Make WoT Great Again

World of Tanks is a fantastic game, with overall great mechanics and a perfect design to combat cheating in any kind of professional scene. However, a professional scene has been hard to come by, due to the game's demographics and how the pro games are formatted compared to the game played by an everyday person. The game definitely needs a spark to draw more players back into the game, as well as creating a sort of "end game" content for experienced players that have unlocked many of the trees.

The Esports side of the game has at least been handed off to a competitive company (ESL) and employs professional casters that creates a very good viewing experience (although there can be some kinks, it is overall good). This side of World of Tanks is very important because a trhiving competitive scene generally drives a game to become better and attracts a large number of new players. This is especially important on NA because of our impressive Esports scene in other games, such as CS:GO. They need to create an option in the game, in order to expand the game modes, to include a ranked matchmaker that includes a 7v7 format that has a certain season that you can generate points and therefore earn rewards, ingame or otherwise. This would function much like the Faceit.com system, but would encourage people who are less proactive about playing against better players, and would create a new type of competitive play as well as a good feeder to get into Gold/Silver League.

World of Tanks also needs a way for the developers to make more money, as to focus on creating real content, instead of just pointless premium tanks that have no place in the game anyway. They need to introduce an ingame economy, based upon real money or Gold, that revolves around buying and selling tank skin modifications. This needs to occur after WoT mod support is finally gone as they are adding more choice of interface each patch. These skins could come as random drops to players, and would bring back people into the community if these skins are interesting or aesthetically pleasing in any way. This would bring a constant revenue to WG through a taxation system if real money is used, or just having them be worth Gold, forcing players to spend money on the game. These skins could not give any bonus to gameplay, but be purely cosmetic, much like skins in CS:GO or mounts in World of Warcraft (premium mounts exist).

Finally, World of Tanks needs to introduce more tanks into the game, after they release the Swedish Line. There are plenty of candidates, such as the Polish, Chinese/Japanese Tank Destroyers, other Swedish lines as outlined by SP15, other Czechoslovakian lines, outlined by Silent Stalker, bringing in armored cars (as hinted at by convoy mode) or vehicles specifically with hydraulic/pneumatic suspension, etc. This brings about 5+ full lines that are easily implemented along with numerous extra routes to go in already existing lines such as the E 10 tank from Germany being a counterpart/upgrade to the Hetzer. This would certainly draw more people back into the game and create more revenue for WG and therefore create time for development and balance.

World of Tanks could use some work, but Wargaming needs to follow steps to bring in a playerbase so that they can actually use their revenue to perfect their game. These are just ideas remember, tweak them in any way you want, but these seem to have worked in the past/in other games.


-Spirtwalker

Apologies for Inactivity

I have not been able to get blogging and streaming much at all for the past weeks. This has mostly been due to spending time with family away from my house. Service should pick up again soon, expect more posts within the next few days.

-Spirtwalker

Joined a Clan and Will Stream

I just joined a clan with some friends called CARTL. I will be calling games frequently which will allow me to do something new, which I will mention later. We plan to start with running Tier 8 Clan Wars but hopefully move to tier 10 quickly. If you would like to play a few games with my new group of guys, feel free to apply by messaging an officer (such as myself). So far, it has been going well, and I am happy I left OTTER in search of a more vibrant clan. I would also love to use this opportunity to improve on my own calling, and spread my knowledge to the general clan population. My plan is to start streaming, and especially Skirmishes and Clan Wars. All in all, the clan seems very good, and will allow me to get some wins with people I like to play with.

I will begin some test streams today and tomorrow, and I will announce my first big stream on the blog.

Twitch Page: https://www.twitch.tv/spirtwalker21

-Spirtwalker

Just an Update and Clan Talk

I have finally left OTTER to look for a more fun clan that I can hang out with a few friends and play some competitive games. Today, I was approached by a clan called T_K_O, which houses some great people (it seems) which I got from talking to them for about 10 min. I would highly recommend them for any player looking for a growing clan that is moving to Tier 8 Clan Wars. I probably rubbed them the wrong way because I was very salty this morning (#justblunicumproblems). I will definitely be trying to help these types of clans out with this blog by going over strategies and clan things. I really hope they can succeed, and they are really doing things the right way as far as recruiting and building.

-Spirtwalker

UPDATE: Starting a Clan/My Game

I know you have all noticed the lack of posts over the past 2 weeks or so. I have been working a ton, starting in my new job. I am finally starting to get back into blogging (as I have been tanking) and will now update you on some things:

My Game:
I joined a Silver League Team! Also, I have lately been trying to get better at playing specific tanks, and what better way to show this by 3-marking tanks that I love, so now I have 3 marked 4 Tier 10s: T57, E5, BatChat, and M48 Patton. I also 3-marked T8s: T54 Light, RU 251, T49, WZ-132, T32, IS-3, and M41 90mm. Now enough bragging, on to what you are really here for:

Clan:
My eventual goal will be to create my own clan or take over a clan, and then make it my own by becoming the Commander. I have been the Executive Officer in 3 different clans in the past, and I really want to run things by myself, without trying to only influence a commander that may not listen to me anyways. My goal would be to hit the ground running, playing Tier 8 Clan Wars and maybe get up to tier 10. I'm thinking that I will do this after league is over, and after the coming campaign, so expect this to come in September. Feel free to reach out to me if you are going to be interested in joining/helping me run things (as there would be caller/officer positions open) and you can pm me ingame or through the forums.Stay tuned to the blog so that I can bounce some clan policies/ideas off of you guys.


-Spirtwalker

Wargaming Schedule: Clan Wars and Development

Wargaming has been actually doing a bit lately as far as their game development. I would like to start this off by saying that this is mostly unconfirmed speculation, and I am also inferring that 9.16 will have the global rebalance, and be in early September/late August.


Global Map Freeze in late August (currently the 21)

Gold League Will Tentatively Start on the 4th of August

Next Mini-Campaign- after freeze, late August/early September, likely lasting a few weeks. The tank that will be given out will probably be the Object 257 TD, learn more at tanks.gg

Gold League will run until sometime in September, probably until the end of the Campaign as they usually link campaigns and Gold League during the same timeframe. This campaign could also come earlier, as they have overlapped a season with a campaign in the past. One other tank they could give out is the Chieftain (PLEASE WG), but I have heard that it will be a tier 10 tank. Don't take too much away from the statistics currently, as it will likely be distributed after (or right when) the Global Reblance goes live.


-Spirtwalker

Sandbox: Week 4

Sorry, been busy, so trying to get these articles out as fast as possible:

The Sandbox Server has received some minor balance changes, including a nerf to some autoloaders, some dispersion bonuses to assault vehicles, as well as a large DPM buff to the FV215B and E3.
I really don't want to cover these changes very heavily, just go to the Armored Patrol article if you want specifics. All they really did was to make the other SPGs on par with the ConqGC. They are really just nitpicking for changes now, to get them all perfect. It seems that they are done with major stuff, maybe even about ready to introduce lower tier tanks (not tens) into the sandbox server. I also have some "insider" information for all of you Clan Wars people coming up!

-Spirtwalker

State of NA WoT

North American World of Tanks has been decreasing in popularity since the overall boom of newer members sometime around 2013, and this was in part due to popular Youtube channels (such as Jingles/Quickybaby/SideStrafe), and also due to advertising the growing game. Now, the game is receiving very few newer players in the NA circuit.

