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.