Marrant

SCENARIO: As a, primarily, DD player, I've had the unfortunate experience of getting my Tier 5 DD sunk by a Tier 6 CV 7 times out of the last 15 battles, and on 2 occasions, before I managed to leave the spawning cap. As we know, CVs aircraft have the run of the map. It's almost impossible for a DD, even with cammo, to avoid being detected and subjected to a hail of gunfire from enemy ships while trying to avoid incoming aircraft. It makes it impossible to do our Spotting Job effectively. On 1 occasion, roughly 45 seconds into the match, I was transiting out of our cap, on the way to do some spotting, when I was rocket attacked by the enemy CV, which took just under half my HP. He immediately returned those fighters ( F key ), while at the same time launching another Rocket Aircraft attack on me. He knew roughly where I was and found me immediately, getting me down to 950 HP while I was trying to dodge and being almost obliterated from enemy ships 13km away. Eventually, I was killed by gunfire from who knows which direction, even with my smoke up. Lucky shot I suppose. All the time the CV sat safely on the other side of the zone, and continued plinking at slow moving BBs. So, 45 seconds from spawn to dead, after sitting in a queue for 4.5 minutes. Not fun. OBSERVATION OF GAME MECHANICS: 1. CVs can sit at the far side of the zone, safe inside their spawn area and send wave after wave of aircraft to spot the enemy for their team, while doing Rocket or Torpedo Attacks without fear or penalty, with practically limitless supplies of aircraft. Even with good AA, it's rare to stop a Rocket or Torpedo attack by killing all the aircraft in a flight, you have to accept some WILL get through the AA barrage. 2. After carrying out an attack, the CV presses the F key ( Default for Return to Carrier ). The aircraft currently in an attack formation ( having released their Rockets / Torps / Bombs ) turn round and return, but for some reason we can't shoot those returning aircraft down. The CV then immediately launches another flight while the remains of the first flight are returning. Rinse and repeat for continuous damage xp. 3. Two CVs on an enemy team, especially when most of us are Tier 5 and the CVs are Tier 6 ( ie a Tier 6 match ), is an absolute nightmare. They dictate the battle by spotting while out of AA range, or concentrating fire on DDs or slow BBs. 4. As an example, of the 15 battles I stated in the Scenario, there was 1 CV in 7 of them, and 2 CVs in 1 of them. Completely and utterly spoiling the fun for BBs and DDs, as it's almost impossible to get a DD within shooting / torpedo range of a CV without getting detected, in which case you get spotted and subjected to Rain of Fire. ALSO, note that, of the 4 matches with CVs that we won, in 3 of them, the last player on the enemy team was a CV. This is a common occurrence. They just head towards the corner of the map where it's relatively safe for them to launch wave after wave at the pursuers until they eventually get the kills or their luck runs out and they are gunned down. In my Tier 5 DD with Engine Boost activated, I couldn't close the gap on the CV, he was actually faster than I was with my Engine Boost on. Surely, First and Second World War CVs couldn't do 32 knots ? SUGGESTIONS FOR A REALISTIC CV OPERATIONS: 1. In reality, aircraft