There are many possible reasons to this, and there are probably many, here are some of my own thoughts:


Content:
Wargaming's last big content patch, which included a brand new line (WT line), 4 new premium tanks, Team Battles, and a new map: Northwest (which has been removed for some time now). The follow-up patch to this was in December, introducing the Japanese Medium tank branch.  After this patch, some new tanks have been released, but not in the same "line after line" format that previous patches had done. There have been 2 new lines since then, the Czechoslovakians and the Japanese Heavies. The amount of content has obviously reached a somewhat stagnant point for Wargaming, partly due to the lack of tanks to actually fill their game with, which could have actually been solved by introducing higher tier tanks (above tier 10), and therefore having many modern tanks to choose from. There are issues with this, such as a lack of real classes, as MBTs were very dominant, and lights would need to be replaced by AFVs, which would create some mess, but could be solved in time. This is besides the point, as they elected to not do this. Many of the later patches have been bug fixes and some minor balance. Wargaming as a company was also just starting to launch World of Warplanes and was developing World of Warships, requiring some of their resources. They have definitely been slacking on the content side of things, and their blind-less additions of content did not take into account the overall balance of the game, meaning that if they ever stopped introducing more lines, many players would be less than interested to keep playing, which is what they did. This started the downfall of the game, as many overpowered tanks were destroying the others at unprecedented rates. This lack of balance and content cause players to start to leave the game, as they were not overly invested in the game. As I mentioned before, there have been introduced maps, both of the ones mentioned were actually removed from the game.

Service:
Wargaming NA has become the neglected child of this company (now becoming SEA), and its playerbase has had little to say about the overall balance of the game and how it applies to the gameplay in NA vs the other regions. This has created strife within the community, and anger towards the company.

Competition: WoT is forced to compete with games like Overwatch, CS:GO, and LoL now in terms of competitive team play, and it used to compete massively (and still does) with other MMOs such as World of Warcraft. This competition leaves WG behind in the sense of balance and attention to detail, which effects other servers less, as some games are less prevalent there (WOW being one of those). Now that all of these games are becoming bigger and better, WoT is no longer as innovative graphics and balance wise, making it fall behind in player base, and causing it to begin to die.


-Spirtwalker

Calling: Ideologies and Examples

Calling in WoT is much more hectic than it is in 5-man games such as CS:GO, which has a certain limit to what can be done within matches. WoT is very creative in what can happen, and many things can work, abstract and mainstream.

Calling can be broken down into two ideologies: dynamic and static. Dynamic calling is basically seen by running defaults (very basic, similar to saying "we will take control of this general area"), then adapting to what your enemy does. One way to really do this, is to take extensive map control to portions your opponent is willing to give up. This allows large rotations to happen, and traps to be set. Dynamic calling can also be seen in a more basic way, as sending out scouts, then taking control of the map, then attacking the enemy. Static calling can be seen as giving a very strict strategy to counter an opponents, given at the beginning of a battle. This is good on certain maps that have especially important/strong parts that are necessary to win a battle. This will often consist of specialized tanks such as AMX 13 90s or artillery. Tanks that aren't normally used are good to counter opponents when you can expect what they are going to do. This tactic is really strong when you are competing on the global map, and allies have told you what your opponent does on a specific map. This is also great to surprise a clan with a unique strategy.



Dynamic Calling:

This example shows how the team of 6 heavies and 4 lights are generally spread to face the enemy. See how one side of the map is directly controlled, the entire "green" half. It also gives three alleyways where tanks can advance, the center, west, and east. More tanks are pushed toward the east, allowing the other lights opportunity to flank the enemy when the time is right. Remember it is important that every tank is covered by another at all times. No tanks should be alone. Even the tank in the middle in this example is easily covered by the lights on the west and on the east.


Static Calling:

This example shows how the 5 lights and 5 heavies can rush a specific part of the map and play off of each other. The heavies can shoot enemy light tanks and our lights can defend themselves due to their high number. The south is the most important position on this map, requiring a set composition of tanks, at least two auto-loader light tanks. This provides burst damage to fend off a rush in rapid time. This setup does not allow really any rotation until the "mid game", which I will be covering in my next strategy article/guide article.


Comment or PM me any map you want explained/strategy example of!

-Spirtwalker

Tier 8 Clan Wars: Tanks and Basics

Tier 8 Clan Wars is the first level of competitive play that is really fun and diverse. Tier 6 is dominated by a few tanks and basically two strategies, heavies on city maps and lights/mediums on more open locations. Tier 8 brings about a more dynamic setup with more health to play around with. It no longer is based upon whoever shoots first, wins. I want to give you all a guide to help understand the basics about how tanks should be played and what tanks should be used. Keep in mind that I am only really going to go over tanks that are usable on all maps, not including TDs, Mediums,  or artillery because these tanks are specific but here is a list of some good ones: JP2, Charioteer, Ferdinand, FCM 50t, AMX 50 100, OBJ 416, Pershing, M40/43, and Lorr. 155 51.

The AMX 50 100 is not included in my overall "top tanks" due to its inability to stay within the fight and only really being successful in certain situations and on certain maps. Also, artillery is only really helpful on open maps. The Pershing can be useful as a faster T32, and the 416 is a useful tank destroyer medium. The Ferdinand is a helpful as a heavy support in certain situations and the JP2/Charioteer are the best snipers of the tier. Finally, the FCM is a good fast heavy to destroy light tanks due to its high health and troll armor. On to the tanks:

Lights:

All lights are useful at this tier, except for the T49.

RU 251/M41 90- These tanks are both excellent for DPM as well as penetration (on HEAT and HE) at long distance. They have depression but lack armor, so they are best suited for mid range combat and support roles. It is important to bring these tanks in a lineup that also includes T54 Lightweights to allow them to take the hits for the German lights. They are basically best for the more open maps, or on maps where you need better DPM lights to support heavies.

T-54 Lightweight- This is currently considered the best light tank for the tier due to its armor and similar gun to equal tier lights. While it struggles with sniping, it is adept at brawling and carries APCR (does not have as much pen as WZ however) which allows it to fight spaced armor and tracks well. Its turret is fantastic, and it can tank some shots with some luck. This should be the bulk of your  fast tank lineup as it is the most versatile light tank, but any team should be at least half heavies.

AMX 13 90- This tank has the most specific role, mostly to do burst damage and then retreat into cover. It is mostly useful on maps where there will be a large light tank brawl such as Westfield or Swamp. It cannot tank damage or snipe, but can support in close quarters. It is also worthwhile to now that the APCR ammunition has great penetration. This machine does have a long reload so it makes it less useful in most lineups, but helpful on some maps. It also probably does better in pairs, rather than as a solo support tank.

WZ-132- This is a tank that sort of combines the T-54 Light and the RU 251 as it is fit for sniping and has a lack of depression. This is a really quick tank that is best used as a backup tank for when your others are locked out due to deaths in clan wars. It does have HE resistant armor, unlike its German counterpart, but is inferior to the lightweight in brawling and to the RU for sniping.

Heavies:

Only the IS-3 and T32 are really viable for this class.

IS-3- This is the pinnacle Russian heavy with excellent side armor, good turret, and good mobility. It can reverse side-scrape as well as tank shots while hull down. It does have a small weak-point but it is hard to hit on a regular basis. The speed allows it to traverse the larger maps quickly and flank enemies or engage them in unique positions. It is the best city tank of the tier and only second when fighting on ridge-lines, to the T32.

T32- This is the true ridge-line warrior of the tier with a near impenetrable turret and decent gun, it can rip apart its enemies quickly, albeit with less alpha damage then an IS-3. It could be compared to the T34, but is much faster and has better DPM. It also has decent hull armor which can pull off some ricochets when angled properly. This is really only suited for ridge engagements due to its depression.

These are my thoughts on some of the individual tanks and their uses for Tier 8 Clan Wars, I will post later about strategy on maps!

-Spirtwalker

Schedule

Figured it was about time I establish a schedule of articles so you guys can know the rough topics of the upcoming things I write about.

Monday: Maps, Tactics, Esports, and Clan Wars

Tuesdays: About me, status of the blog, my tanks/progress, and guides

Wednesdays: Overall state of the game

Thursdays: Sandbox Talk

Friday: Balance

Weekends: Whatever



Hope I can really start posting regularly!

-Spirtwalker

Arty vs. Arty: Sandbox Thoughts

As you all probably know, it is possible to find enemy arty in your own arty by looking for their tracer shells. It is also possible to shoot at those locations, making the splash damage changes very interesting on sandbox.

