World of Tanks

[Dark Hellion]

I got my Sherman too and god is it nice to actually be able to move again. Personally, I thought the M3 Lee was total ass. It felt too slow to flank the tanks you needed side armour shots to kill and no turret made it easy for the lighter tanks to flank you. It was pretty tough from the front but with the matchmaking there were few tanks you would want to try to have a slugging match with.

[D.Turtle]

This is nice:

Christmas and New Year holidays are nearing. World of Tanks Developers Team decided to make a gift to the players. And we are glad to announce the launch of the Special Holiday Campaign - from December 20, 2010 till January 2, 2011 all the players will be given 500 gold daily (and it doesn’t matter if you played a battle or not). In addition to the increased daily gold giveaway, some other pleasant surprises are also possible.

And yesterday I had an epic match with my Tiger: 10 kills, 2500 xp, and 60k credits

Matches like that do to a certain extent compensate for lots of matches where you can barely get anything done ...

[wautd]

Meh, I'm swimming in gold. Any news on the softwipe?

[Vanas]

With the sudden glut of gold I've gone quite mad and picked up a Matilda and re-bought the PzII because it's just fun.

The Matilda actually seems pretty alright, if you excuse the fact that the only thing on the map that's not out running you is scenery. It seem to be capable of taking a hit and keeping on trucking without too much trouble and is slow-moving unpleasantness to anything smaller than it. Against Tigers and arty, yeah, pretty much fucked.

[Mr Bean]

I have been meanwhile doing nothing but playing my Veteran tanks to get more xp, more xp to use gold to transfer into universal xp to turn into future tanks.

Have 30k saved, by xmas end I expect that to jump to 100k and I might finally get into heavies or maybe high end TD after screwed around with nothing but artillery and mediums this entire time.

[Vanas]

Oh, admittedly, that's half the reason I nabbed the Matilda. It comes as an Elite, and is pretty much there to finally get to Tier V in either tanks or TDs.

[Rekkon]

Daily gold increased from 150 to 500 until January 2nd.

[Highlord Laan]

Now that I've got the six pounder for my M7, it's turned into quite a fun tank to play. In tier appropriate matches it's a deadly threat, and even against higher tier heavies, I can pose a danger from the side and behind if I place my shots. Next upgrade will be the tracks, since I've got both engine upgrades and the 75mm guns researched from the Lee. I'm going to go Elite with this thing, it's that much fun. Suffering through the M5 was totally worth it.

As for my T1 Heavy, I knew it would be a grind, but I was really hoping it'd be at least moderately fun. I was wrong. I'll probably only play it once a day for the double xp, then stick to my M7 for bonus XP farming to get past the T1.

[Vanas]

Finally out of the bloody Hetzer. I'm liking the StuG quite a lot, even if it does seem to be made of tinfoil. I go scouting in it occasionally, I seem to end up out-running some of the team's mediums. Managed to polish off a Tiger that was looking the wrong way, so at least it does damage.

I also thought I've give arty a try. Man, it's so cheap I feel dirty, but somewhat addictive. Scored two direct fire kills in my last match. If only I could remember which I've got. Wespe? Wespe sounds about right.

[Ritterin Sophia]

I also thought I've give arty a try. Man, it's so cheap I feel dirty, but somewhat addictive. Scored two direct fire kills in my last match. If only I could remember which I've got. Wespe? Wespe sounds about right.

Stop now before you turn into Zinegata and we all begrudge you for being an arty-whore.

[Vanas]

It's weirdly addictive. The crew's crap though, so either I fire a round in the general direction of the enemy or just hope they don't move and spend half the match waiting for the reticule to get to about tank-sized. The direct fire stuff though, is *hilarious*. Heck, I'd use it as a TD if I wasn't trying to run counter-battery.


Yeah, okay. I'm going back to the StuG.

[Almightyboredone]

Been playing for a bit now (handle's BoredOne), and just stumbled into the Tier 3 American tanks (M2 Medium and Stuart). Got to use the Stuart to get my first posthumous kill; rammed another scout and his teammates sent a few rounds straight through me and into him, killing us both.

Also, I'd agree with Vanas- using the arty (well, the T57, the only one I have right now) as the meanest TD is the best way to go.

[Highlord Laan]

Arty players deserve every bit of verbal and in-game abuse they get. Not many complain or stake screens if a heavy in the starting zone "accidentally" blows a hummel apart at match start, and I know I'm not the only one that doesn't even make anything that bears even a passing resemblance to protecting or covering them.

