AnotherDuck

I wonder how it is that when people complain that there are always so many campers in your team that the reds just take all bases, where are all the campers in the red team?

I've mentioned that before. Why have so short spaces for the names? Even without clans, many names don't show up in full. It's like WG expected people to have nicknames as long as regular real names, which tend to be 1-4 syllables. In the game, the ship profile takes up more space than the name on the side panels, which quite frankly isn't that useful with automatic identification (it was how ships were identified historically, but I don't think it has a place in an arcade game at the expense of other actually useful information). And who designs a stat screen where the names don't fit?

Trying to communicate with other players, even if they seem like idiots, has a higher probability of working than not communicating with them, or insulting them.

Gunfights in IJN DDs work differently. It's more of a hit-n-run harassing style that's effective than a straight out gun duel. Get one or two salvos in, and then disappear before the enemy can lock in on you properly.

I find that the USN DDs are best at it, although I mostly only have experience with the USN and IJN ones. I have played a little with some of the other ones on the test server, but not nearly as much. I also find the USN DDs the hardest to deal with myself. The main reason is the decent stealth of the USN DDs. When hunting DDs, getting into range before they can spot you and run away, especially to their allies, is vital. If you get to within your detectability range, your guns will melt down any DD. The fast turret traverse also means you can dodge however you want, and still have them on target. Even if you change side you won't lose that much (although you should still avoid it if possible). Also, if you intend to hunt DDs, Radio Location is your friend. Obligatory mention that I want it gone, but it's great for that. I just want to mention that while IJN DDs have worse DPM than other DD lines, they're still good at hunting down low-HP DDs, as those tend to be more cautious, and the IJN DDs have the best stealth. That also means they're great for spotting other DDs so your allies can shoot them down (never fight a fair fight). The guns have great alpha damage (for DDs, even if nerfed), and they have good shell arcs. Bottom line, even if you're sailing an IJN DD, hunting DDs isn't out of the question. It's just not the line you should pick if you want to primarily hunt other DDs.

If the BB aiming at you is outside your max range in a cruiser, WASD-haxing helps a lot. Cruisers aren't as agile as destroyers (usually), but you can still dodge a lot of shells by just randomly changing speed and direction. If you know exactly which ship is aiming at you and it's only one, it's much easier, though, since you can just watch out for when that ship fires, and dodge at that moment. You'll also have a good idea of the reload so you can anticipate that and not be caught in a turn or something.

So I'm skipping things because I'm not respoding to every letter of your post? I skip things I don't think are relevant, and I don't skip everything you think I do. I quoted the minimum specs thing from mtm, and the assumption was that you had at least a minimum spec computer, which means you don't need to buy anything extra. The buying extra stuff was what you brought into the discussion, such as buying a computer for other stuff, or buying an SSD. Those things are not in the minimum specs. Hard drive speed isn't mentioned at all in the list on WoWs requirements list. Having a gaming-exclusive computer isn't either. Anyway, this isn't leading anywhere.

Pro tip for not getting sunk in Kirov: Don't get hit.

Now you're just making crap up to have an argument. You pretend you know what my problem is despite having no clue whatsoever. If there's one thing on my computer that works well, it's the Internet connection. It's fast, stable, and the ping is good against good servers. If you don't want to to talk about spending money on hardware, don't suggest it in the first place. You're the one saying to buy an SSD, and another machine for non-gaming needs. Of course they wouldn't do that, because they're not complete idiots.

As I said, screw that. WoWs isn't nearly as stable or as optimised as you claim, nor are the servers as good. I mean, two weeks ago or so, I was logged out several times when I joined a game, after the map had loaded. That's not a machine problem. That's a game problem. Computer ran perfectly fine otherwise. Yes, "one or two ships loading late" is unacceptable. That's on WG. They fixed it before, and then it got worse again. Unless you want to suggest that a large part of the playerbase suddenly got a lot worse computers. You're arguing that people have to spend money on hardware well above the minimum system requirements to play a free to play game. And you don't need malware of a misconfigured computer to get random problems. It's enough to run Windows.

Yeah, you can only use captains of the same nations as the ships.

