Crysantos

If I recall correctly, Tuccy mentioned the Australian Navy maybe getting one ship (not an entire line I think - but I'll doublecheck later).

Erhm, it was a joke?

Just keep them coming, maybe we can cover that on the next show. btw. here my selection of questions (quoted as asked - so don't blame me for grammar and so on^^):

First of all - it depends on the questions asked in here and you didn't post any. I had a limited number of questions to ask and I tried to pick the most interesting ones to cover different aspects of the game for different audiences (we're EU, so a lot of variety). Some things like when is nation X released or please buff ship Y are usually questions that don't get answers - for the obvious reasons. I encouraged the community to ask questions and with the variety of players the questions differ, too. For the past months the best source for information was the RU forums - I think this is a step in the right direction and I hope that WG keeps working on this. If you don't like the questions, send me yours. Constructive criticism is the only way this is going to work, provoking posts like this might be good to blow off some steam - but it won't help solving the issues at hand. I'm happy if I could at least get you some answers to your questions, thanks again for doing this!

How come? I think it's a perfect timing, we're going to grind up the new line, talk about the game and give away a few ships - of course it's no coincidence that this date got picked. For those who can't attend - I'll highlight the Q&A session on my stream. In case nobody else is willing to do a transcript I'll write down the answers myself later today and post them here. @mtm: Yeah, stream is probably going to be a long one

Friendly reminder - Q&A session today at 14:00 CET on http://www.twitch.tv/crysantos/

Erhm what? USN DDs can be amazing, you can deal with DDs, burn down BBs and kill CAs if needed - you just need to know how and when to engage. Yes capping will be harder - considering the ridiculous amount of XP / credits awarded for that duty it's quite in balance then, at least imho. My Benson is a beast, I would never mistreat it in a way where I would only use it for caps.

Yep, keep experimenting! You'll get there, it's more an issue of AP being very situational and depends a lot on the angle.

In all my games with the Russian cruisers so far I can tell you - no, it won't kill DD play. 20-25 seconds (with a 4-6 min reload) window of being seen on usually 7-12km where you can easily dodge a lot of shells by using your agility. Even right now - with people being unaware of its existence it's not that easy to finish off a DD in that timeframe. Imagine a 22k health Shima... no, not going to die. The only downside of this consumable is that it's punishing the wrong DD lines, there is one DD line that can actually circumvene that thingy with its range - and guess which one is the one that's actually annoying most of the playerbase. So no reason to doomsday DDs, they're going to be fine - just not as easy to sneak up on stuff as it used to be.

Well, try it. It's the piece of advice I usually give - try out your ships, see where AP works and the only way to do this is by practice and testing, over and over again. I really enjoyed the Gnevny but I can see why people struggle in it - I just use it like a mix of DD and CL. HE isn't super strong but still okay, AP damage might feel weak at first but once you got the knack of it ... it'll add up. Russian DDs can be very situational and suffer from certain issues like bad concealment. I'd refrain from labeling ships as X or Y counter, it's more than that and usually depends on your team, situation and strategic necessities. Use the training room, see at what angles and ranges AP works best for you

Wrong, test AP more often, test on what range you want to target what (superstructure or citadels). AP is really strong, you need to learn how to use it and when to use it.

Well, I guess you can imagine the answer to a question like this. @other questions: We'll have to see how things work out on Thursday, if we can make this work and have some fun we can try to do this again in the future and save these question for the next Q&A session.

I'll see what I can do :-)

Sorry guys, deadline was last night and the questions I've send over to WG are already on their way. But just hang out on Thursday's stream and we'll try to get you an answer

