So, having bitten the WoT bug and thoroughly enjoying it, I have a question. I have purchased a 30 day Premium account and about $45.00 worth of gold, which I have happily converted to points for purchasing. I love this game, it's straight mind candy. Anyway, is the only way you'll gain experience is through playing for hours on end until you get enough experience to upgrade. I am currently in a Hetzer with a 105mm gun. It's a friggin beast....one shot, one kill for TD's and light and usually only two shots for a medium and haven't killed a heavy yet without dying in the process. So, want to get the Jagdpanzer, but it's like 1,000,000 experience points...I'm embellishing a bit, but it's expensive, not to mention the technology tree.

Any guiding words would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

Ok,

My 2 bits worth.

I currently have a Tiger 2, IS3, and KV1S

Also can purchase Panther 2 if I had the money. How to get there.

I have 2 lower tier tanks ( or you could use tank destroyer) that have been fully researched so any experience gained wih them , you can covert to "free experience" by paying with gold.

When my main tank is blown up , i play a round with my other fully specced lower tier tank. You can gain big scores in lower tiers as you would know.

I found premium accounts good as fast tracking as well.

I would waste money on premium and that's it. Converting gold/ex is silly IMHO...just grind; you die, end battle and use other tank.

So, on my elite LOLtractor and Marder II, I can cash in one for additional experience? I see the conversion option in the corner,but I thought that just transfers your experience into gold?

I dig the TD with the 105 and you're right, my fully specced Marder does pretty good, just want more.....whoever compared this to crack, wasn't kidding. Very addictive until I get to the upper tiers and start expending more.

Matt

Converting gold/exp is definately not silly. Converting gold to credits, is silly however. But the ability to transfer the exp from your elite tanks (of which I have 7 I use) is the primary source of free experience to use on my non-elite tanks.

The free XP/gold transfer is a good way to power through the grind for another tank (or more) if you have the power to do so. I've done that on my current trip up the American TD line when I elited my Slugger and then used the free XP from it, as well as the many other elited/Premium tanks I've got (I'm an unrepentant Premium Tank Whore and I love my German TDs too much to let them go), to finally get the T-25 researched up to the last two modules. Now, all I have to do is get the credits to buy the stupid thing.

For me, its a question of time. I don't have the time to really play and play and play to get the XP I need to get to the next level for the Line that I'm interested in so I take the shortcut available. Also, my mad tank skillz don't equate into grand XP gains most of the time.

Granted, I think I miss something by skipping through really dedicated playing time with an individual machine sometimes. I suspect that "problem," will be less and less of an issue the higher up I go in Tiers (I'm at the T6-7 range for my 2 primary interests right now).

Exchanging gold for credits is okay when needed, but I try not to do it if I can help it. Once that gold is gone, it ain't coming back.

Danger, how do you like the American TD's versus the German? I too like the two I have so far, Marder II and Hetzer, but really hate not having a turret for the close in fights. I do manage to get some sniping in on the easier TD's, Lights and SP guns, but the medium and heavies tend to tear me up no matter which axis I have facing them. I too am considering the Lowe for experience points alone, but really want the full German TD line, sans the Ferdi.

Also, initally transferred gold for credit, having little to none in the beginning, but now having about a 4 day period of playing, have plenty of credit, just not much experience to blow through the research tree.

Matt

To the OP:

First off, welcome to tank crack. I see you've picked it up well. I also noticed you've subscribed to the monthly premium... be prepared to spend more.

I mostly grind up the German tree, with focus on TDs and SPGs. Best tank at the moment is a GW Panther, a Lowe, and a Ferdinand. However, unlike you, I've never purchased a monthly premium account. I've done 3 days or a week, but that was when I was off work and expected to play most of the day. Therefore, my "progress" has been a lot slower than premium users.

Okay, first things first. Never exchange GOLD for credits. It is easy enough to earn credits with either a premium account (which you have) or with a premium tank (Lowe, KV-5, etc.). I strongly recommend either the Lowe or the KV-5 as credit and XP farms -- I've bought the Lowe when it was 7500 credits and has been my best investment so far. I'm easily making 15-20k net credits on a bad game (ie, my side lost), I can easily do 30-40k net credits on a good game. Note that "net" means gross earned credits minus what is spent on repairs and rearming. So with a premium account, you'll be making loads more credit even if you lose.