The splash damage and penetration changes allow artillery to splash tanks nearby to the shell hit for around 500 if those tanks have light armor. This is especially true in tanks such as T92 and Conq GC. This means that it is very possible to counter enemy artillery, just by hitting near them. It isn't actually possible for most of these artillery to move that quickly after firing (aside from BatChat 155 58). This will prove to be an interesting counter to the artillery players within WoT.


-Spirtwalker

Thoughts on Overall State of Sandbox Week 3

The Sandbox Server (at the moment) is actually somewhat competitively viable. Lets start with artillery:

Artillery now has an "assistance" bonus towards tanks that are damaged when stunned. This is similar to tracking damage and spotting damage, yet unique to artillery. This makes artillery a rewarding class to play again, as the number of tanks effected, the greater amounts of reward. This also addresses other problems such as XVM focus in some respects. If a target is isolated, they will less likely be hunted down quickly as it is more helpful to destroy large clusters of enemies that are pushing down a flank. Artillery also has large splash which can hit tanks around buildings and other cover, which forces people to make aggressive plays, instead of sitting still. The splash damage seems to be mitigated by armor, but not distance from where the shot landed to as large a degree. The increase in penetration also allows SPGs to deal some damage, usually around 300-400 per shot.

Tank Destroyers, Cavalry, Assault Tanks, and Light tanks are also still performing their roles as planned, so I won't really touch on them.

Juggernauts/Heavies were still a bit too strong, and I still feel more of them need nerfs, especially the Type 5, in a similar respect to the Maus and IS-4. These tanks need the bonus for tanking however, otherwise they will be terrible experience/WN8 earners. These tanks need to solely be the armor or shields on the battlefield, not the damage dealers.

Fire Support Vehicles were improved/nerfed in different ways promoting a more sniper-based game, with them not being the damage dealers they were. They are now support only, and don't rule the game as they once did. They are now able to be countered at close range from Cavalry vehicles and Heavies.

All vehicles have different counters and strong positions that did not exist before in the ways they do now. Heavies are strictly armor, fire support and artillery strictly support, assault tanks and cavalry do damage and tank damage (close range), and light tanks can spot.


-Spirtwalker

Sandbox Server: Week #3

The sandbox server was changed yet again, in the search of balance on the top tiers. They basically looked at the superheavy tanks and nerfed some of them, as well as buffing the overall effectiveness of artillery. Fire support vehicles were also changed to make them less of a dominating sniper force, by lowering their overall DPM. And on to my more specific comments:


SPGs: Artillery were buffed a massive amount due to their increase in penetration, as well as improvements in how splash damage works and the "stun" effects. Also, the T92 recieved an overall increase by a slight gain of damage and reload speed decrease. The BatChat artillery also recieved some damage buffs and a reduction of one shell from its magazine, down to three. The reload is also scaled down to meet these changes. It has also become more mobile, making it the only really fast arty at tier ten.

Juggernauts/Heavies: The Maus has become the true heavy, with no more DPM or gun statistics, just armor. This hopefully signifies an introduction of the experience gained from effective usage of armor, in order to still make tanks such as these worth playing. Also, the IS-4 had a slight DPM nerf, making it the worst along with the Maus. The JPZ E 100 was also nerfed in its penetration to force it to only fight close quarters, despite its fantastic accuracy. This is an interesting change, probably stemming from its great armor. We may be looking at an E 100 and Type 5 nerf soon. The E4 received its APCR nerf and the E3 got a shell capacity buff.

Grille 15: The only tank destroyer change, the penetration was increased to help with sniping, and to bring it up to par with its competitors.

Fire Support Vehicles: Mediums in this category were given large buffs to their aim time and accuracy, but also substantial nerfs to their DPM, except the Centurion AX, which remained the same. We can probably expect a nerf coming its way... The STB-1 was also excluded, only to be met with a harsh accuracy nerf, now similar to "Cavalry" mediums. The BatChat also recieved an accuracy buff as well as a reload decrease to meet the current four shell magazine. There are also rumors of Patton mobility buffs, which I can't truly confirm, but I can say that it played to what the alleged buffs were.

Some Other Things:

Maps- The current maps for Karelia and Steppes are called Karelian Glades and Flat Steppes. The became much more flat in areas, especially the taking out of the northern hills on Karelia, and the flatter parts of the West on Steppes. This is interesting because it could promote more sniping opportunities for TDs, artillery hits due to lack of prominent terrain features, movement of heavies due to a lack of hilly terrain, or the ability for light tanks to light up targets.

BatChat Guns- The guns (90 mm and 100 mm from 13 90 and Lorr. 40t) have been dropped from 6 shells to 4 shells which may point to a change among the tier 8 and tier 9 tanks from the french lines.

I will release another article about my opinions themselves.

-Spirtwalker

The Road to Unicum

This article will contain my insight into how I became a better player in the game of WoT. I really started to improve when I started to join clans, and played more often. Honestly, this is true for anything that you want to get good at; you play with players better than you, in a more competitive environment, and you practice more. But I did do some things that I would recommend others to do in order to improve.

One of the things I had done previous to really getting into the game was play a ton of light tanks, I had ground out ever light tank line up to tier eight, and I understood the basic mechanics of how to play them. When I got into a clan, I decided that I needed to pick up some top tier vehicles. And here is my first point, play one tank, or tanks that are similar (i.e. fast mediums with no armor). This will train your brain to think correctly about your positioning in a battle, and not force you to change your style every game. I started grinding out lines such as the T57 Heavy and the Patton, which taught me how to improve in higher tier combat.

This brings me to my next point, playing against higher tiered opponents teaches how to play against more skilled players. The higher tiers are filled with better players than the lower tiers, just based on experience alone. Most people at high tiers have at least 4-6k battles, some much higher. This throws you into a pool of players that can show you new spots on maps, force you to shoot more accurately, and generally force you to make less mistakes.

On the topic of positioning, watching videos on YouTube or streams will provide you with places that higher tier players go towards on maps. It can show you how to play a class that you are unfamiliar with. This gameplay is consistent, unlike your own, meaning you can learn something from most of their games.

Another way to force yourself to learn is to play high-skill tanks. This can include light tanks and faster, less forgiving mediums such as the Leopard or BatChat. The tanks force you to make less mistakes on the battlefield, while providing you the tools to have great games. The only problem with this is: you tend to have a smaller effect on your overall winrate due to a lack of armor, and therefore an ability to carry games with lucky bounces.

Clans are a great part of the game. I recommend that players join one if they are looking for any kind of fun game due to their competitiveness over the random battle mode. Team Battles can also be seen as good, but require tier eight tanks, and tier sixes are easier to research for clan wars. I have an article posted about good tier sixes, http://spiritwotanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/04/tier-6-tanks-for-clan-wars.html  and http://spiritwotanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/04/tier-6-tanks-for-clan-wars-part-2.html. If you have the tanks, and stats to match, this is what I would recommend:

Recent WN8                                                           Some Clans

1000-1500           Tier 6 Clans     JAWS, EMPRR/EMPER, HIPPO/H1PPO, ROHAN

2000-2500           Tier 8 Clans     FUSION, GROOT, -SWAG, RDDT3

3000+                  Tier 10 Clans   OTTER, MO, CLAWS, _FAM_, R-7


These are pretty rough estimates, and more like guarantees that you will be accepted. If you are placed somewhere in the middle, choose the tier of play you are most comfortable with. Tier 6 is also much more casual, and takes much less skill and practice.


Message me in game if you have questions or leave a comment! Also if you have any WoT related topics you want me to discuss tell me about it!

-Spirtwalker

Sandbox: Tier 9 Tank Thoughts

I have been thinking a lot lately how Wargaming will implement the overall rebalance at Tier IX. There are my opinions/thoughts:

Keep in mind I won't really talk about artillery, as it is heavily changed, and is therefore hard to predict how the final implementation of artillery will be (they probably still haven't finished the Tier X balance). Also, they will probably keep the same class-based characteristics as the Tier 10 vehicles (i.e. Heavies have long reloads and big guns).

