About Clanwars

Hello everyone,

as some of you know, I recently joined the R1SE clan after its’ commander’s invitation – to try the Clanwars I heard so much about on my own skin so to say. So, here are a few impressions of mine about this mode after like two weeks in the clan. Obviously, this post is not meant for experienced CW players, who know all of this very well, but for people, who never played CW and are actually considering trying it. To be fair, my experience was tainted by the fact that for two weeks already, I have flu or something and trying to focus your enemy while coughing your lungs out is probably not the best thing ever. Anyway, as for the CW…

After joining the clan and reading up on the stuff people have written on CW’s (and going – victoriously – through my first two battles), my first impression was: “I know this!”. Yep, CW mode is in a way very similiar to World of Warcraft raiding (again: I left WoW many years ago, so I am referring to the state it was back then, vanilla and TBC raiding was pretty hardcore). A bit easier maybe for the “grunts” and a bit harder for the commanders, but the basic elements are completely the same.

- you need a proper tank, just like you needed a proper class in WoW. FV4202 in CW? No, sir (just like you wouldn’t let a shadowpriest heal the raid back then). The choice of tanks seems not that diverse: in heavies, T110E5 seems to dominate, in mediums it’s the Russian medium tanks and also Foch tank destroyers. However, these setups are not universal, they are map-dependent (I was quite surprised by the Province map setup R1SE uses). Obviously, these choices are made by the battle commander and are mandatory, just like in a raid.

- you need a proper crew skills, proper equipment and proper consumables. In WoW, you needed a proper build and equipment as well. I was actually surprised it is this strict, because I had a “general” idea of what works in random battles, but that does not actually have to be the same for CW’s (had to reset the skills on my T-62A crew). Again, these things are mandatory (just like a WoW raid leader wouldn’t let anyone with PVP gear raid, at least not back then).

- the same basic principle: a battle with an enemy, where the leader commands his force via some voice service (mostly Teamspeak) and the “grunts” do what he says. Here, it’s a bit different, because from what I gathered, most of the “burden” lies on the team leader. You see, in World of Warcraft, unless you wanted to be like one of the first clans to kill a boss in the world, you didn’t NEED to make up tactics, you just read them on the internet. Your job was to explain the tactics to the team and to see that everyone understands them and does what he’s told. In CW, the leader actually has to make the tactics and if he chooses wrongly, the team is fucked. AND to top it off, he has to keep an eye on the team, to direct the situation AND to fight. Pretty tough job.

In this sense, I think the leader’s job in CW is harder than leader’s job in WoW and the clan stands and falls with a good leader. If you actually don’t have a dedicated person (or more!) to lead the battles, a person who will sit for hours, studying tactics and reading up on… well, pretty much everything, forget CW, you won’t succeed and it will be a waste of your time. I know this firsthand actually, some time ago, I was a casual part of a small Czech clan, they tried to land several times, but the attempts were half-assed with pretty much no leading (“let’s play it like random”) and the results were a disaster (unless – once or twice – we ran into even worse teams). Complete waste of time.

- related to the post above, CW are harder for a leader, yes, but they are actually easier for a “grunt”, because they are a bit more forgiving. You can get hit and the shell might bounce. Or the other guy might miss “thanks” to RNG. Or you might not get spotted because of some random element noone predicts. In other words, if you make a mistake, you might survive it. WoW raiding was different: you make mistake (overaggro, don’t move when you are supposed to), you are dead and when you are dead, the team is usually dead too. Tank dies? Team gone. Healer dies? Team gone. DPS dies? Well, that might not be completely fatal, but it often is (enrage timers, DPS race bosses etc.).

In other words: a really good commander with a team of average players (who however listen to orders and fulfill them to the letter) has much higher chance in WoT than in WoW, because the players (apart from some dedicated special roles) do not have as much individual responsibility as in WoW. Naturally, this is arguable and it is my personal impression only.

