How to fix the wheelies in World of Tanks

Dear Wargaming, I do software design for a major company for a living, so let me offer you some free consulting. The wheelies are making the game even more toxic, as you've probably noticed. So here's my simple recommendations for how you can fix them.

What's wrong with the wheelies?

First, let's define the problem. It's not that vehicles with wheels exist in a tank game. It's that the game they're playing is NOT World of Tanks. It's Mario Kart. EBR drivers load in, press and hold the W key, and just race around the map zigging and zagging like they're trying to outrun Luigi.

Could you do that same thing in an EVEN 90? Kind of, yeah, but in an EVEN 90 you'll get punished for it in a way that you do not in an EBR. The EVEN 90 can be tracked. The EBR, on the other hand, can't be. Famously their wheels - which are apparently made out of Vibranium - eat shot after shot with very little noticeable affect on the wheelie.

So the wheels are problem one. Problem two is the turret traverse. The speed of the wheelie is its primary feature. They race around at 80+ KM/H which makes them hard to hit. Some tanks in the game can't even traverse fast enough to keep up with a wheelie that has managed to close the distance. But there are other light tanks that have good speed (though not like the wheeled tanks) - the problem isn't the speed as much as it is the turret traverse. It's not that the wheelie can go by at 80+ km/h, it's that they can put shot after shot into you as they do it.

The turret traverse on an EBR is almost 70 degrees per second. On an ELC EVEN 90 it's 48.

Let's examine a common scenario: EBR races across the map and lucks into a SkorpG that is a bit isolated. In THEORY the SkorpG should out DPM the EBR. But in practice all it takes is for one SkorpG shot to go into the EBR's wheels, or for the Skorp (with its ponderous turret traverse) to simply not be able to hit the small EBR while rotating tank and turret as fast as it possibly can, and that fight is lost. Especially if the EBR is firing HE - which can easily pen a SkorpG most of the time.

It's remarkably hard to hit a wheeled vehicle, that is moving in rapid mode, with shot after shot. If you need 2 or 3 shots to kill it, there's a good chance you're going to have to fire 3 or 4 (or 5) shots to do it. And there's an equally good chance that at least one of your shots that hit will disappear into the wheels and do no damage.

An actual Hotchkiss wheel just out of the box.

Are they OP or "broken"?

They're not undefeatable. Of course you can kill them, they get killed all the time. But the combination of the speed, the turret traverse, and the shell-eating wheels make them a bit over-powered, yes, and extremely frustrating to have to deal with.

Side note: the Lynx 6x6 has a gun that is almost as good as the gun on the T-44-100. Except it's mounted on a wheelie that can hit you driving by at ludicrous speed.

The other issue with the wheelies, which really is just the Vibranium wheels problem, is that because they can often YOLO with near impunity, their limited view range doesn't matter so much. Many times I've seen a Lynx, EBR, or  Hotchkiss simply race full speed across the map, drive right through where the enemy are sitting, and essentially proxy spot them, before racing away just as suddenly as they arrived. Even if the wheelie doesn't shoot at all they've now lit your team for their team...and now you're getting shot by all their TDs, arties, and MTs. Fix the wheels (see below) and this problem becomes less of an issue.

How to counter them?

When I get into a game now, especially in an LT or TD, one of the first things I check is how many wheelies the enemy team has. If they've got more than one (and sometimes even with one) I know that I have to alter my strategy. 

I can't push to a forward position unless I have a lot of support. And when I say "support" I mean teammates right there with me. Not TDs sitting 300m back. If you have friends with you the YOLO'ing Lynx becomes easier to deal with. 

If I'm in a TD I'm far more likely to camp the redline or take up a position where I can put my back to something so that I'm harder to just YOLO and circle.

If arty was intended to prevent people from camping, the wheelies almost force people to camp. You have little choice but to sit way back and try to snipe the little roaches before they can circle or spot you.

How to fix them

Finally...the lede. Wargaming doesn't have to remove the wheeled tanks from the game, there is a simple way that, in my opinion, they could fix them. Two small changes:

1. It should be possible to track them. A certain amount of damage into the wheels (150?) should slow them, as it (sort of) does now. Another level of damage (300?) into the wheels should track the vehicle completely. Just like if you shoot an EVEN 90 in the tracks.
2. The turret traverse should be nerfed a bit. It shouldn't be possible to do an 80km/h drive-by at close range and have your turret traverse so quickly that you can actually hit shot after shot without even aiming or looking.

That's it. Those two changes (and really, even just the first one might be enough) are probably all it would take to make the wheeled vehicles, like the Lynx 6x6, Hotchkiss or EBR) palatable to most WOT players.

Now go do it Wargaming. We're waiting....

What do YOU think? Leave your comments below.

GLHF!