Verblonde

The click to participate button as at the bottom of this article: https://worldofwarships.eu/en/news/sales-and-events/missions-0103-weekly-1/

I agree with both of you: if I were going to have just one, I would go with the original Harekaze in a heartbeat - the balance between dakka and torps is excellent, and her AA is enough to keep at least T6 CVs at bay (and T8 too, if the driver is a bit of a klutz - which happens often enough to be relevant). This however is also relevant; I don't feel that I've been stupidly masochistic (at least on the basis of a massive two battles, once with a CV present and the other without; radar in both) buying her, but that the original is better. Although the summary 'carp German DD'* isn't entirely unfair, the dramatic stealth advantage that Harekaze II gets isn't to be sniffed at, and 5 km hydro (if memory serves) - whilst not Loyang standard - isn't bad either. TL;DR Original Harekaze is undoubtedly better - IMO - but there is certainly fun to be had with Mk 2, at least until WG nerf her (when they remember Tsushima happened) and/or subs ruin the game. Whether she's good value until that happens is a rather different kettle of piranhas though; for me, yeah, but quite likely not for a lot of other folk. BTW this is from my personal - non weeb - perspective; if you enthusiastically Embrace The Weeb, that may change your personal calculus (although Mk 2 doesn't come with an interesting alt cammo option like Mk 1 does, and doesn't include an anime captain of any sort that squeals in Japanese in your ear)... *Edit - I'm thinking of the original KM DDs here; so far, Harekaze II has undoubtedly been more fun than any of the 'new' KM DDs that I've tried (T7-9, across various accounts).

100% WR at time of writing - clearly OP...! Being serious, the guns are largely worthless; presumably, that's the cost you pay for getting fully upgraded Kagero torps and hydro, compared to the original Harekaze.

I was trying to say (poorly) that the impact of MM is much less on Harekazes than on most other things...

I'm wondering how many people will even notice that small bit of text (given how many people had conniptions over Black Friday missions, for example). I imagine a substantial box of popcorn will be in order as and when the first of these premiums gets nerfed, and people go mental on here...

Essential cultural reference from my yoof, right there!

Nah - she's better than that. 5.4 km concealment works against everything that isn't planes (radar doesn't get any longer ranged with tier, so T10 radar is no worse than T8), so she uptiers pretty well. Mind you, I tend to play at weird hours, so don't get as many CV games as you would - say - at prime time on a Saturday...

This is the problem for me as well; in the specific case of WG, the phrase 'about as far as I could comfortably spit a rat' covers the level of trust I have in them these days... For 'nerfable' premiums, my thought process has switched to 'will I get sufficient fun out of this thing in two months to justify the spend?', as that's (give the usual cycles) the fastest that WG could ruin the thing, on balance of probability. Previously, the timeline was more 'as long as the game lasts' which puts a very different complexion on ships I'd only play occasionally.

For anyone struggling to discern the difference in the shop/Armory between the two Harekazes: This is the graphic for Mk 2 (Armory only, at time of writing) - note single barrel at the front: This is the graphic for the original (Shop only at time of writing) - note double barrels at the front, and alt cammo in the background: Just in case this is of use to someone.

Nah - they're different ships: The original is the one without hydro, but three different gun options (the 'most of an Aki' one is generally felt to be the best one), and better AA. The Mark II is - I think - available in the Armory [sic] and gets hydro, fully upgraded Kagero torps (Mk I's torps are weaker), *much* worse guns, and the usual dreadful Kagero AA. Importantly, Mk II gets the 'may be nerfed' label, so WG could easily Richard with it at some point. If you have neither, buy the original - she's far better (although not idiot-proof to play). All new premiums since (and including) Flandre have had it, so I'm assuming so. Objectively, it's good for the overall health of the game (although small beer compared to the potential submarine catastrophe), but it does mean you - potentially - have rather less time to get your money's worth from a premium purchase. I also note that all the ships that have had it (so far) have been mediocre; I do wonder if WG are doing this deliberately so they can wave at this stuff and say "see, you have nothing to worry about" before starting to release OP monsters for maximum selling and subsequent nerfing...?

This. My feelings FWIW on Mk2: You seem to basically pay for the hydro with entirely dreadful guns. Hydro (5 km) is very nice on a sneaky Kagero hull, especially with a coal mod. + AA is the usual 2.5 km Kagero dreadful. - Guns are bloody awful. - Torps appear to be fully upgraded Kagero ones. + Can be nerfed. - She feels like she does do something interesting i.e. mortal smoke/hydro torp combat at close range, which has the potential to be fun (the guns appear to be almost irrelevant; they don't even turn quickly). That said, I would strongly suggest buying something else (like the original Harekaze for a start); I only bought her because she does something slightly different (plus, of course, I'm an idiot) and I'll probably get my doubloons worth in less time than it takes to a) nerf her, and b) potentially ruin the game with subs.