Hey there everybody, I took the time to pour my experience into this guide (around 1.500 battles on BBs and not too shabby at those) for BB gameplay, the first bit is going to be something more general and the second part is about the Tier 8-10 IJN BB line in particular (Amagi, Izumo, Yamato). I'll try to keep it up to date and tune it here and there over time. This guide won't be perfect, but I hope it'll help you overcome your issues with certain ships and problems - if you feel like you still have questions or want to see these tactics in action, feel free to poke me / watch me on https://www.twitch.tv/crysantos . For this guide I ask of you to know basic mechanics of the game (there are already such good guides provided by Sharana and others out there) - if you feel you're lacking those check out this section of the forums http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.php?/forum/174-newcomers-section/ - but I've linked the two most important topics in particular for BBs at the end of this section. You being here and reading these lines means you're actually trying to improve and learn - the best approach to this game. Keep in mind that even if you won't reach the crazy damage numbers or winrates of top players - that's not what your team mates expect of you. Be a part of the team, play as a member of your team (randoms, ranked, team battles) - play for the objectives, don't blindly chase damage or statistics. That's all we can ask for and the thing you should strive for. Remember to sacrifice a lamb to RNGesus before each BB session - you'll need every scrap of luck you can get . So Battlesheeeps...where to start? First of all we need to take a look at what battleships actually are – this might sound funny or ridiculous, but considering how the majority of the players use their ships...I think it's necessary. Battleships are the culmination of classic naval warfare for most of us – and this is represented ingame pretty nicely and accurately. They are the largest vessels with the biggest caliber guns and their HP pool / armor is superior to any other class. Due to their guns most battleships are able to outrange all other gunbased classes, something that unfortunately leads to most players thinking that sniping is the best way to play their battleships. This is the biggest and worst misconception in the game and probably the reason why some of you got some toxic chat messages from teammates. Let me give you the three golden rules of BB gameplay, stick to them! #1 don't sail in straight lines, vary your speed (be unpredictable for DDs and shells) #2 don't broadside, keep your angle #3 avoid stopping your ship with DDs around, never be a sitting duck There are also a few absolute No-Gos for BBs: - sitting in the back - max range sniping - using other ships as meatshields - not paying attention to minimap - sailing in straight lines at the same speed - don't yolo - if the battle is almost over and you're still almost full HP - you did something horribly wrong One of the most important things to learn as a battleship player is to keep your calm. You're big as [edited], you'll get shot by a lot of ships – deal with it. There's no other way to put it. Learn to keep it cool, prioritze the enemy ships and deal with them accordingly. You're going to burn, you're going to take a torp eventually – you'll still live. Panic usually makes you do stupid things like turning your broadside towards an enemy or reversing, putting you in an awkward spot and a hard place to get out of again. In general there a few things I recommend to take a bit of time to memorize or use mods that show you that kind of information – learn the torpedo ranges of DDs / CAs you might encounter, their reload times (roughly) and especially their usual detectability range (use the worst case scenario, fully upgraded with concealment expert). It'll help you a lot to assess the danger you're in and how to act accordingly. If you got AP preloaded, don't switch to HE for DDs – use your AP volley, then switch to HE. AP is still going to do a lot of damage, especially with lucky RNG hits to vital areas without overpenetrations. I know it's a fine line sometimes between pushing and yolo'ing, the more you communicate with your team and the more attention you pay to your surroundings, the better your chances of survival. I'll shamelessly plug a replay of mine in a Yamato as example of how you can actually push DDs and avoid most torpedoes. General guides for a better understanding of basic game mechanics - especially overpenetrations, fire management (damage mechanics - it's basic knowledge!) and spotting (if you consider concealment builds) can be found here. Please take the time to read them! [basics] Damage mechanics [basics] Spotting mechanics Upgrades / captain skills: This is a popular question on my stream – how do you skill your captain for a specific ship and what upgrades are worth using? In general I always recommend that you as a player think about what annoys you most about your ship and what you'd like to buff on the ship. Do you get annoyed by CV dropping on you? Do you lack the agility to dodge torps? These are good indicators for a certain build and since this is the only way in WoWS to actually individualize your ship, use it. See the following suggestions at what they are – my take on them, not the only way to skill up. For these battleships I see three viable builds available – each featuring a different focus and playstyle. 