Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
World of Tanks: GDC 2011 - Preview
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
During last week's GDC, MMORPG.com's Drew Wood had the chance for a first hand look at World of Tanks. Drew's 'interest was piqued' to say the least. Find out what captured Drew's attention about World of Tanks. Tried it yourself? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
World of Tanks, upon first glance, has no business being called an MMO. It's more akin to a Massively Online Battle Arena (or MOBA), not so different from the Battlefield gaming series. Having spent more than a few hours invested in Battlefield 2142 in my day (still one of my favourite gaming experiences), I did take a look at World of Tanks at GDC and have my interest piqued. The game essentially boils down to its two gameplay modes. One was affectionately referred to as “Counter-Strike with Tanks”, which is more or less their flagship for the game. It's also exactly what it sounds like. You select your chosen tank, do any repairs that are needed, add a few tidbits and upgrades to your tank, and then you enter into your queue to start your team battle.
Read more of Drew Wood's World of Tanks Preview.
Comments
I've been in the beta forever its fun but unbalanced
Great game that is perfect for those with limited play time. Particularly the kind of gamer that is back and forth from the PC. If you have any interest in tank warfare, you might end up loving WoT.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
Wont comment on the clan warfare or the mmo/non mmo aspect of it but you left a lot out of this "preview".
First of all this is a pay to win game. The best ammo is bought with real money, "prestige" vehicles are bought with real money, increased exp/silver is bought with real money, the best consumables are bought with real money, etc.
Secondly the matchmaker is total garbage if you're looking at balance.
Thirdly aside from 3 starter vehicles you must unlock through exp every vehicle. Which means untill youve grinded through a ton of matches you are stuck with a limited selection. You will find yourself as the team scout whether you want to or not and even when you get to medium tanks/vehicles you will often be matched against vehicles that can 1-2 shot you and that you will bounce most your shells off.
Been in the beta for almost a year now, and while the game can be fun, problems plague it as well.
The sighting system has been a major source of comments on the forum for as long as the beta has been around. For example, you can see a house all the way across an open field but not a tank that suddenly appears 50 meters away that should have been in your direct line of sight long before decloaking.
So far they've been late on every due date they've posted for patches/updates(And not by days, I'm talking months). We finally onlyjust had the christmas theme removed from the main garage.
Communication between developers and beta testers is non-existant. I had thought when I first joined this was because the developers were russian, thereby needing our posts translated, but other than comments from their PR (Overlord), we've never really had word from them on the major problems. I would think 1000+ posts about the same ingame problems would at least warrant some type of reply.
And the name of the game really SHOULD be World of Russian Tanks, because in every tier/class the best tanks are always russian. Their also the easiest tanks to advance through the tier system with.
The release date has already been posted, but the american tier systems are not even complete. Clan Wars is months away on the EU and US servers. In essence, its going live incomplete and with vague promises of whats going to happen in the future.
Don't just take my word for it. There are a ton of other major issues being discussed on the main forum, just pop over and read them at forum.worldoftanks.com
The game is fun yes but problems need to be fixed before release and should not be released until then.
I liked it the few times i get chance to play. Has bugs but every game does, still not hooked yet.
Yes World Of Pirates is Alive and I am there to kill you.
yep the LOS for the game is crap u never know if u can see them or if they can see u xD
The Line of sight issue definitely needs fixed before this goes live, when people start losing real life money over that bug, they are going to get upset, and quit. Overall the game is very enjoyable, and the balance does seem to tip more towards the Russians, though I would not say Russians dominate every tier. Most of the tanks you buy with Gold(real life money) are junk, everyone seems to buy the Churchill heavy tank, and it's a piece of crap, and when you have one on your team, your already starting with a handicap. But there are a couple Gold bought tanks that are worth it. I'd say, if you like first person shooters, you should give it a try. Right now it's free, and that's the best time to try a game out
If you go head on with light/medium tanks it's your fault. I play a tank destroyer (Ferdinand at the moment), and medium tanks are best vehicles in the game for me because they are slower than light tanks but I can still 1-2 shot them
as a medium tank you should flank your enemies and hit the arty & tank destroyers because they can't really turn around.
ummm duh? Of course you dont go head to head with light/medium tanks against heavier vehicles. The problem is untill you unlock decent vehicles your gameplay blows. When people think of playing a tank game they dont think, "gee i want to be in a paper thin vehicle that cant damage anything on the opposing side but can be one shot by everyhing". They dont join to "scout" and hide but thats exactly what the game forces them to do until they get a better vehicle.
Medium tanks arent much better, its not like they are fast/manueverable enough to flank and the few that are dont pack the punch to destroy most anyways. Ive circle strafed numerous times hitting 5-7 times to vulnerable areas without destroying heavier vehicles before they finally landed a blow and either outright killed me or immobilized me and finished with the next shot. Dont even get me started on the ridiculous arty which is stupid accurate and while they should be high damage they are anything but glass cannons. They laugh at light tank shells and generally require 3+ medium tank shells to kill.
