So, World of Tanks, I play it, here's some criticism.

[Destroid]

I used to rather enjoy rolling in my IS4 during beta

 

[Father Walker]

Also, my experience from just before I stopped playing with my JagdIV was that without gold rounds, I'd need really lucky or rear shots to reliably penetrate about 75% of the tanks I was being matched up against. With gold rounds, I could reliably penetrate ~60-70% of all my opponents armor. So yeah, you don't need gold rounds unless you really want to win.

Strange, 88mm on JagdPzIV felt really good to me. At least I managed to penetrate most tanks I wanted to penetrate.

If you choose play-for-free, and just grind, do you get skilled enough to offset the advantages of the 'paid for' tanks?

Like, how counter-strike pros can easily scalp casual players? Or is it just a simple arithmetic of firepower vs. armor? (i.e. $$$ > skill)

Premium stuff allows you mostly to get results faster, i.e. grind through tanks quicker, etc. Yeah, you could gain advantage by buying gold ammo and consumables, but it's pretty rare since their costs are pretty steep.

And paying players are often pretty unexperienced or overconfident. Most folks in premium tanks are pretty bad players.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Also, my experience from just before I stopped playing with my JagdIV was that without gold rounds, I'd need really lucky or rear shots to reliably penetrate about 75% of the tanks I was being matched up against. With gold rounds, I could reliably penetrate ~60-70% of all my opponents armor. So yeah, you don't need gold rounds unless you really want to win.

Strange, 88mm on JagdPzIV felt really good to me. At least I managed to penetrate most tanks I wanted to penetrate.

If you choose play-for-free, and just grind, do you get skilled enough to offset the advantages of the 'paid for' tanks?

Like, how counter-strike pros can easily scalp casual players? Or is it just a simple arithmetic of firepower vs. armor? (i.e. $$$ > skill)

Premium stuff allows you mostly to get results faster, i.e. grind through tanks quicker, etc. Yeah, you could gain advantage by buying gold ammo and consumables, but it's pretty rare since their costs are pretty steep.

And paying players are often pretty unexperienced or overconfident. Most folks in premium tanks are pretty bad players.

The deal with JagdIV is probably that it has the same gun as VK36 (nearly the same, better RoF), but it is a TD so it is considered a higher tier for MM.

And I recommend T 50 to everybody, its really hard to lose credits on it and its just pure fun to drive.

Btw, I'm Kosher on EU and No, I'm not a Jew

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I get a lob on every time i see a Jag4, might as well be a free kill.

 

[Father Walker]

What I love about JagdPzIV is its low profile. If positioned well, it's pretty fucking unhittable.

On topic of good tanks: T-34 with 57mm is great, T49 is awesome. Both tanks play similar, i.e. move a lot, and use good penetration and quick ROF to your advantage. KV is also a good credit maker.

I'm krissirk on EU. Anyone willing to platoon is free to give me a call.

 

[Ulminati]

What I love about JagdPzIV is its low profile. If positioned well, it's pretty fucking unhittable.

On topic of good tanks: T-34 with 57mm is great, T49 is awesome. Both tanks play similar, i.e. move a lot, and use good penetration and quick ROF to your advantage. KV is also a good credit maker.

I'm krissirk on EU. Anyone willing to platoon is free to give me a call.

StuGIII has a lower profile, better maneuverbility, same gun and is matched against tanks with less armor.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Same gun? Uh, StuGIII does not have 8.8cm gun.

 

[Father Walker]

Hm, I got much better results when playing JagdPzIV. Its profile is significantly lower than StuG's. I think that StuGs are way classier than JagdPzIVs, but the latter is just better tank in the game. Still, I'd take T49 any day instead of any of them.

 

[Zdzisiu]

I found a new love, its PzIV, God damn its great, a gun very similar to StugIII, a very decent matchmaker, ok mobility and a bit of armor and hp makes it my new crush.

 

[Ulminati]

The fully upgraded PzIV is indeed a thing of beauty

Once you get the hilariously oversized penis gun™ it'll pop pretty much any mole that dares leave cover.

 

[Gregz]

Any advice for a noob?

I was having lots of fun until I decided to save XP for a tier 3 arty, now XP is slooooooow and I'm real bored, getting killed a lot, not able to upgrade. I'm almost at the quitting point.

Is there a good tier 3-5 tank route I might take instead?

lots of people rave about the Marder II and SU26 but it will take me days to get one at this point.

Edit: just got 17 XP last battle :facepalm:

 

[Destroid]

I can't believe TDs matchmake up a tier, I'd rather drive a same tier medium than the glass cannon TDs.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Gregz

Low tier arty really is a pain in the ass, so I would recommend going the medium, medium->heavy route and leave arty for later.