[Agent Sorchus]

^ As a TD player let me say, Fuck you too.

Arty isn't that much of a determent to the game, (I am reserving judgment on the german arty, having not played it at all, it does seem like it might be over powered). As it is right now I would rather have the Arty player still alive and no heavy that would TK an arty just for existing, an arty is a better lure than a heavy. Mostly the people who whine about arty play mediums and lights, where it isn't the arty that is screwing them so much as the cowardly Heavies that are not screening for the mediums. As a TD the thing I hate even more is when all the fast mediums and lights go die in the first minute, all trying to get the scout award. It only helps themselves, but this game really is more of a team game than not.

ADDENDUM: fast tanks are also screwed by how easy it is to track them with arty or HE, but even then they don't have the same frustration a TD player has with that same mechanism.

[Vanas]

I've never had a huge problem with arty myself. Admittedly, my highest thing is Tier 5, so I can't comment on higher. Two arty pieces per team seems a good amount, enough to be useful, but not enough to be colossal dicks.

Sure, they do a fuckton of damage, but it's not hugely easy to actually hit something with it if they're moving, especially with my off-the-shelf Wespe. Heck, I've lobbed shells at totally stationary TDs and not hit once. Then again, not so experienced with the arty.

I'm definitely more of a TD player, but even there I'm pretty much making it up as I go along. Hide and hope seems to be the best way though I've seen some truly nasty TD traps be set up before.

[Agent Sorchus]

Best TD I have seen is with a trio of TD's, myself is SU-85, an Su-100, and I think a Jgpz4. The german TD was shooting over us while both of the SU's were using the offset gun to shoot around ourselves. We were running up the town on lakeside shooting and killing everything in our way with no coordination between us. It just kinda clicked and we killed the everyone on that side of the map before the two other bottlenecks broke even. (though I was killed by an M41 that was playing TD)

[Mr Bean]

^ As a TD player let me say, Fuck you too.
. As a TD the thing I hate even more is when all the fast mediums and lights go die in the first minute, all trying to get the scout award. It only helps themselves, but this game really is more of a team game than not.

ADDENDUM: fast tanks are also screwed by how easy it is to track them with arty or HE, but even then they don't have the same frustration a TD player has with that same mechanism.

Yeah well that's why we run and die in the 1st minute. In fact my A20 I use for this purpose and nothing else. I don't like ending up in Tier 9, Tier 10 matches whever the lowest tank is a Tier 6 artillery and then me, it means there are zero tanks on the map (Sans the odd panther) that I can even touch. In my A20 I often end up in matches that are 90% heavies, 8% artillery, 2% scouts. With rampent de-tracking and the fact that heavy guns shots that don't kill me in one shot will knock off BOTH of my tracks (Somehow) and leave me dead for the follow up shot against a tank I can't even touch means I have no reason to play out those matches. Better to simply charge, get 400-1000 scouting xp and move onto the next tank because I do have six slots and five other tanks I could be playing in much more even match ups.

If there's 2-4 heavies and a mix of mediums I'll play scout but if it's nothing but heavies, fuck that noise, I can't hurt anyone why bother playing the match out?

[Agent Sorchus]

I totally understand when you are tiered up to a game of only high Heavies, that is no fun. But i see those people suicide charging in games that are pretty fair, as in they can fight against at least half of the opposition. That is just all sorts of wrong.

after all I have been in that position before, playing an M5 when 8 of the tanks in the match are tier 10. (I did still play, and I even killed a crew man in a Maus, but it wasn't fun.)

[Vanas]

Oh, I can live with that. Nothing's as frustrating as finding a nice hideyhole for the StuG and then seeing an endless parade of IS-3s and King Tigers trundle past. I can do almost nothing to them, they can turn my StuG inside out by looking at it. Some matches work out nicely, but that just sucks.

My last match, my team had 8 TDs, 2 Lees and 3 arty, leaving us with only 3 actual tanks. Oddly enough, we didn't do so well.

[Mr Bean]

One match was hilarious we had four Ferdinands on the city map. Using them as cover the mediums and my Hummel acting as a TD sat in our main and picked off the entire attacking force of T-44's, T-43's, Tigers and KV's. Sometimes the match making system stacks the deck lopsidedly.

If they were clever they would re-work the system so each Tier gave a better accounting for itself based on what it was equipped with not just what kind of tank it was.