Heavy Tanks/Juggernauts: T95, T30, E 75, VK 45.02B, ST-1, Type 4, Jagtiger

Assault Tanks: M103, Conqueror, Foch?, WZ-111 1-4, T-10

Cavalry: E 50, OBJ. 430 II, T-54, WZ-120

Fire Support Vehicles: T54E1, M46, Cent 7/1, AMX 50 120, Lorr/Batchat, AMX 30, Type 61, Skoda T50

Tank Destroyers: WT IV, SU 122 54, OBJ 704, Tortoise, Conway, Foch?

These will likely be the classes for the current tier nine tanks, but there are some tanks that probably should be considerably weaker than they currently are:

WT IV: This tank has fantastic camouflage rating and decent mobility with arguably the best gun of the tier. This tank will hopefully be remodeled in the style of the Grille 15, an accuracy/aim time buff, with nerfs to the reload time and overall mobility.

T-54/430 II: These tanks have excellent guns that are good for sniping and brawling. Also, HEAT rounds can compensate for a lack of penetration. The overall rebalance already addresses the problems with HEAT ammo, but these tanks also need nerfs to accuracy and view range, to prevent them from dominating all parts of the battle.

Tier 9 tanks are decidedly well balanced, but here are some more tanks that might need some buffs to their characteristics:

T95: This tank made my list due to its inability to traverse the battlefield, unlike the E3. It would be fantastic if Wargaming would improve the top speed limit to allow some movement from one place to another. This tank will have improved armor due to the decline of overpowered HEFAT rounds, therefore buffing it in another way.

Foch: This is currently one of the worst/least played tier nine tanks due to its overall average-ness and inflexibility. What they should do is make the French TDs as a strong assault tank class with very good DPM and low accuracy. This would bring some interesting new play styles into the game, as there currently isn't a fantastic tank like this, on the live server (other than maybe the 263).

I hope this shed some light on what the upcoming changes will be about, or show you what tanks need some love/need some nerfs.


-Spirtwalker

The Best Tanks of the Sandbox Server: Week 2

There are definitely tanks on the Sandbox Server that stand out. They are just good by themselves, or they match up well against the other tanks being displayed. I must stress again how important it is for Wargaming to include an experience coefficient for arty to the number/time stunned on tanks that they hit. This could make arty a profitable class to play, instead of the current, usually bottom end of the experience spectrum. Now, on the the tanks:

AMX Foch 155 (with a 120 mm gun)
This tank is sort of a remake of the old TD with four rounds and a two second time in between shots. Also, this tank has the one of the highest DPM of the tier 10s (around 3.5k fully maxed out). This creates a strong brawler with a quick reload that can dish out a ton of punishment in a short period. This tank also has decent mobility, unlike many of the Tank Destroyers on the server, as it has decent traverse and acceleration/top speed values. This tank makes a powerful addition to the Assault Tanks Class, with its armored tank destroyer chassis, and (old) T57-like gun.

Maus
This tank has all of the armor of the live server, but the lack of gold round abuse on sandbox. This tank is slow, but has very strong armor when angled against tanks without overpowered heat rounds making this one of the most powerful heavies on the Sandbox Server. Also, the gun received buffs which make it one of the fastest firing tanks in the Heavy Tank Class. It can also snipe with its decent accuracy  which allows it to fulfill multiple roles. The Maus has become one of the most powerful city warriors on the Sandbox Server.

T110E4
This tank now has competitive DPM (better than E 100) as well as some armor, especially with the global penetration nerfs. This tank also has good gun statistics compared with other tanks of the Juggernaut Class. The 2400 health also allows this tank to trade much like an E 100, but also out pace in in speed and penetration. This tank also has strangely good gold rounds, as it seems they only nerfed HEAT, not APCR. This tank is a good entry as a competitor to the E 100, sacrificing armor for gun handling and mobility.

Leopard 1
The Leopard 1 is actually better, with respect to DPM, than many of the other fire support tanks. Also, the gun handling on this machine is simply fantastic, sacrificing armor to gain everything else. This tank will make the perfect blend between long-range sniper and mid-range support tank. Also, scouting will be possible with its decent view range, albeit relatively large size. This tank is a perfect example of how the Fire Support Class should work.

E 50 M
This tank is a fantastic brawler with its decent DPM (similar to Russian mediums), and good gun handling. This tank is a good city fighter with its boxy shape and angled hull. It also has some depression allowing for a flexible and quick entry for the Cavalry Class. It also happens to be a ramming machine.

121
This is a tank that is very similar to the Russian tanks, giving up accuracy for alpha damage and the ability to be the best brawler in the Cavalry Class. It is the top tank to have in a close range fight that also has some excellent speed characteristics.

To Address Scouts
I must say that scouts are all excellent, but are not very effective when up against tanks at Tier 10. They do have insane mobility and view range which leaves even the BatChat in the dust.


Here are some interesting graphics:

HP of the classes

Updated DPM

9.15.1: Thoughts

So Wargaming NA has released the Common Test notes on 9.15.1 and I will be discussing how this will effect the game in its next few patches. This Patch will mostly include bug fixes and HD-models, some supertest tanks, and the rebalancing of the ISU-130 (I won't discuss this as nobody owns this tank).

This patch seems to be coming at an odd time for Wargaming, as it will probably get released soon, probably 3 weeks from now. The HD-models don't actually concern the overall Global Rebalance, but we don't see the buffs/nerfs that we normally would see in a patch that is common tested. This could mean that 9.16 will come at the end of the summer and include the Global Reblance.

The supertest vehicles of note were the T95/Chieftan and the Object 257 which may become Clan Wars reward tanks. Also, the Swedish Tier 6 premium tank was implemented and we may see that in the game during the summer months.

One final thing to note is the sale of Personal Reserves for gold? Pay to win maybe? You be the judge...


-Spirtwalker

Sandbox Server: Week 2

There is an NDA for the Sandbox, and I can't tell you anything about the happenings on the server itself (like no hard stats) but I can give you opinions. (I know, loopholes for days) So here is what I think about Sandbox 2.0 (or week 2). I'm pretty sure that this is mostly about direct video, so I may hint around some statistics in this post (i.e. M48>AMX 30B)

Arty
My initial impressions came from a blog post from Rita's Status Report Blog (Check her out btw for leaks) describes a change to the artillery "stun" effect which basically crippled everybody last iteration. I thinks this does not meet the issue that artillery is not rewarding at all, as there is little damage and the same overall reloads. I think this will meet everybody's needs in the sense of less "troll" mechanics, and still a place for artillery.

Death Star and Death Barn
The FV215B 183 and the FV 4005 Stage II received some heavy gun nerfs to balance their HE and HESH rounds against the current importance of armor. These rounds were doing guaranteed damage in a way that does not suit the game as a whole, as well as allowing them sometimes get lucky and one-shot tanks. There is also a clear difference between the two, the Death Barn tends to be more snipey/less heavy than the Death Star.

The Classes

Juggernauts/Heavy Tanks- E 100, Maus, JPZE 100, Death Star, E3, E4, IS-4, Type 5 Heavy

Assault Tanks- E5, 113, FV215B, IS-7, 263, AMX 50 Foch

Cavalry/Brawling Mediums- 140, 430, 62A, E 50M, 121

Fire Support Tanks- Leo 1, Patton, T57, 30 B, Batchat, Centurion AX, TVP, STB-1

Tank-Destroyers- 268, Grille 15, Death Barn (also keep in mind that the 263, JPZE 100 and E3 have TD-like gun statistics)

Scouts- RU 251, T54 Light, T49

Artillery- G.W. E 100, T92, 261, Conq GC, Bat 155



Juggernauts have high health pools and the largest guns. They are not good for sniping and have poor mobility and soft statistics for their guns. Their DPM is okay due to their higher alpha damage but bad rate of fire.

