BB's just arent fun

[chaplainDMK]

Finally decided to just stop playing BB's until they do something drastic about them. They're just annoying to play, the horrid accuracy means you're just throwing dice rolls on where stuff hits. One salvo you might have all your rounds drop low or just splash everywhere around your target (except on your target), the next you might have a really tight spread and just insta-nuke somoene. 

 

After really getting into the Phoenix, Omaha and Clemson, I saw how in those ships actually playing well means something. Phoenix and Omaha I can snake around, dodging enemy shells, screening my team. When I get into a duel I can reliably smack AP into enemy cruisers citadels, eating them alive in a very short time. I don't have to pray to RNGsus that I will hit my target when ambushing it, killing it before he eats too much of my health etc.

 

Same with Clemson, even if I have to go out of stealth to torpedo targets I know that proper timing with smoke and speed boost, as well as picking the correct time to initiate the attack means that I will reliably succede. If I have bad odds I can just pull back and try again somewhere else etc.

 

But Wyoming is just like... ugh. One round I instagib a cruiser from 12 kilometers, eat shells all day for minimal damage, constantly landing heavy hits on the enemy ships. But other rounds I will just miss everything, the shells doing their best impression of a 4th of July fireworks display, my armor doing jack-all to actually protect me, and being constantly under 3 fires.

 

What finally broke the camels back was that I played a round in my Omaha earleir today, one of my first rounds with it. I went for the C point on domination on the small starter map (Sea Race? I think) and I encountered an enemy Murmansk and a Phoenix, while I had a destroyer for support. I managed to maul one of the cruisers, which promptly retreated and sunk the other with the help of the destroyer, while only loosing half my health. Hit 10 citadels on them, constantly dodging their fire. But just a few minutes ago I had a round, played the Wyoming. First salvo was at a Phoenix or Omaha at 12 kilometers, I gave it perfect lead, but ofcourse the shells split totally mid air, so I only managed to hit it's smoke stack for 310 damage. I continued on, got another good salvo on it, and did a whooping... 4000ish damage for 4-5 hits. He managed to bail, not before setting me on fire of course. So I continued, and at some point got charged by a Japanese cruiser. Now, if I was in my Omaha, he would be dead in moments. But of course, good ol' RNGesus said that he really liked that particular Japanese cruiser, so even though I had a perfectly lined up shot, he force-pushed my shells into the water, so I managed to miss 10 or 12 shells against a cruiser running parallel to me at 6 or so kilometers. 

 

So yeah, BB's are annoying and un-fun, and I feel that my skill barely contributes to my performance with them. GG WG,

 

*P.S.: not saying BB's are UP, or OP for that matter, just that they're not fun

 

*P.P.S.; yes this is mostly a rage rant, but one that's been brewing for a while

 

*P.P.P.S.; WoWS is still really fun, just not with battleships 

[OldGrandad]

Ah, the Wyoming. I have not long got into BB's after a spell with cruisers and DD's and as much as I hate the snails pace I am a little fond of the tug boat. What I found that helped and that was to never fire the entire broadside but fire individually unless you were 100% sure of hitting multiple times. I was soon doing a lot of damage but as you say, after other ship classes it really is a very different ship to sail.

 

I say persevere as this ship leads to a better ship and so forth but saying that the USN line of BB's at mid tiers is a lot more painful than the IJN line!

[Makoniel]

That's low tier battleships for you. And more, you chose to play the Fatasses (look at the US BB, there is no other Word to describe them) over the compensators (those mast are so high it's suspicious). 

Wait until you reach tier 5 and 6. Maybe in the IJN line. Battleships begins to truly shine at those tiers for IJN with the fantastic Kongo and the Marvelous (top) Fuso.

At those tiers, even with USA (that start to shine at tier 6, and 8 to 10) your guns are more prone to do what ever you want. 

But with your playstyle  (close range brawler it seems) you'll struggle with battleships,  they will constantely be set afire and eating torps. Try to temporise à little,  wait until you killed the cruisers at medium range before charging like a Jerkins. That's at least what I do with Kongo and Fuso.  Effective but still dangerous if you look at my survival rate.

[Sharana]

The BBs worth of playing are (Kongo maybe) Fuso, New Mexico, Amagi, North Carolina, Iowa, Montana and Yamato. The rest are simplty pain to grind (or for someone with specific preferences) with some really pathetic ships like Colorado and Izumo.

[chaplainDMK]

That's low tier battleships for you. And more, you chose to play the Fatasses (look at the US BB, there is no other Word to describe them) over the compensators (those mast are so high it's suspicious). 

Wait until you reach tier 5 and 6. Maybe in the IJN line. Battleships begins to truly shine at those tiers for IJN with the fantastic Kongo and the Marvelous (top) Fuso.

At those tiers, even with USA (that start to shine at tier 6, and 8 to 10) your guns are more prone to do what ever you want. 

But with your playstyle  (close range brawler it seems) you'll struggle with battleships,  they will constantely be set afire and eating torps. Try to temporise à little,  wait until you killed the cruisers at medium range before charging like a Jerkins. That's at least what I do with Kongo and Fuso.  Effective but still dangerous if you look at my survival rate.

