World Of Tanks

[Nathan Phoenix]

I really, really want to like this game. I've had some good rounds. Too often though I play the low level battles and die in one hit to artillery, or play the normal battles and die in one hit to some tank way bigger than mine. It just really sucks to get one shot and then have to sit out for like 13 minutes.

[Janster]

You don't have to sit out, just exit, and use another tank, you get all the rewards when the battle is over.

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by MrCoffee

The triangle turns green if you can hit it, yellow if there is a chance and red if you cant hit.

Thanks MrCoffee!

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by Nathan Phoenix

I really, really want to like this game. I've had some good rounds. Too often though I play the low level battles and die in one hit to artillery, or play the normal battles and die in one hit to some tank way bigger than mine. It just really sucks to get one shot and then have to sit out for like 13 minutes.

If you want to make a contribution early on, consider going up the German TD tree. The Marder II once it gets its upgraded gun can make a big contribution to its team. It can't take damage at all, but it can shoot from far away and do real damage to most anything. Downside is that the Hetzer (next up the German TD tree) is less fun than a Marder. It can take a lot more punishment, but it is painfully slow, and the gun is actually a bit worse than the upgraded Marder gun. StuG the tier V TD is pretty decent though. And from what I've seen the JgdPzr IV and JgdPanther or both pretty good. Anyway they are good enough that I do not like fighting against them on the battlefield.

Not sure about the Russian tanks.

[ydejin]

Oh also, it's much rarer to die in a single artillery shot once you get out of the recruit battles. Almost all the Tier III and better tanks can take near misses from all but the heaviest artillery. Although that Marder I just recommended in my last post, might be an exception.

I can't even remember the last time I got one-shotted by artillery. Repeatedly shelled and chased across the map sometimes with enemy tanks shooting at me as I had to move out from behind cover to avoid artillery fire sure, but one-shotted no.

[MrCoffee]

Everytime i see the top tier artillery i cry a little.

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by MrCoffee

Everytime i see the top tier artillery i cry a little.

Yeah, I agree. That's why the disclaimer about "the heaviest artillery".

On a related note, I really don't understand how some people choose their strategies. For example in Karelia there are three approaches -- through the central valley, along the plateau on one side, or through the side valley on the other. Some people really like going along the plateau, which seems to me to be wide open for getting blasted by enemy artillery. If the enemy has a Hummel or better, there is no way I want to be out on that plateau.

The other thing about artillery in regular games, as opposed to recruit games -- it tends not to last that long. I'd say upwards of 50% of the time at least one if not all our artillery gets taken out by enemy light tanks early in the game.

[MrCoffee]

I usually go to the plataeu because EVERYONE goes to the side valley and it ends up in a slug fest, so i prefer flanking them with another 2-3 people.

And yes it does hurt when there is arty but generally they are also paying attention to the valley.

[ydejin]

I almost always end up staying on defense. No one ever stays on defense on that map. And because the slopes are so steep, getting back to defend is really tough. I've seen the game lost because some guy in a light tank gets up to our base and no one can get back in time to do anything about it.

With my long 75, I can pulverize people at the enemy base or in the central valley or plateau anyway, assuming someone with a good radio spots the targets.

The other thing about that side valley is that if you are not hugging the mountain wall, enemy artillery can often hit you anyway. So it's not completely sheltered. But at least the enemy base defenders can't shoot you. Although in a game earlier tonight I smacked a JagdPanther twice from the side who had backed so far up that side church area that his rear was sticking out where I could see it from the base.

[Incendiary Lemon]

Originally Posted by ydejin

If the enemy has a Hummel or better, there is no way I want to be out on that plateau.

It's a bit of a nightmare if your a slower tank, or even if your fast. If you get tracked enemy fire will just put you away. The Valley is better protected and if you get caught for a moment your only one of half a dozen potential targets. There is some safety in numbers.

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by Incendiary Lemon

It's a bit of a nightmare if your a slower tank, or even if your fast. If you get tracked enemy fire will just put you away. The Valley is better protected and if you get caught for a moment your only one of half a dozen potential targets. There is some safety in numbers.

