How can you improve? Progression issues anyone?

[SeaWolf7]

So I seem to have  hit a slump (tier 5/6) where A lot of people seem to also flounder and after a lot of time and effort and investment in the game my stats seem to be falling fast. It seem you win one game only to loose 2, sink 4 in one game only to sink none for the next 5 and as anyone would be frustrated and generally P****d off by now i'm starting to wonder if I hit my peak in this game a while ago as no matter what I do I can not progress!!! Im not going to blame the Game (as a lot of people tend to do ...this doesn't work that isn't right etc etc.) but Is it time to uninstall? Is it time to move on? How do people get those massive scores I see on "scores of the day posts?" £200,000 credits and 4000 xp? In my dreams!!!!

There's plenty of help for Noobs and new starters but what about a section on improving...some of the more technical issues to master? using what and when to use it? Positioning yourself on the map etc? Who wants to play a game where you continually loose? If any one has any tips how to get past this stage (The stale stage...) in the game it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Also I Must mention I find it increasily harder to Progress and understand the rules and hit scoring of ships and things IF THEY KEEP ON FRACKING CHANGING!!! YET ANOTHER PATCH WHERE HIT POINTS/RATIOS AND PONTS FOR CERTAIN SHIPS HAVE INCREASED AND FOR SOME (LIKE MOST OF THE ONES I OWN) HAVE DECREASED!! EEHHHHAHH!!! STOP CHANGING THINGS!!!

(Apart from the new ports and new maps and x3 for the holiday period....that's cool don't change that....)

 

Sorry had to get that last bit out...seriously if anyone could post helpful things that you have learned along the way that isn't on the forum web/sites etc that could help frustrated people like myself... Please feel free..

Happy holidays everyone!

 

[Tyrendian89]

watching some of the competent youtubers/streamers out there (like iChase) can help a lot, since they will often try to explain their thought processes when making a decision or comment on other people's replays.

We can't give you any specific tips without knowing what you do. I'll just be blunt here, hoping you wont take this the wrong way: You do seem to do something very wrong (your average damage is so low with most ships it's downright impressive again...). If you're comfortable with that, maybe post a couple of your replays so we can help you better?

[Meneleus]

I think the skillset remains the same in essence, how to aim, which ammunition to use, how to angle and how to evade incoming fire. Perhaps situational awareness and the ability to read developments becomes a tad more important. Do note that, as you progress through the tiers, ships you will use can differ quite a bit from their predecessors and require a different approach.

 

What is also important to remember is that sometimes, you are just out of luck. Half of the teams you join are made up of folks who are tripping over each other in order to get themselves killed, ensuring a loss no matter how well you do personally. You might make a mistake, which you are more prone to do when starting to get irritated. Sometimes the foe just catches you with your pants down (so to speak) and you become an appetizer for the main course. I reckon everyone has days like that, and it is only human to remember the bad things more clearly then the positive things we experience.

 

Cheers, M

[EsaTuunanen]

 

Overall you're not doing enough damage to have positive effect on winning changes at those tiers.

 

In BBs you can help team by tanking hits enabling other players in weaker ships to survive longer and do more damage to enemies.

So even without good damage you have decent win rate in them.

 

But in cruiser you can't do that and just seem to end up sinked often without doing any notable harm to enemy team.

Especially you have to avoid getting caught between fire from two directions at medium ranges.

In that situation cruiser will simply get ripped apart fast especially by citacel hits... And even DDs can fast finish damaged cruiser if you're careless and DD skipper knows what he's doing.

Same happens also if you keep side toward enemy.

Especially massive APs of BB guns can citadel cruisers easily.

 

[Ebu34]

First of all, I consider myself a decent skipper. 

 

In my experince, you need to focus on stay alive. In your stats, you have trouble with stayin alive. If you stay alive longer, you can do more damage. Dont missunderstand me. I mean 'stay alive'. Dont snipe or play too defensive. Rather than, learn how you can angle your ship, use covers and use the advantage of your ship's concealment. 

