Verblonde

You know you're doing something right when you attract one of them...!

One of my favourite games - still a regular escape when WG are being especially 'if they were an ice-cream flavour, they'd be Pralines & Richard'...

It won't let me vote for two DDs only: I won't be playing any cruisers or BBs (the latter because they smell and their mothers dress them funny)...? I'll also be giving a few T6 DDs a lash, and none of them is included...

Agree - the more interesting, and real, ships in the game the better (depending on implementation in the case of Ise!)...

I don't care about the rank I reach, and just view it as a nice mid-tier romp, where you aren't constantly facing lots of things of higher tier and with concealment modules. If there weren't missions that are more efficient in other modes, I probably wouldn't play Randoms much at all (at least until I get gored with T7)...

Huh? There's a furry creature called a genet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genet_(animal)) Are we being zoological here? The far less plausible explanation may be that the OP reset a line with a 21 pointer at the apex, and is vexed that he can't use that captain on the various ships in the regrind without retraining. When you reset a line, all your ships are sold, as we know, the upgrades get dismounted for free, and the captains get sent to reserve and remain trained for whichever silver ship they came from. OP: the sensible way to proceed is to maintain a captain for every ship in the regrind line that you'll play (usually a minimum of T5-10); that way you avoid expensive and/or time-consuming retraining. Any further resets should then be done with the same line, so getting the most out of those captains and avoiding having to spend resources elsewhere... Personally, I feel the genet is a more interesting explanation...!

Do my old eyes deceive me? Someone is distressed that Thunderer got a (largely irrelevant) nerf? Fellow forumites - don't let me down...!

On the other thread discussing the event, most people seem rather less than enthused about the whole business (largely to do with the time gating?); perhaps the non-forum population is in agreement too, for once...?

As far as I know, the quarterly (?) x2 resets are as good as it gets; beyond those (as @But_Can_You_Meme says, the most recent was of the order of a week ago), the only real timing thing is to make sure that you time your resets such that you aren't without any crucial ships for particular missions/events etc. (the most obvious being snowflakes, but tier-specific things like Clans/Ranked might be impacted depending on which line you reset). BTW unless you lack patience, it's usually worth resetting only one line at a time (IMO, the only time the points haul is worth the effort/resources is when there is a x2 in place), and do the same line each time - it's easier then to ensure you have a decent captain available for each ship you're going to play. For instance, my usual reset line is the IJN torp DD line; besides being the second cheapest (from an xp perspective), I have 19+ point captains for T6-9 having done several resets previously, which makes subsequent ones less painful (and I don't have to waste resources on retraining/new captains). It also helps that I have several premiums that can fill in if I need 'Tier X IJN ship' for missions whilst the main line is being reground. In terms of the play versus free xp balance: I usually free xp up to T5 (the first one you have to play to get the RPs), and after that free xp modules, and mostly play to unlock the next ship, with maybe a bit more free xp if I'm fed up with playing something (most usually the T7!) or am getting impatient...

Never under-estimate the power of a majestic 'tache! If one selects a suitably mustachioed captain, that's a solid +1% on yer WR right there...! It's a fundamental law of wossname (like 'red ones go faster')...

I'll have a proper read after work, but my initial impression of this event is too tightly time-gated, so not worth bothering with. In previous years, WG have come up with rather more compelling reasons to not get out in the fresh air more...

Welcome @_SangAlotOfSyllables from another North American (kind of - originally from the UK)!

Additionally, if you want to get a sense of this year's Black Market, this piece on The Daily Bounce tracked it: https://thedailybounce.net/world-of-tanks/world-of-tanks-black-market-2021-leaked-upcoming-deals/

