FTR Technical Post and Contributor Review

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Hello everyone,

it’s the weekly FTR technical post and contributor review, but first – a few things on my mind: a bunch of guys sent me some invite codes. I’ve been distributing them mostly on PM/mail basis, whoever asked. Currently, I have none (so no need to ask for them via e-mail) and the demand is always bigger than what I have. Sorry, doing my best. Thank you guys who sent me the invite codes – Sadomasticator, Koval85, Lazyjustice, Jasiek2112 and others.

I am sorry if I forgot someone, but I got buried under an avalanche of e-mails lately. With 60-70 emails per day, peaking at 200 (usually connected with some issues in the game – I mean, I do try to help you guys, but sometimes I do feel like WG official support service :), I am hopelessly behind and some mails I just can’t answer at all, there’s no time. Everything got also complicated by the end of the year as usual, I got so much things to finish that I kept postponing several things I was working on, specifically the AW FTR (yes, it’s still planned, but my priority in previous weeks was working on the Czech branch, now that there finally are some results to that). Same goes for various other emails, people sending me stuff to read, to watch and to post… sorry guys, really doing my best, but my day just has 24 hours like everyone else’s :(

Second thing – the comments. After seeing the amount of stupid and aggressive shit under the “artillery” article, I decided I’d be much stricter on rude comments. I am talking specifically to you, Medjed and a bunch of others – you’ve been around for a long time, enough NOT to go mental whenever arty is mentioned. The future of FTR for 2015 is not clear at this point – I am notoriously indecisive when it comes to this, because I am just SO tired of it sometimes, so it really can be anything between dropping it completely and going “professional” (whatever that means). One thing is for sure though – should FTR be extended (to AW for example, separate FTR AW is and always will be only a temporary solution), I will probably be forced to review the comments policy altogether. Dunno, we’ll see. I hate taking steps like that. The first one will be (or rather is) RO banning all the accounts, using all the “temporary” one minute emails for registration. Sorry, no sharklasers for you. After reviewing the history of comments coming from accounts registered with these mails – well, as you can imagine, most are trolls (strangely enough, there’s not a whole lot of them, maybe 300-400 accounts, including the double- and triple-alts of some people here). This change will be implemented on next FTR system update.

Well, that’s about it. See you next Sunday or so for the pre-Christmas review. In any case – to honor the contributors, who donated this week via Paypal:

Simon S. (Sweden) – large donation, much appreciated, mate
Radek M. (Czech Republic)
Marvin H. (Texas, United States) – thanks for repeated contributions, mate, much appreciated

Thank you all!

132 thoughts on “FTR Technical Post and Contributor Review”

    • Exactly.. there is just so much shit a person can stand…

      You hate arty? Fine, keep it to yourself,don’t spam FTR with it. I mean, it’s not obligatory to comment..
      But some guys seem to have a problem with that: mostly Medjed(still cant stand the guy and his anti-gay comments from months ago), the Lorraine guy and some others..

        • I think it was way-back when the Sochi olympics took place.. So sometime back in february.. I know the guy was horribly loud about it and I took it very personaly. And since he’s my country neighbour, I completely understand his way of thinking xD

          He did stop with those kinds of comments, but the arty cancer and crap like that hasn’t stopped from him. That’s why I always got surprised how come SS hasn’t comment banned him yet :P

            • Actually, a year ago, you weren’t so..khm, vocal, on the commenting on FTR Woras, that, I can 100% confirm :D You were more of the “the guy who makes cool videos but too cool to comment” ;)

              In a good way of course :D

              • I kind of been such way since….ever? Well, nobody is made of rock, unless its Dwayne Johnson, so I too change over time :D

      • There are sad serotonin-deprived people out there who feel like they have to present their entirely useless and unnecessary (not to mention often unwanted) opinion on the internet.
        Don’t hate them. Pity them.

      • I’m always reading FTR, so firstly great work.

        Your arty arrival was spot on. I myself never played arty until about a year ago when I started the British line for the reasons you quote, to beat them you need to understand them.

