Verblonde

I'm not actually certain that I've ever had Corona beer; being based near Toronto, Steam Whistle is my preference at the moment...

As far as I know, it isn't the next patch where the switch over happens, but rather (probably) the one after. Next patch is largely dedicated to the second part of the Pan EU launch - full release for the Ikea DDs.

Au revoir, @Blixies - good luck!

I've spent enough, and ground enough to - just - unlock the T9; although this is clearly rather stupid, there are some (kind of) mitigating factors: I actually really like the ships so far, and (as I mentioned elsewhere) playing to get the cammo seems to generally call for about as much play time - with signals mounted - as would be required to unlock each subsequent tier, so I don't feel like I'm missing out too much, apart from on the stock configurations (which I'm quite happy to skip) and the 'experience' of dealing with swarms of T4 CVs at the lower tiers (which I'm *delighted* to skip). Although the token elements are shameless RNG - I would much rather have 'spend x, and get y tokens' than gambling - the other stuff you get is reasonably worthwhile - dragon signals and coal, notably. The permaflages that you get through just playing (if you play enough) cancel out rather a lot of the doubloons you need to spend to get the ships; of course, this only matters/works if you would have bought permaflages anyway. That's not to say it isn't daft to buy into this early access stuff, but I do feel it isn't *completely* stupid...

Aw, I was hoping this thread was going to be about the fizzy drinks from when I was a kid (or beer; beer would also be good)...

I'm getting 'invalid code' - guess the stream must have ended. Thanks anyway, OP!

Standard for the tier...

New? Wasn't Fujin introduced to the game before I started playing? Until the most recent lootboxes (when I got mine), I viewed it as a flashing neon sign warning 'here be gnarly old experienced player - beware'...

There appears to be some confusion as to the correct answer to the question what is the best Scharn cammo; fear not, I'm here to assist:

Re: the business of opting out of maps, I've no idea how hard it is to implement but they have such a thing in WOT - you can select up to two maps to not see (I think it may be more of a soft thing, so that you don't wait too long when queues have too few people in them). I don't have either selected at the moment, as a) I like variety and b) my return to WOT hasn't been for long enough yet to be sick of any of the maps, but a prototype of how it might be done for WOWS is there.

Besides having a soft spot for things with the old-school 'ramming' bows (and clipper bows too, come to that), I think I'd have to vote for one of the Tribals - they really are very pretty... This is Haida, although I normally run the totally unsubtle Maple Leaf colour scheme...

Although I don't tend to do well on Ocean, I think it should stay in, for similar reasons to why the sniping 'Kursk' map (whatever it's called) should stay in WOT i.e. it provides variety. You could even make a case (although I personally hope people resist the urge to do so) for having Ocean in *more* often - the more usual maps favour certain ships types and play-styles over others (like most maps in WOT favour brawlers); a map that does the reverse might actually be desirable...?

Cheers @rnat - no apology necessary, of course. It's probably more likely I didn't express myself clearly enough!

Varies a bit with carrier; besides asking the good CV players (not me), Ship Comrade is your friend - this is the Graf Zep build with the most votes, for instance: http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/0001010000000100000100001001100019?sid=3762272048 There are equivalent entries for most other ships. For the same ship, this will take you to the Graf Zep page on the wiki: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Graf_Zeppelin Most ships get a similar entry on the wiki and all you have to do is click on the 'show captain skills' thing and you get the wiki's opinion of what is best for whichever ship you're looking at. Additional: just for emphasis - the above are examples; Graf Zep is a bit weird when it comes to captain skills. Also, captain skills have changed a couple of times over the years; you may not see the most current arrangement with all the Ship Comrade entries, and other older references you may find online.

None of them (see previous replies); to learn more about captains, and their skills, read this: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Commander You may also find this of use: http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc

Because beer and ladies of negotiable affection proverbially won't pay for themselves... FWIW I feel the current iteration of early release isn't too bad, in that pretty much everyone who plays will get the T5 (and presumably its permaflage); after that, you either get lucky or pay money for the higher tiers, but that's just the ships - if you want the cammo, you still have to play a fair bit; I haven't checked all of them, but I think I earned enough xp in the T5-7 to unlock the next tier (guessing a bit) whilst getting the permaflage for each. Apart from the RNG element vis-a-vis tokens, I think this sort of general approach ought to be encouraged, as it encourages you in turn to play the middle tiers at least, so learning the basics of the line before you jump into the scary tiers where not knowing what you're doing is more of a liability to your team-mates. For me, personally, I'm quite keen to jump past T1-4 at least - it means I miss the T4 CV plague!

I can never remember the ship names - I'm assuming having to grind Moskva, and then whatever its replacement is, as I gather that we won't get that *as well* as the new 'magic' Moskva. Many thanks @Ze_Reckless - I'll try and put your tips into action; if it all goes horribly sideways, then a I'll probably follow @hgbn_dk's suggestion. Anyone want to bet there'll be a 1:35 promo conveniently just before the split...?

Hmmm, I really need to learn to suck very marginally less in Donskoi if (eventually) I'll have to grind two T10s with her then... Oh well, I could use a dose of git gud!

I'm another fan of Ops (except Newport) and would like to see them all back, and working properly. As others have said, I'm reasonably confident that WG want them gone though, and are deliberately sabotaging them, so they can say with a straight face 'no one played them' when they actually pull the plug. Personally, I think this is a mistake; besides my personal bias, they ought to be an excellent driver for T6-7 premiums, many of which are a bit meh in randoms, if the marketing was done right...

