How to get better at this game?

[Harvin87]

Hello Captains,

Once again I'm looking for your help. Recently I hit the "benchmark" (at least for me) of 50% WR. I got to 50.23% and then it all went downhill this last 3 days. After a .40% swing, I'm back at 49.86%. What baffles me is how is it statistically possible to go one afternoon like yesterday where my record was 0-6. Any ideas in how to at least not get stomped like that? I was thinking maybe my ship choosing pattern is pretty random. I start with maybe 3 dds then swicht back to 1 cruiser, then 2 bbs-... then some random pic again. Maybe it helps to play a single class for maybe the same ship 5 matches in a row? to get focused? 

I know WR it's connected to skill, that's why it baffles me to have a 41.54% wr in the last 65 matches. 

Any ideas?

[HansRoaming]

This is a good thread on how to get better and this Alaska one is good also.

As for MM I seemingly have winning streaks and then losing streaks where BBs sit next to the carrier in a T6 battle, meh. 

[DFens_666]

8 minutes ago, Harvin87 said:

I know WR it's connected to skill, that's why it baffles me to have a 41.54% wr in the last 65 matches.  

 

Well, thats 27 wins out of 65. If you would have gotten only 5 wins more, it would almost be 50%, so its not even a huge amount of bad luck id say.

Otherwise it could be

- higher tiers, which often tend to lower the WR of most people

- playing unfamiliar ships

- playing ships with higher skillfloor.

 

 

Looking at this, it might be that you had a bit of a luckstreak at the end of last month, and now you have a bad luck streak.

[HARBINGER_OF_SKULLS]

First rule: Do not buy anything for money that might speed up your advance in the game. Faster advance or skipping of tiers greatly reduces your chance to gather sufficient experience and familiarity with the online shop game and its bugs mechanics.

[triumphgt6]

Agree with Harbinger - play the tiers, get good at a ship and then move up. Some of us will always be less good at the top tiers - I am far too impetuous and get bored which is fine when ships have less accuracy and are slower to aim but at Tier X, it is a definite weakness. 

Also play in a division with other players - support and constructive comments will help.

 

[Camperdown]

WR is going to vary in the short term, don't get spooked by that.

Best ways to improve:

- use the wiki to understand your ships and get a decent base setup for upgrades and captain skills

- don't rush through the tiers, enjoy the journey. T10 isn't heaven and some of the best play is in T6-8 

- choose a limited number of grinds. Too much grinding wears you out. Play at least half your games for enjoyment 

- watch your stats with some detachment. Stats are useful to see if you are broadly doing things well and spot ships or lines that don't work for you 

- F2P works better than you might think. Lavish spending does not improve your game and encourages WG in exploitative behaviour 

- ask advice and feedback on this forum if you feel you're stuck and can't figure it out. Friendly warning: social skills on this forum are mixed and some posters are more interested in buffing their ego than having a good conversation

 

GL&HF 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Excavatus]

sticking to same kind of ships, same play style, same type, or even better same ship for a session always helps.. 

 

[Captain_Breeze]

Hi @Harvin87, I just had a look at your stats and the ships you seem most comfortable in are the Scharnhorst, Kagero, Sinop and the T-61.

 

If I were you I'd stick to these 4 for now. You have your best WR in them and it will help to stat pad your wins that way.

 

Also playing these ships that you obviously like, as time goes by will improve your overall understanding of the game.

 

Keep looking at your mini map, see where your team are, don't get out on your own, and try and stay alive longer.

 

Stop firing from time to time to allow you to go dark and reposition yourself when you need to. Remember, just cause your guns are ready to fire, does not mean you should. Wait for those juicy broadsides

There is a lot to learn in this game from knowing who has radar, how long is it, what the range is. Who are gun boat dd's who are torp boat dd's, how to avoid planes and manoeuvre to lessen the damage.

What armour certain ships have, when to fire HE or AP. Using islands for cover, oh man, the list goes on. It took me a long time to improve, but don't give up.

 

I joined a CLAN which really helped, but try and join one that has better stats than yourself that way you will learn from the members, as you are reasonably new, this should be easy enough for you to do.

 

Hope that helps you a bit matey.

 

Happy sailing

 

[Capra76]

37 minutes ago, Excavatus said:

sticking to same kind of ships, same play style, same type, or even better same ship for a session always helps.. 