Yeah, I got caught out by the Lake in Lakeville, near the middle road, although not on the road itself -- mostly on defense by our base. And some artillery guy zeroed in on me. I kept on moving about, but there really was nowhere to go where he couldn't smack me. The best I could do was to try to move unpredictably and slowly back up the hill without turning my fanny toward any enemy tanks that could strike me. It was a real disaster. I think I lasted about 4-5 shells before I went down.

[MrCoffee]

4-5 shells? you made him waste a lot of money :p

[Jarrodhk]

I get a warm feeling inside every time I get 3 or 4 tanks to waste multiple shots trying to hit me in a light tank.

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by MrCoffee

4-5 shells? you made him waste a lot of money :p

Your right MrCoffee, I just need to look at things from the right perspective :-)

[LokeUtgaard]

Originally Posted by ydejin

I believe the gold is deposited in your account at 0:00 GMT.

In my experience, the gold is deposited after you finish your first game each day (after 0:00 GMT).

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by LokeUtgaard

In my experience, the gold is deposited after you finish your first game each day (after 0:00 GMT).

Could be. I'm usually playing at the time.

[Erik J.]

Dammit. I've been pretty good at being a casual gamer for the last couple years. My PC is terrible, so that helps. But games like this, Minecraft, and the Madden league Qt3 is doing are going to pull me right back in. Dammit!

[None]

I think I'm completely in love with this game. Maybe it's because it's the new shiny but I'm just having lots of fun with it. I finally saved up enough to roll around with a Bison and a BT-2, both upgraded and the kills are just racking up now. I'm trying to decide if I want to level up through the light tanks, SPGs and ATs or convert some of that gold into credits and skip ahead to a medium tank. The allure of a Panther is strong.

[zombo77]

Since you already have the BT-2, the soviet light/medium tank tree gets great after the BT-7. The A-20 is a decent scout tank, T-34 is just great all around and can hit accurately while on the move with the 57mm gun, T34/85 is the same thing with more armor and a bigger gun. T-43 and T-44 are probably even better than the VK3002DB and the Panther.
Their stats might not look great on paper but almost all their armor is sloped, effectively giving them the equivalent of 100-140mm of armor while still being able to go fast and packing some of the most deadly guns in the game.

[MrCoffee]

I heard the T-43 and T-44 are getting nerfed tho, im saving up for the VK3002DB but its a pain to get 1.7m credits.

[cliffski]

The hetzer sucks
I wish I'd never bought it.

[playingwithknives]

Originally Posted by cliffski

The hetzer sucks
I wish I'd never bought it.

Once you've upgraded you can kill scouts and play defence ok. It doesn't take long to get to the Stug III, which is awesome.

[Destarius]

Gosh, a kitted BT-2 with good crew is crazy fun.

[Incendiary Lemon]

I'm gradually warming to the Tiger. You have to play more cautiously and hug cover. You can do damage on your own but you really need a support crew to help you pummel targets and keep them distracted.

It is fun seeing people flee when I roll around a corner.

[Marcin]

Originally Posted by cliffski

The hetzer sucks
I wish I'd never bought it.

Really? Interesting. It was the terror of the field a tad (last week!) earlier.

This actually reflects my primary concern - what will happen when the players' pool consists solely of maxed out people. Still waiting on tiered battles, guys!*

*they should listen because I'm paying them so much.

[Gus_Smedstad]

One problem I'm having with the game emotionally is that I die a lot. Part of that may just be that I suck, but my survival rate is 22% according to my profile page. Yet I don't think this is that uncommon an experience - the winning side typically takes 60%-70% casualties, and so I'm guessing most people die in roughly 80% of the games. Since it makes sense to bail out of a game the moment you're dead, the fact that your side won after you died isn't much consolation. My supposed ~50% win rate feels more like an 80% loss rate because of the deaths.

- Gus

[PapaSmurf]

By that math, I have a 120% loss rate. 65% death, 55% loss.

Yet, it works for me. I have two cash-farming medium tanks on the go (T-34 and PZIV). I let them die often because I make more money by playing both. As long as they don't die too quick, I have little downtime. With a premium account, it's stupid money.

