Hello everyone,
we all know that in this game, some tanks are better than others. I think that there will be very few people, who will say that for example the A-20, or the Panzer 38t nA are the best things ever – sure, both vehicles probably have their fans, but objectively speaking, they aren’t the easiest or nicest tanks in the game to play with.
You could of course ask why – after all, Wargaming could have put the mentioned tanks a tier lower, or they could have had limited MM from the start (like it is planned in 9.1 – there, the both A-20 and 38tnA will have its top battletier removed, giving them better MM spread). Partial reason of course is the historicity of such vehicles, but partial reason is that such vehicles (and there are more, on high tiers as well) act as goldsinks.
What is a goldsink?
This will not be news to many of you, so consider this post aimed at people, who haven’t ever heard of such a term. Unlike for example World of Warcraft, World of Tanks economy is closed and strictly regulated. Prices don’t change – where in WoW a price of a item could (and did) change practically overnight based on demand (a simplified reflection of how real life economy works – for example, new armor was introduced, but in order to get it, you have to use for example 10 stacks of iron ore – everyone wants it overnight and buys all the iron from the auction house, driving the price up), in World of Tanks, the prices of itsems will be the same every time you log in, unless they specifically get changed via patches, which almost never happens.
So, we have a closed economy system. Consider this: Wargaming has been giving out a LOT of free gold lately. Try to count it, it’s true – even now, the Super Pershing event is running. There were the gold giveaways during the WGL finals (however screwed up that might have been), various codes etc. before that. Good value. One could thus argue that the amount of gold within the system is increasing (this is not so simple of course, but let’s accept is as simplified model).
In real life, when you increase the amount of currency in the system just so, the result will be inflation and thus the increase of prices. In WoT, you don’t have a way to increase prices and thus, you need a system of goldsinks to suck out gold back from the system, because everyone having too much gold is not a good thing, that can have nasty side-effects.
Why? Well, consider what you can do with gold.
- you can buy free XP (we’ll get to that later)
- you can buy premium tanks, but how many premium tanks of some specific tier you REALLY need? A player owning a Type 59 will likely not buy KV-5, as he has no need for it.
- you can buy gold consumables and camouflage, those don’t cost much, but gold consumables in random battles are a waste of money and they can be purchased as well
- you can convert it to credits, but that’s generally regarded as a bad deal, plus – why would you do that if you already have a premium tank, that makes you a lot of credits
- you can buy premium account
- you can buy gold ammo
Especially the latest point is problematic, when it comes to game balance. Basically it works like this: introduce more gold into the system without proper goldsinks and people will start buying gold ammo, because they have nothing to spend the gold on. This is an existing and confirmed effect, not a theory. And we all know what happens when too much gold ammo is fired – yup,
And here come the “bad” tanks – basically, by introducing a tank, that is difficult to play, you give players incentive to skip it via free XP. Now, make no mistake, I am not saying there are completely unplayable tanks in the game (stock Centurion was not fun), this is much more subtle thing. Tanks can get difficult enough for you to start thinking about skipping a module or two, but not enough for you to drop the tank in disgust. The higher tier such a vehicle is, the more it acts like a gold sink (modules are more expensive XP and credit-wise). I would say that the Chi-Ri is a typical example of this and yes, I am fully aware that some like it, some have very good results with it, but it’s not a newbie-friendly tank and we are looking at the big picture here.
Bacause big picture – statistics of the entire server – is what this is about. You might not feel these effects – one gold shell extra per 100 of your battles, so what – but if you look at that half a million players at the same time on RU server, well, we are talking for example about tens of thousands of extra gold shells in battle and in extreme cases, such things could influence the game balance itself and that’s what we need goldsinks for, to compensate.
i loved chi-ri, and also leopard PT…its all depending on player itself….but their is truth about that, there are many of those who would spent money for free xp.
Id rather torture myself thru a grinding tank than spent gold on XP.
Have to admit that when I realized that gun on sturer emil cost as much as three beers and it will save me hours / tens of battles of playing TD that is slow with basically ARL44 gun that are not fun and costs lot of prem ammo anyway, i spend golds to convert freexp. That was so far only exception
But at the end of the day, you’ll probably buy beer anyway, so you didn’t save your money ;)
Just buy 3 beers and grind it. Doesn’t matter which first; at the end of the grind they would be gone.
RIP stats.
Lulzie, that’s why u can save ur FREE EXP. I spent 92k FREE exo to unlock Leo PTA’s turret + final gun
I save FreeXP for modules.
Once I noticed the goldsink of FreeXP, I set myself a policy to leave no XP in a tank after I elited it.
So, my FreeXP is almost always used to research the last 200-1000 xp of any given tank, leaving a 0-XP elite tank ready to waste no gold on it.
That policy increases the grind, yes, but also allows me to pool xp and purchase a critical module (like tracks) when a new tank proves to be a tough grind and such an upgrade allows me to mount better engines or cannon.
And yes, my stats suck. I suck@tanks and I’m a scout-driver, so my stats suck double. Such is life.
Me too … and my stats (by XVM) show, that I am a noob
yes CHI-RI is a cute and unique tank, not for everybody, hated STA 1 tho!
Chi-ri was quite fun :) STA-1 in top configuration is quite good, but grind was terrible
Drag me through broken glass if I’m wrong but I think the whole Japanese tree is one huge gold sink, Why wouldn’t they just wait for heavies to come to introduce it ? Yes I know it was released shortly after japanese launch of WoT but… why would they release a new tree with just medium tanks alone ?
