MadBadDave

The Gneisenau is an amazing BB, I also have the Scharnhorst which is good, but since getting the Gne never gets used, the Scharnhorst has a decent wr (just above 50%), but I've never had a Kraken in it, and whilst it's ok against cruisers, against other BB's it's lightweight, The Gne's has less guns and they fire slower, but they hurt and kill all ships, high caliber, confed, dreadnought, kraken are just some of the accolades this ship's picked up in a week, it's a beast, I use with a spotter plane firing HE above 15km, below 15 km it's AP, citadels are two a penny and a 19 point skipper with the right skills makes this a very strong ship, it uptiers very well and has better AA than Scharnhorst, I've had two detonations in a 2/3 strength Scharnhorst, in the Gne planes don't get close enough, my most current game saw 17 plane kills, 3 ship kills, dreadnought and high caliber, I had more plane kills that the whole red team put together. Lead your target and aim for the water line, I regularly hit full out DD's from 15+km away. The Gneisenau is at it's very best at 8km and below, it's secondaries spew out he, giving you reliable close quarter experts, it's 6km torp's hit hard and fast and the guns just pulverize, I'd always thought the KGV was the best T7 BB, nah The Kgv can only fire HE above 10km, I recently came across a full strength KGV spamming HE like they do, the fight didn't last long, like most KGV driver's they think they can get close and brawl, it met the same fate as the T9 Iowa, ripped another orifice. The win rate is less guaranteed due to the player base, there is only so much carrying can do, but this is one hell of a ship.

Despite my constant whinges I obviously love the game and being able to play with historical warships, whilst some moan I like the graphics and feel of the game, it’s very easy to play. I like that its updated so much. I don’t like; Matchmaking -core of a lot of the trouble. WG’s money grabbing - here’s another high tier prem. The CV rework - CVs are still op, no other class can command the battlefield like a good CV player can, from a far and with no fear of being sunk. Nerfs, Buff’s and power creep, Ships like Shiny existed, fought and died with honour and yet in game unlike unheard of and never used Russian BB’s dispersion is horrendous, as are Tirp,Bis and Gne, Hoods famed AA is non existent, raised Brit BB citadels,etc,etc. Radar - as with RPF only the ship using it should be able to see the target. Spotting - ditto, especially for Cv’s. High tier premiums, what about Lower than T8 ?. He spammers camped behind an island- normally DD’s and cruisers but increasingly more and more BB’s are doing it under 10km. That said I do love citadelling a Baltimore etc who’s been spamming me like there’s no tomorrow, and as he sinks pop my heal. Reporting system: good game, bad game, throwing salt, not saying a word, everyone gets reported, as with stats we should be able to turn it off or on. Scenarios / missions; not enough. Co op- I like but not rewarding enough. I’d also like to be able to choose the maps I play on, which in turn would create a lot tighter/better fights: imagine being able to pick your favourite map. Having to have a premium account, really ?, doesn’t WG think we spend enough on time and money to warrant not having to have it?. Capt retraining, camo’s, flags: really ?, each captain should have the ability to captain what 3/4 ships, camos cost a fortune, and wouldn’t it be nice to have a selection of permanent camos you could purchase for Any ship. Chat and Map; chat only sees abuse and the map hardly gets used, annoyingly less so at higher tiers, personally I think there should be a game limit as you go up the tiers, so you shouldn’t be able to jump into a gearing etc until you’ve played at least 1000 games. Which would make T10 fights epic as opposed to the one sided slaughters we often see. While some can come out with ships like the pointless thunderer it would be nice if our ideas for non paper ships was taken on board and implemented.m Lastly communication and feedback from WG is dire, eg all that was needed following the cv rework was; yes we know the probs, which are, we are aiming to resolve, any suggestions?, distant and aloof is how I would describe the WG / customer relationship.

