Happy Sunday Tankers!

Good Sunday all...hard to believe it's been over a year since my last post. Well, maybe not THAT hard to believe. Here'a few random WOT thoughts...

The TS-5 American Challenge

Currently we've got a marathon going (at least on NA) to get a TS-5 American tank destroyer. I've heard it described as a Tier 8 Premium T28. Big, slow, hard hitting, decently armored, casement TD.

Like most of the marathon events I started off digging in a bit, planning out how much I'd play, and hoping to at least get through stage V so I could get a 50% discount on the tank.

But I've come to realize something about myself...I don't really enjoy playing slow tanks. I prefer mobility, and being able to flex around the battlefield. It's a big part of the reason why I rarely play HTs, and even the TDs I play tend to be more mobile. So I'm just going to play, and have fun, and if I happen to finish a bunch of the stages that's great. If the discount is deep enough, MAYBE I'll buy the TS-5 at the end of the marathon, because I'm a bit of a collector and if the price is low enough to warrant the premium days, boosters, and other stuff that comes with the full TS-5 package.

Which brings me to...

Going in Phases...

I've played almost 15,000 battles. That's not a lot, really...there are plenty of players with 2x or 3x (or more) that many battles. And I've noticed that my approach to the game has changed over time. I've gone through a few phases.

The "Grinding the Line" Phase

There was a period where I'd pick a line I was interested in and just grind up that line. Usually I'd get to around Tier 8, then I'd lose interest and do something else. Along the way I've managed to grind most of the lines in the game. With the exception of arty and a couple of lines I just never got to, I have tanks from every nation and in every class. I'm especially a fan of light tanks, so I've gone up every line of light tanks (though often not past tier 8).

The "Wanna Be a Lemon" Phase

In my early days in the game I steadfastly said I didn't care what my WN8 was. Then I hit a phase where I wanted to be a better player, and maybe get a little more respect from my XVM-running teammates, and I wanted to at least get my WN8 into the yellow. So I "try-harded" and paid close attention to the improvement in my WN8. I got to yellow, which I think was somewhere in the 900-range as I recall, then I wanted to get over 1,000, so I did that.

Today my overall WN8 is just under 1100 I think, and my WN8 over the last 60 days is almost 1500. But I don't care that much anymore. I just want to improve at the game, and if that translates to better WN8 that's cool. I don't watch it every day.

The "Stars and Stripes" Phase

I hit a stretch where I was really keen to start getting marks of excellence. I'd accidentally managed to mark a few tanks along the way; even two marking some of them. But in this phase I decided I really wanted to get marks, and three-mark a few tanks too. So I got a mod that showed me my MOE progress and set about diligently trying to mark tanks. I three-marked the M4 DerpSherman and managed to mark a few other tanks, but eventually I got a bit bored with this effort too.

The "Reporting for Duty" Phase

For a while I got obsessed with finishing the personal campaigns. I ground through the StugIV and T28 Concept missions. Now I'm 2/3 of the way through the T55A missions. When the newer campaigns appeared I started grinding through the Excaliber missions and I probably have about 3/4 of those done too.

But just like the other phases, this got a bit tedious after a while. So I've stopped caring too much about it and I'm always pleasantly surprised to finish a battle and find out I accidentally did a campaign mission too.

The "WIN WIN WIN" Phase

Winning the battle has usually been more important to me than personal stats. I've always been willing to sacrifice my tank if it means the team wins, and I've never been especially agitated (even in the "Wanna Be a Lemon" phase or the "Stars and Stripes" phase) if a teammate got a kill instead of me, as long as we win.

Like most players I arrived around 10K battles with a win rate that was just shy of 50%. So I wanted to get to 50%. I did that fairly quickly. Then I wanted to get to 51%. I managed to get to that level relatively recently, maybe 100 battles ago. Over the last 60 days/1000 battles I'm in the 54% range and I'm pretty happy with that. Much like the "Wanna Be a Lemon" days I don't watch my WR that closely these days.

The "Fun Fun Fun" Phase

Now I'm in the "I play what I like" phase. Not really grinding any lines with any particular focus. Not trying to do any missions. I pick a tank that feels like it would be fun to play, and I click "Battle". 

What I learned...

It's a game. Games should be fun. Totally cool if you're in one of those phases as long as you're enjoying it. As soon as it starts to feel like work though...I recommend that you move on to the next phase. 

Featured Streamer

Want to get better at the game? Check out Jerm. He's a good player, he's a nice guy, and not only does he answer questions during his stream, but he also talks as he plays and explains what he's thinking and why he's making the decisions he makes.

https://www.twitch.tv/jerm_na

GLHF! (Good Luck, Have Fun!)