World of Tanks

[Furiously]

The problem is the game doesn't reward good tactics. It rewards you for putting shells into tanks.

[LC]

It loses it's magic when you reach the top and realize the game is about purchasing overpriced premium ammo from the cash shop.

[apocrypha]

The problem is the game doesn't reward good tactics. It rewards you for putting shells into tanks.

Very true, lemming mentality is the result. Just had a game on Lakeville, spawned in the south, me in my Panther (got the 75mm L/100 silly gun now) and 2 TDs took up position on the sniper platform to the west. Bunch of our tanks meet a bunch of their tanks halfway up the west channel, as expected.

Despite me & the TDs repeatedly saying "pull back, make them come over the hill so we can snipe them" over and over again they all just peeked over the ridge one at a time and got picked off one at a time. 6 of them. One after the other. It was ridiculous. We ended up winning because the enemy team did exactly the same and we sniped the crap out of them while a couple of our arty went and capped through the centre route.

It loses it's magic when you reach the top and realize the game is about purchasing overpriced premium ammo from the cash shop.

Well I've yet to hear anything that makes me think I'll enjoy tier 9-10. Sounds like games are slow, boring, very campy and dominated by gold ammo. Simple answer, soon as I stop enjoying it, I'll stop playing it.

I have a feeling that the camo coming in 0.7 is going to be a bad thing. Spotting and stealth already feels shitty, I don't see how more stealth is going to improve gameplay at all. Was on Malinovka yesterday, positioned with another couple of people in some bushes to intercept the enemies coming down the hill. An E75 started barrelling towards us. We all opened fire, were plinking away at him, tracked him... and he disappeared. In open ground, coming down hill, at 150m. He carried on firing at us, killed all 3 of us. None of us could see him at any point during this. Retarded.

[Merusk]

Despite me & the TDs repeatedly saying "pull back, make them come over the hill so we can snipe them" over and over again they all just peeked over the ridge one at a time and got picked off one at a time. 6 of them. One after the other. It was ridiculous. We ended up winning because the enemy team did exactly the same and we sniped the crap out of them while a couple of our arty went and capped through the centre route.

Yeah that's my favorite example of the stupidity inherent in the playerbase.  You can STILL get your shots on if you wait behind the ridge but you also have the advantage of being in cover and not providing a nicely-silhouetted profile.  To watch one tank after the next say to themselves "I know MaDD_Zilka popped in 2 seconds but surely he damaged them enough for ME to succeed with my lessor tank!" gets infuriating at times.

I agree on the stealth thing, too.   TDs with Cammo netting are notorious for this and what kills me most often.  I particularly hate it on city maps where there's nothing but a long street between me and the guy sniping me.

[apocrypha]

Heh, tell me this doesn't look ridiculous:


 

[Tmon]

Heh, tell me this doesn't look ridiculous:


 

Gun tubes in this game are like WoW shoulder pads.

The tier 9/10 game isn't that bad, but it's definitely more fun when you are platooned,.  That said, I don't mind playing solo in my Patton or US T34, but I only play my T-54 and T30 when I'm platooned.

[Merusk]

It loses it's magic when you reach the top and realize the game is about purchasing overpriced premium ammo from the cash shop.

Perhaps, but the great thing is you don't HAVE to play at the top.  You can sell those T10 tanks at any time and go back to playing the T2-4 game.   I've already done that with a few tanks I simply didn't enjoy.

[veredus]

Also there is no reason to buy gold ammo. Complete waste of money with only a few exceptions, like the E-100. But even with the E-100 you can switch to HE or take an extra half second to aim instead and do just fine.

I hardly ever play anything higher then tier 8 without a platoon except to run doubles. People take the higher tiers way to seriously.

[Abagadro]

I play a lot of high tier stuff and I've never thought gold ammo dominates at that level.

[Engels]

Ya, I rarely see people using gold, cept for clan battles.

[apocrypha]

Cool, that's good to hear.

Might have a T29 later on today, depending on how much work I manage to convince myself to do... 

