most powerful tier 6 tank.

And then there is the proliferation of Gold ammo now, which means that raw armour is now next to useless. Why bother with angling anymore? Seriously its getting stupid, I don't care if you drive into battle backwards, teams should not be getting wiped in less than 30 seconds and its just happening more and more. I've watched Tanks happily penning the UPPER glacis of a Jagtiger. I am this close to just quitting again because of the utter retardedness of it. People argue that it does not do any more damage, well if one side is bouncing and the other side is penning from medium to long range range (hello accuracy nerf) then it bloody well does not matter.

[Falconeer]

I loved this game so bad in open beta. Got a little burned out after a million matches, and when I came back I realized there were people with custom textures to show weak spots, and gold ammo. Gold ammo is really something that is beyond me and kills the game, and would kill any game. The point of this post, though, is ask a question: how common gold ammo actually are in random public matches, and how much more damage (or penetration?) do they inflict over normal ammo? And can you still buy gold ammo with real money only?

[Engels]

Gold ammo is common but you can buy it with credits as well as gold. So ya, its not a pay-to-play factor since you really only need to carry 14 shells of it and although expensive, you need only bring it out when you're in a tough spot, such as faced off with a JT, as SirT mentions.

As far as sniping heavies, I don't have a problem with it at all. A KT cannot face off with an IS3 in close quarters and is meant to lurk and snipe. Now I can see how allowing IS3 and KV-1S's to snipe along side the german line with no penalty is pretty unfair, since you were trading off sniping ability for brawling ability. If you give Russians both abilities, that an imbalance.

[Nebu]

Gold ammo is common but you can buy it with credits as well as gold. So ya, its not a pay-to-play factor since you really only need to carry 14 shells of it and although expensive, you need only bring it out when you're in a tough spot, such as faced off with a JT, as SirT mentions.

It is pay-to-play, but in a more subtle fashion.  Example: I have a premium account and I like to play my T69 (which is a beast when you fire 100% premium ammo).  I can play it 50% longer than a non-premium tanker due to the fact that I lose money at a slower rate than someone with the same performance on a non-premium account.  The non-premium player will be forced to play other tanks sooner to augment the cost of firing pure premium in an overpowered tank.  

If you want to play well in this game, you need to play the right tanks, with a well-trained crew, with proper equipment, with a complement of significant premium ammo,  and in a platoon with other quality players.  Failing to do any of these will handicap you against the top players.  I've watched my stats improve drastically by doing two things: Spamming more gold ammo and playing the best tanks more often.  

I never realized how much of a disadvantage I was at firing standard rounds and not using free xp upgrade tanks as soon as I unlock them.  It really is a well disguised pay-to-play system.  The only way to play this game competitively for free is to be in a land holding clan.  How many people have the gaming skill to pull that one off?

[Sir T]

Gold ammo is roughly 4 times as expensive in credits per round as standard ammo. The actual stats vary quite a bit, but in general it increases the armour penetration by about 50 to 60%, or in the case of HEAT ammo massively increases the explosive damage.

[Engels]

Failing to do any of these will handicap you against the top players.  I've watched my stats improve drastically by doing two things: Spamming more gold ammo and playing the best tanks more often.  

The only way to play this game competitively for free is to be in a land holding clan.  How many people have the gaming skill to pull that one off?

I've emphasized two elements of what you've stated to make a point;  its still possible to advance and have good tanks for the tier without premium. I'm doing it now. No premium yet having a good time with my IS2, Type 58, and others I'm grinding. I use gold sparingly when its a double, etc.

The other part that's missing is that if you're good enough a top clan will pick you up and then gold/premium is basically free.

[Nebu]

Gold ammo is roughly 4 times as expensive in credits per round as standard ammo. The actual stats vary quite a bit, but in general it increases the armour penetration by about 50 to 60%.

For some tanks (i.e. T69, IS2, T54) it turns them from a balanced tank into a beast.  I don't hesitate to snapshot tier 8 heavies in the face with my T69 using premium ammo.  I'm not even getting into how fun it is smapping 300 pen rounds on my tier 7 IS-2.

[Nebu]

I've emphasized two elements of what you've stated to make a point;  its still possible to advance and have good tanks for the tier without premium. I'm doing it now. No premium yet having a good time with my IS2, Type 58, and others I'm grinding. I use gold sparingly when its a double, etc.

The other part that's missing is that if you're good enough a top clan will pick you up and then gold/premium is basically free.

You are correct in that sense.  I also firmly believe that WoT has the best F2P model I've seen to date.  I'm more pointing out that the benefits of paying WGN do impact more than people may see on the surface.

[Sir T]

The IS2 is so ridiculous that they are nerfing the pen to 250 in 8.8.

