[MMO] World of Tanks

[LurkerPrime]

I haven't done much in my Tiger as I've really been pushing my T29 to elite. The battles I have played, I really dislike it when I get put in as the top tier. Shots from T1 heavies and KV's have no trouble penetrating. This kind of thing makes me play back as a long range support, which then sometimes leads to a flank folding under the weight of the enemy team's IS or something (Russian heavies...lol).

I've fallen in love with my T29. Even when paired with Tier 9/10 I feel like I can still make a difference. Positioning is everything when you have that much armor on your turret. My only negative are the "ears" on the upgraded turret that hold no armor value so every shot there penetrates for full damage. I get my 105mm tonight and then I'm sure I'll love it even more.

From what I hear, it sounds like I'm almost wasting my time trying to get to the German heavies as they still can't stand up to the russian heavies.

I did unlock the tier 5 german medium tank on the way to the heavies yesterday, but unfortunately didn't have time to get to play a game with it. It'll probably frustrate me for a few hours till I can get enough xp to upgrade it a little.

I feel I wasted my money upgrading to the big gun on the hetzer (german tier 4 TD). While that gun does do lots of damage the penetration sucks. The biggest downside though is the accuracy ring even after full wait time is at least twice the size of the smaller gun. So even after full accuracy is achieved hitting a stationary tank at a decent range is still very uncertain.

Does the gunners xp also increase the accuracy of your gun (reduced size of the circle after full wait time), or does his xp just reduce the time it takes to get to the fully accurate state?

 

[Elcs]

From what I hear, it sounds like I'm almost wasting my time trying to get to the German heavies as they still can't stand up to the russian heavies.

I feel I wasted my money upgrading to the big gun on the hetzer (german tier 4 TD). While that gun does do lots of damage the penetration sucks. The biggest downside though is the accuracy ring even after full wait time is at least twice the size of the smaller gun. So even after full accuracy is achieved hitting a stationary tank at a decent range is still very uncertain.

Does the gunners xp also increase the accuracy of your gun (reduced size of the circle after full wait time), or does his xp just reduce the time it takes to get to the fully accurate state?

First part is incorrect. Back in closed beta the Tiger and King Tiger had several large sections of bugged armour which have now been fixed and their guns have seen several buffs.

The German Heavies are like german tanks overall. They have a playstyle which is 'less natural' to most people as opposed to the Russian playstyle which is easier to pick for the majority of the players.

My reasoning: The reason why 'non-Russian' tanks seem weak is because players try to play them like Russian tanks and expect them to do the exactly manueveres, bounce the same shots etc. so by all accounts, they are weaker than Russian tanks, no?

The 10.5cm gun for the Hetzer is the ultimate weapon for it and is also useful on the StuG III to a lesser extent. Use HE ammo only and you will not have any issues causing damage to any tank on the field with the possible exception of Tier 10 tanks which I never faced in a Hetzer.

Gunner % Proficiency causes the reticle to become smaller and shrink faster. The stats for a gun are assuming that your crew is at 100%. I have no idea of how much difference every 1% makes but the difference between even 90% and 100% is noticable.

Personally, I noticed the exta +5% (+6% technically) bonus provided by Ventilation Systems on my T20 and T23 tanks. My crew were running effectively at 116% (105% Commander) in my T20.

 

[PowerYoga]

I gotta agree. I played with both german heavies and soviet heavies, and the soviet heavies.... drive like cars. The german heavies drive like big hulking tanks. I think that might be the reason why people can pick up soviet heavies a tad bit easier... Although I think its harder to play a russian heavy well.

Although after the new trees, I'm not sure if I want an obj 704 anymore. Jagdpanther II... STUG E-100... looks beastly.

 

[Genx87]

Looking at the full tech tree's. Interesting they put the German E-50 into the heavy line. It was going to be a replacement for the Panther. A medium tank for the Germans in the E-series.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i'm back in again. is there a channel you guys get together on?