There was a patch a while back that cleared up a lot of loading issues, and most people started loading a whole lot faster. Now it's kind of back to where it used to be, with usually one or two ships loading late. I've had unstable loading multiple times the last month or so, and that's without mods (with mods I expect the occasional hiccup, especially just after a patch and mods not being entirely tested). And I actually have a pretty poor computer in some regards, but it still meets the minimum, and recommended in some areas. I load well enough most of the time (5+ seconds left, usually 20-30 seconds), but there are times it just won't load as quickly. I also know there are people who live in areas where you just can't get as reliable of an ISP as I have. I don't think those people should be banned from playing just for that. And no, I didn't mean to imply either of us had made personal arguments. Other than the above personal experience, obviously.

Every game is different from it happening on occasion. But sometimes "on occasion" means several games in a day. Also, how do you get from "good computer" to "not meeting minimum system requirements"? Come on, you can do better than making crap up to have an argument.

Other than map awareness and planning, you really need to know your ship. Play to the ship's strengths, and around her weaknesses. Is it a stealthy destroyer with good torps and meh guns? Try to get close enough to spot other destroyers, but don't shoot them. Let your teammates do that. Torp them if you don't have other options, but remember that torping a full-speed destroyer is very hard, as they can easily dodge most torpedoes. On the other hand, smokescreens are torpedo magnets for a reason. And if you happen to get too close so you're going to be spotted for at least 20 seconds? Open fire. No need to hold back if you're spotted anyway. A destroyer with good guns? Contest caps early game, but make sure you don't open yourself up for too much fire your way, especially from cruisers at medium or less range. Any DD should probably try to save health to the later parts of the game, where there are fewer ships and you can take more risks with that extra bit of health. But at the same time, don't use that as an excuse to let other DDs have too much fun with your ships. Are you playing a paper-armour cruiser? Use your gun range to the fullest. Cruisers are generally accurate, so they can stay at close to max range than battleships without getting much lower hit rates. What if you don't have good range, like some USN cruisers or the RN ones? Shoot from behind cover, smoke if available, and try to isolate your targets so you have as few guns pointing your way as possible. And always WASD hack. Cruisers that turn and change their speed randomly can be very hard to hit. Playing a battleship? Figure out how hard you can push without dying. This is a little tricky, which is why a lot of BB players just stick back and snipe. They deal a whole lot less damage, but it's safer. Learning how to push means you need to learn how to read the map, how fast and where the enemy is sailing, and what allies you have with you. If you're pushing, always have an exit strategy. If you start taking too much damage, use that. If an allied BB starts taking too much damage, figure out if you can maintain your team's push, or if you should fall back. If you can maintain the push, put yourself in front of the other BB and try to take some fire away from her. If you manage to draw fire, your ally will be able to fall back and heal up much more easily. If the enemies still fire on that BB, you're now in a position close to the enemy and few if any ships are firing at you. Wreck some crap. Playing a carrier? Good luck!

Winrate over a short period of time is luck. Over several hundred games it's indicative of player skill.

Aim, remember what tick mark you're aiming with, shoot a salvo and see where the shots land. If they're not on target, adjust. Repeat until you've figured out where to aim. Do that again for various ships at various distances at various angles, and sooner or later you'll figure out how to aim at just about anything. Personally I use the dynamic crosshair. Started when I experimented with Benson and AFT, which has ridiculous shell flight times, to the point where you need to aim outside the screen at max zoom, so you need to zoom out, and there the dynamic scale really helps. Anyway, I find it works well for one tick per second at 30 kn. That speed is roughly where most ships are at mid-high tiers, once several BBs start getting a little faster, so you never really need to deviate a lot from it, unless you're aiming at fast destroyers or slow battleships.

Yeah, no. Screw that. Sometimes even with a good computer you load in late because your system randomly decides to index your midget porn. Sometimes the Internet connection fails somewhere outside your system. Sometimes WoWs just isn't all that stable. If you're that salty about someone not loading exactly when you want them to, go play in actual competitions or some other organised game. Random is open for casuals. It's primarily for fun, competitive second. If you don't have fun because someone else doesn't have a competitive enough rig for your opinion, that's your problem, not theirs.

Wasn't that the point of the thread? Asking good players if they have bad days?

