World of Tanks Thread.

[FreddBoy]

Anyone here play WoT, either on the Xbox 360 or the PC? Just started playing it again after a long absence, and it's still pretty fun for a free-to-play game. Later stages do get grind-tastic, but what's new there eh?
It's not a very taxing game for the PC either, I've only got an Asus X54C laptop, and on low-medium settings I still get 40 to 45fps, but it still looks pretty good!

So who else is a tanker on these here forums?

[BaronOfStuff]

Right here. I've not played for about a month now because I was getting fucked off with shitty matchmaking. Later tiers (6 onward) just become tedious affairs, and some tanks are just so staggeringly, shockingly shit that playing the game feels more like torture than anything else.

[FreddBoy]

Yep, I found that out too when I played the Xbox version, every fucker and their mum was using a T32, and battles became retarded 8+ heavies a side. I'm finding the PC version has a more diverse selection of tanks, some are obviously better than others I would say it's not too bad. I wouldn't go past tier 7 on any country, because the mindset is camp like hell.
They are meant to be tweaking the MM on update 9.1, so it will be interesting to see how the battles pan out.

[BaronOfStuff]

Currently the balance is fucking godawful, with Tank Destroyers frequently making up most of each team. The whole MM thing needs reworking and more tanks definitely need specialised MM; the Churchill VII (as one example) is a heap of fucking shit which does nothing but take up and waste a space when it's a Tier 8 game.

[Looper]

Kohtaa teräksen voima! Tankkipeli.fi

Siema :) Kto pl?

[BaronOfStuff]

Looper said:

Kohtaa teräksen voima! Tankkipeli.fi

Siema :) Kto pl?

PLUTON? PLUTON?

[geekmarine]

I gave it a go a while back, but didn't really get into it. It just wasn't fun going up against tanks three times my size and having my shells just ding off them. I'm sure it's more fun once you unlock better tanks, but the grind required to do that just didn't make it seem worth it. I realize I was also at a disadvantage being a F2Per in a game where paying really can make a difference, but there are plenty of F2P games out there where I can have a bit of fun without paying a cent.

Side note, I know F2P games get a bad rap, but I want to make it clear I'm not against the concept, just games that limit your ability to do anything without money. For instance, I really got into LOTRO, where you can make a lot of progress in that game without spending any money, and even have chances to earn cash shop currency by completing achievements and whatnot. To me, that's an idea F2P model - give enough free content that you become invested enough that you're willing to pay cash to unlock new content and whatnot.

[Waffenak]

Played it on beta and after that, got tired in grinding, polish and russian players not speaking english rushing, pay 2 play shitfest

[Inkie]

The B1 really sucks.

[BaronOfStuff]

Inkie said:

The B1 really sucks.

And that's Understatement of the Century. The M3 is shit too. Horribly ill-designed.

[Reisal]

BaronOfStuff said:

Right here. I've not played for about a month now because I was getting fucked off with shitty matchmaking. Later tiers (6 onward) just become tedious affairs, and some tanks are just so staggeringly, shockingly shit that playing the game feels more like torture than anything else.

This is how it was for me back in mid 2012 before they introduced physics to the game (Started with Update 7.5 in June/July '12). I played for a bit into mid 2013 before I began playing less and less in September and finally stopped.

I hit tier 7 (T29) and it is indeed very tedious and grindy. The problem is past tier 4-5 your repair costs go up and if you have a standard account, you'll be losing money if you don't perform well on the field (dying, etc). Having a premium account is a must if you want to surpass tier 6 or 7 without a headache for playing hundreds of matches.

However, I'll give World of Warships a try once that enters beta.

[Nomad]

One of my ex coworkers moved on to work with Wargaming.net as a community manager, he gets to go to conventions and expos with all the tanks and shit. Lucky bastard.

[AkiraZXE]

I've been playing a lot of WoT, only got 3 tier 7 vehicles, a handful of 6 and everything 5 and below that I ended up liking (Matilda II, T49). The game definitely suffers from extreme balancing issues. I'd even call the stock tank (lack of upgraded modules for those that don't know) one of the biggest multiplayer fuckups I've ever seen. The Porsche Tiger with a 75mm gun instead of the 88mm against late IS-series tanks, what in the hell were they thinking. Artillery is also idiotic but that's for other reason. The only reason I still play is because it was the only large tank combat game out at the time I started and I've already put all this time into learning it.

That said...

Mr. Chris said:

I hit tier 7 (T29) and it is indeed very tedious and grindy.

The T29 is probably the strongest tier 7 tank. Your front armor is ok, but it's your turret that is really good, especially the top turret. You can have anywhere from 300 to 400mm of effective turret armor due to the curve combined with the thickness. Pretty much anything you face won't even try to penetrate it, I know I don't. Even in a Jagdpanther with the 105mm gun at point-blank range, I'd try for anything else. The key to doing well in the T29 is to only expose your turret if you're in danger of them penetrating your front.

Of course, you're stuck with the 76mm for a while if you got to the T29 via the M4 line, you get the 90mm on the M6 just before it, which is only halfway unusable.

[Tristan]

I recently rediscovered my love of tanks (especilly WW2 era), I should probably try this game out.
Yeah right..gg laptop..

edit: Does WoT have the French Saint-Chamond from WWI? I can just imagine mass ragequits of people trying to use them

[BaronOfStuff]

Eris Falling said:

edit: Does WoT have the French Saint-Chamond from WWI? I can just imagine mass ragequits of people trying to use them

Nope, but French 'standard' tanks (basic 'tank' class units, not TD's or SPG's) from Tier 2 to Tier 4 are complete and utter shit and cause endless RQ'ing out of trying to advance any further down that tech line. The Tier 1 FT-17 is crap too, but every tank is pretty shit at Tier 1 and it doesn't matter.

