The game starts with my tank in the ground, cannot move, cannot do anything, quickly restarted in the hope that maybe i can rejoin the game and help my team somehow, but no, WG penalized me for this.
I cannot wait for the moment i get enough of this and finally quit the game.

Yeah, I’m saying it out loud: I am utterly sick and tired of the Tier VIII – IX meta.

Does anyone even know how many Tier VIII Premiums exist in this game anymore? Because at this point, I feel like Wargaming pumps out a new pixelated fortress with ridiculous stats every single week. Add the rampant bot situation into the mix, and every match feels like a rigged 5 vs 25—5 actual human beings trying to play, versus 15 enemies and 10 "special" teammates who seem to be actively working for the enemy intelligence.

As Sun Tzu famously said in The Art of War:

"Know yourself, know your enemy, a hundred battles, a hundred victories."

But how on earth are we supposed to know our enemy when there are 500 different prototype premiums with zero historical relevance?

I genuinely believed World of Tanks was dead to me. My playtime dropped by nearly 90%, and the game just sat on my drive collecting digital dust.

Then a few days ago, I decided to take a nostalgia trip back to Tier VI with my favorite historical tank—the Tiger I.

And man... what an absolute breath of fresh air. It felt like taking off a pair of lead boots after running a marathon.

Here is why Tier VI (and the Tiger I in particular) feels like a completely different—and vastly superior—gameplay experience:

• A humanly digestible tank pool: There’s a reasonable number of tanks at this tier. You can actually remember their names, their roles, and where to shoot them without needing a master’s degree in WoT armor profiling.
• Armor actually means something (and has weak spots): No absurd hulldown monsters that sit behind a ridge and become completely invulnerable. Sidescraping exists, but if someone peeks at a bad angle, they get punished. Weak spots are real!
• Bottom tier isn't a death sentence: When matchmaking throws me into a Tier VII game, I can still fight back, trade shots, and carry my weight. Compare that to Tier VIII getting absolutely obliterated by Tier IX gold-spammers, or Tier IX being mere target practice for Tier X autoloaders.
• People actually W-key: Players don't sit in bushes until their tanks grow moss like they do at high tiers. Matches are fast-paced, aggressive, and dynamic right from the start.
• No ridiculous alpha/shock damage: You don't lose 70% of your HP pool in 0.1 seconds from some unspotted monstrosity (well, except for the occasional glorious KV-2 fridge launcher, but at least that thing takes an eternity to reload).
• No ridiculous gimmicks or sci-fi mechanics: Tier VI is pure, honest World of Tanks. You don't have to deal with absurd jet-boosted rocket heavies charging at you at 60 km/h (looking at you, BZ-176 and DZT-159), toxic autoreloaders clipping you for all your HP in 2 seconds, or weird siege-mode shenanigans. It's just armor, guns, and positioning (I added this based on the comment of Guttemips - Thank you*)*

Now, to be fair, Tier VI isn't entirely a paradise:

1. The Clickers (Arty): SPGs at Tier VI fire like automatic machine guns. They are fast, annoying, and persistent.
2. The Full-Gold Warriors: Every now and then, you bump into a 60% win-rate reallife sweatlord firing 100% premium ammo at Tier VI. But hey, as the old saying goes, "Work smarter, not harder." With good positioning, map awareness, and a bit of sidescraping, you can still outplay them. It’s a mild nuisance, not a game-breaker.

Going back to Tier VI made me realize why I fell in love with this game in the first place years ago. Attached is a picture of my trusted Tiger I enjoying some well-deserved glory!

Has anyone else given up on the high-tier rat race and retreated to the lower tiers to save their mental health? What's your comfort tank?

I have accumulated 20 tokens. What is the best tank to spend them on? Or I should earn full 28x and buy the most expensive ones?

I like playing lights and heavies, I enjoy dealing damage and don't want to stand in bushes. It either has to be fast with good gun or well armoured and comfourtable overall. I am an average Joe, slightly above 51%

Are these token tanks premiums? If yes which of them earns most? How good is Cobra for example?

Like. 2v5, and 2 mins left, and you decide to go for kills instead of helping me cap the base????