I may agree with you.. Most of japanese meds got quite horrible grnd, but elited are good tanks. Or better to say suits my playstyle. And yes, sole med tree looks strange
Because why not. Believe it or not, but some people actually like the them. The japs are actually not as bad as people make them out to be. All the lights are pretty good (especially ke-ho) and the meds are mostly solid. The only real gold sinks are the chi-ri (not as much as people think though. its about as much of a gold sink as the comet is) and the sta-1 (purely because nothing carries over and the stock gun is dreadful).
if there is a gold sink, its the wz-120 without grinding the heavies first. 90k free xp spent on that one and i actually had the 110 gun :D. and no, none of that free xp was converted with gold.
For me it was the chi-to. I hate that tank. I only use with oil and food. But not spend a gold dime for it. I think it is not necessary to spend gold for any bad tank. If I dont like a tank, I only double it. All tanks have their strong and weak side. If you can adopt its game style, you easily master it. That’s why I love this game. All tanks are a little mystery
Well, either you “free-XP” through such a ‘horrible’ tank, which is the common variant and actually the one WG wants, or you build up the skills to deal with the machine. Getting along with such a sh*t tank like ARL V39 can be very rewarding for the following tanks in the tier, because now you have dealt with the deepest sh*t the line has to offer, and you did actually well. Same went with my Pz. Sfl. V (Sturer Emil) and the 105mm gun. With the 12,8 beast it’s not a big problem (best alpha + 2nd best pen on T7) any more.
I, for example, have a pretty good 50% WR on that ARL, and it can survive unexpectedly long in T8 fights, because if you use the T6 105mm gun, you actually have sufficient penetration for T6-7 and with the very cheap gold even a very good pen for T8 (235).
+1
its all about using the tanks the right way. If so, all the tanks can be fun to play. Some PPL hates specific tank because they play with their head up their asses. Learn and adapt!!!
I must agree, WZ-120 is a terrible tank to grind without going trough heavies first but that is because WZ-120 is balanced for using 122mm gun which is superb for its tier among meds, for 100mm guns it’s just too clumsy, the engine is too weak and hull front is a little bit too thin.
I like the Chi-Nu. That’s about it.
I spent 180k free exp to grind M103 .. which was pain .. then after 4 moths I sold T110E5 cause it was just too slow for me.. now I’m playing only up to tier8 and only medium tanks .. one I get to higher tier I will think about buying higher mediums .. maybe… but probably not
Because of the reason you just said: Japanese release.
The chinese public might not be so picky, and they made through with their premiums and exclusives.
But japanese players would hardly take the game seriously unless there were jap tanks (not taking into account those tank otaku, but those are weird like all otaku). So, WG had to adapt their strategy once they noticed the japanese influx, rushed one line of tanks and started partnering with some anime that could make the game more appealing for that specific audience.
All in all, it was just to sell the game.
I was convinced Im gonna freeXP the chi-ri, but when I played it in top configuration It was quite good. I was looking forward to STA1, but it turned out to be not so stronk tank as I expected. However it wasnt bad either, certainly better than chi-ri and quite fun. Now Im on type61 which I had no clue about and this tank is SICK.
leoPTA was a good tank, dunno why people hate it. Its one of the few tanks which you can pwn with even when in stock.
I’m finishing the chi-ri grind today and have to say it’s one of the worst tanks I’ve played in a while. I love mobility play in meds, can do sniping or damage soaking, whatever works for the tank I’m in, but I can see absolutely no good sides in chi-ri. It’s mobility is terrible for a med, it’s size brings german heavies to mind, the armor is non-existent and the gun… yeah, it’s nice. On a chi-to. The three-shell autobouncer doesn’t help either. It’s camo is half-decent so yay, you can bounce shells off enemies without being seen for a short while.
Maybe I’m just venting my frustration, but even on a centurion mk1, which I didn’t like playing, I could see some strong sides (awesome gun, good gun depression, decent turret armor), so I say “I can’t play this tank well” instead of “this tank is crap”. I can’t do that with chi-ri.
I really don’t know why people hate the Chi-Ri that much. My opinion may be colored by the fact that the Chi-To(tier 6) was the biggest turd in the existence of turds(i mean…wtf, a kv1 with the 122mm derp can almost 1shot you from head on)
I found the Chi-Ri very hard to get a hang of but in the end, wasn’t that bad. It’s not meant to be played as a medium tank(disregard what it says on the tin) but rather more like a tank destroyer.
I mean…on top configuration with rammer, vents and egld(keep in mind it’s one of the two tanks in game that have an autoloader+rammer combo) I’d have loaded the drum at around 8 seconds.
Now keep in mind that’s an average of an ISs 122mm worth of damage done to a target in ~2 seconds(that’s how much time it takes it to spew out all 3 shells of ~130 each) and a reload of 8 seconds. I found it remarkable how much hurt you could put on an enemy in a very short amount of time.
I’m not saying it’s a great tank, it had a half decent camo rating and view range with good precision but on the other hand, it’s completely unarmored, prone to module damage and crew death and about as mobile as a brick.
Bad points do carry to the STA-1 but you get a much better gun. All in all, I didn’t feel the Chi-Ri that horrid of a vehicle(but does need some skill to get good results in it), especially compared to some other turds i’ve played(Churchill GC, AT7…I’m looking at YOU!)
Well, maybe it’s my fault for being an agressive player and mistaking it for a med. Still, I think this tank struggles to snipe effectively with its meager 155 penetration. Comet had a low-pen gun but I enjoyed it greatly because with its superior mobility and gun depression it took little effort to flank enemies and shoot their sides/weakspots.
And I don’t think AT 7 is a turd. It has nice armor (despite huge cupola) and good gun. Yeah, it is slow, but once it enters the battlefield it becomes quite a beast.
