World Of Tanks

[Paranoid Android]

Okay MMO Champ. you got me. I decided to click on you lil advertisement for the free to play game World of Tanks. First its a game that appeals to me since I am a huge WWII nut and of course free to play. I have not played it to Tier 3. For people not familiar its kinda like levels and you can upgrade/purchases a new tank once you get enough points.

What I like about the game so farm is you get alot game in fast. Generally games may last 15 minutes plus with a "capture the flag" rules to all the maps. Most games are fast paced and when ques are instant with about a 2-3 minute load time and everyone is ready. Again I'm still a noob but there are also plenty of challenging maps and the graphics are also very decent. I think get like 2-3 new maps for a tier? So cuts down on the monotony.

Now what I don't like and what makes me probably about to quit is the imbalance. Players have the option of spending real money to buy upgrades. They can either purchase vehicles and ignore lesser tiers or use gold to buy upgrades. The biggest peeve to me is the purchase of better shell/ammo. Now currently since im free2play my shells have an armor penetration of 45-75mm while the buy for gold shells have a 72-120mm armor penetration. They both do the same damage but what it comes down to of course is your shell hitting or pentratiting the armor of opponent. I have been many figts where I unload on a tank's weak spots (side or back of tank) and little or no damage. What gets me is the many times I have been 1 or 2 shotted by gold purchased ammo. I play WoW so to me its like going into pvp and you have greens on while others have purple pvp gear. Not much of a chance.

Now of course World of Tanks is our to make money and paying customers are the reason I get to paly for free. So of course I can keep playing for free and get owned by others with better ammo or pay for gold. I think paying real money for ammo that you use is kinda rip off. Again for WoW reference thats like paying $20/month say for flasks or food buffs...gets expensive. Just my competitive gamer I am it is frustrating gettin 1-shotted in World of Tanks.

Anyone else have opinions on this game. Also I posted here because I read on their fourms they are really jerks and ban for negative posts.

[Orodoth]

I played WoT for about 3 months or so. made my way up into Tier 6 tanks. Yes, the lower tiers do suck to make it through, but once you upgrade your tank with a few mods (not the cash shop ones), and learn how to run and gun (light tanks are quite fun to harass enemy artys) the game picks up and gets better. The simple fact that they let you have multiple tanks is awesome for when your knocked out of one game, just roll right into the next one. Keep playing, I assure you, it does get better.

---------- Post added 2012-02-07 at 07:34 AM ----------

I bought a couple of cash shop tanks, and tbh, they actually sucked pretty bad. ended up selling them for well over 100k. and yeah, the gold shells do suck, but later on, you dont get one shotted by them (its more like 3 lol) it all depends on what tier your stuck in. sometimes, you get top tier and your a beast in game... other times, your bottom of the barrel looking for cover.

Try lighting up the treads as much as possible. If your in a fast tank, you can actually shoot off the treads, and run circles around them avoiding all damage. The 2nd tier of the Americans, I forget the name of the tank, but its fast and light, and take take some punishment.

[Deleted]

Played till tier 5 or so and quit for this very reason... it's not as fun when you're getting 4-6x Löwe (best real money tank) against you every match...
other thing that iritated the hell out of me was being unable to invite friends to group w/o premium acc (again real money only)

[Paranoid Android]

Thanks for posts so far. Glad to see as tiers move up it gets better and more equal. Like I said problem is having the patience. I just hate putting like 5 shells into a tank and get 1-shotted by a frontal shot.

Btw I'm currently going the Germen medium tank route.

[Deleted]

Played till tier 5 or so and quit for this very reason... it's not as fun when you're getting 4-6x Löwe (best real money tank) against you every match...
other thing that iritated the hell out of me was being unable to invite friends to group w/o premium acc (again real money only)

you can actually team with one friend with free account (2 with premium).
I have played for a week now and I have IV german tank destroyer and 4 other II/III tanks, because you can leave the battle after you die and go to new battle with other tank you can get money fast and no need to wait at all , there is no penalty for leaving the battle after you are dead.