I can't imagine this is a minority view. I'm not optimistic about submarines at all, given WG's 'recent' (if we define recent as being the last couple of years now) form. I can't believe they are entirely oblivious to the danger here though - they risk entirely (or at least significantly) killing their existing customer base with subs if they mess up the implementation, so one would hope that their raw desire for money will make them at least a bit cautious...

Didn't it used to be suggested that this build wasn't a disaster with a low skill captain? With the old skill setup, the Harekaze with the dakka build was a bit skill point intensive... (Personally, I prefer the dakka build even with a lowly 10 pointer, but still.)

IMO Harekaze I still stands as one of the best premium DDs in the game tier-for-tier, *but*: She's fragile. She's got better AA than Kagero (but then, what doesn't?), but CV spotting can still ruin your day. You also need to beware radar/hydro (especially the former) as she's so dependent on her stealth when you aren't using guns. When you are using guns, you have to pick your spots, such that you don't get blapped by return fire. As I said, I think she's excellent, but you do need your DD kung fu to be on form in the current meta (CVs/radar) and if you hated Kagero/Aki then you may not get on with Harekaze either...

I didn't bother with the mode as I found the encouragement to backstab people distasteful... That probably makes me old-fashioned or just not WG's target market.

We need the ability to add more than one +1 to a post. Immediately.

Glorious turn of phrase, sir - I salute you! Personally, I file sinking CVs under "doing the Lord's work", although I don't get to do it very often myself unless said CV is the mightiest of potatoes...

This. I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist until we see the detail; WG's usual form makes me struggle to believe that whatever mechanism we get will be an improvement, but I suppose it's remotely possible that we may be pleasantly surprised...

I've just messed up (twice) and jumped into battle without a captain, because a) I'm stupid, and b) the game doesn't seem to warn you that you're about to be stupid like it does in solo games. Is this new, or has it always been like that, and I've just been too antisocial to notice?

No idea where this came from (apart from the Twitter handle), but it seems suitable somehow: I suspect I would rate as either option 2 or 4, depending on what sort of day I'm having...!

Half of the art of torp fung fu is knowing when not to launch. Luckily, the basic skill to develop - that of situational awareness - is one of the essentials for the game in general. If you want to avoid hitting allies, simply don't fire when it is physically possible for anyone to get in the way of your torps (the mantra is always "Your torps, your responsibility!"); besides what you can obviously see in front of you on the main screen, keep a close eye on your mini-map (which should be as big as possible) - that'll give you a better handle on where everyone is and who could theoretically get hit. Another good rule to follow is to never torp from the second line (although the previous rule should cover this, it's worth emphasising); the ship you're firing past may have to change course suddenly (to dodge, or throw off RL, or other stuff like that) and they shouldn't have to worry about fire from behind when doing that. Once you've got into the habit of not taking risky torp shots, and only firing when it'll count, you can start adding back in some of the more risky shots, but do so judiciously; sometimes they'll come off and be very useful, but you have to accept that sometimes they won't (and it's still your fault). If you're playing in a division, this sort of thing can be less risky, as you can tell your division mates what you're up to in advance (especially if using voice comms) - you can't assume a random player is reading chat, uses the same language as you and/or hasn't been chat-banned. Finally, we all mess up with torps now and again; if you ever do hit an ally, an apology in chat is the way to go - most people will be pretty calm about it (an occasional Richard-Edward excepted)...

I can never remember which Zed is which, at least the majority of the time; so in my head (a not exhaustive list) we have: T8 Zed. T9 Zed. T10 Zed. New Rubbish Z-39 T7 Zed. New Rubbish T8 Zed With A Name I've Forgotten And The Stupid Torp Layout. New T9 Zed With The Cool Double Turrets, But I Only Have Her On My Alt. Whatever The New T10 Is. T7 Premium Zed That Doesn't Suck (I can usually remember this one is Z-39). T-61, which I can actually remember (hyphen optional). Rubbish Outside Coop T8 Premium Zed With The Cruiser Torps. Boring T9 Premium Zed Without The Hydro. Von Garlic-Flavoured Zed (ZF-6). All The Ones With Names That I can't Remember Either. T-22 Which I Like. (Getting old really does suck, from a recall perspective...)

It's worse than that - she's just a bit dull! I don't mind bad so much if it's interesting, but this is simply meh... The cynic in me is wondering if this is an attempt to flog a few more Z-39s for hard currency; she's 'night-and-day' better than Z-31!

Ah, those; weren't the equivalents last time a weekend thing?

Looks like they're there: In the Dockyard section. Chain 3 is showing as available in seven days... Edit: for completeness, I'm playing on the EU server, but logging in from Canada - that *might* make a difference...?