 

 

True, however the flipside of that is that it's good to get as wide an experience of the different ship types as possible, to understand the strengths and weaknesses of them but also to understand the tactics they are likely to adopt.

 

So try to be consistent across a session, or even a few days or a week, but the next week play something different.

[geschlittert]

To be honest, the most important skill to master: 

Think before you perform an action. This might sound very broad and generic but it is the core of getting good. 

So: What can i get out of the position i put myself in? do i have the possibility so safely disengage? What kind of pressure / damage can my position provide? What will the enemy ships do? If they push, can i kite them or deal massive damage if i go down? What are my teammates doing? If they play agressive, can their push work out if i support them?

You constantly have to ask yourself these and similar questions. I have to add that i am mainly a BB player (who also plays cruisers from time to time) so the questions might be different for a DD player and definitely are for a CV player.

And ALWAYS try to analyse the mistakes you did. You can win the vast majority of your battles if you play good enough. 

A small anecdote: Yesterday i had a 6 round winning spree (that i partly carried / had good teammates, about 50/50 in that regard). Afterwards, I lost two. Why? I failed to delete the enemy radar cruiser (which exposed themself) in both matches which caused my DDs to die. I could have won them too. Morale of the story: Take the opportunities you have and you will win. One player has a ton of influence if he can utilize his ship. Even more when he is a CV player.

[FixCVs_Nautical_Metaphor]

Just switch to aircraft carriers.

Permanently.

[Captain_Newman]

When you get 3 defeats in a row, it’s best to take a break. I wish I’d followed this advice in the past, myself.

[GraySlayer]

2 hours ago, Harvin87 said:

Hello Captains,

Once again I'm looking for your help. Recently I hit the "benchmark" (at least for me) of 50% WR. I got to 50.23% and then it all went downhill this last 3 days. After a .40% swing, I'm back at 49.86%. What baffles me is how is it statistically possible to go one afternoon like yesterday where my record was 0-6. Any ideas in how to at least not get stomped like that? I was thinking maybe my ship choosing pattern is pretty random. I start with maybe 3 dds then swicht back to 1 cruiser, then 2 bbs-... then some random pic again. Maybe it helps to play a single class for maybe the same ship 5 matches in a row? to get focused? 

I know WR it's connected to skill, that's why it baffles me to have a 41.54% wr in the last 65 matches. 

Any ideas?

Specialise mate.

There are a LOT of ships now and all of them are so different. Pick one class and one ship in said class and MASTER it and don't move onto the next one until you have and even then stay in the same line or class. Become a specialist not a generalist. I myself specialise in DDs and specifically IJN. Yes I can play other ships and some of them I do well in and some not but I enjoy IJN and that's me. It takes an EXCEPTIONALLY good player to be able to generalise these days across all classes solo. 

You don't survive long
You don't do enough damage
You change ships to much and too often

As to your question how is it possible for your WR to swing so much, conversely how is it possible for me to be pissed off if my session ends with less than 66% WR solo? 

[GraySlayer]

39 minutes ago, Captain_Newman said:

When you get 3 defeats in a row, it’s best to take a break. I wish I’d followed this advice in the past, myself.

That's what I do..

[HMS_Kilinowski]

2 hours ago, HansRoaming said:

This is a good thread on how to get better and this Alaska one is good also.

As for MM I seemingly have winning streaks and then losing streaks where BBs sit next to the carrier in a T6 battle, meh. 

 

You realize the first topic you refer to was started by the OP of this topic. It's reasonable to assume he is familiar with his own topic, even more so since he participated actively in the discussion.

 

2 hours ago, Harvin87 said:

Hello Captains,

Once again I'm looking for your help. Recently I hit the "benchmark" (at least for me) of 50% WR. I got to 50.23% and then it all went downhill this last 3 days. After a .40% swing, I'm back at 49.86%. What baffles me is how is it statistically possible to go one afternoon like yesterday where my record was 0-6. Any ideas in how to at least not get stomped like that? I was thinking maybe my ship choosing pattern is pretty random. I start with maybe 3 dds then swicht back to 1 cruiser, then 2 bbs-... then some random pic again. Maybe it helps to play a single class for maybe the same ship 5 matches in a row? to get focused? 

