Aotearas

Even that's not everything. I wasn't that big on naval stuff in the first place, it just looked like a neat game at the start. Now though I'm actually sucking up a lot of naval history with gusto. This game and its setting sparked my curiousity and I'm more knowledgeable about a couple things thanks to it. The game has charm aside from its monopoly, as clichéed as that sounds.

This is either the worst cover-up I've seen in a long, long time after having released a premium ship that's almost unplayble by design and WG genuinely thought anyone would like to pay money for that only to wake up to a literal sh*tstorm and scrambling in some form of damage control ... Or WG broke their own record of incompetence so hard they literally picked up their standard from the moldy box in their basement because they really wanted to test their new industrial ground drill and see how low they can bury their bar. And the fact that by now I can't even decide which one is more likely than the other makes me a bit sad and questioning why I even keep playing this game. By all accounts, the rational decision should be to simply uninstall. But there's something to this game that keeps me, which is supposed to be a joyous thing and something WG ought to capitalize on, not test how low they can go before people hit the end of their patience ...

Mikasa kriegt 7km Basisreichweite und 50% bessere Streuung für die Sekundärgeschütze. Hauptbatterie kriegt 20 Sekunden Nachladezeit, 2.3 Sigma Wert und evenfalls 50% geringere Streuung. Permanente Tarnung kriegt +1000% XP, +250% Frei XP und +75% Credit Multiplikatoren. Ausserdem generiert die Mikasa nun Dublonen mit einer Verhältnisrate zu Credits von 100:1. Wird selbstverständlich gleichzeitig auch permament aus dem Sortiment genommen.

Okay, so me pointing out how an Ishizuchi can outplay an Imp is pure fantasy and simply assuming the enemy acts as stupid as possible (completely ignoring the fact that the Ishizuchi has the range AND speed advantage to dictate the engagement, the enemy can play it smart all he wants and still not have a chance). But apparently assuming the Ishizuchi is playing as dumb as possible and engaging in a gunnery duel is par for the course, mkay. I should've known you wouldn't be susceptible to reasonable arguments when you started your diatribe with assuming any Ishizuchi would fire AP at the Imp of all things (the "assuming the enemy acts as dumb as possible part" in case you need it spelled out). Nice hypocrisy you got going there. And that nearly 100% sure Imp penetrating the Ishizuchi everwhere part, you ever looked at the armour profile? There's plenty surface that can and will bounce the Imp's 305mm AP, so you can take your "nearly 100% sure" and put it next to your "Exactly, if this and if that, when the stars align and every shell sets a fire. Maybe." I would just like to take a moment and have everyone appreciate how hilariously nonsensical and stupid a comparision that is. Literally all you need for a division is a buddy or two. A competent buddy or two if you want to be a particularily successful division. Yet here we have someone actually comparing it to organized crime.

Ah, apologies, I just checked the news and WG edited it saying they messed up the bonus implementation date. I was at Gamescom yesterday so I wouldn't know if the bonus had been going on yet or not. So I assumed it was the usual "y no +300%, it sed 300%". Sorry, I derped here.

Except we have a 300% first win bonus. You get +200% bonus ... that obviously goes on top of your usual 100%, resulting in 300% XP. Math is hard. I failed.

You're assuming the Ishizuchi should use AP or even play like a BB, that's cute. Ishizuchi should be played like a heavy cruiser. Put a cruiser captain on her and be amazed how fast you can burn down everything in between your HE alpha and firechance. Ishizuchi HE don't care about the Imp's lolbounce armour, just rain HE, set a fire or two with each salvo and chip away at him with your direct HE damage. As with anything HE and fires you won't delete him anytime soon, but only a fool would push against those odds, even in an Imperator. You force him to disengage. And if he is a fool, you have the range and mobility to keep him at arms length and kite and he can do nothing about it (even if he wants to disengage, he can't! Ishizuchi has better range and vastly better mobility ... if the Zuchini wants the Imp dead, he's dead unless he can flee back behind the safety of his entire team). And after the Imp is gone, the Ishizuchi can simply use her superiour speed to get back into a more agressive position, so as long as everyone else your remaining team didn't feed themselves to the enemy guns, the Imp was just a minor speedbump along the ride.

