Verblonde

This is good advice. I think what WG have done is increase the number of 'minimal' drops (5-10 tokens) we'll get, and decreased the 'maximal' ones (anything more); at the same time, they've also increased the *number* of drops that you'll get, if you play consistently. Short version: for f2p, every player (who plays reasonably frequently) gets a 'free' T5 premium, and a few other useful rewards along the way (coal etc.). Unlike previous events, the f2p folk won't be split between the hugely lucky (who get lots) and the less so (who get a metaphorical rock); the new model, although perhaps less exciting (if you dig gambling mechanics), is certainly fairer. You could argue that WG's comms could have communicated the reality a bit better, but this is small beer really (compared to previous benchmarks like PR, for example).

Yup. They absolutely listen; the more nuanced matter is whether they do anything about it or not. Often when people refer to 'the community' they mean we forumites; understand that we are a minority of the customer base, just a rather vocal one. Nope. That wouldn't make any difference: if people agreed with the decision, they would applaud WG for going against the stream in a far-sighted way; if they didn't, they would condemn WG for following the 'masses/whiners'. Not even close. DDs, in particular, are (mostly) playable; that wasn't the case with early iterations of the reework, for example. The standard of players *is* probably as bad as I've ever seen it, but that's not WG's fault. Ranked (full-fat, not Sprint), but that's designed to be, and I only play it as long as it's fun (Rank 10 usually). There's plenty that WG get wrong, but I suspect that their data gathering is pretty much good enough for their needs and for their industry; that isn't the same as taking action on every last person who asks for something and neither should it be...

I wouldn't get rid of the thing, even after the event: at the very least it prevents you getting it again in a future event...! Oh, it'll get you a snowflake every time they do that too (assuming they keep going with T5+)...

Why on earth would you do such a thing?! To gain one Mikoyan, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to gain two looks like carelessness...?

I dislike Newport intensely; I'm not sure what it needs to fix it, but it certainly needs some attention! I sometimes wonder if it's deliberate though: Newport is undoubtedly contributing to WG's "people don't like Ops, so we can remove them" spreadsheet...

Of course! (I only mount the acceleration mod to get moving again when I crash into some island or other that leapt out in front of me)

You sir, have my deepest, deepest sympathy. (I'm similarly afflicted) Edit: she's not unutterably awful, just a bit pants by comparison to Loyang (IMO, of course).

As a (rather mediocre) DD driver, it's been a bit of a surprise just how bad some people this season have been; perhaps I just don't notice in randoms because I'm concentrating on not being blapped by the ones who do know what they're doing. My equivalent to your experience, that I would normally almost never get away with, has been pottering along gently in my Haida, in creeping smoke, whilst raining HE on hapless BBs... Not complaining at all - it's been great fun, just a bit surprising as well.

(Chances of getting an Ork red cammo of some sort that adds 10%, say, to top speed - as we all know, red ones go faster?)

Surely needs a bit more red, and black/white checks, though...?

Ladies and gentlemen, this here is one of the finest WOWS tutorials you will ever read (and simplest)!

Didn't forget: I view her as fun (especially in Coop), but not a top pick... BTW didn't forget Siliwangi (sp?) either - she's just a sub-par Loyang; far better to get the full-fat alternative!

The crucial thing here is the lack of torps; you basically have to play a bit like a sneaky light cruiser with lots of dakka, smoke/hydro, and no citadel. If you like this playstyle, she's fun; you're a good DD hunter, but deeply boned if something substantial charges you, as you generally lack the alpha to do them in fast enough. You also need to be mindful that you're occupying a slot that would normally have a more conventional DD in it, although how much this matters will vary significantly (and isn't exactly a new thing, as Khaba owners will presumably know). Full disclosure: I haven't got to grips fully with mine yet, so it's mainly been getting a thrashing in Coop...

Generally reasonably good, as they often cope well with uptiering; for example, 5.4 km visibility is good regardless of the tier you're facing (Kagero sisters, of which two are premiums). Some opinions: Loyang: still excellent, and usually costs less than many of the others; okay(ish) AA, and the smoke/hydro combination is always good value. Very similar to Benson (for glaringly obvious reasons) in terms of the basic ship, dakka etc. Has the option of short range 'YOLO' torps which are rather faster than the 9.2 km almost-mines; pre-dates DWT, so torps will hit anything that doesn't get out of the way. Cossack: 5.5 km sneakiness, excellent guns, and the RN smoke combined with self-defence hydro that runs seemingly forever (especially with the coal mod). Gets engine boost, unlike the silver RN DDs, but loses a torp launcher (although said torps are fairly quick to reload and can single fire). Bloody awful AA. Kidd: essentially a Feltcher at T8, but with only one torp launcher and extra AA; used to have utterly glorious AA (I think mine still holds my record for plane kills, from before the reework), but that USP got royally rogered with the reework (along with Atlanta, Flint, Hood etc.). Good ship for use with a coordinated team, but harder to do regular damage with in solo randoms; also gets a heal, which is really useful, plus (obviously) US smoke. Orkan: I really like this ship, although she's absolutely not a good choice for a 'first' DD, due to lack of smoke. She's a lot like a Lightning without smoke (and no furry dice baked-in zoominess), plus radar and a heal, but minus a torp launcher, although you gain Mighty Secondaries (!). Much less dreadful AA than Cossack, but a bit less sneaky; torps are the 12 km, very fast but lousy alpha EU ones. Orkan is great fun (I have a high point captain available for her too, which helps), hilarious when DDs with smoke forget you have radar, but if you want an OP monster *definitely* get something else. Asashio: will earn you scorn from certain sectors of the forum, and a metric f*ck-ton of silver in the right circumstances. She's essentially a premium Kagero with 20 km (16 km with TA) really-deep water torps; these torps can't hit DDs or cruisers, so you need MM to favour you with lots of fat lads to have a significant impact beyond spotting (which she is good at). As with Kagero, the guns are better than you think, if used judiciously. To do well, you want to flat out kill as many BBs as possible, as early as possible (just torp sniping, which many drivers do can make your game impact negligible); winging them won't do it. Harekaze (not available at the moment): one of the best premium DDs in the game; also essentially a premium Kagero, but with better guns (always run the 100 mm - ? - option), stock torps, and tolerable AA. Has returned a couple of times - get one if it does so again. Edit: needless to say, the same CV/radar issues exist for premium DDs as for silver ones; all the above assumes you can cope at least tolerably well with that sort of stuff.

