4041

Pretty much, yes, and it’s vastly better than it used to be. Anyone complaining about the current matchmaker probably never fought a Maus in a Tier 3 tank. I did, dozens of times…

4042

I’ve made my piece with the matchmaker. The key is to not expect a Marquess of Queensbury-style evenness about the matches. The tier ranges are fairly broad, and the differences in ability across those tiers is very broad, so yes, you do get into matches where your particular vehicle feels useless.

It isn’t. It just isn’t useful for directly blowing stuff up, but it can do things. It’s being able to let go of the “I’ve got to kill things to be useful” idea. Now, admittedly, the game could do a lot better in both rewarding people for non-direct kills/damage, and in publicizing where it does reward you, but the truth is every tank can do something useful, even if it’s just being a diversion. Not much solace when you’re in a Lee facing a Panther II I guess, but still it’s something.

I agree though you’ll never get a matchmaker that pits only nicely balanced Tier 5s with Tier 5s, or even T5s with 4-6s. And that’s fine with me–for every few matches I’m in that I feel inadequate, there’s one where I’m overpowered, so it’s all (if not good) ok.

BTW, my latest rant is the weird way your gun barrel shoots up when you are around buildings or other obstacles. WTF? I’m trying to poke around a building and unless I’m in sniper mode (hard to drive in), the gun barrel always goes towards the heavens, usually killing me as I struggle to bring it under control in time to fire.

4043

actually, if i understood Victor correctly last sunday, the three populations WoT currently has may be merged. this should improve matchmaking humongously. I have a euro as well as a russian account. the matchmaking on the russian server is nigh on perfect. this is because of the larger player pool.

I agree with wombat that you do not need to actually kill stuff to contribute. On my KV13 I have a very nice win ratio. It has a gun that would look bad even at tier 5. What it does have is a fair bit of speed, toughness and hitpoints. This allows it to drive to the enemies weak points or rear area and start creating havoc. The disruption caused by this has won far more matches than a few hard won kills.

4044

Very good point. I’m playing it now elite with 100% crew. But it was still fun stock. It’s the first tank I play each session. For more info I’d suggest that new players check out the German TD section of the official forums.

As for the MM, I thoroughly enjoy when my Hetzer is top dog in a game. It happens occasionally and i am always pleasantly surprised.

4045

I stopped playing back during the beta, but something I always wanted to see were games where the PzKw III was the top tank. There was a period in North Africa when PzKw IIIj’s (basically the III with the long 50 and some armor upgrades) and M3 Grants were the terrors of the desert. Tobruk (an Avalon Hill game about AFVs in North Africa) even had a scenario that specifically paired those two types off against each other as the “ultimate battle.” For the period, of course.

4046

Depends on what you face, the stock Marder II is fun to face against in my KV, since it’s gun basically just tells me where it’s located as it plinks away. The fully upgraded Marder II can actually hurt, though it still has to be pretty sneaky to avoid getting one shotted.

EDIT: there are quite a few fun low tier vehicles out there. The Tier 3 american TD with the just obnoxious oversized HE gun that shoots a very low velocity projectile can be a hoot to play. The tier 4 t-28 is fun, though I think its entirely eclipsed by the PanzerIV, which is smaller, more heavily armed, and more thickly armored.

4047

Speaking of the KV, I just got the huge boxy turret. Is it really worth it? Man that sticks out like a sore thumb. I understand that you have to have it for the 107, but should I stick to the lower profile one until I can upgrade the gun?

4048

I loved that game (Tobruk). The maps were, well, featureless, and the battles resembled ancients or sea battles more than traditional WWII fights, but the stats, the charts, the dice…that 37mm on the Stuart was deadly, and the PzIII Specials were mean. Sometimes on the desert maps in WoT you get a semblance of that but not too often.

4049

I think the 107 makes it worth it plus it adds about 100 hit points, but I do enjoy smacking those turrets with the L/70 on my Pz4.

4050

Yeah, at this point I’m thinking camo on the KV is essentially a waste.

4051

don’t get the big KV turret unless you have a gun that requires it. the hp gain is not worth the traverse loss.

4052

Damn. I just found out that while you can swap guns, once you swap a turret you can’t go back. That well and truly sucks.

4053

Wait, what? You can swap back to old turrets.

4054

In the case of my KV I don’t get the mount dropdown for the old turret. If anyone can clarify this I’d appreciate it. I have plenty of gold and credits. It just doesn’t happen. Should I bug this?

4055

Played a game and came back to garage, still not an option. Time to grind to the 107.

4056

Try swapping out the gun first and then the turret. I have never had a problem reverting back to a previous turret.

4057

Might be busted, I’ll check it when I get home. I’ve certainly swapped turrets in the past.

4058

That’s…not actually surprising, and certainly helps explain their design choices.

4059

I’ve been in one. I don’t really remember the details, since I haven’t driven the Pz III in a long while, but I do remember kicking some major ass with it, and checking my record it looks like I got 6 kills in one match with it. I don’t recall having more than a few matches where it was the cock of the walk though.

4060

This sounds like the most likely cause in my experience. If you’ve got a gun equipped that the new turret won’t support, it won’t let you swap to the new turret.

By the way, be careful on swapping out the KV-2 turret. The stock KV gun is not very good. I suppose the 76mm S-54 is okay. But the 107 is definitely much better than the other two.