It's been a while since someone last said your stats are pants, play tetris or uninstall, the horrendously implemented cv rework, radar, high Tier premium after high tier premium, radar buff, miserable match making etc,etc have made me question if WG are up to the task, 2 "acknowledge this little boy so far" Maybe it's me, but has anyone else noticed how poor team mates have become since cv nerf 1052, if you look at my stat charts you'll see something very obvious; everything steadily going up and then look at win rate, personally I still think Cv's are still OP, e.g if I'm in a T8 Lightning DD against a T10 Yam and he spots me, given that I routinely waggle away from 5+ Reds I'd fancy my chances, but get spotted by a carrier, and I'm not going to last long. But obviously the countless CV nerfs and new french DD range has everyone jumping into DD, one recent game had 6 in per team, and who reading this has seen over half or all dd's getting whacked within 5 mins. Post blob BB's and cruisers also seem to have forgotten what a Cap is, a full hp green nurnberg hid behind an island, right next to the base while the base was being capped, he was spotted and swiftly sunk, he wasn't afk. My dilemma is this I have a gr8 game in a T7 match, but my team mates resemble a sack of spuds, and it's a LOSS, the next game, WG'S wonderous MM kick in and I'm in my T7 hood facing T8 cv and T9 opponents,where I finished Top, once again said team mates resembled a sack of spuds and It's another loss, people will say have a break & come back; got the T-shirt, my WR chart says it all, whilst I am average at best, spuds are definitely having a huge impact on the game, my stats and more importantly enjoyment of the game are being affected. Subs have been mentioned, having enjoyed the halloween event last year and doing very well in the barracuda you'd have thought I'd be pleased about them possibly coming, sadly not, as it would mean more DD players, and I love playing DD's (did fairly well in Gearing, not so in fletcher) , and have 8 DD's In my Port. Other than uninstall what can I do to improve my WR ?

There is always room for improvement and there are those that strive for it and those that don’t give a damn, as expected yesterday’s win rate of 66% was followed by today’s 42%, winning only 5/12. The usual DD antics and head scratching play by team mates but once again high caliber and confederate in a few of the 12 games, this games not about skill or improving yourself it’s about a Russian company making enormous mistakes (MM & Cv rework etc), frustrating and charging it’s loyal user base a fortune. Subs ?, you’d see even more DD’s, going on the current state of play is that a good thing ?. The point of any game is to enjoy, do your best and aim to win what’s the point when the odds are stacked against you from the start; MM, CV’s, Unknown and unheard of super accurate Russian BB’s, super cruisers with radar, spuds, lemmings, and snowflakes, yep another chat ban for throwing salt at Hood and Kongo yesterday, so it’s alright for them to affect my and 10 others time and effort by being AFK and sitting in the cap , without so much of a word in chat,.

Well said Lossi, MM is deffo a key contributor towards people’s win rates, conspiracy theory’s are out there, does WG care, nah here’s another premium T9 super cruiser for only 90 quid. My prob, and a lot of other peoples problem is that despite enjoying the game you’re constantly told your crap, and reminded of how terrible your stats are, and then you see even worse players play. Being able to turn chat off will deffo help, as you’ll no longer have to listen to crap, sadly there’s more salt being freely distributed than helpful battle chat, I’d wager that as many don’t bother reading it as those that don’t look at the mini map; a lot. I personally would also like the option of keeping my stats private.

For some on this forum, 66% isn’t high enough, and you can see today was a one off, my point is that without spuds my wr and pr would have been better, and today I was lucky / a good day, only 2 spuds to report as well as the usual lemming DD’s 😉. A lot say you yourself are to blame and to some extent they are right but what impact a negative, camping, lemming team on your stats and more important enjoyment of the game. Tomorrow the stats will be back to how they normally are: sub 50%, btw my wr remains sub 49.5 %. Having an amazing ship has helped, a lot.

Detonations are not rare, on 2 occasions my 2/3 rd strength Shiny detonated thanks to a DB, and yet cvs aren’t op 😉. Mind you my gearing did detonate a near full strength Kaba in a point blank knife fight. But like citadels they must be as in real life; often and frequent 🤓.