        I however enjoyed the different style of play they bring. Your also bang on they are needed in the game to keep the game flowing.

        In my view they are easy to play but hard to master.

  2. Thanks for all the hard work, SS. “For the Record” is the best place to go to feel like you know what’s going on with the future of the game.

    • Agree with Zarkus.

      Liked the arty article even though I don’t play arty a lot anymore. However, good to get into the psy of an arty player and their strategy.

  3. why not apointing a few people who you trust who moderate trough the comments, give them strict and clear rules, in a system that is abuse-proof?

    for example, if you have 10 moderators, at least 3 need to mark it as inapropriate before it gets deleted (not 5 because that would mean a very slow system since not all those moderaters are online at same time)

    • I don’t think that’s necessery. I mean – an average post has between 20 and 50 comments and vast majority is completely normal. It’s posts concerning several “chosen” topics, which are a problem – specifically the artillery in this case. It’s nothing I can’t handle.

      • I wish you good luck with this work. I also hope that the FTR members will be polite enough as to decrease your amount of work on this subject even further…

  4. If you dont want to see those shitstorms against arty, perhaps you shouldnt post those guides on FTR. You never did this with any other class. Anyone who wants to learn more about arty (or any other class) can find shitload of information on forums. I think you just wanted to see people rage and troll:

    “Today we’re going to have a look at everybody’s favorite WOT vehicle class called SPGs, arties, f… clickers, scumbags, lucky bastards, sky pigs, cancer, cowards and worse (see FTR Hall of shame for the full family-friendly list). This is the first part of a 3-part guide that will cover nearly everything associated with these much loved vehicles WG blessed us with.”

    You can post anything there, just dont act surprised when it yield expected outcome.

    • Don’t blame SS for the garbage comments of other people. The blame lies squarely on the people who make those hateful, garbage comments, not with SS.

      • He does have a point tho.
        SS knows how people hate arty and still decided to post that article,IMO he shouldnt done that.
        And no am not gonna defend thoose idiots who were raging in comments.
        And NO am not an arty Player i hate it to bits.

        • “…And NO am not an arty Player i hate it to bits….” So you’re not exactly objective.
          Based on your comment SS should only post things that all people will like. Didn’t he start FTR to get around WG’s censorship? And now you’re saying SS shouldn’t post anything about arty.
          People just need to pull their heads out of their asses.

      • 1) he didnt post anything similiar before (guides).
        2) read his foreword again.
        3) it wasnt particulary entertaining nor beneficial. And the first part is as long as the whole guide could be.

        • Or in other words

          1)Waaah waaaah SS posted something I don’t like ;_; WAAAAAH WAAAH
          2) LOOK! read the obvious case of comedy that I cannot comprehend!
          3)I HATED IT IT WASN’T ENTERTAINING! MY OPINION IS A FACT!!! IT DIDN’T HELP ME SO IT DIDN’T HELP ANYONE! MY OPINION IS A FACT!!!

          Please format your replies like this from now on. Not only does it carry your message clearer but it also provides some comedy.

            • Clearly you have English comprehension difficulty’s.
              A 6 year old can understand the concept of imitation yet you can’t? And you even claim that blatant case of imitation to be an attempt at joining a debate?
              Wow…

    • No one is making you read it either. Don’t like the don’t contribute or read the articles.

        • In what point? Open the site, see it’s about arty (or even see it in RSS already), don’t bother.

          I skipped the Hungarian articles because I am not interested in them. You mean I should have written something bad about “Hungarian branch sucks” and “Nobody cares” because of that? That’s not how it works. There are people who are interested in Hungarian tanks, there are people interested in arties.

          • You’re completely right Nya-chan.

            You like something? Ok, comment about it.
            You don’t like it? Leave it and forget about it.. don’t spew shit and yell why you don’t like since nobody cares.

          • I am not even talking about the original article, although I have read it (its shit, but i dont rage about it, nor do I about arty as a whole on FTR. Only in-game when some shithead oneshots me), I am talking about SS being constantly butthurt about some raging idiots in comments or some cancer wishers in Hall of Shame. I dont care when its occasional, I do when its non-stop!

