Verblonde

Doubloons; you can then spend them on other things (ships, occasional bits of premium time when you have time to use it, permaflage, etc.). You can - kind of - get two bites of the cherry with premium ships if you have a suitable Armory coupon; I got the same 30% off thing, bought doubloons, and then bagged 25% off a premium ship for doubloons. Depends a bit if you're buying for right now, or for the future, when you've got a bit better; of course, if you get lots of doubloons you could do both. It's generally wise for one's earlier premiums to be ones that work well with your existing silver ships' captain(s); save the 'weirdos' for when you're rolling in elite captain xp. The bulk of your games so far are in DDs, with a decent showing from BBs and cruisers; your current WR is suggestive that some more time spent in the mid tiers would be a good idea, but I assume you'll get better with time. For right here and now, you want T5-7, I suggest; for longer term use, you'll probably want to look at T8. In light of that: You apparently already have T-61, which is a strong candidate for best tier-for-tier DD; she's an excellent match for all the 'small gun' KM DDs in terms of captains skills too. Sims is an excellent match with the silver US DDs and is a nice mix of dakka and (admittedly slow) torps; not wildly stealthy, but very nimble, and tolerable AA. Kidd might be a better long-term pick, although she's more of a 'team play' ship as she is short a torp launcher compared to Sims; she does get a heal though, and the AA is as not-bad as DDs get, outside the Ikeas. Z-39 is also excellent at T7 (and gets a concealment module slot, unusually for the tier), but she might be a bit redundant if you have T-61 already. Haida is glorious at T7, but should be avoided until you have elite xp to spare (no silver ships). Blysk isn't dreadful, but it's a far better idea to get her for coal; same goes for Aigle etc. Basically, don't spend money on ships that you can get for free. Terrible is fun (fastest ship in the game, fully tricked out - I think), but a really bad choice for an early premium, due to being a smokeless DD without a heal. Atlanta used to be essential (AA monster, and generally hilarious dakka), but the tattered remnant left after the reework has left her rather more of a forlorn curiosity; she's quite fun, but not worth it unless you're a collector. Munchen is the only one on your list that I don't have, so can't make informed comment (although you can't use a discount coupon on her yet). Other things that you haven't mentioned might include Cossack and Loyang, both of which are excellent, but don't even think about either until you have a good captain to put in them (with the current captains skills system - soon to change, probably - and your experience level, 13-15 points would be good, but 10 is the absolute bare minimum). Assuming the 30% coupon runs out soon, I would use that to get doubloons; I would then wait a bit and let your skill-set/captains catch up a bit before picking a premium.

Smith is hilarious, but of absolutely zero use from a practical standpoint (missions etc.). Realistically, the only one likely to get reasonable use in the medium-long term is Huanghe (mainly because of Ops) and - as others have said - she isn't easy mode (and, in most respects, Perth is generally felt to be superior, although she has the same problem vis-a-vis captains), and there's no silver line to bag a decent captain from. One positive of even flaky premiums is that having them prevents you getting them again from competitions, gambling boxes, and things of that kind; it's doubtful if that's a good reason to buy them though.