I know WR it's connected to skill, that's why it baffles me to have a 41.54% wr in the last 65 matches. 

Any ideas?

 

Your stats are so even, I struggle to see any pattern. Bismarck didn't work but Scharnhorst did. The ships are so similar, I feel most of your ups and downs are just random variance. So it's hard to give advice.

 

Actually the first link referred to by @HansRoaming is not a bad starting point. Maybe you should have stayed with that topic and not opened a new one. Now readers will treat you like you never asked advice and give you the same generic info you got in the first topic.

You have taken advice before, you posted a replay that you were given specific feedback on. From what I read, you even divved up with @_Teob_. So let's go from there. What did you learn, what lessons did you implement in what way into your play style and how did that turn out for you?

 

Maybe you want to post another video, ideally playing the Akizuki in a CV-battle again, for comparison. Give us something to work with.

 

49 minutes ago, FixCVs_Nautical_Metaphor said:

Just switch to aircraft carriers.

Permanently.

 

Please, just don't. You know there is gonna be people who read this and not get the joke. One of the last things the game needs is more bad CVs and the last thing the game needs is more good CVs. One might even sum it up: The last thing the game needs, is CVs. Interesting original thought. Maybe I should tell that to Wargaming, since they don't seem to know already since seemingly nobody ever told them.

[_Teob_]

@HMS_Kilinowski I was never contacted so we didn't div at all.

My offer still stands but I am not gonna chase people around to try to help them.

[GarrusBrutus]

Best skill if you want to git gud?

WATCH.

THE.

MINIMAP.

ALL.

THE.

TIME.

 

I'm looking at my minimap almost constantly, reading the battle. Where are the enemy ships? Where are my ships? What angles of fire do the enemies have? Who is overextending? Who is going to overextend? Where do i need to be in 5 minutes? Do i push or do i switch flank? Where are their DDs? If they havent been spotted, where could they be by now? etc. etc. etc.

The constant flow of information I get from watching the minimap grants me the ability to make the correct decisions along the way.

[HansRoaming]

13 minutes ago, HMS_Kilinowski said:

 

You realize the first topic you refer to was started by the OP of this topic. It's reasonable to assume he is familiar with his own topic, even more so since he participated actively in the discussion.

 

No, was in a rush and agree that extending that topic would have been better.

 

Iain

[tocqueville8]

3 hours ago, Harvin87 said:

Maybe it helps to play a single class for maybe the same ship 5 matches in a row? to get focused? 

That's helpful in Ranked, where playing the same ship over and over improves your pattern recognition and makes you better at taking calculated risks.

 

Still, I wouldn't recommend it in Randoms, it's too limiting and it can get very frustating.

I think doing multiple grinds at the same time is actually a good idea, as you'll get to know more ships and their capabilities.

 

If you want to get good, or at least to soar up from 50% WR, I suggest you watch replays. Not millions of them, but enough to learn some tactics you might simply not have thought of. Things like picking a better time and place for your turns, going undetected, only using your front/rear turrets, sharing info in chat, target selection, aiming at turning enemies, evading torps, predicting evasion and landing more torps of your own, dealing with radar, setting AA traps, capping stern-in, etc.

Other than Youtube channels (Flamu and such), this is a good place to find replays: https://replayswows.com/ . You can search for the ship you're having trouble with and select those replays that have a video (on Youtube) you can watch. You can use the same website to post your own replays if you want to ask the forum for specific advice. Your last 30 or so replays are saved in a subfolder inside your game folder. If you need help with the Alaska, for instance, upload a replay that you consider representative of your problems: I can download it, watch it, and leave you a comment with some pointers. Not that I'm the best Alaska player out there, far from it, but it might be helpful anyway.

 

Finally, I notice you haven't played CVs yet.

I know some players find the gameplay off-putting, but it's important to learn at least the basics so you can counter them better (i.e. stay alive longer, until your team corners them and you might get to actually shoot them). For a beginner, I'd recommend the IJN or the USN lines.

 

In terms of strategy and tactics, let me give some advice:

 

1) Learn when less is more.

