Verblonde

Isn't Makarov *the* Nurnberg? War reparations...

Many thanks! :)

Newbie question: besides British cruisers (I assume - no HE round), are there any ships where this *isn't* the case?

Whilst I'm the first to wind up the anime crowd, the HSF fleet stuff I've seen so far isn't too bad - I think I have one of the Spee's captain options in my T6 KM cruiser; it's a similar experience to having a female commander in WOT. The HSF Spee was one of my first premiums, more or less by accident - mainly because it looks prettier than the standard one (I hadn't worked out about the camo being more beneficial at that point). As long as the option remains to switch the anime off, if you aren't keen, I don't see it as a problem...

Did I read something recently that the HSF stuff was coming back very soon, although I can't remember the context...?

From the perspective of a newbie, Ranked has been rather fun, so far (I think I'm at about R16 at time of writing), but there are certainly some issues: T8 is too high, unless you're a good player - there appear to be too many people (like me) who really shouldn't be playing T8s against real people yet, although I find the smaller teams in Ranked make this less difficult than Randoms - fewer ships on both sides to keep track of. Perhaps have three 'sets' of Ranked - T6, T8, and T10, and 'gate' each set somehow (x games played in the relevant tier, perhaps, although that might knacker the population at higher tiers?). I do feel the 'stars' system, although easy to understand, may be punishing the better players: when I lose, I deserve to lose a star, because I almost certainly sucked; however, two competent players can easily be dragged down to a loss, if the rest of the team stink - it seems poor that one of them will inevitably lose a star. Maybe add some sort of 'do more than x% of your team's damage/assisted in a loss OR come top' to not lose a star? Perhaps some training videos would be a good idea: a lot of people seem to not understand that comms are essential in Ranked, along with a bunch of other stuff that's specific to Ranked, or a lot more important. If people had more information available, that *might* help a bit?

Presumably, this is (at least in part) due to Loyang being - I think - the only T8 DD available as standard in the Tech Tree? There will be plenty of relative newbies for whom this is the easiest way to get their hands on a T8 DD for Ranked (I've had mine for a while now, although I'd only been paddling about in PvE). BTW thanks for the tip about magic hydro - I think I have one that I could switch over...

It's a pity you can't have some sort of division thing, although I get why it's the case. The other tweak I would suggest is to have three 'sets' of Ranked battles: say, T6, T8 and T10, with different rewards for each. Hopefully, the best players would congregate higher up, the newbies would then be able to play at a more appropriate level...? Although I'm mostly enjoying playing at T8, my skill level is probably more suited to T6 (and the same appears to be true of quite a lot of my fellow players in Ranked).

This thread is interesting - explains some issues I was having with torps over the last couple of days. Thanks, all!

I like Makarov, but I liked its German incarnation too, so not much surprise there. Nice balance of speed and firepower, so long as you don't expect anything from your armour...

I've been rather enjoying ranked so far (slightly to my surprise, I admit); first season though. Very surprised that I appear not to be the worst player in many of my games (pitiful 40% WR notwithstanding); learning an awful lot very quickly too, although it's been a bit painful at times! It's a shame that more people didn't read the 'basics of ranked' advice thread though: I've been seeing an awful lot of people doing a lot of the daft stuff that the more experienced players specifically warned against.

Thanks again all!

Speaking as a newbie, any Ranked-specific tips (including what people have already provided) are very much appreciated. I'm going to be out of my depth in Ranked (to the extent that the fish have lights on their heads), but the least I can do is try and minimise the drag on the rest of whichever teams I get.

What do people think of Tirpitz for Ranked? Do ranked games tend to involve lots of lobbing of shells from the far corners of the maps? If so, then maybe not, but otherwise...?

Many thanks! +1

The thing that strikes me as odd is WG not saying why they're doing this - companies don't usually give away freebies unless they're trying to encourage some behaviour or other; I would imagine their aims would be more likely to be achieved if they tell the punters why they're doing stuff like this...?