FWIW my *guess* is that the logic behind this decision may be along the following lines: Income from people paying money for silver is marginal. Income from people buying doubloons is much more significant. For whatever reason, people being able to progress rapidly to higher tiers is viewed by WG as a good thing. Prior to the decision's implementation, there were two potential roadblocks to players' progress: silver and xp; with the change, the former becomes much less of an issue. Player frustration reduces somewhat, and less frustrated players are more likely to spend money on other stuff. That's not to say it's correct (although I personally love the change: although it slightly reduces variety in the game, it saves a lot of time switching between modes, PvE and PvP notably), but it does make sense. I wouldn't be surprised though if we get something like WOT's bonds in the future though, which you can spend on even more betterer consumables etc.

These are the 'knock off seven wins in Coop' (effectively) for tokens missions? If so, they reset each week (mine reset yesterday) - I believe you get four weeks' worth.

For each tier, it's the ships you can do the most damage with (as @ThePurpleSmurf says), and - more specifically - the most damage as a proportion of the target's total hp. Whatever you get needs to be fun for you to play too; to make the most of a premium, you need to play it. A lot. Because your stats are hidden, we can't offer specific advice based on your numbers. Some general pointers: If you're feeling wealthy, anything with a Kobayashi cammo has great earning potential; unfortunately, unless I've forgotten something, they're all BBs. DDs: Haida and Z-39 are good choices at T7; for T8, Cossack is excellent (if you avoid the CVs), and Loyang is always good value. Cruisers I'm less qualified to comment on, but Boise/NdJ is worthwhile (or was before the IFHE changes) at T7; for T8, there is quite a lot of choice, but I still think Atago is excellent, and the new Buggration is looking distinctly promising (mainly because both of those have heals). For BBs, see above, although Tirpitz and MA are also excellent (both T8); Scharn has its fans, but perhaps not the best choice for Randoms. CVs avoid, unless you're a meister - they have the toughest economy at the moment, so you have to be good to make serious silver. A final note: you want something with a good (and suitably specced) captain available too, as that increases your chances of performing well, which counts against the smaller nations' ships (Haida, NdJ etc.), and anything that needs a weird captain build....

That's grossly unfair - with all the money WG are endeavouring to extract from the players, I'm sure they can afford the finest methylated spirits...

At first look, I tend to agree - I've always thought that, in its existing form, Udaloi ought to be in the 'dakka' line (or be a premium)... The OP is right though, this does change the ship fundamentally; I just happen to prefer the look of the new version, so I'm not upset.

<sigh> Dev Blogs are WiP; patch notes less so. That's exactly what they didn't do - like I said (twice, I believe) go and read the threads.

I don't suppose you guys deliver to Canada, by any chance...?

Not what I meant: there is a widely-held view that nothing is being preserved; see other threads for why.

Rather than redo the whole thing all over *again*, I would refer you to the various existing threads on this subject...

This is absolutely the case; keeping an existing customer is simply cheaper - on average - than generating a new one. I find WG's approach rather mystifying: the more long-term a player is, the more likely they are to be noisily expressing opinions of the product (which is what the games essentially are), and also - if WG are regularly rubbish at customer service - the more likely those opinions will be negative. So, if WG are consistently less than great over a period of time (to my professional eye, they've been making serious mistakes about once every 1-2 months for the last year, at least on WOWS), any new player (or potential new player) that finds their way to any channel where more experienced players comment is much more likely to walk into a wall of negativity/cynicism. This can't be good for business. It's normal for people to get bored with games over time, and go and do something else, but what WG seem especially good at is making people who do stick around spend much of their time telling newbies that spending money can be very ill-advised. Again, not good for business. I do wonder if the (assumed) COVID uptick is making them cocky...?

Yay - made Rank 10; calling it a day there! If I'm reading WOWS Numbers right, it took 16 battles; that's not so many that it stopped being fun (by and large). All battles in Haida, because I'm a bad person, and with a marginally less dreadful WR than might be expected... As I've said about previous seasons, what it would take to get me to play more would be to have periodic irrevocable ranks all the way to the end (and skew the awards/rewards etc. to how quickly you did it, rather than if you did it at all); Rank 10 is the point above which things get far too frustrating as, unless you are a mega-uber-super-duper-unicum, that's the point after which you're too likely to plummet down multiple ranks due to a short run of poor luck. All IMO, of course.