[MMO] World of Tanks

[Merad]

I recreated the ATOT channel on the US server. Same pw as in the OP.

 

[Skott]

So I bought a Lowe tank tonight. I wanted to see what all the fuss is about with these tanks. I can see why they are money makers. Gun is fairly accurate and packs a punch. The tank itself is pretty resilient but not ungodly or invincible. If you sit back and snipe with it you can get a lot of creds. I played 10 battles and made anywhere from 33k to 66k before resupply/repair. Totally dead tank takes about 15k-16k to repair so it doesnt cost a huge amount to fix. Most tanks I killed was 4 to get that 66k. I got the 33k for no kills but hit a few. I also died in that fight and my team lost. My hit ratio is 83% so thats pretty good I think. Max xp was 1,149 and the 10 game average is 645xp.

One thing is for sure is that the Lowe is a serious cred farmer. Its a better tank than the free M6A2E1 they gave me for the preorder. Its a slow tank however. Not the slowest but slow. The turret is slow to turn as well. AP and HE shells do lots of nasty damage. I think I'm going to like this tank. Worth 7500 gold? Depends on how you look at it. If you bought the 25k gold preorder like I did and not hard up for cash and want a tank that can fund you upgrading and buying other tanks, then I'd say its worth it. If you are the type on a tight budget or just like the challenge of grinding the other tanks, or just don't like the idea they sell tanks for gold, then probably not. Just depends on how you feel about spending gold I guess.

 

[Creig]

Is the Lowe a lot better at generating credits than the M6A2E1, or just slightly better? I'm a bit surprised that the Lowe and KV-5 would generate significantly higher amounts of credits since they are both simply the German and Russian equivalents of the M6A2E1, as far as I can tell.

 

[cecco]

Can't speak for the M6A2E1, but definitely better than the Panzer IV-V from preorder. That tank had no gun depression, and if someone sneezed i was tracked.

I too broke down and got a Lowe a week ago. Like Skott said, it's a credit maker. Haven't gotten the crazy numbers like some in the forums, but reliably 60k with some at 90k. In a short time it has paid for it's own rammer and laying drive and it's on its way to the third today.

I still have more fun on my Tiger II, but once I have the 10.5 cm gun on it, i'm going to need more than a SU-85 or Panzer IV-V to keep a steady flow of credits.

 

[Skott]

I havent played it enough to say whether the Lowe is a little better or a lot better at making creds than the M6A2E1. I need to play it some more and do some comparisons. It is a little better thats for sure from what I saw in my first 10 battles. Sorry I cant be more definitive but 10 battles doesnt tell all. I'm guessing that these claims of 100k creds that we sometimes hear are when people are at least getting top gun (6 kills) and their teams win. It may be more than that but until I get more play time I can't really be sure. I still see it as an exception rather than the rule.

Last night I played more aggressively than I probably should have and died too early in some of the games. I also need to figure out when its best to use AP and HE. In my second game I was using only HE and people on my team were not happy about it because my shots were not killing a IS3 outright. One even asked if I was a farmer. LOL First time that has ever happened. Although I agree with them I was playing like a noob but considering I had just got the tank I was trying to figure out what it could and could not do. This tank doesnt get anywhere fast either. Kinda like a KV3 in speed especially when going uphill.

In the coming days I'll give some more input.

Edit: Just to give some example. Today's first battle. Team won and here's my score info. Made 2 kills and damaged 5 other tanks. Used 16 shells total. 5 were HE and 11 were AP. 74,457 creds earned and 1,119 xp earned. Ammo resupply cost 14,580. No damage taken. All enemy tanks destroyed by our team.

Edit2: Early thoughts is that the Lowe is somewhere in the 25%-50% better performance category over the M6A2E1. It has its weaknesses like all tanks. Slow to get anywhere, slow turret is hard to fight fast mediums and slow reload even with a rammer. It does have more HPs than a M6A2E1 and has better penetration and gun seems more accurate. Lay back and snipe and this thing earns very good cash. Better than the M6A2E1 in that regard. Just dont get caught out in the open alone with it or everyone on the other team will target you and tear your butt up.

 

[1ceHacka]

I'm heading home from work in a few...I'll post up some screenshots of 100k+ games in the Lowe.

I use nothing but AP rounds in my Lowe. Don't even have HE loaded in there. I generally always go for the big boys and leave the meds/lights to my teamates. Plus I rarely bounce with the AP so no reason to go HE.

Two screenshots of a game. Only 2 kills, but lots of damage done. Ended up with 1,998 Experience and 116,257. You will notice the experience wasn't doubled, but I do wish it had been my first win of the day!

 

[beni9n]

Those Lowe numbers makes it mighty tempting to get one, but at $40, it makes me a bit uncomfortable.

