Programmers, R&D and other positions of influence
Some may take what I am going to say as a rambling rant, but don't be fooled by fools. This will be a wall of text, and if you honestly have care for the product you sell, you will want to read to the end. If you skim my words you may get most of the important words I choose to use, but you might also get lost in my true meaning,While I am writing to vent a little frustration directed at the current game play of World of Tanks, I do not think all those concerned are stupid nor incompetent. Quite the reverse actually, it is my hope that something I say is understood by someone with influence. I personally do not care what others will reply to this, nor what they think of me. I care about my small network of friends and having fun, something that I am having less and less of.
3 years and 2 months now I have been playing WoT and there have been great advances. Of course like anything else, there also have been failures. Physics, graphics, general game play are all excellent. Bugs, glitches, events & account security also are extremely well done. Game development however over the past year has been less spectacular. Now I understand what is being worked on over the course of 2014 is building up to the implementation of the new graphics engine, but general balancing of the game has not been kept to standard. Yes there have been'nerfs & buffs' with each patch that are appliedto selective tanks, but a general balancing has not been done since just before the French line came out.
It is very unfortunate, because with the beginning ofthe French tanks, was the beginning of the true unbalance. You already know I am talking about the auto-loaders and highly powerful machine guns, but other than joining the long list of people whohave written you, let me be unique by saying this: I think it's a great idea. My problem is in the extreme game play one sidedness that has been caused since it's introduction. Games are mostly decided these days within 6 minutes, the unbalance of each game is usually decided within the first 4 minutes. Given those variables, look now at the extreme overbalancing the auto-loaders give. I understand the DPM is calculated very carefully, and to a level I don't understand, however do you factor in average game time and sheer effect of one full clip vs 2 shots of the same class gun but not an auto-loader?
Skip this part if you understand what I mean, if you donot understand I will explain. Say you are a Maus, quite clearly the heaviest armored heavy tank in the game. Your random map is Sand River, lets also forget about SPG for the moment, just so you have a chance at seeing the battle atminute 4vs the T57. Factoring that both tanks will be loaded at this mark when one spots the other two shots are fired. Letsassume both are positioned poorly for this first shot due to natural unawareness of positioning. Both get a hit and do max damage. 400 to Maus (2600hp) and 490 to T57 (1760hp) repectively. The T57 knows is about 15 seconds to reload for the Maus so he does not retreat, the Maus mauvers to a safe spot but not before the T57 gets 2 more his in even softer targest on the Maus. The Maus is now at (1800) and we wont factor in the usual ammo rack slower loading time factor. After the T57 fires his 3rd shot he immediately clicks on his premium ammo to reload hismagazine (25 seconds). He peeks to keep the Maus lit and the Maus fires scoring a second hit for max damage making the T57 have (1270hp). The T57 now knows the game is over. Taking two hits equalling 980 max damage gives him time to unload 2 magazines delivering approximately 3200 damage. Almost half the shots could ricochet and the Mauswould still die. That's without fires (very common now in the Maus) or without the Maus having his own ricochet giving the T57 yet another 4 rounds of unfair advantage...or more. The sheer penetration of all the newer tanks is so overwhelming there is actually no point in armor value these days. Every single tier 10 tank Medium, TD andHeavy that has been brought out since the pre-french release can pen the front of a Maus, and thats with room to compensate if the Maus is angled under a high ricochet position. Every tank except for SPG. (More on that later)
It's rediculously unfair advantage, one easy to see and plan for. Now lets take a quick look at other little balances. The Machine gun. Many many moons ago you had on the test server a Pz II, that was so slow and yet armored that it was a stressful mental challenge to play. You then put this rediculous machine gun on it. It was a hoot to unloat 100 rounds in about 10 seconds, but it was pretty much harmless because the tank was so slow and accuracy was poor at best. About 2-3 patches later you released the Pz II, and with a slightly slower gun with a magazine like loading system. It shot about 50-60 rounds every 10 seconds and the tank was lightened to what it currently is. It was pretty good in its tire and the damage was low, but still playable with the right driver. Then you nerfed the gun to what it currently is. Now I am not saying its unplayable, but you 'balanced' it quite well. A few patches later you bring in the Pz l C and you bring out the gun that was only ever on the test server. Worse, you made the penetration value and damage far higher then what was on the test server. I have been watching every lot of patch notes and very, VERY little has been done to the Pz lC in ways ofbalancing it. The same goes for all the machine guns. I am sorry but a machine gun has zerochance in penetrating a heavy tank 2 tiers higher, but you tell that to any BDR or ARL driver and see what they say. SO ok lets say the gun stays, lower the damage again to under half what it currently is. I shouldn't get only one shot with my VK 20.01D just because the PZ l C has the potential of doing 560 damage in about 8seconds to me. It is blindingly fast, small as an ELC AMX and better armor. Now with a potential 280 damage, he'd have to hit almost every shot, thus allowing me a second shot (which still would not **** him, but if I can't get hidden in their 8 second reload then it is my fault.)
Now, I have saved the best for last. Lets talk SPG. SPG is a vital part of every game, while I understand some of the difficulty of matchmaker assigning them, lets save Matchmaker for a different post. Arty has been nerfed more than any tank in the game. So many people complain about arty being 'OP' that you seemed to be forced to nerf it to its current state. Now arty is as unplayable as you could possibly get it and still have people play it. I will admit to still getting 5 and a few 6 **** games in my arty, but out of the hundreds of games I have put into them since their latest nerf getting 1 **** on average is not the easiest thing to do. I enjoy a good challenge, but frankly waiting 40 seconds to reload, waiting to shrink the shooting radius to as small as it gets and calculating the ground levels for both my tank and the target, pulling the trigger, waiting even longer now since you've slowed the shells down and watching the shot land 3 tanks away from the target, is quite frustrating. Lets reload now. 40 more seconds, same calculations but the target, my aim nor my SPGhavemoved. Pull the trigger and I miss the same distance but this time on the opposite side of the tank. Do we have to calculatean unseen wind factornow as well? Okfine, arty now is bad, I accept that. Reload again! All calculations are the same but considered again anyway, the 40 seconds is up and I fire! Waiting time is over and BAM!! A fantastic hit and although I have average damage of 1,700, I consistenly do 400-500 damage. Now, I have waited and wastedover a minimum of 3minutes to deal 450 damage, what use is that in all realness? I have done the 1700 or slightly more a few times, but if I average out all the damage it would be around 500/shot. The damage would be fine if the accuracy was greatly increased. Is DPM even considered vs other tanks of the same tier?
Ok that's enough for now, reply all you haters, I am only interested if someone important replies, and no one other than someone with influential abilities in WG do I see as important in these forums. However, hate on and get your post counts up, it is all you care about anyway.