- mods, while desired, are (unlike in WoW) not needed to play. You can succeed in CW without mods, while in World of Warcraft, going on a raid without a mod called DeadlyBossMods was a suicide (and a reason to be kicked from the raid). Other mods were pretty much compulsory as well (for my paladin it was the Pallypower mod for example).

What both WoT and WoW have in common is obviously the human element: clan rivalry, “feuds”, friendships (alliances) and all that. WoW was easier in the way that there was no need for diplomacy (unless there was some very specific situation to be resolved), whole in CW, diplomacy seems to be just as important as the battles themselves. You can’t survive alone, you need friends (or at least “brother” clans) and you apparently can’t survive making too many enemies either.

As for the battles themselves – again, lot like raiding. Team leader commands, you obey, simple as that. When it gets you in contact with the enemy, you do your best, when it doesn’t – tough luck. In this sense, I found it hard in two or three cases to actually impact the battle AND listen to orders. I was stationed at one spot as a “lookout”, while the rest of the team fought the other team. And order is an order, but I ended up doing very little damage in the process, a thing frowned upon by serious clanners. On the other hand in another battle, thanks to “good” positioning assigned to me, I ended up first in XP. Overall, I am an average player I would say, but the orders influence your performance a lot.

The tank lockout is a bit of a problem for me. As I wrote, I am an average player. I’ve been playing WoT pretty much from the point it went live, but I managed to get only two tier 10′s. Luckily, it’s two of the more desired CW tanks, but there are guys with like a dozen of tier 10′s in a clan, something I can’t ever reach, they are really dedicated. What it means is that you mess up two battles (in my case, in one we were butchered either by PTS or KAZNA, can’t remember, the other one I died I think because I made a mistake) and bye bye CW for a week (well, okay, 5 days, but you get the drift). In this sense, CW are NOT for a casual random player. A clan where everyone has only 1-2 tier 10′s will get ripped apart very quickly apparently, unless they win of course (and by winning I mean 15:0, not 15:14 pyrrhic victories).

Oh yea, one more thing. Running Clanwars on regular basis is NOT cheap. No premium account? Forget it, unless you want to grind everyday to finance it. And that’s not very entertaining. Unless you sealclub. Then it’s entertaining.

Annoying things

Personally, on CW’s I found three things a bit annoying.

- the need for diplomacy: your clan just has to talk to the others and if you don’t, you will get screwed up no matter how good you are, at least that is my first impression

- technical victories: yes, I understand the need for those and their place in the mechanics, but… yea, it’s a bit annoying

- there is no goal: This is probably my biggest problem with Clanwars. There is no “goal”. You just run around map, fight other clans, get gold – sure, gold is nice, but in the end, unless there is such a thing as a campaign, there is no goal to that entire thing. No special tank, no big “CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THE BESTEST STRONK KLANU ON THE MAP” message. WoW raiding had the incentive of getting new nice and shiny gear – and, of course, the respect. On a WoW server, when you roll with the best clan, EVERYONE knew who you were. Well, almost. In WoT? Maybe 5 percent of the playerbase recognizes a “good” clan. I wonder, Wargaming hasn’t implemented some special goals much earlier. I mean, how hard would it be to award a special tank for those who (outside of Campaign events) are really, really good? Sure, I wouldn’t be one of them, but it would be fair. Same goes for random battles by the way. There should be more incentive to being good.

- landings: oh my god, landings are exhausting. Winning several battles in a row might not sound like a hard thing to do (especially when you consider most of the landing clans are pretty terrible and they never get past quarterfinals), but it just feels like a marathon on the same map.

Conclusion

I will act as Captain Obvious here and will say that Clanwars isn’t for everyone. It’s not for me either completely, I honestly admit I cannot give it the same amount of time and dedication some of the R1SE guys do. I think that’s okay, I am just a “grunt”, I listen to orders and shoot things. But if you are considering running a CW clan successfully, I think what you need to find first is an extremely dedicated player (and skilled tactician), who will lead your team. Without him (or her, not to discriminate), everything else is pointless.