I actually really like the A-20 (and MT-25, for that matter). Looking forward to improved matchmaking.
Do people really buy gold rounds by spending gold? To me it sounds stupid. Better buy some camo that will stay forever, or maybe retrain your crew and keep 100% of their exp.
But if you do use gold shells a lot, you have probably bought some premium tank, so Wargaming has already made a deal.
The only thing that i buyed whit gold was the t25,and some garage slots,all that gold was from the codes that were posted on ftr,thx by the way FTR ;)
Noone does. Free XP and premium tanks are a major gold sinks. Especially Free XP. People who buy premium ammo and consumables for gold are the same type of idiots as these that swap gold for credits. More money in a wallet than brain in a head.
*sigh* just think about it: Family man, well off, loves WoT. Regrettably he doesn’t have much time to play it. So he skips every tank and module by using free xp. Costs him some bucks to save hours of grinding, credit farming etc. It will surely be the better deal for him: If you earn 100 Euro net in an hour of work you don’t really mind to spend 3-4 Euros max to save one hour of grinding. That surely is the way WG gets a lot of his money. Spending 1000 Euro in 2 Years on a computer game isn’t that rediculous if you have cars in your garage that cost 100 Times as much!
There are some people who say the Chi-Ri is a good tank…
What they actually mean is that the gun and auto-loader rate of fire is good.
You can look at the tank in every which way, the chassis is probably the worst one in the game, for it’s role, gun, and tier.
It’s fucking huge, unarmored, no camo, module damage up the wazooh, and to top it off, it’s a slow medium.
It’s not that it’s not newbie-friendly, it’s just not friendly at all. If you are a good player in a platoon, yes you will be able to do good things with it, but had you been in another tank, like the T20 or KV-13, you would have done great.
I must say that Chi-Ri is very “different” tank. According to me it’s a little bit over the average. That means it’s good :P Not many people know how to play it as I said it’s different! I like it very much but still not enough to keep it. The problem is you have to think about every move with it because often singe mistake is your death. I think that is why people think it’s bad.
60% W/L ratio in Chi-Ri, all solo.
It is a good tank, and: no, not because of RoF alone. People who have a problem with ChiRi usually play it like a medium tank, and try to do what they’d in Russian or French medium – flank, gun, play brave. It’s not a frontline tank for playing brave. It’s a SUPPORT tank. As long as you play it as a support and don’t waste your huge HP pool – you’ll be all right. Anticipate the enemy, set up ambushes, let other tanks in your team take damage, don’t trade shots, time your magazines, don’t be afraid to pop for just one or two shots, don’t be afraid to move away from a flank if it’s loosing (Chi-Ri is not a tank for holding anything), snipe scouts and all of the fast tanks, use your RoF for tracking enemies, and so on, and so on.
It’s one of the most hostile tank to the people with a very strong habits. You played 29k games and as far as I see you’re a perfect example of what I’m talking about – in Chi-Ri your W/L is at 55.5%, notably below your average. You try to play it like most of the other tanks in WoT and apply the same tactics. Don’t.
That’s true to some extent. I’d compare it to the Tiger or the TOG – good firepower, if you can aim, and completely reliant on its high HP (same amount, 1250, as the AT7 and T29) for survival. You can snipe, support with the help of real heavies, and sometimes go medium hunting, but you can’t push or hold a line very well with it. It always needs a buddy to either absorb some extra shots or cover it while reloading. I finished the grind a couple days ago (all done legit, no free XP), and while it was bad stock and it wasn’t the best tank ever elite, it was workable. Just don’t expect miracles.
All that said, it should have an option of a higher penetration gun (88mm was also planned IIRC).
Very good explanation! Of course there will always be the tinfoil hat wearers but those with more intelligence can take a lot away from this and have a better understanding of the game and it’s always a plus to have more intelligence circulating in WoT.
Those free gold do not last long and wallet warriors use gold a lot. Using these gold sink tanks just means these players would just spend more money skipping theses tanks or use gold shells to make the tank playable to save their stats. This is a good business tactic that would probably back fire if those wallet warriors finally add 2 + 2 together.
Calling people who spend money on a game they like “wallet warriors” is just as stupid as asking all the freeloaders to “get a job”.
People who go to work spend some money on their hobby because they haven’t got much free time and still want to progress. Folks with lots of free time probably don’t work and have less money, so they invest their time.
Time == Money, so it’s all the same. No need to be a dick to either side.
The problem is, is the gold value for money or is it a money sink that you get little benefit from. It is looking to be the latter than former.
Yeah, I can see the difference – thanks for explaining.
To be honest with you: I rage-skipped the Chi-Ri with free XP I converted with gold, and I am a little bit sour now that I fell for this obvious trap.
Before WG finally admitted that some tanks were gold sinks on purpose, I could tell myself “well, I just suck with this tank, it is not for me” and dismiss the obvious truth.
Now I have to face the fact I was played like a shitty little violin. ;)
Does it mean you will actually spend money on the game?
we play for ou pleasure. and many people (you too) pay for his pleasure ;)
and some tanks are not a pleasure to play… so we pay to get the next tank !
the first gold sink is slot, we must pay for buy a slot…
Their premium tanks sucks except for the Type 59. Still with the other game out now the wallet warriors no longer will be continued to be cheated by WG as WOT is no longer the only tank MMO in the market so no more freebies for the welfare warriors.
No offense, but skimming your past comments I think you should tone down on “that other game” remarks a little bit, unless you want to sound like some online marketing guy doing astroturfing.
If you like that game, that’s very nice for you! But this is a WoT site after all, and there is no need to write about “that other game” in every second post you make, imho.