Update: Well, as expected despite being more aggressive and sinking a lot more Red Botes, WR still hasn't improved much (lower than the sudden and unexplained down turn), mainly because of MM and said spuds that ruin everyone's day, played 9 today, 6 wins, 3 losses all in my New Fave; Gneisenau. 2 of these games saw a Hood that did'nt move until about the 8th Minute, afk ?, and then when he did went right to the end of the map, without his support I was the only BB on the flank and despite taking one red down they're 5/6 ships took me out, and the other game A kongo went running again on the left, and sat in the cap, this time I managed to hold the reds off behind an island (torp spamming by Red DD's and a Myoko), while a red flint and another DD were also trying to go wide, fortunately friendlies came to my aid while Kongo still sat there, unsurprisingly he finished bottom. DD's also continue to be a source of amusement/frustration, it's as if they have giant "kill me first" banners above them. My point; while we can all improve in some way, spud team mates can not only ruin the game for you and team mates, but having invested time and money into the game it robs you of the enjoyment of the game, imagine going to a football match, spending money on tickets, the journey, food etc,etc and your fave football team's keeper doesn't try to save that easy shot, whats the difference ?. That's why I and many (admit it) have been getting lots of chat bans, lately it is only a game but when spuds ruin it at what point do you get frustrated. Take a break, and then see 4 noob DD's rush in and get whacked ?. Leaving you on the defensive. Btw - stats are one thing, it is only a game, but the most fun I had today didn't involve getting a Kraken or high caliber (which I did get after the Hood match) ,I was in my Gneisenau Uptiered to T9, we won by about 10 points, with 2 greens v 3 reds left at the end, I had a good 5+ min encounter with a Kagero, I kept dodging his torps but he couldn't avoid my secondaries, a great cat and mouse fight that went to the end. Donar79 sorry for surviving ;-) .

Gneisenau, Secondary build. I’d read a lot about Scharnhorst vs Gneisenau, before I got both, and opinion was divided, I’ve had shiny for months and got Gne a week ago, I got my first Kraken in the Gne 3 days ago, and still await my first in the shiny, The Gne is a ruthless killing machine, anything (DD, cruiser or BB) within 8km is toast, above 8km those 15 inch guns may fire slower than shiny’s but they do far more damage. Add in better AA and you have one very good T7 BB, that unlike Shiny uptiers well. Which one; not even close, Gneisenau every time. I’d always thought KGV was special but having annihilated a KGV earlier today nah, some say the Shiny is a cruiser killer, it may be but the Gneisenau kills them all.

Is there a conspiracy going on in a Russian game, 😉. I don’t know but it seems strange that A Lot, including me are saying the same, I’m stuck on 49.4 %. You’ll get the usual nah it’s you mate, but when the 3 other graphs show constant improvement and yet WR is as erratic as how the government have managed Brexit , you do have to wonder. Its clear despite having zero impact or world wide recognition/ fame during the world wars that Russian BB’s are Uber accurate, whilst those that did actually fight are nerfed. Eg Sinop vs Scharnhorst. The bodged and very badly implemented cv rework ( still ongoing ), will affect the game for some time as will the french dd tree ( more and more lemmings rushing to caps, in order to die). Yes I do think Match making is the worst aspect of WG’s game but is it and poor individual play the reason why you can win 6 games in a row and then suddenly lose 6 games regardless of how well you play ?.

Hood - AA And Torps !!, Hood had torps in real life unlike a lot of WG paper ships and yet In game it has none, in game it would be unique among Brit BB’s like kii, Shiny/Gne and Tirp, but then which ships were actually Battlecruisers 😉. Warspite - Range & turret traverse ( it does share the record for the longest hit, yet in game it’s pathetic). Ironically it shares it with the ship who’s in game dispersion is as bad as the MM. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau - given Shiny shares the range record with Warspite and the Gne has the same guns as Bismarck and Tirpitz isn’t it time dispersion / Sigma was rebalanced. Tirpitz - Ditto ; Sigma / dispersion given how accurate it’s sister was and yet aren’t the soviets more accurate in game, real life soviet bb exploits during WW2 ?. Tirp would’ve ate any Soviet BB of the time. Exeter - smoke, given MM (often vs 😝T7 “light cruisers” with smoke). In the grand scheme of things; that Shiny shares the distance record, that Warspite’s Sigma is 2.0, and that Belfast is the most op ship in game, in real life it wouldn’t be moored on the Thames now if Shiny’s radar had been working, but in game it has note worthy poor dispersion, in contrast how accurate are the unknown soviet BB’s. Ah it’s a Russian game 😉. In addition isn’t cruiser fire more accurate generally, so obviously a battlecruisers must be far worse.