81 thoughts on “About Clanwars

    • It’s not a bad pubbie tank, but it’s not used all that often in CW…I have one as well, but mostly as a back-bench locking tank. My CW garage:

      USA Chaffee, T71, M48, T57, T110e5, T110e4; UK FV4202, FV215B; Deutch E-50M, E100, Maus; Fr BatChat; CCCP MT-25, Obje 140, T-62A, IS-4, IS-7; PRC WZ-132, WZ-121

      Redwing6
      Soldier, Mobsterz, NA Server

  1. dont worry SS about not being there all the time…neither am i :P playing more matches only means you egt more gold that we earned. if you dont fancy that i dont think its much of a problem.

  2. A good post SS :)
    I haven’t tried any claswars battles ever, and I actually don’t have any wish or enthusiasm to do it… It just feels like: tier 10 vs tier 10, usually all good players, you win=get gold, you lose= can’t play a tank for X hours…
    If WG says Clan Wars are endgame content, then it would need to be extremly expanded to make it fun NOT JUST for uber good clan players, but also for, how you put it, average random players, since not everyone is made for CW.

    Guild Wars had a good endgame content: hardcore mode, vanquishing(killing all enemies in a map on hard mode) and things like that, which made it interesting to play even when you finished the campaigns.

    • I have to clear up some confution here.
      You dont lose your tank for X hours if you dont win. You only cant defend/attack a new area with it. You can still play random battles with it and you can still use it in landings.
      Also your tank doesnt get locked unless you die, and if you die, that will happen no matter if you win or lose. So its more tied to dying than to losing. (Although you often die when you lose)

      CW if not that expencive. I mean the most games you will play is when you are doing a landing.
      Obviously everyone is shooting gold, but if you hit your targets and you win, you wont lose that much, and if you lose, you are out, so you wont lose again untill the next day.
      Even if you lose some, getting that money back wont be that hard for a person good enough for CW. Just win 1 game in your money grinding tank (like your favourite tire 6 or whatever) for every battle you lose in CW and you are back to where you started.

      Also. Even if you have a bad team CW is fun, dont be afraid to go in and lose in a landing.
      As in WoW dying is not a big deal, you can try again and do better.

      Recomendations for a new clan trying it out:

      1.) Map selection – First try some maps out and see what works with your setup, then narrow it down to like 3 maps and play that for a while. After that you should know what map you are best at. Chose that map and focus on only that. Play it untill you master it.

      2.) Set up goals – You need goals to get somewhere and those goals should be reachable. You need both goals as a group and individual goals to work towards. An obvious goal should be to win the first game in a landing, then two games in a landing and so on. Every time you reach a goal, set up a new one.
      Individual goals are harder to pinpoint, but if you set up a class leader in the clan for each class (not the commander), that person can look some extra at what is happening during the game for the players of that class, and then help those players get goals. For example a TD could have a goal of on average have X amount of dmg, a scout could have the goal to have X amount of scouting on average or a goal to stay alive longer in the game. A heavy might need to focus on getting hit less by arty.. and so on.. It all depends on what the player needs to work on.

      3.) Practice situations. Make a practice room where you have scouts see where they can spot different things without getting seen, where artys can and cant hit heavies and make practice of spots where you are having trouble, like for example if you are on El Halluf and your heavies have a problem at the hill, try running that hill over and over again with half your team on each side.

      4.) Dont get angry at your players. Dont blame players for a loss. The only one that should take the blame is the commander, since he should know the abilities of his players. So if he sends someone in to a pos where the player cant handle it because he is not good enough, then he probably have done his best. If not, the player knows that allready.
      This doesnt mean that you cant take a player in to a discussion where you give them advice, but try to do that in a 1on1 conversation or in a small group with the class officers. Be constructive with your feedback instead of just telling something that they played bad.