That's what the Ishizuchi is for.

Nope, afaik they only gave out Emdems (for playtesting at the booth) and König Alberts as bonus codes during the stage shows.

Neat, thanks!

Albert going? Well good thing I snagged a bonus code for it today at Gamescom

But it is a polo shirt ... And the concert was rad: Shame the video audio doesn't catch the audience screaming back ... my throat is still sore. You can see me a couple times since I had a pretty neat place in the second row ... hmm, maybe I should give away the codes to the two people who can accurately spot me the most times Hint: you can try to triangulate my rough position by comparing my photograph's point of view to the band's position. Urgh, I'm almost completely hidden from their usual perspective, nevermind my shirt. Scratch that, we'll have to find another method to sort out those two bonus codes. Sadly there wasn't enough beer around to get them naked, we tried though ...

Heute den @Crysantos auf der Gamescom überfallen.

Just says Pz.Kpfw. IV and a garage slot on the card.

Well then, back from Gamescom: That's the people in front of me, directly next to the entry, ~2 hours (!!!) before opening. Those are the poor sods behind me ~2 hours before opening, needlessly to say the queue quickly inflated well past the point that I could even see from where I was (all the way in the front, beyatches!). What I got was sore feet, sore back, sore throat, and I don't hear very well right now ... the former two because I was on my feet for ~13 hours, the latter two because Sabaton: And yeah, that's me right next to the show floor, second line in fact (stalking the floor for more than an hour was totally worth it I wouldn't hear myself saying right now for all the right reasons). Also had a great time browsing the merchandise hall: Thanks to me not really having much place to put any figurines (and the prices) I resisted the temptation. Though it was made easy by the fact I didn't see a Hatsuzuki anywhere (that one might've cracked my resolve). Played a game /after setting the game mode to CoOp, hopefully saving some Randoms from Gamescom newbies (I saw people speccing into torpedo armament expertise ... for their Bismarcks!!!), tested the Lion, was okay but what can you tell from one game, duh (it wasn't the most up-to-date build anyway, Lion/Conquerer 419mm guns still had the improved penetration angles they're due to lose). Attended the stage show, even got lucky and grabbed one code. ... and before anyone gets disappointed, I DID ambush @Crysantos, showed him the fabuloutastic shirt which was such an overwhelming experience I stripped him from every bonuscode he still had on his body! NATURALLY @WolfGewehr is going to get one as thanks for his artistry. I'll PM you with a bonus code for a König Albert, portslot and 24 hours premium time! That means I have another two codes for the same deal (König Albert, portslot and 24 hours premium time for those with very limited short-term memory) plus a bonus code for a Pz.Kpfw. IV and a garage slot if anyone in here plays WoT and wants it! I have however NO IDEA to whom I'd give those away or how to organize a raffle and am a bit too spend to think of something right now. You guys feel free to propose a way of handling it (or just grovel satisfyingly) we can get those codes onto men somehow, no doubt. What I sadly forgot to do when I had Crysantos attention was ask for a photograph to spread our windowlicking message (to be fair, he seemed to have been on a short break and just going back so it would've been slightly impolite to keep him to myself at that point anyway). Anyhoot, that was my day, see y'all tomorrow!

Was at Gamescom today and it's still the same. Saw it happen multiple times when I waited in the queue. Also saw a couple players speccing into torpedo armament expertise on their Bismarcks ... I had to reign myself in very hard not to slap those people's back of the head (easily within arms reach!) and even managed to hold back most of the groan that welled up inside me. First thing I did when I got to the station was switch from Randoms to CoOp battle and I hope for everyone playing on the life server that the staff at the booth didn't default it back to Randoms anytime soon. I did my part!

