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garnerx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2012
623
382
I noticed the unflushable War Thunder has once again risen to the top of the forum, so I thought I might as well mention that the *good* tank game, World of Tanks, has somehow just been updated to version 1.0.

The last 7.5 years have seemingly been a beta, and now they've finally finished it (or at least given it a new graphics engine). Looks much nicer than it used to, pretty much on a par with Armored Warfare, and there are a lot of new features. Big arrows show what type of tank just shot you and from where (this may be old news as I've played probably less than a dozen games of this over the last four years).

Same old grind, of course. I'm pretty sure I had some gold in my account last time I looked but it's expired now.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
Anyone playing currently?
I last played this a couple of years also, picked it up again, and the maps, it is such a hassle and hinderence not being familiar with the new and reworked maps! I feel like a clutz. :(
 

garnerx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2012
623
382
I'm back on it now, after barely a dozen matches in the last four years. I bought the Lowe tank while playing somewhat drunk a few months ago, and it really reignited my enthusiasm for the game.

Lately I've been playing mostly artillery, which helps a lot for getting to know all the remixed maps. The US artillery line is pretty good, especially the tier 5 and 8 ones. I'm currently about 40,000 xp away from tier 9, which is apparently the best of the lot.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
I'm back on it now, after barely a dozen matches in the last four years. I bought the Lowe tank while playing somewhat drunk a few months ago, and it really reignited my enthusiasm for the game.

Lately I've been playing mostly artillery, which helps a lot for getting to know all the remixed maps. The US artillery line is pretty good, especially the tier 5 and 8 ones. I'm currently about 40,000 xp away from tier 9, which is apparently the best of the lot.
Tier 9 and 10 battles can get expensive if they do not go well. Lowe’s are good tanks. Most of the maps have been redone since I last played and figuring out where to go without gettin my ass shot off is the challenge. :D
Artillery can be fun, and it helps if you know where to park them. ;)
 
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garnerx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2012
623
382
I don't actually win all that much in the Lowe - only 45%, compared to 52% for everything else - probably because it's almost always matched with tier 10 and my skills have deteriorated since I've been away. But it's fun and it makes loads of credits to spend on other tanks.

I've also been paying for premium whenever I play, for the extra 50% xp and credits boost. Never used to do that in the past but I can't imagine playing without it now, which is annoying. This is one expensive 'free' game!
 

garnerx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2012
623
382
I'm not sure if this was specifically for me or a general thing for any long-serving players, but when I logged in today I got asked to complete a survey (basically just which of these maps do you like / dislike). It took 5 minutes and afterwards I got a badge for 5 years' service (yay!), a free tier 6 tank, 4,000 bonds (a newish type of currency that can only be earned in high-tier tanks - since they were introduced I'd previously amassed 230 of them in total) and some emblems. Oh, and four million credits!

Worth logging in to check anyway, if you have an old account. Mine isn't exactly five years old, it's about five years and a half, so it wasn't an anniversary offer.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
My recent return into WoTs has left me discouraged. Apparently I suck more now than I did before. ;)
WOWS is very different, where much of the fight depends on having an understanding of enemy firing ranges and not over committing one’s self.
 

garnerx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2012
623
382
My recent return into WoTs has left me discouraged. Apparently I suck more now than I did before. ;)
WOWS is very different, where much of the fight depends on having an understanding of enemy firing ranges and not over committing one’s self.
My win% has gone from sort of okay to mostly dreadful, but I'm having fun. I don't know how the matchmaking works, but it definitely isn't random. I've had sessions where I lose 8 out of 10 games, and the team I'm on always seems completely inept - everyone rushes to one side, or does something amazingly stupid every game. Then I'll try again a week later and get 10 wins in a row, which is statistically improbable.

It's very odd, I wonder if they're mixing it up deliberately to create interest - there's some plugin I haven't tried, it seems to rate the teams by likelihood of a win based on a rating system, and people who use it always complain at the start of the game if we're on a "guaranteed" losing team.