are subjected to a maximum flight distance from their CV before they have to return for re fuelling. It's called being 'Bingo Fuel'. Limit the operational distance of aircraft from the parent CV to add SOME realism to the CV operations. As an arbitrary number, I suggest limiting CV aircraft to a 13km operational area. When an aircraft has flown 13km from the ship they auto return to ship. If no one likes that suggestion, place a 13km perimeter marker around the CV ( viewable by the CV captain only ) which shows the CV captain his operational area for aircraft. You could also add a timed flight limit instead , say 2 minutes per aircraft flight, again, arbitrary. All of these suggestions in this paragraph emulate aircraft operations of real life Bingo Fuel situations. 2. Letting CVs sit at the top of their zone, behind an island, sending out waves of aircraft by using the F key ( default for Return To Carrier ) and then immediately launching another flight needs reworking. As an example of a 'fix', the CV captain should only be allowed the use of the F key IF HIS CURRENT FLIGHT of aircraft has not yet engaged. If his flight has engaged, he has to continue the attack until all his current flight are killed ( with a maximum of 2 attacks ) OR he can break off the attack and have to remain in that flight while travelling back to the CV. He cannot launch another flight until the current flight has landed or is destroyed. 3. No matches with 2 CVs , especially given the current mechanics. 4. In one match, not a tier 5, I was on HMS Edinburgh and shot down 37 enemy aircraft and gained an award. THAT's just the ones that I shot down, I have no idea how many others were shot down by my team. This was against a Japanese Carrier that seemed to have an unending supply of aircraft. In a 20 minute, timed, Random Battle, there needs to be a tighter limit on the number of aircraft a CV carries. I'm not bothered about 'type' such as Rocket, Bomb, Torp, just the total amount of planes a CV carries at the moment is a bit too high for a match. At the moment, they launch, attack, press F, launch, attack , rinse and repeat, all the time staying well out of harms way, or they have the speed and position to STAY out of harms way while continuing to send out wave after wave. ADDITIONAL NOTE: Don't even get me started on trying to play a submarine. Out of fairness, I played over 80 matches in a submarine and gave up, consigning them to the trash can. Once you are spotted, for whatever reason, 5 or so ships send out those aerial depth charge aircraft to your general area and you then have the life expectancy of a Hill Giant in Everquest. As for the supposed Homing Torpedoes. I lost count of the times I fired 4 torpedoes at a ship, watch them close on the enemy via the little markers on the mini map, ping the ship TWICE when the torps were between 3 and 5 km from the ship, and watched as they happily carried on their merry way on the original course without changing direction to home in on the pinged ship. And before you say anything, I usually waited until the ship's Damage Control was on cooldown so that the couldn't negate the pings, or he didn't use his Damage Control after I pinged him. Darned Homing Torpedoes just don't. Comments on the above suggestions, please. And no flames, this is a serious suggestion.