Yeah, about that ... there's a difference between a new player starting at tier I like everyone else or a new player getting thrown into a tier X game. That he might not even have time to actually finish depending on the visitor rotation schedule. What I don't get is how they seed those visitors into the live server instead of setting up a local network. Or if for some reason they absolutely CAN'T set up a local network, not limit them to CoOp instead. The entire point of drawing new players isn't just letting them steer shiny big ships. It's also about delivering a satisfying, rewarding impressions. The typical tier X game isn't very satisfying to newcomers (hell, even players who grinded up the tiers normally have problems adjusting to the high tier meta coming from the more lively low and midtiers), ESPECIALLY considering that someone with no idea how to play the game is very likely to simply get burned down or outright nuked. Or have staff tap you on the shoulder in the middle of the game telling you the time is up (yes, this crap happens at conventions, lots of people to cycle through!). Woah, such a great experience! Nevermind the incredibly motivating chat whenever someone gets salty and starts raging at a Gamescom account for being a n00b (other expletives optional), man what a great community this game has to have. Makes me wanna install the game first thing I come home ... Let's face it, the SOP of seeding playtest accounts into the life server randoms is a pretty stupid move for everyone.

Fastest BB at its tier and among the fastest in its entire MM bracket (that inculdes tier VII ships!) even when uptiered. Second most accurate guns at its tier and competitive accuracy in its entire MM bracket. Longest firing range at its tier and among the longest ranged in its entire MM bracket. Second best AA at its tier (not good enough to defend itself from higher tier CVs, but only the most powerful AA ships can boast that privilige). Excellent penetration for its caliber! All that aside, a cursory glance at your profile indicates you've yet to fully grasp how to make ships work. I can't tell you what you do wrong from this little information (though it does certainly indicate that at least your gunnery can do with a lot of improvements), but I suggest reading up a couple gameplay guides (the newcomer and ship subsections offer many invaluable tips!), watching some Youtube videos with tips and advice (iChaseGaming has pretty good basics tutorials and Flamu has excellent commentaries for advanced gameplay).

My apologies in advance, because on wednesday I'm going to be one of those (if you'd prefer to avoid me, I'll be beelining to the WG booth right from the start so 10-11 in the morning is mostly likely when I'll have my shot)

Second game in my Des Moines: Yep, I'm in love with this ship. I also was once more cruelly reminded why I lost faith into randoms. Shima went all the way to C instead of trying B, even after I told him he's got a Des Moines and a Zao as back-up. So I had to poke my nose into B and capture it all by myself (a theme for today!). Enemy Des Moines was spotted earlier going C, just another reason why the Shima shouldn't have gone there, but that didn't deter him, ... yet. Took a potshot at it -> *BAMM* double citadel, then hid myself behind the little island to cap. After having done that, I turn my attention to C ... which at that point was being contested by the enemy Shimakaze with the Des Moines, a Mogami and a Bismarck in tow ... obviously our Shima decided to scurry away THEN. But for reasons I will never understand, the enemy Des Moines yolo'es forth, which put it perfectly broadside to me, 7km away (and he MUST've known I was there, his own radar had spotted me ffs!). Welp, a couple citadels later he was gone. Then, for yet more reasons I will never understand, the Mogami somehow thinks he's different and edges forward, completely broadside, 6km away from my Des Moines ... end result should be predictable. Bismarck had wisely decided to screw that cap, so I went into C, popped my radar to bully the enemy Shima and then capped C again mostly by myself. Because as it turns out our Shima was rather enthusiastic at bailing. Enemy had meanwhile capped B back, so I returned (this time the Shima thought it safe enough apparently), sunk on of their DDs and then worked over the previous Bismarck with AP ... sadly the game ended before I could get myself a Kraken. Got complimented AND reported in that game And there was this game in my Ibuki: This game is here not because of any spectacular results (though it was a clutch victory and I did get pretty XP), but because of the utter boneheaded teammates I had. First off, our CV. Spend the first four minutes of the game just circling his aircraft over his stationary carrier ... I thought he was a bot. Turns out he's just terribly bad, potato par excellence. Even after he finally woke up, he couldn't handle the enemy CV fighters (more like didn't even attempt after the first dogfight ended with him getting his fighters strafed to kingdom come) which gave the enemy unmolested perma spotting over the B cap (which naturally meant we couldn't cap it). And when he actually went to attack something, he had a remarkable penchant for exclusively dropping on targets that were as good as dead and would've been sunk by allies in a matter of seconds anyway. The results tell the story, 4 kills, but barely broke 1k base XP and a measly 5 aircraft kills (which I'm sure were only possible because the enemy CV halfheartedly tried to drop on him once). So back to the situation, we have one cap (which I got) to the enemy two and B cap is being permanently spotted by the enemy CV. Nearly all enemy ships have an unobstructed line of fire into the B cap. So what do two of our teammates do? Start demanding we go cap B, as if we could just magically ignore the entire enemy team that would obliberate everyone stupid enough to try. Can't do, won't do, especially not in a cruiser (Ibuki is stealthy, but not THAT stealthy), so I waited, bid my time until the enemy team was whittled down enough for me to risk going for the cap (the enemy CV meanwhile, realizing ours isn't going to challenge him, diverted all his aircraft to striking our team down elsewhere). So went for the cap, got it. You'd expect a "thank you" or perhaps a "well done" ... I didn't expect to get called an idiot (by the guys who had demanded we cap B earlier when it was suicide to try, the same guys who got nuked by the enemy CV). Responded that I'm in a flippin' cruiser and can't just sneak under the entire enemy team's guns to cap B out under it and that it isn't even my responsibility to cap in the first place, because ... you know ... I'M IN A FREAKING CRUISER! NOT A DD!!! They proceeded to insult me some more, whining about how we're going to lose and other assorted diatribes that translate into "waaah waaah waaah" (seriously, go suck on a pacifier you goddamn baby!). Well, as you can see we didn't lose (though it was a close affair). I'm topscore, nearly 2K base XP and have two out of the teams total three captures (in danger of sounding like a broken record ... in a bloody cruiser!). Players like that, little know-it-all-armchair-admirals with no situational awareness and an ego larger than their precious BB's firing radius with a spotter plane up really, really, REALLY piss me off. I'm trying my damned best to win the game (and I do believe my stats do show that I'm doing something right) but it's never enough for those bloated ego trippin' douchecanoes and even if you prove them wrong, they just keep yapping because apparently winning in the end isn't nearly as important as their incessant b*tching about "we're gunna lose because of u" infers and they rather happily continue calling other people names because the game didn't go exactly as they wanted it to. Entitled little b*tches is what you folks are and the game and this community would be better off with you lot uninstalling and keeping your misery to yourself! /rant

