AutoLoader: Bickering teams, the VK 30.01 D, and UK light tanks

I've decided to rename this series of multiple hot takes to "AutoLoader". You don't really care about that so let's just get on with it. 

The Dysfunctionals

Got into a battle this morning on Serene Coast and as soon as I loaded in it seemed like half the team were calling each other names in chat and squabbling. 20 seconds into the battle our T-50-2 shot our T-34-85M in the back on purpose. Usually when I see that it's a loss. Team is too busy fighting the other green tanks to fight the red tanks and gets rolled.

This time, much to my shock...it was a 15-5 win. The other team was worse. Go figure.

Of course next battle was almost the same set up. Team spent the first 30 seconds arguing in chat, even though I didn't participate in the bickering our Churchill III deliberately shot me in the back as we were driving out. And, true to norm, we got rolled.

Negativity in chat results in a loss more often than not in World of Tanks.

Try to stay positive, my friends. (Yes, I'm working on this too)

VK 30.01 D

Made it to the 30.01 D on the other German MT line. So far the line is ok, good mobility, not much armor, fast firing guns with relatively low alpha. Can't snap shot for a darn, though, if you're not aimed, you're not hitting many shots. Even with the Snap Shot skill at 68% on my gunner the accuracy is pretty poor. 

And no, you can't run VStabs on it.

It doesn't really have the view range to be a good spotter and I'm realizing that I'm not a big fan of low alpha, low armor, mediums. It's probably why I'm struggling to get motivated to grind the Comet.

World of Tanks can be a bit grindy sometimes, though the new premium bonuses are definitely helping.

Crew Retraining Special?

Wish we'd have a crew training sale (100 gold instead of 200 to retrain a crew member). I have several tanks with sub-optimal crew that I'd like to get trained up to 100% but I don't want to spend 1,000 gold to do it, if I can do it for 500 gold instead.

British LTs

First reviews of the pending British LTs are not good. Even the WoT community contributors are ripping them as "trash" and "a joke". I've heard multiple people suggest that the Manticore (Tier 10) would be the worst tier 10 LT in the game. As a light tank enthusiast this is disappointing to me, as I expect I'll be grinding up that line myself.

Hopefully they get a buff before they're released.

Winning Crew Training Books?

Other than the ones we got when version 1.5 dropped, has anybody actually won a Crew Training book yet? I don't think I have, though I've won some Crew skins (which I could not care less about). Unfortunately I've been spending my credits buying unlocked tanks so I don't have enough to buy one right now. Fortunately Frontline starts on Monday and I'll get a chance to grind some credits.

If you've won a Crew Training book let me know in the comments below.

GLHF!