Assault Tanks are sort of fast and mobile, with mid range guns and decent armor. Their guns have decent statistics and have okay DPM- a bridge between Cavalry and Juggernauts.

Cavalry (great name for this WG)- Fast tanks with good armor and great DPM. They have good aim time but bad accuracy so are only good at close range engagements. They have similar amounts of penetration as heavy tanks.

Fire Support Tanks are mid to long range sniper/support tanks that have good aim time and the best DPM in the game. They also have excellent top speed and better view range than Cavalry. Their gun handling and accuracy are also stellar but they don't have much armor.

Scouts- Have great view range and mobility characteristics. They are the fastest tanks in the game.

Artillery- They are support tanks that do low damage and provide assistance to allies by "debuffing" enemy tanks and tracking them.


Connectors
Keep in mind that there are many tanks that are sort of "in between" the average for their own class. They resemble a mix between two different sets of characteristics. (i.e. the JPZE 100 is a cross between an E 100 and a Grille 15, it has an accurate gun and also has a large health pool with armor, but no mobility.



Conclusion
I think that Wargaming is heading in the right direction and the change that buffed the medium tanks to their old top speeds was straight out of one of my posts :). This might prove that Wargaming is looking to the community for input? Either way, these changes support more dynamic gameplay and specific classes as well as tanks that bridge the gap to make each tank feel unique and not left out of the competition.


-Spirtwalker

Initial Sandbox Mechanics: Thoughts

Warning: Long Post

So I have seen streams and leaked data about the new WoT Sandbox Server and I have formed some opinions about their ideas.

I must start this off by saying that I understand what they are trying to do (and also that this can all change). They want to increase the value of view range and increase the importance of light tanks. I also understand how they want to decrease the usage of premium rounds which decrease the importance of armor. They also decreased the traverse of most tanks in order to slow down the game in order to improve the ability of medium tanks to flank. So here are my points:


Speeds and Traverse

They decreased the overall top speed and traverse of all tanks (not lights). This has slowed down the game a bit, but not to the extent of many people, for example, Quickybaby.  I would say that he blew  the problems way out of proportion. The game did not take that big of a hit speed wise. It is now fast in a different way, there is a lot more time to plan your maneuvers. I however, don't see how Wargaming sees this in the game because I pretty much thought that the old versions of the game were fine in this respect. I also see how they wanted to distinguish the lights from the medium, especially at higher tiers. I however, don't feel that they needed to nerf the top speeds, but maybe just mess around with the ground resistances or soft statistics.


Armor and Shell Penetration

The armor in WoT is arguably losing value as more and more HEAT is being thrown around the battle. I see how they nerfed the HEAT shells in the game to reduce the usage of shells with excess amounts of penetration. They actually did pretty well with this, as they also nerfed the APCR penetration over a distance compared to AP. The issue I take with this is how they nerfed accuracy as well as AP ammunition. They wanted to "decrease the cost of making mistakes" but all they managed to do was to promote a game that consists of juggernaut heavies taking hundreds of hits at long range with arty barely able to do any damage. This creates a game that promotes low level players to play heavier tanks and more experienced players to play mediums that are, in some ways, unable to kill the heavies (and stronger TDs). This will eventually promote a game that includes mostly strong heavies and large TDs, but will include about 1/4 mediums and faster tanks. This does not currently represent the number of mediums that are re-searchable, compared to heavies and TDs. This could prove to create a completely different game, with many skilled players preferring the previous metas of WoT, even if it is medium tank dominance.

View Range and Light Tanks

The overall idea of nerfing the view range globally is a good one, and promotes more active plays and aggressive peeks. However, giving light tanks more view range does not help the game as the real problem lies in the map pool. Most maps only contain a good area for mediums to brawl (mediums with armor keep in mind) and heavies to fight on ridges and in cities. TDs are also very good for holding alleys and giving long-range fire support. Even if lights have fantastic view range, there is little they can actually do because of the lack of accuracy on tanks, as well as the lack of artillery damage.


Artillery

Artillery was heavily nerfed on this server. It was given a sort of "debuff" that hurt tanks which I can say is extremely annoying and does not promote dynamic plays at all. Their damage has also dropped off a lot, which makes them less rewarding. What I think they need to do is get rid of the "debuff", and boost artillery rate of fire by 10-33%. This will allow arty to hit tanks for amounts of damage that add up, as well as not instantly one shot everything. Many people call for the addition of "smoke rounds" or "illumination rounds" which would not be used much in the majority of game modes (i.e. random battles).


Too Many Variables

Wargaming is trying to test a Global Rebalance which will improve the state of the game. In order to do this, they need to evaluate and access each change to the global client before the make it, and make each change one at a time. What they are basically doing is mixing 10 different chemicals just to see what happens, instead of trying to access what each chemical will do, and test them individually in order to find an appropriate product.

My Thoughts on Fixing the Server

• Keep AP the way it is, and don't nerf snipers
• Armor is fine without premium rounds and artillery that can one-shot heavies
• View Range is only important on maps that aren't close quarter fights anyways, buffing light tanks won't solve the problem unless maps are fixed
• Test one thing at a time
• Mistakes should be punished
• Tanks do not need drastic speed nerfs, only small ones to seperate mediums from lights and heavies from mediums (TDs are actually quite good on the live server)

Thanks for reading this far if you did!

-Spirtwalker

Stats, What They Mean in WoT

World of Tanks has an interesting stat counter that many players pay a lot of attention to. These stats are a good representation of what kind of player you are. I am going to try to summarize what these statistics tend to mean on your account. The best place to find out the stats of you and your clan:

wotlabs.net

WN8- A statistic that can be misleading because sometimes it can be increased or decreased artificially. It is the overall stat that represents how you do in battle which combines damage, spotting, kills, etc. (basically everything except whether you win/lose)

Win %- This shows your percentage of wins/loses and basically shows how you impact your own team.

Recent Statistics- Show how you are performing in your last 1k battles and is a very accurate representation to how you will perform in your next battle.

XVM- Shows the stats of players in a battle (a mod), but only shows overall, therefore not showing the whole story.

Those are the important parts explained, now on to who you might be as a player and what you may have:

The average active player on NA has 1400 recent WN8 and 52% wins. This, if shown as the average, will probably shock you because you may have much less than this. This is most likely relatively artificial, as the majority of players have much lower overall and average WN8. (active players is a smaller category than you think)

Things that may impact your stats:

If you are sub 4-6k Games- your stats are not really functional as you may have not understood the game as well and you had to suffer through painfully bad low tier tanks against seal clubbers.

Seal Clubbers- Play low tiers in overpowered tanks, get insane statistics by killing people new at the game, and generally one of the reasons why the game as very few people who progress to the higher tiers in recent months. One clan that has been known to do this is CIA. (sorry if you belong to one of these clans, but you know it is true)

You Play Scouts/Arty- These kinds of tanks don't allow you to do as much to win battles as other tanks, in other words, carry. They tend to be squishy and don't have powerful enough guns to effectively take out tanks consistently. This will decrease your win-rate and in the case of SPGs, cause a lower WN8 in most cases.

Have Recently Progressed to Higher Tiers- This may happen to you if you jump from playing a lot of tier 8s to playing a lot of tier 10s. This is a large jump in skill, and you tend to see a lot more pro players who have played this game for years. Don't get discouraged, you will get better if you learn from your mistakes and from the plays of these more experienced players.



All in all, don't take it to heart if you have low stats. It means nothing about who you are as a person. Many things in the game also will effect your statistics in a positive/negative way. Don't worry about it, all that matters is that you have fun playing the game. Your Win %, combined with your WN8 is the best way to judge a player, along with the recent tier played over the past 30 days. This is a really helpful tool to use in order to dictate how a player will perform.