That'll be why I said to check the date - the stuff about how to aim, alternative interface etc. is still entirely relevant. To repeat: a low WR is due to you, and you alone, averaged out over numerous battles; it's your choice - be more realistic, and get the help you need to improve, or carry on as you are and continue to be, erm, well, I'll let others complete that sentence. You may not realise this, but we can all look up each other's stats; your *maximum* damage on any CV appears to be just shy of 50.4K (Langley). If you have another account featuring this 100K/round, let us know which it is, but for the time being, I'll assume you are simply trolling us, and have no desire to improve. If so, good luck to you, and may you always be on the other team to me.

As you've probably noticed, that's the point where you enter +2 MM and (due to the protected MM of the lower tiers) it often is *plus* two. In practical terms, this means that understanding game mechanics, knowing your ships, and having good enough captains starts to become really important. Don't worry about hitting a bit of a wall; it's very usual when you start to face more alarming opponents - a bit more practice and learning will see you through it. What @Panocek says is a very good starting point.

Yay! Some more specific feedback from a *very quick* glance at your profile: You're playing all the key classes; that's good - keep doing it (it'll make you better in all of them, which leads to better earnings). You're focused on just two nations (Russia and the US); this isn't bad, but it doesn't do any harm to diversify a bit (IJN is worth a lash as the 'other' original nation in the game, besides the US), for similar reasons to the whole 'play all classes' thing. You are definitely rushing up the tiers too fast (Donskoi after 400ish battles is way too fast); normally, I would strongly advise you to slow down, but I assume you're chasing the free semi-premium Moskva? In that case, get it, and then return to lower tiers to do the thing a bit more methodically - mainly to get the good enough captains which - unless you throw lots of money at WG - take quite a while to develop. People with better abilities vis-a-vis stats analysis will be able to provide you with better pointers...

To make your stats public, log into your account (via the drop-down top right on this page) and there's a toggle: (above the mouse pointer on the above screen-grab); you have three options: public, private, and viewable by link (or something like that). I assume you can see your own stats via this view, even if it's set to private (anyone know, definitively?); if you want to use external sites (this isn't a bad one:https://wows-numbers.com/), you need to be set to 'public'. Before you do set your stats to public, be mindful that there are some down-sides; whilst people can offer you more informed advice/opinions etc. you get a few sad cases who'll try and make up for being insufficiently priapic by trying to stat-shame.

BTW re: selling ships. I would suggest avoiding it as much as possible, at least T5+. This is for a few reasons: Snowflakes (and similar) - in the last few years, we've had several events where you get coal/steel/SCs etc. for the first victory in T5+ ships (reward varying with tier and sometimes premium/not premium), so the more ships you have, the better the rewards. Losing silver (and doubloons) - every time you sell something, you lose half its silver value; also, upgrades cost silver to dismount if you want to keep them (so avoiding a similar loss); this becomes more and more significant as you advance up the tiers. Future-proofing, for want of a better expression - you occasionally get new lines or line splits where having an earlier ship in your port gets you useful freebies e.g. when the US cruisers split, or the upcoming RU cruiser split (Kirov becomes premium, for example). Also, there are a number of competitive/event modes which call for weird tiers e.g. the lower tier sprints. For me the first reason is why I keep almost everything from T5+; that, and the fact I have a *lot* of spare port slots. Most people seem to be a bit more pragmatic and sell anything they don't actively like; I would still advise against this from T8 and up, unless you're absolutely swimming in silver. Until recently, a lack of available port slots for new players was a key driver of selling silver ships, but now you can get plenty of freebies from the daily missions (hopefully, this will continue), so relieving that pressure somewhat. BTW *never* sell a premium, regardless of tier - you can get the same silver by just playing the thing in relatively few battles, plus, even if you aren't keen on it now, that may well change in the future (although you can re-buy sold premiums if you have the silver and a port slot, but that's a faff).

Your stats are hidden, so I can't tell definitively, but if you're a new player, you may not realise how the economy is set-up i.e. ships get a lot more expensive to play (maintenance costs) as you go up the tiers. There are a couple of knock-on effects to this: first, it (slightly) discourages f2p players from going too high in the tiers for their skill level, and - much more significantly - it encourages people to spend real money on things like permaflage and premium ships. The key driver of rewards (including silver) is damage, and relative damage in particular i.e. doing 10K to something small like a DD will net greater rewards than doing the same 10K to a fat lad. Your key controllable cost is usually premium consumables; I would suggest taking premium for anything that allows you to do significantly more damage and/or survive longer, and take standard for marginal ones. For example, I always take premium DCP regardless of mode; mostly premium for others in random, and standard others in coop. That should allow you to maximise income from your silver ships (or at least minimise cost at high tiers). Once you've done that and assessed the impact it has, then think about premiums. Some areas to consider: You want something you can do well with consistently; premiums have the same reward drivers as everything else, just magnified. Generally, higher tier premiums earn more than lower tier ones, but the previous point trumps this - pick a tier you're actively good at (or at least not awful). Think about captain training: get something that works well with your silver ships (and avoid anything weird). For example, Haida is an excellent premium in terms of raw performance, but there is no corresponding silver line, so it's much harder (and/or eats into your elite/free xp reserves) to get the necessary good captain for her, where most of the premium US DDs work well with exactly the same build as the silver ones. Without knowing how good you are, which classes you favour, and so on, I can't be more specific, but that's a starter for ten.