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Thread: World of Tanks

  1. #1

    Default World of Tanks

    I'm surprised to see World of Tanks hasn't been reviewed here yet. It's been in open beta since last summer, and goes live tomorrow.

    http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/Main_Page

    World of Tanks features accurately modeled tanks, pre-WWII to the 1950's, from currently 3 countries...Germany, USA, and Russia. Currently there are about 150 types, broken down into light, medium, heavy, tank destroyer, and self-propelled artillery. Plans call for French, Japanese, and UK tanks soon. Many of the tanks were prototypes that never reached production.

    There is a tech tree you advance in as you play battles, so that as you might start in a German Leichttraktor (called the loltractor in game ), you can eventually progress to the Maus, and everything in between.

    http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/index.p...=Leichttraktor

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvw0tE6us7A

    There are 10 tiers of tanks in each country's tech tree, and a battle of 15 players per side is balanced with tier overlap, ie, a tier 5 tank might find itself matched with a tier 7. Depending on which side of this equation you find yourself is a big factor whether you will survive the battle victorious or wind up a burning hulk.

    Each battle is quickly generated, I've never had to wait more than 30 seconds, and the battle itself lasts a maximum of 15 minutes (a draw) unless one side destroys all of the enemy's tanks or captures a flag and holds it for a brief period.

    There are currently about 15 maps, approximately 1 square kilometer, that are randomly played on, but shortly after release there will be 2 more, and a clan war feature using a zoned map of Europe. Later it will be expanded to include other theaters.

    The battles themselves utilize a third person view, but when engaging you can zoom into a sniper view very quickly for precise aiming of your gun. Terrain effects are present, and the environment is somewhat destructable (ie, smaller buildings can be destroyed, trees knocked down, etc.).

    The is basically a free to play game, and download, but most players buy "gold" from Wargaming to play "premium" which increases the "experience" and "credits" you earn from a battle by 50%. Experience is used to research tank modification upgrades (better engine, bigger gun, etc) and then these items are purchased and mounted on the tank with credits. When you've researched the necessary mods for a tank you can then research and purchase the next tier tank, eg upgrading from a PzIII to a PzIV. Better tanks have a better chance of victory.

    The price of a month's worth of "premium" play is roughly $10 US, although I cannot stress strongly enough that the game is totally playable and enjoyable without paying anything at all.

    The graphics and sound is very immersive, and although I just started playing 2 weeks ago, I've played over 800 battles and got to my PzVI (Tiger) yesterday.

    You can "platoon" (group) with up to 3 tanks per platoon, if at least one is a premium account. There are also company sized battles, although I've not participated in any of those yet.

    Many people join clans, which will be necessary to participate in the soon to be released clan war feature I mentioned earlier. I just joined the largest clan, Angels of Death, which recently won a tier 8 tournament and will be going to Moscow ( home to the development company, Wargaming)to compete in the finals.

    If you've any interest at all in WWII armored warfare I would highly recommend this game.

    This is a pretty nice video of a typical battle...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBUIK...eature=related
    Last edited by Mikelus Trento; April 12, 2011 at 12:17 PM.
    "oooh a gypsy wind is blowing warm tonight, sky is starlit and the time is right. Now you're telling me you have to go...before you do there's something you should know." - Bob Seger

    Freedom is the distance between church and state.

  2. #2

    Default Re: World of Tanks

    I think noone has bothered doing an actual review for the game so far, because it is - truth be told - a game still in development for the vast majority of its components. Clan play is currently not in, nor is the majority of the additional content that is currently still in planning/early production phase. As an example, you simply have to compare the release tech trees and the projected tech trees to see just how much is still missing from the game.
    And a sidenote: How do you know that "most" players buy gold for WoT? It currently is impossible to do so (at least as far as I know), save through the pre-orders, and, according to the poll on the WoT homepage, quite a number of people do not consider getting the preorders, either. (2515 people or ca. 45% of people polled, to be exactly) Now 55% obviously can be seen as "most", but the question remains of how many people who buy the preorder are going to buy more gold in the end, as well as the other question of how many people not buying the preorder packages will actually buy some small amounts of gold.

    That aside, though, I somehow have the impression that your review is more of a feature report. It is absolutely allright to present all the features currently present in the game, but what is your personal opinion about them? As far as I am concerned, the opinion of the reviewer about the reviewed game is pretty much the core element of a review.
    I hope I did not sound overly harsh on this. If I did, sorry for that from me.
    Last edited by Tankfriend; April 12, 2011 at 09:25 AM.