Played 18 Random Matches today at Tier 4, 5 and 6. Only won 2 of them, and only survived to the end in 1. For information, the 2 matches we did win were fun and enjoyable, not for the win, but because there were no CVs. I think I'm going to stick to Tier 3 until they sort out the problem with CVs detecting the whole zone within 30 seconds of the match starting.

They have to go, remove them permanently or remove them temporarily until a fix is resolved. The game is no fun at all with CVs in them, and I've decided not to play past Tier III ships any longer until something is done about them. Notwithstanding the empirically researched fact that too many players are leaving the game after having fun up to and including Tier III , only to be faced with the CV menace starting at Tier IV, it's almost a foregone conclusion that the last men standing are CVs, who steam right up to the back of the map and launch wave after wave of aircraft. Detection ranges are a joke now, as no one is able to play, for example, a DD because everyone in the map is detected within 60 seconds of the match starting due to CV aircraft coverage. Get rid of them, they are spoiling the game.

I was really enjoying the game and was having a blast with my friends, right up to Tier IV when we started to encounter Carriers. After a few weeks now, I'm the only one left of the group of us that started playing WoW, the rest have gone back to another game, but within the forum rules I'm not allowed to say which one. Here's the main negative points that were the most frustrating and annoying aspects: MAPS - Way, way way too small. Start a Tier IV or V match on a CC or a BB and half the zone is within your Main Gun range. After about 15 seconds of the start of the match, you can rest assured that some aircraft is going to fly near you, Detect you, and in comes the Main Gunfire from the enemy BBs. It's basically impossible to do a sneak attack because everyone, by Tier IV, knows all the maps, where to go, where the enemy is likely to go and where not to go. I have never, ever managed to get a DD half way across the zone without being detected by aircraft, no matter what speed or route I try to take. Two CVs per side in a match can do a detection run on the whole zone in about 25 seconds or less. Need bigger and more varied maps. DETECTION RANGES - are a joke. No matter how many Camouflages and appropriate Flags you equip, you WILL be detected, usually by aircraft, within 30 seconds of the match starting, and if you are on a DD you WILL get focussed. Please check, usually the first ship to die is a DD because within 30 seconds of the map, the CVs aircraft have detected you and everyone on the enemy team has focussed you. Gone are the days when a DD could sneak up on a CV and give him the good news, it's a rarity nowadays. Detection ranges need to be reduced, a lot. CAMOUFLAGES AND FLAGS - Camouflages are a joke now. We used to see loads of ships in Camo in the low tiers, but now it's a rarity. Everyone knows that Camo is no use whatsoever because you will ALWAYS be detected soon after the start of the match by enemy aircraft. I still have hundreds of Camos to equip, but found out very quickly at Tier IV and above that they are not worth equipping. Some Flags are worth the effort, but the ones that reduce detection range aren't worth it. I tried equipping a DD with a Camo and the Flags that reduce detection ranges, but over several matches, there was no noticeable difference in the time I was detected whether I had Camo and Flags on or not. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS - I cannot remember playing a match where one or both CVs aren't usually the last men standing on a team. They usually head to the back wall of the start zone, and send in wave after wave of UNLIMITED aircraft. I was so intrigued that I researched the Tier IV Langley to see how they play. Horrible is a word that springs to mind. Using Bombers means having to line up precisely on a target because as soon as you start your bomb run and the enemy makes even a slight course correction, it's almost impossible to re position your bomber for a successful drop. I don't use bombers any more, my hit ratio with them is appalling. Rocket equipped aircraft are good, my hit ratio with them is fine, but their damage is laughable. I've actually attacked ships that don't even bother to change course when I attack them with Rockets because the damage is so small that the ships can tank the damage easily, and even on a perfect attack run, I still rarely get more than a couple of hits. I only use Rockets against DDs just to harass them, but never on CCs or BBs because the damage is so small. Torpedo planes are fine, I've little negative statements about them, it's all about gaining the experience in lining up your attack run and knowing exactly when to start your dive, but again, even a small course correction by an enemy that your are attacking with Torps can mean the difference between a hit and completely missing due to the problem of realigning your aircraft after you start your dive. Actually attacking an enemy CV is a horrendous experience and I just don't bother trying any more. No matter whether you use Bombers, Rockets or Torp planes, if the Anti Aircraft Fire coming from the CV doesn't get you, then the fighters that the CV launches definitely will. In one match, I sent in 11 waves of aircraft towards an enemy CV, and didn't get a SINGLE plane on a full attack run before they were shot down by CV AAA or Fighters. I just don't attack a CV with planes any more, you are just wasting time. Those are the main points, but certainly not the total. I've asked around my University and friends who are employed and play WoW, and most, if not all, when asked, "What is the least fun experience in WoW", and usually they will reply, "Get rid of Aircraft Carriers to make the game fun again". Sorry about the long post, it's not a rant, although it may come across as one, just empirically collected evidence as to why people that I specifically know have left the game because of the reasons above. I agree with them that CVs should be removed from the game entirely, or a rework of the system is needed because, as I stated in the Title, the fun has gone out of the game due to CVs as they stand at the moment.

I'm the OP and have just watched the above video by Saiyko. You are obviously a very skilled CV player, but you really just prove my point. Getting Kraken Unleashed +1 on a CV with practically unlimited aircraft and with, what looked like, absolutely no danger to yourself merely proves that CVs are overpowered and I'm sure the enemy team in that video didn't enjoy the experience. If that video is reflective of most of your matches, then I salute your skill but maintain my opinion that CVs, especially in the Tier IV to V range are spoiling the experience for relatively new players. They need to be removed or completely revamped. Another idea, that my sister just put forward, is to take out CVs until Tier VIII so that, at least in Tier IV and V where I am at the moment, we get to actually learn the game instead of having to continually dodge or look to somehow avoiding incoming air attacks.