 

[LurkerPrime]

The 10.5cm gun for the Hetzer is the ultimate weapon for it and is also useful on the StuG III to a lesser extent. Use HE ammo only and you will not have any issues causing damage to any tank on the field with the possible exception of Tier 10 tanks which I never faced in a Hetzer.

I agree that gun puts out alot damage (I used HE ammo only), just with my current crew training the gun just isnt accurate enough. The smaller guns reticle at my level will easily cover a tank at range (almost guarenteed hit), while the 10.5 cm reticle leaves alot of extra room to miss. Couple that with the 10.5cm reloading at half the speed and I can easily output more damage to a light or medium tank with the smaller gun. The key to using the smaller gun against heavies is hitting them in the side/tracks where they have less armor.

I do find that I like the fast moving german medium tanks, its just that they lack a decent punch and survivabililty at my current level (I just got the tier 5 and it looks like it gets a good improvement in firepower though). In the right circumstances they are very good at flanking the enemy (especially in some of the urban type maps). Rear armor in most tanks sucks, and most people never even realize your behind them tearing them up when they are already occupied shooting at your friends. The best part is if they do realize it and decide they want to turn thier turret around and shoot back. At that point you just high tail it behind a building and laugh as your buddies continue to shoot at him.

 

[Skott]

People still play American and German heavies and do well and have fun. Which is what the game is all about. At least in my eyes. The IS7 may be the god-like of all the tanks in some respects but its not a automatic 'I Win!' tank either. I've seen plenty of IS7 players lose early in a match because they think they are 'god-like' and cant be hurt. There are tactics to deal with the biggest/baddest of the tanks in this game. Don't forget that. A good IS7 player knows this and acts accordingly.

 

[Genx87]

Got my AT-1 to elite status. Now I am being placed in tier 4 matches or better. Cannon fodder is what my little TD has become.

 

[1ceHacka]

Got my AT-1 to elite status. Now I am being placed in tier 4 matches or better. Cannon fodder is what my little TD has become.

I generally find that getting placed in higher tier battles like that sometimes has to do with the time of day that you play. During peak time, I get a lot more lower tier battles in my T29, where I am the only Tier 7 on my side. As the night goes on and gets later, I start getting into the Tier 7-10 battles. Not saying its the norm, but that's what I have noticed at least.

 

[Liet]

Well, I picked this up a few days ago and have just bought my first new vehicle, a Jagdpanzer. I'm now a very small fish in a very big lake... Think I'm gonna work on a light tank and try to stay in the low tier battles.

I'm a little disappointed that the German tanks are considered to be weak in comparison to Russian tanks on the forums. IIRC some dude quoted a dev, who when asked why a german gun was nerfed after a patch, responded that the russian tanks were dying more than they think they should be... That's just silly.

 

[stag3]

time of day makes sense, i was using my pzIII around 3pm yesterday and i got consistantly placed at the top or mid to top of the order every match. later on in the evening i was always near dead last again haha

 

[1ceHacka]

time of day makes sense, i was using my pzIII around 3pm yesterday and i got consistantly placed at the top or mid to top of the order every match. later on in the evening i was always near dead last again haha

Yep, I get the same thing on my Stug (STUGLIFE!!!). Obviously more people play between 4pm EST and 9pm EST, so there are going to be a ton more lower tier battles.

On my T29 I had a few battles where I was top, then magically the rest of the night included at least Tier 9 tanks and most had a Tier 10 as well.

And about the Dev's comment...it is a bit shady, but they are Russian, so of course they hate German tanks and love Russian tanks!

 

[PowerYoga]

Yup. If I hop on at around 5:00 CST, i'll get top tier battles in my KV. If I linger around for more than 2 hours, I usually start fighting bigger tanks...

You're probably thinking of the ferdinand nerf. While I agree that is unnecessary, the forums tend to blow the russian bias out of proportion.