Tier 5 tank =5 points, each upgrade level adds a point (IE best engine? +1, better than default gun? +1, best gun? +3) and if you have a gold crew (100% or better average experence level) that adds another 2 points. So a tricked out Tier 5 tank is worth 10 points. While a tricked out tier 9 tank could be worth up to twenty points. Then make sure both sides tanks were within 2 points, IE side a 15 tanks is equal to one hundred fifty, side two has one hundred fifty two. While Tier 8 battles could be two hundred fifty points a side. Almost table top esk with each side being able to bring so many points worth of units. Right now the match making system seems to be ignoring gold crews, fully upgraded tanks VS stock tanks and TD are worth just as much as equal weight tank counter parts. Worse still when you get the odd Tier 5 match where the heaviest tank is a Hummel VS their heaviest tank is a KV.

I've had that happen, sometimes the match making system throws up what I call godzilla matches of one tier 5 or Tier 6 tanks and a whole bunch of Tier 2-4 tanks with one Tier 5 or Tier 6. Except sometimes the Tier 6 is a Su-51 or a SU-85 while the other side gets a KV.

[Zinegata]

I also thought I've give arty a try. Man, it's so cheap I feel dirty, but somewhat addictive. Scored two direct fire kills in my last match. If only I could remember which I've got. Wespe? Wespe sounds about right.

Stop now before you turn into Zinegata and we all begrudge you for being an arty-whore.

Bah humbug! I have an IS and an Easy 8 on top of a Hummel you know .

My arty record is still the best though, albeit remarkably enough I rarely die by arty in regular tanks - I seem to know instinctively when somebody is planning to Hummel me to death .

[Agent Sorchus]

And we have update incoming. Dec 23.
http://game.worldoftanks.com/news/gener ... ember-23rd

Big changes are the 15 vs 15 battles (finally)
T-54, Panther 2, Pershing, T9 soviet TD and one more tier of arty for all factions.
2 new maps, voice chat for all tanks in a platoon or in a company for the 15 vs 15 battles.
Some rebalancing, and customizable controls.

[atg]

So I finally decide to upgrade to the PzIII... and every round I'm up against IS-3s, Tiger IIs, Panthers, not one tank that I can actually damage. Way to go balancing.
Scouting generally lasts all of 2 seconds until I get turned into steel confetti.

[defanatic]

Late to the game, I've given this a shot. It seems to take forever to upgrade your tank so that you're actually able to do something other than scout.

I'm not exactly sure the light tank tree is the best to start players on, since it does seem to be the most work for the least... Well, stuff really. Feel free to argue against this, but it just didn't "feel" intuitive or rewarding to start as a light tank.

[Exonerate]

Light tanks were already pretty bad to play when warping was still around, and now that's been fixed, their survivability has dropped tremendously. For a while, it was fun dodging 10 tanks shooting at you as your team's artillery rains down on them, but now that's nigh impossible. As I've said before, light/medium tanks are fundamentally underpowered due to game mechanics. I've climbed a good amount of each branch on the Soviet tree, and in my experience, the mediums line is least fun to play. I can play my T-44 like a pro, working with teammates, getting shots off when enemy guns aren't concentrating on me, and weaving through buildings to flank and avoid fire, and I will still barely outperform a stationary right-click-left-click idiot in a same tier heavy. At least TDs and arty net the guilty pleasure of taking potshots from safety.

I'm finding the Soviet TDs great in firepower but a little anemic in armor. At times I wish I had a Ferdinand instead of a SU-152 that gets penetrated from the front most of the time by mediums. Still, the firepower is great - the raw damage output of the second 122mm is about 3600 damage a minute! Any Tiger or IS that tries to go head on against one is in for a surprise. Probably the best support TD, as long as you have teammates to tank and protect flanks for you.

Arty in the higher tiers does require a little more skill to play, since long reloads means picking shots carefully and the aiming time means you really need to anticipate where the enemy is before they're spotted. Still, predicting where enemy tanks on the move isn't that hard. Changes in artillery and the spotting system would really make the game more dynamic, but I doubt that will happen because so many people seem enamored by the idea of camping in base for 15 minutes (Or as they put it, "defending"). You know your gameplay is static when the playerbase responds to such criticisms with "GO BACK TO COUNTERSTRIKE", which is also often regarded among FPS players for being very campy. Apparently during Beta testing any criticism is supposed to be withheld because it's not a finished product yet!