Here are my stats at the moment (my WN8 dropped cause I started grinding again XD)



-Spirtwalker

Swedish Tanks? Guess Those Will Be Cool

Wargaming has confirmed numerous times recently that Swedish tanks will make an entry into the game. I've done some digging around the internet and on some old blog posts from For the Record to bring you guys my opinion:

Swedish seems to have speedy tanks that have depression and autoloaders. The tanks are hard to guess specifically, but the overall themes seemed to be pretty clear. Also, these would bring into the game something somewhat new. I am worried that these tanks will be very similar to tanks already in the game like the Leo/30B comparison which is all to evident. What I am hoping for out of these trees is going to be more Tier 8 lights and another SPG line. (I am a big light driver myself btw) As for SPGs, I think we need some variety in the game, especially in Clan Wars. All you see at top tiers are Conqs and 53/55s which is kind of dry. Keep in mind that this may change with the Global Rebalance, as could most things talked about on this blog. Maybe this tree will shake up the game a bit, (but I think they may only do mediums)  but they have not really done anything game-changing since the introduction of many more top-tier lights. (again, more lights please)

Here is the FTR article:

http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/10/24/swedish-tanks-special-branchtree-for-wot/


-Spirtwalker

Wargaming Wants to.... WHAT?

So Wargaming has displayed the overall changes to the Sandbox Server (but now the exact values to probably not piss people off with BS stats that aren't permanent) with this link:

http://worldoftanks.com/en/in_development/sandbox-server/#global-rebalance

All of these changes can be viewed as good/bad but none of them break the game more than it already is. Arty making tanks worse is an interesting route to go in my opinion, but I can see where they are going with a sort of debuff class/support class. I can get behind that over what is currently occurring.

Wargaming wants to destroy the current shell distribution within the aiming circle and make it much, much worse. First of all, NO! This game is already somewhat RNG dependent, and doing this could potentially destroy the Esports prospect of the game and the ability for new players to even hit shots that aren't point blank (as in crap crews). This is potentially hurtful to this game in a big way. A rebalance is fine, if they want to decrease the distance of combat, fine as well. But I would like to hit the target in the right spots, thank you.



-Spirtwalker

Just Realized Something...

I'm going to try to limit the amount of content posted about current tanks in the game as the upcoming Global Rebalance will likely turn all of my posts on their heads. I think I will promote what I see about the Sandbox Server heavily and maybe talk about some more general topics occurring in the game right now and in the future. I think I may try to do some posts soon about crew skills...

Also, I think that my early posts about the Tier 6 Clan Wars Tanks is pretty up to date, and I think that the OI is not the end all, be all heavy, pretty sure Russian heavy usage is increasing, but OIs are still great for city maps, regardless of their terrible gun statistics.

Comment what you want to see!

-Spirtwalker

WOT 9.15.1 and 9.16 Future Patches Talk

As most of you all know, sandbox is live, and there are many theories as to when those changes will hit the liver servers. I have a few theories:

(Also, 9.15.1 is a minipatch between the patch coming at the end of the summer with some UI and the new Swedish Tank Prem)


Theory 1:

9.15.1 during the summer

9.16 in August/September that introduces Global Rebalance which allows Sandbox to be live for about 15 weeks

9.17 in October to fix bugs/balance from 9.16

9.18 in December to introduce Swedish medium tree

(Please be this one)


Theory 2:

9.15.1 end of summer

9.16 in October to introduce Global Rebalance

9.17 in December to introduce Swedish tanks

Theory 3:

9.15.1 during summer

9.16 at end of summer/October (skips end of summer normal large patch) and introduces Swedish tanks

9.17 in December for the Global Rebalance



Honestly guys this is me just spit-balling based on what they have said on their recent developments posted on other WoT blogs. I thought this might be an interesting series of ideas :).

-Spirtwalker

How Wargaming Makes Money

Thought I would give something different today, so here goes a bit of a rant and on a tangent I have not been on before:

How Wargaming Makes Money

(Keep in mind I am ingnoring WoWp and WoWs for the most part, as well as any other WG game)

World of Tanks has been a massively successful game from 2011 to 2014, with huge additions to tank trees, physics changes, and insane numbers of premium tanks. This is all well and good for a paying player-which were common in these years. This game has its largest player base in RU and a decent size in EU. EU also seems to have the largest Clan Wars scene, as well as housing the most E-sports teams. (China/East Asia have not been taken into account as I am an NA player and China servers are not actually owned by WG atm)

Since then, the game has been less about adding in new tanks, but more about adding in premium tanks and UI changes, as well as improving the game as a whole, but not cranking out new content every month. Their initial strategy worked for a while, without having to really worry too much about balance. This is definitely evident in the power differences between the main nations and the smaller nations that are newer to the game (but still, TVP OP). This mostly goes for games in the random battle mode, as Clan Wars demands a more specific kind of tank. Also, Wargaming has moved the game to favor Russian tanks over any other, they have high DPM, decent alpha, and good mobility. However, there are other, non-Russian lines, that are strong, but meet these criteria. Arty is a major factor of this, as well as the slight change away from open maps to corridor maps.

The introduction of new tanks promotes the purchase of premium tanks (crews for new sets of vehicles, i.e. Skoda T40 for TVP crew) and premium account, in order to get these top tier vehicles faster. This strategy worked, until they ran out of tanks.

From 2014 (or so) onwards, Wargaming made greater balance changes, and larger additions to tank tree depth (T8 LTs, being one example), as well as UI. This does not mean that the game was better in the "old days" (We miss you TBC and Wrath of the Lich King), as the game contains more balance and varied gameplay. Clan Wars has also improved greatly for the more casual player interested in higher level gameplay, but no access to top tier tanks, or an insane amount of skill. 

Wargaming will also always make money on players that collect tanks, but they need to start looking to make the game better for the average player (which is free to play, maybe $20 spent). Also, Wargaming will now no longer make money on the top level players, as they (me included) now play this game for free with Clan Wars gold. This means that Wargaming need to create a better game that promotes fairer gameplay and has more variety/depth. There are two was to go about this:

Wargaming could develop a skin system like CS:GO. This would destroy a already broken game by making skins/camos valuable for real money, and have varying degrees of rarity. This would hurt the game as World of Tanks is not currently balanced, and adding this would give the developers less incentive to create new content, other than skins for tanks. (CS:GO is balanced so they could do this)

The other option to do what they are calling the "Global Rebalance". This would help solve the fairness problem and hopefully address the impact of corridor maps by helping all tanks fit their new roles, instead of going on the roles they established years ago, for outdated maps. This would undoubtedly promote more interesting gameplay. Their "Sandbox Server" should show this in the coming weeks with the Global Rebalance coming either at the end of summer, or the October/November patch. Personally, I think that the summer patch would be best for monetary reasons, as to start the next big gaming part of the year with a big incentive to play. This rebalance will also mostly effect lower levels, up till 10 because currently most higher tier tanks have some degree of balance. 

This rebalance will hopefully promote WoT as an Esport which will generate the most effective revenue stream for Wargaming and promote the game's longevity.

If you are still ready thanks a lot,

-Spirtwalker

WoT Servers and Ping Explanations

Just so you readers all know: I finished my exams and you can expect more posts :). On to my article thing,

World of Tanks servers in NA are located in Northern VA and in the middle of California, somewhere near San Diego (I think). This means that people near the East server (like me, I could probably walk there) tend to get around 15-35 ms/ping. People across the country tend to get around 100-115 ms/ping, and vice versa. Keep in mind this takes into account a good and steady internet connection.

As you may know, there are quite a few AU/NZ/Oceania players on NA servers because they don't have their own dedicated English server. They tend to have anywhere from 150-200 on West and 200+ on East (this does tend to fluctuate according to my NZ buddies). Wargaming was probably right to not make a new server for this group because they have a limited player base.

Also, there are some EU players on NA and they have 115-150 on East and 150-200 on West (at least according to my friends in Germany/Eastern EU). This is why I think that Wargaming should be able to implement server switching, but I can understand their hesitation due to many technical issues and server requirements. The other option would be to tie each account to a global server base- with the ability to auto-connect to the nearest server but manually select a possibly international server. Although I don't ever see this coming to the game, I think it would be interesting to allow more freedoms.