 

[Skott]

Made 500k creds in two hours of play tonight with my Lowe. Best game stats 86,527 creds and 2,742xp and that was a double xp for the new day. Killed two tanks and damaged two others. Funny how I can kill three tanks and get 75k. Comes down to how many tanks I hit and what tier level they are to me. Even getting killed and team losing I come out 20k ahead at least with no kills. This tank is just a credit farm beast.

If I could change one thing on the Lowe? Faster turret spin I guess. Mediums will run circles around it. You have to learn to move the body as well as the turret to fight them fast tanks when they play ring around the Lowe. Second thing would probably be a faster reload time but oh, the damage I could do if I could shoot faster. LOL

 

[Elcs]

I still maintain that the Lowe, despite its slowness and slow turret, is overpowered for a tier 8 purchase for real money tank. I have not had the pleasure of facing them 1v1 but I have more issues with the Lowe than any other Tier 8 Heavy Tank in either my Panther, T23 or Pershing.Their gun is extremely potent and damaging.

I wish they had implemented a system whereby players were required to have played heavy tanks or have at least a tier 7 tank before being able to buy and drive a Lowe. Most Lowe drivers on the EU server are terrible, compared to the average standard of players.

 

[LurkerPrime]

I still maintain that the Lowe, despite its slowness and slow turret, is overpowered for a tier 8 purchase for real money tank. I have not had the pleasure of facing them 1v1 but I have more issues with the Lowe than any other Tier 8 Heavy Tank in either my Panther, T23 or Pershing.Their gun is extremely potent and damaging.

I wish they had implemented a system whereby players were required to have played heavy tanks or have at least a tier 7 tank before being able to buy and drive a Lowe. Most Lowe drivers on the EU server are terrible, compared to the average standard of players.

If it wasn't for most players being idiots, then the Lowe would be overpowered for sure. The lack of player skill is what helps level the playing field. I do find the amount of credits you can acrew on that tank revolting though, as breaking 40K on my tiger is hard work, while it looks like a lowe can do that with maybe 2-3 hits.

The good thing though is that most teammates acknowledge how potent the Lowe is, and manage to concentrate fire on it. And eventhough the Lowe seems godly, I've seen plenty of teams lose that had 3-5 Lowes while the other team had none. Team work and skill will trump a bunch of idiots in Lowes anyday.

On another note. I wish the game had a little better stats tracking. It would be nice to know how many types of each tank you've destroyed, how many modules/crew you've damaged, how many shots have bounced on the front/side/rear of each tank type you've faught. How much damage you did per fight.

The addition of graphs/charts for stats would be nice also. Would be awesome to see a chart depicting how much damage you did in a tank over all its fights. At least that way you could see if you were actually performing better with an enhanced crew and modules over time.

 

[Liet]

I'm quite pleased to see so many Lowes ingame, because it means the devs are getting paid, which means more content.

For now, I'm just fully researched all gear for the VK3001P, which is one of the most frustrating tanks to play stock. Much like the other German mediums, it's best played slightly to the rear, but since it's got more armor than the 3001H, you have a little more leeway to play peekaboo. I'm excited about getting the DB, which is supposed to be a competitive German medium which will be a welcome change of pace! If I can get the Panthers before the patch they'll get free slots, so that'll be nice.

Gonna start looking for you guys to link up with. My ingame name is Armor.

 

[1ceHacka]

I still maintain that the Lowe, despite its slowness and slow turret, is overpowered for a tier 8 purchase for real money tank.

I generally only play my Lowe when my two tanks I'm grinding are both in a battle. Last night in about 3 hours of playtime I made ~750k credits and had 3 Top Gun awards in only about 12 matches. In the hands of someone who can play a heavy, this thing is a beast. I'm sure the devs are going to nerf its gun in the next patch. People will cry and life will go on.

 

[LurkerPrime]

I'm quite pleased to see so many Lowes ingame, because it means the devs are getting paid, which means more content.

For now, I'm just fully researched all gear for the VK3001P, which is one of the most frustrating tanks to play stock. Much like the other German mediums, it's best played slightly to the rear, but since it's got more armor than the 3001H, you have a little more leeway to play peekaboo. I'm excited about getting the DB, which is supposed to be a competitive German medium which will be a welcome change of pace! If I can get the Panthers before the patch they'll get free slots, so that'll be nice.

Gonna start looking for you guys to link up with. My ingame name is Armor.

I'm still surprised at the number of Lowes that I see. I mean the tank is what ~$35? Thats quite a steep price to pay for a single item in a game. It would be nice if the premium tanks could also be bought with absurd amounts of credits but would require you to have a >1week premium account. That way they still get paid and it'll give people a reason to save up millions of credits.