The crucial word in your question - IMO - is 'relatively'; high tiers are generally not new player friendly, mainly because you're facing the nastiest opponents in the game, both in terms of skill and fully equipped ships and captains - mistakes get punished hard. So, essentially nothing is 'friendly' as such, but there are less bad choices. Looking at your stats, BBs sound like a reasonable choice; they also have the merit of being reasonably survivable, so you shouldn't get entirely blapped every time you mess up. I would suggest one of US and IJN lines, as they're the two textbook 'learning to BB' choices (full disclosure: this is a 'do as I say, not do as I do' moment though - my first BB line to T10 was the Germans; that said, I don't play BBs that much and the KM line just sort of happened, mainly due to 'secondaries' missions). I would remind you though that the 'point' of the game is not to get to T10 as quickly as possible; it is often a good idea to linger in the mid tiers before striking upwards (perhaps T8 if you go with the Americans, as the Standard BBs are deeply tedious IMO); there are a couple of notable benefits derived from this: Your skills and experience levels improve, giving you the best chance of holding your own against the fiercest opposition found at high tiers. You'll have the time to get captains that are sufficient to the task; others may disagree, but - as a relative newbie - you probably want *at least* 15 points to have the best chance in T9+ battles. BTW before you push upwards with your BBs, I would strongly suggest diversifying your experience with cruisers and DDs - ideally, get them to a similar tier as your BBs (maybe even play CVs a bit too). The reason for doing this is that it will improve your chances with your BBs e.g. I have a lovely time with my - main class - DDs looking for obvious newbies at high tiers as they're often easy to torpedo into oblivion as they don't know what a DD is trying to do to them; if you've played DDs yourself, you won't fall into this trap (BTW bear in mind I'm not a very good player, and there are far scarier DD drivers out there). Same applies with the other classes too.

The US/IJN lines are usually suggested as first BB lines as they have very little that's weird about them i.e. they'll teach you the universal lessons of 'how to BB'; everything else - to a greater or lesser extent - has some aspect that makes it less universal. In the case of the Russians, they tend to be optimised for effectiveness at a more limited selection of ranges, whilst the British are prone to teaching you bad habits i.e. HE spam (because you can get away with only using HE, many people do, which is a very unhelpful habit to get into). (The Russian line is also almost entirely made up - only Gangut actually sailed - which distresses those with an interest in history, although that isn't a reason to avoid them entirely.)

I've been having a vague play (DDs only), although it's all a bit moot until things get confirmed. I'm assuming the 'standard 10 points' will look a bit like this (basically 'as-is' but you can't take PT for one point any more, and I'd rate Propulsive as more crucial for the initial two pointer): As a tentative 'initial thought' for a RN DD (mainly thinking T10), something like this might be worth a test: One thing that's noticeable is that there are a lot more potentially nice skills than points, so the stated aim of avoiding cooker-cutter builds *might* be achieved; for example, no Intelligence Radio Technician in the above, which many DD meisters consider essential... Edit: Problem with this tentative RN build is that it's more or less what I have at the moment, only with the extra two points spent on the two skills that got more expensive (Argus, and AR).

A second nerf - at what point do we start to ask for the option of a coal refund....?

<starts to drool> I actually meant give the concealment module to Blysk only, but you're right about the other 'spotted from the moon' ships...

Has anyone seen anything official from WG on this point? LWM's edit (in purple) suggests that elite xp may stay as is, but is there an official word on the current thinking? I'd be extremely annoyed if the 'maximised captain' (currently 19 pointers) method of generating elite xp got the chop...

I do agree that Blysk needs some help, but it might be that just a buff to concealment might do the job - 6.8 km (full concealment) is pretty poor. Perhaps, pulling a 'Z-39' (i.e. add concealment module slot) might do the necessary? Alternatively, WG could just go 'full gunboat' with her, and buff the dakka to the extent that you don't really care about concealment any more (although it strikes me that the French already do this rather better)...?