      5.) Have fun. Dont rush in to beeing hardcore. Babysteps. :)

      6.) Even if you dont have a full team of tire X players, join the battle. It is good practice and sometimes the opponant got the same situation.

      7.) In the beginning, let people play tanks that they are good at instead of forcing them in to tanks that they doont feel that they are good in. Instead find a map that suits your setup.

      • Cyoor,
        Great insite here. As a hard core clan war player and deputy commander for Clan PDL, I have to say you are right on target for Clan Wars success and enjoyment.
        PDL is my 4th clan, I found a home. I finally found one that fit me, and got what you are saying here. My wonderful Co Doggsolider could have wrote this, I have leared so much from him. He makes clan wars enjoyable, very much so. We have a lot of avg players, we are ranked 130 on the NA server, but when he applies the principles you have shared here, those avg players regularly beat clans ranked much higher than us, we have a winning record, and many allies and friends. It’s very much a team effort.
        Semper Fi,
        Appy

    • You misunderstand Clan Wars. Its not just for the bestest players, anyone with Tier X can take part, but the idea is you need a few of them and a clan with 100 people for the chips.

      All you need to do is get the tanks and apply to a clan which does CW. I understand why people would ask for lower Tier Clan Wars but if they added that, it would be less incentive to get Tier X, which means less money for Wargaming as people free XP or buy Premium to grind them faster.

    • i dont think that 268, as it got nerfed hardly after 8.11 aswell
      imo, obj 263 is currently superior, ofc though,behind much harder grind.

      • actually for every good player /clan 268 got buffed. ;)
        Foch is dead (lets remove armor, speed, alpha and dpm *facepalm*)
        And WT? Well it got change from absolutely ridiculous OP to rediculous OP.

        • foch armor was always unreliable(oneshot by arti on roof hits, overmatching on sides, gold pierces the front easy), the point of the tank was the autoloader in close-mid range(lame accuracy and aimtime) and still can kill on one mag.

          the mobility nerf is the only real change.

          • Foch 155 still rules, I killed a Bat Chat, and severely damaged two E100s with one clip in Clan Wars earlier this week.
            Appy

  3. Tks SS, very nice post. I actually have plan to go for CW, but this post make me realize i need to reconsidered. Seem not fit for me, who just play WoT much as game, not as sth i will learn as a job

  4. Thanks. One of the most informative posts I’ve read in a long time.

    I was thinking about doing CW for a some time, but reading this I won’t bother.

    Any info on the new end-game/tier 10 content WG promised?

  5. Sorry SS but getting into clan which barely grasps for africa provinces gives a poor idea about CW.

      • I find it rather amusing that after telling loki that everyone has their own opinion, ypu tell him not to read and imply not to comment? Are you high? Or just stupid…

        • Learn to read and make arguments: i said that if he doesn’t agree with SS’s impression about CW, why does he comment about it? I mean ye, he has all the right to do so, but why do it when he basically didn’t say anything with his comment?

  6. ALL* tanks are used, some are just map specific. JpZ E-100 is good for Ensk. Our clan (L-FEW) leader used 4202 often in CW with quite a success.
    Basically more exotic tank more you need to be good with it to play it in CW. Anyone can play 110E5 or IS-7, not everyone can play M48.
    *Yes, ALL tanks, even Maus, JpZ E-100 and 215b(120).

    • Maus is awesome for cw. Dont know why so many ppl think its useless. Its just not a tank u can use on masses (for obvious reasons).

      • FYI I run my FV215b better than most of my IS7 clanmates. Trust me, the DPM on that thing is stunning, pwnt an IS7 once who miscalculated my reload :3

  7. “Running Clanwars on regular basis is NOT cheap. No premium account? Forget it”

    Not true, I only have premium account when it is given by WG and I’m on CW almost everyday (see the middle of the map, GOP very stronk) and ofc using prem ammo and prem consumables.

    It helps having a few premium tanks, doing the missions for extra credits, buying premium ammo and consumables on discount, and have all tier 10 tanks with permanent camo (gold).