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by Gus_Smedstad

One problem I'm having with the game emotionally is that I die a lot. Part of that may just be that I suck, but my survival rate is 22% according to my profile page. Yet I don't think this is that uncommon an experience - the winning side typically takes 60%-70% casualties, and so I'm guessing most people die in roughly 80% of the games. Since it makes sense to bail out of a game the moment you're dead, the fact that your side won after you died isn't much consolation. My supposed ~50% win rate feels more like an 80% loss rate because of the deaths.

- Gus

I think 20% survival is probably about right. I'd say most games come down to between 3-8 tanks left. Figure a 20% average survival rate gives us 6 tanks left at the end of the game. Heavy tanks and artillery are far more likely to make it to the end of the game.

My survival rate on the Pzkw IV and VK3601 are both at 30%, whereas it's 9% for my Pzkw III A, 8% for my Pzkw III, and 0% for the BT-2 (which also has a truly pathetic 3 wins / 12 loss record). My Bison has my best survival rate at 34%.

I'm mostly trying to think of this as a team game -- so for me the win rate is the main thing. My overall win/loss is still pretty heavily negative, but my Pzkw IV and VK3601(H)'s at least are now positive. If my sacrifice ultimately helps my team win, then that's a good game, regardless of whether or not my tank makes it through. Of course as Patton (or at least George C. Scott) would say "No one ever won a war by dying for their country, they won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his."

I'm not really sure how they could make a game where one side or the other won, but most of the tanks were left standing. I think that would be more frustrating than not. I know on those games where most of us are still up when someone has won (typically because one team or the other forgot to defend the base) it just feels a bit of a hollow victory or defeat.

[Gus_Smedstad]

I think they're taking the right approach with this. The usual FPS solution is respawning, which results in reckless player behavior because death isn't permanent. I'm just commenting on how the constant feeling of death tends to grind me down. I think maybe they need to make the post-game breakdown (# of targets spotted, damaged, destroyed, etc.) available even if you left the game after you died. That'd help the sense of accomplishment somewhat.

Something else they need to do is implement tiered combats. Recruit battles are fun even in a level-1 tank, but once you're forced into the regular battles by buying a level 3 vehicle, it's a real grind. Tank destroyers like the Marder II are reasonably well balanced against similar level tanks, but aren't much use on a battlefield heavy with Tiger II's and JagdPanthers.

That said, the "feel" of the regular combats is much more like what I'd want than the Recruit battles. Engagement ranges are longer and circle-strafing is much less common.

- Gus

[ydejin]

Originally Posted by Gus_Smedstad

I think they're taking the right approach with this. The usual FPS solution is respawning, which results in reckless player behavior because death isn't permanent. I'm just commenting on how the constant feeling of death tends to grind me down. I think maybe they need to make the post-game breakdown (# of targets spotted, damaged, destroyed, etc.) available even if you left the game after you died. That'd help the sense of accomplishment somewhat.

Definitely agree with that. They particularly need to give scouts a better sense of accomplishment by not only telling you who spotted what first, but which tanks were killed because of your scouting.

Because that isn't there people who don't have much experience in the game think they have to have the first spot to get xp in tier 3, so there's a mad rush to be the first to spot stuff.

Also completely agree about the need to have an immediate report if you leave the game. Give a bump to my thread about this on the official forum. It doesn't seem to have gotten much support.

Originally Posted by Gus_Smedstad

Something else they need to do is implement tiered combats. Recruit battles are fun even in a level-1 tank, but once you're forced into the regular battles by buying a level 3 vehicle, it's a real grind. Tank destroyers like the Marder II are reasonably well balanced against similar level tanks, but aren't much use on a battlefield heavy with Tiger II's and JagdPanthers.

Yeah, some of the most fun I've had has been in a Tier 3 tank where it happens to be that almost all the enemy are also Tier 3. They really need to reduce the grind from Tier 3 to Tier 4. Looking over all my tanks, the second most played tank was a Pzkw III A at 85 battles and that was probably the least amount of fun.