Does the Zao need a change?

[Aragathor]

51 minutes ago, SV_Kompresor said:

Don't even start. With such profound wg wisdom as:

 

tl-dr: The ship is balanced because it's old. Sometimes I wonder if wg hired their developers according to who was cheapest.

No, they were hiring based on the lowest IQ level.

[MrWastee]

1 hour ago, SV_Kompresor said:

Don't even start. With such profound wg wisdom as:

 

tl-dr: The ship is balanced because it's old. Sometimes I wonder if wg hired their developers according to who was cheapest.

topkek... reads like "[...] within the norm in terms of combat effectivenss. [...], and zao is one of the leaders in terms of the number of battles played on her.".... or as "[...] within the norm in terms of combat effectivenss [...] in terms of the number of battles played on her."....

 

ok... lemme sort my hands so they can decide which one will go popcorn and which facepalm....

Spoiler

 

DAAANG, left won the popcorn again....

 

WHILE...

 

*on a note: these smileys are discriminitaing left handed people!!!1!111!!!!11!!.... and flanders............

 

[Pikkozoikum]

12 hours ago, SodaBubbles said:

Thats a really interesting observation. The devs had to reduce flooding damage after the rework for essentially similar reasons. I wonder if DCP will have to be reworked because of the stupidity of having torps that can ping BBs. Unintended consequences....

fun fact, the pinging mechanic makes from the "theory" torpedos bad. Normal torpedos always have full damage and only get reduced by Torpedo protection or saturated compartments

 

Submarine torpedos do reduced damage and get only their full damage (citdall), when double pinging ^^

 

 

To the topic, I think Zao should get one of the best dpm, because IJN ships should be glass cannons. Zao hasn ot much to offer. And that she has 12km torpedos give her just very unreliable dmg

[Panzerblitz]

Zao's HE and fire damage has the same issues that the Conqueror has.

When played really well you end up with games in the 250k-300k range. But unless you focus the same targets that damage gets spread out and repaired again over time. And while the psychological effect of fire is pretty great in a meta where so many players are unwilling to take damage, it still does not have the immediate impact of a big AP salvo with citadels.

 

(unless you land torp hits with the Zao ofc)

[Pikkozoikum]

1 hour ago, SV_Kompresor said:

Don't even start. With such profound wg wisdom as:

 

tl-dr: The ship is balanced because it's old. Sometimes I wonder if wg hired their developers according to who was cheapest.

Hmm, that makes just not much sense, what they said. Also I see no connection between "within the norm in terms of combat effectiveness" and "leaders in terms of the number of battles played"

Technically I would say, that Zao is a well balanced ship, though too many other ships are too strong :o)

[159Hunter]

14 minutes ago, Pikkozoikum said:

Technically I would say, that Zao is a well balanced ship, though too many other ships are too strong :o)

That's also what WG says (well the first part). So no changes need (in WG's mind)

[Ronchabale]

First give it 10k health or better armour

Also buff its AA

 

[KratosTheUnforgiving]

Needs health, gun range, reload buff, she cannot be considered a tier 10 class cruiser, would even question it's suitable for tier 9, the Ibuki isn't at tier 9 and maybe more suitable at tier 8..

 

So maybe WG should take a look at a new tech tree heavy cruiser for tier 10 and adjust appropriately, must be a design somewhere they can use as a guide, 12x356mm, 4x6 tubes with killer firing angles, good armour so she can open water shoot without risking a citadel with every hit, would be juicy?

[The_Chiv]

1 hour ago, Panzerblitz said:

Zao's HE and fire damage has the same issues that the Conqueror has.

When played really well you end up with games in the 250k-300k range. But unless you focus the same targets that damage gets spread out and repaired again over time. And while the psychological effect of fire is pretty great in a meta where so many players are unwilling to take damage, it still does not have the immediate impact of a big AP salvo with citadels.

 

(unless you land torp hits with the Zao ofc)

"HE and fires do not win games"

 

30 minutes ago, Paranoid_Potato said:

Needs health, gun range, reload buff, she cannot be considered a tier 10 class cruiser, would even question it's suitable for tier 9, the Ibuki isn't at tier 9 and maybe more suitable at tier 8..

 

So maybe WG should take a look at a new tech tree heavy cruiser for tier 10 and adjust appropriately, must be a design somewhere they can use as a guide, 12x356mm, 4x6 tubes with killer firing angles, good armour so she can open water shoot without risking a citadel with every hit, would be juicy?

Atago at t8 is better then Ibuki at t9. 12x 356MM on a cruiser, with ANTI BB ARMOR SCHEME? Ok so let me work this math.  That ship would have a 25 second reload, be bigger then the yoshino, and have a turning circle close to 1km.

 

[kapnobathrac]

Imo slap another turret on zao, give it smoke and a small reload decrease of about 6 seconds and it’s gonna be competitive 

[KratosTheUnforgiving]

@The_Chiv I was being sarcastic, based on WG current fantasy designs 

[The_Chiv]

31 minutes ago, Paranoid_Potato said:

@The_Chiv I was being sarcastic, based on WG current fantasy designs 

Ah.. Still was a fun thought exercise. Oh and I forgot it would have 25km 72kts torps 8 per side. there we go. Balanced....Oh fk its not russian make that 54kts.

[SodaBubbles]

9 hours ago, Pikkozoikum said:

fun fact, the pinging mechanic makes from the "theory" torpedos bad. Normal torpedos always have full damage and only get reduced by Torpedo protection or saturated compartments

 

Submarine torpedos do reduced damage and get only their full damage (citdall), when double pinging

Who cares? The whole idea is stupid, the details aren't important. 

 

And we are going to pay for that stupidity with another flood of good players leaving the game.

[Russia_Moth_Her_Lamp]

The only heavy cruiser which has less hp than light cruisers (minotaur). 

Zao was made for stealthfire initially don't forget that (and a little bit OP by the way^^)

Today he is dominated by many cruisers which do the same thing and even more, more easily. Because her characteristics never changed. Reload, range, torpedos angles. And massive BB with better armor then Yamato or Montana make many shells bounce or crash without any damage.

Even on DD Venezia is better. Never made 15k on a DD in a Zao. That's the reality. 

Zao is still fun but not really a gamechanger. Very difficult to carry with her