Even if you aim to weak spots it doen't mean you hit them, small green circle indicates where the shot can go so even if you i'm for the middle it can mis or hit something else (hard armor) and all shots don't effect their hp but it can damage them from inside.

[PizzaSHARK]

WoT is more complex than "shoot tank in ass, get points." You have to take the angle of armor into account, which can make tanks with sloped armor (like the Hetzer and AMX 38 and AMX 40) difficult to score solid hits on without grossly overwhelming their armor with sheer strength (a KV shooting the derpgun is going to gib an AMX 38, sloped armor or not.)

You can also shoot a tank and do no damage to the tank itself, but cause module damage. You can kill crew members, damage components like the radio or even the gun, etc. Tracking a tank will stop it from moving, but will often do very little HP damage. You can have a shot kill a crew member, dramatically reducing that tank's effectiveness, but without causing significant HP damage. You can also have shots that literally go right through the tank ("It went right through them!") that do very little damage to the tank, but can also easily damage modules and especially crew members.

You also need to understand the differences between AP rounds and HE rounds, and when to use one over the other. And, yes, premium rounds are better than the basic shots, but you're free to buy them if you want.


Tanks you buy with gold (premium tanks) often don't have upgrades to research - these tanks are designed so that someone can buy them and immediately begin playing. These tanks are not necessarily better or worse than the non-premium tanks; they're just more convenient to use because you don't have to grind XP to buy upgrades for them.

You should also understand that just because a tank is a higher tier does not mean it will be better than the previous tiers in all areas. The Hetzer is harder to kill than the Marder II because of its low profile and sloped armor, but the Marder II can equip a bigger gun and has a longer view distance. You should also be aware that many upgrades you can unlock are able to be equipped on multiple tanks, so you should always focus on getting elite status (all equipment and tanks unlocked) on a tank before moving on to the next one. You can also use free XP to unlock new pieces for a new tank more quickly.

You should also learn the concepts of fighting hull down (positioning your tank so that only the gun and turret are visible), camouflage, and with light tanks, the higher tier you are, the more you need to rely on your speed to stay alive. By time you hit tier 3 light tanks, you should not be sitting around unless you're in bushes. Light tanks don't have the HP or armor to survive hits, so your speed and agility is the only way you're going to stay alive.

Seriously dude, go look at the WoT official forums and their Wiki. There is a wealth of information available that will make you much better at the game. I can't speak for the higher tiers (past about tier 5 or so, the game becomes incredibly grindy), but the lower tiers are very well-balanced. It's not a game issue, it's a learn to play issue.

[Deleted]

Played till tier 5 or so and quit for this very reason... it's not as fun when you're getting 4-6x Löwe (best real money tank) against you every match...
other thing that iritated the hell out of me was being unable to invite friends to group w/o premium acc (again real money only)

u are completely wrong. Having real money tank do not help at all. They are equal/worse to tanks that u can get from play. Only additional bonus from these is that they earn extra credits for you. (btw it is not important that much). If you are ending in T5 against T8 tanks it is because u are driving scout tank and u have to fullfil this role in high tier matches. I would say u just jumped to game and shooted from your tank, when u been shot by big tank u uninstalled.

Maybe WoT dont look like strategic game, but without proper understanding and strategy u are lost in WoT, same like PvE noob in AB bridge.

[Zka]

Gevlon writes a lot about this game nowadays. Yes it's pay to win indeed.
The imbalance is there to incite players to cheat... oh pardon buy gold.
If you can forgive this, the game is a perfect casual MMO. You can definitely play this in 10-15 minute increments at any time.