If I could I would play div all the time, especially as a 3 ship, instead of 12 players all doing there own thing a settled div acts as 1, when in a div I always pick a bote that compliments the others, eg a cruiser (Indy)backing up a dd and providing Aa support for the BB, when div is cruiser bb I go DD, providing spotting and smoke, again div mates know what you’re doing etc, my wr is a combination of spuds which is currently worst, again today sucidal green dd’s dying in first 5 mins, playing so many botes but also not constantly playing the botes I do well in, e.g Lightning. The reason it is often in T9/T10 matches and with so many radar cruisers, OP Cv’s, Dakka botes like mino , high end premiums with 10km radar, the 5.5km detection Is meaningless. I think having read a lot of helpful info and the usual yeah yer crap rhetoric, divs are my best bet, as quite often the winning team is the team that operates as a team and not 12 headless chickens lemming training, seeing how wide the map is or never looking at the map. time of day does also see some variety in win rates, one final thing on wr, it is possible to have the very best game of your life and still lose, often, because team mates played less well 😉. Yes I could drop down to the lower tiers with one of my level 19 skippers and obviously build my wr that way, just like Man Utd could by going down to the conference, and the point/enjoyment of that ?, T6-8 is where I prefer to play, and maybe once WG have finally sorted MM out a lot of players, and not just me will see their wr and pr improve.

It seems funny that I got to within 19 wins of a pure 50:50 wr, and unlike now greens across the board, to being on the losing team a lot more than before, yes my stats are poor and I have come across some very good players but something has definitely changed in last six weeks or so. when you spank a t10 gearing with a t8 lightning, kill a Missouri and Yamato with a tirpitz and a shiny and tirpitz in convoy together with a KGV and see your stats plummet you do wonder wtf is going on. My stats are one thing but you have to admit your own personal experience, playing the game now and the increase in very similar postings all indicate to a major increase in spuds, and damage done to WR, PR and stats in general, MM is as mentioned a key handicap /hindrance, it should be the easiest thing for WG to resolve but you can bet I’ll still be hot topic at Christmas. And regarding videos, I wonder in the current climate if notser and co could do a how to play video with the same result for all their vids ?, I.e would they still get a kraken for a T7 upteired to T9 with the increase in radar cruisers, cv rework and premium super cruisers ?.

Great advice, sadly I do pay a lot of attention to the mini map, a lot sadly don’t thats the main problem.

It’s been said that stats are only one side of the story, what value giving a team mate smoke or defending the cap, eg yesterday everyone went wide on both flanks despite my aired concerns (reds down the middle), no one listened I hung back (affecting my pr), until I thought sod it I went forward minutes later ; defend the base echoed in chat, yep webwere capped.

I’ve watched countless vids, yes BB we is currently the worst it had been the best, I’m not the only one to notice the increase in spuds and dire team performances, how many krakens have you got and yet you still lost, a lot ?, the only bote that can truly command the battlefield is the CV, because everything else can be countered. 2 months ago my stats were looking far better all green and better, and while they are pants not one person had mentioned that there are a lot with far worse stats, eg within my clan I’m about 5th highest (out of 30+).

Many also assume T9 and 10 are the hardest, I think they’re the easiest and very often I find myself top 3 when up tiered in one of my t7’s or 8’s, eg torp ranges especially gearing, def AA is another one, e.g tried playing a t6 fushun vs a t8 cv and then a fletcher vs a t8 cv, my fave cruiser is the Edinburgh it’s a lot stronger than the Fiji but MM and constant uptiering kills it. The cv rework upset the apple cart but the really big problem is MM.

Thanks to all for the advice, I prefer to play DD’s, consequently I’m on the front line, I don’t dive straight into the cap but instead loiter just outside being a hidden nuisance and spotter, unlike a lot of DD’s I do provide a lot of smoke for team mates, I also have RPF on some of my DD’s which helps the team, as expected some have said your stats are pants, and they are that said if you’re teams playing crap and you’re on the defensive especially against higher tier opponents (10km radar), and your torp range is 8km how the hell are you supposed to have an impact ?. similarly if you’re in a bb like shiny and your 4 dd’s died in first five mins and reds still have theirs how are you supposed to close in and brawl?. Imagine Man Utd have 10 crap players and one brilliant player 😉. No one mentioned the fact that I’ve had so many ships, I.e isn’t it supposed to take 100 or so games to get used to a new Bote, which makes me 1000 in credit. Prior to the nerf I had only 19 wins/losses difference as you can see that’s gone up, yes divisions are better and when in a division of 3 I am routinely the higher scorer, but finding a good division mate at the times I play are hard.