    As for the CW itself, you nailed it, nice post

    • premium account is not only credits, its xp and crew xp too.

      -a premium player will unlock tanks 1/3 faster than you, by example i unlocked both chinese mid and ht in about 1400 battles(no free xp), that helps a lot when you are in a active clan that fights a lot and may lose a lot of tanks over a week.

      -crews trains 33% faster, a tank with 3-4 complete skills works way better than 2.

      -premium account means making credits even in t10 if you are good, so premium account+missions= insane amounts of credits, you can use premium consumables and gold rounds increasing your performance and xp gain(and you wont lose credits if you use the gold ammo wisely)

  8. If you are not a top clan you can always try Africa. The gold rewards in Africa are considerably lower than in Europe and as a result, top clans don’t bother with Africa, so it’s a bit of a playground.

    Babs out!

      • The Leo is good, but the FV does have a bouncy-ish turret. the Bat-Chat could work on el halluf but the gun depression kinda hinders it’s usefullness.

        • No Clan worth its salt will take an FV4202 on any map. For every role it can do, there is a better option. With only 10m more view range than the Soviet Mediums, and a worse camo value and slower its a pointless tank. I know, I own one. Its fun in randoms but its too slow for CW.

  9. - there is no goal

    This.

    I lost motivation to play CWs after the campaign ended. Sure there is still gold from provinces but unless you are in very stronk clan you dont get shit, or very very little. And burning hundreds of thousands of credits (gold ammo, gold consumables, repairs) every evening for a few gold coins… nah, fuck that.

  10. This article has a massive flaw in it: SS, you compare Player vs AI (WoW) with Player vs Player (WoT).

    You shouldnt do it, as it compares exploitable, repetitive gameplay (WoW) with real “random” and tactic one(WoT). No skill, just easy “learn how to do it” gameplay with real skill rewarding gameplay. Skill matters in WoT CW, in WoW raid? Nope, maybe in PvP, but not in raids….

    • +1
      In WoT tactics change every day. Commanders adapt to their enemy, enemy tries to avoid that resulting in a dynamic evolution of tactics. In raids, you beat a NPC once, you can do it again, using the same tactic.

  11. Do not underestimate the value of people who actually follow orders. I am that tactician and leader, which got me to combat leader pretty quick in my first clan. However, it just takes one or two guys who overestimate their own skills to get the whole house of cards tumbling down. And yes, fighting and leading is exhausting and sometimes downright impossible. Again, people following orders is what makes or breaks a battle. Now that I am in a different clan – clan drama FTL, and trying desperately to recruit and train people, I have come to doubly appreciate what the top clans out there have got. If not for a few good friends, I would quit my clan and try to get into a decent clan capable of fighting CW from the get go. I got the skill set and the dedication, but you cannot win any sort of fight alone. Never sell your grunts short.

  12. Well, SS, welcome to the CW club :)

    To tell the truth, CW is hard. VERY hard. In weekends the entire clan -the clan I’m playing with- dedicates almost all of its resources to CW, and makes training sessions 30-40 times a day. Imagine all that intra-clan organization scheme, and you’ll understand what I mean.

    I’m not even talking about diplomacy, I’ve witnessed how powerful it is as a former translator/diplomat.

    Edit: Last night, we had to fight through all CW matches, starting from 1/32… And the “battle with owner” was hilarious, because it ended up in a very unexpected way.

  13. Good commander and all you have to worry abut is well doing in battles.
    Leave political thinking for others. I’m a soldier in my clan. So i don’t feel this whole political, map ect. problems. I only need targets. :)

  14. I definitely agree with your assessment about Clan Wars, SS. I have enough tanks to keep on going for clan wars but I am not really interested in CW since it has no real incentive or any true goals expect for gold provinces. Mainly 17 Tier 10s and working towards two more. >.>

  15. CW lol, they’re on their own league… retarded league that is. XD

    The only ones who know a certain clan has achieved something are those who are involved on CW. Casual playing platoon and solo pub doesn’t care about CW. And what of rewards? Gold? Just need to work for a few measly hours to get all the gold I need on WoT. CW Reward tanks? Never seen a CW reward tank carry a game, they always die first or don’t help the team at all LOL.