Marder II with camo net and binoculars is a really good because it has a huge view distance, way bigger than anything around its tier and even tier VII. It also has a hell of a gun, the 7.6cm can penetrate nearly everything you are put against. Its biggest drawback is the fact that it has no armor and only 170hp, when you get spotted you are dead.

SU 26 is a very good arty mostly because it has a turret so you dont have to move your whole body to aim therefore the aiming circle do not get out of focus as it does in other arty when they turn to aim at something. And its very popular at Junior Tank Companies for that reason.

As for a good 3-5 tier route I can only speak about German tanks as I have the most experience on them.

The one going through Pz III and Pz III/IV is a more pleasant and easier one in my opinion. Pz III is a decent tank with good armor for its tier. Mount the last 5cm gun on it and play it as a mobile medium and all will be good. Pz III/IV is a better version of it, but is starts to feel the pain of being put into higher tier battles. The next in line is VK 3001(H) or VK 3601(H) and I do recommend the 36 variant as it is a veeeery nice tier VI medium, often called the best tier VI medium. It has a solid frontal armor, first of the 8.8cm guns, a top speed of 40kmph a safe 850hp and its a nice introduction to heavy tanks.
The other route, through Pzkpf 38 (t) and Pzkpf 38 nA its more frustrating as both of them are considered light tanks and are often put into high tier battles as scouts (and they are not particulary good scouts, not enough mobility for that). The cherry on top of this route is Pz IV which is really great, but trying to get trough Pzkpf 38 nA will kill your enthusiasm for the game.

As a side note, I can't wait for the 7.3 update as it will split the dreaded KV into KV-1 which will be a more manageable tier V heavy and KV-2 with the 107mm and 152mm Derp guns that will be a tier VI heavy, which means I will meet less of them in my Pz III and Pz IV and that makes me a very happy person.
Also, KV 3 will also get revised, and moved to tier VII and there will be T 150 introduced at its place on tier VI. That is good for me because KV 3 completly dominated Medium Tank Companies as it was simply the best tank allowed to participate in them. Now, the KV 1S and VK 36 will probably see more action there and as I drive VK 36 it will give me more fun. I still wonder what will be the role of KV 2 and T 150 in them though.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

While Pz38's are pain (though in final stages of my grind through of pz38na I had some damn fun games, you just have to learn how to scout and be as annoying as possible) I'd still recommend this route, important part is that you'll be getting PzIV - damn good moneymaker (at higher tiers necessity if you don't want to pay stupid amounts of real cash for premium tanks) and access to 3001P-Tiger(P)-VK4502-MiniMaus-Maus branch (imho Maus is better pick than e100 if you don't want to spend money on gold ammo) while still having access to other heavy branch and vk3601h (which also lets you pursue medium german line with panthers). Bit more work in beginning (drop in a bucket compared to grind on higher tiers) but I think it is worth it. Also I wouldn't bother with td's, at least in beginning, get a proper heavy first, then branch out into meds/whatever you want.

 

[Gregz]

Thanks for the tips, I finally figured out arty (had no idea of the view key so I was trying to sight and shoot directly like other tanks ).

I'm having 'fun' with the SU-26 but it's very range limited, that's 'killing my enthusiasm for the game', that and getting fast-flanked/rushed, for some reason my tier 3 is getting matched with tier 7s...game started fast, lots of upgrades but it's a really slow grind right now.

I would like to try the medium tanks route...think I could last the Pz38 grind?

I've never tried scouting, although I"m not sure I want to be a slow-tank when I see how vulnerable they are to arty. Then again I can't even scratch a tier 7 heavy.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

Well Pz38's aren't really slow, slow for a scout. The real pain with them (at least for me) was useless cannon, you just spot targets for your team, eventually distract them (usually ends badly though). In beginning I had to fight urge to shoot things because that easily reveals your position and your shots bounce on anything anyway. Only time you're getting to kill anything is if you manage to sneak into enemy base and get to their arty (isn't easy though). BTW by scouting I don't mean most-of-the-time-useless suicidal scout rushes.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Gregz,

A general advice, random games are really random and you can get a truly retarded team there, so I would recommend not being to concerned with loses, at the beginning you cant do enough to singlehandedly win a match (In reality you never can, but when you are in a higher tier battle, at the top of the list you have a significant influcence on the battle).

And, at least for me, the game isnt really about getting to Tier X as quickly as possible and only driving it. I stopped at Tiger II on purpose, I like to play medium tier battles without being to much concerned with costs of repair, ammo ect. I will probably get E-75 some time in the future but thats no a priority. With a good selection of tanks the game if fun enough for me without the need to always be the top super heavy tank.

Btw, check this video it shows where to shot tanks to have a better chance at penetrating them. Check the whole channel for other nations' tanks and other helpful tips.