Thanks for reading this article- it took some time to gather the info I did,

-Spirtwalker

DPM for 9s Graph

Here is the graph for DPM at T9. There seem to be some small shifts but nothing really noticeable. Also, T9 is not usually used in a competitive format, so this will mean little for the state of the overall game, other than the prem round changes to all vehicles. (especially HEAT)

The T9 artillery seems to have little nerfed in the form of overall statistics; their guns are very similar and have similar soft stats. They don't have the same nerfs as the top tier artillery have in terms of damage and penetration.

It is possible that Wargaming is only doing the first test to show the effects of changing the T10s (and therefore effecting the guns at T9 as many are shared with 10s) in order to gather data about how the new effects react with the old. It  is also possible that Wargaming think that Tier 9 is relatively balanced, except for the prem rounds of course.

Tell me if you want a speed graph as well!

-Spirtwalker

Relative Speeds of Tanks: Sandbox vs. Live Server

Sandbox Server: Overall Goals and Impressions

Many leaks have been posted on thearmoredpatrol.com about the statistics of Tier 10 tanks and how they will interact during the first iteration of the sandbox server. I am going to describe each class seperately and conclude on how they will come together. The overall tone of the nerfs seem to be a slight nerf to Russian meds and an overall mobility nerf to everything (but not really to heavies). Also, view range at Tier 10 seems to have decreased at an average of 50 meters per tank. (however this varies greatly on which line; this is an average estimate) Premium rounds have taken a nerf across every class, generally giving each tank about 30-50 more penetration. (HEAT damage loss was scrapped)


Artillery:
This was everybody's main concern as of now in the current live server. Arty does too much damage with no effective counters. They nerfed the damage and penetration of artillery to lessen their damage. They also seem to have buffed the splash radius to a crazy degree as well as providing some small help with aim time and accuracy. AP damage is unclear.

Mediums:
Heavy mobility nerfs were given to most mediums except for the E-50M for some reason. Russian mediums were nerfed so they are now not the best snap-shot medium, replaced by the Patton which now has better DPM and alpha. 100 mm guns now do 300 damage and 105 mm guns do only 350 damage and 121 does "only" 420. View range nerfs effect all except for the TVP which now has a strangely high amount with 430-the most base view range, ever. Aim times and dispersion values were tweaked on many tanks but it would take too long to cover this as it is tank specific, not throughout the class. However, the overall accuracy seems to have increased, with some tanks being heavily nerfed (Bat chat).

Heavies:
DPM of all heavies seems to hover around 2.2k to 2.3k except for the 215B still having 2.8k DPM. Penetration has also been standardized to around 250 for all heavies. Interestingly, the Maus and the E 100 have received a DPM buff to surpass other heavies like the E5 and 113. Heavies now seem to be compared mostly on chassis instead of dpm and gun statistics. Also, damage per shot has been scaled down a bit; each gun does less than currently.

Tank-Destroyers:
Some pretty heavy nerfs to DPM and overall damage per shot has been decreased. The DPM nerf has seemingly not effected the E4, which now has the highes DPM of any Tank destroyer at tier 10. TDs also have gun stats that have changed on an individual basis, which is too long to cover.


Conclusion:
Heavy tanks have received some serious love, prem rounds no longer instantly pen everywhere, tds have lost dpm, most fast tanks have been reduced in speed, and spotting has been greatly reduced. On top of this, artillery damage has been nerfed which mostly concerns heavies but also every other class. This is definitely a global re balance and I would hope to cover any of the other large "leaks" or whatever you want to call them.


-Spirtwalker

I'm Back, Tier 10 Clan Wars Talk

So I have been busy with finals and AP Testing for school here are my thoughts on the current iteration of the Global Map:
(I also joined OTTER in the past week or so...)

Wargaming (NA at least) has given in to player demands and created a "sandbox" area for the Tier 10 Global Map. This allows lesser clans to compete at Tier 10 but stay away from the pros by having lesser gold provinces. In theory this is a great idea to allow clans with non pro players to compete for Tier 10 Clan Wars but not have to fight MO/MAHOU/OTTER every day. However, this zone is currently linked to the regular zone with the Victory Points (VP) system which determines the winner of a season. Winners at this level are rewarded with unique camos for tanks that is different from the campaign camo. This is currently allowing clans such as S-A-R (who was a mostly Tier 8 clan last season) to dominate this portion of the map and farm VPs off of other clans while not really competing against the real dominant forces of Tier 10.

These are just my thoughts on the new map- I will do a "Best tanks at Tier 8 post if you guys want"

-Spirtwalker

Tier 6 Clan Wars Strategy: The Situation

Tier 6 Clan Wars in World of Tanks is still very much in its infancy. It has very little testing and still houses a few overpowered and under-powered tanks. Strategy tends to be very rudimentary for reasons including the fact that there are only 7 tanks to work with and the ability to one shot many of them through the use of derp guns. There is also something to be said that T8 heavy tanks tend to have similar DPM but double the HP of T6 mediums.

Tier 6 Clan Wars strategies tend to have a few different varieties:

OI RUSH: This is very common on small corridor maps (especially Ensk) and works because an OI can out trade its opponents and has the health to not take many hits from equal tier mediums and lights. It can also work well on larger city maps as long as the flanks are covered or you can put yourself in a corner and defend the entrances with your combination of derp OIs and smaller gun OIs. This is by far the easiest lineup to use as it is not hard to only hit a few shots and trade with the enemy.

Light Team: A full light team or a team with combination lights/fast mediums is very effective to go on open maps or any real map that you can play the view range game. This lineup is very good for picking off opponents at distances as well as being able to rush in and focus fire very effectively due to their ability spread the damage between enemies. This tactic is also best used in skirmishes because of its ability to run game after game- earning the most resources/credits/influence. This tactic is best used with more experienced players that are able to work together and focus fire.

Light/Heavy Mix- This team is best used for maps with corridors and open areas or is just very large. It is best used to keep the heavies in front and receive damage and allow the lights to poke in and out of corners to cut away at the enemy. Heavier mediums can also be used incredibly effectively here as they can maneuver well as well as trade very effectively with their opponents. This setup is the most universal for newer players as it allows a lot of fluctuation in strategy with its mobility and its armor.

Some other notes:
1. Always play slow, never try to rush into the enemy if you can pick them apart without taking damage which can especially help with dealing with tank locking.
2. Allow your armored tanks to take hits to preserve the lights HP for late game scenarios.
3. Never suiscout as it kills your ability to counterspot the enemy on open maps.
4. Always be able to support each other so that you can overmatch the enemy when they split their team.
5. Work around your own clan's limitations, put players that have less experience or less skilled in heavies as they require much less skill and less crew skills.

That is all the basic stuff I learned from my running and winning of the first season of T6 Clan Wars. I wish you all best of luck in the upcoming seasons of Clan Wars. Be sure to schedule multiple battles when you first land on the map to maximize your clans experience in battling.

-Spirtwalker

Operation Typhoon: My Thoughts So Far

As you all may know I have been participating in the recent Clan Wars mini campaign in order to receive the Chieftain T8 Medium tank. Regardless of my thoughts on the upcoming tank, I would like to share with you how my own team has been faring as well as how the competition has been/what I think should happen for the future. As a word of warning however, I am currently on track to pick up a tank and members of my clan can also pick on up, so keep this in mind when you hear my ideas.

We have had so many crap games due to people doing stupid things when I called for maybe a different strategy or not to poke there, etc. My clan has an average recent WN8 of a little less than 1450 (I may have a bit of boosting due to my 3.8k recent) and this does not live up to their standards of play. We constantly lose just to losing 1v1 fights against even slightly better players. I would definitely recommend you to join clans that are more similar to your own skill level so as not to create frustration. (I am going to OTTER after this campaign I think)

I also think WG should try to award more tanks or award them in a different manner in order to allow people in lesser clans chances to receive unique rewards such as camo or tanks. I was able to pick a tank up last campaign (907 obviously) while I was in -SWAG but it was hard to play with people of my skill level as many of them are very much Type A personalities who think in a way that I do not. They need to nerf the OP-ness of the land battles and their rewards in Fame Points as they boost better players higher, and don't allow lesser players to even get land to to the concentration of OP clans on such a small map.