At Tier 4, a USSR tank player gets to fuck around using this and this. Not great tanks, but they have mobility and decent enough firepower to contribute to a match (the T-28 however is the size of a fucking house, yet if it gets hit it disintegrates like a garden shed). What does a France tank player get? Rage and frustration. A pair of useless fucking shell magnets which rarely find themselves able to contribute in any meaningful way.

[FreddBoy]

I laugh each time I see a T-28 medium. Because the machine gun turrets look like tits. I is mature, me :P
The problem is though, French tanks in game and historicaly, didn't start becoming decent until after WW2. Then they become rape machines. The Bat-Chatalion is INSANE.

[BaronOfStuff]

The French tanks from Tier 5 onward can start actually being very useful once fully-researched and decked out with equipment, although far from comfortable for the average tank player for various reasons. The top gun on the BDR G 1B is a fucking nightmare to contend with if you get stuck exchanging fire in a Tier 5 of your own, and it even slaps many unsuspecting Tier 7 tanks around. The occasional ELC AMX darting around can also scare the shit out of me if I'm in the middle of a fight and don't know where it is*, and that's a fucking Light Tank!


*More often than not though it's being used by a retard and explodes before anything else on the map.

[Inkie]

I just wish the howitzer on the front of the B1 was more than decoration.

Also, I wanted to play arty more but apparently everyone and their mother hates you for doing so.

[Gez]

FreddBoy said:

The problem is though, French tanks in game and historicaly, didn't start becoming decent until after WW2. Then they become rape machines. The Bat-Chatalion is INSANE.

The Renault FT was the most successful tank design ever made and every modern tank directly descends from it.

The Renault FT, frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the "FT-17" or "FT17", was a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to have its armament within a fully rotating turret. The Renault FT's configuration – crew compartment at the front, engine compartment at the back, and main armament in a revolving turret – became and remains the standard tank layout.

[...]

The Renault FT was widely used by French forces in 1918 and by the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France in the later stages of World War I. George S. Patton was the commanding officer and organizer of the first US Light Tank Brigade,[9] entirely made up of Renault FT tanks.

The first French engagement of the Renault FT occurred on 31 May 1918 east of the Forest of Retz at Ploisy-Chazelle, between Soissons and Villers-Cotterets, during the Second Battle of the Marne. This first engagement was a complete success. Then increasingly larger numbers of Renault FT tanks were deployed together with smaller numbers of the older Schneider CA1 and Saint-Chamond tanks. As the war had become a war of movement during the summer of 1918, the lighter Renault FT tanks were often transported on heavy trucks and special trailers rather than by rail on flat cars. Estienne had initially proposed to overwhelm the enemy defences using a "swarm" of light tanks, a tactic that was eventually successfully implemented. Beginning in late 1917, the Entente allies were attempting to outproduce the Central Powers in all respects, including artillery, tanks, and chemical weapons. Consequently a goal was set of manufacturing 12,260 Renault FT tanks (including 4,440 of the US version) before the end of 1919.

After the end of World War I, Renault FTs were exported to many countries (Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Iran, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Yugoslavia). Renault FT tanks were used by most nations having armoured forces, generally as their prominent tank type. The tanks were used in many later conflicts, such as the Russian Civil War, Polish-Soviet War, Chinese Civil War, Rif War, Spanish Civil War, and Estonian War of Independence.

[...]

In all, the Renault FT was used by Afghanistan, Belgium, Brazil, the Republic of China, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, France, Nazi Germany, Iran, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Philippine Commonwealth, Poland, Romania, the Russian White movement, the Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Of course it was obsoleted by the time WW2 started, but for its era it was pretty much the best tank design available and you will not find any other tank that had such a worldwide presence.

In the game of course they're free to make it a crap tank worst than all others of the era, I don't care. But saying that the historical FT wasn't decent is grossly wrong.

Edit: Looking at WOT wiki, I find it funny that they use many experimental designs for the French tanks but not the actual mainstays like the AMX-30 and AMX Leclerc. But at the same time I also don't see tanks like the M1 Abrams, the Challenger 1, the Leopard 2 or the T-90, so maybe it's just that they don't have Main Battle Tanks.

[Tristan]

Gez, is there anything you don't possess a vast amount of knowledge on? :D

[AkiraZXE]

Inkie said:

Also, I wanted to play arty more but apparently everyone and their mother hates you for doing so.

Well, ya. Imagine Doom if some people could just fling invisible rockets at you through walls, out of sight for you but not them. It'd probably be called piss-poor design, and rightfully so.

[BaronOfStuff]

Huge bump I suppose, but if anyone fancies platoonoobing around on the EU servers then I'm once again addicted to this fucking thing since the Lend-Lease line update.

[Reisal]

Akira_98 said:

The T29 is probably the strongest tier 7 tank. Your front armor is ok, but it's your turret that is really good, especially the top turret. You can have anywhere from 300 to 400mm of effective turret armor due to the curve combined with the thickness. Pretty much anything you face won't even try to penetrate it, I know I don't. Even in a Jagdpanther with the 105mm gun at point-blank range, I'd try for anything else. The key to doing well in the T29 is to only expose your turret if you're in danger of them penetrating your front.

Yea, I already have the better turret for that gun and the better equipment for it. It's a pain in the ass to grind for it because repairing and resupplying for gets expensive over time. It's at that point that that is the upper limit before tier 8s and 9s which are credit and ammo sinks.

I like to play at the lower and mid tiers because they don't bust my bank.