Malathor
4741
Sing it brother. I was grinding up my GW Tiger last night and at least half of the games had 4+ arty a side (one had a total of 13). It’s a real drag, even when you are one of them. Arty serves a useful function in the game, but with so many high level arty it just turns into a spotting contest. I try to take advantage by switching to my T-50-2 and of course it changes to one or none.
ShivaX
4742
Which is the real issue in my book. If you pick arty its all arty matches all over. If you pick something else, odds are you’ll get 0-1 arty per side. So the MM seems to like to just pile all the arty into one match for some reason.
It’s kinda hard to get into a zero-arty game on arty. :)
IMO it’s just a perception issue. The MM is making all kinds of matches but the extreme ones are simply more memorable. Lately, I’ve been playing about 15-20 matches (all on MTs and HTs) per evening (only 3 times a week though) and I usually see one 3±arty match, a couple of no arty matches and the rest are in between (1-3).
I definitely don’t see more than a couple arty-fests a day. Although I play tier 8-9 exclusively lately, maybe it’s different in lower tiers.
As for tier 6-8 not being in the game, good luck bothering an E-100 with your little tier 5 arty. Any arty less than tier 7 is completely useless in clan wars.
I still hold that arty is essential to keeping the game viable, and without arty big enough to take down heavies at Tier X–and it can take anywhere from one (rare) to four or five direct hits to kill a Maus or E-100 with Tier VII or even some Tier VIII arty–there would be even less tactical variety in this game than there already is.
Partly, though, I agree there are problems with matches having too many arty players. These matches are sometimes good, often bad, and sometimes really frustrating, though just as often it’s the arty that gets slaughtered by fast movers. But in Clan Wars, arty comes into its own. On some maps, at least–Sand River, for instance, is almost always decided by who has the best arty. Not the heaviest, though everyone will be VII or VIII, but the most accurate, fastest, and luckiest shooters. I usually use arty for Clan Wars now rather than my beloved Object 704. Once I grind up to a Tier X heavy maybe I’ll switch, but for the most part I do more for the Clan in an arty piece than in anything else.
The problems in pub matches are real, I agree, but the solution isn’t getting rid of arty. Without the possibility of every tank, no matter how big, to be seriously messed up by a single good shot, and without something to force some tactics and maneuver, the game IMO would be pretty boring. Most of the tactical planning we do involves how to employ or avoid arty, and it’s pretty engaging.
schurem
4745
im not saying we should be entirely rid of arty. having two or three a side indeed lends the game tactical depth. what i am saying is that games with four or more are suckass failgames that are decidedly unfun.
I’d tend to agree, though the suckage works both ways–it’s no fun to be arty in those games, either.
My guess would be it picks an arty for each side and then if they aren’t equivalent Tiers, it picks more arties until the two sides are relatively balanced for arty.
schurem
4748
so why the flying buttfuck dont they fix that shit?!
I care less about arty than I do KV5 wallet warriors (it’s a premium tank, right?). Those things are so annoying with their derp gun.
Can’t say I see kv5 that often (compared to the swarms of lowe and type59s)
Talorc
4751
KV 5 has a deep gun? I didn’t think the gun was anything special on that, but it has a buttload of armour? (unless you shoot it in the now very well known weak spots)
Ive never really been overawed by KV-5 in game. Lowe is a different matter, although I guess they are a glass cannon.
As an aside I think WoT is going to struggle for players till the new year - too much other PC stuff just released! I know my chances of playing again this year are slim.
I suppose that is the beauty of f2p, I can come back in January and still have all my stuff without spending a cent.
WoT has such a diverse body of players right now that I’m doubting that the population will dive too much, though the delays in getting the substantive patches out (modifications to the US line, new TDs, the French, etc.) and the continued quirkiness of the Clan Wars system haven’t helped I’m sure. Though, yeah, even in my clan many of us have been playing Skyrim, and hanging out in TS waiting for the clan battles rather than all platooning together, lately :).
The KV-5 has the 107 or a version of it I think, doesn’t it? Certainly not a derp. It’s armor is nasty unless you shoot the cupola thingies. Mostly KV-5s are useless because the people driving them really wanted a Lowe but couldn’t afford it, apparently, and don’t know how to use the KV correctly (if there is a good use for it; it seems horribly boring). The Type 59, OTOH, is a really fun medium and when used correctly is nasty. The Lowe is also very effective, and about half the Lowe drivers actually know what they are doing.
Speaking of arty, we won another Sand River defense last night (starting at flag I is so much easier, too), with our four arty getting 8 of the 15 kills; the other guys had five arty, and they were effective as well. That map is truly a cannon-cocker’s paradise.
I don’t think there is anything to fix to be honest. The way I see it, the MM is designed to occasionally scew the balance one way or another in order to keep matches from going stale. Matches with lots of arty or no arty at all, matches when one side has LOTS of meds or TD’s or when one side has 2 “new” light tanks (e.g. T-50-2) and the other has none, etc.
All of those are not seen often enough to be a problem (I counted yesterday, out of 15 matches on tanks (not arty), one was with 5 arties, one was with none, the rest had 1-3) but they spice up the game from time to time and force the players to overcome these quirky layouts.
IMO it’s more interesting to have an occasional “Oh fuck” moment (and having to adapt) than seeing perfectly balanced cookie cutter teams all the time.
In other news, I am done with Tiger 2 and just moved on to E-75. I LOVED Tiger 2, probably more than any other tank in the game. Everything about it is just right, I loved driving it and it’s probably not a coinsidence that I have 70% win ratio on it. Awesome tank.
Calistas
4754
At my level of tank the KV can kill my stuff in two shots. And where are the weak points? I have yet to find a good chart for the various tanks.
Tier 7 and 8, and perhaps even tier 6, should probably be removed from the game entirely. Back in beta when the hummel was one of the best arty it was still very effective for bringing down a maus. The tier 8 crap is stupid because it does like 1500 damage a shot. Being in the game with one is the antithesis of fun. I’ve finally got my IS-4 effectively elite and the amount of disgustingly powerful arty I face has reached the point where I don’t even want to play anymore. I’d say 95% of my matches have 3+ big arty, and probably 60%+ have 4+. It turns the game into a massive boring as shit campfest where I spend half the game playing uniwar on my phone while I sit in cover and glance at the map for nearby red dots.
Way to exaggerate. Like I said earlier, yesterday I’ve had 1 match out of 15 that had more than 3 arties. I was playing E-75. And it’s consistent with previous days.
And no, Hummel’s never been effective at taking down a Maus.
Well, I have to respectfully disagree, but I fear we are definitely coming at this from very different points of view. You seem to be arguing that tanks, and only tanks, should be effective on the battlefield, and that arty is unbalanced. I disagree; arty is very powerful and very vulnerable, and depends far more on a good team than does a heavy tank, for example. A good arty player and a good team will rip you a new one, no question about it. But a good arty player and a bad team will result in free credits and experience for the other side all too often.
I don’t remember ever seeing a chart of weak spots either. IIRC the weak spot on a KV is in the center of the rear of the turret.
The WoT’s forums have a wealth of information about practically everything. There is a Weak Spots Guide consisting of various YouTube videos at GamersHeroes in case you’re interested.
Thanks. It seems that, in general, all ports, vents and machinegun ports are weak. Good starting point.
Talorc
4760
I am by no means an expert, but on the KV-5 the little “r2-d2” looking mini machine gun turrets on the front are reliable for shooting.
If you mean just the regular tier 5 KV (not premium KV-5) the sides of the gigantic refrigerator sized turret are usually extremely reliable to shoot. You’ll often get good angles on the sides too as they turn their turret.