If you're kiting or pushing, doing so slowly gives you more time before you're too far away (irrelevant) or too close (at risk of getting torpedoed or citadelled). Likewise, only using your front or your rear turrets means staying angled and taking far less damage. Your damage output is also reduced, but it's usually a good trade. Basically, don't be greedy. If you think torpedoes may be coming, make a sudden turn, even if it means you won't be able to use a turret for the next salvo.

 

2) Do what no one else is doing.

If your friendly BBs huddle in the middle, go to a flank and create a crossfire. If they go for a flank, go middle (use terrain for cover, stay angled and such) and again create a crossfire, let the enemies split their attention. Maybe don't do it if you have crap AA and there's a CV, but otherwise it's usually a good move. Go with ships of a different class, stay away from ships of your class. BBs should split for crossfire. DDs should split to try to take more caps and spot more (yes, 2 DDs have a better chance at taking a cap, but if you run away from one you can run away from 2 about as easily). Cruisers should split to use their radars and hydros in different places. Viceversa, DDs should go with BBs for spotting, cruisers should go with DDs for support, BBs should go with DDs to blap enemy cruisers.

 

Ignoring #1 is the mistake I sometimes make, and what's keeping me below 60% WR, I reckon.

Ignoring #2 is the mistake teams sometimes make: you'll see 2 radar cruisers on the same cap, 3 BBs in one square, DDs leaving the center completely open, etc.

[HMS_Kilinowski]

13 minutes ago, _Teob_ said:

@HMS_Kilinowski I was never contacted so we didn't div at all.

My offer still stands but I am not gonna chase people around to try to help them.

 

That is unfortunate. Dear @Harvin87, if a guy as good and knowledgable as Teob offers to div up and check your play, you really should follow up. Hell, I am a good player and even I would happily take a lesson from him any day.

Need I spell it out?

[Captaindanz]

1. Look for the best build for your ship.

 

2.know the ship you play.

 

3. Know the ships you will face against (radar range, torp range etc).

 

4. never sit stationary and broadside inside a smoke screen.

 

5. Work on your positioning.

 

6. If you can't trade well disengage.

 

7.decision making should improve by experience.

 

There are a lot of guides in youtube, not only for specific classes but also for the ships you play.

[Starchy_Tuber]

4 hours ago, Harvin87 said:

Any ideas?

Play CVs exclusively, its what WeeGee want you to do after all....

[Nov_A]

1 hour ago, HMS_Kilinowski said:

Please, just don't. You know there is gonna be people who read this and not get the joke. One of the last things the game needs is more bad CVs and the last thing the game needs is more good CVs. One might even sum it up: The last thing the game needs, is CVs. Interesting original thought. Maybe I should tell that to Wargaming, since they don't seem to know already since seemingly nobody ever told them.

To be fair, he is right. Just to give some personal insight:

 

I tried to start out with T4 BBs as a new player during the flood of Nürnerg-Bots in T4, in addition to the constant rear shovings of various, unlubed cactae in form of double CV. A really fun and engaging learning experience in your Zero-AA Ishizuchi or Gangut, when you get constantly dropped by two CVs, while the games are decided by which side has less of the previously mentioned bots per side and you are just sitting there, trying to learn how actually hit stuff in a BB. I watched tutorials on Youtube, Streams, read, posted and asked in the forum, even found a clan after a while (UNICS) by still performing somehow decent, asking around and being open to learn. But despite this motivation, despite the help, despite the fact that I know of WGs grinding shenanigans after 50'000 games as unicum in WoT, this was just too much to bear.

 

The amount of frustration treshhold, motivation for the future and dedication for the game you need to bring, to suffer through this madness is on no level comparable to the amount of actual frustration, pain and agony you encounter when trying to start out, even when trying to include all the mentioned help. You learn little to nothing about the game, its mechanics, gameplay or all the other stuff. The only thing you learn is how to endure, by either loosening your back cheeks for the next 5'000 games while trying to chase to carrot of "one day I will improve" and to hate CVs. I went so far as to fall into the typical WG trap of buying a higher tier premium - the Scharnhorst in my example. It went pretty well,  I got like 58% WR and blue PR after 100 games on it, but you still learn only a little more than to suffer and dislike CVs, when caught in the +2/-2 against much more experienced players, while struggling to perform as toptier and most importantly, not having fun while trying to improve.