Second, buy up more garage slots. Watch out for when it goes on sale, the 300 gold it costs to get a new slot has gone through two periods of sale now, with it costing 150 gold instead of 300. Why? To keep more tanks, of course! Why would you keep tanks? Simple. Repeat after me - DAILY DOUBLES. What this means is that each tank you have earns DOUBLE XP for the first win each day. I'm making anywhere between 800-1700 XP on my tanks per day, and with 14 tanks, that is at least 14,000 XP per day. Again, with a premium account, you'll be making more XP. So, more tanks to play with, more XP to gain. This also allows you to experiment if you want to try out different tech/country tanks. This is also where I spend 95% of my gold, converting that accumulated XP to Free XP to use wherever I fancy.

Third, with regards to German TDs, you will find that the Marder II will be so much fun that the Hetzer to the JagdPanzer IV will seem lame. Not sure if they fixed the matchmaking now, but I still have my Stug III and JagdPanzer IV (hated my Hetzer so much I sold it as soon as I got my Stug) and I know I get crap matches with them... meaning you go up against tanks that you cannot damage/penetrate and will make mincemeat out of you no matter how smart you play your TD. The Marder II will 90% of the time get matches wherein it is on the lower third of the battle ranking but can still pack a punch to hurt the top-ranked tanks (usually KVs). My son and I play Marders and we mop up the battles with them. Once you get the Hetzer, you start get thrown in matches wherein you can only make an impact on maybe half the enemy group. However, once you get to the JagdPanther, things start looking up... you're fast, pack quite a punch, and can stand a bit of abuse. The Ferdie is even better! So something to definitely look forward to.

Fourth... how to play TDs. Remember you are never a front-line tank. The Marder can only take one or two hits from a KV, but if it can snipe the KV from afar, or if the KV is occupied with another target and the Marder can put 3-5 solid hits into the KV, that KV is dead. So, let someone else scout, stay behind, and snipe. Even my "mighty" JagdPanther and Ferdie suffer from this "soft armor" concept. Sure, the Ferdie can stand up to more hits and will ricochet some, but staying back is a good way of increasing the chances of staying alive.

Fifth, monitor your spending habits. This game will eat up your free cash if you're not careful. Gold ammo, gold crew, and converting XP will cost a lot of £££/$$$. I only spend gold to convert XP and to buy 100% crew and the occasional tank slot sale, but I've already spent more than I expected on this game.



And last piece of advice... comb the WoT threads of wisdom and advice, but do note that 98% of their "wisdom" is heavily biased. There is a lot of hate for SPGs, but it's only because they don't know how SPGs work. A lot of people dissed the Ferdie, but I'm finding it to be an awesome TD. So ask and get a feel of the consensus, but try things out for yourself as well.

Hope my 2cents helps.

Ice,

Many great points. I didn't relaize that only the first battle for your premium tanks generate the highest amounts of credit and experience. Had I known that, I would have kept my first purchase and just increased the garage slots. I will certainly give all of it a try tonight. Can I skip a vehicle design, ie, don't want a Stug III, would prefer the JagdPZ IV or Jagd Panther but there doesn't seem to be an option to skip the hull experience purchase to begin researching the next vehicle modules.

Again, this is a great venue for just blowing the crap out of strangers after a long day at work.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions thus far. Please keep em coming.

Matt

You can only skip through the tanks if the Tech Tree allows it. There are certain sideways moves available.

Sometimes it works for you, other times you get stuck grinding a tank that you really don't like. My favourite dislike is the T34-85 - I'm a long way off of the exp needed to move on.

I've always found that experience is harder to come by than credits, so as Ice says, use gold wisely!

Cheers!

PS There are plenty of good battles in tiers 1 to 3 - it can be tough when you get into low tier mediums and find you are barely able to damage anything.

I like the American TDs for their ability to eventually field a gun that hits above their Tier level with each tank; either one or two tiers higher or better. German TDs don't really seem to get that much of a break (from what I've seen so far), but the German guns are blessed with great accuracy and I seem to do well with them all up to this point. BTW, I'm puttering along in my StuG taking my time drifting up the German TD branch while I focus on the American TD line.

Having said that, the turreted American TDs worked fantastically for me; the Wolverine moreso than the Slugger. Don't know why either, as I'm a fair-to-middlin' turreted tank driver.

The turreted TDs obviously have the advantage of the turret, but they are taller too so I'm guessing it loses a lot of camo value? In any case, the turret alone allows you to "strafe shot," ie, moving forward/backward with the gun pointing to the side... a feature not available to your regular TD.

strykerpsg, you do not get double XP for only premium tanks, ANY tank you have, premium or not, will get double XP for the first win for that day. Thus, more garage space allows you more tanks to "double up" with.