I am sure “that other game” also has some kind of active community where you can find likeminded individuals and where you can revel in that game’s greatness together and in peace, without being disturbed by haters like yours truly … ;)
Edit: Oh and by the way – yeah, I do spend money for WoT sometimes.
Do not suck: E-25, SU-122-44, Excelsior, Panther M/10….a few others. I LOVE my E-25, not dominant, but very competitive and a blast to play.
The TOG is actually quite overpowered with his abnormal hp pool, matchmaking and the best gun on tier 6.
Churchill and Black Prince Matilda (preferential MM), Ram and T25 are very solid, the french Tier 5 Arty is overpowered as hell, E25 rocks and kv5 (despite having nonexistent pen) is always fun to play.
Some Premium Tanks are actually better than the normal ones on their tier. Type59, B2, T127, Su122-44, Tetrarch, Locust and the french tier 3 AT gun come to mind.
Their premiums suck except type? ….nah.
BDR = goldsink
I actually liked BDR a bit. Its not really a bad tank.
it’s really nice. i enjoyed it :) these OP-1S and Hellcats are just a pain in the ass.
High silhouette? You mean shoot over all the rocks that perfectly hide my hull? Yes, sir!
Personally, I believe it can be OP in tier v battles. The ARL-44 though, is a beast and well balanced for the number of tier viii battles it sees.
It’s an amazing tank in the right hands. that DCA 45 is so strong at tier 6…
I find it bearable
B1 is, BDR is perfectly ok. Just like a slow KV1S tier lower. I dont know why, but i have 63%wr and 2K wn8 on it. Try VK3001H
+1 (though: lol and KV1s comparison)
R u srs ? With such an excellent alpha for a tier V ? If you’re trying to play it like KV-1 then no wonder its a gold sink for you
haha I wonder…
I never buy gold, but right now I have +3k gold and I only use it for buying garage slot or maybe one day buy a premium tank =P
The one thing I never do with gold is to buy ammunition. I got some T8 premiums and a premium account, so my credit income is good enough to load 5-20% “gold” ammo depending on the tank. When I get good MM I don’t even use it.
I mostly use gold for converting XP and retraining crew members, or the occasional premium tank.
“we all know that in this game, some tanks are better than others. I think that there will be very few people, who will say that for example the A-20, or the Panzer 38t nA are the best things ever – sure, both vehicles probably have their fans, but objectively speaking, they aren’t the easiest or nicest tanks in the game to play with.”
Extremely subjective. For an example, people say IS-3 is easy to play and Tiger 2 is not quite as easy.
In my honest opinion as a person that played both in closed beta, open beta, release AND in CW special stages…
IS-3 is fucking master mode tank. I have to be at my top to play the damned thing.
Tiger 2 is what I play when I am drunk. Press W and LMB = 60+ Win ratio solo…
And so is what tank is nice and what is not. People sometimes whine about Comet…
WHy? It is made of awesome! Just learn to spam and detrack/punish enemy mistakes in every way possible. It is so damned fun, even tanks that are usually considered fun like Type 59 and T-54 simply PALE in comparison.
Yep, I enjoyed the Comet incredibly and I migh rebuy it (I don’t want a centurion tho).
On the other hand, KV-13, that is considered a good tank didn’t sit well with me at all, I played it almost elited and sold it pretty early on. My Comet WR is ~60% , KV-13 40%.
It’s not subjective at all. There are stats to prove it. Just just check the numbers – how many players grind through and keep playing certain tanks? How many people play, for example KV-1S compared to M6 or VK 3601H?
Sure, you personal opinion on certain tanks can differ, you might like what 90% of server population doesn’t. But numbers are there and they prove the point.
There is a problem with that: Gameplay styles.
For an example look at Stracraft. Many consider it VERY well balanced of a game.
-Terrans: Require basic understanding to be decent. Master understanding to be great at them. In other words : easier to learn (on average) and VERY hard to master.
- Protoss and Zer are different. Harder to learn but just as difficult to master.
Same can happen in WoT:
- T-54 Easy to learn, mastering it is very hard.
- WZ -120 Hard to learn, very hard to master.
This is of coarse on average. Balance is harder then what numbers suggest.
IS-3 is mobile but with huge weakspot on UPF. Thats what makes it difficult. But the gun is nice with high alpha.
Tiger II is easy to be flanked when in first line but its immune against badly aiming noobs. But E-75 is simply so good I don’t want to keep Tiger II.
Same thing goes about newly introduced Top tier vehicles – bring them to the game in OP state, wait until many of players will free-xp it with gold, then nerf it because of balance and unpredicted results ;-)
With another tank game out how long can they do this before the players rage quit and join that game.
since the open beta of that “other game” is up I am saying good bye to WOT and the Wargaming shenanigans. WOT used to be fun but now it makes me rage and be sad rather than make me happy…
No WR stat on that game so no one will look down on your stat and say you are trash.
Actually: He is nicely above the average, even: very good according to WN8. So STFU you elitist jackass. People like you are precisely a reason why more and more players will quit WoT, and all you’ll be left with are going to be noobs that are too poor to buy a PC good enough to run WT.
That’s odd I do know purples still look down at that kind of stats.
That’s fine. But I tried the “other game” and didn’t like it much. It’s COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. And that’s not a bad thing. However the game is very complex…. possibly too complex and too historical. for me that is. I love WOT. I guess I’m staying.
I might play the “other” occasionally. but it’s got a lot of things in it that make me not like it near as much as WOT.
Until they find the other game has pretty much the same problems and wants their money as much (if not more) as WG.
true… but it’s something new and will take me some time before it starts to piss me off just as WOT. I will enjoy my newb days and blissful ignorance in the other game before I can see into it in more detail and find it’s the same bullshit as WOT.
