TeaAndTorps

Take care, wishing you lots of strength.

*Content warning for obscene levels of earnestness* This community was fun, informative, worthwhile. I learned a lot from many of you; it was a good corner of the internet to hang out (including during some quite difficult IRL times for me, actually); and I think discussing the game here both held and deepened my interest in it. I've often thought that the game would be better if certain members of this forum were in charge of it, as their understanding, interest and dedication surpasses anything I have seen from Wargaming. The events of recent days confirm that view, and sharpen the edges of my regret that this game is a shadow of what it could be. Maybe I'll see some familiar names in battle. I've yet to decide whether I'll stick around in game. Either way, fair winds and fine seas to all of you.

Yeah and that's the other thing. It was always here that I found the most useful info about how to get the best out of the ship, what new lines would play like, what mechanics changes would mean in practice. Twitch and YouTube both very hit and miss in that respect. Wargaming's own information on these matters is almost universally (see: devs not playing their game except on a spreadsheet). And Discord will be even worse than that.

All of the above have great claims to it. As do you yourself @ForlornSailor. They are all people from whom I learned a great deal when starting out and since. Recognition also to @Verblonde for consistently brilliantly written, entertaining and well-considered contributions, that I looked forward to reading and led to me splutter-laughing into my morning coffee on more than one occasion. Props to @lup3s for the community Christmas lottery. I'm sorry I never got round to contributing – I ended up on an extended hiatus before I could and forgot to come back for it. @Aragathor @HMS_Kilinowski @LOZFFVII @159Hunter @GarrusBrutus are all people from whom I learned a lot, in addition to the people mentioned above. There are definitely others whose names I have forgotten or whose have moved on/changed their names in the meantime. Special mention for that time that the well-known, frequently banned Brutus (IIRC???) was made a mod

It's exactly the ability to make chronologically ordered threads like those examples that make forums like this so suitable for building an informative and entertaining community. Other platforms don't really cut it, even if Reddit is least worst.

It's fine, they play the game on a spreadsheet that *cough, splutter* tells them whether we're having fun.

I'm also old enough to remember when lower tiers were well populated. Many a happy hour learning to get good in Shenyang, and others, which looking at wows numbers seems to have shaded over into seal-clubbing at some point. I came back to the game recently, took Clemson and Furutaka out for a couple of spins to get used to it again, and was appalled at the number of actual bots in low-tier randoms these days.

Throughout my time in this game, I've been repeatedly astounded by WG's short-termism rather than focus on sustainability. The gunnery-torps-and-spotting, rock-paper-scissors, surface combatant elements of the game are great fun at all tiers. Random cheesy gimmicks, half-baked new mechanics and further cluttering up the game have made it less than it once was imo. It could be sustainably excellent by focusing on the solid core gameplay and a core base of players, rather than trying to squeeze as much money from new, low-quality additions in as short a space as possible but alas, capitalists don't build things for the long term.

Quoted for truth o7

Maybe Reddit, but it's not as good. But it feels like another reason to just abandon the notion of getting back into WOWS altogether. Finish RDR2 and spend more time on TTRPGs and related writing and world-building. Look out for other games that will satisfy interest in Age of Steel naval combat, preferably with a focus on surface combatants.

Still. I suppose something had to be done in advance of the 'Minfields working as expected, feedback shows that the majority of players love them but found the flooding chance a bit too low, added to randoms in next patch' announcement.

Honestly the forum, for all its faults, has been the best place for getting (mostly) reasoned discussions of developments in the game and constructive help on how to improve at the game (as long as you didn't come in with a 'BBs weak gib buff' rant). Not something I have seen any Discord server replicate in a useful way. Feels like a backwards step, but that's been the story with the game for at least the past 3 years. And I was just getting back into it, only to be reminded which company is running the show and their relative level of competence and openness to feedback. Hmmm. Oh well.

So I've not been around on the forums for ages, and very little in game since the captain rework and announcement of subs. But I've always been grateful to forumites for really constructive discussions and help, tips and tricks. I learned a lot from many of you. Thanks, shipmates. Fair winds, all.

Just imagine having been away from the game for several months, deciding to have a quick look at the forums to see what's new, and reading the words 'airstrike of researchable cruisers' Lmao

And this is why I no longer give money or GW or WG. Businesses need to turn a profit, obviously, but there is a fine line between that and blatantly rinsing customers. A fine line that both companies mentioned have left waaaaay in their rear-view mirror at this point.

I am not, but I might or might not be satirising a former British Secretary of State for Education, one Mr M. Gove.

Of course, I want everyone to be above average. /s

Playing cruisers would be just fine if it weren't for the BB overpopulation. I'm not sure that halving citadel damage to cruisers is a way of reducing the BB overpopulation. Off the top of my head, it might be more effective to give BBs something of a manoeuverability and/or turret rotation and/or concealment nerf to make them less forgiving when played poorly. Or just give them more easily accessible citadels themselves.

I'm having a lot more fun in Sea of Thieves these days, actually. Key differences include a total lack of power creep and no sense of a hamster wheel (e.g. with the upcoming captain rework), and a dev team who seem to have a clear philosophy of what the game is about, what they're aiming to achieve, and not just lurching from one massive change to the next. So no, I don't see myself renewing my premium time when it next runs out, and if I do then it'll just be running down my stock of doubloons. It is a shame but so many decisions over the past year or two make me doubt that WG even understand their own product.

Well, there's another reason to extend my break from WOWS There are plenty of games out there that seem to succeed without hamster wheels and power creep...

Honestly, the additions @DFens_666 mentions were enough to tip me from 'maybe, maybe not' to 'I am buying Sea of Thieves and spending a while on that'. BB SAP strikes me as especially silly.

Being able to farm many good camos last patch was good. Other events have been a tad meh this year but the last one was enjoyable (in large part because the directives were doable with normal play). The ship models, as ever, are good. Learning curve is, for me at least, just right – challenging enough to be interesting but it's not super hard to get good results. Apart from the 457-spam, I find surface gameplay pretty well balanced. They appear to have calmed down on the pace of premium releases compared to 5 months ago? The game has its problems, sure, but the core of it is good and usually rewarding.

My understanding was that the maximum has previously been increased earlier in the game's life (idk, might have that wrong, I wasn't around) and previously max-level captains stayed max level. May be totally off the mark there though. Either way, gonna be doing a lot with my whole two 19-pointers for a while

0.10.0, which will come after 0.9.12. I don't think there's any confirmation that 19-pointers will or won't become 21-pointers though, unless I've missed something? Hoping for clarification soon as it makes a big difference to whether I'm gonna hoard elite commander XP or promote my Richelieu captain to 19 points...