  3. #3
    The Dutch Devil's Avatar Krakiszki the Hunter
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    Default Re: World of Tanks

    A great review! I've just got one small suggestion:

    Quote Originally Posted by Mikelus Trento View Post
    eg upgrading from a PzII to a PzIII.

    You might want to use the PzKpfw III to PzKpfw IV because in between the II and III there is the PzKpfw III Ausf. A.

    Patronized by the glorious all knowing Legio.

  4. #4

    Default Re: World of Tanks

    Quote Originally Posted by Tankfriend View Post
    I think noone has bothered doing an actual review for the game so far, because it is - truth be told - a game still in development for the vast majority of its components. Clan play is currently not in, nor is the majority of the additional content that is currently still in planning/early production phase. As an example, you simply have to compare the release tech trees and the projected tech trees to see just how much is still missing from the game.
    And a sidenote: How do you know that "most" players buy gold for WoT? It currently is impossible to do so (at least as far as I know), save through the pre-orders, and, according to the poll on the WoT homepage, quite a number of people do not consider getting the preorders, either. (2515 people or ca. 45% of people polled, to be exactly) Now 55% obviously can be seen as "most", but the question remains of how many people who buy the preorder are going to buy more gold in the end, as well as the other question of how many people not buying the preorder packages will actually buy some small amounts of gold.

    That aside, though, I somehow have the impression that your review is more of a feature report. It is absolutely allright to present all the features currently present in the game, but what is your personal opinion about them? As far as I am concerned, the opinion of the reviewer about the reviewed game is pretty much the core element of a review.
    I hope I did not sound overly harsh on this. If I did, sorry for that from me.
    Thank you for your comments, and I don't consider them harsh at all, but very valid and accurate.

    As far as the gold question, personally I bought the heavy and medium packages, and figure that will last me about 18 months worth of "premium" play. I won't be using it for anything but that. The main point I was trying to make though was the game is just as fun and enjoyable with or without buying the gold.

    The game goes live in just a few hours, and you are correct, many features have yet to be added. But in reality, any successful MMO is continually in development, and the features that are currently in the game make it, imo, highly immersive and fun. My rating for the game....right now....would be 9.5
    "oooh a gypsy wind is blowing warm tonight, sky is starlit and the time is right. Now you're telling me you have to go...before you do there's something you should know." - Bob Seger

    Freedom is the distance between church and state.

  5. #5

    Default Re: World of Tanks

    Quote Originally Posted by Mikelus Trento View Post
    The game goes live in just a few hours,
    Hopefully, they will not encounter any serious problems. Quite a number of people are already crying for being unable to play the game and why the developers cannot do it any faster. Apparently, some people even took a day off of work just to play the game, and now they have to sit around and do nothing until the game actually goes live this evening (ca. 21:00 GMT, I think, if they use the calculated emergency time).
    you are correct, many features have yet to be added. But in reality, any successful MMO is continually in development, and the features that are currently in the game make it, imo, highly immersive and fun.
    True, of course. It just "feels" less complete than conventional commercial MMO's where at least the parts already inside the game are more or less finished. The US currently do not even have tank destroyers available, for example, and the developers are already working on the French tanks. Now, I do not mind them doing that at all, but I would prefer them to actually finish the factions in the game, before adding more, especially because adding yet another faction is not exactly the best idea when a lot of people are harking on about the current factions being imbalanced (i.e. the "pro-Soviet devs" line of argument).

  6. #6

    Default Re: World of Tanks

    Quote Originally Posted by Tankfriend View Post
    Hopefully, they will not encounter any serious problems. Quite a number of people are already crying for being unable to play the game and why the developers cannot do it any faster. Apparently, some people even took a day off of work just to play the game, and now they have to sit around and do nothing until the game actually goes live this evening (ca. 21:00 GMT, I think, if they use the calculated emergency time).
    True, of course. It just "feels" less complete than conventional commercial MMO's where at least the parts already inside the game are more or less finished. The US currently do not even have tank destroyers available, for example, and the developers are already working on the French tanks. Now, I do not mind them doing that at all, but I would prefer them to actually finish the factions in the game, before adding more, especially because adding yet another faction is not exactly the best idea when a lot of people are harking on about the current factions being imbalanced (i.e. the "pro-Soviet devs" line of argument).
    We are now getting into areas probably best discussed on the WoT forums themselves. See you there.

    (Reinholt)
    "oooh a gypsy wind is blowing warm tonight, sky is starlit and the time is right. Now you're telling me you have to go...before you do there's something you should know." - Bob Seger

    Freedom is the distance between church and state.

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