Using arty might be a good way to replicate the WOWS ranges thing - in smaller maps there's an early standoff where you wait for the other side to fire first, and you're always wondering if the enemy arty is searching for you or targeting the other tanks. Getting a "blind" kill from an enemy's tracer is quite satisfying.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
My win% has gone from sort of okay to mostly dreadful, but I'm having fun. I don't know how the matchmaking works, but it definitely isn't random. I've had sessions where I lose 8 out of 10 games, and the team I'm on always seems completely inept - everyone rushes to one side, or does something amazingly stupid every game. Then I'll try again a week later and get 10 wins in a row, which is statistically improbable.

It's very odd, I wonder if they're mixing it up deliberately to create interest - there's some plugin I haven't tried, it seems to rate the teams by likelihood of a win based on a rating system, and people who use it always complain at the start of the game if we're on a "guaranteed" losing team.

Using arty might be a good way to replicate the WOWS ranges thing - in smaller maps there's an early standoff where you wait for the other side to fire first, and you're always wondering if the enemy arty is searching for you or targeting the other tanks. Getting a "blind" kill from an enemy's tracer is quite satisfying.
I’m using Webium’s mod pack (https://www.mywotmods.com/en/mods/mod-packs/item/10-webium-s-mods-pack) that includes XVM (https://modxvm.com/en/) which I believe is what you are referencing. One thing I like about this pack, is that it is basically one stop shopping for mods and when it needs to be updated, by clicking on the installer, it directs you back it’s home page for downloading the new version. You just get in the habit of everytime there is a game update, you run the installer to make sure your modes are also updated.

Among other mods and mod packs, it’s on this page: https://wgmods.net/. I believe XVM makes predictions based on win rates of team members. It’s not always correct and I don’t install that part of the mod pack.

On WoWS, I’m using Aslain’s mod pack, which is similiar, but it does not direct you to the author’s page when it is outdated.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
I checked back into World of Tanks lately, and I’ve been playing World of Warships for about 7 months, and I found WoT to be tedious and ugly. I think I’ve changed and not helping are maps I am not familiar with.

And although I regularly curse WoWS, I’m finding that the strategy there is much more strategic, while Tanks is more tactical, with a lot of peak-a-boo shooting.
 

ArthurWellsley

macrumors member
Feb 9, 2011
40
5
London
I am still playing World of Tanks.

Up dating OP tank list;
Tier VI = T34-85M (USSR premium)
Tier VII = AMX 13 57 (Fr premium)
Tier VIII = Object 252U/Defender (USSR premium)
Tier IX = T54 (USSR tech tree)
Tier X = Object 907 or T95/FV4201 Chieftain (both Clan wars rewards tanks)
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
I am still playing World of Tanks.

Up dating OP tank list;
Tier VI = T34-85M (USSR premium)
Tier VII = AMX 13 57 (Fr premium)
Tier VIII = Object 252U/Defender (USSR premium)
Tier IX = T54 (USSR tech tree)
Tier X = Object 907 or T95/FV4201 Chieftain (both Clan wars rewards tanks)
I’m also taking a break from WoWS, Random Battles have been wearing on me. :oops:
 

garnerx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2012
623
382
Just had a few games on this for the first time in a while, and in one round a couple of players started unloading into their teammates as soon as the battle began. Naturally I fired back when they started on me but, bizarrely, no damage was done, nobody's score turned blue, nobody got kicked...

Turns out they completely removed team damage from the game about a year ago! Talk about a tactical downgrade... Being careful when firing into a crowd was a key skill since day one, but now you can just go crazy and your shots will have no effect on your own team. Rain down artillery fire into a busy area, if you want, you can only damage the enemy.

Can't say I care for that particular development very much. Even in things like Call of Duty I only play modes where you can kill/get killed by your own team. Makes it more interesting, you need to think more about what you're doing.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
Just had a few games on this for the first time in a while, and in one round a couple of players started unloading into their teammates as soon as the battle began. Naturally I fired back when they started on me but, bizarrely, no damage was done, nobody's score turned blue, nobody got kicked...

