Verblonde

From the perspective of this potato, the more tutorials, the better...

I bought just one, to open the collection. Because I'm only missing one of the 'prize' ships, and there isn't a re-roll mechanic if you get a ship you already have, I didn't see the point of buying any more... One of the reasons (besides the rewards being better) I bought rather a lot (too many?) of the Xmas crates was that they *did* have a re-roll mechanic. So, if the aim of the current set-up was to sell more crates, it hasn't worked on me (but I may be atypical)...

Am I missing something? They cost more than the recent 'special' commanders, but are (functionally) standard 10 point captains. You're essentially paying a bit extra for the aesthetics, and an unusual voice?

I'm probably boned: my main WOT account is on the NA server, and my main WOWS account is in the EU; presumably, if WG NA felt the urge, they could delete my account over there, for something written over here...

Did I read earlier that the new American mission starts tomorrow? If so, perhaps the relevant containers will be launched in the shop tomorrow as well?

Mine must be broke: I have a premium account, and an abundance of premium ships (what's the point of playing if you can't dazzle ghastly paupers with shiny premiums now and again?), and I think I'm currently only in the lowest bracket (*maybe* the second - can't remember)... Admittedly, I did buy, and fully tool up, Bismark over the weekend, and I'm actively grinding several lines, but still... Edit: 3.8 million, and change - so, only the second bracket.

OP: this stuff is almost certainly deliberate, as it makes WG more money (WOT was run in the same way, until they ditched gold for premium ammo etc.); I'm very much in the camp that thinks this is pi$$ poor (there are far easier ways to make money, that don't annoy your paying customers). The only thing you can do is to be thorough and methodical when configuring your new ships (or changing existing ones); take the time to look closely at everything - consumables, flags, cammo etc. Make really sure that everything is set to spend silver (or not automatically replenish). Basically, don't set up your ships in five seconds without looking closely at all the settings - it's not great if you lack patience, but it's necessary to avoid falling foul of the UI.

I finished the collection at the weekend, via spending duplicates - if memory serves, you need to spend four duplicates to get each piece that you're missing. I imagine they'll be back again at some point though - these containers seem to be WG's 'go-to' gap filler for weeks between more significant missions etc.

My perspective is still rather that of a potato, but I agree with those who say get always CE first for most (all?) DDs - that extra margin of stealth often makes all the difference, especially given that almost all of your adversaries will be running it too. RDF/RL (whatever you want to call it) feels to me like something you add later, but is *very* useful when you do. I don't have it on any captains yet (still need more points on several captains), but it's a damn nuisance to play against, especially so in a couple of cases e.g. these days, only a few muppets don't know about Asashio, so it's very helpful for the enemy to not know where those torps will be coming from (and where you're spotting from, when not torping), which is a lot easier when you aren't facing some bugger with RDF...

This. As others have said, Hydro is pretty short ranged; ditto the radar on the DDs that have it (and the common ones lose smoke to get it). The only radar that gives me significant trouble is that on the bigger ships (cruiser and up) - it has such long range that it's easy to get nailed by it, especially if your map awareness isn't 100% (mine often isn't). Personally, I think I'd rather take Hydro on a DD than Radar - the latter can't see torps...

Haida's coming (hopefully)? About bloody time! Unless WG do something even more egregiously awful than usual, I'll be an insta-purchase. Bugger!

Hello, @Butterdoll - sorry you had to witness that display of BB cluelessness...! I should stick to classes I suck marginally less at.

Hadn't heard that nickname; it's now entirely possible I will never forget it... <rushes off to scrub brain with wire brush + Dettol>

Love this image!

Sadly, I tend to find seals are somewhat reluctant to be clubbed - I need a significant dose of git gud... Perhaps I could be described as a seal prodder...?

On the up-side, when they do that, it's often in the same place - increases the likelihood of getting more than one of the buggers with a single salvo of skill...?

It wouldn't do any harm to add a one minute warning, although I don't personally think it's particularly needed (quite apart from anything else, in most battles, a competent players has usually blown me up long before that point!)...

As an old git, I don't 'get' all this current anime stuff, but that is some spectacular work there! Hat-tip!

Don't forget: WOWS is notorious for its steep learning curve; you will get your posterior handed to you on a regular basis early on (h*ll, I still get mine handed to me more than half of the time, and I've played 3K odd battles I think), and you will get annoying losing streaks now and again at any tier. 63 battles (at time of writing) is very early days indeed - so long as you're learning stuff as you go, you'll be gitting gud in no time...

I'd suggest reading as much of the wiki as possible (http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/World_of_Warships if you missed the link above); as well as lots of stuff about mechanics etc. it also contains the essential details about every ship in the game, including some suggested captain's builds (as well as which upgrades to put on each ship); although opinions vary on a lot of this stuff, it's a useful starting point...

How mental I'll go over all of this will depend largely on what WG actually end up doing for real - at the moment, it's at the initial proposals stage for one tank (with the idea being that the rest of the pref MM premiums will follow if the KV-5 goes okay). I suspect that there would be much less uproar if WG engendered any trust in their customer base (see, WG, this is what happens when you regularly balls-up your comms etc); if it's done well, this could improve the game significantly by giving a whole load of premiums a new lease of life. *If* it's done well. I have to say though, I'm not entirely convinced by WGs stated motivation for this exercise i.e. improving MM for regular T8s - that sounds rather unlikely, given how few pref MM premiums there are, compared to regular ones, and standard silver T8s...

Okay, the OP's original idea is clearly ludicrous, but I have a question: what's this 'Skybuck' business about (for the benefit of those of us who are insufficiently Down With The Kids)?

Oooo, splendid! A freebie premium that suits my skill level - hurrah! Hat-tip to @Jethro_Grey for drawing it to my attention - good show!

@Rekeo if this is your first account (i.e. you're really only on 12 battles played, at time of writing), I would suggest avoiding buying any premium ships for the time being, unless some interesting Tier 2 or 3 ships come up (stupidly, WG recently removed most of these from general sale). First thing is to play regular silver ships across as many classes as possible (with the probable exception of CVs - carriers), to get a handle on which class(es) you find work for you, and to get the hang of the game mechanics some more. If you do that before buying your first premiums, you're less likely to buy something you'll end up not playing very much. If you find you're a bit short on silver, it might be worth buying some premium time; although this is only really worthwhile if you have time to play consistently for its duration, it does improve the profitability of all your ships. Also, play random battles more than coop mode (once your ships are fully upgraded) - the rewards when playing against real people tend to be noticeably larger, provided you aren't playing at too high a tier for your skill level. Keep an eye out for signals and cammo that improve earnings as well. This type of discussion comes up regularly on here, and the answers are usually similar: toccata and fugue on the theme of 'don't buy premiums until you have silver ships of the same tier'! Whilst I agree with that principle for random battles, many people don't have the willpower to wait that long (I didn't, despite knowing better from WOT); if you're one such person too, I would strongly suggest playing any such premiums in coop only (with non-premium consumables, to maximise profit). Coop mode plays against bots, and not too many people get upset if you suck in that mode, whilst in randoms (or ranked) you'll probably get a lot of abuse if you play a premium above your skill/experience level and have less fun too, because you'll get a kicking most battles (not to mention probably reinforce bad gameplay habits).

Well, the second hull might be interesting to play, I guess (even if I *still* can't make slow torps work for me). One of the advantages of being rubbish at the game is that the effective difference between a decent ship, and a poor one, is rather less than for a competent player...