1. Survivability build This build focuses on keeping you alive as long as possible while boosting your ability to deal damage – usually under heavy fire. Upgrades: slot#1 Main Battery Modification #1 (no brainer) slot#2 Gun Fire Control System Modification #1 (you want to focus on your main guns and make these shots count) slot#3 (Tier IX and X only) Main Battery Modification #3 (depends on your personal preference a bit, if you want to keep a faster turret traverse speed, I'd recommend to go for AA if you feel that lacking or secondaries rof boost for better close range performance – absolute NO to the range modification) slot#4 Damage Control System Modification #1 (engine / rudder isn't an issue on BBs) slot#5 Steering Gears Modificaction #1 (Damage Control System #2 can be substituted by picking basics of survivability and faster turning means better torp dodging ability) slot#6 Target Acquisition System Modification #1 (stacks up with Vigilance skill – concealment only recommended if you feel like you need to disengage more often, but you're a BB and very easy to spot by anything...) Skills: - Situational Awareness (you want to know when you get spotted!) - Basics of survivability (less time to extinguish fires when on reload for Damage Control) - Expert Marksman (Turret Traverse is always good!) - Vigilance / Super Intendent (stacks up with Target Acquisition Modification, earlier spotted torps = life and +1 more Repair Party consumable) - Advanced + Basic Firing Training (AA, Secondaries) - High Alert (less time in between repairs) 2. Concealment build This build might sound a bit ridiculous at first, but it does make sense when played properly. You're trading in some survivability skills and your Target Acquisition System Modification for a drop in detectability by 24% (10% due to the module, 14% due to the skill "concealment expert" for BBs). This enables you to „sneak“ up on cruisers and other battleships – on your terms, not theirs and more importantly – it enables you to actually disengage from a fight, falling back into concealment and do the „evil turn“ when you need to show broadside for a few seconds. That's the phase when most BB captains lose a good share of their health while trying to get out of a bad position in order to retreat / regroup. You're still far from being sneaky and any DD in range is going to ruin your day. Upgrades: slot#1 Main Battery Modification #1 (no brainer) slot#2 Gun Fire Control System Modification #1 slot#3 (Tier IX and X only) Main Battery Modification #3 (depends on your personal preference a bit, if you want to keep a faster turret traverse speed I'd recommend to go secondaries rof boost for better close range performance – absolute NO to the range modification) slot#4 Damage Control System Modification #1 (engine / rudder isn't an issue on BBs) slot#5 Steering Gears Modificaction #1 (Damage Control System #2 can be substituted by picking basics of survivability and faster turning means better torp dodging ability and more agility in close range combat) slot#6 concealment system modificaction #1 Skills: - Situational Awareness (you REALLY want to know when you get spotted now!) - Expert Marksman (Turret Traverse is always good!) - Vigilance / Super Intendent - Advanced Firing Training (AA, Secondaries) - Concealment Expert 3. Secondary build (only recommended for Izumo / Yamato) With the introduction of the Manual Secondary Focus skill at Level 5 that buffs the accuracy of your automatically controlled secondaries by 60% on high Tier Bbs this became a viable option now. Japanese BB feature a strong secondary armament – but in order to make this build work you need to focus on skilling BFT / AFT / MSF – dropping other essential skills and more importantly, you need to let go of the main armament upgrades to help your secondaries. Good thing is – you get secondaries with a ridiculous rate of fire and a range of roughly 10km. There are two downsides to this build that I want to warn you about! Firstly, you need to get into range of your secondaries – that means you're chasing / pushing into ships that can severly damage you on closer range or even drop torps on you. Secondly, your secondaries get knocked out during battle – especially towards to the end of a fight you might have already lost a good share of your secondaries to lower caliber HE / AP shells. Upgrades: slot#1 Secondary Battery Modificaction #1 (survivability) / Main Battery Modification #1 (would be my pick... but if you want to go ham on secondaries...) slot#2 Secondary Battery Modificaction #2 (buffs range and dispersion by 20%) slot#3 (Tier IX and X only) Secondary Battery Modificaction #3 (20% higher rate of fire) slot#4 Damage Control System Modification #1 (engine / rudder isn't an issue on BBs) slot#5 Steering Gears Modificaction #1 (Damage Control System #2 is still inferior imho) slot#6 Target Acquisition Modificaction #1 (yes, you are brawling all day) Skills: - Basic Firing Training (secondaries rate of fire) - Expert Marksman (Turret Traverse is a must have) - Vigilance / Super Intendent - Advanced Firing Training (secondaries range) - Manual Fire Control (-60% secondaries dispersion) Consumables: A few suggestions on my part - if you want to play on the Top Tiers, you should be able to afford it. If you can't afford a loss, don't. We're talking about ships worth 150-300k credits per game, so you don't want to save on the wrong things here. Repair Party (HP repair tool): The Repair Party II is an absolute must-have on Tier VIII and above - it'll give an additional charge of healing power and you only need to wait for 80s to reload instead of 120s. Best to use in combination with the India Delta flag (20% boost to HP gained per tick). The exact healing rate per second is displayed in port when hovering over the consumable (doesn't count in signals - so for example in the best case scenario you get to repair (per charge) 9.268 HP on the Amagi, 11.046 HP on the Izumo and a whooping 13.608 HP on the Yamato. In order to use your Repair Parties most efficiently, take a look at the grey-ish area of your HP pool displayed on the left lower corner of your UI in battle. When you see that it's roughly around 10k HP or more, pop your consumable. It's also very useful to counter burning fires with the ability - you don't need to wait for them to burn down to repair the damage dealt. Damage Control Party (repairs damaged modules, fires and flooding immediately): This is also a no brainer - being able to kill fires / flodding after 80s instead of 120s is vital. This consumable is active for 10s - any fire / flodding started in that timeframe won't stick and vanish. Keep in mind that the captain's skill "High Alert" scales with this - so 8s buff on the DCP II and 12s on the DCP I. In order to use your Damage Control Party most efficiently ... use it wisely. This might sound a bit odd, but in general don't use it on the first fire that gets started on your ship unless you're out of range of most other ships and you can safely assume you won't get set on fire right away again. When under heavy fire wait for a second or third fire to erupt before popping this consumable. Planes (catapult fighter vs. spotting aircraft): In general I recommend the Catapult Fighter I - it'll help you to at least interrupt one incoming torpedo bomber or dive bomber squadron and it'll detect incoming torpedoes when flying over those. Due to its automatic flight pattern not really useful to find anything specific. I'd only pick the premium version of this if you don't mind spending the extra credits on this. The spotting aircraft has a wider radius, which means it'll detect enemies / torpedoes farther out and it enables you to gain 20% extra range on your main battery - but you gain a different angle (plane perspective) during that time. It usually throws of your aim and shooting at closer range targets most players hit less. I'd consider it on the Amagi due to the limited range - on the Izumo / Yamato I'd recommend the catapult fighter for additional AA power. Signals: recommended: - Zulu (20% extra credit income) - India Bravo Terrathree (10% less repair costs yay) - India Delta (20% buff to the HP gained per tick when using the Repair Party) - FOR SECONDARY BUILD!!! - Mike Yankee Soxisix (5% buff to rof, range and dispersion of secondary guns) optional but useful: - November Foxtrot (5% faster reload on consumables) - India Yankee (20% faster fire extinguishing) - Sierra Mike (5% buff to ship's maximum speed) - November Echo Setteseven (10% buff to AA effectiveness) not really useful: - Juliet Yankee Bissotwo (20% faster repair of flooding damage) - reason behind this is the 2:00 minute timer on that, your Damage Control Party is going to be ready before that, so imho a waste. Prey & choice of targets Playing BBs is a bit more complicated than many players think because it's very situational how much damage you can deal to certain targets with different ammo types. In general I'd recommend you playing around with AP a lot, aim for different sections and check the results. The training room mod (available at http://aslain.com/ ) is the best place to actually start derping around and testing ships in an enclosed environment on different angles. The main prey for you are CAs and BBs. As I've stated earlier, it depends a lot on what kind of mode you're playing - random battles are usually more forgiving and grant you more freedom when it comes to the choice of targets. In general you want to go for targets you can deal either citadel or penetrating damage to - in most cases broadsiding BBs (on pretty much any range) and broadsiding cruisers at mid-long range (plunging fire citadels). Removing cruisers early on is something I'd always focus on first, that means a lot of annoying HE / fire damage removed and enables you to focus