World of Tanks - Free to play Panzer MMO

[al Roumi]

I'm a lucky memeber of the closed EU beta, any other orgahs also playing?

For those who may be interested, more details are here on the Game's home site.

Suffice it so say that this is plays a bit like a more tactical FPS, except everyone is in a tank . I am very happy to report that it is NOT a twitch fest, although that option is probably also available if you fancy it.

There are 5 classes of vehicle which you can use, unlock each through research, enabled by gaining experience from battles and killing stuff.

The classes are: Light tank, Medium tank, Heavy tank, Self Propelled Gun (indirect fire arty) and Anti Tank Gun (direct fire, also self propelled of course). Each class has a fairly distinct battelfield role and the reward (xp, credits) system is optimised to encourage class-like behaviour, e.g. Light tanks scouting, arty firing on targets the light tanks reveal, medium tanks attacking, heavies defending, ATs defending/supporting.

The tank tech tree is split between USSR and Germany, with a few other Allied tanks thrown into the mix too. You start at the early days of tank time (well, the tanks of the 1920s) and work your way up through to the vehicles of 1945.

To start with, you are kind of limited to some funny looking things that might have seen action in the Ukraine or Spanish Civil War, but which are rapidly out-gunned, out-maneuvered and out-armoured by newer vehicles.

The battle balance doesn't throw low level tanks and players in with Veterans though so its still fun pootling around in an armoured lawn mower with a turret mounted pop gun.

You also get to improve your tanks, adding modifications and improvements: better guns, bigger engines etc. Each of these add ons has a battle field effect too, from better recon/comms to lethality.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I'm Eightball in the beta, playing German tank destroyers (currently on a JagdPanzer 4). This game is incredibly addicting, because it's an MMO that makes grinding fun.

I've played nearly non-stop the last week.

[naut]

Looks pretty good. I signed-up, but knowing my luck I won't get accepted.

[al Roumi]

cool, I'm also "alh_p" in WoT, nearly ready to go from and AT-1 to an SU75 or a PzKwII to either a Wespe or PzKwIII... still not sure. Not played arty yet either so might buy myself a Bison and train up my skills in the recruit matches before deciding how to graduate to playing with the big boys (and their big tanks).

Quite enjoying the AT or Medium Tank role so far.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Looks pretty good. I signed-up, but knowing my luck I won't get accepted.

There are a few games news sites with beta keys. I found one that gave me a key in return for giving them a junk email address.

[Veho Nex]

Still haven't gotten a beta key. :/

[rajpoot]

I try not to play MMOs.....but self propelled artillery won me over. Signed up.

[Veho Nex]

Man, arty in this game is so over powered right off the bat. I could be moving in a zig zag and it will hit me dead on for an insta kill.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Man, arty in this game is so over powered right off the bat. I could be moving in a zig zag and it will hit me dead on for an insta kill.

Arty is definitely overpowered with the lower tier tanks. Combine that with a game-matching system that often gives both sides 5 artillery and it seems really unfair. But your tanks will get better and if you play a while, there seems to be less artillery in the higher-tier fights. Use cover where available and if you're a light tank, make sure to spot for your overpowered arty :P

[al Roumi]

To add to ATPG's advice, try to stay in cover -behind buildings and other obstacles, this will shield you from Arty shots. Unfortunately, zig-zagging in the tier 1 tanks probably doesnt improve survivability much as they are so slow. Tanks get faster and harder with each tier, the MS-1 and Leichtractor are particularily fragile and ponderous. Get yourself a BT-25 and you will cause people no end of headaches trying to land a shot on your speedy tank.

I had a go at playing arty and it is very frustrating. Reloading is so slow, the vehicle so weak and the need for an escort/defense so acute that it can be painful.

[Veho Nex]

I rolled nazi for my first teiring run through. Just 5k points shy of my p3 light. I would already have it but I accidentally bought the luchs instead.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

To add to ATPG's advice, try to stay in cover -behind buildings and other obstacles, this will shield you from Arty shots. Unfortunately, zig-zagging in the tier 1 tanks probably doesnt improve survivability much as they are so slow. Tanks get faster and harder with each tier, the MS-1 and Leichtractor are particularily fragile and ponderous. Get yourself a BT-25 and you will cause people no end of headaches trying to land a shot on your speedy tank.

I had a go at playing arty and it is very frustrating. Reloading is so slow, the vehicle so weak and the need for an escort/defense so acute that it can be painful.