Also if they wanted to make some extra money I would pay ~250 gold for an extra add-on slot for my tanks. Also add more add-ons to the game to customize our tanks. Things that give us extra armor/hp, additional top speed, increase to turret turning speed, additional gun accuracy, better acceleration, increase to turret angles of depression/elevation (would be very helpful on lots of maps), etc....

It would also be nice if your commander (depending on skill lvl) would alert you if your being targeted and/or shot at. A nice "we're being targeted" and a blinky on your minimap would be awesome. Would be great since your usually not looking at other tanks while you're zoomed in and shooting at someone. It is also something a real tank commander would be doing to let the driver know he should most likely seek cover, or to redirect fire to the direct threat. The only downside is I could see it getting annoying to some people, so options would need to be added to turn it on/off.

 

[stag3]

one match last night there were 5 lowes on the other side and 3 on ours ROFL
i don't do to bad against lowes in my kv-3 or su100, at least i can do some damage to them.

im at 98% crew on my KV right now, i only play it when my other 2 grinds are in battle still. i'm also at 92% on my su85, i plan to keep these 2. seems a lot of people are tech'ng up now since 95% of my battles with my kv and su85, i'm near bottom if not the absolute bottom now, i used to get some games where i was at the top.

 

[Elcs]

Hurrah! Got my Corsair HS1A headset back, first one had a dodgy mic, this one seems to be just as bad but I'll platoon up to test it.

Platooning up in this game is the shit. 3 of us regularly rock it at tier 7-9 and end up with 7+ kills per match.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Platooning up in this game is the shit. 3 of us regularly rock it at tier 7-9 and end up with 7+ kills per match.

This is definately the way to go. I play with my brother and another friend and the 3 of us routinely do awesome as long as we aren't the lowest tanks. Unfortunately the friend is only up to tier 4 (hopefully he'll make tier 5 today). Whenever we are mid tiered or higher, we greatly enhance the chance of our team winning and the 3 of us are usually responsible for killing over half the enemy team. I routinely end up getting confederate with my brother getting top gun or vice versa.

Once our friend makes tier 5 we'll be able rock a 3 person group of KVs and once he gets one T-34s also. Me and my brother can easily kick ass with 2 KVs, I can't imagine how easy it'll be with 3 working together, knowing 3 KVs with 107s can kill almost anything instantly if we all hit.

Any reason to join a battalion/guild (whatever the game name is)?

 

[1ceHacka]

Alright so I have a decision to make today. I have enough experience + free experience to move forward to a Tier 8 heavy on all 3 nations. Originally I had planned to go the American route, but since the depression nerf and stories of having to use the 105mm through Tier 8 and 9 until I can get the 122 in Tier 9 finally, have made me second guess. I also love the KT for historical purposes only basically, but I hear its a pretty decent tank. My IS is also ready to go, and while I'm not always one for playing the "flavor of the month" tanks, its hard to ever think these Russian heavies will be at a disadvantage due to Overlord. Just looking for opinions of anyone who is in the Tier 8+ lines of heavies.

In the end, I'll probably continue down all 3 paths, but I only have the credits for one now and would also like to focus on just one until Tier 10.

 

[Elcs]

T32 > KT >> IS-3

VK4502 > IS-4 > T34

The reason I put the VK ahead of the IS-4 is because unless he has the stock turret, an IS-4 struggles like all hell to penetrate. It does have weak and exposed sides. Will fill in more detail when I'm at the PC.

 

[Skott]

The Lowe is a strong tank but OP? No, but I say that because I know its limitations and its weaknesses and the other players I face seem to know it as well. Basically you treat the Lowe as any other big tank in the game. You gang up on it, call in arty, or hit it from its flanks. The tank tracks as easily as any other tank so stopping it from moving is not that hard. Its slow turret movement makes it vulnerable against a fast tank or dealing with two or more enemies at once. Just use smart tactics against the Lowe and its not too hard to deal with. Personally I find it better as a sit back and snipe tank than one going out on the front as a spearhead type. Being the spearhead in a drive gets you killed a lot by an awaiting enemy I have found. It just doesnt move fast enough to get out of the way and get to cover when needed. Oh, and a T44 or an T54 can tear up a Lowe easily enough single handedly. IS3 and IS4 seems to do fine against it too. Havent met a IS7 yet but I figure its gun can tear huge chunks out of it.

