Dutchy_2019

Thank you Works on EU still, and might work on NA as well (got no error when entering the code).

Personal opinion (but I am a collector): - Only use Free XP if truly necessary. So I would grind FdG and Izumo as much as possible, and only use the Free XP to get Yamato and Grosse Kürfürst at the very end. Who knows, maybe it is not even necessary. - Coal: build up a reserve, in case something will be taken out that you really want. It is this approach that allowed me to get the Georgia in time. My approach: I use resources for ships first - and working on getting a reserve to get a second ship before I buy the first one (hence why I am currently sitting on 610k coal). Only once I have all the ships I can get with those resources, I will use them for anything else. And I do this for TWO reasons: I AM a collector Whatever Premium ship I can get that way, can no longer drop from Super Containers or Christmas Crates (same reason why one should NEVER sell premiums). With the low odds of ships dropping from Super Containers, I have decided for this approach.

Yeah, the 140 games shot down was not the most attractive mission. And if you chose Japanese DDs, you were f***ed unless you have high tier Gun Boats. Thankfully you can play the missions concurrently, and at least the set opening up today is very easy.

If WG chooses to roll out this publication of drop-rates everywhere at the same time, then yeah, this is a very complicated operation. Look at how some of the 'forum-lawyers' have on various occasions jumped on just about every line WG wrote about anything, saying it would be illegal, they would sue them, etc. etc. etc. So yeah, if you want to roll out this kind of thing at the same time everywhere, it WILL be a lot of work to figure everything out to make it comply with every law everywhere. Even if you do not change ANYTHING about the mechanics, any wrong word (or omitted word) in there and it could get you in trouble while whatever you did was/is legal (not necessarily of moral high standards). Add in the slowly increasing scrutiny in much of the world, and the behaviour of the Chinese government, and there you go. Lootbox or not, look at all the issues they had to get the game going (again) around the time of the CV rework (which was a reason why RTS CV's were still on the China server for so long (which no longer was actually run by WG, IIRC)). Sure, I do not think WG as a company is too sad about the fact that this means it will probably not be done before this Christmas 2021. If WG still has not disclosed anything by fall 2022, they yeah - that is almost certainly deliberately delaying things for as long as possible - and their claims about transparency are BS in this regard.

The trading card marketing actually is comparable to slot machines - with the various cards in the pack actually being the equivalent of the various rotary disks. And when the roll does NOT give you what you want, you have to pay for a new roll (a new package). I see little difference with the WG Christmas crates here. I think a massive help would be if bank accounts of minors simply could NOT be linked to ANY online automated payment account thing. Just like they IIRC cannot be linked to automated payments to telephone companies anymore. That would have to be done by the banks (voluntarily or enforced by legislation), not sure if an online company like WG can do this (which could be a major difference with telephone companies). Yeah - saying people are selectively angry at a given company DOES NOT equal defending said company. These are NOT the same things (though an often applied logical leap and straw man to attack people). People are blaming WG for targeting children (because of the PEGI-7 rating, a rating which WG actually has fairly little control over; yes, you can blame WG for not adding additional warnings). I am not aware in commercials for WoWs of WG actually targeting children or minors - it is NOT their target audience. Closest I have come is actually today in a Youtube commercial related to a science topic (something like Mythbusters). Though even there I am not sure how much of that was the result of Youtube's algorithms using my search history. Many of those same people who are outraged I have YET to hear about other games, specifically having children and teenagers as their target market (like Fortnight, FIFA and the like). Charede (one of the CCs who quit) openly talked about getting addicted to the LootBox mechanic in CS:GO of Call of Duty (IIRC). I see very little outrage about the industry as a whole. And you having direct oversight? What about breaks, when kids are with friends, or on their way between school and home? What are they doing then? They could then just as easily get into a store or go to McDonalds. And to me there is a difference in the mechanic of parents not doing their job (like taking away mobile phones, or limiting mobile phone (or other mobile device time)), and trying to get kids to nag parents to the point where parents feel compelled to give in (regularly by pressure from the general public because of the kid being upset).

Ahum - where am I using that as an excuse at protecting companies? Or am I protecting WG in general? The trading card game works the exact same way as wows crates - keep buying packages until you get the one you want. The difference is that you physically have to get to the store. McDonalds (as well as others) work on targeting kids, knowing that they will much of the time nagg/begg their parents into submission. Hell, even the colour scheme of the whole shebang is used to induce appetite and get people to buy food. What I see happening is quite a few people shifting ALL responsibility on WG, and doing that rather selectively. No more, no less.

I have a pretty good idea about how forming these are. As I said, what they are doing is little different from the likes of McDonalds (Happy Meals), a f***load of other industries (soccer cards, baseball cards etc), when looking at gambling, or just colours and all kinds of other things to get addicted (again, McDonalds being a perfect example). And I know parental influence is limited, but I see a lot of parenting going on related to mobile phones and other mobile devices that only reduces parental influence, and makes them vulnerable to all kinds of abuse through/by that phone. I have come across way too many parents saying that: "Well, if we start doing something about the (ab) use of the mobile phone in the house things get unpleasant, and we do not want that... so we do not bother..."

