It’s a celebration of their Golden Joystick awards win.
I came back about a month and was hugely put off by how much money my higher tier tanks cost to repair if I didn’t win a match (about -20000 credits after repairs and ammo refill). The game got much better for me when I decided to play tanks I enjoyed playing (my precious KV1 and KV2 HE beasts) and I’d otherwise play with my premium tanks and one or two upgradeable tanks once each day for the bonus.
The most important step for my enjoyment was not to pay for a premium- I no longer feel I have to log on each day or see my money wasted.
I think I need the progression aspect because for me the base game simply isn’t interesting enough. There’s too much randomness and silly fake tanks to be taken seriously as a combat sim, too much reliance on usually non-existent coordination and cooperation–not to mention just basic skill–for pub matches to be fun on their own, and too many gotchas in their F2P model and game economy to let me simply play it episodically. So it was, after all, the idea of working my way from a tin can to a juggernaut that caught my fancy.
There are still times when a match–usually with clan mates–is really fun, and I do like playing my high tier tanks in and of themselves. But, because of the way the game is built, I can’t run my M48, my E50M, my T62-A, my T92, my IS-7, my IS-4, my M110E5, or anything else at 9 or 10 without running beaucoup matches in my T34 or Type 59 simply to make enough credits to buy ammo and repairs. Hell, I’ve had the E100, Jagdtiger, and Object 212 unlocked for ages and haven’t had the credits to buy them. So in order to play the tanks I like, I have to grind, and when I’m just grinding for credits, it is really, really not fun, especially when the game makes me play tanks I really would rather not play, and especially ESPECIALLY when the game pretty much makes me buy Premium to do so effectively.
The gold ammo for credits bit pretty much wraps this up for me. 8.0 was nice. 8.1 isn’t, if just because of that.
Enough with the freakin negativity allright! Shure your criticisms are all valid points guys, but to me they fade instantly the moment i get to drive a 40 ton metal monster straight the fuck through some poor slobs living room after flattening his car and trampling all over the pretty white suburban picket fence 
To me the perfect antidote to the tier9 blues is one of those finely honed mid tier vehicles; the M18 hellcat, the VK3200DB, the KV1 and the AMX 13-75 are perfect for the above kicks, as well as a fair bit of prime tank on tank pwnage.
I’m really happy you are enjoying the game still; I just wish I could. I simply can’t get over the negatives at this point. So long and thanks for all the fish I guess.
I really enjoyed it – both playing mid-tier tanks and high-tier tanks. Playing M18 Hellcat or M4A3E8 Sherman in the midtiers was great. I actually stopped playing because I found it a bit too addicting.
How much is the “Gold” ammo? Is it cheap enough that if you fire off a couple rounds each game you’ll still make money? Or is it so expensive that the cost of a round is more than you’ll make playing a match?
My feelings exactly.
They said 1g=400c for the purposes of ammo. Tier 10 gold tank round mostly costs 10g, so 4000 credits per shot.
Lower tier rounds are cheaper, but I don’t know exactly how much since I never bought them. I’d guess about 5g at tier 8, which makes it 2000 per shot, so it’s pretty affordable to shoot a few shots here and there. And perfectly affordable if you don’t really need credits for whatever reason. Which is a problem IMO.
I feel the same way. While I own high-tier tanks, I also have a large number of non-premium tanks from the middle tiers. I find that I enjoy playing them more than my higher-earning premium tanks. The T34, for example, earns more credits than my T29 and trains my tier X crew, but I find that my T29 is much more enjoyable to play.
See, to me, World of Tanks is a shooter game first, a sim second, and a MMO third. To you it sounds like World of Tanks is (or should strive to be) a sim first, a MMO second, and a shooter third. These two very different perspectives impact how we perceive the game. I really enjoy mid-tier matches, and don’t mind either the lack of progression or the ahistoric prototype tanks.
That said, the sheer randomness is certainly annoying. This game would be better if it used player ranking data to seed more equal matches.