Turns out they completely removed team damage from the game about a year ago! Talk about a tactical downgrade... Being careful when firing into a crowd was a key skill since day one, but now you can just go crazy and your shots will have no effect on your own team. Rain down artillery fire into a busy area, if you want, you can only damage the enemy.

Can't say I care for that particular development very much. Even in things like Call of Duty I only play modes where you can kill/get killed by your own team. Makes it more interesting, you need to think more about what you're doing.
Interesting. I remember sometimes when a team came in with one of the tanks below the spread for the matchmaker, and team members would kill them to show their displeasure. You could blame War Gaming for not preventing a team with an out of parameter spread to be formed in the first place. With friendly fire turned off, I’ll assume team member tanks will still block shots going though them to hit an enemy?

WoWS still has team damage.

My grandson plays Call of Duty: War Zone and I was surprised that it had no friendly fire although now that I think about it Marathon, Unreal Tournament, and Quake Area did not have friendly fire either or we kept it turned off. I don’t remember.

Back to WoT, I discovered my premium time for WoWS is the WS specific type, not the shareable premium time. I remember a time before where War Gaming premium time was applied to both games. Now they have 3 types, 2 specific to each game, and a universal, that give less of a bonus for either game, monetizing bastards. I was going to give Tanks another try, but they would not convert my WoWS premium time, so I said screw Tanks, at least until my premium time runs out.

However last time I tried it, a couple of years ago, I was so out of practice and not familiar with some of the new maps, I felt like a fish out of water. The distinct difference about WoWS vs WoT is that the former is a much more strategic game, while Tanks is more of a tactical game. In Ships, it’s much easier to get yourself into deep water, and not realize you are already dead.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
In my exploration of War Thunder, I rediscovered World of Tanks. See a WT vs Wot comparison here.
I’m back to playing WoT and holy crap I have a lot of tanks, 29 US tanks not countering the other countries. I’m guessIng I have close to 100 tanks total.

So far, it’s fun, but boy am I rusty! I have a few tier 9 and 10, but I’ve been spending most of my play time in lower to mid levels getting my tank legs back. I’ve already come across a new tank, Tier8 LT-432 Russian Premium tank, that kicked my ass a couple of times and I WANTS IT! But alas it’s no longer for sale. The same story as me and the Type 59. ?

F792964C-78E9-40E1-95A2-63A8C7246B5F.jpeg

LT-432

I’m still playing WoWS and I’m angling to get a single joint War Gaming subscription. More to come! :D
 

thisismyusername

macrumors 6502
Nov 1, 2015
476
729
Is’nt that the console version?

Blitz is the mobile version of WoT but it's also been available to play on the PC for a number of years (folks on mobile aren't put in matches with folks on keyboard/mouse to keep things fairer).

World of tanks Blitz is native on the Mac. Anyone play that?

I tried it on PC a few years ago and wasn't into it. I haven't been into WoT, in general, for a few years but, back then at least, Blitz was a dumbed down version of the real thing. I much preferred the real game. About the only reason to play Blitz over the real thing back then was if you just couldn't stand having arty in your matches (back then at least, Blitz didn't have arty; not sure if that's changed).
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
Blitz is the mobile version of WoT but it's also been available to play on the PC for a number of years (folks on mobile aren't put in matches with folks on keyboard/mouse to keep things fairer).



I tried it on PC a few years ago and wasn't into it. I haven't been into WoT, in general, for a few years but, back then at least, Blitz was a dumbed down version of the real thing. I much preferred the real game. About the only reason to play Blitz over the real thing back then was if you just couldn't stand having arty in your matches (back then at least, Blitz didn't have arty; not sure if that's changed).
Blitz is the more arcade version of WoT and WoT is more arcade than War Thunder, not to imply that War Thunder is better, it’s just different.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
I'm done for now with WoT. I had two absolutely horrible battles yesterday and rage quit, uninstalling this game. The other thing is that the payoff from battles is a pittance, usually in the 10-40k credits represents a substantial grind up tank trees, because frankly I'm just not that good, as compared to when playing WoWS.

