[MMO] World of Tanks

[microAmp]

I play SPGs from time to time. While it takes a certain skill to know what targets to aim it and a bit on predicting, it's also a lot of luck too. I'm not a fan of SPGs in the game. It does cause camping, forces only certain parts of the map to be used while others go unused, hull down areas, better angles or unique angles of attack.

I think in a single match there should never be more than 2 SPGs. 3-5 totally ruin open areas. If you do go to these open areas and battle the MT/LT that typically go there, you're just hoping your SPGs are aiming there and RNG is with them. Luckily they plan to work on matchmaking, limit to 3 SPGs... At least there will only be a small amount of top tier tanks, many mid tiers, and some low tiers.

SPGs do help dig hull down tanks and whatever else campers lurk that are 450+ meters away.

Corridor maps do not help. LTs are useless. View range saturation is an issue. LTs can't sneak their way to YOLO SPGs.

Tracers can be seen but not easily. So countering them isn't quite easy. I do it on certain maps but don't usually find them on open maps unless they never leave from spawn.

It's a shame they don't improve on SPGs. Sort of like Armored Warfare, support class. Fire faster, low damage, add smoke for concealment. Just like World of Warships does. Or that, allow our own tanks to spew smoke for concealment. But they'll do whatever they want to to do. I got about 20 days left of premium time, been playing for almost 3 years straight, time for a good break and come back refreshed.

 

[Stuka87]

I play SPGs from time to time. While it takes a certain skill to know what targets to aim it and a bit on predicting, it's also a lot of luck too. I'm not a fan of SPGs in the game. It does cause camping, forces only certain parts of the map to be used while others go unused, hull down areas, better angles or unique angles of attack.

I think in a single match there should never be more than 2 SPGs. 3-5 totally ruin open areas. If you do go to these open areas and battle the MT/LT that typically go there, you're just hoping your SPGs are aiming there and RNG is with them. Luckily they plan to work on matchmaking, limit to 3 SPGs... At least there will only be a small amount of top tier tanks, many mid tiers, and some low tiers.

SPGs do help dig hull down tanks and whatever else campers lurk that are 450+ meters away.

Corridor maps do not help. LTs are useless. View range saturation is an issue. LTs can't sneak their way to YOLO SPGs.

Tracers can be seen but not easily. So countering them isn't quite easy. I do it on certain maps but don't usually find them on open maps unless they never leave from spawn.

It's a shame they don't improve on SPGs. Sort of like Armored Warfare, support class. Fire faster, low damage, add smoke for concealment. Just like World of Warships does. Or that, allow our own tanks to spew smoke for concealment. But they'll do whatever they want to to do. I got about 20 days left of premium time, been playing for almost 3 years straight, time for a good break and come back refreshed.

I took a 2 month brake early last summer. When I got back, i found I started to play better than I had been previous to the break. It can definitely be good to take a break from any game from time to time. My next break will be when the new Mass Effect comes out.

 

[Craig234]

Can't remember the last time I had to ignore someone, a year or two or three, but this one wasn't even close.

Anyway, on arty. Here's a little idea on how to play it better and why it's the hardest to play well.

Let's take in particular if you want to protect your team with counter-arty.

Game begins - selecting the best position for angles etc. benefits from experience.

Next, selecting where there arty is likely to hide take some experience also.

But those aren't much, this is where it gets more intense than other tanks. If you want to especially do it, it take developing an ability to look at different locations while intensely watching
the screen trying to get any little hint of a pixel flash anywhere on the screen, every second. No other tank has to do anything close to that.

Then there is map awareness and communicating with the team more than any other tank has to for teamwork - letting them know when you're reloading, what you need lit.

More than any other tank, map awareness is needed to know where shooting will help the team most. Is it shooting that tier 10 you already have 3 tanks killing? No. But that pack of 3 tier 9's killing your team's tier 10 would be helpful to save your 10. Keep an eye on those priorities all the time while doing the rest.

With all that, enemy tanks can easily evade your shots by sticking to cover or even with movement (I won't say too much, but they can move out of the way of even a perfect shot just while it's in the air, unless they're super slow like the t95).

And then, yes, there is RNG - and many arty do little to no splash damage; a few lower tiers even bounce on direct hits.

Of course, there's the reload. For that one big 'darn, it missed or he moved', it's another 30 second wait.

Even powerful tier 10 arty can take 5 direct hits to kill some of the beefier tanks.

 

[Craig234]

OK, I realized shutterfly won't provide full-side images, too small to read. Have to find another site.

 

[microAmp]

OK, I realized shutterfly won't provide full-side images, too small to read. Have to find another site.

Use this one
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/

 

[Craig234]

Use this one
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/

Gotcha.

I was just gonna post a couple of loss screenshots shortly after the above posts, but eh.

 

[gammaray]

WG's artillery is the dumbest thing ever put into a video game. No matter what anyone says, an obj. 261 can consistently hit moving tanks, whether they are zigzagging or not. it got deadly laser accuracy most of the times, for anyone knowing what they are doing. yes we at WG added GPS and satellites to a ww2 era tank shooter game - when it was not even invented yet - and we are proud to crap on you from the sky. gg.

Artillery do not belong in this game, with bent gravity, period. If their concern were heavy tanks, TDs are quite capable of destroying them. And since ww2 era artillery was not able to shoot at moving target with accuracy other than sheer dumbluck, and a clear LOS, here and there, they should have added in the game what was created to kill tanks. mainly, mines, AT rifles, Bazookas, panzerfausts, and of course AT guns themselves.

Satellite view should be removed entirely, or given to other vehicles as well.

