Verblonde

Thanks all for the views on the Groz UU; I hadn't been running it as I missed the torps too much in Randoms, but it might be worth giving it another go for Ranked...?

I would mind these moments a lot less if there was scope to do them to the CVs (occasionally) in return. For example, the old 'stealth AA' mechanic via things like concealment build Atlanta was glorious, or bagging planes that had forgotten about Hood's ludicrous rockets. Getting thumped by CVs would - for me anyway - be a lot less annoying if I got to return the favour once in a while...

Isn't it a little early to have been at the absinthe?

Of course not, comrade - this merely reflects the inevitable state of affairs had cruel reality not got in the way of the historical inevitability of glorious Soviet naval engineering... Full disclosure: I play mostly DDs, and tend to think that playing BBs gives you cooties. That said, I do think that a skillfully played KM BB still has a place in the game, if only because it's something that people are unaccustomed to; the bulk of higher tier BBs these days tend to lurk at the back, firing at other BBs, with an honourable few who realise that cruisers/DDs need sinking too. So, if you have something that gets closer, with all those guns and armour, it can really mess up the plans of opposing ships that are expecting the usual "but, muh paintwork!" approach to BB play. Most people (emphatically including me) will struggle to make this work, and it really helps to have people who'll sink the DDs that start to take an interest (when they get over their surprise), but a decent player can wreak havoc with a fatty that doesn't mind taking a ding or two...

Not like-for-like they haven't; whilst we've seen things like the ludicrously expensive Weeb Yamato bundles being introduced, the price for similar things (as opposed to new 'categories') has largely stayed fairly consistent. For example, the (new shiny) basic Strasbourg costs 27.58 UKP, whilst Scharn (not exactly a new shiny) is also 27.58 UKP; other T7 BBs are all around the same sort of price point, regardless of age. You see the same sort of thing with the other classes too.

BTW @Axl06 another reason to spend time at T5+ (as opposed to T4): you can do most of the missions; the current Strasbourg campaign is worth doing, as that a) gets you a T7 premium BB (for Narai, at the very least), and b) unlocks the second Xmas campaign that gives you a bunch of T5 silver ships (and 6 point captains and permaflage for same), which might save you some time and silver. You don't have long to complete this second campaign (assuming you don't buy Strasbourg up front), but several of the ships are pretty decent e.g. T-22, and Furry Taco...

My suggestions fwiw are similar to @ColonelPete's: Play some 'vanilla' examples of each of the classes, from the beginning, and take your time over it; US, and IJN are good places to start, as they were the first nations in the game, so their gameplay is pretty much free from weirdness. I wouldn't blame you for getting to tier IV as quickly as possible though; the plague of T4 CVs is still a problem, and most T3s have an entirely torrid time against them. T4 isn't much better, to be honest, but that's the last tier with +1 MM, and it isn't a bad thing to be forced to focus on your anti-plane kung fu, even if it's frustrating. If you have a 10 point captain (or better) available, perhaps jump to T5; although you start to face +2 MM (hence the need for the captain), the threat of the T4 CVs lessens a bit, and you rarely face more than one T6 CV at once. Once you're in the mid tiers, stay there for a bit, to practice against all the threats that get fiercer at high tiers, but are somewhat less powerful and/or frequent lower down; also, you want to try and gain as good an understanding as possible of what all the classes are up to, even if you end up focusing on a particular favourite (for example, after you've played a torp DD for a bit, you'll never drive your BBs in a straight line - at constant speed - again). Hydro turns up quite early (on cruisers), and the first DD gets it at T5; the first radar ships are a couple of T7 premiums; better to learn against them, where you're mostly dealing with small numbers, rather than at higher tier, where you may face - say - two or three radars, and all manner of powerful hydro, and all at the same time. Concentrate on getting a few decent captains; as you go higher up the tiers, this becomes more important, as they do make a difference. Bear in mind that the (probably bad) captain rework is coming soon; although there is a lot wrong with it, it will give you a free captain respec, so you can reset any captains that you make a pig's ear of (for the duration of the respec). If you are unsure of what your captains should look like, in terms of build, ask on here (but expect different opinions in some cases). When you've got your initial lines to T5-7(ish), perhaps apply some self-assessment: are you happy to go to higher tiers, or do you want to practice more at mid tiers first? If the latter, perhaps do some of the other lines, so avoiding boredom; Germans are worth a look, as are some of the RN lines (DDs especially), and maybe the Russian cruisers. With regards to what to do with your existing higher tier ships: play T6 and T7 in Ops (perhaps avoiding Newport), and play the rest in Coop, until you're content that your skill-set has caught up. Atago is an excellent trainer for your IJN cruiser captains, and Eugen does something similar for the higher tier Germans; even the xp from Coop will make a small difference. Try and find some experienced players to division with, ideally on voice comms - they can provide you with helpful real-time hints and tips. Perhaps play Bronze Ranked: there are plenty of weak players in there already, and it's easier to keep track of what's going on with the small teams and small maps. Bow out, if you find it too painful though; I'd perhaps view it as a way of gently testing how your skills are coming on against more powerful ships, but fewer of them compared to Randoms...