It's hard for light tanks to take cover; if they're really laying low they aren't doing their job :P But as a TD, I live and die by cover. :3

And arty's counter is pretty easy, once you their position is given away. I have a BT-7 I mess around in sometimes, and on one map I found an unguarded SU-8 (high level soviet arty) and just circled it for a good five minutes. It took about 30 shells to bring it down (low tier gun vs. high tier armor) but it couldn't turn fast enough to face me. I think if I was that arty guy I'd throw my monitor across the room.

[Cultured Drizzt fan]

Looks pretty cool, Gonna have to try it out.


Edit: not bad, although I personally stink. I don't think I am cut out for a light Tank........

[Sigurd]

I can't see that there is a thread about this game.
Husar mentioned it in the "what are you playing" thread, and I had to go and have a looksie.

The game is just about to go public beta, but they will still hand out invitations for the closed beta as I got one yesterday.
I spent an hour or two playing last night, and my first impression was: Oh noes, it has a Travian system with gold, that can buy advantages.

Second impression: Oh, this is going to take time playing.
You start out with a choice of three crappy tin-cans (USSR: MS-1, Germany:Leichttraktor, US: T1 Cunningham).
Playing standard games will give you experience and silver to research upgrades and buy them.
I thought that I wouldn't spend any on the crappy tin-box and rather wait until I had the money to buy a better tin-box -> like the Pz II, but you just aren't able to earn enough being cannonfodder in a slow and crappy box with tinfoil wrapped around it. You need to upgrade your Leichttraktor (my choice) to make any form of real progress. I got all the upgrades including the 20mm rapid shooting cannon (default is a 37mm 47 shell slow cannon) and I suddenly got some points and silver.

Not sure about how this game will be. I suspect that it will be down-loadable for all, but it will have a monthly fee like MMORPG's.
When I finally had enough money to buy the PzII, I realized that you need a steady income to support your warfare. If you tin box is shot down (it will happen) you have to pay for the repairs. You will also pay for the ammunition and other hotfix objects that you can carry with you to the battlefield.

On the battlefield you start on one of two teams. The tin boxes are mixed (US, Germany and USSR on same side). The object of the game is to either shoot out all the tin-boxes on the opposite team or take their home base.
There is a tier system that ensures that you are not playing against PzV's while in a Leichttraktor. You opponents are of similar stock. Getting a better tin box will lift you to a higher tier and other games.
I guess in the lowest tier there is room for a few better tanks, since I saw a few PzII and Pz35 in addition to one or two medium tanks (US: T2). Getting the PzII I was put into a game with tank destroyers and moving artillery which killed me instantly. Second game in the PzII was back in familiar maps with the crappy tin boxes.

This is a first impression and I might have misjudged many aspects of it, but I just love tank games. My favourite was Battlefield 1942 and the all tank desert map.

[Husar]

Merged.

Glad you like it Sigurd and they do indeed have a system where you can buy gold for some advantages, the base game is free to play however.

[Sigurd]

Merged.

Glad you like it Sigurd and they do indeed have a system where you can buy gold for some advantages, the base game is free to play however.

Right.. but you need gold for some stuff right? Like freeing up experience points on tin-boxes that has reached elite status.
My question is, how do you get gold in the released version? Will it trickle in like it does in the beta (150 a day)?
edit: it says in the FAQ that you buy gold for real money.

And you need to have a premium account to start clans or teams.
It says in the FAQ that the Clan system will be opened with the open beta. Anyone planning to check this out?

[Husar]

Right.. but you need gold for some stuff right? Like freeing up experience points on tin-boxes that has reached elite status.
My question is, how do you get gold in the released version? Will it trickle in like it does in the beta (150 a day)?

No, of course you will pay for gold with real money.
To free experience you will indeed need gold but it's not necessary to get all the standard tanks.
If the game will be fun and have enough content I'm willing to spend some money on it, support the developers, but also depends on my finances.
I don't plan on buying gold for the better premium ammo though.

[Sigurd]

To free experience you will indeed need gold but it's not necessary to get all the standard tanks.

But you will have to follow a line in the tech-tree, right? To end up with the tank you want.
Like me - I want a PzVI (Tiger) and the tech-three line goes through PzII -> PzIII Ausf.A -> PzIII -> PzIV -> VK3601(H) -> PzVI.
Had I chosen the Pz35 after the tin tractor, I would have ended up with tank destroyers.

[Graphic]

I was just starting to get back into this. I was having fun for a while, and then I hit that same wall I hit in the beta that sucked all the fun right out of the game. Tier 4 light tanks which get put in matches with King Tigers and IS-4s. There shouldn't be light tanks in those type of match-ups at all. The tier 4 lights should be towards the top with tier 2s at the bottom. They should replace the random KVs and Shermans I saw with the 35t (T2) and 38t (T3). The devs need to fix this...but I suspect they won't. Its actually a genius idea to get players to upgrade to a premium account and use gold to convert experience so they can get out of T4 lights ASAP.