You cannot skip a tank per se, but you can quickly move through it. For instance, you are in a Tier 3 tank and have just researched a Tier 4 tank. You know you want to get through Tier 4 quickly as you have no intention of playing with it. You will still have to buy the Tier 4 tank and use it's research options to get to the next tank straightaway. To save credits, buy the tank without crew. So in your case, you have the Hetzer, and want to get to the JagdPanther as quickly as possible. Save up sufficient XP, research the Stug III, buy it (without crew), research the 7.5cm L/48 gun to allow access to the JagdPz IV and research that. Once done, buy a JagdPz IV, research the 7.5cm L/70 gun to allow access to the JagdPanther, and research that.

Note that you blaze straight through the tank's tech... you don't research any other gun, engine, or track... just research what you need to gain access to the next tank and do that.

Now how do you earn the XP needed to buy the research? That's where doing daily doubles on other tanks come in... Each time you gain XP (from either a win or a lose), a small amount of that XP goes straight to Free XP. For Elite-status tanks (the ones you've fully researched all modules), all the XP you gain also accumulates (you can chose to save it or use it to increase crew stats) which you can then spend gold to convert to Free XP. Note that in non-Elite tanks with less than 100% crew, the XP you earn all goes to increasing your crew's stats... but non-Elite tanks with full 100% crew still accumulates XP. Confused? Simply put, Elite tanks and those with 100% crew accumulates XP, otherwise the XP just goes to the crew regardless of it being a double XP or not.

To counter some of Ice's advice above (just a little and I certainly don't want to sound snarky), I don't think you have to buy the tank you are researching through. For example, I skipped the T2 Ami TD completely via free XP which allowed me to research all I needed to get to the T82 as well as researching several different modules for the T82 itself. When I was ready, I simply bought the T82 and was able to upgrade the tracks, engine and radio right away. I never bought the T18 at all.

I did the same going up the American "Medium," line that doesn't have the Lee in it; skipped the M2 and jumped in the M3.

Now, when doing this, I make sure everything is researched before getting into the next Tier tank because:
1. If all else fails, you now have an elited tank that you can fall back on later and that means possible free XP and a certain credit income.
2. Some of the modules you research for Tank A will carry over to Tank B, C or another tank elsewhere in the Tech Tree and that saves you research XP later on down the road.

But, this is what I do; YMMV and all of that.

Either way, happy tanking!

p.s. When it comes to XP, pump those specials that Wargaming offers like a small dog humping a basketball. The last special event, where they gave out 5x XP per game, put me well ahead in terms of research and the like when it came to me getting up to the T25 AT. The only kicker with that is that I had to buy more Gold to transfer all that free XP over to something usable.

p.p.s. And research the Premium tanks first before blindly buying them (I think I recall you saying that you wanted to buy one in the future). The WoT forum is an okay place for this info, but, as I've said before, that place hurts my head. As it stands now, the current darling is the Type 59 which is a T8 Medium and which also supposedly has a very good credit return while being cheaper than the Lowe. Anyhoo...time to go home...

So, I bought the Lowe last night and didn't see the Type 59 until after I purchased it. It certainly did bring in a wealth of experience and credits in the first fight but I was getting drilled by a KV2 and M26, both of which I struck several times to no avail. So, am debating on how important some of the premium round might be in helping to balance the equation. Would also be nice if we could tweak the power pack on the LOWE, as it just crawls along, would paint "Slug Bug" on it if there were an option to do so.

I might look into the Type 59 next, as it looked very well done and makes me wonder if WoT is going to do early 60-70's tank designs too, before the advent of thermals and laser range finders.

Anyway, is there a minimum amount of time to lapse before the server credits your vehicles as their first engagement? Not to game it, but I want to game it a bit if possible, by logging out after cycling through all my garage, then log back in to accumulate more credits.

Matt

I think the double XP for your first win of the day in a particular tank is per 24 hr period as based on the server's schedule or something like that.

To be honest, with the time constraints I've got, I'm doing good to get a daily double out of 2-3 tanks before wrapping it up for the night as I will focus on wringing out a double on a tank until I get one. Once that is out of the way, I'll usually drop back and play either my TDs or the two light tanks I've got which go really fast (the T-15 and Locust; both Premium tanks themselves) for fun for a round or two.