[angry.bob]

Cool, that's good to hear.

Might have a T29 later on today, depending on how much work I manage to convince myself to do... 

Totally worth it, the switch from M6 to T29 is magical. Just remember that letting anyone see your hull is a death sentence.

[Amarr HM]

Gold ammo is used in clan wars to gain an edge. There's a player in our clan who uses gold ammo all the time, then he pisses and moans everytime one of his shot bounces.

[Mortriden]

So, is it even worth experimenting with the game at this point? Never played it before.

Abso-fucking-lutely

So, after bitching and moaning with my friends about the gold tanks being so much better... I joined the dark side and bought a Type 59.  And... convinced three of my friends to do the same.  We consider ourselves to now be supporting the developers that have given us this fun.

It is fuckall fun to drive.  It's fast, turns on a dime (even at top speed), the turret traverse is surprisingly quick, and the front armor is a beast for a medium.  Bad sides: it's slow to accelerate, the gun is pretty much the same cannon from the T-34-85 (Tier 6 Russian med), the rear armor is paper thin, and there is ammo storage everywhere in that thing.

Alone, it's not overpowered at all.  I burn super easy, and without the wet ammo rack, I'd be blowing up all the time.  But, with the three of us platooned up... look out.  Ricepack of death. 

[apocrypha]

Totally worth it, the switch from M6 to T29 is magical. Just remember that letting anyone see your hull is a death sentence.

I got it a couple of hours ago    Had enough free XP saved up so I could get the tracks and 90mm, so it's not completely stock, which is nice. Going to take some getting used to but so far I love it. Had 3 or 4 matches and I think I got Steel Wall and Master Gunner in all of them.

It also means my M6 is now elited, and the crew hit 100% at the same time. I fucking love that M6, I think it's going to be my go-to money maker for some time to come :)

[apocrypha]

Now added VK2801 and Tiger (P) to the garage.

VK2801 is awesome. Destroy of arty! Tiger (P) will take more getting used to, plus a lot more XP to upgrade it, whereas the VK was almost elited out of the box.  

Edit: clicked wrong smiley. Pedobear doesn't seem fitting...

[Engels]

I enjoyed the Tiger P and am in love with the AusfA. Its not quite in the league of the T32, but I prefer it to the KT.

Also, don't be too surprised if you hate the T29 at first. Its sorta a shoddy tank after the fully upgraded M6, specially when you're now thrown into tier 10 fights.

[Ginaz]

Now added VK2801 and Tiger (P) to the garage.

VK2801 is awesome. Destroy of arty! Tiger (P) will take more getting used to, plus a lot more XP to upgrade it, whereas the VK was almost elited out of the box.  

Edit: clicked wrong smiley. Pedobear doesn't seem fitting...

With the VK2801 its derp gone all the way.  I found it to be more useful as an anti-scout tank than anything else.  It has the most armour and most powerfull gun of the 3 tier 5 lights.  Its also good, naturally, at taking out arty since you can one shot some of them (I've one shotted Hummels and even a GW Panther) while being able to take a few hits from defenders.  Its a fun little tank for sure.  As for the Tiger (P), imo its superior in almost every way to the other Tiger.  200mm of frontal armor means your somewhat safe from many lower tier tanks if they hit you straight on while still being able to dish it out.  I've averaged over 800xp per battle on the (P) and its one of my favourite tanks, along with being a money maker.

[apocrypha]

Actually enjoying the T29 the most out of my current crop of main tanks. Got the first engine upgrade so it's a bit less cumbersome than it was at first, working on the 105mm now. I seem to get placed either in the top 3 or the bottom 3 every match, so I either wtfpwn and blow away 5-6 toy tanks or I spend the game hiding and plinking at treads of E100s.

I'm a bit shit with the VK2801... probably 1 in 5 games I get lucky and wipe out 3 arty or a couple of scouts, but I'm very, very bad at patiently waiting for an opportunity and tend to rush in all gung-ho far too much, which just gets me killed. I totally pwned a Slugger earlier though, he didn't manage to hit me once, was great fun. 

