u/Stocomx

Don’t be a squirrel on track!

WARNING: Car on Squirrel violence.

After playing this game for several years now I started wondering if it is worth recommending to someone. Or if it is worth playing as a completely free to play video game. So I started a 100% f2p account to see what the experience would be like for a new player.

My thoughts on this game are for two reasons. First maybe a WG employee will read this and take some honest feedback. Second is for the maybe 3 people either looking on this subreddit for beginner advice or to ask if it is worth playing.

Short background. Yes of course this is a reroll. I am a decent player with several years of experience. 1800ish wn8 playing mostly tier 8s and 10s. Not a Unicom but a solid player. I was planning on playing 100 games then doing the “review”. But it will be several weeks before I can play again and figure this is close enough. This account is 100% f2p. No money spent whatsoever. I debated treating it as a standard “bought” video game and starting out with spending 50-60$ or so.. treating it as a game that was purchased but decided against it. So….

To the new player or player thinking about trying it….

It is a solid free game that can be played on a potato. It’s not a great game nor one at this point would I recommend spending money on. But as a strictly free game it is worth trying. The game has multiple opportunities to earn in game credits and information that will help you. Just doing all the maps on the topographic mode will provide you with a great amount of “silver” and free experience. Enough to really help get started. I also recommend completing all of these before even playing the game. The amount of very basic game knowledge you can learn will help dramatically once playing in random battles. Plus the free experience will help you get to tier 5-6. That is where the game really starts. Any tiers below those are a waste of time. WG provides ample resources to help you get free premium days and the rewards system is decent enough to take advantage of. Be aware of how easy it is to move up in tiers past tier 6 in your few (100-300) battles. Stay in tier 5-6 until you have a good grasp of game mechanics.

Learn the game economy! Learn it early and do not take short cuts. The 2 key can be your friend but manage it. Abusing it will lead to you being broke and contemplating quitting or spending real world money. The game is not worth your real world money. Pick 2 lines and stick with them. I would recommend heavy tanks if you are new to the game. Either the M6/T29 or the Vk36.01h/Tiger 1 lines or the Kv-1/T150. Pick two of this lines and stick with them. Heavy tanks are slower which will help you not over extend and have decent hit points. They are very forgiving and beginner friendly. Remember this game is a grind. Don’t rush. What you learn and the habits you develop at tier 6/7 will follow you through out the game.

To any WG employee. This is honest feedback and I hope you take it that way. You have a chance to still make a great, fun and addictive game. The resources in game that are now provided for new players should be commended. They were not there years ago and they are very helpful. So is all the tutorials. They actually help. But there are a few problems that, if addressed, would help the new player experience dramatically.

1: Yes this has been beat to death but…. Arty at lower tiers. As a company you are allowing a small handful of players to ruin the experience for new players. Limit arty to 1 per team at most for tiers 7 and below. Then nerf arty tiers 7 and below into the ground. Anyone with 1000s of games in low tier artys do not care about the health of the game so stop caring about them. Start carrying about all the new players you are losing because of them.

2: MM. There is no reason for a stock tank to see a tank 2 tiers higher. Especially with a beginner player in it. Limit any tank that is not fully researched or has less than 100 battles in it to even tier MM. Once it is fully researched or has over 100 battles then +/- 1 tier max. This may cause higher load in times but the higher load times would naturally work themselves out if you retained more players.

3: Make grinding takes past tier 6 at least 20% harder. There is no reason a player, experienced or not, should be able to have 2 tier 7 tanks fully researched in under 100 games. Advertising the game as a grind and not a rush to tier 11 would help. Grind type games are still very popular. For example RuneScape. That game based in 2007 and one of the longest grind games ever still has 100s of thousands players. And new players that they retain daily. You could do the same. Stop pushing players into upper tiers. Get them “addicted” to the game at lower tiers then they will spend money at higher tiers to feed their addiction. 10 crack heads spend more money than 2 crack heads. Learn from the drug industry. There is a reason it works.

4: Reduced the RNG for tiers 5-6. Having a new player struggle to learn a game then combining it with this games RNG is a disaster for new players. If they miss a shot let it be because they messed up. Not because some algorithm said FU. Trying to learn is hard enough. But having to guess if it was RNG or something a player did is asking to much for a beginner.

In summary: Yes as a F2P game it is worth playing. Yes there are huge advantages to throwing money at it. But it is not completely pay 2 win. The reason I posted the stats at the top is to prove that point. Is the game worth starting out as if you bought it? Maybe. If you had 40-60$ laying around to burn then sure. But I would advise against it. The knowledge you learn in the beginning as a f2p player will help you for years… if you stick around.

https://youtu.be/L53qQcOdNGo?si=F48dC9eGPSH3bSFh

This is my first ever “track guide”. I am by no means a professional on either a driver or content creator standpoint. Just wanted to make one. Hope you guys will check it out and leave some feedback on how the next one could be improved. Just be gentle please. Like I said it’s my first attempt at not only a track guide but any type of editing.