I love tank combat, but the problem with WoT is that it's an arcade game, just not realistic. They have turned tanks into hot rods as compared to their real life counterparts. A great example is the Sherman, a lumbering tank which in game is much more lively than any real tank.

And WoT a huge issue with power creep, a consistent stream of new premium tanks, each more powerful than the last, to get the player to spend more money on the game beyond a subscription. There was a time in WoT where premium tanks made more credits, but they were not better than tech tree tanks (the tanks that are earned in the game.

Of note, while WarThunder is a tank game that is advertised as more realistic, it does have several modes from arcade to realistic, this does not mean it's a more fun game. I found it to be just as frustrating, if you play realistic mode, you virtually can't take a hit without module damage, you have to study each tanks weak points. I actually prefer WoT's damage system to WT's.

Of note, I'm still playing World of Warships, at least there I feel like I know what I'm doing, even if I'm on a ****** team, I usually gross from 100-300k credits per battle. And yes there are some game balancing issues there, like when they give a DD 20 freaking torpedoes and they have artificial sight ranges, where beyond the ships become invisible. The difference here is that I feel like I know what I'm doing, feel good about my performance, so I can deal with these artificialities. I have been playing battle ships exclusively (vs cruisers or destroyers) for the last 2 years.
 
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garnerx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2012
623
382
I'm done for now with WoT. I had two absolutely horrible battles yesterday and rage quit, uninstalling this game. The other thing is that the payoff from battles is a pittance, usually in the 10-40k credits represents a substantial grind up tank trees, because frankly I'm just not that good, as compared to when playing WoWS.
It has been a long time since I've managed to play more than a couple of games of this without rage quitting! I keep it installed because I don't really play any other multiplayer games these days, but it's rare that I'll spend more than half an hour on it in a week.

I've never been concerned with the payoff in terms of credits, because I no longer buy new tanks. It seems to me that that they're all basically the same thing but with slightly different stats, so I stick with the same two or three. There's artillery, tanks with turrets, and tanks without turrets. Obviously there are variations on each theme, but I don't see the point in starting again with basic equipment just to experience a marginally different version of 'fast tank with low health' or 'slow tank with big gun'.

I have something like 15 unused garage slots and 7 million credits. Also, because I play so infrequently and for very short periods I have 200+ unused personal reserves, which I never activate because they make me feel obliged to play for the entire duration. Lately I'd rather just watch a movie.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,499
26,620
The Misty Mountains
It has been a long time since I've managed to play more than a couple of games of this without rage quitting! I keep it installed because I don't really play any other multiplayer games these days, but it's rare that I'll spend more than half an hour on it in a week.

I've never been concerned with the payoff in terms of credits, because I no longer buy new tanks. It seems to me that that they're all basically the same thing but with slightly different stats, so I stick with the same two or three. There's artillery, tanks with turrets, and tanks without turrets. Obviously there are variations on each theme, but I don't see the point in starting again with basic equipment just to experience a marginally different version of 'fast tank with low health' or 'slow tank with big gun'.

I have something like 15 unused garage slots and 7 million credits. Also, because I play so infrequently and for very short periods I have 200+ unused personal reserves, which I never activate because they make me feel obliged to play for the entire duration. Lately I'd rather just watch a movie.
It could be because I’m getting old ;), but in 2013-14, I felt like I was decent at this game, I used to know exactly where I wanted to go at the start of battles on most maps. After map balancing several years ago there are some maps I hate and the timed peaking and shooting around the corner mechanism has gotten very old. This is a staple of game play, and I am convinced there are no real tank battles that ever involved this kind of a tactic which reflects how unrealistic it is, I think.

Now you mentioned this being the only multiplayer online PvP game you play but barely, and I would suggest trying World of Warships as an alternative, with the caveat that this is a very different game in tactics and tempo, much more strategic in nature, while as a comparison tanks are tactical, with lots of in your face, peaking and shooting. There are also some frustrating game-play aspects in WoWS, but I’m mentally better equipped to deal with those.
 
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