I've been playing it for 2 months before uninstall. I didn't really enjoy anything but SPGs (so I refused to farm XP with let's say a medium) and the grind to the next tier was growing way too long and the russian T5 SPG was useless. This was the slowest aiming SPG amongst T4-T7 SPGs. It is unable to hit anything before others will hit it. And if a high level SPG hits something, that is going to blow up. SPGs usually have a very narrow window of time (and space) to land hits so usually there are more SPGs targeting any potential target.
After 20+ matches with a combined of about 2 kills I said fuck off and deleted the game. (I used to have 2-5 kills almost each match with T3 & T4 SPGs)

[probert]

Gevlon writes a lot about this game nowadays. Yes it's pay to win indeed.
The imbalance is there to incite players to cheat... oh pardon buy gold.
If you can forgive this, the game is a perfect casual MMO. You can definitely play this in 10-15 minute increments at any time.

I've been playing it for 2 months before uninstall. I didn't really enjoy anything but SPGs (so I refused to farm XP with let's say a medium) and the grind to the next tier was growing way too long and the russian T5 SPG was useless. This was the slowest aiming SPG amongst T4-T7 SPGs. It is unable to hit anything before others will hit it. And if a high level SPG hits something, that is going to blow up. SPGs usually have a very narrow window of time (and space) to land hits so usually there are more SPGs targeting any potential target.
After 20+ matches with a combined of about 2 kills I said fuck off and deleted the game. (I used to have 2-5 kills almost each match with T3 & T4 SPGs)

If you played 20+ matches and only got 2 kills, then the game probably isn't for you.

The higher tier tanks have higher and higher repair rates, to encourage you to subscribe (50% off repairs and 50% more XP gain). However, it is possible to play only via F2P and remain both solvent and competitive. I run a stable of Tier 7 and 8s, and continually grow my bank account. The game balance is very fine tuned, usually its a matter of determining your tank's strengths and adapting your playstyle.

Drive a Tiger? PLay a sniper role and displace from your hidden cover regularly. Drive an IS? Get the 122mm, and close distance quickly with your opponents making sure to only expose your front. Artillery should also shoot and move, and try to stay close to your support.... scouts love to kill you.

Love me some WoT.

[indadnb]

Game for rest, after raids and arenas with a ton of frostmage.

[Zka]

If you played 20+ matches and only got 2 kills, then the game probably isn't for you.

Did you even read what I wrote? I've played hundreds of matches on T3&T4 SPGs with great success. Then bought the T5 SPG which was a useless piece of crap. Grinding T6 would require 1000+ matches on the useless T5 (or on another type of tank but I don't like to play them) so I decided not to continue.

[Orodoth]

once you get the hang of them, artys are fun to play. Just gotta watch for the little light tanks sneaking past everything and then lighting you up

[Deleted]

compared to WoW, WoT pvp is much more balanced.

this is how gameplay looks like if you are addicted as I



btw: while there is pay to win possibility in this game, I would say it is quite expensive and only few players is using it in regular games. And if you are noob even that do not help you at all.

[Deleted]

teamwork and moving are the keys on this game. I play mainly German TD IV Hetzer and there are good battles and bad battles, as a TD I'm useless on frontlines but deadly as support and on defence, well i'm good as long as they don't see me and if they do see me then i'm propably dead if i'm alone because TDs have limited aiming angle so it is hard to get good shots against fast moving targets. On battle I did before writing this I got 7(my best) kill (which got a medal for my crew).

Zka you said you normally got 2-5 kill... well I get normally 0-2 kill. When you buy a new tier tank there is good change you rise on battle tier too which means stronger enemies and as your tank is a new it doesn't have good modules --> makes it feel worse then your last tank. When you get new modules and as your skills increase you have a better change to rise back to old records.

Remember this is team game so as long as you hit the target someone else can take it out. you get exp and credit anyway

[sleekit]

world of tanks is kinda cool, its very grindy to get upgrades but plays like a fps full of people moving in slow motion.
thats not a bad thing. i like the strategy elements you can get going and can play while drinking a cup of tea :P

[PizzaSHARK]

Gevlon writes a lot about this game nowadays. Yes it's pay to win indeed.

