Autoloader: August On Tracks, Cool resource from Skill4LTU, and more

 Quick post with some thoughts and comments on World of Tanks for August 5th, 2021.

August On Tracks

The August On Track ("Top of the Tree" for our friends across the pond) began today and first up is the K-91, a Russian medium tank.

From the Tier VII (A-44) forward these are the rare rear-turreted mediums and truth-be-told I didn't like this line very much. I did ok in them but...the armor isn't special, the gun depression is absolutely tragic, even for a Russian tank, the turrets are NOT fully traverseable, and the guns are...fine. The premium ammo is very good, but unless you're willing to load full gold be prepared for a...well, ok, experience.

The mobility is pretty good, view range and camo are decent. 

The other thing it does to you is that at Tier 7 you have a Radio Operator and at Tier 8....you don't. So if you're bringing your crew up the line with you, well you have to do some skill rearranging at Tier 8, which is often annoying.

Skill4LTU recommends playing these as sniper schnitzels and I have to agree. The lack of a fully traverseable turret can really hurt you in close quarters if an enemy can manuver around you and the tank's low profile makes your engine deck vulnerable to tall tanks (not that they really need to aim for weak spots most of the time) and makes it hard for you to hit cupolas and things up close.

Just got the K-91 this morning so haven't taken it out yet.

In a couple of weeks the Japanese Super Heavy, the Type 5 Heavy goes On Track. I don't play that line much, but I have the O-Ho unlocked, and, thanks to blueprints, I have the Type 4 Heavy already unlocked too. Just waiting for them to go on sale.

Speaking of WoT Blueprints

I have a love/hate relationship with blueprints in World of Tanks because they speed up the grinds tremendously. I've never even bought the Conqueror or the aforementioned O-Ho, for example, but I have the Super Conqueror and the Type 4 Heavy unlocked already thanks entirely to blueprints. But for that very same reason I fear they're hurting the game.

People often lament about how one-sided the game has become. "5-15 Simulator" Skill often calls it. People critize the matchmaker and think that it should balance the teams by WN8 or such, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that the real problem is that too many noobs are playing top tier tanks.

What do I mean by that? 

Well...the other day I got into a Tier X match on El Halluf. I was in my SkorpG. We got stomped 5-15 in under 5 minutes, pretty typical. After the battle, out of curiousity, I checked our top tier players. For our Obj 277 and Obj 705A these were their stats:

The other team's comparable Tier X players had between 20K and 30K battles each.

There's no shame in being new at the game, and when you have so few battles it's not that surprising that you'd have a sub 50% WR. But the problem is...these two are in Tier X tanks already with that few battles. And their win rates are probably that bad because they're still figuring out what the left mouse button does yet they're rolling out in their team's top tier vehicles.

They die fast, as noobs do, and now their team is down a key tank, and the ROLFstomp is on.

How did this happen?

In my opinion it's the combination of blueprints, which can let people unlock top tier tanks when they haven't even played the Tier 6 yet, and events which give x5 XP.

Can this be fixed?

Well...it's a game, and if noobs want to rush into Tier X (as they always have) then that's their right. I'm reluctant to suggest Wargaming remove the blueprints from the game, I guess you'd have to consider if the much longer grinds we used to have were more fun than the less competitive games we seem to have now.

But maybe the solution is for Matchmaker to try and balance the teams a bit more, at least at the top tier, by battles played? That might not be so easy, especially on low population servers, but maybe if these two guys had been on opposite teams, instead of the same team, the game might have been closer?

In the meantime I really wish new players would spend more time at Tier 5/6 learning the game, then at Tier 8 refining their skills, before diving into Tier X tanks. Just my opinion.

Skill4LTU's YouTube Index

You probably know that Skill is a prolific content creator, and full disclosure I'm in his NA clan (BABNS) and he's now got a cool site set up that helps you quickly find his YouTube content for a particular tank you're interested in.

Just go to Welcome! - Skill4LTU Youtube Index and you'll find info and videos on (currently) 463 different tanks. All searchable. He also includes some MOE expectations, and his stats in that vehicle. 

Pretty cool feature.

GLHF!