And everyone hates you when they meet you in the game. Although honestly, I don't really mind carriers.

My days are between 40% win rates and super unicum levels, so yes, everyone has bad days. Or bad weeks. Or even bad months. Bad streaks can be quite extended sometimes, to the point where you just think you should quit the game. Sometimes that's because of some RL stuff that has you unfocused, and sometimes it's because you're grinding a new line or a new ship you're not as comfortable with as with your usual ships, which leads to worse gameplay and choices.

I love holding off a cap all by myself in a little destroyer against multiple enemy ships of various kinds But seriously, "yes I said it"? This isn't exactly a groundbreaking or controversal opinion. People have been complaining about BB snipers, CAs who won't get close enough to shoot DDs, and DDs who won't cap for a long time. And everyone hates carriers anyway.

There might be a point in that. The T8 ships I play the most often are Bismarck and ARP Takao, and Bismarck certainly gets into more T8 games. Still, both of those ships can handle themselves in T10 games, so maybe I just don't notice it as much.

For lists like these, I usually have a personal rule: Don't list the same entry twice. So I didn't. I also added my own point to the list: Favourite line. Basically the favourite line with ships that overall do well on the other points in this list. Favorite ship by enjoyment: Tachibana. This isn't the best ship, but she's a very fun brawler. So tiny that other ships, especially at that tier, will often miss, and she's got fast gun that despite their tiny size can actually do some significant damage. Favorite ship by carry potential: Benson. I can carry decently well in most destroyers, and in a few battleships like Kongou, Fuso and Bismarck, but in my history, Benson has been the most reliable at it, even more so than Fletcher. Special mention: Fuso for T6 Ranked. That ship just has such an enormous backpack. Can easily carry half the team. Favorite ship by economic potential: No specific. I don't really have a ship that's significantly better than any other, not counting flags and what not. Or at least, none I've checked out. I make decent money from most T5-T8 ships. Favorite ship by achievement potential: Leander. This isn't the ship I actually get the most achievements in, but she has certainly surprised me, especially with many Dreadnought and Close Quarter Expert achievements. Probably not as many as Bismarck, but that ship is built for those. Leander has also given me a fair share of other heroic achievements. Personal favorite: Bismarck. No question. Back in school I wrote a paper on Bismarck, and it was the ship that caused me to begin playing in the first place. And that was long before the German BB line was introduced. But it's not like that's a ship they wouldn't release eventually. And once released, Bismarck did not disappoint. Very fun to play that suits my style, and a very good ship. Least favorite ship to face: Saipan. I don't really have a least favourite, and it depends entirely on what ship I'm in, but those bomber strikes are just painful, with little to do about them. Even defensive AA doesn't work all that well a lot of the time. Favourite line: IJN DDs. This is the line of ships I have by far the most experience in. All of them are enjoyable to play, have decent or better carry potential, are profitable, and earn achievements. There's no line where I have even close as many saved ships. Umikaze (especially in T4-T5), Tachibana, Isokaze, Kamikaze R (only reason I didn't keep Minekaze), Fubuki, Shiratsuyu, Kagero, and Yugumo. They're all high scorers on all of the points. Shiratsuyu is probably second on several of the points.

Being bottom tier is where you really learn what your ship's limits and strengths are. If you're top tier, you can often just rely on plainly having a better ship than the majority of your opponents, but if you're bottom tier, you really need to play to your strengths, and avoid your weaknesses. I mean, fewer people are going to complain if you're playing it more carefully in a T8 game in a Fuso, but if you do the same in a T6 game with that ship, people will complain more, justifiably. That's not taking into account ships that don't care about tiers, like most of the IJN DDs. I always said that for Isokaze, limiting T4 ships to only meet T5 ships at the most wasn't protecting Isokaze from the T6 ships, but protecting the T6 ships from Isokaze. I've always wondered about that logic. The only thing I can conclude is that it might be more common for T8 ships to be top tier, since T6 ships are probably more common than T10 ships (I'm guessing), so MM is more likely to create T8 games. It certainly feels that way to me, as T8 is probably the tier I get the most top tier games in.

The downside of clan tags is that the already short space for names becomes even shorter, so you never see the full names of players who have even moderate length names.