We all know how much of an impact Cv's have had on the game, and the only people who will say Cv's aren't massively Op, especially in the right hands are Cv drivers themselves. I've mentioned it before; Radar, often 10km coverage; whats the point of stealth, concealment, with this and Cv's any wonder DD's are often outnumbered by carriers, in game. Bodge after bodge to fix a broken rework, and who here really thinks the next update will change things; a delay will make things easier for Cv's (they won't have to look for their prey, because it'll be in the cap). You kill a sqn, 10 seconds later another one appears, you kill that, another one crops up, by the time each one has made it's customary 120 attack passes over you your game's usually over. All ship consumables etc are limited, e.g main battery, secondary, torps so why isn't flying time limited, why doesn't re-arming planes take longer (like some DD Torps), Wargaming fails to address the core issues; the sheer amount of disposable planes, and the unlimited ordnance (I'd love to have seen 8 dive bombers attack Yam or any half decent BB), 3/4 passes, would they have got one ?. Yes this is a game but put into context ; the yanks sent over 400 planes. So knowing the games broken, what do WG do; BUY A premium cv. That's like saying buy this brand new car, but we'll need it every 2 weeks or so to fix it, by which time your 2 litre BMW's become a 950cc . So not only do you upset BB, Cruiser and DD drivers but also the people who've paid good money for the Premium Cv's. And because they are so OP many are jumping from other ships to drive one, Just who does make these wonderful decisions at WG ?. AA was good, as was ship fighters, now they're rubbish, be honest. How many have seen cv's being attacked themselves at the start of the game (don't Cv's have the best AA?). Again matchmaking makes a mockery of ship fighters and the duration their in the air; If Cv planes can stay up why can't ship fighters ?. Naturally Cv drivers come out from their hiding place (usually behind an island), to defend the most OP ship in the game, the rest of us enjoy cv free games, and ultimately Cv's will be the victim's of their own success. Yes I've played cv's before and after the rework, personally I preferred playing the occasional RTS game (employed my fighters as a CAPPING SCOUT), I play WORLD OF WARSHIPS to sail WARSHIPS, if i'd wanted to fly planes I'd have gone to WOP (which co-incidentally is too hard for most cv drivers), all Wg had to do was increase the pathetic sqn size to 8 (like now), and let the cv driver decide what planes to carry (I hated dive bombers), if I could've had just fighters and Torp bombers in sqn's of 8 I'd never have got rid of my carriers. Instead we got the biggest [edited] up in gaming history. Matchmaking another contentious subject; again supposed tweaks have made it better, BULL, matchmaking is as messed up as it was before, how the hell is anyone supposed to do well in a slow lumbering T6 BB, when you're fighting T8 BB's and T8 Cv's. Frame rates; how many here encounter erratic frame rates, not ten mins ago (which prompted this posting), I was in a T8 game (obviously mostly T10's), where the FPS was up and down like a yo-yo, again how the hell are you supposed to do when your less than 8km from the enemy going head to head and the frame rate drops (and no my equipment's fine). Will Cv's stop hiding and made to feel that planes matter, will the constant stream of planes and mutiple passes stop, will match making improve, will frame rates /connectivity be consistent, will ship AA/fighters improve, will subs ever appear (probably the best thing to curtail the increase in Cv's), will WG charge sensible prices for stuff (8000 dabs for Camo), and despite update, after update after update does WG really care; NO. Whilst a short term free distribution of capt points etc is appreciated, given the current turmoil WG could and should be doing more to appease us, because without us their is no game. So am I the only one to have lost the plot, or is Wargaming quickly becoming a sinking ship ?.

Ship evasion is easy; get that arse waggling, depending on the DD, evading shots from 4+ ships is simple but edited is a different matter. The key thing to remember is if they’re firing at you they ain’t firing at anybody else 😉. my latest trick when lower tiered is to wind up the cv driver; yes you end up sunk, eventually, but every time I’ve done it the team’s won.