BBs / tanking those. WG tweaked the AP penetration mechanics quite a bit over the time - the term overpenetrations is something very familiar with BBs shooting AP at CAs these days - especially on close range. The best place to hit ships at is the area below the smoke stacks (engine / boiler room) and beneath the turrets (magazines) - aim for the waterline. At close range it can get very frustrating when it comes to dealing with cruisers - your shells have such a large caliber and penetrating force that they just enter cruiser X on one side, enter the citadel / whatever but don't trigger the detonation of the shell itself and just pass through on the other side of the ship - only dealing minimum damage. So on close range it's actually viable to go for a slight angle on CA to use that angle on their weak armor to actually get your shells to detonate. In general I prefer the range of 10-15km for engagements with battleships but that varies a bit with each ship and its gun characteristics. Most BBs won't be broadsiding anymore - especially when fighting NC / Iowa / Izumos and Yamatos (bow-on tanking ships) - so your AP damage except for the lucky front citadel drops to very low numbers. On properly angled target it's more viable to shoot HE - first of all because the HE shells are going to deal at least some damage (aim for the superstructure). But what you're really going for is the damage over time of fires (BB HE shells have a decent chance of setting fires, usually around 30% per shell) and the incapacitation of modules. Especially when you're fighting as a team this strategy of pressuring and focusing down enemy BBs is vital and is pretty common around competitive modes like ranked / team battles. TLDR: - AP on broadsiding CA / BB / CV - HE on DD / angled BBs / in general targets that can actually tank your AP or that are on high HE pressure of your team - switching ammo types when preloaded isn't viable (shoot whatever you have loaded, switch to the preferred ammo type after that salvo) When it comes to dealing with DDs - if you have AP preloaded, use AP. Even minimum damage means usually 1k+ dmg per shell on a target with usually 15-20k HP on these Tiers. Switch over to HE on the second salvo. Tier VIII - Amagi: The Amagi is one of the most popular battleships ingame and there are plenty of reasons for this. First of all, the Amagi is actually a battlecruisers and that means it's trading in some armor for decent speed. Its gun allocation of 2x2 turrets (410mm guns) in the front and 3x2 turrets on the back isn't built for bow-on tanking unlike the North Carolina. The North Carolina excels at AA, has a better turning radius and a lower detectability – with the ability to tank bow on with it's 2x3 turret design on the front and 15% more range. Sounds like the NC is the better choice, right? Nope – because there are two things that make the Amagi shine – shell velocity and accuracy. The Amagi gets a dispersion of roughly 211m on 19.8km max range with the accuracy module, the NC suffers from a dispersion of circa 250m on the same range, 293m on its max range. Amagi AP shells take 12s to reach their destination, HE 14s – on the NC it's the other way around (with a higher shell arc) – resulting in more time for the enemy to dodge AP salvos. This is something you need to keep in mind and adjust your gameplay to – to get the maximum out of your ship you need to be able to shoot most of your guns on the Amagi without showing too much broadside towards enemy battleships. This is why it's vital to make use of the Amagi's speed and to stay in motion – non-moving battleships are sitting ducks and the other battleships you have to face are much better suited for this kind of gameplay. The Amagi has the lowest range of the high Tier battleships – 18km without the Gun Fire Control System upgrade – 19.8km with the upgrade. This sounds „bad“ at first but it actually isn't – the Amagi is designed to be mobile and with its deadly guns it's perfectly suited for brawling enemies at 10-15km. This means you're right in the dangerzone, potential target for DD torps and CA HE spam – so try to act as a fleet, have at least cruisers with you for support against smaller enemy vessels and to spot for you – in return it's your duty to tank and apply damage. The approach to random battles is quite different to ranked / teambattles for me. In random battles you usually face casual players with a lack of situational awareness – translating into a lot of broadsiding enemies you can pick off one by one. In general I always recommend focusing fire as a team, but this is far more important in the competitive modes than in randoms. In ranked / teambattle mode the key to winning is to find a good balance in being able apply to damage and to survive while still tanking a good amount of damage – so your positioning and angling is even more important than in random battles. When it comes to grinding this ship I'd highly recommend using your freeXP to get the Hull B upgrade asap – it's vital for better armor, AA and improved guns. The Gun Fire Control System upgrade on the Hull C