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
Thursday, June 30, 2016
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
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
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
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
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
Sunday, June 26, 2016
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
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
Friday, June 24, 2016
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:
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
Thursday, June 23, 2016
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
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
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
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
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
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
Sunday, June 19, 2016
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
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
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
Saturday, June 18, 2016
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
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
Friday, June 17, 2016
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
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
(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
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
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
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
Friday, June 10, 2016
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
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
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
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