 

I am giving a example for this, you are mainly using BBs and CAs and CLs. When you fire enemy, most probably you will be detected and expect counter fire from enemy ships. You need to immediately change your course and angle if its necessary. 

 

I agree to first comment watch youtubers and carefully analysis their actions.  My advises are Notser, ichase, aerroon,

 

Especially Notser feature a gameplay in everyday.  Bonus side when he is commenting on video, giving the reasons of his actions. 

 

We can improve your experince either playing  in platoons or in training room. Feel free to add me also. 

 

[MartiniHenrie]

YouTube is a great resource. Ichasewargaming, Themightyjingles, Wastingsometimegaming to name a few.  Look up WoWS there and you will find a plethora of content. 

[ArcheonSRF]

So looks like your main problem is your omaha.  Overall your win rate isn't terrible (seen far worse), your average exp and dmg caused is on the low side though.

 

 Some general tips:

 

1) Don't leave yourself being the only thing to shoot at - i.e. don't rush in ahead at the start just because people are slow to get going and decide where they want to go.  Run at half speed until you see a group forming that you can latch onto.

2) If someone gives you broadside, you should be shooting AP at them (if they are a cruiser).  If they are a DD or BB, shoot HE.

3) Never give anyone your broadside - especially with omaha gun setup you really don't need to.

4) Cover your DDs in cap points from outside the cap

 

Feel free to add me as a friend and I will jump in my murmansk and play a few games with you to see if I can spot any more specific tips.

 

Arch

 

PS - I am far from the best player in the world before people start checking my stats!

 

 

[SeaWolf7]

Thank you Guys, some useful tips have come to light . angling the ship seems to be Key to staying alive whilst dealing with incoming fire...what can I do to inflict more damage and increase experience whilst maintaining win rate? Or should I say what helps increase damage and xp (switching shells for eg.),  Will check out a couple of youtubers and post back.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Archeon.. will do and PM you....

 

 

 

[Tyrendian89]

Thank you Guys, some useful tips have come to light . angling the ship seems to be Key to staying alive whilst dealing with incoming fire...what can I do to inflict more damage and increase experience whilst maintaining win rate? Or should I say what helps increase damage and xp (switching shells for eg.),  Will check out a couple of youtubers and post back.

 

 

well, right choice of ammo and decent aim do help, but the main thing is actually being alive to continue dealing damage. As they say, the best offense is a good defense. And the two most important things for that are not running off alone, and proper engagement angles - as in, NEVER BROADSIDE ANYTHING no matter what you are and what they are for more than the minimum amount of time required to turn. And yes, that also counts for a battleship versus cruisers - first off, you're a much bigger target, and second, you'd be surprised at the amount of damage cruiser AP can do to battleships at shorter ranges (I'm talking about reliable 6-7k Cleveland salvoes on NewMexes with the short cooldown Cleve has - that way outstrips your average batteship DPS unless you hit multiple citadels).

[Nechrom]

Without seeing you play it's a bit difficult to pinpoint what you need to improve.

As people have already said, you definitely need to do more damage. But the reason for your low damage output is unclear.

Some points to look at:

 

• Surviving long enough to do damage. It's pretty obvious but if you find yourself sinking early you might want to be a bit more cautious. Stay around teammates and if you notice that you are being focused by the enemy, turn around and increase your distance while making it hard for them to hit you.
• Make sure you are picking the right shells for the job. Use AP against flat sides of cruisers and if you are in a BB use AP against other BBs too. There are a lot of situation where the rule of thumb here doesn't apply, so please try both AP and HE in different situations and see what does more damage.
• If you have trouble hitting targets in the first place then I just think you need to practice. No big secrets to tell that will make you hit better. Personally I wouldn't try to calculate using shell travel time and distance. Just get a feeling for it over time. Try to memorize roughly how fast the different ships are so you can get pretty accurate first shots out at long distance. It might also help to only ever use a specific level of zoom, so that you have a very static frame of reference when aiming.
• Learn where on ships to aim. If you use AP you should aim for the citadel which is located in the middle of the ship and below the main gun turrets close to the waterline. If you are firing HE then you should be aiming at the least armored part of the ship which tends to be the superstructure. When shooting at DDs always use HE and don't bother aiming for a specific part of the ship.