For example, the fabled t-54 being OP.... I've driven one and driven against many, and most of the time I wish I was in a panther II instead. The armor is nowhere near as great as others make it out to be, and most of the people that complain against one don't know how to fight it. To be honest, I'm more scared of pershing wolf packs than T-54s.

 

[Skott]

Yeah, it was like that in Beta too. Later at night with fewer players the balance was different. The same still applies I've noticed after midnight the balance is different than say during prime time. Last night I logged on about 12:30 AM EST. There were just over 10k peeps online. It quickly dropped down after 1AM.

Last night I was grinding on the M3 Lee again. I already have the T1 but I wanted to get the M4 Sherman as well so I was grinding the Lee some more. I really dislike this tank. You have to use it like a TD but with none of the advantages of a TD. I was getting very frustrated with it as usual. I think its now the worse tank I have ever played in this game. At least so far. I havent played many American tanks yet so there might still be some worse than it but for now I declare it the worse IMO. I just hate this thing so much.

So there I was grinding away. I still needed 10k more xp to get to the Sherman. The pace was slow. Dying every fight and most of the games the team I was on was losing. The xp was just slow and small improvements. I looked at my M6 tank with its 40k+ xp sitting there and I decided to see what it would cost me to convert 10k of it to Free XP. 400 gold it said. I thought about it for a few seconds and then said, 'Screw this Lee tank, I'm going to buy my way out I hate it so much.' So I did. Spent 400 of my gold and now I can move onto the M4 Sherman and wont ever have to play that crappy Lee tank ever again.

There, I confess. I bought my way out of a tank for the very first time since I installed this game back during Beta. I'm not ashamed of it either. I hate the Lee that much. They should have taken the guy that designed the tank back in the '40s out back of his factory and slapped him around for coming up with such a crappy tank. They should also take the lead game designer out back of his office and slap him around some for putting it in this game. Its that bad of a tank.

I confessed and vented now. I feel better. Now back to having fun with my tanks. Good day!

Edit: I also been playing in the PzIII/IV. Finally bought it. Its a fun tank to play in. I'm enjoying it. I'm getting to the point now where I have so many lines I'm playing in that I think I'll need to buy an extra slot soon. Anyone buy an extra tank slot yet? During the beta I had a few extra slots but so far I havent bought one yet.

 

[Elcs]

Edit: I also been playing in the PzIII/IV. Finally bought it. Its a fun tank to play in. I'm enjoying it. I'm getting to the point now where I have so many lines I'm playing in that I think I'll need to buy an extra slot soon. Anyone buy an extra tank slot yet? During the beta I had a few extra slots but so far I havent bought one yet.

The Pz III/IV is great. I had loads of fun with my fully upgraded one.

The VK3001(P)? Awful. Do not upgrade it. You'll regret it.

 

[1ceHacka]

Don't be ashamed to skip tanks. Its a game, not a job. I skipped the M3 Lee as much as possible as well. That's why I learned to elite tanks that I actually like so that when whatever I am working on is in battle, I can play something I like and help my progression move faster.

 

[stag3]

yea i have right now a KV, su85, pzIII, and m37

i probably could have a higher tank but im playing them equally
and just upgrading each one at a time

the only horrible part was the german grind OMG, horrible
i blazed thru the russian grind very quick.

 

[Liet]

That's why I learned to elite tanks that I actually like so that when whatever I am working on is in battle, I can play something I like and help my progression move faster.

As a new player, can I have some clarification? I know that if you elite a tank you can accelerate the crew training as well as just generate XP, which you can then use real-world money to turn into Free XP.

Is that what you mean by helping your progression move faster?

I do really enjoy the game, and I can easily afford it... but something irks me about seeing ridiculous things like "Change your driver's name for only 50g!". They need to cut back on the silliness.

 

[Elcs]

Elite Tanks offer two options: Normal and Accelerate Crew Training.

Normal: This mode generates the normal 5% free experience and any normal experience earned is locked to that tank. By using gold, you are able to turn that locked experience into free experience which you can spend on any tank/equipment.