Any way, these are just my thoughts coming from a scrub clan as a good player, thinking of my buddies and their chances of receiving special prizes.

-Spirtwalker

Back Again: Thoughts on Supertest 9.15 Changes

As some of you may know, the is a blog run by a popular WoT streamer (Ritagamer) who runs a blog at ritastatusreport.live. She has interviews with WG staff and posts her own opinions about how World of Tanks is going right now. She recently published an article about the upcoming nerfs and buffs coming to certain tanks. (I must say Skoda T40 145mm of pen hype)

First of all, the most controversial change will be the RoF nerf and the slight aim buff to the honestly overpowered T54 Lightweight. This nerf will make other lights at T8 have a real place in T8 competitive gameplay such as the WZ-132. This tank will be probably a lot less frequent after the patch coming up probably somewhere between the next CW season and the end of this campaign which will hopefully be in early May (don't hold me to this).

Another change that most agree with due to the sheer number of T22s currently on the NA server will be the the T22 Medium Tank. This tank will lose much of its acceleration, turning, turret traverse, and overall gun handling and possibly a slight nerf to DPM. This change is awesome for me as I run into many T22s on a daily basis. This will make this tank more like a heavy which it should be due to its armor characteristics.

The other long awaited nerf is both OI variants which received mobility hindrances and worse gun characteristics. This however, will probably not lessen their use in CWs due to their armor profile and just how OP it is compared to other T6 tanks. This will however create a reason to use the T-150 and the KV-85 as well as maybe a resurgence of KV-2 players (please WG nerf this tank into oblivion).

Most of the other tanks that are being buffed/nerfed don't affect the competitive scene at all but I would recommend to look them up at Rita's blog.

-Spirtwalker

Tier 6 Tanks for Clan Wars Part 2

So I may have unequally split the tanks, so here are the final two:

VK 28.01-This tank has an incredibly effective derp gun that can penetrate some light tanks with HE and all mediums and lights with HEAT ammo which gives the tank a startling DPM and effective DPM. HE ammunition against heavies can splash them for about a hundred damage ever 6-7 seconds and damage crew/modules in the tank making it brutal to fight against. This tank is most effective at close ranges and does not have the best depression but can have some troll armor. This tank does have a slightly higher weight that other lights which makes it awesome for ramming other lights for easy damage. One map I would highly recommend this tank on is Mines. Please note that this tank is not usually seen as a great Clan Wars tank, however it is an awesome tank to have for certain situations

Modules: Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Optics or Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Vents

KV-85-This tank bridges the gap between the OI and the T34-85 due to its good 100 mm gun and large health pool. This makes it great for brawling with lights/mediums as well as OI support in the form of HE resistant armor and decent 250 alpha damage. The only real issue with this tank is the lack of turret armor and the incredibly weak 3 degrees of depression contrary to the OI's 10 degrees and the T34-85's 5 degrees.

Modules: Rammer/Vents/Gun Laying Drive or Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Super Heavy Spall Liner


This concludes my analysis of the most effective tanks at Tier 6 for Clan Wars. This list is complete in that it holds the most used tanks across a variety of maps but there are certain situations where high alpha TDs are useful and where artillery can come in handy. Does anybody think that this list is only partial, did I miss a tank? Please comment and tell me if you want a guide of how to start to think of strategies for Tier 6 Clan Wars.


-Spirtwalker

Tier 6 Tanks for Clan Wars

Sorry all, was unable to publish this first post until now due to work but here it is:

I would recommend mostly faster tanks for Tier 6 Clan Wars and overall competitive play. If you are interested in joining a clan that does Tier 6 Clan Wars you may want to have 1-3+ tanks that are competitively viable and you are going to want to pick up a heavy. In my experience I would also recommend that you have at least a 100% crew for your tanks, however, you don't really need to have a large number of skills/perks. On to the tanks:

Cromwell/Cromwell B- Possibly the most overpowered tank at the moment for skilled players wanting to statpad at tier 6 due to its excellent mobility, decent gun, light tank mobility, and medium tank matchmaking. This is usually the pinnacle tank for this type of gameplay but I never really enjoyed it as much as light tanks for this style of rushing and shooting on the move due to the horrific gun statistics on this tank. (I do have 3 marks however)

Modules: Rammer/Vents/Gun Laying Drive or Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Optics (beware aim time sucks)

Type 64-Easily the best pure scout at tier 6 along with a great gun and good gun stats. Its low profile makes it better for active scouting compared to the T37 and it shoots on the move well enough without Vertical Stabilizers. This tank is also great as a readily available premium tank that can always be bought and makes great money.

Modules: Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Optics or Rammer/Binocs/Camo Net

T37-Similar to the Type 64 in many ways but better at brawling due to its overpowered health pool and still great gun. Has better APCR pen for making OIs look like idiots. The autoloader variant of the gun is also great, and far superior to the 12t which also sadly means that you can't use rammer.

Modules: Vents/Optics/Vertical Stabilizer

OI-The best heavy of the tier with a rather competitive littler gun and a great derp gun as well. This tank has all of the armor in the world paired with great health pool and terrible mobility. This tank is best used on city maps or corridor maps with linear angles. I would recommend to have a heavy spall liner for this tank in order to lessen HE splash damage from other OIs. This tank is a must have for any player looking for Tier 6 gameplay because heavies have long lockouts and this is by far the best one.

Modules: Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Heavy Spall Liner or Rammer/Vents/Heavy Spall Liner

A-43- The best alternative medium to the Cromwell due to its ridiculous DPM with its 57 mm gun and decent stats for moving and shooting as well as good accuracy for the tier. This, coupled with great APCR penetration and troll armor makes this tank a highly competitive tank to run with Cromwells. However, I would only recommend running 2 of these tanks in a medium tank line up due to lack of gun depression. Optics are a decent choice but not great due to average view range.

Modules: Rammer/Vents/Gun Laying Drive or Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Optics

Hellcat-Essentially the only good TD for Clan Wars due to its medium like characteristics. It has a punchy gun and decent gun statistics to keep mobile and shooting in order to provide close and long range support to medium tank teams. This is an excelent counter to OIs on open maps such as Malinovka.

Modules: Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Binocs

59-16-The best killer of light tanks and mediums due to its devastating autoloader with sub-par penetration. It also has a quick reload making it a good close support tanks but bad against heavies of any kind. Gun stats aren't that bad and has great mobility. Can also use a rammer even though it can utilize an autoloader.

Modules: Rammer/Gun Laying Drive/Optics or Rammer/Vents/Gun Laying Drive

T34-85/Rudy-A good heavy medium with okay armor and decent alpha damage and great penetration and decent DPM. This tank is great for good heavy support and sniping and the ability to also be used with faster mediums. APCR ammo on this tank makes it a great fast counter to the OI but with better health and armor than the Hellcat.

Modules: Rammer/Vents/Gun Laying Drive

VK 30.01P-A overlooked heavy medium with okay penetration but terrible shell velocity. Its APCR does not do that well against OIs but it can perform some levels of heavy support and has great armor values for the tier

Modules: Rammer/Vents/Gun Laying Drive

Part 2 coming with the last few tanks...



-Spirtwalker

Hello World!

Welcome to the North American blog that talks about world of tanks in the areas of balance/development/clan wars and much more! I will hopefully be able to get my opinions out there in order to influence other peoples' play in the game in a positive way and also convince others to participate in the competitive side of world of tanks. My name ingame is Spirtwalker and currently have super Unicum recent WN8 and I hope to share my expertise about my time playing competitive world of tanks.

Enjoy!

-Spirtwalker