[Merusk]

Gold ammo is common but you can buy it with credits as well as gold. So ya, its not a pay-to-play factor since you really only need to carry 14 shells of it and although expensive, you need only bring it out when you're in a tough spot, such as faced off with a JT, as SirT mentions.

Yeah, I carry them on all my tanks except the Tier 9 & 10 now.  Since I have the only Tier X I cared to have and my autoloading T69 all my credits go towards equipment and gold rounds. I don't have a real interest in exploring other tank lines or buying new tanks so I'm maxed for how I want to play.

Hell, I've got so many premiums (Too many when I think about it*) that the credit cost is laughable. Even moreso on the low-tier tanks.  When the M4 was a gold derpmobile I could make-up the cost of 3 games worth of ammo with a good match on my Type 59.

* KV-5, Type 59, The french arty, AT-15A, T34, and now the French TD. That's a lot of dollars.

[veredus]

I do want to point out that you can do just fine without gold rounds. I rarely use gold rounds and haven't loaded any on any tank in quite awhile.
http://www.noobmeter.com/player/na/Veredus/1000013824/
I'm certainly not anywhere near the best player but I do better then most I think.

[Nebu]

I do want to point out that you can do just fine without gold rounds. I rarely use gold rounds and haven't loaded any on any tank in quite awhile.
http://www.noobmeter.com/player/na/Veredus/1000013824/
I'm certainly not anywhere near the best player but I do better then most I think.

It really depends on which tanks you like to play.  An elite IS 3 or 50 100 doesn't need to shoot gold, whereas a T69 or IS 6 benefits greatly from it.  Play the T69 for a week with standard rounds followed by a week with nothing but premium.  I bet you see a 20% performance improvement.

[veredus]

Oh ya I know that is true. Doesn't matter what tank you're driving, you add as much pen as most gold rounds do and it'll be easier. I was just pointing out it's not needed to still do well and more importantly to have fun.

[Sir T]

Yes, in the situation I mentioned above with the jagtiger there was 2 tanks and they could have just flanked the JT and let one guy pore fire into his weak sides, but instead they just sat there ignoring his front armour. Gold ammo, the accuracy buff and to a lesser extent the arty nerf just renders the whole strategic element of the game moot. Its just guys ripping apart the people who don't have the Skeeeells to have prem ammo as they have to chose their shots and the gold ammo people don't. And it shortens the time of the games as well as tanks just evaporate, making those enjoyable long strategic games more and more rare, and people are dead before they can even react to getting shot at.

Ok I'm making myself mad now. Anyway I find I do much better in win rate just sticking to scouting, but then my "efficiency" drops through the floor. Fun times.

It really depends on which tanks you like to play.  An elite IS 3 or 50 100 doesn't need to shoot gold, whereas a T69 or IS 6 benefits greatly from it.  Play the T69 for a week with standard rounds followed by a week with nothing but premium.  I bet you see a 20% performance improvement.

The T69 is designed to fire APCR rounds

http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/Ammo

APCR shells normally cost gold. However, 7.5 made APCR shells the standard ammunition used by the new tier 10 medium tanks. Additionally, 8.2 made APCR shells the standard ammunition used by the 76 mm Gun T185 cannon, which can be mounted on the T71 American light tank, and the T69 American medium tank. They cannot use AP ammo at all, and instead can purchase this ammo using credits rather than gold. Tanks whose guns default to APCR are also not subject to the same penetration loss over distance as premium APCR, but still have the higher muzzle velocity.

So yeah, I'm sure your test will be conclusive considering the only non prem ammo the T69 can use is HE, unless you go up to the 90mm on the T69 in which case your premium is HEAT with 300 penetration. Woohoo, explosive in your hull tastic. No shit your performance will go up with that.

http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/T69

[angry.bob]

* KV-5, Type 59, The french arty, AT-15A, T34, and now the French TD. That's a lot of dollars.

I can honestly recommend the Matilda IV from the Russian line as well as the su-100Y. The Matilda bounces stuff left and right and has a good gun on it. The 100Y is huge, slow, and hard to hide but it's gun is practically identical to the gun on the IS-7. One of the stats isn't as good, I forget which one. But it barely matters at the tier battles it gets into.

[Merusk]

Yeah but I'm *REALLY* trying not to pour more money in to this game.  I struggled with myself for a while to buy that TD on sale. If they go on sale I'll pick 'em up.

[angry.bob]

Yeah but I'm *REALLY* trying not to pour more money in to this game.  I struggled with myself for a while to buy that TD on sale. If they go on sale I'll pick 'em up.

tons of the mid level premiums are on sale this weekend for half off, including the Matilda IV.