Who knows? I would not be so confident they would get the Pegi 18 label. A nice indicator would be whether these games are legal or not in Belgium (and what is excluded from these games). IIRC WG did not offer Christmas Crates in Belgium last year because of online gambling legislation. But I do not know whether WG did not offer the Missouri or Johan-the-Whaleboat mechanics- gambling-crates in Belgium either. If they did, than that might be a pretty good indicator that WoWs might NOT end up being rated Pegi-18.

I have quite a decent idea about mobile phone issues with kids just about EVERY day of my life. Also READ what I said. PART of the problem is solved if parents actually did their due diligence. With bank account access being blocked being one of them. You actually CAN restrict access to their phones when you are present (many parents cannot be bothered though). Maybe - if there is no way to block bank accounts being linked to online payment sites (which in some cases IIRC there actually is, with data payments for mobile phones for minors, for one) - just periodically go over the bank statements of your kids with them.

is FIFA a Pegi-18 game? Is Fortnight? No, and they are all games with all kinds of loot box mechanics and gambling mechanics incorporated in the game - and they are SPECIFICALLY marketed to children. And so are many of the collectable cards.

Also while exposure to gambling mechanics for children is problematic - as long as ADULTS take their responsibility (which means that they make it IMPOSSIBLE for their kids playing the game to use ANY credit card and stuff) that is already part of the problem solved. And as far as using GAMBLING mechanics to get children to buy their stuff (and this is just the tip of the iceberg): McDonalds (Happy Meals). Collectable cards with products (supermarkets are flooded with them multiple times a year). LEGO collectible minifigures would fit the narrow definition as well (yes, each bag contains a minifigure, but there is a random element, and some minifigures). Most of the people up in arms about WoWs exposing children to gambling will happily take their (grand)children to these places. Where there is a serious issue: forcing people into the gambling mechanics as the ONLY way to obtain a ship. So if they follow through (ship will be available by other means other than gambling boxes) they are moving in the right direction.

Except - NO PEGI-18 is mostly based on whether things like nudity, sex, crime and such are shown. THAT is Pegi-18. Consequence of PEGI-18 is that basically most of their exposure would immediately disappear: No longer on the main floor of GamesCon. No longer in Gaming Magazines (or at best at a much higher cost).

I have seen / been quoted some of the messages sent to CC's, and what some have done in various chats (especially that weekend). - Some of the statements made skirt (or might cross the line into) a criminal offense - The behaviour of quite a few in various chats is such that if the streamer is not on top of it, it might actually cost THE STREAMER his channel (violation of Twitch TOS). That is FAR from playing hard ball.

Got the T2 Alte Abreu - and knew that it was guaranteed as I have all the other ships in that container already in my port.

For those who have OLD Missouri, the +20% extra damage mission is also listed under the Pacific War campaign - which has to last until the end of the year (and will then renew).

@Crysantos Thanks for this statement. Personally I have the feeling that some of what was written here could and SHOULD have been published when everything exploded over the weekend about a month ago. If you manage to hold true to these promises, you go a long way to restoring some confidence and trust by the community in WoWs and WG. Personally, the non-communication (simply no response or explanation) from WG towards the community and everything seemingly being covered under NDA (where CCs and Super Testers) are involved makes people lose trust in you. And if there is an answer, these are often bog standard - "The spreadsheet says..." has become a meme for a reason. And some of these answers, like "The spreadsheet says..." actually make people LOSE confidence in the decision-making. A decent portion of the player base IS fairly to very intelligent, and knows and understands that spreadsheets never cover everything that is actually going on, and only give a partial representation (at best) of what is actually going on. The spreadsheet (or the interpretation of said spreadsheet) might not match the experience of many players in the player base (see double CV in general, let alone what IMHO is the mess that is double CV in T4). For me, as a player, I wonder why AFTER release, CCs and Super Testers are not allowed to talk about their experience with that ship during testing. How the ship felt during testing, and how that changed. To me it feels that WG can make better use of the combined knowledge of the game as a whole. Whether that be for the designs/models of the ships (Some of the UK Heavy cruisers come to mind), names (see for instance a number of posts made about why the name Frederick van Hendriks is simply incorrect (and an explanation why) since it simply does go against Dutch naming conventions), but even game mechanics or the effect of some implemented changes (the effect of the long range targeting skill on play in the Captain Rework earlier this year). And this is NOT meant as an outright disqualification of the Dev team, but as a Dev team, you (a) cannot know everything, and (b) I can imagine that you are so involved in the development of the game and its complexity, that you start no longer being able to see the forest through the trees, so to speak. The combined knowledge base of the community as a whole (CCs, Super Testers, regular players) can serve as the new/refreshing individual coming in that sees things that others are missing because of them being involved so long and so deeply in a project. And on a personal note, respect for you, Conway and the others braving the forums on a regular basis, even when they are the proverbial s***storm.