        • Yes because clearly we are shoving the artillery post down your throat. you just have to read it. Doing so is against humanity.

          Sometimes its best if you try to stay quiet. All you are doing is ridiculing yourself.

    • This just in: a vocal minority of idiots now dictates what a person should post on his personal blog.

      Maybe the expected results are fucking dumb, and SS shouldn’t be pressured into not putting articles because people are too butthurt about a class a tank in a game.
      Poles get a lot of heat in the game, yet you don’t see “SIEMA PL NOOB” or such comments on posts regarding Polish tanks or History.
      So stop being so fucking vocal and frothing at the mouth every time the subject comes up.

      To defend the article, artillery is a unique class in game, with a completely unique camera point of view, shell trajectory and gameplay. It’s perfectly logical to make guides for it.

      • “This just in: a vocal minority of idiots now dictates what a person should post on his personal blog.”

        Not reading it further. See the last sentence. Oh, you cant comprehend it.

          • Banning people for blatant insults and vicious personal attacks, but banning people for trying to start a debate? (because…insults…there?)
            Sad really.

            FTR is gold for translated Q&As, “official” leaks and supertest stuff, I’ve enjoyed some of the EU tree articles (especially Sweden, and to a degree Hungary), but lately its becoming less information and more opinions.
            I can see that being SO tiresome at times, setting up, at least we as readers can skip the parts we don’t like.
            But is it really so bad to question the direction the blog is taking?
            Monopoly is seldom a good thing.

            • Dunno about that. I’m pretty sure the recent Tiger(p) skoda turret and gun was mostly fact based.
              EU tree predictions are pretty fun as well.
              The direction the blog is taking is just getting more diverse IMO. Nothing is really being taken away but more is being added. Although that said, the amount of historical posts are decreasing. Than again there is only a limited supply of historical content that SS can access.
              And this guy wasn’t trying to start a debate. He was being a troll/flamer.

            • Daathcz was “on my radar” for quite some time already. I don’t mind questioning my decisions, not at all – that’s how feedback works after all. I mind mixing it with insults. Meh, okay, I’ll unban him, I hope I made my point though.

              • So you will ban people for mild insults directed at annoying trolls who refuse to debate and challenge my english comprehension skills for no apparent reason? Thas pretty strict, but your house, your rules.

                • Daathcz’s original point was fair and reasonable. To me the original post intro seemed to at best apologetic in advance for the topic, or at worst be a bit of trolling to stoke the comments. As to how the comments are dealt with that is of course Silentstalkers call.

        • I did.
          I also addressed it literately the next sentence. Should you do us the same kindness to read our comments like we did yours, you would understand.

          But you won’t, because as it stands, you are nothing but a troll that’s defending bad behavior because the subject is controversial (but only for that vocal minority).

          • Wanna know why he specifically picked arty as an article subject? Because it’s the only class which people either like or hate so much. If he wrote an article about heavies there wouldn’t be any shitstorm as with that article and what’s better way of increasing traffic on your blog than giving people flaming material and creating the shitstorm yourself under the “guide article” disguise. Stop being so goddamn naive people.

            • Bring the torches and pitchforks!!
              SS is a conspirator, he intentionally brought an arty topic to get more readers..

              Hey Medjed, long time no see. Saying hi before you won’t be able to reply anymore :)

              • If you sincerely believe he picked arty subject to actually educate people how to play it, i really feel sorry for how naive you are. Btw you threatened me for not being able to comment anymore months ago and i’m still here. Btw, your new pic is hot, i’d dick you now ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) See, i’m not anti-gay ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

              • I can only hope he will be banned.
                He’s on the same level of those “Iran are evil nuclear warheads trying to nuclear bomb America and the middle east!” and “Hitler was made up by the Israelis” conspirators. It’s all over the top bullshit.
                Generally annoying, exasperating and irritating people.

    • SS can post what he wants. Even if you don’t agree with the article, you aren’t obligated to leave rage/trash/troll comments that add nothing to the topic.

      • I never said he can’t post what he wants, i merely explained why he specifically picked arty, but reading is hard, i know.