    Having a clan (and additional logo on your tank) is something, but CW is just a complete BS and a feature only for no life fellas/bromancers.

    • CW isnt for everyone.

      But surely stomping around in pubs with tier 10′s gets rather old?

      So if im gud@tanks, im bad@lyfe?
      I work hard, go to a pub every other day (that is a bar for you non aussies) Comments like yours make me doubt humanities future.

    • The reward is that its fun for some. Clan Wars is organised battles which require strategy and tactics you just don’t see in other game modes. If you don’t like that fine but your comments are really off the mark.

  16. One thing that you are missing about clan wars is that when you learn different strats you learn to be a better player. I only have about 100 cw battles but it has helped my game play. I am better at focus firing, target selection and how to work a corner with a group. Also I understand better how to work with players from top cw clans. I understand what they expect of me.

    This has combined to raise my wr by 2 or 3%. At the end of the day any serious player wants to improve. CW helps with that.

  17. Nice post, SS :) I’m in a good clan (W-O-W, NA) for 1 year and u stated the right reason: a good commander :)

  18. Most of it is spot on except for that CW would require a prem account, as long as you win most games you wont lose that much credits if you dont spam 100% gold but only use it when needed. eg in 268 I never use prem ammo in CW, in my obj140 I only switch to prem when needed but usually I just use standard ammo on that too, same for E5.

    ps, Im curious what skills you had on your 62a and what they told you to get, I dont see how CW would require something else than pubbing in that tank.

    • Sixth sense is practically must have on any tank exept SPG. Though the same is true in random battles as well so it makes no difference :)

  19. Really, I dont have a problem with people who plays in clans and in platoons. How ever, when it comes to random battles then it is important to understand that as long as you play with better people and use gold ammo and other shit clan and wannabe clan players does you will have an advantage, and hence your stats are padded compared to a solo players. 8/10 clan players i have met in randoms have been pussies with elitist mentality.

    • Just for your information:

      Statistically it is proved that clan players are on average worse than non clan players. But this has nothing to do with clans – its a human thing, most people that get hooked will join a clan eventually, where as a non clan player will choose not to join any of them.

      But nevertheless, show me some very good non clan players and i will show u even better clan players. There are more good clan players than good non clan players, but the skill average is higher for non clan players. But skill average in WoT is really, really low, so…just look at all thoose patton clans, u wont find so many non clan players who are that bad :D

      • I agree that there are more clans that are really bad, even worse then average players that plays solo, than these elit ones. That is true. But even if 3 average people gang up and use gold ammo, they will have an advantage against solo average players with AP.

        But yes, there are probably more clan players that are really good, stats wise than solo players and the reason for that is many. Theres always a limit on how much you can pad beeing solo.

        Whats more intresting isnt the average stat, but the stats on the most played tanks. I have seen many good players have awesome stats, but not so impressive stats om some tanks, which means those stats are from that time they played solo.

        Average stats dont mean a shit, the stats in your current tank that you play does matter because it is with that tenk you will make differance on the battlefield. To me, average XP and damage is what counts, because that will make you perform good in a constent basis. WR is less important for me actually and doesnt make any sense. A player with low wr and low average xp and damage is less worth on the battlefield than a player with low wr and good average dmg and xp.

        Like HAMI himself for example, look at his stats, he has like 60-80% WR on many tank and many fought battles, how ever his average dmg is a joke, also average xp isnt really that impressive. Which tells me he is getting carried alot by team members or dont play random alot.

