I was part of the Beta testing crowd so it is technically more than a year.

So what are my impressions after 11.000+ battles in the "Counter Strike" of armor warfare:

I like it, it reminds me of "Counter Strike" 10years + ago. Instead of being on foot, I am on tracks with all the limitations that an armored vehicle can offer, and the basics rules of a Fire Team do apply. In other words there is nothing new tactically. The crowd does not understand much about Tactics and can have a small IQ and a big mouth piece at times, but that is not new.

However, I am having a lot of fun in a certain arena. I enjoy deeply the light Tanks of Tier I, II and III because of their technical specs and because the map size is perfect for those machines. The tempo can be fast, slow, tactical principles apply and disregarding the thickness of your armor or the size of your cannon, human skills always triumph and are the defining ingredients. AS they say "it is not the size but how you use it!"

Anything above Tier IV or V is out of scale, the machine specs are twisted to fit the map size, and human skills alone cannot reverse an odd of 3 to 1. Then, the attitude of most players are about something else than Armored Warfare Tactics, it is almost like it is Bully time with no sense of Tactics and full expressions of erroneous pre-concept ideas. For me there is no fun in that game mode.

I only play public servers; I don't go for clans or other system prone to verbal abuse and free expression of oppressive behaviors.

I own a clan and it is the best of all, I am the only member. Half through a recruiting process I realize that the material I was contacting was not prone to learn concept different from what the popular culture has to offer, it would become very difficult to share with others knowledge's that are now second nature to me and not mainstream. Moreover, I heard so many times that it is just a game, and loosing is fun. I personally play to win; loosing is not fun for me. If it is worth to be done, it might as well be done right!

So, a year later, WOT in Tier I, II and III is what enjoy playing on a regular basis!

I do agree, lower tiers is fun. Higher tiers can be fun too, but it is most often frustrating with the crowd that run on those tiers these days.

I have played Higher Tiers many times.

The only way I could have fun was with a platoon and TS communications. Moreover, the skills of the team members had to be similar, when everyone had to have a common goal in mind: Team play to win!...

It only happened a couple of times!...

I tried WOT and only play it on rare occasions now. Like stated in the 1st post...its counterstrike on tracks and does not have much resemblance of armoured warfare.

Maybe its different on the clan servers, but after having seen it on public servers allready made up my mind that I'll never spent money on it.

That sums it up for me: It fun to play it from time to time. But I don't fool myself in thinking it has anything to do with armour(that in fact the gloss that make it look nice ;-) )

Don't get me wrong, "Counter Strike" was a great game, and "Counter Strike" on Tracks is a challenging game for those who like that type of challenge.

In one hand the comparison to "Counter Strike" that gave rise to great FPS (let's not forget) was a compliment, in the other hand if I would compare WOT to "Doom" on tracks that would not be a compliment.

Then, may be the term "Armor Warfare" should be redefined with the historical period it pertains to.

WOT is WWII Armor Warfare, not Modern Armor Warfare. Modern technology give rises to different practices to serve similar purposes.

WOT is a real Tactical challenge even on Tier I, II and III. One reads the Tactical Guide for a Fire team from Magnum and some WWII Armor Warfare tactical books and one realizes that they are very similar in techniques to serve similar purposes. Some Fire Team Tactical needs are similar for a Tank Platoon.

If some of you remember playing a great squad game called "Full Spectrum Warrior- Ten Hammers", one will realize quickly that while playing WOT in City maps, the same techniques apply. Some tanks in WOT are equipped with a main gun 20m/m automatic canon to fulfill the role of a "SAW"

If one see me in the game, give me a sign and we'll make a platoon, only if you are honestly willing to discover that game under a different perspective.

The game itself is great; the way most people play it is very annoying especially in higher Tiers. Now that description goes for a lot of games out there. The same thing goes for BF3, etc....

The Massive Multy Players games are rarely bad those days, but the way they are played by the bigger number leaves a bitter after taste in the mouth.

Good offer! But given the different time zones...meeting online is unlikely.

Well modern tank tactics do not differ much from WWII, they have only been extended in some ways.
Stabilizer and TIS system added fire on the move and better night fighting capability.

In WOT you can (from my limited experince with the game) develop team tactics, given there would be voice coms betweeen all the players. In that case it can be a great tactial game, but then again...you use game tactics there, not "tank tactics".
On the other hand: in what other sim do you really use tank tactics :-P
There are some that give you really great opportunities, but at the end they can only shine if the community that plays the game makes something of it.

