| Title | World of Tanks: war is (still) hell |
| Author | David Lydon |
| Posted in | Game diaries |
| When | October 29, 2012 |
A lot has changed on the virtual battlefields of World of Tanks in the 18 months since Dave Markell's excellent series of articles. The matchmaker has been improved..
Read the full articleDave, your reverse psychology has twisted my fragile mind. I think I am finally going to have to jump in and try this out.
Did they fix the problem that only kills get you points, so you're punished for trying to be a good light tank scout?
Thanks for the kind comments on my prior article series, David. There have obviously been many changes since I last logged in, which was probably almost a year ago. Your current series may just pull me back in--I look forward to reading the rest of it!
I've jumped back in over the last two weeks after a nine month break, so this series will be very timely. I was burned out from constant grinding (trying to get XP before my willpower would break down and I'd reach for my credit card). Coming back with a fresh mindset focused on enjoying the gameplay and not worrying about the endgame really enhances this game.
I'm looking forward to this series.
Ha, that tank on the bridge reminds me of the various Team Fortress 2 shenanigans when you could block teammates so they couldn't leave the spawn point!
The initial series of articles convinced me to jump in and I've been doing my daily doubles ever since. I am a member of a top clan, made tens of thousands of gold in clan wars, played about 12,000 matches and have a stable of tier 10 tanks. I can say that the biggest problems with the game are the simply horrible skill levels of most players, even after thousands of matches, and the power creep that comes with new tanks. The power creep especially has completely changed how clan battles work, from a tactical capture, probe and advance to flat out rushes. Armor no longer matters.
Yes, about a year and a half ago. Scout tanks get XP and credits worth 50% of the damage done (by others) to the target(s) they keep spotted.
And there was never a situation where only kills gave you points, not even in the beta. You always received the vast majority of credits and XP for doing damage, whereas the kill bonus was very tiny (~5%).
This game was amazingly fun in beta, when every player got a free allowance of gold every day which made unlocks take reasonable amounts of time to achieve. After beta ended I lost all interest, the game is either too expensive or way too time consuming.
That's a good attitude. World of Tanks is terrible if your only goal is to level. The arena battles have more in common with a round of a FPS than grinding through Murloc dens.
To the extent that you're trying to avoid spending money, you're going to have a much better experience in the lower tiers. The narrowed matchmaker brackets have really helped lower tier games. Tier V tends to get a lot of great games, and tier VII tanks like the T29 or IS are great "faux-endgame" tanks for players without premium. They no longer face tier X tanks, and decent play will earn a profit with a non-premium account.
About 3 months ago some friends gifted me with an account that someone gave them (the person quit gaming). I had resisted playing WoT, mainly because I was already playing three other games and did not have time. The account I received had tier 5 & 6 tanks in the American & Russian and a few premiums. Starting out playing in the 5 & 6 tiers was not bad and I have about a 50/50 win-loss record. Moving up (I purchased an IS-6 premium) was a real education and it gets really tough in matches with tier 10 tanks.
The real surprise was trying to go down and play in tier 1,2, or 3. Talk about competitive and fast paced. Those "lawn mowers with guns" are probably some of the toughest (and most fun) matches I have played. I think my biggest, and maybe surprising, advantage is that I have been a table top wargamer for many years and many things I have learned on the table top and about tanks in general have served me well in this game.
"Armor no longer matters."
I'm curious how credit-purchasable premium shells will change lower tier games. Right now, penetration creep is only really visible in the higher tiers, and was somewhat offset by the normalization changes.
We'll see if it stays that way.
This game is just truly horrible. I try it again every couple months and every time i come away hating the time I wasted on it.