 

No he charged me, I was in a battle line with a Myogi and a cruiser leading, he popped up from behind an island and started charging at me or something, I just noticed him going full speed parallel to me on my starboard side, so I let him have it. Of  course everyhting just freaking dipped. I understand how to play BB's, I keep at 10 ish kilometers to sort of have a semblence of accuracy, I angle my ship while an enemy battleship fires and then straighten out to give him my broadside, trying to always fire at perpendicular targets, I know how to effectively dodge both airplane torpedos as well as predict destroyers enough to maximise my survival chances (but again, this is cool, destroyers have to work for their kill and I/my escorts messed up by letting him get so close), I'll pull back when I come under too much fire etc., but the accuracy is just annoying me to no end. 

 

I mean I understand the bad accuracy, if accuracy was at cruiser levels, even decent BB captains could just nuke everything in sight. But I think they need to rework this somehow, damage decrese so that even a full salvo smack into a cruiser wouldn't instant nuke it. 

[Vaderan]

I have to agree. It´s just my experience to the point, with the exception, that i would add the same for the New York.

 

The main issue of BBs, especially low tier BBs of the USN line, is their incredible dependency on teamwork. Their accuracy is rubbish (although it gets better with higher tiers), RNG is just too much, and you are that slow and sluggish that you stand no real chance, no matter your skills, once your escorts went away or sunk.

I consider myself a rather decent player. I tried to get just one victory (the first of the day) with the pesky New York, but after three battles, every time ending as top player of the team, with several kills, way more damage done than HP on my ship, i am still without victory. When MM screws it and threw me into a tier 8 battle against a tier 8 CV, my escorts were gone, leaving me alone, before i even left the start point. The "brave" CV focused me with 2 futile attempts to get me down with all his squadrons, but just managed to score 2 hits, before i drew first blood on an Atago. Anyway, even the tier 7 and 8 players seemed to have no understanding for teamwork, dying as lone wolves or trying stupid things.

The next games, were better, with tier V and VI opponents. Although i performed best again, i finally died, when my team run away or ended in epic failure. I finally got mauled by the focused fire of a Bogue and a Hosho, my underwhelming AAA not capable of doing anything, although i tried to maneuver as good as ruddershifting time allows.

Third battle no difference. This time i was able to dodge the autodropping CVs, but since my escorting CAs decided to ignored any DD they approached, i had to face the last Minekaze alone. On 90% (restored) HP, i dodged her torpedo attacks 3 times, unable to return fire due to my slow moving turrets. The forth time, my Turrets were all loaded, aimed and ready. 10 335mm HE shells fired on the DD, 5 direct hits. 5k damage done, 2 modules damaged. The DD repairs immediatly, charges, addapts to my attempts to react and unleashes all 6 Torpedos at 2km. DD survives, BB is dead.

Working as intended.

Skill doesnt matter whn driving a BB. It´s all about having the more competent team and RNGesus at your side. Not worth playing, these days...

[MilkPowder]

The BBs worth of playing are (Kongo maybe) Fuso,Amagi, North Carolina, Iowa, Montana and Yamato. The rest are simplty pain to grind (or for someone with specific preferences) with some really pathetic ships like Colorado and Izumo.

 

What about the New Mexico? I hear good things about that.

[Pivke]

 

What about the New Mexico? I hear good things about that.

 

yep, you can safely add New Mexico to that "good to play" list!

the only bad thing about NM, it leads to C(lol)orado

[Taiger]

I AGREE i have colorado and iam trungely too kill cruiser s but they how evere have no problem killing me. in Colorado or any battelship unlesh you get Cruisers to back you up u have no chanse or where slim one 

 

me personly think need either buff bb class or do someting about CC becoues its extremly hard to Kill a CC as BB but not other way round

[Naskoni]

Problem is - close and mid-range BB accuracy is beyond a joke. That and at lower tier the range of secondaries is also pretty much a joke. Other than that I like playing BBs.

 

[indycar]

never had any problems with BBs. they all have different playstyle except maybe colorado and nagato have almost the same but you have to think few min ahead of what you will be doing who will you be shooting what ammo will you use

 

bbs arent cruisers or dds where you can just zig-zag n spam shells

 

you need to know how where and when to drive certain bb

[Vaderan]

never had any problems with BBs. they all have different playstyle except maybe colorado and nagato have almost the same but you have to think few min ahead of what you will be doing who will you be shooting what ammo will you use

 

bbs arent cruisers or dds where you can just zig-zag n spam shells

 

you need to know how where and when to drive certain bb

 

Yes, and that´s what makes them rather depending on their team. Although no ship should ever go alone, a DD or CA at least can go alone and escape most situations, if necessary, or can react quickly, if the need arises. Switching flanks, running for a cap (or decap) is at least possible to achieve in time. BBs have to stick with the route they took, they cannot react, and their long range guns lack the precision and reaction time to compensate for this.