Good luck with it, enjoy the current gameplay (this is where wot is really good at compared to it btw).
I haven’t played the other game yet – just watched some CBT gameplay on youtube so I can’t judge. But I already have some expectations in WOT – I expect myself to play good (which is not always the case) and I expect the team to be at least a tiny bit competent (which is almost never the case). These two things kind of take the fun away for me. Once I found out noobmeter, I started to improve, play better and even stadpad .. which is good to become a good player but it has a downside that it is not as much fun.
I will try the other game for a while now – maybe I will stick with it, maybe I will come back to WOT. Who knows.
WTGF gameplay is far more superior than WOT.
I think it can’t be compared – 2 different games. WOT is a fast paced arcade game and I believe it is easier to master than WTGF would be. I especially look forward to the simulator battles because I believe that noobs in WTGF will stick with arcade and those who are willing to learn the game will be rewarded in simulation.
So you have mastered wot gameplay to perfection? Seems like very hard thing to do. Which pro team do you come from?
Wot is way more complex than only operating a tank (tactics positioning strategy etc.) and that is what makes it a good game along with some balance and roleplay (very high variety),
WTGF is attempting to be a simulator, but gameplay suffers since only balance is “historical parameters” and minor tweaking, good luck making it into something playable on same level as wot you will always find niches in WTGF which you can abuse like you could with planes (lots of horribly brokenplanes out there).
Oh yeah I also forgot to mention how certain level of “mastery” in wot and wt air forces looked like (if you’re looking at like 3 kdr+ gameplay), it was like complex system of psychology, knowledge of game mechanics and tanks, timing, performance vs knowing how to conserve energy, aiming and dealing with brokenplanes.
“I think it can’t be compared – 2 different games.” – if any game out there can be compared to WoT – it’s WT:GF.
No their premium tanks are actually decent.
UGH! the practice of giving you “free XP”, haveing the number on the top, right by your silver, and then keeping it HOSTAGE behind a gold-paywall….. TERRIBLE decision for those foreigners.
Thst XP was won in battle, and making you pay up front to use it on anything is just backstabbing.
Other than that, I don’t have any trouble with the “other company” of their games….. at least not until they fry my lap’s CPU (97° C) -_-
It is debatable which game has the better gameplay, as this is entirely based on personal opinions and tastes.
When you got hooked on WoT I am sure you thought “man this is the hot shit”, and look how burnt out you are now. If you think this will not happen with WTGF one day you are just deluding yourself.
Every game gets boring and shitty if you play it for too long. If you can’t have fun with WoT anymore, just stop playing for some time and do something else – when you come back after some weeks/months it will be fun again.
Exactly Genosse! Wise words.
Oh and Janez – I don’t say I mastered WOT. Nobody can say that (maybe guys like luciqueII etc. can). For my first 3k battles I was an utter noob – than I started to read up on how to play better, watched players like QB/Circon etc to learn. And my last 5000 battles are on excellent/unicum level which is more than I ever hoped for. But maybe I had more fun in the noob days than I have now..
http://www.noobmeter.com/player/eu/carras/500316824/
Problem so how much money you need to spend to ‘master’ WOT.
You actually don’t need any. :/
I got burn out by WOT because I feel like I was throwing money to the game and got little benefit in return and their trashy Arty system. This is like Xbox 1 and PS4, since the xBox 1 was over price for an inferior machine most went to PS4 and Microsoft has to cut the price.
The other game has server roaming, a far better Arty system unlike the fantasy system in WOT and their tanks are historical.
Yeah, and both games are different enough to appeal to different players in the same demographic.
Compared to WoT, WT is barebones even in Arcade. Going up to realistic and simulator just makes it much more immersive, yet harder.
Those players looking for a more user-friendly game will have to accept WoT’s bugs and mishaps.
Those players searching for a more realistic experience will have to accept WT’s shameless paywalls, hardware requirements and occassional buggy releases (1.37 anyone?).
And later we’ll have Armored Warfare, and it will have its own strengths and failures.
And some of us will play all three games.
Here here.
The important part of the economy is making the game as interesting as possible for the fodder players (non-paying) so that there is a critical mass of fodder players playing so that in turn the paying players have the right amount of fun/frustration balance to make them spend. Spamming some gold and prem consumables at the general player base is one way of keeping the fodder interested in the game and develop a taste for buying gold. I imagine gold is going to go for slots rather than prem shells and consumables to give players more flexibility and enable them to have a chance to build enough high tier tanks to have a go at playing at advanced levels where they are more likely to spend real money.
Well…I am a fan of 38nA. It is a nice tank for an experienced LT player.
YAY! ^_^7
Was looking for another LT player to reply.
the nA was my scout of choice for Tier 4 before the Luchs was elevated from 3.
Doesn’t have the best camo.
Doesn’t have the best speed.
Doesn’t have the best maneuverability.
Doesn’t have the best cannon.
Doesn’t have a tough, heavy-like armor.
But man, this thing is just solid and adaptable.
It can ninja and dash and infiltrate and flank and snipe……
Of course it is a gold sink since people just see it as a step towards the Pz4.
Or was, since the tree just changed.
So, people used to the nicer MM for 38(t) and desperate to get to the Pz4 just free-skipped the nA, even if it required gold…..
Most of this “free gold” are shared between a very small minority. 99% of the tomatoes can’t finish the SuperPershing special, and 99% of the players didn’t have a clue they were giving free gold codes in WGL streams.
So what you say is true, but it’s insignificant, because of the giant playerbase. Let the 1% enthusiasts enjoy their gold.