        Its also about luck when you grind your tenk. I have had tanks that went on steady 55-60% wr for well over 150-200 games when I started playing them and I have had tanks went on like 25-38% WR for over 200 games. I doubt my skill drasticly became worse and specially since I play all tanks with good crews and equipment. For 700 games my wr on my tiger II was like 57% but now its between 55-56%, how ever my average damage has risen like 50 and my xp has increased as well. Just like with my ferdinand, high wr in the beginning, but decreasing after a few thousand games, but average dmg and xp are increasing.

        XP, damage and WR are related to eachother in theory, but I got to tell you not always. Some people can have high xp and damage, but less WR. Luck, focusing on the wrong objects, who knows?

        • “but not so impressive stats om some tanks, which means those stats are from that time they played solo.”

          Or just as likely, from back when they were terrible terrible n00blets. Were I the perfectionist sort I might well go and replay all the tenks from my clueless beginner days whose WRs tend to look relentlessly awful compared to the more recently aquired stuff…
          Too much :effort: though, so meh.

    • Well, a couple years ago there was a huge amout of RED clans in RU realm (belonged to RED alliance).

      The vast majority were just meat-clans for holding provinces for the alliance and they were nothing more than a sealclubs in RND battles, even playing in squads. There were even saying “Рэды в топе – тима в жопе” (‘Reds team-top owned so team will be pwned’ or something like this).

      But players from the alliance’s strike-clans were awesome.

  20. Nice and informative post. Personally I’ve never been in a clan and I surely don’t consider it but Clan Wars do seem cool for those interested as something a bit different from the usual gameplay. And you are right about the goal part. Many players don’t know much about the bigger clans. The only one I remember is EXN0M from your posts.

    • R1SE = old Exnom .. od exn0m .. ;)

      The worst think on clanwars it require a lot really a lot of time spent with WoT. As SS says it’s not for causal non premium player.

      We ANV are non CW clan but we are taking a part in Campaigns because its like “tier8″ CW and we like it .. but after month of CWs .. most of our players they are happy that campaign is finished.

      The bad think about this situation is that WG killing Tank Compatines by advertising Team Battles

  21. I like to see have a clan vs clan, like one clan can challenge another clan in a duel? Like if one clan makes another clan mad. :) Not for land but, for Honor.

  22. wow… this gave me flashbacksof… WoW.

    I happened to be a member of the elite (top ranked on server[US. Sen'Jin] guild that took numerous first kills (KJ was memorable. I kept gloves on my account as memo…). I was hunter clan lead (remember when BM hunters were sooo fuggin OP ?) It took too much out of me to actually prepare for the raid. To always be ready and in top e-shape to tackle things like brut. Yes, it was nice to have top100 dps on the website that tracked results (forgot the name, wowraids of something) on Brut, and realistically consider yourself in top100 for your class across all servers and one of the best on your server. But common, 4 times a week, 6 hours each, takes a toll on virtually all aspects of your life. I am a happy casual in WoW, even if there is a sentiment amongst my friends to try for CW and after reading your post i now know for sure i will NEVER dedicate as much as it is required to succeed. Thank you.

  23. A player’s clan war experience is primarily determined by the clan they participate with. I’ve found clans that demand strict training regimens with a significant time investment before and after fights, and run inflexible strats/loadouts/player macroing provide the least amount of enjoyment.

    Sorry to hear your experience with CW wasn’t all that fun SS, but keep in mind that is how that single clan approaches it. Honestly, they sound much more strict than a great deal of others, including many of the most successful clans on the server.

  24. To comment on “you don’t see much point of diplo” and “there doesn’t seem to be a point to it”. The point of it is diplo. It’s really hard to explain if you’ve never been involved in this type of thing, but the smack talk that goes back and forth and rivalries are what make the game interesting after ~20k battles and 3 years. I’ll throw this out as an example.
    http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/220872-operation-purple-dawn-the-great-pubbie-rebellion-of-2013/page__hl__purple+dawn__fromsearch__1
    It was arguably the biggest war on the NA server and it was cut short for the first of the god awful “campaigns”. Seriously, if you think CW is a painful daily grind now then you know nothing of what “campaign” CW was like. The campaigns turned the part of the game that we played for enjoyment into a grind. GRINDS AREN’T FUN. They are boring long nights if you are a soldier and stressful overtime work for officers. We don’t need more of those godawful shit campaigns.