Earnings is the only reason I can really think of - you get the full premium coefficient with things like Neustra, Benham etc. Neustra might be a decent pick due to the zombie heal, and decent concealment, even without the earning capacity...

Addendum: long may Halland be played by the mightily tuberous - it reduces the chances of one of my favourite ships getting nerfed!

No sore toes here - no worries! My feeling is that Halland is very good, but she wasn't my first choice for Ranked because mine has a more 'generalist' build i.e. she's fairly balanced between torps and dakka, whereas my Smaland leans more heavily towards the latter (I believe the basic guns are the same). Smaland is much less good against fatties than Halland (even more anaemic torps), but in Ranked, obliterating the enemy DDs is more likely to result in a win than knocking chunks off said fatties. Also, the engine boost on Smaland is notably better than on Halland; even though it doesn't run for long, that can save you often enough to be helpful. Combine all that with the fact that - probably - a rather wider range of skill-set players have Halland, and the stats make absolute sense. I suspect a good player may be able to wreak more havoc with a Smaland too, thanks to the radar, which may have an impact (sadly, I'm not a good player though)...

Remember kids, don't get bladdered prior to attempting Ranked...

Besides what @NikolayKuznetsov said, Halland also has this reputation for being about the only DD that can stand against a CV; regardless of how erroneous that idea may be against a good CV driver, she's an obvious pick for players who are concerned about CVs, regardless of whether they can actually play her or not.

Khaba was one of my more recently unlocked T10s; luckily, being an avid reader of the forum, I was expecting her to be dreadful and I was not disappointed...! (To be fair, she's useful to have around for doing missions in Coop.)

In all seriousness: what did you expect would happen, given the phraseology used in your OP?

I tend to agree with this, but then I'm not terribly concerned with achieving heroic ranks - for the fairly basic reason that I'm not good enough to do so without a great deal of aggravation. For me, it's a just a 'small map - small team' variation on Randoms, with some nice rewards. I can imagine though, that for better players, it can be an entirely exasperating experience as - at least to some degree - persistence can get you almost as far as actually being good can....

If player count is an issue at lower tiers, I would suggest having consistent and meaningful missions that can be done at those tiers. At the moment, there are multiple pressures to advance to T5 as quickly as possible, and relatively few incentives to linger...

They aren't; I recently started using my NA account, and you have to play a reasonable(ish) amount of games before Ranked unlocks - I've just unlocked it, and according to WOWS numbers, I'm showing 92 battles (I think); that's not enough for a newbie, really, but at least it's not a dozen...

This. I may have been lucky, but the quality of the games in Bronze seemed to go up dramatically in the last couple of hours or so before curfew... FWIW I've been playing DDs exclusively - Cossacks (edit: plus a few games in Orkan) in the main phase, and Smaland to qualify.

Are we referring to the competition that's running to try and persuade people to play the new American fatties (https://worldofwarships.eu/en/news/sales-and-events/red-white-blue-steel/)? Normally, I sign up for any and every competition, regardless of whether I have the slightest chance of doing well (spoiler: I don't have a chance!), but this time I didn't. There is a crucial problem with this latest event; specifically, it requires one to actually play the damn things, and I have some paint that requires close observation whilst it dries...

I don't mind at all!

I agree, but if the contrary is in fact happening, I can take a guess as to why: I don't remember the detail, but around the time that the PA ships first turned up, I vaguely recall some Chinese (as in the usual China that we mean when we say 'China') folk got their knickers in a twist over having the Taiwanese flag in game, as they view the latter country as belonging to them, and not as an independent nation. It wouldn't surprise me if WG decided to take the 'easy life' (and 'easy money' too, of course) route, and hide scary Taiwanese flags from easily distressed Chinese folk...? On reflection, it's probably just as well that Tibet isn't known for its navy...

Just qualified for Silver FWIW. I'm too lazy to find the threads, so to riposte to the 'qualification is too hard' individual who was getting excitable earlier in the week, my qualification sequence (finished a few minutes ago): LWWLWWW. That's from a 48% WR player, which suggests that getting out of Bronze really isn't that hard... Edit: I'm getting the impression that there seem to be fewer enthusiastic ingestors of Uhu's finest wares around towards the end of the Ranked 'day' - if that's real, and not just luck, that might be of help to anyone who still wants to qualify.

Not at all - there isn't any reason to be rummaging around down there; it's not like most of the tech trees have options of that sort.

It was a pleasure to see you too!

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