Not really. Aside from premium account status, which just reduces the grind, the only thing gold gets you are the premium rounds. Sure, they're better than the basic rounds, but it's not like their automatic wins. You still have to pay attention to armor angle, armor slope, and it's not like you can just run up and one-shot everything becuse you're using premium rounds. To a man, every single person I've seen say "pay to win" is inexperienced and, generally, incompetent at WoT. Even at high tiers, most players are not using premium rounds. And even if they are, you died because you fucked up, not because they were using premium rounds.

WoT is unlike every shooter I have ever played. It's much slower-paced and much more tactical. You absolutely need to understand the mechanics of combat (again, you need to keep in mind armor angles), where to shoot specific tanks (the lower glacis plate is usually a vulnerable spot on any tank) for maximum results, and you also need to know the maps - where you can expect the arties and TDs to be hiding, and how you can approach them without getting blown to hell.

If you are in a light tank, you need to know that your role for the team is spotting and scouting. You are not there to fight. Your job is to light up enemy tanks for your heavies, arties, and TDs, and stay alive. The only tanks you should be trying to fight are the arties and TDs. You lack the penetration to do much of anything to heavies (even shooting them in the ass won't do much) and many mediums have fast enough turret speeds to be able to keep up with you.

If you are a medium tank, you fill a variety of roles, depending on tank. Some mediums are like heavier light tanks and do a lot of the stuff light tanks do. Some mediums are fat and act more like heavies. It depends on the tank.

Heavy tanks spearhead pushes. You're dogmeat on your own, being slow and fat, but your job is to stick your fat ass out there and soak shots for your team so that they can light up the enemy tanks. Positioning is critical for a heavy - you're too slow to reposition easily, and you're easy to flank if you don't have teammates covering your ass.

TDs are snipers. You should never be up front. You should always be behind a hill or in some bushes. Move up, take your shot, and get the hell out of dodge. Arties focus on other arties, TDs, and heavies - in that order. The second you fire, some arty is gonna have your number, and unless you're moving, he's gonna drop a hammer on you. Fire, scoot, hide, fire, and repeat. It takes about 10 seconds for you to fade from view if you aren't being spotted by another enemy tank (i.e. enemy light tank.) If arty is falling near you, someone sees you and that's your cue to get the fuck out. TDs have horrible armor everywhere but the front so always keep your front facing the enemy; if they're shooting your sides or ass, you're dead.

Arty is much like TDs. Hide in bushes, position yourself so that you have a good angle of fire and are in range, and always move after your fire. Nothing makes my day like killing an enemy arty when I'm playing arty. You're almost entirely reliant on your lights and TDs to protect you from enemy lights rushing your positions. If your team doesn't defend you, arty is very frustrating.

You should be playing a little bit of everything. You can look at their wiki to see which tanks and types of tanks would fit your preferred playstyle most. I'm a big fan of powerful, accurate weapons, so I tend to stick with German tanks, but I play American arty because I love the Priest's playstyle - short range and moderate damage, but with high rate of fire and rainmaker accuracy.

And, yes, the game becomes VERY grindy around tier 5 or tier 6. I've already got my Marder II in elite status, and I plan on unlocking and playing the Hetzer to see if I enjoy that playstyle, but I doubt I'll go much farther. I just don't like grinding and I'm already a big fan of the Marder II's playstyle. By time you're playing T4-T6 tanks, all of the roles mentioned come into play. T1-T3 tends to be extremely heavy on light tanks with very few medium tanks and arties and only a handful of TDs, so it's not really the same game.

[Deleted]

If you are in a light tank, you need to know that your role for the team is spotting and scouting. You are not there to fight. Your job is to light up enemy tanks for your heavies, arties, and TDs, and stay alive. The only tanks you should be trying to fight are the arties and TDs. You lack the penetration to do much of anything to heavies (even shooting them in the ass won't do much) and many mediums have fast enough turret speeds to be able to keep up with you.