Welcome! To start with, I'd suggest playing a diverse range of ship types and nations; you may find that what works for you in WOWS is different to what works in WOT (in the latter I mainly like heavies and mediums, for example, whilst DDs are easily my favourite class in WOWS). Besides that, you'll do better in the long run if you've got a practical handle on what everything can/can't do, and what their aims/strengths/weaknesses are (for example, after playing a few DDs, you'll never sail your BBs in a straight line again). As with WOT, it's a bad idea to rush up the tiers here too; another good reason to avoid it is that gameplay is prone to getting static at higher tiers - a lot of folk play at too high a tier for their capability and often get punished hard for it; playing passively tends to prolong one's life, even if it often doesn't help your team much. I might suggest getting a bunch of different ships in the T5-6 range and work from there (it used to be that - like in WOT - T3-4 were good learning tiers for honing basic skills, but since the T4 CV plague happened this is all kinds of no fun; hence, T5-6). To (finally) get to some specifics vis-a-vis lines to start with, I would start with IJN and US, as they were the first nations in the game, so are relatively gimmick-free (all very much IMO, obviously): US DDs: not hugely sneaky, but versatile. Good for learning about DD dakka, and ambushing (you don't get a stealth torp window until T7). T9 is glorious, when you get there, and the T10 is decent too. CVs will make pretty much all DDs' lives miserable if the driver is any good (luckily, most aren't), but the AA on the US line is a lot less bad than most. IJN DDs: two branches, often referred to as the torp and dakka lines, although the latter is a bit of a misnomer as only T8-10 have glorious dakka. Tend to be mainly about the torps (apart from the 3 true dakka ships) and mastering sneakiness, not to mention dealing with the counters to such an approach. Guns shouldn't be entirely discounted, and can be useful if deployed judiciously. AA is generally entirely dreadful (true dakka excepted). US cruisers: heavy and light branches; I'm not really a cruiser meister, but they are useful tools for teaching you pure gunnery and what to do with radar (T8+) and suchlike. I much prefer the IJN line (Russians too, come to that), but the US isn't a bad route for learning island humping, and what to do with 'rainbow' shells arcs. FWIW the T9 US CL is - so far - my least favourite ship in the game, by a not insignificant margin. IJN cruisers: a nice balance between guns and torps (you get 10 km range for the latter from T5, which is nice); no radar, but you do get nice traditional wholesome cruiser play like mother used to make. US BBs: the most slow, dull, and godsawfully slow experience until you get to T8; at that point, things liven up. I find most BBs really boring, but the US line isn't a bad place to learn the basics; because of the lousy top speed of the 'Standard' BBs, you are forced to master positioning and anticipation because being in the wrong place takes forever to fix. IJN BBs: marginally less boring than the US (and you get a fine line in pagodas) in the lower tiers due to being faster; this (combined with being a bit squishier) makes them good for teaching you not to over-extend. Often viewed as being the 'sniper' BB line, although many seem to take the view that firing from medium range (beyond surface detection range, so you can go dark between shots) yields the best results. CVs (both nations): if you really must, it's worth playing to T6 at least; besides the learning thing, the T6 CVs are useful for T6 Ops. IJN specifically will teach you how to use AP dive bombers, and the US line HE. If you find you are overcome with a powerful need to play these things more extensively, ask one or two of the CV experts for specific pointers on what to do with them. If (like me) you like more manly and/or high risk-high reward play, you'll probably find the more conservative style ship types a bit dull; they're still worth playing as part of your apprenticeship (and they come in handy for missions later, which is what I spend the bulk of my time doing with mine) though. Move onto more fun things after mastering the basics. It's worth noting that there isn't really a direct comparison between the various WOT AFV types and WOWS classes (although - being flippant - 'everyone' hates CVs the same way that 'everyone' hates arty, so there's that). If you like aggressive play a la Russian heavies, the closest is probably the KM BB line, built for manliness; the problem is that a manly build is sub-optimal and requires a very good player to do well with, as a BB that tries to close with the enemy and beat him to death with his own shoes will tend to get focused and sunk in short order if they don't pick their spots *really* carefully. I think the reason I like DDs so much is that they reward aggression (if you get it right - I often don't), and are rather exciting and fast-paced; you do need to get used to having lousy survivability though, if you're used to IS tanks etc.

Started off playing the low tiers (mainly T5 DDs), at which point the higher tier team was all bots; this phase was rather dull, I found, mainly due to being too easy to win. Returned after doing other things for a couple of days, and switched to mainly T8 (DDs again), at which point things - for me - became really rather fun (unless the lower tiers were all/mainly bots.). Overall, I liked the mode although I think it might need some tweaking - perhaps make the lower tier side a bit more numerous when the higher tier side has more than 2/3 (say) human players? Things with smoke/hydro (and/or radar) tend to be fairly monstrous against the lower tiers due to most of them not having an effective counter (apart from KM DDs).