Wargaming almost killed off DD’s with the totally botched cvs rework, and as you know; DD players will also be aware of the very brave cruiser players with radar that hide behind an island, making stealth utterly pointless, e.g my Lightning has a 5.5km detection range the torps only go 8km, what do WG do; the rework and give us the Alaska another BIG radar cruiser ( 10km detection), any wonder DD players moan and don’t bother playing ?, Wargaming attempt at fixing the mess they created is as bad as the rework itself, cvs hide, don’t cap, and can’t provide smoke cover but they can send countless planes time after time, which kills the game totally, example; you’re in a bb, cruiser or DD and you face the same type of ship (1vs1), Edited* turn up, the sqns killed 10 seconds later another son turns up, and yet what do WG do: oh we’ll put a delay on Cvs, which will now mean planes will now head straight for the cap, like they do know. Cvs are Sucking the life and fun out of the game and wot did WG do; buy a premium Cv😂. in answer to the question; go with the blob, and take hits from disgruntled team mates because you’re not capping or spotting😉. Go play world of war planes because wows cv drivers apparently can’t ( too hard/fast).

Lol, poor cv driver. The delay is a farce, unlimited sky cancer will still zap everything after multiple passes, even if they had a minutes delay, are the caps going to be empty 🤪, so instead of dd’s skirting caps they’ll be in the cap waiting to get blatted by the usual laser guided smart rockets that never miss. WG totally screwed up the rework and every half measure since has does nothing, give us the option of playing games with or without CV’s , this is a warship game not a FPS flight sim, where cvs spend most of the game hiding, have no intent on capping and yet send out stream after stream of planes that carry more ordnance than a B52, the rework rework will do absolutely nothing to balance a very heavily biased CV game. How many prem and did players demanded compo ?. In a nutshell cvs won’t even have to hunt (lol) for their prey they just wait the required time and head for the cap, somewhere their carrier doesn’t see much.

KGV Shiny Horse Lightning Akatsuki Fiji Hon Mention; Mahan. Over-rated; Minotaur. Most Disappointing; Tirpitz (main gun dispersion/accuracy).

The KGV is a brilliant BB, it's NOT a brawler and is best used 10km> . As some have said it is very much a second line ship. Above 10km use HE, below 10km use AP. It's secondaries are ok (I run shiny and Tirp with full secondaries) , whilst the seconds don't have the range of Tipritz (11.3km) they will un-nerve DD's that get too close. Accuracy is not quite as good as Warspite, but imho it's consistently more accurate than the 2 German BB's mentioned above. Good speed, but poor agility, don't expect to dodge many torps. Thankfully it does take torp hits quite well. AA is average at best, and TBH I find the fighter a waste of time. KGV is a workman like fire breathing BB, I've kicked the !?!? out of Shiny's and Tirpitz etc and many, many cruisers most of whom were hiding behind an island , e.g Atlanta etc, as yet said cruiser drivers still don't get it; KGV's HE not only has a 41% fire chance but hits a lot harder than cruiser He shells, and then as they die I just hit heal, and most of the damage taken is recovered. I find it very amusing. There is no comparison between the KGV and DOY, every single encounter I've had the DOY ends in a kill, and if I see a Red DOY, it's the ship I head for first. The DOY is complete pants. Do not get into a brawl, especially with the Shiny Horse, at a distance (10km >) the KGV will boss the German, but get close and it's game over (better, quicker secondaries and Torps), thankfully having played both, a lot, I know how to play when facing the other opponent. Quite often you are up tiered fighting T9 BB's and cruisers, which tbh I prefer, I'd rather be in the KGV fighting T9's than the Tirpitz. Kraken, highest current score/damage fighting T8's (Hippers etc), for many Warspite seems to be "THE" brit BB, it's accurate and nimble, but that turret traverse and reload is so slow, to highlight the difference; in a 1vs1 between my warspite and a fiji, I got my butt kicked, in a KGV vs Belfast fight I did the kicking. I've seen the reviews and comments and the Monarch does not appeal at all, the Duke was good, as was the Bellerophone, but for me, up to and including T8 the KGV is the best Brit BB. Stay angled above 10km from the enemy, and fire HE, you can't go wrong.