*friendly proceeds to die, then loses game with 22sec left in cap*

What's even more annoying? He agreed to fall back with me but immediately went the other direction :/

Sorry for the vent

Honestly, they should give away free Tier X lines more often during special events, such as Christmas or the game's anniversary, but only to players who have at least one Tier X vehicle in their garage and at least 1,000 battles.

i loaded up into a game of light onslaught and my camera was bugged under the ground. I couldnt move, couldnt shoot, couldnt use my ability i couldnt even look arround. I was stuck like this the whole game. My friend was also bugged but he could at least move forward. After we lost i got a warning for being afk. As if i could do something about it.}
Ive seen in other games multiple players being "afk" and thought they were just bots but i guess its a bug.

Something is really wrong with the server since the update WG. So many times it feels like shots just vanish, u click shots don't go or u move and your tank takes a bit to respond. I even had pingplotter running in background to see i am having any packet loss, no its not my internet. You definitely feel these kind of things when you have played this game for years and something is different, like using a new mouse with less dpi.

I finally managed to 3-mark the Manticore after just under 200 games, and honestly, the grind from 93% to 95% almost drove me insane.

For my main setup, I used CVS, Bond Optics and Bond Exhaust. I also had a second setup with Rammer, Vents and Improved Aiming, but I barely used it. Maybe once in 100 games, mostly on Himmelsdorf if it was not banned. I didn't even tried with bond bino, but think this setup works perfectly well

During my last 30 games, when I was fully focused, I averaged around 6,700 combined damage and assistance. You often need to be prepared and take some end-game balls to carry your team.

The requirement is around 5.7k combined, which is massive, so I would only recommend playing when you are relaxed, rested and ready to fully concentrate. Do not force games when you are tired, annoyed or already tilted, because one careless battle can erase the progress from dozen good ones.

For me personally, this was the hardest challenge I have completed in my 15 years of playing the game.

The first thing I would say is: never give up on dealing damage.

Spotting is obviously important, but you cannot completely rely on your teammates. Ideally, you want around 2–3k dmg. Sometimes you can make the perfect spotting play and still get nothing...

If you get a bad map, do not immediately lose hope. Try to reach around 4k combined, accept that it is probably not going to be a huge game, and move on to the next one.

And of course, typical WG RNG: in more than 150 battles, I got Prokhorovka only once. That was probably one of the most frustrating parts of the grind.

At the beginning of almost every battle, my first goal was to counter the enemy light tank. One of the best things you can do is proxy spot known light tank bushes and positions.

A lot of players are actually afraid of the Manticore and will not easily peek or push into you because they know they will probably get spotted. You can use that fear to control certain areas of the map without even firing.

Most light tanks are manageable, but the biggest counters for me were the Tesák and the EBR. Both can suddenly decide to YOLO you, so in those matchups it is better to play more passively at the start and stay close to your team’s support.

Once the enemy light is dead, then you can really start dancing around the map.

My playstyle is normally aggressive, but reading the map is mandatory in this tank. You should always play on the side where your team has enough guns to support your spotting. There is no point lighting five tanks if nobody can shoot them.

If you notice that your team is not supporting your flank, pull back. Do not stay in a position just because it normally works. Preserve your HP, relocate and wait for another opportunity.

Another very important thing is learning when you are allowed to shoot. You need to understand camouflage, enemy view range and at what distance heavies and tank destroyers cannot spot you, even if you are sitting in the open.

I usually tried to keep around 180–200 metres of distance when shooting, depending on the enemy tank, bushes and the overall situation.

Also, this applies to every tank, but it is especially important in the Manticore: preserve your HP.

Do not make some stupid, unnecessary move just to fire one extra shot. It is almost never worth it. Losing half your HP or dying for one shot can completely destroy your late game.

The only possible exception is killing the enemy light tank, but even then, it has to be a very specific and extreme situation.

I also never tried to completely copy players like iyouxin or rely too much on high-level commentary. Their content can definitely help, but I think it is more important to develop your own style and understand which positions and decisions work for you.

For me, the biggest lessons were to always combine damage with spotting, counter the enemy light, stay alive, avoid unnecessary shots, play around your team’s guns and never mentally give up because of a bad map.

The Manticore is extremely unforgiving, especially above 90%, but once everything starts to click, it is probably one of the most rewarding tanks in the game.