My T5 American M24 Chaffee says hi! =P

While I agree ALOT to your post, I felt it was required here to add in, that certain Light Tanks are actualy pretty much as fire-power viable as some Medium Tanks are. While the russian T-50 and T-50-2 are DAMN fast they hold no real firepower even against arties (5 shots to take down a Hummel? Pffft..) where the German VK (What's its number) T5 light tank is pretty good defensively, the M24 Chaffee on the american tree has good speed, consistant travel through swamps (Unless if you upgrade the turret which.. sure, gives a bit more view range (Can be achieved with Bio Optics, which does'nt weigh anything..) and access to a SLIGHTLY better gun, not upgrading it gives you THE most fun tank i've had in the game.

I've played around 550 matches in the Chaffee by now, and admittedly, I'm still a 'noob' in many senses of realizing the full potential of it.. But in some games, I've managed to light up enemies nicely (Should mention, I am NOT premium and do NOT use gold to buy shells!) and still penetrate up to KV-3's for 5-10 damage a shell with regular AP rounds. Now.. "5-10% damage? HAH! That's proposterous you little fail tank, go scout only and die!" you might say, but realize the potential here.. I'm driving a tank which maneouvers so fast most enemy turrets can't keep up (Even most meds have trouble since I can keep 55km/h while circling, again because of being weight-concerned and using stock turret and gun and no heavy modules like pffft.. Cammoflage).

In addition, I just reached Master Sergeant on my tank commander, and have 3/5 crewmembers on 100% repair training and 2 on 100% cammoflage training (For those pesky battles where I -am- just a scout and end up eating chips in a bush or drinking coffee) but really? Most battles I tend to get a bit of praise when I end up being among the last team rushing in, or taking down every enemy arty while dancing around TD's and heavies in defence, or even taking out the TD's aswell while lighting up defensive heavies on the map for OUR Arties.

I play alot of games with a friend who drives a Hummel. The most mobile Arty IMHO so usually we coordinate very well and he can get mobile to hit enemies in their defense in most angles, which means as 2 guys, we can rip through enemy arties, TD's and Heavies/Meds in defense making us pretty darn killer. Most times, I'll 'paint' them by hitting them a few times with chuck-shots of HE shells to damage some modules or simply track them and he'll take them out. What's not to love?

I was not really a big fan of Heavy Tanks, and admittedly, if you roll up in an M3 or M5 (Hehe Stuarts..) and think you'll do damage to something, you'll find yourself a bit sad to realize you can't hit much.. But when you take tear a KV-3 or in RARE cases, an IS alone by turning around and shooting the right spots consistantly while he can't turn fast enough, and add to the fact a Chaffee stops on a quarter and backs away with 20km/h meaning you can ALWAYS stay behind the turret, you've got an incredibly fun little killing machine! =)

- Just felt like I needed to add that, as many - even long time players - still don't realize how much potential a cute little Chaffee has, so they always get suprised in the chat when I end up dominating Tier 8 tanks with my Arty buddy simply because of our teamwork. (Oh, and he does'nt use gold-shells either).

Thanks for reading


DISCLAIMER!: Just so we're on the same page, I really DO agree with your post. You got the basic roles pretty damn spot on, and it takes alot of time and patience to learn how to further utilize your tanks. And my post is VERY biased since the M24 Chaffee is my favorite in-game tank since I do so well in it, and I realize alot of people won't have the patience to stick with a tank who does 2/3 games get blown to bits the first time an enemy catches wind of it, if you're not careful. Also, while the Chaffee can ACHIEVE the firepower of say the M4 Sherman, it does'nt mean it's effective to always utilize it and just rushing into battle on a light is suicide. You're spot on about the roles. I'll say again, I do NOT disagree that even the Chaffee IS very well utilized as 'just a spotter'. My point was that if you invest time and teamwork into even light tanks, they'll be a bigger addition to your team than someone who's just there to earn a bit of cash for their preffered tank while it's in combat elsewhere.