This is WG - it doesn't have to make sense to normal people! That said, if you play regularly in WOT, you get a *lot* of freebies (on NA, anyway, with the Tank Rewards thing)...

I seem to recall WG has done something similar with WOT in the past, for people returning from long periods away from the game...

I'm a newbie, with the majority of battles in PvE; the following thoughts might be pertinent: Something that is fun/good in PvE won't necessarily be the same in PvP, should you wish to move in that direction later - something to bear in mind. Also, think about how useful things are as captain trainers - if you're short of time, this is also relevant (although you'll get more xp in relation to time spent playing if you can manage at least some games in PvP). Anyway, some premiums I enjoy (although not necessarily the best ones): Atlanta: a hoot to play, although quite hard to do well in, especially against real players. I was advised that a Cleveland captain works well, and that seems to be the case. Brings the dakka, in spades, and may be gone soon. Tirpitz: hilarious secondaries, and rather good at closer range (yay, torps); everyone expects you to suck in this, so anything better than driving into an island and sinking is a bonus (from others' perspective). If you like sniping from range, get something else! Huang He: I know it's a fragile, under-par Perth, but the maneuverability is splendid, and it's still fun. Those three are for PvE only; with a similarly low battle count to me, you'll get utterly tonked in PvP in them, unless you're some sort of prodigy. For PvP, perhaps look at the following: Cambeltown: I know it's a DD, but it's great fun to play, and sufficiently sneaky to avoid at least some trouble, if played tolerably. Either of the T5 Omaha clones; Russia and the US get one each: Nice long-range torps and plenty of rof. Good fun. Giulio Cesare: T5 Italian BB; not as slow and cumbersome as some, and widely felt to be very forgiving (=OP). I'm not a natural BB person, and don't like the sniping-from-range approach, but I quite enjoy this one. Really though, if you're mainly playing PvE, just go with whichever boats match the sorts of things you like playing; I have far too many premiums, and I don't think there are any that I actively dislike playing. The time when, for newbies, the decision gets harder is when you start thinking about PvP, especially above around T6.

Can someone explain the appeal of most of the battleships in the game, please? I'm very new, so still feeling my way around the classes, so I'm probably missing something. A lot of battleships seem to involve just plodding along, angling your armour, and taking long range pot-shots at the foe; there isn't much in the way of dynamic game-play. There do seem to be exceptions (the recent Italian release, for example, seems to play in timescales that aren't geologic), but a lot of what I've played so far follows the above model. I'm still very much at lower tiers though - do they get more interesting at higher tiers? Or, is that the whole point of battleship play - patience and strategic thinking? If so, how come there are so many of the things in play?

HMS Belfast several times, playing tourist (first time as a child); HMS Cavalier when she was in Brighton; next to, rather than on, HMCS Haida, due to arriving after they'd closed for the day; HMS Upholder (submarine, on land); HMS Warrior (first ironclad); HMS Victory... Not counting all sorts of ferries, whale-watching boats etc.

LWM's review isn't terribly complimentary, but there are suggestions of subjectivity. It sounds like DoY is essentially a KGV with somewhat nerfed guns, and noticeably better AA. As someone said on another thread, it's better to release a (possibly) UP premium, if you're essentially giving it to everyone, than to release an OP one, that is politically difficult to fix afterwards

Don't have the time (or patience) to fail my way to rank 1, not to mention it's pretty antisocial to do that sort of thing! My aim is to work out just how bad I really am, and set a marker against which I need to improve by the time the next season comes around. Would have preferred a T6 ranked (as that's where I am in silver ships), but there you go...

The former is what I'm hoping for; at the very least, I want to see what I need to be able to deal with - essentially, a bit of bench-marking. I'm up to T6 on three regular lines so far, all cruisers; I wasn't intending to go near T8 for a while yet (in PvP - I do okay in PvE), at least not until I fully understand things like radar etc, but the arrival of Ranked does encourage me to dip a toe in the metaphorical water.

Whilst Ranked is clearly going to be very embarrassing for a new player, do people have any recommendations regarding ship choice for the....erm....less capable?