Oh yeah... US.

I can't stop playing this.... Solid game... no crashes... fun... quick.... lots of tanks...

A long way from the Panzer Commander days...

The game has a projected mulitple year life span to boot. Meaning we will have new content for a while.

It is quite fun until you hit tiers 5 or 6 when the grind starts to become apparent. Playing with friends and/or a premium account will dampen the grind a bit.

Quite a bit of investment money-wise as well, if nothing but to convert XP from elite tanks to Free XP to be used on other tanks.

So...how much have some of you spent on this "free" game?

I've bought one month's worth of premium.

Was one of those midnight Saturday paypal buys! The extra credits got me through to a level where I've a decent upgraded medium to run and several other types grinding.

I'm making enough credits on my standard account but as Ice says above, I'd like to unlock the spare experience points I've accumulated. I'm not going to spend any more real money though.

Cheers!

Near enough 80 British pounds ffs

I'd guesstimate about £60 over the past few months. At first it was to get some easy in-game credits. Then bought a Lowe, which basically got rid of the in-game credits problem. Now I use it to buy 100% crew from the get-go whenever I buy a new tank that I know I'll be using for a good while. That, and to convert XP to free XP.

I spend it to convert XP to free XP as well. I've stopped buying credits, I'll just be patient and grind it instead.

My current active stable are:

VK3001(H) (elite)
PzkfwV Panther
Grille
Löwe (elite)
PzIII Auf (elite)
PzIII/IV (elite)
M7 (elite)
M4 Easy 8
M10 Wolverine

I sold my StugIII once it got elite, ponderng buying a Jagdpanzer IV but I hear they stink badly.

I've spent about $200 bucks --- which on first blush seems like a lot compared to the traditional $50 paid for a traditional shrink wrap game. But I've logged some 2500+ battles (not sure how many hours that adds up to but a considerable amount)and have worked my way through each tree from the bottom to

Tiger 1 in German Heavies
IS1 in Russian Heavies
T1 in American Heavies
VK3002DB in German Meds
T43 in Russian Meds
T20 in American Meds
SU100 in Russian TD's
JAGD IV in German TD's

And of course this means I also have all the light tanks/TD's that were needed to get to the above vehicles

I've not acquired any of the Arty vehicles (no interest)



Here's my stats


Games Played: 2 521
Victories: 1 218 (48%)
Defeats: 1 254 (50%)
Battles Survived: 692 (27%)
Battle Performance
Destroyed: 1 808
Spotted: 3 236
Hit Ratio: 62%
Damage: 1 256 083
Capture Points: 4 091
Defense Points: 1 175
Battle Experience
Total Experience: 1 017 525
Average Experience per Battle: 404
Maximum Experience per Battle: 1 930


Rating Value Place
GR Global Rating 188 15 473
W/B Wins/Battles 48% 67 404
E/B Average Experience per Battle 404 17 832
WIN Victories 1 218 11 999
GPL Games Played 2 521 11 343
CPT Capture Points 4 091 12 667
DMG Damage 1 256 083 13 570
DPT Defense Points 1 175 26 030
FRG Targets Destroyed 1 808 14 245
SPT Targets Spotted 3 236 7 948
EXP Total Experience 1 017 525 11 367


I would agree that once you hit Tier V it turns into a credit slog, even by buying premium and getting the Lowe (which I also have) there seems to be no way around slogging your way through to Tier VI and beyond

It's like the acquisition cost both in research credits and game credits rise somewhat geometrically through the tiers

I've spent more time playing this game/sim than any other game/sim in 20 years of being in this "market" This game simply works. It does what it is intended to do with no tweaking, or constant aggravation due to software bugs or design flaws. I've completely dropped IL2 ClOD as at this point in my life I've no more patience for poorly written code or the expectation by developers that I have to pull the simulation into the garage and spend hours on my back under the body in order to get it to perform as advertised.

This game simply works beautifully......and when I think of the hours of enjoyment it has given me for the price...it is a value compared to the weeks of frustration and never getting it to run right with other titles.

One of the strong advantages of this game is how beautiful it works -- the way the gameplay works, the beautiful graphics, the simple but challenging way of playing different tanks, the ease of play (no cockpits or headgear required!). A lot of complaints are about match-making and tanks being "nerfed" but these are easily remedied by a subsequent patch if the devs feel it is worth fixing. Most match-making complaints hold no water anyway -- as it is a MMO, the match-making program has to work with what it has at the moment... unless players are happy to wait for half an hour for a "perfectly balanced" match.

MadDog, German TD-wise, the Marder II kicks ass, then goes downhill from there. The Jagdpanzer IV suffers the same as the Stug III in terms of matchmaking --- you'll be surprised if you dent your opponent. I think I ricochet 80% of the time, so switched to HE rounds. Better a little damage than none at all. Having said that, once you finish the JgPz IV, the JagdPanther simply rocks and you'll be able to whack 20-30% off from most tanks you come across.

I've learned that the fastest way to get the next tank is to NOT sell your elite tanks. When you do your daily double XPs, each elite tank can get 900-1200XP (on a non-Premium account). Whatever tank you're grinding only gets that double XP once, then each subsequent battle gives you less XP. Even if you grind your highest tiered tank at the moment, all that 900-1200XP from elite tanks do help a lot. Imagine one elite tank, played just enough to get one win each day (thus get the double XP), will have at least 6,000XP by the end of the week. 5 elites and you have somewhere around 30,000XP!