 

[Gregz]

Thanks for the info and vid guys, hard being the scrub/noob

 

[Father Walker]

Thanks for the info and vid guys, hard being the scrub/noob

My grind towards PzIV is pretty fun, so you might try German light -> medium path.

New American TDs are a lot of fun if you like to move a lot. I'm talking M8A1, T49, etc.

Also, you can't go wrong with Soviet heavies. You get to play T-28 on your way towards KV, and this med is a pretty interesting tank.

T-34 is also a classic. The grind towards it was pretty tedious, but playing fully maxed T-34 with 57mm gun is just great.


Apart from that, there was a cool map guide on the official forums. It's very helpful regarding viable tactics on WoT maps.

Oh, and few more tips:
- Don't camp.
- Don't rush blindly into attack.
- Don't lemming.
- Don't expose yourself without reason. Take cover whenever possible.
- Try to be aware of general flow of the battle. Sometimes it's worth to go back and aid the weaker flank, support arty or do whatever is needed at the moment.
- Don't be afraid to retreat and regroup if overwhelmed.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

More basic advice:
Don't you ever use auto aim, it sucks. Forget it exists.
Use sniper mode (shift) but not only for sniping. It's very handy up close too since normal camera can make it very hard to aim at close targets. Use it for peek-a-boo routine as well, if you're doing it on normal camera you're probably exposing way more than you should. Important: you can use scroll wheel to adjust zoom level.
Hmm.. what else.. ok projectiles don't travel instantaneously so when shooting moving target at long range you probably should lead a bit (doh!), make it double if you're shooting T-50.
Will post more if I'll have more.

- Don't camp.

Dunno about that man. It can be very effective if you aren't stupid about it.

 

[Father Walker]

- Don't camp.

Dunno about that man. It can be very effective if you aren't stupid about it.

True. But I've seen a lot of battles which have been lost because half of the team decided to sit behind a bush/rock/building. Such games could have been won if some of them moved their asses and helped in the most critical spots.

 

[Zdzisiu]

I would say "Don't camp of you are not the tank made just for that" for example, most TDs (Disregard the American turreted ones) are rather meant to camp and snipe, maybe not right there in the base but they should always be at least in second line of attack.

For a good overview of the mechanics I recommend WoT wiki here: http://wiki.worldoftanks.eu/Battle_Mechanics

 

[Gregz]

Hm, I got much better results when playing JagdPzIV. Its profile is significantly lower than StuG's. I think that StuGs are way classier than JagdPzIVs, but the latter is just better tank in the game. Still, I'd take T49 any day instead of any of them.

Can you expand on why you think the T49 is superior?

 

[Father Walker]

It's not really superior, it's just that I like its playstyle better. It is small, fast, has decent acceleration plus a fast gun. It plays almost like a light tank. You get to move a lot, annoy people with flank attacks, retreat, etc. I find this kind of thing much more rewarding than your usual TD sitting behind a bush.

 

[Chef_Hathaway]

The American Heavy tree is also incredibly fun, especially now that they've gotten rid of the T34 suck-wagon. The M6 can be a pain though, like most tier 6's.

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

The American Heavy tree is also incredibly fun, especially now that they've gotten rid of the T34 suck-wagon. The M6 can be a pain though, like most tier 6's.

Yeah, it's was hands down worst heavy tree but now it's really fun. I skipped T1 heavy since I went through derpman jumbo so can't say much about it other than that every time I see it in game it's free frag with it's paper armour and huge silhouette but I didn't find M6 to be that bad (even if it suffers from both of these problems), sure not as good as (soon to be tier 7) Kv-3 but it wasn't painful to drive. But after that? Good tanks only. T29 is my personal favourite, at this tier it's turret is insane. If you can abuse it and go hulldown (or hug other tanks so they can't aim at your hull) all the time you are invincible (ok there is always arty...). T32 is pretty much same tank but better here and there, suffers a bit from begin higher tier compared to t29 though. M103, on paper it's armor is horrible, I mean 127mm on front of tier 9 heavy? However it's much better than stats would suggest (it had some kind of new armor type, can't remember details now), I'm bouncing shots from IS-4's , KT's even JgTigers and other nasty stuff like T30, sure it doesn't happen that often and you have angle it properly but as long as you won't get flanked it holds up surprisingly well, oh yeah and cannon is awesome, only tier 9 TD's get more pen than this baby. Could have a tiny bit more damage but good rof compensates for that. Can't say much about T110 since I haven't grinded it out yet but from what I saw in games it's pretty fast for a heavy and has insane front armour, you really really have to aim for weakspots or you will bounce every single shot. Looks pretty fun imho. BTW T34 is pretty good since they dropped it a tier. Well gun aims and loads horribly slow but otherwise good stuff.