Feel free to ask me anything about setups, maps, positions, specific matchups or the marking process.

Note: On the last screenshot you can find funky position and how extremly difficult to spot manti even on 70m

Following post on my KV4 rage.

Are the two next considerably better?

Someone advised me to quit the line.

I have IS-7, but the IS-4 seems better, (much) better armor, much better pen, allowing for more consistent damage and better outplays, that's why I went for it.

Thanks.

I've been working hard for the past 2 years to actually get better at the game and improve my stats. I enjoy the game quite a lot, but I hate getting called out on my win rate from many years ago.

I took my win rate from 46% to 48,5% in the span of 10,000 battles and my recents are significantly better now. I even reached consistent blue WN8. I almost never platoon, when I do I play with a friend who is actually a bit worse than me.

Even after all this effort, I still get called out consistently by stat shamers. The guy in the screenshot (they were the XM57) had terrible positioning and he was the one calling me out while I was fighting the enemies over a key objective. He even has worse recents compared to me and he still decided to stat shame me.

I will keep moving forwards, maybe in another 2 years I'll go over the 50% barrier and finally be done with these types of messages. The issue is that WR moves very slowly the more battles I accumulate on the account.

Edit: thank you everyone for your support!

La la la la

About 5 of the kills at the end were one shot.

This is insane what are we doing.

Also i cant log in the letters are always "incorrect"

this thing is amazing, so far all of the complaints about it seem unwarranted

I was analyzing the average win rates of tier XI tanks and saw some weird discrepancies in the stats of tanks that are the only members of their subclass.

The Borkenkaefer is the only tier XI light tank. The Imbattable is the only tier XI support heavy. This means that they are always paired against one another in the matchmaker. Whenever one wins, the other loses, with the exception of draws.

That being said, the average WR of the Borken is 49,36%, whereas the average WR of the Imbattable is 49,75%. This means that games with Borkenkaefers lead to more frequent draws.

Why do you think this is this the case? I would have imagined light tanks can facilitate the game to progress, whereas not having a light would lead to more stagnation

Flash, Spark and Supernova are the newest crucible missions out, and you can now restart these missions for credits or even for free only once. Only the Flash and Supernova missions have these new restart prices and I think all future "cru-ssions" should be restartable with credits and bonds because I'm willing to pay for those prices, despite the whole point was Wargaming wanting to drain gold out of us for not so worthy rewards.

Listen, I LIKE this game. I want more new players to play on NA.

But every time a special BP comes out and I play tier V to get BP points, EVERY SINGLE GAME HAS A LEFH. And it just NUKES people. It has ZERO counterplay, and even if you get up on one, it can just kill you like an armored TD.

If the enemy team has one, and you DON'T, the game is a wash.

Just nerf it. People will STILL buy premium tanks if you nerf the LeFH. I PROMISE you.

Please Weegee i am tired i just want to finish my dailies

So far I figured out those here perform pretty good:

Heavies: E-65 Zwilling
Meds: Iron Arnie, Kpz 07 RH, Obsidian, Borat
Lights: LT-432, BC-12t, EBR-FL
TDs: ShPTK

What do you think, what other tanks perform well in your opinion?

WG will never see another $.01 from my account. I've played a lot of turretless TDs. WG has made too many F'n "subtle" map changes that negatively affect a turretless TD and tanks with little gun depression. Two of their favorite map tricks are: 1) cut the size of a "sniping" bush in half, usually removing the half that gives the best camo, 2) they will place a "hump" in or near the bush that forces a player to expose his low gun depression tank gun to take a shot. This appears to be done to "speed up the game" = more money in wg's pocket and less money and less fun on the players part. So, really, just fuck you wg.

I am aiming to get the Jg Pz E 100 but i will probably play more with the Jagdtiger so i wanna know how i play it correctly.

I already have the Rhm Pzw as my choice for the tech tree giveaway during last year's Christmas. Safe to say, it's not the best first impressions. I got spotted way too often trying to play like a mini Leopard 1, and my map awareness back then wasn't the most advanced. That said, now I've learned alot more, and played somewhat better with paper medium tanks like AAT-60, should I give mr Rhm Pzw another chance?