        • Why do you care if he did so or didn’t so anyway? Let’s say that SS did do it to get more people to go to his blog (because that really makes loads of sense). How would that benefit him? More people would discover his articles and enjoy them. Isn’t that a good thing?

    • hey buddy remember before 8.6 if you diddent own an arty your consittered a waste of space and time?

      • I did play arty back then, and? Just saying, that SS should have expected that mess and ban the offenders or close the discussion outright. Rage about arty on ftr is completely pointless and i wasnt even defending those people. End of story.

    • daathcz on December 16, 2014 at 6:30 pm said: “…Anyone who wants to learn more about arty (or any other class) can find shitload of information on forums…”

      I don’t know about the other server clusters, but newbie arty drivers aren’t going to find a whole lot of information on the NA forum on how to play their artillery pieces. Arty how to information threads are overwhelmed by spam from haters and whiners. With all of the map changes, anything over 6 months old is out of date. The WoT training videos just barely cover the most basic of concepts for arty. Same goes for the video reviews by streamers like QB.

      Care to share all of the threads on the EU forums for basic and advanced artillery tactics, daathcz? Just post their URL’s.

  5. Man stay strong and don’t let the haters or trolls get you
    (you can include me in these if you feel so :s)

  6. woot thanx SS for all you work.

    and as long as you dont banned talking about MLP I think rules are ok :P

    twilight sparkle is best pony just in case it does get banned :P

  7. Mate, you know your “stuff”. To maintain that level of daily “output” and to have a life at the same time, is at least remarkable. I really wish you all the best and stay SANE… ;)

  9. I really appreciate your work.

    About the whole haters thing. IMO you should just write at the beginning of an article that is “controversial” (for dumb reasons or not) “This post is about xxx. If you do not like xxx feel free to not read this post and whine unnecessarily”. Or something along those lines.

  10. If you will ever need any help with FTR or AW FTR, PL-ENG/ENG-PL translations or basically anything, I’m up to help ya :)

    Anyway, here’s invite code for sm1 – 500 gold and 3 premium days (only for EU server)

    FA59C-8ZPBK-C38B8-GTG3C-57U9Y

  12. @S-S,
    You are running the benevolent dictatorship here, just turn of comments and let the ones that like to read do so.
    Personally I do almost not play arty any-more after the big nerf (and not so much before) but I like to read about tactics and even that you do not play them so much a lot can nevertheless IMO. be learned even playing other categories within the game.

    -cb99
    (a strong believer that all classes have it’s place within the game)

  13. I used mailinator mail to register here so according to what you wrote, I will be banned. I use that mail on every site because I just don’t want to recieve shitload of spam to my real address. Not everyone using temporary mail is here just to troll. But I fully understand your decision, I think that I will just accept unability to comment anymore. On the other hand, trolls will always find a way to register and comment under new nick.

  14. I don’t think many realize that* there were worse trolls like Kellomies, who was Medjed’s “friend”… Ugh, whenever I think about that bastard I just want to kill him.

    He was capable of trolling more than 10 Medjed coupled together.

  15. EmperorSafirius,you are just kissing SS’s ass.SS will not ban me for this cause no one likes Brownnoses!

  16. SS I want to read more about czech tech tree, arty guides and general hate against WG and russia + anything that makes them weak bloody rage, collect all their tears so you always have enough salt for your soup.

  17. I know carramba and akcido even Frost have their own things to do but you can always hire someone else to help you with translations or “stuff that dont need to be translated” topics. I mean its so much work arround FTR and you are very active (thank you for it, i would send you some money or something but as im 15 i cant :( ). I think you need someone to help you.

  18. so, can anyone please explain me what “RO banning” banning means in the contest of this blog post?

  19. I’m new here and have only just started reading this a couple of weeks ago, Its really interesting and informative and I stop by every day now.

    I really really hope you don’t stop, that would be a massive shame.

  20. I would be saddened if you cancelled the blog, it’s a great insight into what’s going on with one of my favourite games. I have to take the comments with a grain of salt, and sometimes simply skip past them however.