It's a bit difficult for me to judge, as I'm a bit flaky on how many WOT players there actually are. My memory of the most recent event is that there were multiple thousands of things available, but I'm uncertain as to the ratio between things and players (sorry that isn't very helpful). There was also more than one mechanic for the auctions: some were fairly standard auctions, whereas others had closed bids etc. As far as I recall, there have been some highly desirable things available through the Black Market, and for different types of currency (both silver and gold), although WOT doesn't seem to to have the plethora of currencies that WOWS does. Last time, there were quite a few desirable/interesting premiums available for silver, as well as doubloons; I was actually surprised how many decent things were available for silver. I wasn't paying close enough attention to what a lot of things sold for (as I had them already, so didn't bid), but the impression I got was that 'good but not legendary' things seemed to go for reasonably sensible prices, whereas one or two 'key' things went for far more currency than they were worth. Assuming the WOWS version functions similarly to WOT, my view is to assess what you think any particular lot is worth to you, and bid accordingly. For instance, there is a lot of enthusiasm in some quarters for Benham; the other T9 premiums cost about 54 UKP (plus change); how much - if at all - more is Benham worth compared to them? I can see some fairly lunatic bids *if* Benham features in the auction (I've no idea if she will), but I would advise against them - I have Benham and she isn't *that* much better than the alternatives. That said, if she did appear in the auction for silver, then go nuts if you have plenty in reserve!

I voted 50 million, although it'll probably be lower. I'm assuming this is all going to break down in much the same way as the WOT Black Market, although - so far - I've not seen any lots that are as desirable as some of the BM ones. So, I'll put in bids that are reasonable, and if I win, yay, and if not I get the bid back so no worries.

This is the crucial question; realistically, most Ise owners will make a hash of them (maximum points for trying to torp T8 BBs/CVs), but I suspect a lot of the impact will be 'accidental' spotting en-route. Personally, if Ise turns up in large numbers, I think I'll either a) play Kidd a lot, or b) play other games until the Ise 'peak' dies down...

Good point, well made... In principle, that might have been a better way to have implemented Ise, although we haven't seen the Dutch in practice yet - they may well bugger everything up in wholly new and exciting ways.

I kind of suspect that Ise may be the first demonstration of the 'may be nerfed' clause being activated, unless only complete idiots buy her...

You lot seriously still think that the problem with CVs (and now hybrids) is damage to DDs? It is (and always has been) the spotting - with just one Ise in a CV game, you've dramatically reduced a DD's options for intelligent stealth-based play, and you can extrapolate from there what happens with any/every extra Ise. If the CV/Ise(s) can coordinate (so, divisions mainly), cross-dropped torps would be a serious threat, but I suspect that'll be moderately rare unless you sell a *lot* of Ises. Those planes can be shot down? You're joking, right? Most DD AA at that tier is almost entirely worthless. Even if you do shoot the planes down (big if in most cases), you are still spotted and - all together now - the big threat to a DD is the spotting, not the damage. Not really questionable; very sensible, in fact: early part of the game, Ise uses his planes to find the opposing DDs, which his allies sink in short order (unless the DDs are hiding way back, in which case that's a mission kill); the side that loses their DDs first/early is now at a significant disadvantage. Early game damage from BBs is rarely crucial so playing CV isn't a bad idea, provide the autopilot has been set to move the hull into position in the meantime; once the DDs have been dealt with, switch to mainly doing damage with main guns, and an occasional torp drop when opportunity presents. Objectively, Ise looks rather an interesting ship to play (I'll probably pick one up for Ops); the problem is that it makes the existing CV problem for DDs an order of magnitude worse (assuming you sell a reasonable number of them, and people play them), if there isn't a MM cap on them.

And now Hybrids - depending on how many Ises get sold, Bronze could well become a DD-free mode...?

It's a bug that WG have failed to fix so far; you sometimes get something similar with course changes too. I don't know if it's universally the case, but - for me anyway - a right click usually resets things...

If you pick something that uptiers well (Harekaze, for example, or Kagero from the silvers), your tier pick will be mirrored on the other side and there's a reasonable chance that the opposing player won't have picked something as effective. There are a few special cases too; Orkan for instance comes with radar that most other T8 DDs don't - taking her can give your side a radar advantage... On my NA account, I don't have any T9s yet (as far as I remember) and did fine in Bronze with T8s.

I was thinking it's time to break Kidd out again; she uptiers okay, and I'm assuming the T6 Ise will get dumped into T8 games often enough to massacre their planes. It's just a shame that all the fun things that rely on stealth are probably toast. That too - I have a stone base in Valheim's swamp biome to finish building...

Oh <insert name of deity of choice>! You do realise you've (WG) made stealth-based DDs potentially entirely unplayable (assuming people buy this thing)?