I can't remember the last time I got a kill. This is a tank game, I want to blow up tanks, not play hide and go seek. Flying around, spotting people and then getting one-shotted or hiding behind a rock is not my idea of fun. Panzer 38 nA is a deluxe, absolutely no fun to use at all. And I gotta do this for FOURTEEN THOUSAND XP to research and buy a Panzer III/IV.

Same exact experience in the beta except with the A-20. I don't think I can do this.

[Husar]

Why did you go with a 38 nA then? Couldn't you just go the heavy route and then switch over to mediums if that's where you're heading?

Also, you can either try hiding behind your own heavy tanks, just from being close to a battle you can sometimes get huge amounts of XP in a small tank.
Or you can try rushing and scouting, but I made some bad experiences that way since the heavy tankers usually got me very early and they just need a single hit...
Then again I had a T-28, very vulnerable but gets a good gun. The American medium-line Tier 4 and 5 tanks were a bit of a bore though.

You will also usually end up in really hard battles now and then until you reach tier 9 or 10, but I just accept that as in other battles I'll often end up as the top tank myself.

[Sigurd]

Time to show and tell...

Remember I said I was playing the test server?
I got my King Tiger II back and it is as sweet as I remember:

Fully specked (except the engines (750hp/870hp) 105mm long (KwK 46 L/68) gun.:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It was the most fun tank to play in the beta... and it still is fun as long as it is elite.

Wait.. that is not all, I have more...
163 000 xp later I got this (88mm KwK 43 L/71 as stock gun):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With the 105mm KwK 46 L/68 from the KT2 (and its crew)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

About 50 000xp (suspension + new turret) later...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Old turret

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

New Turret

Next...
The 128mm KwK 43 L/55 (63 000xp)
The 1200 HP Mayback engine (50 000xp)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

E-100 (183 000xp)... test over. not able to reach this goal

[Graphic]

Why did you go with a 38 nA then? Couldn't you just go the heavy route and then switch over to mediums if that's where you're heading?

I'm gunning for the Panther. And until I actually got the 38 nA, I had no way of knowing that it'd be the exact same experience with the A-20 in beta.

As for the rest...I explained in my last two posts that my problem is the gameplay with T4 lights is extremely boring, so saying I should hide behind heavy tanks and passively soak up XP isn't exactly ace advice. That sounds more boring than scouting.

As I said two posts ago: "it's just not fun." No amount of advice or rationalizing the design will change that. The whole idea that there should be specialized light scout tanks in the game is a sham when there are plenty of medium tanks who fulfill the role even better than the "scout" tanks do because they can actually defend themselves. This coupled with the fact that the maps are far too small and have too many narrow chokepoints to have effective scouting, and the whole idea becomes a joke. Its a flaw in the game that needs to be rectified. If the maps were actually designed like places where tanks would actually fight (and not like first person shooter maps), scouting with light tanks would actually serve a purpose in the game.

That said, I researched and bought a Hetzer and its 1,000x more fun than the POG deluxe 38 nA, especially with that ridiculous StuH cannon. I only wish it didn't move like a turtle, but since it looks like one I guess its fitting.

[Husar]

Haha, I see what you mean but you should go for russian mediums then as they're the only mediums that have some armour to speak of.
I'm not sure about german mediums after the next patch but currently their armour is rather low for the tiers they're in - with the exception of the VK3002DB - the Panther fields 80mm front armour against guns that penetrate 175mm and more, guess what happens if you just go in and don't hide behind heavies or buildings.
American mediums don't have any armour, I mean the few times my M4A3E8 actually bounces anything I just laugh at the enemy, but just yesterday my front got continually penetrated by, yes, a Panzer 38nA, while I was busy trying to get his bigger friends.

[Graphic]

What happens when I get a reasonable match with the 38 nA:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

But thats an exception to the rule, and thankfully I should be rid of this thing later today with a bit of luck and some good old fashioned grinding.

No worries about the tech tree change; the next tank in line is the Panzer III/IV, so I'm still on track.

[Sigurd]

Well, there you go... top gun and everything.

You better hurry, they will update the servers tomorrow to 0.6.6 and then your next tank will be PzIV instead of the PzIII/IV

[Graphic]

I got it later that day so I'm good. Kept the 38 nA in case I want to grind the PzIV but I'm not sure yet.

Hated the III/IV at first but once I adjusted my play style, I like it a lot.

Also, this: http://worldofwarplanes.com/

Will be epic. American tech tree 100%. P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre, F6F Hellcat. Good stuff.

