World of Tanks - Have I got it right?

[Gibsonm]

Caveats:

1. I've never played it.

2. Not wishing to start a flame war pro/con

3. If it becomes one (because once you make a first post you can never control a thread) can the moderators please lock / delete it.

Anyway ...

Had a bit of spare time today so I looked at some YouTube footage of this.

I gather its not a serious product more what used to be called a "beer and pretzels" type activity?

From the videos it seems you can:

1. Pretty much customise every tank and buy options that never existed in real life, resulting in multiple versions of the same tank.

2. You can buy vehicles that never made it into production.

3. The real capabilities of weapons have been "tuned" to ensure people are competitive given the small maps (e.g. 88mm L56 or 75mm L70 can no longer penetrate M4 Sherman at 1,000m+).

4. Battles are a "hodge podge" with people turning up with whatever they feel like / can afford. Seems like you can have any AFV from almost any nation that did (or did not make it into production) from say 1940 - 1965.

5. There is scope to buy "gold" ammunition types (APCR, etc.) to further improve your performance, even if not available in real life.

6. I gather the basic version is "free" but to buy better vehicles and certain skills mean you have to spend real money with some sort of monthly subscription service too?

Based on all that it isn't my cup of tea, but judging by the number of hits the videos have and the number of servers, etc. it seems pretty popular.

Again not suggesting any of this should be adopted by eSim but just trying to get an accurate understanding of the product.

[Ssnake]

6. I gather the basic version is "free" but to buy better vehicles and certain skills mean you have to spend real money with some sort of monthly subscription service too?

It's an option, the developers say, but of course that's how they make their money. People with a lot of time can apparently "do the grind" and earn enough points to somehow progress to the higher levels (=better equipment) but the wording (from other forum users, not my invention) suggests that it is a somewhat time consuming way to do so.

[hoggydog]

I have dabbled in WoT and it is as you say an enjoyable 'beer and pretzels' game, I never spent a penny on it and really enjoyed it, but the further you get (i.e. what tier of vehicle you attain) the harder it is to progress to higher levels without spending money on the premium account and/or premium vehicles and ammo.

I'm sure it can be done but it was beyond the amount of time I was prepared to give the game.

If you are not that bothered by having the latest E100 ubertank you can have some great fun in the lower levels with some great little Tanks. Just don't expect realism, expect casual fun.

It has put Tank games back at the forefront of PC gaming and that could be good for the sim and SB community

[DarkLabor]

Really spot on.

In addition to what you've gathered, the game is a third tank (I mean person) shooter. Even if you can zoom in and out to get an sight view, you can see that most people tend to use the external view (especially in urban areas you see their turrets pointing the air quite a lot).

Every tanks are handled the same way even if you got different specs for each tanks.

The developpers don't really bother if it''s been really produced or fitted to that chassis. By exemple you end up with an ARL44 hull with on top the turret of the FCM F1...

As you could see the game mechanism is a pale representation of the reality.

Any tank spotted is highlighted even if your sight is obscurated with bushes, trees etc. You can try to ambush, but it will fail. A single tank can litterally paint you and the remaining of the eny tanks hidden in the bushes far away will destroy you.

What's wonderfull about it is the fact it's not WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). You fight in a squre kilometer and depending on your spec the eny tanks will be hidden or not (even in an open ground).

This comic summup the way they make money : http://jagodibuja.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/englisg23.jpg

Definately a fun game no more no less.

[Companion]

Caveats:

1. I've never played it.

2. Not wishing to start a flame war pro/con

3. If it becomes one (because once you make a first post you can never control a thread) can the moderators please lock / delete it.

Anyway ...

Had a bit of spare time today so I looked at some YouTube footage of this.

I gather its not a serious product more what used to be called a "beer and pretzels" type activity?

From the videos it seems you can:

1. Pretty much customise every tank and buy options that never existed in real life, resulting in multiple versions of the same tank.

2. You can buy vehicles that never made it into production.

3. The real capabilities of weapons have been "tuned" to ensure people are competitive given the small maps (e.g. 88mm L56 or 75mm L70 can no longer penetrate M4 Sherman at 1,000m+).

4. Battles are a "hodge podge" with people turning up with whatever they feel like / can afford. Seems like you can have any AFV from almost any nation that did (or did not make it into production) from say 1940 - 1965.