upgrade comes in very handy – especially when facing highter Tier BBs that are running from you on max range and take shots at you. I'll include a replay of mine – Jammin did a commentary on that game in particular, it'll give you an idea about how I prefer to play it and why it's actually rewarding to brawl instead of sniping. Tier IX - Izumo Tier IX – not a very popular Tier for most classes and the Izumo is probably one of the most disliked ships ingame. But what is so different about this ship that makes it so unpopular? It's the gun allocation – triple turrets (3x3 410mm) in the front and due to their layout the 3rd turret is often not able to be shot at the same target without showing a lot of broadside. It's a very different approach to playing the fast, agile battlecruiser – battleships that you got to play earlier on. The Izumo received some love over the past months and is way better than it used to be – comparable to the Colorado. The Izumo is great for tanking bow-on, just like the North Carolina or Iowa but it seriously hurts from showing too much skirt – its side is pretty soft when it comes to armor. On the upside – the Yamato features a similar gameplay so it'll help you in the future to practice in the Izumo. Many players try to run away in their battleships - using their superior range to deal some damage and exactly this strategy won't work on the Izumo due to the guns. In case you're chased the gun layout is forcing you to expose an undesirable angle, resulting in quite some damage taken. So how to play and is it so different from other battleships? Actually not and I'm surprised that so many players have issues with this ship – the general idea, as mentioned before, is pretty much the same like on the North Carolina and Iowa class, focus on your two front main turrets, keep a decent angle and don't overcommit. In general I'd recommend doing the following two things at the start of the battle – check out your spawning point, who spawned with you? Try to set a strategic goal or a general battle plan for yourself and keep an exit strategy. What's an exit strategy for a BB? Sometimes you'll get forced to turn around, keep that option in mind and choose a decent spot for that – it's vital that you don't put yourself in an awkward spot where you can't maneuver your way out of anymore. Avoid islands, enclosed space and always keep an eye on the minimap. As usual – try to act as a fleet, having a DD to scout for you and a CA for support always pays off – in return you should focus on the correct targets, commit to the fight and do the tanking you're built for. When it comes to grinding I'd recommend to get the Hull B / C upgrades asap, you can skip the range / engine upgrade though. It's not worth the XP, but feel free to pimp it out if you like the ship. I'll include a replay of Et_Lanatus_Baro – a good friend of my stream. Jammin covered this game aswell and it'll show you how to use the Izumo and what kind of gameplay it features. Tier X - Yamato The almighty Yamato – in my personal opinion clearly the best BB out there. It might have less turrets than the Montana but it makes up for that by sheer fire power and bigger caliber guns (460mm vs. 406 mm). It features the best armor ingame – on paper pretty much on par with the Montana, but the actual armor layout and better torpedo belts make it way sturdier – a thing to keep in mind especially with the HP repair ability – the lighter the damage you receive, the more HP you get to repair due to the basic mechanics of healing in WoWS. The guns are the main feature though, the higher caliber enables you to penetrate on worse angles compared to any other battleship, the shell velocity and general accuracy is impressive. Additionally it also sports quite impressive secondary guns – especially compared to its USN counterpart. Unfortunately a lot of BB skippers I've met on the high seas think that a featured range of 26.7km means you should be sitting at max range and snipe away. Please don't be that kind of player – the Yamato deserves better! This ship in particular has the highest HP pool ingame - 97.200 HP combined with the best armor ingame. The HP repair ability used to be superior to any other BB but got reset to the standard level of all other battleships now. You still get 3 up to 5 HP repair tools to compensate for damage taken – giving you the ability to tank over 130k-165k (best case scenario) HP if used properly. Sooo...you are the best armored ship out there with the biggest HP pool – more HP than a Des Moines and Zao combined! - use it, don't waste it. Try to apply the things I've said about the Izumo – avoid broadsiding, keep an exit strategy, work as a team. The Yamato is a force to be reckoned with but it's only as good as the captain who's commanding it. I'll recommend watching this replay to get a good impression what the Yamato can dish out if played properly – you can also see that the closer we get, the better the ship performs. The other Yamato replay you've seen at the beginning of the guide should show you how you can make the ship work on very close range.

