It’s interesting really if you consider that the SU-14 and the hummel probably have the exact same time (or very close) to turn 180’ and fire accurately on a target. It means that the traverse advantage is really only beneficial for setting up and relocating quickly. It makes me feel better about turning with the speed of a tugboat in my SU-14. :D
markv
1582
If it’s BigBadVuk just speak in a civil tone to him but tell him to go do things himself etc, when he flies off the handle report him. I’ve already had him suspended once for threatening to abuse his powers for a few days, it was rather amusing.
That being said, BigBadVuk very much represents the mentality and mindset of the mods of this game in being giant pieces of shit. But it’s very easy to skirt the trolling boundaries and bait them in to self destructing so they get reprimanded themselves. I think that’s a game unto itself and far far more fun than WoT is at this time. I’ve pretty much given up on playing it entirely because of the atmosphere currently.
Being able to hit and damage things at range has rejuvenated the game for me; it’s lessened the “let’s dance around each other in big, slow metal boxes and play bumper cars” aspect of the game and enhanced the “let’s try and use tactics to set up good ways to shoot each other” bits. And the warping fixes seem to have worked well, along with improvements in lag, etc.
I agree though that the atmosphere in game is less than enticing. Last night in a match someone was saying, “I can’t wait until they get voice chat in!” followed by someone making a juvenile and crass remark in chat, after which the person who had just enthused about voice chat typed, “well, maybe not.” That about sums it up.
We did have one match where the battlebus on one side accounted for 100% (6) of the kills that side got. Then again, our side had a SU-14 as well, but it got zero kills. Arty in the hands of a good player on the right map with the right conditions is indeed deadly, but it doesn’t always mean victory. I still think the biggest problem is the balance between making arty fun to play and making it fair to play.
I watched “The Greatest Tank Battles” on the History Channel last week and they were talking about some battle (forgot the name) that took place in February, 1945. At some point, a Canadian Sherman platoon (or whatever, about 10 tanks) got ambushed by Nazi Tigers and 88’s and the guy said “We had to shoot a smoke shell in between us and the Tigers to allow us for some time to move behind a barn”. That’s exactly what I want to be able do in the game! :)
The funny thing about that battle was that once the Shermans (the remaining about 4 of them) moved behind the barn, they proceeded to fight in WoT manner - peek out, shoot, move back, repeat. It wasn’t working for them too good though because the barn got destroyed eventually, so they had to use more smoke shells and get out of there.
As for the ban thing, it’s obviously a fine line for the mods and it’s hard to keep it cool with so many assholes posting shit on your forums. I am kind of sympathetic to the mods - their job is pretty hard and obviously underappreciated. In this situation here, IMO it’s kind of a no-brainer - you propose the mods should suck donkey balls, the mods ban you from the game. Pretty reasonable IMO. Now how it got there might be a different story but every single time I hear a ban story, the banned person is all white and fluffy and the mods are evil and out to get ya. And yet all game boards are full of assholes and the mods can’t ban them fast enough.
Blizzard, btw, did ban people for inappropriate behaviour on the forum. Only from the forum though, IIRC, not from the game.
That’s awesome. He’s truly awful.
I was going to comment on that, but didn’t want a repeat of the conversation we had a while back in this thread about SPGs. I quite agree, lipping off the mods is really not appropriate.
That being said, BigBadVuk isn’t treading a fine line. He’s awful to people who are polite to him. A couple of players here have mentioned him abusing his status in-game, for personal advantage rather than because someone stepped out of line. I haven’t seen this myself, but given my brief interaction with him, I don’t doubt it for a moment.
I was an assistant sysop on Compuserve’s game forums back in the day. That was pretty horrible. At Computer Games Magazine I was the online editor and ran the forums there; I actually received one death threat over my moderation of the one of the wargame forums (grogs can be vicious I guess). So yeah, I do have some sympathy for mods given the assclowns out there on the Intarwebs. But there are limits, and it appears that some at least of the WoT folks have exceeded them.
That’s why I have never gone to the forums after my first visit.
Banned from the game? For a (admittedly insulting) private message?
I understand the forums. But the game? You don’t think that’s an overreaction, strider? Do you see Blizzard or (for a f2p example) Riot Games banning for that?