Yep, I even got to buy a Ram II out of all that free gold, along all the free XP :)
I’m an average pubbie and 100% od my prem times were all FREE, hahaha funny to think how some would waste money at a game… (I’m a student though, I don’t know about the “daddies”)
Think of it like an entertainment value. Some people spend money to go to concerts, buy music, go to cinema. Some spend it to play a game in a way they prefer more.
Just like Nya-chan said, I prefer that T34 in my garage then the memory of that concert one year ago.
You, sir, need to get out more.
Yep, basic stuff.
But I don’t think Pz 38nA or A-20 are gold sinks. They are simply a proved-wrong concept of high battletier light tanks, that just was too difficult for players to grasp.
The biggest gold sinks are IMO high tier (T7+, generally) tank modules, especially tracks and guns. Most people skip stock here with gold, be it for free XP or getting torsion springs (that have to be dismounted for gold).
Also collectors. There are many people with both Type and KV-5 in garage. Because why not have both in garage?
The 38 nA and A-20 are gold sinks because they are a shock for players looking for the next tank.
They come from playing solid Tier-3 Lights and find themselves thrown into stock tanks that face Tier-8s…..
For said player, the grind is tougher, and the comparison to the previous light and the following medium makes such a tank shitty.
For the team it causes hate for such a tank, for the players “are noobs and don’t scout”. So, the players get scolded for playing a tank they don’t like and that they must to unlock other, better and “easier” tanks ahead.
Also, the M3Lee carries a simmilar burden, but it doesn’t have such a harsh MM.
Other than that, I totally agree…. all those tanks for which you need to grind the tracks before you upgrade ANYTHING else are much more important goldsinks at higher tiers.
“because everyone having too much gold is not a good thing, that can have nasty side-effects.”
I don’t follow your logic here, if prices are fixed in the system and there’s no inflation why would gold needed to be “pumped back” into system, they can code it easily, there’s premium account function that does that well and free xp for tank modules.
“you can buy premium tanks, but how many premium tanks of some specific tier you REALLY need? A player owning a Type 59 will likely not buy KV-5, as he has no need for it.”
crew training, fun tanks (E-25), playing 1k+ battles on something like T34 and getting bored of it?
“you can convert it to credits, but that’s generally regarded as a bad deal, plus – why would you do that if you already have a premium tank, that makes you a lot of credits”
Assume you got a hard working person with job that pays well and he’s got limited time, now calculate how much time it takes to grind 6.1 milion credits (orange,potato,blue) and you might notice that “wasting time” doing RL work is cheaper timewise and perhaps even less stressful.
Blue is quite a bit above average mate…
Ain’t blues like top 10% of players or something around that? I never remember how exactly these colors relate to percentage of player base.
Around top 5%
Well I saved up the 90k free xp needed for the obj 261′s modules without gold or prem acc and will also skip the french until t5.
It is wrong to have a sense of urgency about the game. Greati idea to blow 200 Euros on a branch that will be nerfed two patches later.
261′s modules? Also burning free exp on retarty is the most dumbest thing to do.
You just hate arty don’t you. :P Arty is hard to play, but I’ve only played French arty, other nations may be OP. IDK
My problem might be I’m not the arty scrub who sits where he spawned. I move around all over the place looking for the right spot to shoot from. and as such might have problems from getting a new obstacle that just manages to be in my way. Playing arty may be easy-
Playing arty well ISN’T. not at all. not even a little bit…. unless you make it easy for the arty player. I had three arty constantly shooting at my AMX m4 one match. I never stopped moving. They were trying so hard to hit me, but they failed. AMX m4 is one of my favorite tanks to shoot at in arty. and while playing mine they didn’t kill me, the KV-3 did. :P
The reason arty seem OP death from above is because players DONT play arty and don’t learn their weaknesses. and therefore sit in the open perfectly still waiting to be bombed. I grin so massive when they do that. ….. then do 300 damage and have a 25+ second reload. Curses. I didn’t hit his top armour…. SIDES AGAIN!
You can stone me to death, but I think that supporting developers by buying some gold or prem tanks or prem account is a good thing. If we really dislike the game – we wouldnt be playing it, would we? I understand that many players have milk on their chins … but some of us are older, earn decent money – and You cant spend it all on booze (especially when You dont drink it :D ).
I spent some gold on half a year premium account while I was learning how to play the game properly. It helped me with grind and money income. Then I was one of the lucky guys who had big T34 before it was switched to prem vehicle – so it became my main moneymaker.
I also bought many many garage slots – right now I have overy 60 tanks in garage (but playing just some of them :) )
But then I passed “average” players and became a bit better – still not unicum, but definitelly a better player than most of the crowd. And at that time – I stopped needing any earning boosts, cause I just earn enough by playing and dealing damage.
I also won quite many thousand golds during events (was in top 50 several times) – so I even dont need to buy gold with real money :)
Right now, i am spending gold on camouflages cause theyre nice … and each of us wants to stand out a bit from crowd :D And when it makes sense – buying prem account for a while can help as well.
No stones.
Supporting the game is what keeps it going.
Maybe we’d like the developers to understand that too, and that we, the players, are feeding them so that we can have a nice, smooth gameplay experience, thus whatever they release we’d appreciate it if it was at least not buggy and harshly imbalanced.
Purchasing gold and premium and gifts is all good….. as I understand the exercise here is identifying why are there goldsinks and why are they necessary, not blaming anyone for anything.
Ye, I wonder why WG started to give gold so easily.
With all those “free tank” missions I get gold. First it was with T2 Light (free 900g because I had won tank earlier). And now I’m working to get 7200g because I have SupPershing.
