Verblonde

Likewise. At the moment, CVs are essentially unplayable, unless you're already good with them; *if* this works, it might make the class viable for all, rather than a tiny minority. That's a big 'if' though; I'll wait until we see the final product before getting too excitable.

Depending on how extravagant I wanted to be, I have one or two more T10s within semi-sensible reach; thing is, I don't think SCs are really worth spending real money to get - the chances of getting something excellent are too low (as far as I can see). If WG ever published the actual odds, then my view might change, but not at the moment.

Whilst it's not great art, I loved that movie; the original comics are well worth a look too (if you haven't seen them).

I've been quietly hoping for one (or more) of the Battle of the River Plate cruisers; they wouldn't even need to be that different from the silver versions (we know WG aren't averse to clone premiums)...

I'd buy a premium Yukikaze, provided it didn't completely suck; one can never have too many premium DDs... Of course, it's instantly going to be nicknamed 'Yucky', the moment it gets released.

You know you'll just get ramming flags, and a Krispy Kreme...! ;)

Imp Nikolai I, which is pretty cool, to be fair (even though it's a BB, and BBs smell, and their mothers dress them funny)...

This. I opened five (three for T10s, and the other two for finishing a stage in a campaign) - four of them were flags...

Well, the first story released gave the 28th as the deadline for bagging SCs; the second said nothing specific, but gave the 21st as the overall deadline for everything in the news story (presumably, in all cases, very first thing in the morning for the closing dates). People can make their own minds up, I guess...

I get why the Americans might be a tad distressed - imagine how we'd feel if one of our 'pet' ships was royally ballsed up (in our view)... Edit: Warspite in her original configuration, say.

Stop being so calm + sensible! Clearly, the correct way to react to this news is to throw a full-blown hissy fit (goes double, if one is one of *those* BB drivers)...?

Whilst I acknowledge that BBs smell (and their mothers dress them funny), why on earth would you want to sell Musashi? In almost all cases, you can earn a lot more with premiums by playing them than you can by selling them...

Others have given pretty good advice already; I would only further add to the suggestion to play as many ships (of as many classes that aren't CVs - imminent re-work makes taking the time to learn this class now arguably a bit pointless) as you can in the early tiers. Low tier ships are cheap and quick to research, so you don't waste much time. @Nautical_Metaphor makes a very good point about invite codes, and the current offers though e.g. if you know from your NA experience that you like the game, port slots are currently about as cheap as they ever get, and it might be worth bagging a forgiving (and cheap) T5 premium, to knock over the missions mentioned, although you don't have long to do it (if in doubt, don't - there will be other cheapnesses/missions in the future).

The thing is, T1 players are protected initially (as previously mentioned), assuming they aren't in a division with a more established player. You also get stuck in coop for your early battles, further reducing the seriousness of the opposition (and you can play coop any time you want 'easy mode', provided you aren't the only real person online, as it gets harder then (as I've discovered repeatedly, hence my embarrassing WR in coop). After that, you do risk being exposed to the occasional seal-clubber, but there is a 50% chance they'll be on your side, and low tier games are done so quickly, who cares - if you get exploded, you can just play another one in no time. Although I have zero evidence of retention rates etc., my guess is that the real turn-off for new players is more likely to be when they get their hands on their first T5+ ship - the jump to +2 MM is where the real shock happens. With the recent changes to the requirements to obtaining lower tier ships (last patch?), people will encounter this shock sooner, as well, which may not be ideal (on the other hand, you'll be able to stay in coop longer and still progress, which might mitigate things a bit?)...

Question for the history buffs: how much, if any, of Harekaze is historical? I assume the US gun outfit isn't, but what about the rest? WG could use the existing Harekaze as the basis for a sensible T8 premium; so, go with the existing 'historical' skin option, re-name it for a real IJN DD, normal IJN captain, and whatever kit loadout is 'real' - hey presto, instant premium sort-of Kagero...

So, somewhat contradictory info, depending on which news item you look at? If it were me, I would make sure I'd played all my T10 ships before Thursday, just to be certain...

I might be cautious though: the next update lands on Thursday - I smell scope for a date mix-up.

The text of the original announcement implies that all closing dates (for 35 xp conversion, ship discounts etc.) are the same for the anniversary thing; so, server reset horribly early Thursday? Might one of the WG bods be able to confirm though - this might make a significant difference to some people? Edit: I'm wrong: https://worldofwarships.eu/en/news/sales-and-deals/three-more-years/ looks like it's Friday first thing, not Thursday.

I'll be a little surprised if subs do get implemented in the main game though: historically (yeah, yeah - I know), BBs tend not to be much use against subs - can you imagine the blubbing that would ensue if there was a class that BBs couldn't touch (we're seeing an inkling on this thread already)?

Basically, Asashio is just weird - I view the game-plan as being (often) largely about trying to tear a huge chunk out of the enemy BBs early enough in the battle that the loss of their firepower enables the rest of your team to kill off the opposing ships that you can't harm. As I said earlier, this provides a bit of variety - if all the DDs were essentially the same, it'd be dull. The crucial problem with Asashio though is the *combination* of it being weird, and the only T8 IJN DD that people can reliably get their hands on - hence, we need a 'normal' T8 DD premium, and Harekaze is the closest thing we've had so far.

Potentially, a very interesting development; not getting too excited yet though - I'll wait and see what the test-bed looks like. As others have said, I don't necessarily see subs as a problem, provided they're done right...

@Egoleter - thanks for doing this; much appreciated!

Given the rest of the game/ships, it was to be expected; I'll still get her though - it's Dreadnought!

Not a bad idea - I like Blysk a lot, but recently (finally) getting CE on her captain made a significant positive difference - she was somewhat hard work (although still fun) before that.

Of course it's utilitarian; however, Asashio is also quite fun to play, simply because it's different to almost all the other DDs I have (in theory, the closest ought to be Gearing, with the legendary mod, but I'm nowhere near that yet, and it isn't really that close anyway), and it's an interesting challenge to do well at anything that isn't blowing up BBs. On paper, the best earner I personally have ought to be MO, but in practice it isn't, because I'm rubbish at BBs, and don't enjoy them as much as DDs. Of course, none of that detracts from the need for a sensible T8 IJN premium... (I still think there is something to be said for the idea that pops up in WOT from time to time: once you have a fully elited ship, in our case, you can buy some sort of optional magic 'instant premium' kit for it, that makes it behave exactly like a regular premium - the T10 permaflage gets close, without the captain training feature - even that at lower tiers would do the job for me anyway. I think the key issue with this is the whole rebalancing thing - people would freak if/when their 'premiumised' silver ship got rebalanced)