 

Then I started to play CVs on my old Beta-Account, which got lucky in the "Fly, Strike, Win" whatever event with a Kaga drop and Enterprise purchase. Now I play with more than 70% WR overall with CV only as a new player and dont see any reason to return to surface ships, until WG introduces an actual learning experience without regular lube purchases. The few games I played on regular ships like the Bayard, Atago, Massa or Jean Bart make around 10% of games played overall and went surprisingly well, but everytime I play those ships, I can only think "It is cold - My feet hurt - Wish I was playing CV right now". In addition, there is absolutely no reason to, as in terms of economics with credits, free-XP, coal, steel and research points I am more than fine with playing the same 10 ships all the time. It is fun, rewarding and I literally dont care anymore (about doing the same thing to others, which hapened to me), like WG does not care anymore about the whole CV balance.

 

So like mentioned before, "just play CV to git gud lol" is an actual, valid point.

[Echo_519]

Vor 4 Stunden, Harvin87 sagte:

I know WR it's connected to skill, that's why it baffles me to have a 41.54% wr in the last 65 matches.

The majority of the games are not decided by the good players on the winning team, but by the bad players on the losing team. That is down to the fact that there is no respawn. 

Therefore i don't think you should look that closely to statistics.

But if you really care so much about winrate, my personal suggestion is go play Destroyers. They still have a huge impact to the game and are the easiest to play for winrate. And playing a DD you can garantee to have at least one DD in your team that is not rock bottom skill... That's the only reason i started playing DD's, i got sick of my teammate-DD's always losing battles... But even then, you still need to hope for matchmaking....

[Harvin87]

3 horas antes, HMS_Kilinowski dijo:

 

You realize the first topic you refer to was started by the OP of this topic. It's reasonable to assume he is familiar with his own topic, even more so since he participated actively in the discussion.

 

 

Your stats are so even, I struggle to see any pattern. Bismarck didn't work but Scharnhorst did. The ships are so similar, I feel most of your ups and downs are just random variance. So it's hard to give advice.

 

Actually the first link referred to by @HansRoaming is not a bad starting point. Maybe you should have stayed with that topic and not opened a new one. Now readers will treat you like you never asked advice and give you the same generic info you got in the first topic.

You have taken advice before, you posted a replay that you were given specific feedback on. From what I read, you even divved up with @_Teob_. So let's go from there. What did you learn, what lessons did you implement in what way into your play style and how did that turn out for you?

 

Maybe you want to post another video, ideally playing the Akizuki in a CV-battle again, for comparison. Give us something to work with.

 

 

Please, just don't. You know there is gonna be people who read this and not get the joke. One of the last things the game needs is more bad CVs and the last thing the game needs is more good CVs. One might even sum it up: The last thing the game needs, is CVs. Interesting original thought. Maybe I should tell that to Wargaming, since they don't seem to know already since seemingly nobody ever told them.

Yes, actually that first post it did help me to stick around more around T6-7 and started playing more "solidly" in my opinion, my damage went up as well as my survival rate and therefore my WR.

Sorry about opening a new one, I didn't "forget" about it, I just lapsed out and didn't think and went straight for a new one, apologies.

 

I'll post some replays here as soon as I have them ready, btw.... I heard WG was going to set in an actual tool for replays, is it true or I just heard wishful thinking?

 

 

 

 

3 horas antes, _Teob_ dijo:

@HMS_Kilinowski I was never contacted so we didn't div at all.

My offer still stands but I am not gonna chase people around to try to help them.

PM :).

 

 

3 horas antes, GraySlayer dijo:

Specialise mate.

There are a LOT of ships now and all of them are so different. Pick one class and one ship in said class and MASTER it and don't move onto the next one until you have and even then stay in the same line or class. Become a specialist not a generalist. I myself specialise in DDs and specifically IJN. Yes I can play other ships and some of them I do well in and some not but I enjoy IJN and that's me. It takes an EXCEPTIONALLY good player to be able to generalise these days across all classes solo. 

You don't survive long
You don't do enough damage
You change ships to much and too often

As to your question how is it possible for your WR to swing so much, conversely how is it possible for me to be pissed off if my session ends with less than 66% WR solo? 

This, maybe I will stick with DDs (which I enjoy a lot) for a couple of weeks, and focus on the IJN and the European DDs which I like.