Of course most of those are rare instances in any even because trying to flank and manuever in light/medium vehicles more often than not simply gets you killed early in the battle. Your only choices are to risk it knowing 2/3 time you will die early(so fun) or hide untill some forces have been killed(more fun?) by your teammates and you have a better chance to actually manuever.
Sounds interesting but it is just tanks I assume, from the name?
If so then I dont think it would be that interesting as tanks are just one of the pawns used in battle. You have infantry and most importantly, air support. But maybe they will implement that in the future.
But for now, just tanks? mm, no...
My gaming blog
This game is heavily biased for Russian tanks. If you enjoy playing them, have fun, but seriously, most of the German tanks were MUCH better, they just never had enough of them. British tanks were very mediocre period and US tanks all I can say is it is a good thing we had a lot of them.
You really have to spend money in this game as the above posters have said, it is a pay to win game.
i'm not a fps player,
And i'm not a WWII or tanks addict;
but i do really like and enjoy this game!
As said, some dark shadows in the paint:
- detection/camou system is really, atm, bugged, or annoying lets say. the should fix it before release, but according to their plans, it wont
- balance is quite annoying sometimes ... it seems the game needs 9k+ players to be abble to do correct balancing
- premium content: yes the game appears to be a pay-to-win, as best consumables and ammo are gold only. tTis can be a game braker maybe. But those are expensive enough to be almost sure you wont face them too often;
Then, the "premium" account upgrade is a "must have", as hier tiers tanks cant be really afforcable without the +50% credits bonus. And it's, in my opinion, a little bit too expensive (2500golds +-10$. Could be really more near 7-8$)
What is not a problem in my opinion:
I played (or at least tried to) the 3 available nations. The 3 appear to me banaced, as they have not the same gameplay. Russian's are not op! German are best snipers, and US have the best guns.
Tier9 mediums and SPG are unbalanced. with all nations.
That's my opinion. i dont condamn ppl that think it's unbalanced. Dont flame me
Its fun
Thats soon gives way to frustration then to annoyance. The game is One sided if you want to win you go russian if you want to have fun you go russian. If you want a hard time playing and gaining levels you go with any other nation. The game is buggy, aiming is broken so is spotting which are the two main things to do in tanks. You will often find youself in battles where you cant damage 80% of the tanks, you cant scout as your tank isnt fast enough so you pick a bush and dont move from it. People often dont work together well in tanks there is very little structure to a match and you often lose matches because of bad gameplay of others not yours
WOT is a man's game. not a little kid's game like most mmorpg's. if your looking to have all the best vehicles without earning them, or you just cant grasp the camo system its not the game for you. and whats all this pay to play crap? ive been playing WOT for over 4 months and havent paid a penny and i have 6000 gold. and balance?? been on the underdog team many of times and still won. its about skill people. balance is for little crybabys who cant play and constantly whine "this isnt fair". i own russian, german, and american tanks and they all have pros and cons. russian tanks are fast and tough but have the worst aiming time, range, and accuracy out all the nations (and did mention they have external fuel tanks ie; targets?). that being said i hope see all you little squirts and whinny old men on the battlefield so i can turn your tank into a burning pile of scrapmetal and send you mad and crying to the forums so you tell everbody what a sissy you really are!!
I'm not even sure I play the same game o.O . A lot of cussing going on there. Every side is playable and has it's own niche, or will have. Seen some things in the pipeline to be adjusted and those make sense. The "Russian" is better doesn't really fly with me. They too can be killed, as everything else on the field. Challeging, yes but hey that makes a game interesting. Might I ad that I hate the russian gun acuracy... Big booms but more missed shots then I ever experienced in the German tree.
The "if you are low tier it's no fun" is even hilarious. Yes sometimes your stacked against tanks that can kill you in one blow, but that means adjusting your play, or ride the storm. And for us it's still BETA, you know where things still have problems.... sheesh.
ive been playing this game about a week now. have been playing MMORPG's since the Red Baron 3D days.........this was a good experience--until i tried to find help in chat. while the interface was navigable to an old head like me--i would say you probably wouldnt want to start out playing these types of games with this one.
By this i mean there was no one at all to answer questions i had. and while i probably could have read the full FAQ-(who does that?)- to answer my questions, im used to an administrator in the chat there to at least give a reasonable answer. all i was met with was the usual juvinile spam that the pre-teens give when no one monitors a chat room..........so i remain stuck in a dead spot with a dog of a vehicle and no way to get around it but to play through!
The good news of it is if you have a good set-up and are into WW2 battle games-this is worth a try (as it is free)--but u better have that updated vid card! or you will meet the lag monster,.....i believe the servers are based in russia?? you also recieve (i believe only in beta) 250 gold a day, wich is game currency to go twoards purchase of new tanks and gadgets for such.