Not quite, though I admit I’m probably not always totally clear. I don’t think the game should be a sim. I’m happy with CounterStrike with tanks. However, they built much of the game’s appeal on the historical tank angle, even to the extent of sometimes ludicrously pointing to “history” to justify what are clearly game balance decisions, so they kind of have to bear the responsibility when people get disgruntled with the fantasy elements. They also built the game on MMO mechanics, even competing in MMO categories in competitions/popularity contests. The game is fundamentally based on progression and cost/rewards. To even play it as a pure shooter requires an investment in the MMO aspect (grind, etc.) unless you want to really limit yourself.
I’d be thrilled if the game gave you any tank you wanted, and had situations that might cause you to select one over another, and didn’t require and grinding–a more pure FPS sort of model. That’s not what we have, though; we have a hybrid. I’ve really liked it a lot, and still enjoy the basic combat sometimes, but it’s so hybridized now that, for me, it’s lost a lot of its thrill.
Wombat, i’d hate to see you go, you shure know your stuff. just dont forget your account info or god forbid sell the account ;-)
It’d be interesting to see at what tier/tank type one has the most influence on the match outcome. I feel like high tier matches (8, 9 and 10) i am very much at the mercy of the rest of the team, while with my tier 2 PwnzrKampfWagen II unless someone puts me down real quicklike, the other team is getting rolled. Same happens when i drive my hellcat.
That thing is fast and has a bite, allowing one to take it where its needed and then make a difference. One solid hit from the hellcat often takes a third or half the enemy hp out, making shure they take note. That way scooting over to a flank thats being pressed and putting in four shots of unexpected counterattack can and often will turn the tide.
With my T-54, that just doesnt work. I may be able to read the map, read the situation and scoot to a spot where i can put in four shots before getting vaporized, but what are those going to do agains tanks with 1600 HP a piece? only something like a BL-10 would weaken them enough for this to make a difference.
The most painful tier in the game must be four though. I refrain from using (much) free XP in the British lines, and goddamn it hurts being in a big fat tin can with a paintball gun.
Perhaps this has something to do with my playstyle. I rarely care much for survival. I tend to forget the rounds in which i die quickly, and remember the ones in which an agressive push made all the difference. Perhaps i should learn to be more patient with the higher tier vehicles. its just so fucking frustrating to sit waiting for the other guys to come up out of their bush. ah… people. So i look at the map and make my run. rarely survive, but depending on the situation and luck, winning gloriously :D
So am I reading you all correctly that going up the British Medium line is a better idea than going up the British Heavy line?
So I bought and upgraded a matilda thinking I might be a slow but heavily armoured beast. I was wrong- the thing is made of tissue paper. I must continue to remind myself that the stats in the game bear no relevance to history.
My Matilda was a machine in WW2 Online :(
I played around a fair bit tonight. Some random thoughts:
[ul]
[li] I do not like the new graphic look. I wish there was a way to go back to the old look. It looks too cartoony and washed out now.[/li][li] Thumbs up on the new after action report.[/li][li] I really like that we can now leave a battle and get the AAR later – something I’ve wanted since Beta.[/li][li] Don’t like the new Tech Tree, although maybe I’m just not used to it yet.[/li][/ul]
Does camouflage painting now give in game bonuses? Blech. Also I though I saw a Pz IV with Schürzen protecting it’s wheels. I know they talked about adding that at some point, but I couldn’t figure out how to buy it.
Why don’t you guys like the idea of being able to buy gold ammo for credits? I would have thought in general most people would view having all game-benefiting items purchasable for in-game credits or for gold. Doesn’t that make the game fairer?
They reduced the amount of credits you earn per match, so if you opt for gold ammo you will be lucky to break even unless you are a premium player. It will basically force you to subscribe or buy gold if you want to compete.
It appears that you can get rid of encounter and assault battles in the preferences section! Goodbye assault battles. I’ll have to think on whether or not I want to keep the encounter ones.
Keep in mind that if you are in a platoon you can’t opt out of assault battles–all platoons get tossed into the heap for those. Only singletons can opt out, at least, that’s how it was after 8.0 went live. They might have changed it.