It says it goes all the way to Korean War era, in which case it'd be better if they just totally axe the nation-specific tech trees all together. Everyone but Americans and Russians would run out after WW2. I'd also love to try the Zero and Me-262 without grinding for days.

[Sigurd]

I hope the Warplanes game will have a loooong beta test.

[Graphic]

I'm getting to the point where the money grind is much worse than the XP grind.

I'm on the verge of unlocking the Tiger (10k xp...a day and a half of solid play) but about a million credits away.

[Sigurd]

I'm getting to the point where the money grind is much worse than the XP grind.

I'm on the verge of unlocking the Tiger (10k xp...a day and a half of solid play) but about a million credits away.

Heh... same here.

I am getting close to unlocking the IS3 but I don't have the credits to buy it nor an available slot to put it in.
The IS is barely making money and I could say that it breaks even.
The ammo cost is what breaks my back. In really fun games with high tiered tanks you need to spend a few shells 'shooting them up' and the bill filling up your ammo storage will be in the 20k range. Then you need repairs...
I am also close to unlocking the SPG Panther which is more tempting, but I still need over a million to buy that baby.

Besides, as Husar has mentioned before (from Overlord's blog):

• KV will be separated into KV-1 and KV-2.
Players who have a KV in their garage at the time of the revision will have it replaced with a KV-1. The KV’s crew will be trained for the KV-1.
Additionally players who have researched KV-2’s turret for KV will get a KV-2 with an extra garage slot and the KV-2 will be assigned a 100% crew.
Undistributed experience from KV can be transferred to either KV-2 or to KV-1 on demand.
No additional refunds are planned.

• KV-3 moved to tier 7 and the introduction of T-150.
Players who have a KV-3 in their garage at the time of the revision will get a KV-3 in its new status with its existing module and research setup and its old crew. Additionally they will also get a T-150 with a stock setup, extra garage slot, and 100% crew.
No additional refunds are planned.

I am loath to get rid of my KV and KV-3 as they will be giving me two free slots if I keep them. I have the Pz IV which I might get rid off after I have researched the next non-SPG tank in either the medium line or the Heavy line. And my Hummel is just too fun to get rid off. I don't know what the SPG Panther ammo bill will be and I need at least one tank which is sure to make 10k plus in every game. That leaves me with no available slots for either the IS3 or the SPG Panther... until the KV and KV-3 updates kicks in.

[Sigurd]

Rant time....

Yeah, I do have a few complaints, but foremost is against the Löwe players.
You might say that it stems from envy of rich boys buying their way into high tiered games. Short answer: no. It is their arrogance and completely lack of understanding the game that bothers me.

AND... Yeah, the game balancer should not match Löwes against IS3. All though the tank might be as good, the players are not.
One recent game just proves this:

I got into a game where two Löwe were the top tanks ... and they were matched against two IS3 on the opponent team. We had two IS (one was myself) and generally low tiered tanks in the other matchups.
It was the El Halluf map facing south (linky to WoT maps) and normally the heavies take the west route (to our right). Only I and the other IS did so. And yes we encountered a couple of mediums and our Tiger counterparts. But (no kidding) somehow the Löwes went down into the valley playing scouts and "hid" in the city which duly got them hammered to tuna cans. On which the enemy apparently rushed afterwards across the valley and knocked out the rest. They knew our IS was engaged in the west. 5 minutes into the game and it was only myself and my IS companion left on our team. We had about 2-3 kills each. But the rest of our team had 0... which meant - surrounded by all sorts of small calibre and the two IS3. I took out one of the IS3 in a dance of the heavies (getting the other tank to bounce their shots on your hull). But I got shot too many times by unseen enemy and finally succumbed to tungsten poisoning.

Sometimes I feel like shooting up our Löwe just to save the enemy the trouble. Yes there are capable Löwe players out there, but they are in minority.
The only positive thing I can say about the Löwe players is: I smile when I encounter an enemy one and "dance" with him/her. I have 5 german marks on the front hull of my IS. They are all Löwe 1 on 1 kills.

To finish my argument:
Players greatly benefit from grinding their way from the bottom to the top tiers. They also greatly benefit from playing different types of tanks. I have a unique view of how to play artillery and know where those usually hides and that they need protection from fast moving light or medium tanks. If you spot a fast mover, don't let it pass you thinking it is not a threat to your invincible armour. It is not you he is looking for. The only type of tank I have not played are the Tank Destroyers. I don't know much about what their day to day struggles are. Only thing I know is that if they are "tracked" they are usually dead. (I took out an Object 704 with my Hummel by first tracking it and circumvent it and wait for reload.. it was too slow )