 

Much of this is just things you pick up. Don't be afraid to try new things while you are still at tiers that are cheap to maintain.

[EsaTuunanen]

Thank you Guys, some useful tips have come to light . angling the ship seems to be Key to staying alive whilst dealing with incoming fire...what can I do to inflict more damage and increase experience whilst maintaining win rate? Or should I say what helps increase damage and xp (switching shells for eg.),  Will check out a couple of youtubers and post back.

Even in BB you want to keep side angled against enemy BBs to decrease amount of penetrations and especially citadel hits.

In cruiser you again don't want to be close to BB gun's "business end" except basically either heading in or going away.

At sub 10km ranges those APs penetrate 40+ cm so except for grazing hits they just go through typical midway between 5 and 10cm cruiser armor like oxy-acetylene flame through butter.

Against APs of other cruisers angling helps lot even at closer range.

 

At long ranges angling again doesn't help that much because shell trajectory becomes dropping hitting deck.

Also HE does it's damage regardless of angle.

So against those you just need to run away/evade more.

 

Consistently better survival gives more time to do damage to enemy.

And more damage to enemy means better chances to win.. and get +50% XP victory bonus.

Also more damage helps to give more XP.

Just remember that XP is based to percentage of damage done so 5k hp damage to DD is lot more valuable than to BB.

 

 

When shooting at DDs always use HE and don't bother aiming for a specific part of the ship.

HE should always be aimed at weaker armored parts.

Anyway he doesn't play DDs... but you should learn more about DD guns.

[Capra76]

Has anyone got any "expert" marksmanship/gunnery tips?  I think I'm an OK player but my damage does seem to be on the low side.

[Nechrom]

HE should always be aimed at weaker armored parts.

Anyway he doesn't play DDs... but you should learn more about DD guns.

 

I was referring to firing at DDs, which doesn't have armor.

[ArcheonSRF]

 

I was referring to firing at DDs, which doesn't have armor.

 

Lies! Slander! It has a few mm of armour!

[Lin3]

There's been a lot of excellent advice so far in this thread.

 

The only thing I'd add is:

 

Hide your stats. Then you'll never have to worry what anyone will think of you, based on your stats. You'll be under less pressure that way.

 

Treat this game as a "player vs computer" game in your head (even though you're playing PvP). When you fail, you haven't really failed. You're just experimenting. You tried something that didn't work. In future try something different and see how you get on. Treat the game as one big learning experience.

 

Don't worry about the grind. Who cares if you're playing in a tier 1 to 5 ship instead of a tier 8 to 10? It's not as if there's Clan Wars or anything?

 

 

 

And finally, SeaWolf7, I'd be happy to have you on my team any time.

[Nechrom]

There's been a lot of excellent advice so far in this thread.

 

The only thing I'd add is:

 

Hide your stats. Then you'll never have to worry what anyone will think of you, based on your stats. You'll be under less pressure that way.

 

Treat this game as a "player vs computer" game in your head (even though you're playing PvP). When you fail, you haven't really failed. You're just experimenting. You tried something that didn't work. In future try something different and see how you get on. Treat the game as one big learning experience.

 

Hiding your stats implies that you actually do care. Don't hide them and just don't care is my recommendation.

[Capra76]

Just one thought, pick one line of ships and stick with it, don't jump between CA/BB or USN/IJN, learn how to use one weapon to perfection.

[EsaTuunanen]

Just one thought, pick one line of ships and stick with it, don't jump between CA/BB or USN/IJN, learn how to use one weapon to perfection.

Especially when ships can differ quite a lot even inside same line it's good to first learn doing well in one ship before moving to next.

At higher tiers learning just gets harder.

 

Lies! Slander! It has a few mm of armour!

And some paint on top of that...