Oh and I added an IS to the mix too. Not played it much yet, feels like a medium tank though!

[apocrypha]

After some advice guys. I'm at the point where I think I should pick a line to focus on for a bit, try to get a tier 9 med or a tier 10 heavy for clan wars (I joined a clan) and not sure which to pick.

Options are IS7, Maus or T-30 for heavies and T-54, E-50, Patton for meds. I'm roughly the same amount of XP away down each nation's lines, so the choices are purely about tank specifics and playstyles. In terms of how I play, I'm pretty versatile. I like sniping, I like flanking, I enjoy being a heavy tank. About the only things I'm not too keen on are arty & scouting.

Is there an kind of consensus on those tanks performance and/or usefulness in high tier clan games? All I've heard so far is that the T-30 isn't generally regarded as a good performer because of the weak hull.

[Merusk]

Holy crap you play a lot.


I'm still struggling to get my first T6.

[apocrypha]

Hehe yeah, when you say "a lot" I think you should say "too fucking much"    It's been a really quiet few weeks for me...

I'm still only on tier 7s anyway, just trying to focus a bit.

[Abagadro]

If you get the T34 and T30 you will get extra garage slots and the new top American tanks once the redo of the table happens (probably early next year).  Of those you listed I have an IS7, T30 and T-54.  I'm just below the E-50 and Patton so I can't say exactly what those are like but have played the Panther II and Pershing enough to get a sense of how they will play. So here are my thoughts:

It depends on your play style really. The T30 is really soft but has a big-ass gun so if you like to snipe it can be okay.  I'm looking forward to the redo though.  The IS7 is a great tank.  Fast, a good brawler, kinda inaccurate at long range though. The IS4 (which will be the top of a new line in the redo) is one of my favorite tanks in the whole game.  You will also get some garage slots/other tanks if you go up this line. 

On the meds, again it depends on what you like to do.  German mediums are generally accurate snipers.  Russian mediums are fast brawlers. American mediums are sorta in the middle.  I love my T-54 and frankly liked the Russian medium line all the way up more than I have liked the American or German with only a couple of exceptions along the way. The 54 with the upgrade BL-9 is a great tank although I know Engels likes the Patton.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. At a minimum I would put off the German line so you can get the freebies on the redesign.

[Amarr HM]

After some advice guys. I'm at the point where I think I should pick a line to focus on for a bit, try to get a tier 9 med or a tier 10 heavy for clan wars (I joined a clan) and not sure which to pick.

I'll give you my tuppence worth, if you are looking to get in clan wars I would suggest to put mediums on the long finger and bear in mind that T54s are the one you will want to train. I prefer the Patton myself but the T54 fulfils the role clan wars needs, which is that of a scout that arty find hard to hit . Also worth noting playing a medium in clan wars is nowhere near as fun as in random battles.

Definitely go straight for heavies this will get you top of the food chain. First thing I've noticed is that most good clans will have a good amount of IS7 in nearly every tactic, though a lot of this will depend on what maps they are fighting for. If they are fighting city maps Maus will be the main weapon of choice along with a smattering of T30s and IS7s. Desert maps are IS7 heavy. T30s are little less used overall you will see 4-5 at most with at least two for DPS support in most tactics. It's a great tank, the main problems is not the hull it's that by the time you get one a month or two later it will be turned into a TD and you are playing the please don't gimp my tank lottery. Good Maus drivers are always looked after but it's a slug and you will be used as either a base camper or a trojan horse with little freewill (mind you CW you probably won't get much chance to improvise if your clan has their shit down).

TLDR; Beeline for an IS7 if you want a versatile CW tank that is fun to play. I've played 300 CW games in my IS7, worth checking out my stats (game tag is BlindSide). IS4 and KV3 get you new tank filled garage slots too but without any changes to the IS7 and on top of that the chance of another badass T10 when the IS4 gets upgraded.