The problem with gold ammo in general has been that the tanks are balanced, it seems, for gold ammo. No tank in the game performs at baseline without gold ammo, so it’s not like it gives you a bonus, it simply allows you to function at 100%. Adding gold ammo for credits simply exacerbates this–while it makes it “easier” to play at full capacity, because it makes it easier it will make it more necessary, and as noted above, earnings have been nerfed across the board.
So, before, few people bothered to run gold ammo in pub matches, so you could get away with not having any, as most everyone else was on a level playing field. Now that you can buy gold ammo for silver, far more people will be running with it meaning you have to too, or be outmatched. At least, that’s how I see it.
I may check out the Brits a bit but I can’t see myself spending any more cash on the game. As it is, if I want to run my favorite tanks I have to run like two or three matches in a Tier 8 premium for every match in a Tier 9 medium, if I want to gain any credits over time to buy the rest of the tanks I want–or even to fully outfit some of the ones I have.
I got some extensive playtime in with the British tanks tonight. Combining the 3-days of free Premium with the 5x first battle bonus, I was able to zoom all the way up to Tier IV tanks in both the medium and heavy lines.
Generally I found the British tanks to be pretty enjoyable. Certainly much better than my most recent trip up the tree using the execrable French tanks. I also didn’t run into anything like the Lee that some would find rather painful. Generally the British tanks seemed to hold up pretty well under fire and do some pretty good damage. The Pom-Pom guns were rather interesting. They’re somewhat similar to the French cartridge guns, but only have a 2 round cartridge rather than a 6 round cartridge. The reload time is also much faster, but it’s handy to pop out of cover, blast the enemy twice in a row, then hide for reloading.
The A13 Mk1, A13 Mk2, A13 line gives good speed, although maneuverability isn’t great. As far as offensive power, I never ran into a situation where I felt like I couldn’t do damage, even with the A13 (Tier IV) coming against Tier Vs.
The Cruiser I and Cruiser II are rather slow, although not quite down to the excruciating level. The Valentine I still haven’t spent that much time with. It seems a bit sluggish, (although there’s one more upgrade I haven’t gotten yet). But seems to do reasonable damage.
I didn’t try the Mk II, Mk III, Matilda line.
I’ll be interested to see if the British continue to feel reasonable all the way up the line, or if they’re a flipside to the French’s horrible-low-tier, great-high-tier.
I also figured out what’s up with the Pz IV with Schürzen – it’s a new premium tank, not a regular Pz IV with some kind of external equipment.
Exactly.
In addition, it adds yet another random factor into the game. Before this change, if I go on my, for example, E-75 against an enemy E-75, I would look at his turret and gun to see if he is as upgraded as I am and would fight him accordingly and my skill would allow me to win most of those duels. Now, the deciding factor becomes whether my opponent has any (more easily available) gold rounds. I have no way of knowing if he does and there is pretty much nothing I can do about it if he does.
So where as before I usually won duels like that, now it would be up in the air depending on whether the enemy decides to burn some of his credits by shooting gold at me. The outcome is completely out of my hands, might as well flip a coin.
Moreover, it’s such an obvious money grab. They are forcing you into getting premium account and buying (and driving) premium tanks, otherwise you are not on equal footing with other players. Before this, free2play people progressed slower but had exactly the same tanks as “premium” players. Now, if you don’t have premium and/or some credits stockpiled, you are a second rate player due to lack of gold ammo.
And the outcome of the matches will be more and more decided by whichever team has more premium players that are willing to burn some gold ammo. And again, since you can’t see it, predict it or do something about it, it will seem more random now.
Reducing money gain across the board, including the old premium tanks people paid money for, was also a pretty low move on their part.
The game is more of a buy2win now.
i havent played enough to be answer the silver for golden bullets thing.
i do want to answer the washed-out look. prior to 8.0 there was a setting in the options screen named anisotropic filtering. this sharpens up the textures. after 8.0 one needs to force aniso in the graphics driver control panel in order to stiull enjoy the effect. it makes a lot of difference, believe you me!
PIX:
with
with
MOAR PIX:
without
without
without