 

[gammaray]

And if WG wanted to address the camping issue, then the proper way to deal with it, would have been to increase map size, make flanking easier, and reduce overall view range of tanks. This way, light tanks could spot camping heavies and tds and medium tanks could flank them. it's all about making good maps, not about killing them from the sky because they refuse to move.

 

[Craig234]

gamma, I'll give you two points: Arty is not historically accurate, and it has a large part of the player base who would like it out of the game.

On the other hand, a large part of the player base likes it and wants it in the game.

I have to ask: are your comments about the 261 based on playing it or watching someone else play it?

If playing it, I'd like to play a few games with you to test the claims of this 'hitting moving targets' and amazing capabilities. I've had the 261 a couple years and am pretty familiar with it - it's my main arty - and don't agree with the opinion of how able it is to do those things.

If we can play a few games and i see you 'hit moving targets whether zig zagging or not', we can talk. But factually it's not even a very reasonable claim, because the shot time from when fired to impact is longer than it takes for most tanks to be able to 'zig zag' out of the way, as any arty player can confirm.

If it's just based on how it looks paying against it, that's another discussion.

 

[gammaray]

like others have said many times already, artillery make 75% or more of most maps inaccessible or its instant death from the sky. So players always go to the same ''safe'' arty spots and each game is more of the same because of this.

Second i am not interested in platooning with an arty player, sorry. Why? because it automatically adds an arty on the enemy team, and less is better, for everyone.

Also no one likes to get destroyed without being able to retaliate or when they are already engaged with an enemy tank, and that's what arty do in this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSqrO6HDwXY
just the fact that it is possible to do this with an arty, is pure unicorn poop.

 

[Craig234]

Well, you didn't answer the question whether you are commenting based on PLAYING the 261, or on playing against it.

 

[biostud]

If there is anything that forces me to stay behind a rock camping, it is artillery.

 

[Stuka87]

They just posted a video on the current changes for arty that they are working on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3gb8Vi639s

In short, damage was reduced significantly, penetrating is nearly impossible, but they added a stun effect.

 

[microAmp]

They just posted a video on the current changes for arty that they are working on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3gb8Vi639s

In short, damage was reduced significantly, penetrating is nearly impossible, but they added a stun effect.

On the last sandbox server, the stun effect was farking annoying. I don't know if the video covers it or not but reduced crew performance for 30-45 seconds would drive me nuts.

List of stun time effects: https://ritastatusreport.live/2017/02/06/sandbox-artillery-ammo-changes/

 

[Stuka87]

On the last sandbox server, the stun effect was farking annoying. I don't know if the video covers it or not but reduced crew performance for 30-45 seconds would drive me nuts.

List of stun time effects: https://ritastatusreport.live/2017/02/06/sandbox-artillery-ammo-changes/

The video says they changed a lot of things, and will continue to tune it. The video showed a 261 stunning for ~20 seconds. Which is variable based on damage, and health packs now have a cool down and can be used more than once. It also showed it only doing 200-300dmg, which is a huge reduction for a 261.

So it needs tuning, but I think it's a move in the right direction.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Craig234]

Seems like a crappy change. Might make people not want to play arty - and the game less.

But, too early to be sure.

 

[gammaray]

Seems like a crappy change. Might make people not want to play arty - and the game less.

But, too early to be sure.

Might make people want to play the game more. Corrected it for you

 

[biostud]

anything that will make people play less arty is a win.

 

[biostud]

On the last sandbox server, the stun effect was farking annoying. I don't know if the video covers it or not but reduced crew performance for 30-45 seconds would drive me nuts.

List of stun time effects: https://ritastatusreport.live/2017/02/06/sandbox-artillery-ammo-changes/

but if the alternative is a burning wreck, I'll take a stunned crew any day.

 

[Craig234]

Might make people want to play the game more. Corrected it for you

Hey, you're right about many players.

 

[Stuka87]

Well think about it this way. Currently you get 1 shotted, game is over for you. Head back to the garage and jump in another tank. But with these changes, now you get stunned, you hit your heal crew button, and continue fighting. Now yes you can get stunned again by a different arty before your crew heal cool down hits, but its still better then dieing.

Basically with these changes arty goes from being a bringer of death, to a purely support class. They do minimal damage, and instead get experience and credits from getting assisted damage after stunning enemy tanks.

 

[biostud]

they could add a white out like a flash bang.

 

[Stuka87]

Oh, the other thing added is a target circle that your team mates will see. So if you are targeting a certain area, you can hit T, and then your allies no to avoid the area so you don't stun them.

 

[Craig234]

Well think about it this way. Currently you get 1 shotted, game is over for you. Head back to the garage and jump in another tank. But with these changes, now you get stunned, you hit your heal crew button, and continue fighting. Now yes you can get stunned again by a different arty before your crew heal cool down hits, but its still better then dieing.

Basically with these changes arty goes from being a bringer of death, to a purely support class. They do minimal damage, and instead get experience and credits from getting assisted damage after stunning enemy tanks.

Except 1 shotted is not normal. For example, played my 261 last night, there was a tier 9 type 4 heavy, boom hit right on it - took off 40%. That's 3 hits to kill. I've had some take 5.

A good rule of thumb in these games is not to leave the player disabled. That's not very fun for players. The only praise I expect you'll see for that is 'better than destroyed', but it's not fun for players.

And how often is your tank going to be shot as arty vulnerable and stunned for 10 or 20 seconds or whatever and not destroyed? And talk about 'historical accuracy'...

 

[biostud]

The problem is when you play a slow T8 with T10 artillery, then you get one shot a lot. Without any warning.