And yes, I wish to God the Lowe could move a bit faster too. But, if you are playing your Lowe out front, then I'd suggest changing tactics up and have the Lowe be in the "second," or "third," line of defense/offense as this would allow you to engage bandits who've probably been hit once or twice by the time they get to you. This seems to work for me tolerably well when I do haul the Lowe out of the garage.

Danger, sage advice. It's a shame that short of a clan war, you are stuck with a mottled mix of skillsets with your new created virtual team each time you enter a battle. I'm really starting to think the idea of a clan isn't a bad concept, versus the ones running out right away to engage and die. The problem then is getting a dedicated scout.

Will put some more time into her tonight, and may start looking at the American line as well. I absolutely hate that technologically we get nothing devastating until much later, almost anticlimatic. Anyway, will keep an eye out for all when I'm engaged. My avatar name is the same as my log in name here. See you on the high ground!

Matt

Thanks for the correction, Danger. Yes, you do not have to buy the tank you do not like... therefore you can skip buying it, but you will still need to go "through it" by researching some of it's modules to gain access to the next tank in the tier.

Matt, congratulations on your Lowe purchase! Be prepared for some hate from idiot players whining about "Lowe drivers = noobs" and "wallet warriors," learn to ignore them or use it to vent some of your working-day frustrations. T

he Lowe is a great tank, but you will have to learn how to play it. Obviously it is not a "pwn a11 dem n00bz" tank and as some pointed out, a similar-tier tank may be "more powerful" than the Lowe. The Lowe has a great gun, good for sniping, which is how I play the Lowe. You will notice it's not got much in terms of armor plating, so you do not want to go toe-to-toe with tanks... unless he's half a map away. So, the Lowe is not your front-line tank, even if it is a heavy tank. Also, you will need to learn where to place your shots to get the most out of the Lowe, or out of any tank for that matter. There are mods out there that will help figure out stuff like this, such as a paint scheme mod which I don't use. Look for Say's vehicle icon mod, that's really good to find out the armor values of enemy tanks. That way, you know where to aim for (body or turret) or if you're better off running away.

Regarding credits and XP, the game should reward you with it right after the battle, no need to wait. For your daily doubles, obviously you will have to wait for the server to "restart" for the next day to get the next set of doubles... as to what time zone the server is at, I have no idea.

Has to be the first time anyone has said that I've given good adivce! Thank you!

To celebrate a big, fat payday, I'm going to ride the cutting edge of Wallet Warriordom and get a Type 59!

What's Chinese for "Huzzah," ?

At any rate, catch you cats on the battlefield.

Oh, and they're celebrating Operation Market Garden with some specials; check 'em out at the WoT website!

Please do post how you like the Type 59. I ran into one last night, luckily he was on our side but I don't think he/she survived very long. I am wanting to now how it fares against the much more heavily armored behemoths like the KV2, Maus and whatever the American Heavy is.

And, it's nice to get inteeligent replies from more mature players. I went through the WoT forums and it is a bit of a headache to weed through all of it. SimHQ is much more calm....and easier to guide through.

Matt

Forgot to say, you're welcome, as it is great advice. Also will see what Operation market Garden offers for a special.

Matt

Heh. Think we should do a separate thread on WoT Premium tanks?

Anyway, I like the Type 59. Never having had a T8 Medium before, I'm at a disadvantage for comparison's sake, mind you, but here we go:

Reasonably fast and agile, good armor that is bouncy enough to get you into and out of a few scrapes. The radio and view range are, 600ish and 400ish meters or so respectively.

The gun isn't so hot, being a T7 100mm, but its adequate if Matchmaker is kind enough to give you some juicy lower-tiered targets to beat up on. Accuracy is "meh," but I offset that by getting in close.

I'm treating it like my E8 in that you want to "wolfpack," with some other Mediums in order to get more bang out of your bucks (literally) as by itself, the tank will not do as well.

Credit-wise, I think I'm pulling 20-30k a game (note: I'm really bad not to notice this last part as I just like driving around shooting other people. Damn the cost and damn the pay! I play to KILLLLLL!!!!)

I've not encountered the "Wallet Warrior Hate," yet in this, but I fully expect to once more people climb into these things. It'll be like the Lowe heyday a few months back when you'd queue (sp?) up a game and both sides would have multiple Lowes and KV-5s all over the top of the ladder. That doesn't seem to be the case quite so much nowadays to me, but maybe I'm just getting lucky with the matches too.