    What about instituting an “ignore” feature? That way, if someone doesn’t like comments from, say, “Woras”, they can choose to ignore him, and go about their reading.

    Just a thought.

    • nah, then i’d have to log in everytime.
      how about disabling commenting at all. haters will cry in their basement, and contributors + followers get game relevant information. it’s a win-win

        • but without censorship you will have this agressive trolls like lorraine or medjed, living in the anonymity of internet where they are allowed to speak, because in reallife they would get slapped into their face by backhand when trying to.

          so do you pick the blue pill or the red pill?

            • Give me your e-mail adress, I will send you a picture of my hangers, so you can put them in your mouth (in your imagination and beyond)

              Or you meet me and my iron bar, so I can break your skull with the first hit

              I prefer second option, but I doubt you have the balls to pay me a flight ticket, so I can come for a short visit (so I will send you my sack)

      • Ha, no offense Woras, but you were the only guy I could think of off the top of my head that is brash and bombastic and could serve as a well-known example.

  21. Have you considered using some guys as moderators who e.g. look through the comments for you? Might help.

  22. Although you got lots of shit for the last artilery post, please ignore them, and post the next parts as well. They are really imformative on how to counter them :)

  23. Even though I have not played World of Tanks in awhile, I still come to FTR to read whatever is here at least once or twice a day. Even some of the old stuff because it is my interest in tanks that is keeping me reading and not just WoT itself. I have been reading since the blog-spot website and I would like to keep reading it. I would like to thank you, SS, for the time spent on this blog. Even if the content changes, please keep on blogging….also post whatever the hell you want, you cant please everyone (preferably not piss off everyone either).

  24. I’ve been here the first time when a friend talked about my Super Pershing getting a hefty nerf. I recognized the place just a month ago, but I checked back here every day since then. Usually for the posts, then a second time for the replies that popped up afterwards.

    The guide was nice for me to read, although I established most of the techniques from experience, I still feel happy to have spent the time reading it all, and am looking forward for part 2.

    The responses was quite hateful, and it makes me wonder why people spend their time composing a series of words to a post they obviously don’t appreciate, without really thinking about the importance of the class, the group of players enjoying the class and/or the post or even the effort taken to make a guide like that.
    They have several options in a situation like that, either play a game, take a walk, to to a party, visit family, cook dinner, look at porn, there’s so many things to spend the time with that’s more positive than writing hateful comments out of sheer ignorance. It’s not a minor issue when it comes in multitudes and it affects everyone.
    This has me concerned and out of selfishness, I hope that it does not bring FTR down, I enjoy this place too much.

  27. As the 2015 is coming, I wish all the best for you SS and FTR – may you both live long and happy! ;)
    And I really hope for more reasonable comments in future and less retarded arty/TD rage posts all over again from the same people.

  28. Kinda sad to see FTR getting invaded by genius think they are always correct. Mxxxx guy, yes I am looking at you :D
    Haha. I will ready up my popcorn =]

    Hate SPG? How terrible. Get out then. Keep doing what you do SS.

  29. Just disable comments SS and save yourself the headache. Genuine people come here for your posts and information, not the mindless drivel in the comments section so they wouldn’t be missed at all imo.

  30. Well I must admit I sort of enjoyed the comments about SPG….
    Not because I agree with those calling BS on the article or raging againts noob players on SPG (I occasionally play SPG, and I think I’m elligible for “noob” category).
    No. It was fun for so many reasons to see how ridiculous this turned out. (did most of them just admit they can’t play games where there are some arties ???)

    However, I do unsderstand how frustrating it must be to see so many stupid comments about a good-will effort to bring some knowledge to the community…

    I don’t know any efficient way to avoid all this rage (comment moderation, up/down-votes, comment reports, bans, etc etc…). None are really efficient IMHO or would consume so much time.

    So you can either disable comments (and lose all the positive sides of discussions and feedback) or just ignore those raging “kow-all” kids… (some would say I just feed the trolls by calling them like this… maybe… but that’s how I see them)

    Keep up the good stuff !