BBs are adapted in many ways for balancing reasons, but the all together of these changes make them pretty odd to play. Since most have historical counterparts, i see no use in changing stuff into fictional ways, like increasing their speed to levels they never reached, but a slightly better accuracy, or less RNG, or a more usefull secondary armament, like we already have it at the Izumo or Yamato, would add a little to the performance, so the stand a chance to help themselves out of the worst.

Maybe, WG could introduce an additional skill for BBs, like "precision fire", which increases long range fire for some 60 seconds, or something like this? Just to make sure it can hit something when it is really necessary. It could start on cooldown with the beginn of the battle and requires, lets say, at least one salvo on a target which went short and long (so the target is in the middle of the missing shots). In history, this was a sign for the gunnery control they had the right range and lead. It would add to the playstyle and still requires skill. Due to the mechanics, it would prevent instant "all in" hits.

Okay, it won´t help against DDs capping the base...hmmm...

[m4inbrain]

The BBs worth of playing are (Kongo maybe) Fuso,Amagi, North Carolina, Iowa, Montana and Yamato. The rest are simplty pain to grind (or for someone with specific preferences) with some really pathetic ships like Colorado and Izumo.

 

Not including New Mexico in such a list should be a criminal offense.

 

Easily one of the most enjoyable BBs (ships even) ingame. 

 

And while we're at it, the new york is plenty fun too.

[Sharana]

I have only bad memories for USN up to tier 8, but if you say it's great OK, I skipped it in OBT so can't say from my experience now

 

[m4inbrain]

I have only bad memories for USN up to tier 8, but if you say it's great OK, I skipped it in OBT so can't say from my experience now

 

Well, only played it in CBT, but nothing to my knowledge was buffed/nerfed, so it should still drive like in CBT. 

 

I'd say it blows the Fuso out of the water, funwise. By a large margin.

[ReynoldsXD2]

Play the new mexico, earn the 200k xp needed on the ship, then turn it into free exp with some gold and skip the colorado for the North carolina.

 

Its basically a discount iowa but still at a tier whee an average round nets you a profit. And fully capable to kill T X ships too.

[Makoniel]

What did I read? BB would need a buff against cruisers? You guys are crazy. That's because there are some cruisers to shoot at that I am so often in my team's top 2 with Fuso. It worked well with Kongo and even Myogi too.

Just load AP and shoot when they show you their broadside. Even at medium range (13km and less) with all those shells, one WILL hit a citadel.

[captainlafay]

What did I read? BB would need a buff against cruisers? You guys are crazy. That's because there are some cruisers to shoot at that I am so often in my team's top 2 with Fuso. It worked well with Kongo and even Myogi too.

Just load AP and shoot when they show you their broadside. Even at medium range (13km and less) with all those shells, one WILL hit a citadel.

 

In my North Carolina most of my AP hits seem to overpenetrate cruisers and all I ever seem to get are 1300 dmg hits. Additionally competent CA players don't wait for you to pummel their broadside.

 

Not including New Mexico in such a list should be a criminal offense.

 

Easily one of the most enjoyable BBs (ships even) ingame.

 

How so? MM ensures that she sees lots of t8 games and even most cruisers outrange her guns by a large margin.

[schurem]

I can't fathom who thought it a good idea to have entry level ships be so random. They should be fun, to entice players in, not frustrating crap that drives them away. It just makes no sense.

 

I find the silence from wg on this issue worrying as well. Why not at least acknowledge it?

[Makoniel]

 

In my North Carolina most of my AP hits seem to overpenetrate cruisers and all I ever seem to get are 1300 dmg hits. Additionally competent CA players don't wait for you to pummel their broadside.

 

You should be surprised of the few numbers of competent CA skippers. And even them will have to show you their broadside at a time, when dodging incoming fire from à différent direction.

But yeah maybe 406mm can overdo... Nah,  just target IJN cruisers first when possible.

[Ragoutrabbit]

My last straw was firing at another BB 3.6KM away and every shot missed.....

[YukiEiriKun]

My last straw was firing at another BB 3.6KM away and every shot missed.....

 

But you don't have any battleships?

[Thejagdpanther]

I have to admit that the sentiment is the same, especially about misses, but i keep use them because i want to play them better and learn more about.

 

However I have recently unlocked and fully research the fuso.

I had good memories from the CBT about this ship, the most good was about AA guns, but then the sad awaken. Jeez it was so necessary to kill AA in that way?

I don't have a lot of problems with other ships and torps, usually i rage with myself because I do stupid things... but planes, planes drive me crazy and I was thinking about the fuso the nice AA.... sad.

[Aerroon]

Including the New Mexico in the list of ships such as the Iowa and Montana is so wrong, Sharana.

 

Also on topic: not everyone likes all the classes. If you like cruisers more then just play cruisers.

[tacomaco]

OP actually has a "neutral" opinion BBs.

 

I don't think he played the Wargamming fail flagship, the Kawachi. There is an enemy BB turning with the side to you at 3km, secondary open up on it (of course they miss). All 4 turrets align, ships is steady, ready for the citadel hit...fire. All 8 shots miss, half drop in the ocean the other half goes over the target at 2.5km away.   Wargaming makes such fun games, they even expect somebody to pay for them...