WOT is only tank vs tank + a little bit of arty(or some indirect fire thingies they call "SPG"). It was designed so the player a trasnfer their experice from FPS games to the "tanky-world". So you get different "roles"(other games use "gunner" "engineer" "scout"). What would be really needed to go combined arms would be: tank+infantry+sappers(mines and stuff)+artillery(I mean propper arty). Well, there is sadly NO game around that exells in ALL of these points :-(

The thing I dislike the most, mind you I know only the public-pick-up games, is the total lack of self-preservation sense by the players. Rushing a recon tank through the enemy lines gun blazing will net you credits for spotting, maybe even some kills a cause great confusion amongts the othe rteam(no wonder, as there is usually no command there :-( ). So its a widely used "tactic"...but one that is completely bollox as it WILL result in the death of said recon tank. I.e. no SANE TC would do that.

To sum up the above points to my point of view: WOT is a great tactical shooter and maybe a "tank"-game. But not a tank sim.
I think it will be very succesful with its concept: It qick fun for the masses...and a good quality tac shooter for the more interessted. In this way you have much more market appeal then "pure" tac games adn way more market appeal then hardcore simming.

"Good offer! But given the different time zones...meeting online is unlikely."

Finally, finally got my Tiger. Not with out spending some cash though. My time is limited, and I've had a lot of fun with this so I decided to spend some.

Tanks needs more game modes. I'm looking forward to the historical battles especially. Probably won't come out for another year or two. *sniff*

I've played the Tiger for a while and a word of warning - it is only good when you get the long 88. Everything else is completely underpowered and you'll most likely lose a lot of credits trying to get to the long 88. Although once you get the long 88, the tank is totally transformed into something that can actually do damage!

Yup, I got that impression as well! You're totally right though, I just need the last engine for it to have all of the modules researched. Then, I think I'll stick with this one for a while! The 88 is a beast of a weapon...

I'm down to about 25k till my T-54. Can't wait!

Had the Tiger in beta and I definitely agree about the long gun.

I personally enjoy the M-36. That 90mm is a beast :P

I dropped it after beta and only just picked it up again, the grind is so much worse now!

Just got my Pzkpfw IV, with the atrocious turret and long gun. Debating whether to go Panther or Tiger next. Favorite tank is still the Pzkpfw IIIa.

What's your handle in game Gunny?

I went Tiger, now I have the Tiger II. The grind is slow for the Tiger, but quick for the Tiger II! I kept the Tiger as it's Elite. It's one of my fav tanks from WW2.

Been at it over a year now.

I am the Commander of TOTH and we have good days and bad days.

There is a group of clans in central Europe that we call the goons.

These are the ones I saw in this post refereed to as the abusive ones. They troll the WoT forms and are just total butt heads.

TOTH sat in Africa for almost 6 months before we decided to try up north where the gold per day is more for your clan.

We quickly learned that not only were we not welcomed up there but abused in game and out of game constantly by the status quo.

We got landing sites more than a few times only to be knocked back into the water again.

The CLAN activities and friends are what keeps me coming back. We have a great group of guys that are not mouthy young punks and we train a lot.

Big tanks are what I excel at and they are what I like.

Tanks owned,
t-14, Lorraine, T30, T34, KV5, Lowe, T95, JagdTiger, Maus, E100, IS7, E50, KV5, IS4, Obj 261, AMX 13 F3 AM(Tier V arty), AMX AC Mle 1948.

The Maus is my favorite.

Well there is my two cents worth.

Can you enjoy this game if you don't want to spend any money on it? Can I gradually work my way up to an M-18 tank destroyer (a favorite WW2 armored vehicle) just by using points? Or will that take about five years?

Sounds interesting, I might look into this game.

Yes you can and many people do. I had a premium account for a while to get experience points faster. Now I just grind slow and the T-18 is one of my favorite tanks. That and the M-5.
Just try to compete with yourself and not everyone else out there and you don't need $$

Something else, you need two things to advance through tanks or "grind" as they say, Experience points and Cash points. Its a little convoluted but it will make sense soon enough. Early on you will be short on cash (the kind you earn in the game, not real cash). Higher tier tanks make money faster and you can buy (with real money or Gold in the game) a premium tank like a Lowe just for that purpose. so you end up spending a little real money which pays someones bills. not a bad thing...

good luck.

I started playing this game about a week ago. I play medium amerikan tanks and now i have the M4 i think its tier 5. the game have two sides to it. first side its a brilliant and fun game when youre in a team that plays well together even if you lose its fun. the other side thou is youre in a team thats in fact not a team but several individual tanks doing what they want to do... And that is boring even if you manage to win.