 

[TridenT]

is this game worth playing at all considering that the tanks are nowhere near equal at all? (Thus players with more playtime/money will be much more likely to rape your face... (i.e. NOT A SKILL BASED GAME))

 

[Elcs]

The Lowe is a strong tank but OP? No, but I say that because I know its limitations and its weaknesses and the other players I face seem to know it as well. Basically you treat the Lowe as any other big tank in the game. You gang up on it, call in arty, or hit it from its flanks. The tank tracks as easily as any other tank so stopping it from moving is not that hard. Its slow turret movement makes it vulnerable against a fast tank or dealing with two or more enemies at once. Just use smart tactics against the Lowe and its not too hard to deal with. Personally I find it better as a sit back and snipe tank than one going out on the front as a spearhead type. Being the spearhead in a drive gets you killed a lot by an awaiting enemy I have found. It just doesnt move fast enough to get out of the way and get to cover when needed. Oh, and a T44 or an T54 can tear up a Lowe easily enough single handedly. IS3 and IS4 seems to do fine against it too. Havent met a IS7 yet but I figure its gun can tear huge chunks out of it.

I get the impression that it is as strong as any of the other 3 Heavy Tanks but is available without the hard work.

Apart from the Hotchkiss which should have been remedied now, each of the gold tanks are weaker than their counterparts. In my opinion, the Lowe outguns most of its equals and has superior shell bouncing armour but falls down in mobility.

The Gold M6 with sloped 191mm? armour is easily penentrated frontally with large weakspots in it's armour. I've not seen this in the Lowe, though front and centre is a bad place for a medium to be.

On the US Vs. German Vs. USSR Tier 8 Heavies... I've only played the T32 but faced everything enough times to have formed an opinion.

T32: Fearsome turret armour, weak hull (though not as bad as the T29, T34 or T30), gun feels weak for its tier.

IS-3: Probably the weakest of the 3. Armour can be frontally penetrated by a PzIV with 7.5cm L/70. Damn fine gun though.

King Tiger: Fearsome. A bit weak on the sides but frontally strong to anything below 180mm penetration and difficult to beat even at 200mm penetration. Reports of the gun being a big fragile, despite it being an extremely good gun.

At tier 9, the T34 takes a backseat. Armourwise it's a T29 without the ears and gunwise, it's not impressive.

The IS-4 is well armoured all around and is difficult to beat even with 220mm penetration at times. My Pershing still bounces on the sides and rear if I make a not so good shot.

The VK4502 with upgraded turret is nigh impenetrable by the IS-4's 130mm gun. It's turret placement, sides and its spontaneously set on fire skills are its weaknessed but frontally, it is an absolute beast.

Tier 10... not seen the Maus much, never had a chance to fire at one but with the fixes to its weakspots, it seems to be extremely vicious.

IS-7 is a faster, less well armoured (and bounces less) IS-4.

The T30 is simply a T29 without the ears and with a very, very big gun.

 

[1ceHacka]

is this game worth playing at all considering that the tanks are nowhere near equal at all? (Thus players with more playtime/money will be much more likely to rape your face... (i.e. NOT A SKILL BASED GAME))

Its worth it. Its not like Eve that you will be in your starter tank and thrown in with top guys. You will be matched accordingly with tanks at or near your level. You can have fun pretty easily without paying a single cent to the game. Some of us choose to pay to make things go by faster.

ELCS,

Thanks for the opinions. Pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. Some other factors that have me considering American and Russian are the changes in the trees. If I can get a T34 before the American patch, I get the replacement tank plus the T34 becomes a premium. Now that I have the Lowe, having the T34 premium isn't such a big deal. I'm pretty close to just saying that I'll go German since I have always loved the Tiger and KT. Plus the Maus always appeals with its hugeness. But that T30 gun is just insane...

 

[Skott]

Another weakness I have found in the Lowe while playing it. Engine gets damaged a lot. Frontal shot goes through it and hits engine. Never understood how that happens and no crewmen are never injured. I get ammo racked a fair bit too.

I got my Lowe pimped out fully now on mods. Gun rammer, Vent, and spall liner. Instead of getting red tracked all the time now it seems to be more of just yellow tracked. Never played a tank that would get both treads knocked out so much with one hit. Seems odd but oh, well. A shame they don't allow for a fourth mod. So many things to choose.

Edit: Couldn't duplicate my success today like I did last night. I'll try again tonight after work. People are learning to pair up on the Lowes. Smart of them. ;-)

 

[1ceHacka]

Another weakness I have found in the Lowe while playing it. Engine gets damaged a lot. Frontal shot goes through it and hits engine. Never understood how that happens and no crewmen are never injured. I get ammo racked a fair bit too.

The transmission is considered part of the engine in this game. Some tanks have the transmission near the front which is probably what is getting hit, not the engine itself.

Also, I have quite a few games in the Lowe and have never had the ammo rack explode, but have had it damaged. I usually save my repair kit for the gun/ammo rack as the Lowe gun is the best tool for its survival in battles IMO.

 

[Elcs]

Another weakness I have found in the Lowe while playing it. Engine gets damaged a lot.

German tanks often had the transmission in the front of their tank (Panther notably) and the Developers have added a front spot where you can receive engine damage to simulate the effect of transmission damage.