Sure, some ship types do not suit (and yeah, CV would be one of them) But DDs (including Friesland) NEVER had that problem in such a way as they now have since the subs came in. Yeah, I have had the occasional 'spawned on the wrong side of the map, bots moved away' stinker of a game, but NOTHING close to consistently as bad as before. As I said in my first post: my average in Friesland is over 60k in Co-op (over 200 games), so I have at least some idea how to use her in Co-op. But with the inclusion of bots there are FEWER surface ships, the general HP pool is also a lot lower (considering the classes people bring).

If you have the Akizuki or Kitakaze you are good with Japanese DDs. If you do not, you have a problem.

You can do the missions concurrently (so start the next mission), and you still have 12 days, but yeah, 140 aircraft is a lot, especially in the current Co-op set-up.

By the time I would have gotten there, the rest of the enemy ships would have been killed before I would have had a chance to shoot at them anyway, assuming the other Co-op players are only halfway decent. My total damage would probably have been even less. At least that would be a safe assumption based on what happens in 90% of the 5000+ Co-op games I have played so far over 2 servers. Second, if I had moved closer to center (but west of islands) it would have made little difference to the outcome for me (positively), with only the added risk of becoming the target of the bot cruisers - and having to fight without smoke, as I would have to do the spotting for A-cap myself.

If you actually read my post: I only had a realistic chance FROM THE VERY START of killing a single DD at the most, due to team composition and spawn point.

Just had a Co-op match, with screen shot evidence of what I mean: I was the ONLY one to spawn across A-cap (which means there will only a single ship opposite of me) - image 1; TIME ENTERING CAP: 18:34 Second image shows me after killing the single enemy DD opposing me (another Friesland). Looking at the minimap, I killed fought and killed the Friesland when WEST of the wreck (in the screenshot I am already East). Note also the position of the known enemy ship positions - the closest ship for me to 'shoot at' is in C-cap: 25km away! This is at 17:30 Third screenshot: my position just before the final ship - a submarine - was killed. The last surface ship to be killed was the Republique - when I was STILL 15km away! This is at17:00. It took them another 29 seconds to kill the last enemy ship. NET RESULT: Of a game that lasted 5 minutes and 29 seconds I spent at best 45 seconds doing something. The rest of the time was a pure waste. And I knew the moment I got into the match and saw the positions, this would be the case. So yeah, I spent 5 minutes knowing that I would do absolutely nothing, and realistically could only expect to kill a DD at best. It is this kind of experience that would (and eventually WILL) make me go AFK after shooting the DD. What you see here (definitely health pool / team composition wise) is a VERY COMMON occurrence since subs have been introduced. This also means a massive reduction in health pool compared to what is normal (I would argue close to 50%). It makes me feel as if I am wasting my time. More than two BBs in a Co-op game seems to have become an extreme rarity these days, at least for me. A have the feeling that in this patch I have seen MORE no BB games in 3 weeks than in all the time before, since starting to play the game, combined (so 20+ months by now). Before it was normal to have 3 or 4 BBs in a game. I now have the feeling that has been less than 10% of the Co-op games I have played this patch. You have always had the issue of spawning on the 'wrong side' of the map making putting up massive damage numbers difficult, but that usually could be mitigated somewhat by your own movements, and it never was this bad. MIND YOU: The max damage I could get this game: 17600 I average OVER 60000 HP damage in Friesland in a little over 200 Co-op games. I play this game to relax and unwind. Especially when I want to play the game in relaxation mode (like when I am tired after a long day of work) I play Co-op rather than Randoms, simply because a tired me will have no fun, and will be detrimental to the team (due to messing up more frequently). The kind of thing that is happening in Co-op thanks to the introduction of subs is taking away a WHOLE LOT OF FUN! TO ME THERE IS ONLY ONE VIABLE SOLUTION IF YOU WANT TO KEEP SUBS IN CO-OP AND YOU WANT TO KEEP CO-OP PLAYERS MOTIVATED: A MINIMUM of 9 surface ships, (including 2 or more BBs) and if there are subs, let them fill slot 10-12. And as an illustration, an Ocean match screenshot from earlier this week (at the bottom), OCEAn

Missouri was NOT in the first bundle. I might spent on two bundles to get one of the captains, and the T2 container for the Abreu on EU. Might even go for Abreu alone. And that will be it. On NA Missouri was NOT in my first crate either.

This code has been around for a month or so already - so some people may have already used it for themselves.

When Bronze was two weeks: Many good players got to twiddle their thumbs for 10 to 13 days before they could play Ranked again. When Bronze was one week, but silver could not be played: Many (really) good players got to twiddle thier thumbs for 5 or 6 days before they got to play Ranked Silver, only to the twiddle their thumbs Again for 10-13 days before they got to play gold. Mind you, a seriously good player like Gaishu made a run at ranking out in Bronze, Silver AND Gold, only using subs, and he came close. Not sure he managed it, but with most of the final day of these sprints left he was at Gold Rank 3.