My biggest goldsink is garage slots and now WG made -66% discount for it :D [I'm planning to get ¬70 garage slots when get gold for SupPersing].
I don’t care about using gold for free exp [have ¬600k accumulated] or shells – only means to spend gold [after I got so many garage slots] will be premium tanks [different nations, types] for crew training and premium acc to easier complete tank missions.
They started giving gold away because giving free stuff bring players to the game.
And a game that earns over 3 dlls per player per month can allos itself such a luxury.
From a competition PoV, it’s proving Wargaming as more generous with its customers than Gaijin, so it’s a strategy to draw players from that game.
From a selling PoV, it makes the game more appealing for new players “if you play well, they gift you with cash-items”. Those players will eventually purchase gold, golden tanks and premium, and thus increase profits.
And from an activity PoV makes players play the game and play tanks they might not have considered. Activity increases, XP, credits and gold gets spent on tanks they might not have played otherwise, and their stats as a company get boosted.
It’s a solid strategy.
You published here that video about WoT monetization I think. The presenter in video claimed that free exp are the biggest monetization provider in the game. Which is interesting because I actually skipped only one vehicle in the game and that was Bf109Z in WoWp. I regulary convert leftover exp from tanks via gold and use free exp to skip first tiers but most of my free exp are coming from those 5% given as addition to normal exp. For me gold think is crew retrain and camo.
You play WOWP ????
Actually, that economist stated that the bigest income for WG is premium time.
They stared with ammo, and noticed the game didn’t break for the purchase for credits.
They should’ve also noticed that players got premium accounts to get the extra credits they needed to shoot gold.
So they made consummables available, and credits got spent into that too.
They are now making players play and get insane ammounts of XP and damage done, which means more expenses creditwise.
Also, getting 75K XP is a tough grind. With a premum account you only need 50K XP. So, premium account.
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH . . .
First of all, player must get that gold from somewhere.I’m not talking about buying. IMO if somebody spend their real money for gold, they definitely not wasting that gold on useless G shells or XP.
Same as me they will buy premium tank, garage slot or expand barrack.
Who even expands barracks? If you have enough garage slots, you pretty much dont need the barracks at all. Just buy some low tiers and put the crew there…
People who collect tanks and don’t care about crew skills. AKA: Scrubs.
“Wasting” gold on an XP? Dude, you’re funny :)
Regarding Jap Tanks.
I kept the Chi To, Chi Ri, and Type 61. (have the STB).
The reason?
3 Crews training for additional skills for when the TD, Heavy, and Arty lines come on Jap Tech Tree.
A few thousand Shiny, and all crews transfer.
SS, i noticed a price drop in the gift shop lately,not sale, but a real price drop.
For example, su85i on launch costed 509 pesos(im from manila btw), it now only costs 498 pesos, without discounts. same with gold packs, theyre cheaper now
Might be due to dollar/euro conversion..
By the way, RU server gold price is ¬250-300 per dollar, when in EU we have same amount per euro. Same thing on different servers cost differently [dollar=//= euro].
And I hate playing on stock tanks. The only TD that I did not use ANY FXP on to unlock some modules was the RHM. Best Stock tank ever.
Oh, ye, perm camo – I have none of them – big potential sink here (for all those ¬200 tank) :D
Only tank i had camo on is KV-1S and it was temporary camo for 7 days i think and only bcs we were playing the second campaign so i needed that 5% more camo for CW battles :D Well i didn’t actually need it, but i got teased for being cheap by clanmates :D That was the only time i had camo on my tank whether temporary or permanent.
I use gold for 3 things buying camo, slots and free xp modules (Hate stock tanks)
The only time I spend gold on feexp is if I happen to have some leftover xp on an elite tank.
I wouldnt call it “gold sink”
gold sink is a way to regulate amount of currency in system.
in wow as you described.. when you spend gold, its not erased, its just moved to somebody elses account.
I will sell you axe for 5000gold … those 5000g just went from your account to mine.
While in wot, once you buy something for gold, that gold is gone for good.
When I buy garage slot for 300g, nobody gets those 300g they are simply erased from my account.
So this is gold sink. Once a gold is used, it disappears from the economy.
The tanks you described are annoying just to make you buy gold and use it to skip them.
Once you skip them, you will never use gold on those tanks again.
So yes, it is sort of “one-time only gold sink”
great article !
just, I think you should not propose tanks for illustrate “goldsinks” because, each person have differents goldsinks tanks
you see, now, commentators say “no, chi-ri is a good tank”, or “pz 38 t na is fun”, etc
but this is not the problem…
in my clan, some players paid with free XP to by-pass all tanks before the amx 13-90 !!! and now, they didn’t know how to play this tank… lol
Well, i wouldn’t call PzNa or A-20 a goldsink, at least not a good one. The problem is that more people are NOT paying for anything at all and ones who grow incentive to pay do it at higher tiers.
PzNa, A-20 and especialy M5A1 are HORRIBLE idea because they are scouts (with scout MM) which do NOT lead to scout lines, making experience painful for newbies to the point of leaving the game (and not to point of paying, because majority do not pay – as i said above). A-20 is solved next patch but Chinese Stuart leads to whole Chinese tree and that is what makes it especially NOT newbie-friendly and unpopular as a starter – they should make a second 4tier Chinese tank as a way around it; or nerf it so it can get normal MM if they think now it’s op for such MM.
I think that succesful goldsinks start at tier 7-8+, where you need a ton of xp to skip (which you can’t simply accumulate from battles) and grow a will to pay. Sturer Emil, anyone?