I said I didn’t want to have this conversation. What you did was wrong. Overreaction or not, he was provoked. The real issue arises when someone does something completely reasonable (i.e. make a polite suggestion, or even more so just not play the game the way he wants) and he starts threatening bans in response. Those are the situations where it’s black-and-white, no-question that he shouldn’t be a moderator.
Also consider that this is a closed beta test, and as they’re dealing with testers as opposed to customers, they may be less likely to take those sort of things lying down.
On a whim, I updated the client last night and took my Ferdi for a spin to see what the new patch is like. One match and five kills later, I love it. I could see (and hit!) foes at comparatively long range, something this game has been sorely lacking. Arty and its eye-in-the-sky satellite view capabilites used to completely outclass TD’s in their supposed role. Now, I think they’ll be a viable and fun choice.
I was addressing strider, hadn’t read your post yet.
Anyway, yeah, not much point in discussing here. I know I did wrong. I’m just shocked by the severity of the reaction.
Like Nathan said, it’s still a beta and I’ve seen plenty of people banned (for various reasons) from betas, including beta of WoW.
Blizzard also updated their agreement (whatever it’s called) to state they can ban people (paying customers) from Starcraft for cheating online. Of course, cheating is different from insulting the mods but still.
If you insult a store clerk, for example, the store can choose to refuse you their service. It really shouldn’t matter if you do it in person, on the phone or online (private message or public post). And IMO it shouldn’t really matter, if it’s about your online game (f2p or not), your TV cable or a cup of coffee.
Now, I am not saying anything about the WoT mods and the way they moderate their forum (I don’t even visit that forum, so I wouldn’t know) but the ban from the game (even if it was already released, which it wasn’t) seems justified to me. IMO.
Back to the game. Dave, thank you for your assessment of the Ferdi. I am going to try and get it now. Jeez, my goals seem to change all the time in this game - from Ferdi to KT to T29 (and beyond) then back to the Ferdi. Oh and Hummel somewhere in between. :)
On the subject of actual gameplay, I was surprised to learn that experience and credits earned scale inversely with distance. In other words, the closer you are to what you kill, the more you get. This has been confirmed by Overlord, so I believe it.
I see this as yet another instance of dev pro-Soviet bias, as the Russian tanks are on average faster, more maneuverable, and tougher (because of more sloped armor). Their guns hit harder but are less accurate than the range-oriented Germans. All of these factors encourage most Russian vehicles to engage in close-up combat, and whaddayaknow, they get a bonus for doing what they’re best at.
This is definitely true. I bought the starter Russian SPG and just played a match, had 4 kills (including 2 other arty), fired six shots for five hits. Didn’t die, and team won. I got 220-odd experience and like 3000 credits. Urm. Uhhh. Maybe this is how they’re going to discourage playing arty?
Seeing as getting closer is, after the patch, highly detrimental to one’s health, I see no reason to not reward greater risk.
Also, while the armor thing is indeed true with the Russian tanks, it certainly does not apply to Russian TDs, which in general have paper armor, relative to their German counterparts.
Except…it makes no sense, to reward tactically imbecilic behavior. See it first, kill it fast, don’t get seen or shot–that makes sense, and should be rewarded–except that would make a boring game I guess. So, yeah, in game terms, it does make sense I guess. Gotta stop thinking grog here I guess.
Currently, with the ‘close combat’ XP and all the spotting problems going on, the game isn’t too terribly fun right now. Trying to get into a Tiger but good lord, the spotting and the matchmaking and the long range gun I have equipped seem to be conspiring against me to move up.
On the other hand I blew through the first couple tiers of the German TD’s and am pretty close to getting a Stug, which I guess is what everyone else seems to be doing too. Except I’m just using my elite Marder to mostly skip the Hetzer. Wouldn’t be so bad if it could move.
And I see no reason to reward it, either. A kill is a kill is a kill. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, beat the enemy, and earn XP. To penalize distance and reward melee takes away from that most fundamental of principles.
I suspect the ranged penalty was something they thought up to either limit the speed at which artillery was leveling, or in order to encourage aggressive play.
If they want to encourage aggressive play, they should rework artillery. From the middle tiers on up (ie, most of the game), it is by far the dominant reason that players spend most of the battle hiding. Myself included.