Last day to send me your questions gentlemen

Hey there, no you can also ask dev-specific questions - I'll send my pick of questions to MrConway and he'll pass them along, so we can give you a sophisticated and hopefully satisfying answer on Thursday. Keep the good work up, you have until tomorrow midnight to send me moaaar.

That one I can answer for you - yes, they can be. It's what you witness in BBs on close range when dropping AP salvos on CAs.

Warships today doesn't feature the entire server though. And that still doesn't cover the other points I've made.

Hey guys, I just wanted to point your attention to a video I've just seen and check out what you guys think about it. I've uploaded one of my fun replays to wowreplays.com and apparently another guy in the same battle did the same thing. Jammin411, the guy behind the replay commentaries, took the time and created a multi-view replay commentary for both of us about that battle. I think this is one of the best ways I've seen the game presented and it's fun to watch. So what do you think, do you like it? I'd love to see more people upload different replays of the same battle, maybe even teambattles, to get a really creative and interesting 360° view of a battle!

As I've said, WR is not the nonplusultra value to rate a ship - the Kiev got nerfed over time, the Karlsruhe buffed. Not sure how that is actually reflected in the stats and I'm pretty sure that most of the ship statistics sites don't have the entire server data pool available. The only one I know that shows that is maple (and even he can't see the hidden accounts) which makes most data more and more unreliable. There's also a different influence of ships on wins themselves - DDs usuall have a bigger impact due to the importance of capping - german cruisers favor a certain gamestyle that usually doesn't feature getting really close. This is why I say it's more complicated than many of you make it out to be - just take WR and say this is stronger than the other one. It's way more complicated and each ship / tier has a different role and a different set of strong / weak sides to it.

I never said that you're stupid, I just disagree with hidden stats because there's no way to prove them. I also disagree with WR being the only real measure to rate a ship's strength. I do see some of the russian premiums as very strong / borderline OP - but I always try to set things in perspective. For example the Gremy is a really strong ship - imo in the right hands one of the strongest around - but still the Kamikaze / Fujin beat it in WR and DMG usually. Different roles, different impact. I'm not surprised that for example the IJN DDs are very strong on the low Tiers but kind of lose their "pushing" power when it comes to actually winning a battle / avg on the higher Tiers. They just can't compete with gun DDs for cap zones and most of their players don't even try to do so. Yes you can try to compare them generally but I think that's not fair - the only real telling stats are the ones per Tier imho and a cross-checking of all stats, not just winrate. I never agreed with WG taking that value as the most important one and the same thing applies to this. Furthermore we only have one russian tree right now, compared to 3-4 for IJN / USN ship lines. Just melting everything into one "RU ships are the best in general" statement is something I can't get behind, if you understand what I mean. Certain ships need tweaking, if you take a look at my statistics threads you'll see that for me balance is the most important thing is this game because a decent balance usually means a lot of fun and longterm motivation to keep playing. I'm still happy to see these statistics, I'm always a fan of those and appreciate the work you're putting into this. I just dislike the way most people on the forums just dish out the usual "this OP, that OP, ruskies stronk" without actually backing it up with facts. Especially doing this without having any data to work with, nor the experience of playing these ships like we can see with the russian cruiser line ... makes me a bit sad. I hope you can understand that.

Seriously, how do you come up with things like that? What hidden slight advantage are you talking about, please enlighten me - in detail. Please show me where the russian WR bias can be seen, back it up with data - let's take the russian DD line for example. I've checked maple syrup and other stats site like warships today, the only ships with a better WR than the other nations are the Kiev / Udaloi and sometimes Ognevoi or Khaba, depends on the data sample. Hidden advantages, russian bias and all these things seem like a thing that apparently have their origin in WoT - in WoWS it's a tinfoil hat thing for me. The only ship that's really overpowered for its Tier is the Nikolai - besides that the russian ships are not the issue, I'd be more worried about the clear IJN bias at higher Tiers - but it's hard to blame that on russians, eh? Ships have in this game such a variety and different playstyles to them, that the ships with the best and easiest appeal to the average Joe have the highest winrate. Winrate is only one of many stats, it doesn't say too much on its own - the same thing applies to player stats. But when there's one thing that I've learned from this first preview of russian ships that the actual bias isn't the WG - russian things stronk bias but the player bias towards WG releasing russian ships.

That would be a great idea!

Huh, wall of text. The sad truth of playing online games for like a decade... people are people and just like in real life a lot of them are ignorant, unsocial beings. The internet allows a lot of people to blow off steam without any repercussions, so they're doing it. The only way to limit that would be by having a very strict sanctioning of this kind of behavior (which doesn't really appeal and scare off players) or by enforcing using RL data to register. This would mean only one account per person, bans would be permanent and people wouldn't be able to circumvene sanctions by creating a new account and RL bullcrap posted like racism could be sanctioned in RL. I don't think this is a viable option right now, so all I'd like to see is the option to easily mute people and get extremely toxic people banned automatically (or just set their chat to personal, not being able to chat to others and just ramble to themselves). Stuff like this - but it's the internet, I just try to shrug it off and only report things that I think cross a certain line like RL threads, etc.