loppantorkel

...so, it's decently balanced? bbs give up some game influence, but they're a more 'newbie-friendly' class to play..? We want the 40% players to play tier 10 bbs rather than tier 10 dds and it's good for the game that there's a class that actually alleviates some of the game's potato issues? I'd say that it does matter. Also, to perform well in a bb, you actually has to know plenty about the game - armour schemes, shell calibre and pen stuff.... It's not as black and white as some of you describe it.

I have to ask, out of ignorance - which bbs are deciding the games, aside from the Kremlins and occasional OP premium? Once they've nerfed Kremlin, perhaps a few other Russian bbs and Smolensk, (disregarding the cv issues) I don't see a huge balance problem in the game. I could be wrong, but I still feel more influential in a dd than any bb. Better players than me seem to be able to get any class and most ships to a good WR number. I think many mechanics can be improved - less RNG and more consistent citadel hits is one thing, but deep water torps is a good introduction, removing invisi-firing was the right call, having smoke-firing penalties is good, I even think that the change on flooding is good for the game, although this should probably be tweaked a bit still.

I kind of agree to many of your points. Several changes to the game are improvements and this goes for the general gameplay, not just due to BB whine, but your conclusion lacks perspective. You have to factor in incompetence and the wet dreams of Russian devs to paint the full picture. That said, no one is perfect and I'm sure most of them actually are doing a decent, honest job, trying to make the game as good as possible. ..of course while making it profitable.

...yes, with some emphasis on the 'run' part. I had some early doubts about the game. Seeing the team's strong flank collapse without capping kind of seals it. Anyway, we did what we could in a weak position. I think I ran into @OldschoolGaming_YouTube the other day too, in his Smolensk. Kind of a similar start, retreating from a weak starting flank, but with a better outcome. Well played.

I don't think I reach 19km with legendary GK, let alone hit anything at that range.

Some points of criticism about ships are valid, some are not. I agree it's important not to look past ones own conditioning, but there's a point when you have to conclude things based on stats, past experiences and current experience. Thinking that the stats are fine, that Smolensk is fine based on those stats and the bad experience is purely psychological is an easy and convenient conclusion. It takes more than this to make a balanced ship that doesn't break the meta. I understand the spreadsheet route that WG base the balance on, but if they played the game a bit, they'd know that Smolensk is broken and needs fixing. It just takes too long for them to read enough data.

Range nerf (doesn't need to be huge if there's additional nerf) and some additional armour change imo. Survivability needs to be lowered. It's shown again and again in games, last ships alive - the Smolensks. It was a similar issue with Khabas a few years back, less so but similar - it had too few good counters and usually it was effective against any ships. Too versatile and not enough threats to it. You forgot torps, not to mention the low profile, the slimness and the armour layout, I'm not sure but it's probably fairly quick and agile too... Who the hell thought this ship needed all these features?

I'd go with the 12 km torps, full torp build with extra HP and I enjoy it without any RL.

The problem is that if you're too close to a fully broadside target and use AP, you'll end up with overpens - that's a feature of the game. I was hoping SAP would work in this circumstance.

So, does the game decide what gets hit by the shells before impact? First time I see this too. AP shells on a space cam cruiser, no mods. Small bug, but more interested about the hit mechanic...

I agree that you can't look solely on stats, but are an important tool. You bring up some weaknesses of the KM line - the main guns and some aspects of the armour scheme. So, what do these weaknesses do to the ships like Bismarck? Does Bismarck have strengths that alleviate its weakness? If the weaknesses make the ships bad, it should show in the stats. If the ship has strengths that weigh up its weakness, stats should show this as well - which it does. Bismarck isn't underperforming. Buffing it might make it OP like the Russian bbs. If you want more accurate guns on KM bbs, the KM line will become more powerful. If it's in line or even outperforming other bb lines now - what aspect would you like to see nerfed in the KM bbs to balance this propopsed main gun accuracy buff?

Not sure about the proposed change but I agree that IFHE shells shouldn't have been introduced. It could've worked, but it's getting clearer and clearer that WG should take a few steps back and try simplify it, for balancing purposes. This goes for plenty of mechanics. The game is starting to become an unwieldy mess. I suppose that if there some sort of manipulation in MM or RNG implemented or planned, it would be easier to hide it in a very complex system compared to a simple one.

It does depend on other things as well. If the average player notice that one shell type has stopped working, he might switch to the other, thus lowering the damage output of the first one. Given the average player in wows, this might be insignificant.

Lol.. I'm mr stats now? As ColonelPete showed in his post - KM bbs doesn't seem to be under performing. Yet you complain about specific details of the KM line. I figured you were having issues performing in KM bbs, but it looks like you're doing fine in them too. In conclusion: the KM bbs aren't UP in general and you aren't under performing in KM bbs. Stats show this. Simple question: What significant fact are people ignoring that would suggest KM bbs need a general buff?

Maybe. Not sure if IFHE is that great as a concept. If they only do a minor change to it, maybe they could do a slight graphic change to the IFHE rounds too, just to give notice to the receiving ship it's getting spammed by IFHE and not regular HE.

These are your stats. In what way are German bbs underperforming?

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm not playing tier 5s with 15s reload to stay at range. Try this instead: Division up with an Emerald - yolo into nearest cap, use Italian smoke to enter cap, Emerald smokes up while in cap. Makes for much more interesting games. Still, I was hoping for a solution to the overpen of thin cruisers at close range - SAP doesn't seem like it.

...but still the German bbs seems to perform pretty decent when not compared to the OP Russian bb line.. Maybe nerf the Russian line instead?

Not sure what to do with SAP on Montecuccoli. I've been pretty unsuccessful in dealing damage. I happened upon a broadside, close range Leander - should be a great target, light cruiser, I shouldn't get overpens with SAP - plenty of citadels maybe? Nope, unable to pen the armour apparently. AP would've been better. I kind of figured SAP would have some sort of advantage but so far I don't feel it...

Why not? Personally, I feel totally unaffected by it.

I just found some navel fluff just laying around and it's basically useless to me but if wg let us exchange it to FreeXP we'd all have new ships and no one would get hurt don't be a beach

It sounds like you're pushing into unknown territory too often, meaning you decide where you want to go, end up facing an overwhelming force (at the start of the game when the enemy ships all are alive and got their smokes ready), and having to retreat in panic. Playing FDG, I wouldn't play for damage. I'd play it as a damage sponge and an annoying obstacle preventing the enemy push. You can decide what flank you want relatively early, but you can't push in unconditionally unless there's a very clear opportunity. I also try to see whether I'm able to support the capper with hydro and if so, I load HE and support with secondaries. If there are several HE spammers or minos around - you need to know where they are before pushing in too close. You can push in a bit if you have a good exit plan. That way most HE spammers/minos present themselves to your team, they smoke up and you take a bit of damage moving away. You'll do this more successfully if you got a tank build. You won't do a whole lot of damage, but if you want damage, you don't sail FDG.

Getting close won't help you. I'm of the opinion that they should look at the AP mechanic and especially overpens.

The tier 5 cruiser feels underwhelming compared to most other tier 5 ships.

The game would be better off if Smolensk was made more vulnerable. It's got too many features that benefits its survivability atm.