Accelerate Crew Training: This mode accelerates crew progression by 10% or 20% (Can't remember specifically) at the expense of the locked experience mentioned above. However, it still generates the 5% free experience like all tanks do.

Example: A Player I know used his Closed Beta gift tank (M4) to generate a large amount of locked experience. He used Gold to change that into free experience and then proceeded to spend that free experience on a Leopard and KV. As such, he was very quickly king of the hill, almost always the top tank in every match and as such progressed much quicker than most people. Sneaky but smart.

 

[LurkerPrime]

I got some experience playing my Pz IV and also unlocked and upgraded to the Stug in my TD line yesterday. I find that my Pz IV just lacks any type of survivability (only 390hp) and lacks enough armor to effectively bounce any shots. I'm sure I'll change my tune about it though once I unlock the upgraded turret and get the 10.5cm gun on it. At least with the 10.5 cm gun I'll be able to damage the tier 7+ tanks without any problems.

The stug is basically just a faster hetzer, same gun(10.5cm) and minimal hp/armor upgrade(still dies in 1 or 2 hits anyway), it does also have better turret directional control horizontal and vertical.

I was looking at the russian tanks stats vs. the german tank stats yesterday, and it just seems the russians have more armor/hp and the guns do more pen/dam. Not to mention the later tiered heavies also seem to go faster. The only downside I could see is the guns take a little longer to reload/aim, but in most cases you have plenty of time to reload/aim since the tanks can take a rediculous number of hits.

I guess this is what I should expect since the designers of the game are russian.

 

[Canun]

There definitely appears to be a Russian bias that I have noticed since beta, which is fine because it is still fun. But alot of things like Russion shots would shatter sometimes due to poor quality control, and duds are not modeled. Those were some of the downsides that aren't modeled, but it isn't a simulation. It is an FPS with tanks.

 

[Liet]

Yeah, it is an FPS with tanks. And yes, the game wouldn't be fun if one side's tanks were clearly much better than the other. Everyone would just rock a Panzer all the time.

Still, it feels really weird seeing Germans struggle so hard.

 

[Genx87]

Yeah, it is an FPS with tanks. And yes, the game wouldn't be fun if one side's tanks were clearly much better than the other. Everyone would just rock a Panzer all the time.

Still, it feels really weird seeing Germans struggle so hard.

German tanks werent that great toe to toe with Soviets designs. Even in 41 german front line commanders complained of their tanks being out matched by Soviet tanks. Germans just had better tactics, commanders, and initiative. Once those were equaled in late 42 and early 43. The Soviets pushed the Germans back to Berlin. It is a testament to the German propaganda ministry to this day German armored forces are considered bigger, faster, and stronger than the allies.

 

[Canun]

German tanks werent that great toe to toe with Soviets designs. Even in 41 german front line commanders complained of their tanks being out matched by Soviet tanks. Germans just had better tactics, commanders, and initiative. Once those were equaled in late 42 and early 43. The Soviets pushed the Germans back to Berlin. It is a testament to the German propaganda ministry to this day German armored forces are considered bigger, faster, and stronger than the allies.

Pretty true. When Germany invaded, they still were primarily on PZIII and IV's (and the most tanks Germany had were PzII), with guns that weren't that great. The appearance of the Tiger I did cause a problem with the Russian advance, but due to low availability and mechanical problems, it was never able to really push the battlefield. (There were many parts on the Tiger 1 that were hand crafted, meaning you couldn't pull a part off of one and use it on another) The T-34 was fairly reliable, and mass produced with superior sloped armor and mobility. The German Panther is based off the T34.

But the game is fun, and feels fairly balanced, so it is all good.

 

[Magusigne]

Finally got my 107mm on my SU-85, what a beast! I'm going to Elite that thing.

Sturmpanzer is taking forever...the grille is soo much better!

T-1 is about to go to an M6 and I've heard horrible things about the M6...not looking forward to that.