As far as specs on how I'm running the Type 59, I've got the crew all at 100% with their focus on repair first. I've got vents, rammer, and v-stab and my intent is to make that gun work as best as it can while cool, fresh air blows on the smiling, Chinese faces of my crew as they send another Imperialist dog to hell.

LOL! Great description and thanks for the update. I may consider getting one payday. I tried the method of playing first round on all tanks in garage and it does indeed rack up some points. I also noticed the Lowe definitely eats up my gold as well. So, a Type 59 may soon be sitting in my garage. Matter of fact, I got tore up by a Type 59 and 2 Lowes last night's iteration, sure it wasn't you blasting away at me?

Matt

Don't think so as I'm sssllllooowwwlllyyy getting better at using the tank.

I always have this goofy "learning curve," with any new tank where "learning curve," really means "flail about, overcompensate, rush headlong into 4-5 heavies and die quickly, get stuck on those odd outcroppings,"; that sort of thing.

I wish I was as good at WoT as some people brag about being on a couple of other boards I lurk on.

Why is the Lowe eating up all your gold?? You're not using gold ammo, are you?

Could be from converting experience into free experience. Allows you to blow through the tech trees faster. It is an expensive (real money) method. Personally I would use the experience to train crews. But then I don't own any premium tanks.

Admittedly.....yes, in hopes of getting first kills. I stopped after running out of gold, but only spent about 500 on ammo. Gonna give the Type 59 a whirl this weekend. Then will start researching the American TD tree next.

Matt

I am a little conflicted about the Type 59, As I understand it, the tank was not really fielded before the year 1959 hence it's designation. What bums me a little bit is that while many of the AFVs modeled in WoTs were never in service and sometimes just blueprints, they were @ least designed during WW2 and are contemporaries of that period. I consider the type 59 to be one of the first modern designs and so a little out of place in WoTs timeline..

Now I think a modern WoT would be an awesome next project (The maps would have to be huge because of the increased lethality and engagement ranges of modern tanks! ) but somehow the type 59 feels wrong to me.. IMHO

(Imagine Bill Cosby's voice and gestures here:)
"The T82 with the derp is all the rage with the kids and their hippity-hop and their boom-shh-boom-wikki-wikki-wikki."

I always blow with the TD / howitzer combo, but others swear by it. The American line is fun, though.

Getting kills does not earn you anything special or extra in terms of credits or xp. Only doing damage.

Thank god fer damage xp because I will whittle an enemy down to 8% or so and then watch someone else take them out! Now of course for the 'war effort' I am happy But I was wondering how much credit I was getting fer grinding the bastage down!

I too am curious about the timeline for the Type 59 and wondered about the advent of an early cold war line up, pre-thermals and laser rangefinders. Still a challenging era, where greater penetration values and camoflauge are a must.

I agree with liking current WoT for the what-if vehicles they offer. There are more variants than I ever read of during my days of interest in WWII battles and technology. Time will tell....

Matt

Matt, a bit of advice... going up tech trees is faster if you concentrate on one tree at a time. Then again, this would depend on your play style, I guess. There are some players out there who have tons of Tier 4-6s from different trees, while others specialize in one tree and go all the way to Tier 9-10. If you want to reach the high tiers faster and without spending an insane amount of money (I know a few on my clan who "limit" their spending to £30-40 per month), I recommend you specialize.

All nationalities have their pros and cons. Take the SPGs for instance. Russians have better arcs (can hit behind rocks better) and thus have a "rounder" target area, Germans pack more punch... etc. I know this because I have both Russian and German SPGs. Having said that, some believe there is a lot of bias towards the Russian tank lines, but I don't know much about the Russian or German tank line to tell (I play mostly TDs and SPGs).

Getting kills gives you bragging rights and there's a medal or two for that I guess... Reaper comes to mind. However, I am happy enough to "contribute to the team" in whatever way possible. Heck, I've even spotted the entire enemy army once in my A-20, never fired a shot, died within 3 minutes, but still got a neat chunk of XP for my "detected" tanks.

stryker, I'm sure you have played Tanks enough by now to know it's a huge grind made much easier with the use of premium account and premium tanks.

Excellent advice and insight into the game, Ice.

Speedo, getting the kill shot DOES give you a small xp/credit bonus...but nothing significant. You get more xp/creds for damage than kills.

You get all the credit for the damage you do. If the other player gets a kill doing 2% damage, that's all he gets credit for. But he does get ego points for kills on the tree and some of the medals are kill based I think. Which, Hey, we all we all love some bling every now and then .