Are cvs now overpowered ?, since the rework and have any of WG’s patches resolved anything?, as a DD T7 & T8 driver the rework is a nightmare, and it’s very obvious a huge amount are peeved, WGs answer; buy a premium CV, so now 1 or 2 cvs a side are common place, add in WG’s dire matchmaking and you not only find yourself up against T8 cv’s but ships like the Alaska with 10km radar, in your T7 Akatsuki, even my T8 lightning struggles despite its 5.5km detection range, and only 8km torp range, how close do you try to get, as well as the cvs, and radar cruisers you also have to contend with far bigger, better DD’s (T9/T10)with more HP, more torps and Dakka guns that can compete with the Mino. Get spotted by camping CV sending out its infinite stream of disposable planes or said brave cruisers also hiding with radar on, and while its possible to do well DD’s definitely have the hardest time, in my Akatsuki I recently played a game where a friendly Jean Bart fired at and hit me because I wasn’t spotting to his liking, as well as cv’s ( the new selfish spotter), there were T9 DD’s and radar cruisers, JB buggered off sulking in the top corner, without his input we won, yes he finished bottom, a very proud moment. I was the sole surviving DD, finishing mid table, above the like of an iowa etc, point one; DD’s could cap, scout, provide smoke and spot but Cvs have curtailed that, you won’t see any T10 cv try to cap from the start, or try to provide smoke for an under fire ally, 99% of carriers hide, scout nah, their too busy playing FPS fighters, again; smoke lol, This lack of scouting will only get worse, no doubt Jean Bart will now be cvs best buddy in the top or bottom corner. Which is where most of them can be found, either there or behind an island, it’s easy to sink a CV I sink my fair share, it’s simple but selfish ( like a lot of cv play), follow the stream of planes or go to the usual hiding places, come up behind them, stay within your stealth range and torp away ( do not fire guns), the cv driver never knew what hit him, well he did a full salvo of Torps ;-). Cvs don’t provide smoke screens, or cap very often, do they ?. Point number 2: cvs will only get stronger as players get better: admit it, cruisers and BB’s are now common targets ( lack of easier DD’s), my shiny horse has had 2 detonations in 3 days (bombs) despite having a level 19 skipper with AA flag, module and totally useless 4 point AA ability, And yet the Shiny is supposedly a good AA ship. So while I can and do humble the likes of Bismarck, Tirpitz, Alaska and Massachusetts ( it’s the hard hitting mains, strong secondaries and torps you know ;-)), one little sqn deletes my near full strength Shiny in an instant, and it will only get worse; even the very best AA ship will soon be cannon fodder. Montana's, Yams it won't be long. WG knows all this but clearly money comes before customer enjoyment, this will be my last post until June because I too am taking a break, I received a substantial Steam gift card for Easter I would’ve got myself a couple of new premiums, (last time I got the Z39 and Shiny), but what’s the point, Cvs would delete them. So I’ve bought 2 new games, instead, way 2 go WG ;-). And the premium won't be renewed, either way. Btw I have driven cvs before and after the bodged and very badly implemented rework, this is WOWS not WOPS, I want ship vs ship combat not to constantly dodge never ending streams of planes from hidden carriers, why not have airfields which we could then at least attack. How many games go into there last 5 minutes with all cvs present, very rarely will any try to cap. You end up with a boring long range sparring contest WITH PLANES. For me enjoyment is two BB’s going toe to toe with secondaries and mains blaring with both ships in flames until one or both are dead, that rarely happens now thanks to infinity Air Force. Question; as a ship’s hit its weapons and modules are affected so why is it that with a flight deck in flames planes can still land and take off. Or would that be unfair on CVs ??. AA takes a hit, so why can't carriers, also are planes nuclear powered, they should have restricted flying time. e.g not landed after 5 mins in air; dead sqn. Cvs are op, will become more popular, and the likes of Jean Bart will not only be perma spotted but will have a perma sulk. If things haven’t changed, within a month and they won’t (WG haven’t got a clue, and do they care ?), uninstall is very likely. A great game totally trashed. Oh and before the usual “ your stats are pants”, responses follow, I hold the destroyer command emblem and you might like to ask a full strength republique driver if he remembers me ( my lightning) or the Gearing driver who suffered the same fate, or the 3 enemy DD’s contesting the same cap as me, etc, etc, etc. Think DD's are easy take a T7 into a T9 battle, with higher Tiered Cv, radar cruisers and battleships (Missouri, which also has radar) and DD's.