    • After being in the top of the alliance who controlled the map from atlantic ocean to ural, even diplo stops being fun.

      Few points to Silentstalker post:
      1. T110E5 is far from being most useful tank on CW. It’s a jack of all trades which means it’s not really the best tank for anything. E-100, T57, IS-4, are all more usefull then t110E5
      2. The biggest difference between WoW raids and WoT is that you can’t read in the internet the tactic for the map. You are not playing against computer, so there are no fullproof solutions. It’s much harder to lead in wot since really often you need to react to something completely unexpected.
      3. “And order is an order, but I ended up doing very little damage in the process, a thing frowned upon by serious clanners.”
      If anyone cares for the damage done only not taking your role in battle into account is a complete idiot. On many maps it is useful to use some tanks as bait – they will die not doing any damage but will give your team time to win some more important position.
      Your XP, damage and damage upon spotting are not important themselves only as an indicator if you did your job right – and your job is to increase the chance to win the battle, by following orders OR by improvising on your own.
      The biggest difference between 7/42 and 15vs15 format is, that in 7/42 everything usually happens in one place, in 15 vs 15 sth happens usually in 2 or more places at once and team cannot win if players do only what they are told to. Sometimes you have to take initiative.
      4. You need at least 2 completely dedicated field commanders and 1 person (may be 1 of the field commanders) who will be doing all the token moving and diplo.
      Rest of the people doesnt have to show up more often then 3 times a week (and 2 is often enough for some of them) so they dont need more then 3-6 useful tanks in garage – at least for a start.

      But for those doing all the heavy lifting – CW is a pain in the ass.

    • Absolutely disagree.

      Campaignes made me rejoin clan after I get bored of CW – just ’cause within campaign u can play other then X tier but still knowing the map and thus preparing setup and tactics (the main difference between CW and company battles). Never wished to have the prize tanks myself :)

  25. Speaking as an EFE member (EU server, stronk clan, may have heard of them), CWs are what you make of them. When it comes to CW campaigns they are to try and give purpose exactly to the clans that just struggle to stay on the map and can’t actually go about and make their own goals. I do feel privelleged to be part of a clan that can steer it’s own course. Likewise we’ve had a few times we went out of our way to just to kick one specific clan’s ass off the map and more often than not they succumbed to the pressure. These are the kind of things you can do yourself to make CWs more interesting beyond just “staying on the map and farming gold” which a lot of big alliances choose to do and causes CW inertia.

    About tank locking, the times you have your tank locked are significantly shorter when you win the battle for a province in attack. If you are defender, you get max penalty, if you attack but lose the attack, you get max penalty, but if you attack and win the lock usually lasts only a day or so.

    The “leading” aspect particularly of teamleaders (or field commanders as is the correct term in the context of World of Tanks) max respect to all of them. I tried once putting myself in their shoes simply in a company, and doing the entire commanding aspect, figuring out what’s best to do AND fight at the same time, it’s such an overload of things you have to do at the same time, I cannot handle it. And while good FCs are very important good members are also important, knowing people can win individual fights the majority of the time allows you to focus on your own front with confidence that you are surrounded by competent people who won’t suddenly break way and die like happens all too often in random battles.

    CWs to me are interesting mostly because you KNOW you have a competent team, you have a proper GOAL and a PLAN in each battle, to WIN. And if you are in that rare mood and screw up once, you got a whole team to back you up and you can watch it like a thrilling action movie, especially when the fights are very close. Random battles can end up feeling like a chore, endless seas of people who barely have an idea of what their tank is capable of, while clanwars are the frontlines, organized for a common goal, to fight and to win without screwing around.