[apocrypha]

Cool, cheers guys. I've got a post-it note by my PC labelled "Patch tanks" and have 3 of them (Panther, KV, KV3) and IS4, T34 and T30 are the ones left :)  I also really like how the IS4 and IS7 look, so I was kinda leaning that way anyway!

Actually ended up in a couple of CW battles last night. I was on when they were preparing for them and they were short of people... so I came along in an IS. We were 14 (including an IS) vs 15 and won 2 matches. I even survived both and got a couple of kills, which must have massively pissed off the poor sods at the receiving end. I see what you mean about the no-free-will aspect - they had a plan and everyone had their positions, it was pretty organised. Enjoyed it though, and they seem like a nice bunch.

[Nebu]

Gave this a try last night and I have to confess that even the tutorial didn't help much.  I got into a match, drove a little, and got two shot by someone I never even saw.  Somehow I managed to get a score of -1 without ever firing a shot.  Anyone have any suggestions on how to progress without insta dying every match? 

[Gets]

Don't outright rush unless you know there is an opening right into the enemy base and their artillery. Follow bigger tanks if you're squishy and pop out to shoot and spot for your team then get back behind cover if you're fast, or if there is a bigger slower tank without support drive around him so his turret can't track you. Tanks is about scouting, out-maneuvering and out-damaging your opponent. Did you know someone behind two bushes can shoot without being seen when they haven't been spotted? Use that.

Most people just focus getting into as many battles as possible to get to the next tank. This is just self-loathing behavior. I have more fun, partly because of better win-ratios, on lower tier games without caring about the grind these days.  I got 3 kills even though I was the lowest tank on the list in my shitty T26, because the enemy team thought I wasn't worth bothering with even though I was shooting rounds into their butts.

There's enough strategy guides out there though: http://worldoftanksguide.com/guide-combat-strategies.shtml

[Nebu]

Thanks for the tips.  I'll read over those guides. 

Any idea why my score was a -1?  Did I accidentally shoot someone on my own team or something?

[Gets]

Probably. A lot of bullets flying around in T1-T2 matches.

[Mortriden]

Any idea why my score was a -1?  Did I accidentally shoot someone on my own team or something?

This happened to me on my second run out.  I fired at a MS-1, missed, and the shot went past him and blew up my teammate with an ammo rack critical... which was both awesome and crap at the same time. 

I've unlocked my Persh, for a medium it takes a lot of damage.  I can't wait to get the 3rd cannon upgrade. 

[Abagadro]

If you want, look for me being logged in, shoot me a message, and we can jump into a training map and mess around without the helter skelter of a match. If you have teamspeak it would be even better as I could talk you through some stuff but even without I can give you some tips. I usually log in after 8 mountain time

As for the minus one you could have also collided with a teammate with real low health and blown them up.

[Tmon]

If you want, look for me being logged in, shoot me a message, and we can jump into a training map and mess around without the helter skelter of a match. If you have teamspeak it would be even better as I could talk you through some stuff but even without I can give you some tips. I usually log in after 8 mountain time

As for the minus one you could have also collided with a teammate with real low health and blown them up.

The in game VoIP works for both sides in a training room so you don't need TS to talk.

[Abagadro]

Oh cool. Didn't know that.

[Nebu]

First of all, thanks to everyone that has offered or given help so far.  This is a very fun and addictive game.  I plan to buy premium for at least a month, but was wondering something.  At what point do I stop being fodder for better tanks?  I played in a match today over lunch and some guy in a panzer just drove right at me.  I was helpless.  He was faster, tougher, and could maneuver better.  I just had to sit there and take it.  I understand that this is the norm for any pvp game with a level system in place, but does the power differential level out eventually?  Also, which tier 2 and 3 tanks should I consider for maximum fun.  I wouldn't mind sniping or hit and run as tactics.  

Thanks!

I found and read THIS GUIDE.  Both humorous and helpful.

[Furiously]

Tier ten is pretty much the only time you won't have someone more powerful than you. Course you will want gold ammo too. The other alternative is to join with a platoon and have fun sometimes being at the bottom and sometimes the top.