All in all, this game rates a steady 7.5 (1 horrible-10 exellent) gameplay is widely varied depending on your vehicle/crew stats/tank set-up--u can detect others, attack, or just hide for ambush as most will be more powerful than u to start with.
You do realize that the 250 gold you get every 24 hours is just for beta right? You do realize that there is a problem with the camo system that has nothing to do with anyones "grasp" right? You do realize no one here has said jack about not "earning" the better vehicles right? You do realize as one of the people in beta for over 4 months you were leveling up against similar tiers and are now one of the people in tricked out low tier vehicles or the tier 8-10 facing tier 5-8 vehicles right? You do realize more often than not "skill" has very little to do with a match outcome right? In fact i would go so far to say the only time skill comes into play is against competitively matched sides. You can be the bestest tank simmer ever but if your team sucks you will lose. You can be the bestest tank simmer ever but you arent killing that kv-3 or Isa3 in your pzIII but you will be matched against them.
You do realize that we all realize what you have said here. And I would also like to point out that we all realize that vonslasha is an idiot who is hopelessly lost in a game as non-complex as wot. Although he/she as not yet realized it.
I just have two questions about your rebuttle on the confused dude. 1. What exactly are the problems with the camo system? - I notice at times people blank out when they should be in distance, but this may be los breaking behind a bush or something, or your tank operator losing los because of positioning near an object. Some people dont understand view distance stuff and modifiers such as bushes, turret movement, binoculars, or even barrel movement by holding right click.
2. Skill? Great tanks alone wont win it. Im sorry but even if you have the better tanks a team of lower tanks can still win the game. This game may be simple upfront but it is very much a mind game.
^ @ finnmacool1
well the spotting system is being worked on and the main problem with spotting is it only checks every 10 seconds or so for spotting which allows things to dissappear and small object like telephone poles can break los which is being fixed.
this is definitely not a pay to win game. nothing you can buy for real life money will really help you win the game. gold ammo is the best thing going for real life money as it gives you more penetration to do damage to heavier tanks but in higher tiers that ammo cost 10 to 15 gold a shot which for a typical game where you shoot ten times a game that can add up quickly. you can easily spend 20 bucks a day on gold ammo if you wanted to when the game goes live. gold tanks are a joke, i groan inside when i see a gold tank on my team cause i know that is going to be a free kill for the other team. the only other benefit to buying gold is to convert it to free exp or to buy credits with it to help you go up the tiers faster but that will take alot of money also at later levels and will not help you win games either just give you a bigger tank.
this game has easily been the funnest game i have ever played, im more into it in beta than i am in rift even though i know the game will be wiped at the end of the month. seriously fun game even with all the problems.
This game cannot be truly reviewed by someone playing just a few hours. The game presents itself well for short time players, it's fun, looks good, and you blow crap up,
what more could you ask for ? As the reviewer gave the overview and fun aspects, lets dig into this game a bit from over 6k
battles.
Grind, yes grind in a pvp shooter. Wargaming has designed their game to bleed every bit of time they can from their players. Repair costs along with ammo costs insure that you must use their premium service after passing the middle tiers. When the next higher tier tank is unlocked, you would expect an improvement right ? nope, too many times you are stuck with a tank that is not as capable as the one you left, UNTIL you grind tracks, engines, turrents, weapons to upgrade your new toy. by the way, xp is determined by damage, not kills against the enemy, with brings us to matchmaking.
matchmaking , Ah yes, matchmaking. This has been blasted since the 1st soft wipe. your shinny new tier 6 is going to get raped. You are going to go into battle agaisnt tiers which you have little to no hope of damaging, want to scout ? good luck with that, you life span is going to be brief. many , many complaints on their fourms blasting matchmaking.
arty, spotting, match making, bias toward a certain nations tanks, grind, All is not as great as the many reviews would lead you to believe.
The game is set to go live somewhere around the end of this month, In this beta we have been told time and again working as intended, per data from servers, mainly Russia where the game has been released for some time. issues have been ignored, or explained away much as SOE did with star wars. Little to no core game updates, still one game mode, capture the flag,American tanks added , few if any issues fixed, promises made and delayed. But they did manage to increase repair costs every time there was a patch, less profit equals longer play time.
All in all this game is a solid "C", average. This could be one of the better PvP games to come out in some time, it is fun it looks good, runs good. There is nothing wrong with what the game could be. But it is up to wargaming to stop making excuses, stop reading their data and basing the North American play experience on what the Russians will put up with and to listen to their player base .
conclusion:
One to watch, A little attention to key issues and this game would rock for all of you that are interested in whipping ass in a tank. As it now stands, great until the new wears off then simply another could have been.