That. And it goes for every class or combination thereof. A division is a force multiplier, but sometimes the only thing present to multiply is stupidity.

Naw, the size is fine. I had just told them they can print it big enough to fill the space, but they didn't, hence a lot of wasted area when they could've printed the clan logo bigger to fill it out.

I just hope WG has refined their rotation system so people are not asked to leave their gaming station in the middle of a game because the alloted time has run out and the next group gets ferried in. Or maybe just host a local network instead of letting them play on the live server in the first place ...

@WolfGewehr Gamescom shirt is done! Front: Back: Print store was a bit stingy with the size for the front images. Told them the clan logo can get as big as long as it fits, but alas, plenty spare room around it. Still looks neat though. And as we can see, if anyone wants to do something similar in the future, get a darker shade of gold for the name tags, the colour intensity fades a bit (or maybe their printer isn't as good, don't know and wasn't going to hole them with detail questions). Imho worth the 30€ Let's see if it stuns the WG booth fellows into showering me with bonus codes. @Tuccy@MrConway I'll be coming with a custom shirt! Let's see with how much I can leave, eh?

The 1/1/0 setup was so strong because proper use of the manual attacks made the fighter strafing extremely effective and the torpedo bombers when dropped properly could nuke anything short of a BB. Without manual attacks, your fighters are still going to win a dogfight against Zuiho fighters, but in the meantime it's TBs and DBs are free to do their thing and that ends in an attrition fight where the zuiho is simply better at grinding down your allies than you're grinding down his. And with being reduced to autodrops only (which even with the shorter drop distance are easy to avoid or at least minimize your damage by turning into the drop (and if I can do that in the Nikolai, then halfway decent cruisers and DDs are as good as intangible), the Zuiho's ability to crossdrop eliminates the one glaring weakness the autodrop has, meaning the Zuiho's can make more of its potential damage land compared to the Bogue. The removal of the manual attacks has effectively neutered the Bogue's 1/1/0 loadout. You can either go 2/0/1 and try to lock down the enemy CV, or you can try your luck with the 0/1/2 (which is still inferiour to the Zuiho's strike capability due to lacking the option to crossdrop, but you can use the TBs to bait enemy fighters and hope to stack fires on opportune targets that DCP'ed).