Coincidentally, I watched the first two of those again the other evening - they're hilarious, although I don't know if it's intentional..?

CV for steel? The cynic in me wonders if - entirely coincidentally, you understand - there'll be another 'steel for real money' mission this Christmas...? I'm not excessively upset by the DD being RB; it doesn't sound essential, and if I feel the urge, regrinding the IJN DDs has got quite painless now (having done it several times) I've got decent captains most of the way up the tree.

Speaking of this ship: does anyone happen to know if you can use the Pacific NW style cammo without the 'bunting' etc?

Many thanks - I'd missed that.

I feel we need refer to The Bard here: "Villain, I have done thy mother!", or "Thou leathern-jerkin, crystal-button, knot-pated, agatering, puke-stocking, caddis-garter, smooth-tongue, Spanish pouch!", or even "Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat!" if one is *really* vexed...? (Edit: this all appears in literature classrooms the length of the English-speaking world, for the benefit of any over-sensitive mods in the vicinity! )

Does anyone happen to know if the Italians ever a) made the Russians look silly (a la Tsushima) or b) just feel generally inadequate? If the answer to both is 'no', they might even be fun/good... Not going to get too excited yet though.

Presumably, this is the latest incarnation of one of WG's standard money-making wheezes: Release new line with OP T10. Let word spread that said T10 is OP (preferably via a mode that especially suits it). Giggle uncontrollably as players spend money to free xp the T10 in question. Once sufficient cash has been spent, nerf the sh*t out of aforementioned T10. Rush off - cash in hand - to Madam Olga's House of Negotiable Affection & Vodka for a bender of biblical proportions. Edit: being sensible, why is MvR so OP? I haven't had too much of a problem with her so far, but then I mostly play DDs, which aren't really the KM CVs' forte...

Hello! Besides what the others said, it's worth noting that not all heals are created equal, and this can have an impact on how you play against the ships that have them (and how you use them yourself too). For example (as you'll see from @Klopirat's link), some are better than others at healing citadel damage e.g. a number of cruisers heal a third of citadel damage, versus the 'standard' 10%. Also, flood/fire damage is 100% repairable; this explains why shooting people's citadels is generally much better than setting them on fire, and why sensible BBs (especially, but anyone with a heal) will often let at least the first fire set on them burn.

Ah, it's this time of the month is it? Rather than re-hash the usual: no - keep 'em. (Latest updated figures: I currently have 53 Detonations, out of 5,029 Random battles; that's an incidence of 1.05%.)

Many thanks to all who've shared the various codes - excellent form!

Haida.

I wouldn't blame you in the slightest. Last season though, I recall people saying the first day can be a bit chaotic whilst the better players are mixed in with the much more tuberous, so things might be marginally more sensible tomorrow (but before the weekenders show up)? Easy for me to say though: got to R10 and not touching the mode again...

Including CVs was a mistake (my team got horribly tonked earlier in one game largely because the red CV - 54%ish WR - knew to kill DDs, and ours - 35%ish* WR - didn't.), but I haven't seen too many CV games so far. What there do seem to be is a lot of Hallands, so I wonder if the two are connected? Small data-set so far though; if I can contrive to keep the attacks of the stupids to a minimum, I plan to get to R10 - as per usual - and call it a day then. *Seriously - how is this even possible?! Even I'm not that terrible... Edit: R10 after ten battles; 60% WR I think; all in Smaland - the radar comes in handy...

It's the current pattern for WG: the initial release is not eligible for coupon use (although you do get the indefinite xp boost missions, which can be absurdly useful - if you play the ship enough), with the subsequent move to the regular ship section of the Armory then allowing coupons...