5. There is scope to buy "gold" ammunition types (APCR, etc.) to further improve your performance, even if not available in real life.

6. I gather the basic version is "free" but to buy better vehicles and certain skills mean you have to spend real money with some sort of monthly subscription service too?

Based on all that it isn't my cup of tea, but judging by the number of hits the videos have and the number of servers, etc. it seems pretty popular.

Again not suggesting any of this should be adopted by eSim but just trying to get an accurate understanding of the product.

Yes it is pretty popular "beer and pretzels" game as you say it.

1. Customization - technically yes but in most cases there is a "final" version of a given tank. A player would want a gun that can reliably damage a threat tank than the gun that cannot, wouldn't he?

Major reason of variety seen for a given tank model is that people must put effort and time (play the game) to unlock better guns, engines, etc.

2. Yes

3. Yes but the developer try not to overdo it lest some part of the fanbase would literally revolt. They can conjure up a hypothetical gun anyway from an archive somewhere if a gun of certain capability is needed.

But in the scenario you mentioned, both guns damage sherman reliably in game at all ranges.

4. Correct, but understandably tanks such as FT-17 doesn't get pitted against say, a Tiger tank for obvious reasons.

5. Right, and most of time the performance of those "Gold" rounds are conveniently just above the protection level of commonly encountered threat tanks.

6. Related to point 1 and 5. One does have access to most game contents with free subscription only. However, Cash option drastically, significantly, shockingly decreases the effort required to unlock/acquire tanks and tank parts. It also makes "Gold" rounds more affordable.

[Grenny]

If you'd transform that system to SB...it would look like this:

-You get a basic version of SB

-better round woul cost extra money (DM 33 is for free...DM 53 costs cash)

-everytime KT's ARV has to pull you out of a ditch or a resupply truck is needed=> cash

-arty comes with HE...ICM round require extra payment

and so on

8-)

[TorinoFermic]

Been a player of WoT for almost 2 years, i can aleast tell my story why i left World of Tanks :

When it all started, World of Tanks started as public beta game. We dinit know or be aware of those limitations of Big World engine. Tanks in this game at this time are well balanced. Not much money-grabbers ( you know where i am saying later ).

Devs continue improuve this game by listening customers. All was nice until they somehow got greedy for money later ( 1 year ) and got hum.... some dumb fandom and it all went downhill.

Then they added news maps, new tanks plus some changes to graphics engine. But then everyone ( fanboy ) complain the spotting mechanic is broken because...well hard to explain this problem. You can try spot a well camflouaged tank in the open but it can EVEN fail to do spot check :shocked:

Also the size of map is very small made impossible to rely on tactics to win and 3 chockepoints sounds so childish, i got fed of this problem. It got worse by Matchmaker witch is like you play a roulette with your tank and wait if you win in right match or not. ( to make even worse, MM does also affect armor thickness, peneration and accuracy, so you can be screwed if you cant pen at all tanks in a match ).

Arty is never good thing as long it does have godview or sateille view if you want hear it.

Also, WoT Forum dosent even allow users to post about the WarThunder game, ppl who does it got banned and posts removed.

AKA If you want play WoT, play for fun only also dont spend your money in there. I got annoyed by lack of teamwork and the lack of communication of players in this game.

So to mark the line, devs stopped listening veterans players.

So....i suggest you to put your money where it deserves, something so awesome or well designed like Steel Beasts 3.0.

[Gibsonm]

So....i suggest you to put your money where it deserves, something so awesome or well designed like Steel Beasts 3.0.

Don't worry I wasn't going to "invest" in WoT.

I just wanted to be sure that the observations / conclusions I made were correct.

[Homer]

Almost everything is attainable without having to spend real money. What money does is buy you time. Something which may take you weeks to grind, can be achieved in days or instantly.

It's not really a tank game. It's a first person shooter in vehicles. It's only historically accurate when it is convenient for their needs. At first it's fun to play. However, you will find eventually yourself playing games not for the enjoyment of playing but only just to earn more XP/credits to get next thing on the never ending list.

If you decide to jump in, just be aware of the pitfalls and enjoy it for what it is: an arcade game. Stay away from the forums - horrible community.

P.S. Here's a model viewer: http://www.rextimmy.com It's better than the game IMO.