Sander93

​More of a fix than a bug I suppose. 57mm values were really odd compared to the Bofors.

In Des Moines:

Did Wargaming really not see it coming that by using absolute numbers for the contest (pure amount of damage, kills, etc.) the balance between the two teams would be upset because of an unequal number of players? They should've used averages to remove the factor of uneven teams.

​People will always complain

Really like that 'skin', I hope they will introduce plenty more for other ships.

​Kinda doubt Des Moines would've survived the same amount of punishment this Hindenburg received. But yes, the Des Moines is extremely good against US battleships in close quarters.

In the end you should've aimed for the stern (for 3-5k volleys) instead of the extremely angled belt / superstructure. Hindenburg AP has pretty poor penetration so even at CQC I usually aim for bow/stern or superstructure.

Skipped to the tier 6, which is nothing but a pretty poor ship. Without IFHE (don't really want to pick it because t7-9 have no use for it) it can hardly do any damage. And I haven't even been in tier 8 battles yet. I have no idea why WG decided to nerf the reload this much, because I can't find any real redeeming qualities. Mobility is good but nothing special. Turret traverse is nice but doesn't really help much. Armor feels like any tier 6 cruiser. The 10 seconds reload is ridiculous. It's not good at doing HE damage and it's not good at starting fires. AP only works at close ranges. This ship is nothing compared to Cleveland and Aoba.

​It didn't need the ROF buff but it certainly needed to be made less vulnerable. It was the worst performing tier 10 CA (looking at 10% best players it was almost 20k behind in damage) because its power was too situational to compensate for the weaknesses. And WG buffed it with care imo, in small increments.

Finally! This will make the Des Moines so much more comfortable to play.

​No idea what they updated to be honest, I don't see any differences. The model appears to be slightly smoother but that could've been due to the map's lighting as well.

​IIRC this was disproved a long time ago. Nothing was changed to the shells, but there was a huge mobility update for all ships that made them much harder to hit at longer ranges. There's a comparison video about it somewhere.

I don't know why everyone is so angry about this, the buff makes sense to me. Ever since the release of the tech tree whenever I saw a tier 8 German BB near me I would go like 'oh phew it's a Tirpitz not a Bismarck'. The torpedoes are highly situational and often can't be used when facing better players, which made the Bismarck the uncontested better choice. I'm sure I'm not the only one who barely played the Tirpitz anymore ever since getting the Bismarck. Now, both ships will be roughly equal and players who happen to own both (raises hand) now get to actually choose which one they'd prefer: hydro/AA or torpedoes. I think it's a logical change. Observational bias, plenty of times WG also applies gentle nerfs or buffs. A prime example I can think of is Des Moines: buffed the armor by 2mm once, buffed the AP shells slightly once, buffed the reload by 0,5 seconds once, now buffed the deck armor by 3mm. There are plenty of other examples.

Wouldn't long range plunging fire come in at such an angle that normal penetration mechanics apply instead of autobounce/overmatch? As for short to medium range enhanced protection I'm not talking about shots to the bow, but rather the shots that happen to stray upwards and find themselves hitting into the deck instead. While these would previously overmatch and penetrate, they will now bounce. Meaning Des Moines will take half as much damage while charging battleships. This is what makes sense to me, I could be wrong. I'm no expert on game mechanics, I'm just very good at shooting stuff.

I still wonder if Henri IV will be worth it now. I might grind up to tier 9 at least since I really liked the Saint Louis on the test server.

​There is a mechanic in the game called overmatch. As long as the caliber of the gun is 14,3 times larger than the armor plate's thickness the shell will 'overmatch', meaning it will ignore the angle and penetrate for full damage regardless. With the Des Moines' deck armor currently being 27mm, all guns with a caliber bigger than 14,3x27=386mm would be able to 'overmatch' the deck armor, meaning shots straight from the front or back into the deck would penetrate for full damage even if the shell hits at a very small angle ('horizontal' shots from up close). Now that the deck is being buffed to 30mm, all guns up to 14,3x30=429mm will 'autobounce' when they hit the deck at such angles instead. This means the Des Moines will be much tankier at close to medium ranges when angled properly towards the target. For the Germans it doesn't really do much at tier 9 and tier 10, because 14,3x27=386mm and all battleships at these tiers have guns with a bigger caliber but it does make them a bit tankier versus Tirpitz/Bismarck and against small caliber (152/155mm) HE guns, This is because HE penetrates armor at 25% of its caliber, meaning 155mm guns penetrate 155/4=~26mm of armor. The previous 25mm would thus be vulnerable to HE penetrations while the new 27mm no longer is. However, this no longer applies when IFHE skill is used (which gives higher HE penetration). If you want to understand these mechanics better (for what its worth) I suggest you look up some topics or sites, there are plenty of people who have explained it better than I can.

Well guess it's time to dump the Bismarck and dig up the Tirpitz from the pile of dust she currently resides in. The torps are way better than hydro imo. Secondaries were the only reason I choose Bismarck over Tirpitz.

Test server is down unfortunately so I guess we'll have to wait till Thursday.

I don't think I have replays enabled, unless it does so automatically these days. Can't find a replays folder? Sorry. What are the GNB requirements you're talking about? Grand Naval Battles? I don't really follow the news these days. ​Got a bunch of citadels on several cruisers that I managed to ambush, then got more citadel hits when I finished off the carrier in the end. He was actually targeting me all match long, I suppose he was a bot.

​As others have said there are numerous examples of similar odd mechanics in the game already. There needs to be some form of realism yes, but an enhanced mobility consumable would fall well within the current borders of gameplay-over-realism. Just like other consumables like radar, defensive AA and repar parties.

​While your other points are valid, this one isn't entirely true. XP income also varies ship to ship because each ship has its own XP (and income) modifier. It can't really be used to compare.

You don't see a game with well over 4000 base XP every day

I do like the concept of the speed boost, found it pretty nice on the Saint Louis on the test server. The problem however is that in it's current form it doesn't really​ give them an edge. Perhaps it could work if the speed boost improved all mobility stats, i.e. also giving it a smaller turning circle, making the ship bleed less speed while manoeuvring, faster rudder shift and boosting the speed even more in a straight line. Then it could truly have an effect on the game as it would make dodging shells a lot easier.

​Finally a new campaign, about time. I finished the first two months ago. I've even completed almost every single mission by now (except for some CV ones).

​If you suspect an enemy ship is yolorushing you, try to turn away as soon as possible. It's tempting to keep sailing straight on because your BB is at an advantage in that situation (up to the moment he gets to torp you) but if you're not sure you can kill him before then, take your loss and turn around. Sure you'll expose your sides for one or two salvos but taking some AP damage is better than getting torped. Personally I usually aim for the superstructure if well-armored cruisers charge me. You'll get overpens but at least you'll do solid damage and you might even penetrate the deck armor or knock out the main battery. Aiming for the bow usually makes most of the shots bounce unless you get a lucky citadel penetration, and I rarely get lucky.