And WoT has been around long enough now, that even 'veterans' if you'll call them that yet, should by now understand that the M24 is not just another spot'n'die tank if played by someone who's dedicated to it - which counts for ALOT (not all) the 'Weaker' tanks in the game. Especially empathize on the 'Weaker' notion here, since alot of players will, in addition, devalue you when seeing your tank on the start-list and figure 'not a big threat, moving on' which gives you the chance to suprise them.. 'pleasantly'. Another key element to the Tier 5 Light tanks =)

[Thunderball]

Have played it since August, got 3 top heavies now, 1 top spg and 1 top mt, others to come. Game of choice for me ever since I quit WoW. The choice for me was quite obvious - PvP only game, free to try, best premium system on the market (was actually against F2P games as a whole before I've studied WoT premium system), lots of players, constant updates and belorussian developer (im russian, so having my questions answered by the developers in their native language is a big plus). I'm currently on premium account (+50% credits and experience per battle) and the only thing I need gold (premium currency) is for module removal. I wont go into detail about different tanks and shit, I just suggest you try the game.

[Paranoid Android]

Yeah played a little longer with medium tank and this game is weaksauce. Last game I played I literally ran in circles around this heavy tank. Yes it was a heavy tank but i had best gun in my bracket.(50 caliber) and pumped 6 SHOTS!! into him all either on the side or behind. None of my attacks where frontal or angle attacks so shells could boune off. Of course he manages to get one shot on me (actually another opponent came by now) and 1 shots me.

Anyways I have seen this alot I pump so many shells into tanks and nothing. I do see gold ammo so OP! I have mentioned this and so has someone else. This game is a rip-off because you use real money to basically by the shells which you go through in the game. Using my WoW reference thats like you have to spend extra money on flasks/pots and food every month. That would get expensive. This game is a weak.

[PizzaSHARK]

Yeah played a little longer with medium tank and this game is weaksauce. Last game I played I literally ran in circles around this heavy tank. Yes it was a heavy tank but i had best gun in my bracket.(50 caliber) and pumped 6 SHOTS!! into him all either on the side or behind. None of my attacks where frontal or angle attacks so shells could boune off. Of course he manages to get one shot on me (actually another opponent came by now) and 1 shots me.

Anyways I have seen this alot I pump so many shells into tanks and nothing. I do see gold ammo so OP! I have mentioned this and so has someone else. This game is a rip-off because you use real money to basically by the shells which you go through in the game. Using my WoW reference thats like you have to spend extra money on flasks/pots and food every month. That would get expensive. This game is a weak.

Jesus christ dude, did you even read any of the shit we typed? We're telling you how to play and all you do is come back here and whine.

ARMOR SLOPE IS FUCKING IMPORTANT. SHOOTING A TANK IN THE ASS IS NOT NECESSARILY GOING TO KILL THEM OR EVEN HURT THEM.

Slope is basically the angle of your projectile path relative to the angle of the enemy's armor. The closer this is to 90 degrees, the higher the chance your shot will ricochet ("bounce off") of the enemy and do zero damage. You ideally want to be firing directly at the armor plate, and you need to remember that heavy tanks are heavy for a reason - they have a TON of armor. A light tank will be extremely unlikely to be able to damage them. You CAN, however, track them, and that's what you should be doing if you engage them at all. Aim for the cogwheels. Leave actually KILLING the heavies to your arties, your TDs, and your own heavies.

If you absolutely have to engage a heavy (as anything, really, but especially as a light tank), aim for the lower glacis plates - those are the armor plates on the underside of the tank. They're extremely hard to hit but it's basically your only chance at dealing HP damage as a light tank. Even TDs mounting howitzers can have issues dealing significant damage to heavies, but that's the entire point - heavies mount big guns and extremely thick armor in exchange for basically being giant sitting ducks.