BTW. I hated my A-20 for long :P – even with my huge experience as a scout player, but now i finally managed to get a grip on it and it is a keeper. With normal MM it will be a beast comparable to LTP :E .
Should have afked them if you didn’t enjoyed it and didn’t want to spend free exp
I don’t spend golf for ammo or xp. Why should I? Gold ammo is not so OP. I shoot like 1 from 5 shot. For that the credit is enough. For xp? I love to grind xp for moduls. Alway there is a little goal to reach. After only the next tier tank left, well… All tanks have there strong and weak side. If you can adopt them in your game style, all will be fine. There is a game style, that is suit for most of the tanks, called progressive camping. Don’t rush ahead, w8 for the team, move when it’s safe. Snipe, flank and always leave a retreat route.
I spend gold for garage slot, barrack and prem time when there is 5x and equipment removal. I have a couple prem tank, but i dont use for credit farm, maximum for crew xp. The new credit system is quite good. In the old times I have to grind credit, if I want to play tier8 or above. Now I farm credit with tier8 or above :).
“Gold ammo is not so OP” – that very much depends on a tank. In some tanks it’s useless. In other: It’s brilliant.
You left some sinks:
- retraining crew when moving them from a tank to the next one. Let’s say you move only from 5-10 on average 5 people at 200 gold each, there’s 5000 gold roughly per tier10 owned.
- getting new crew at 100% major qualification on the tanks that you want to keep, (say you keep 8-9 tiers and in 10 have the skilled crew ) that’s another 1600-2000 gold.
- whenever you sell a tank that you no longer need you have to demount complex eq (10gold each). say you have on average 2 from 5-10, that’s another 200 gold / tier 10 you have in garage, or less if you buy the eq in advance and do not demount from 8,9,10.
For me this plus free XP are the sinks.
Gold ammo for gold ? I have a very very hard time beliveing that people actually do that. Whoever does they really really are gold noobs. People buy gold ammo for silver.
“retraining crew when moving them from a tank to the next one” – that’s one of the biggest gold sinks for me. If not THE biggest one.
WG won’t get me with their sinks. Those two tanks are the reason why I stopped grinding the japanese and german medium tree. I know I will miss out Leo 1 and STA/STB, but since I refuse to use gold to convert my free exp to get past those tanks, I’ll never own them.
In your face, WG! Viva le revolution! *making-some-Che-Guevara-sign*
Good. Less scrubs in high tiers.
Considering how many OP broken Arty crap in high tier who wants to play there.
Its your problem you suck
Anyone who who buys SPrem ammo and consumables using Gold is basically a moron.
Yep.
With gold for credits who needs to use gold for premium ammo.
So not one of these?
http://courtneyprice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SW-malachite-counter.jpg
Love the oh so superior comments being made. Gold is time. Some people don’t have the time to grind cr’s, or tank specific exp, so they use gold. Why, how, can anyone be getting their panties in a wad over this?
- you can buy premium tanks, but how many premium tanks of some specific tier you REALLY need? A player owning a Type 59 will likely not buy KV-5, as he has no need for it.
where do you even get this? You can’t train a russian heavy crew in a Type 59 can you now? at least not in my village
I spend most of my gold(which is not a lot, only gold from codes etc) on dissmounting equipment. Why spend 500k(250k on discount) for a single piece of equipment when you can dismount it for 10 G. One of the best ways to spend gold smart. But since i’m getting close to T-54 i’m more and more thinking about converting exp for a turret and top gun bcs playing T-54 with stock turret and T-44′s gun isn’t really fun. Also one of the biggest reasons why we have broken/OP tanks at high tiers(T10s mostly) is exactly this. Oh look, stronk wafflee100. Better free exp it so you don’t have to go trough the whole line. And also one of the biggest reasons why they refuses to nerf those for quite some time. You see, they will gave us shitty excuses such as “Tank’s WR is actually quite balanced so we won’t nerf it yet.” just to keep their goose that lays the golden eggs a little bit more before they kill it.
dismounting equipment is dumb. Buy it for half price and sell it for the same amount.
yes, because we have discounts all the time and money to buy all the possible equipment at once….only one dumb here is you
I actually have 20m+ creds and a bootload of equipment in depot all the time and I’m just a 50% player who haven’t paid a dime to wg. Maybe you suck and/or fire too much gold and/or play too many t10s? My avg tier played is like 8. Earning creds with allt the missions they have should be very easy.
Nothing wrong with buying on discount. It’s a smart measure.
- you can buy premium tanks, but how many premium tanks of some specific tier you REALLY need?
ALL OF THEM!
(I have a problem…)
SS, I enjoy your blog for Q/A and tank history but when you go into these topics it makes me cringe.
“In real life, when you increase the amount of currency in the system just so, the result will be inflation and thus the increase of prices.”
US Federal reserve monetary policy has been creating trillions of dollars but inflation has been relatively flat over the years. Some economists have been predicting high levels of inflation and perhaps it will rocket upwards, but we just haven’t seen it.
(http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/data/inflation_expectations/)
Skipping tanks with free exp. AFKing them is a way better idea.
Skipping tanks with free exp is a bad idea.
My only two tier 8 prem’s are Type 59 and KV-5 >.>
… no regrets.
I think more attention should be given to tier II~IV tanks, a place where non-noobs can play them and not seal-clubing.
I would disagree that bad stock tank would help gold sales either, as those less devoted players may gave up an entire line when they reach those tanks.
I think clan war should be premium players only; you can be a clan member without premium, but you need it if the clan want to stack your tank on.
You should be able to buy some “Historical Battle ver.” tanks; i.e. people can buy a Ferdinand that is available in Historical Battle, but it cannot be play on random until you have it researched.