[Nechrom]

Just one thought, pick one line of ships and stick with it, don't jump between CA/BB or USN/IJN, learn how to use one weapon to perfection.

 

While focusing can be good for learning a specific playstyle, I find that branching out gives you a better level of insight into how other types of ships operate and what their weaknesses are.

If you focus on one progression path you'll eventually end up with ships that break off from what you've experienced so far requiring you to re-learn a lot of what you've grown accustomed to. If you instead have a wider base of knowledge to stand on when you eventually have to play something new and unfamiliar, you don't have to start from zero.

[Glaukenstucken]

Advice from a mid tier knowitall........

 Swapping ammo has already been advised, try to keep the ammo loaded that has high probability of being useful, lots of dd's...start with HE, last two dd's spotted far away, reload for CA encounter with AP.....and so on.

When you get a citadel hit, memorize your aiming point. 

Don't change ships too often, if you have trouble getting those hits in, perhaps you have troble memorizing where to aim with all different calibers. Find a ship that you can grow comfortable with and your confidence will grow with it, dont rush the tiers, it is more rewarding to play when you feel you can make an impact on the game. (a positive impact)

So, most of the time, play one ship that you know you can handle, and every third or fourth game, bring out that new shiny ship that you don't understand fully yet, read the guides and slowly grow into feeling like a badass with that one instead. 

Above all: Try to figure out where you need to be, go there and be ready to advance or fall back. Doing damage isn't just aiming, it is also being in the right place, chose a spot where you are likely to have an impact on the game but also where you are close enough to where you might need to be. For an Omaha this is usually somewhere around the middle of the map, Don't be lured off to go along the borders or even worse into a corner, there just isn't enough damage to be had there. On "New Dawn" for instance, bring your Omaha to the defensive half of the perimiter of that center circles of islands, you will be able to respond to either side where you are needed and when things get too tough, zigzag back to safety. If you are in the first contact engagement, especially if you are a bit ahead of your backup, turn 180 as soon as you get detected, you can fire just as good with your ship angled going away from the enemy. Stay alive through that first engagement, perhaps you can lure your opponents into coming after you and then die horribly when they run into your friendlies. When enemy main force has been spotted, you can control where to engage. 

So, know your ship, go where you need to be, kill crap, don't die.......the damage will come.

 

[Admiral_noodle]

Seriously do watch Notser on YouTube. He plays most classes of ships and narrates what he's doing. So does Aerroon. These two I watch a lot in order to see how to play.

Both have helped me no end to get the most out of my ships. However I'm still bad above tier 8.

 

What I really need now is map guides. I seem to do well on ocean, strait, two brothers but I always struggle on fault line. I've no idea where to put my ship!

[mtm78]

Seriously guys, all these youtube recommendations and no one mentioned Trigger_Happy_Dad... 

 

 

Basically watch anyone who gives good commentary during the gameplay as to why he is doing what he is doing, what he is looking at/for and what his plans are. 

 

 

[urzusevenxl]

Everyone above has already given some very good advice OP but one thing I would mention that will almost certainly increase your enjoyment & also your skill in the game is to join a clan .There is plenty of clans recruiting at the moment in the clan recruitment thread in these forums.Believe me when I say that having 2 teammates in voice commmuinacation  with you & backing you up in game will make you a better player overtime & you will have a lot more fun in the meantime.

[mtm78]

Everyone above has already given some very good advice OP but one thing I would mention that will almost certainly increase your enjoyment & also your skill in the game is to join a clan .There is plenty of clans recruiting at the moment in the clan recruitment thread in these forums.Believe me when I say that having 2 teammates in voice commmuinacation  with you & backing you up in game will make you a better player overtime & you will have a lot more fun in the meantime.

 

You don't necessarily need clans for that, we have a public TS ( especially the other language sections are packed most of the time ) and if nothing else one can try the Forumites in game channel ( SturmTiger304's with password 'play4fun' ).

 

Clans are also an option off course o7

[JG4_sKylon]

I recommend the following Youtube channels:

 

Notser: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-c1d4QVKztu8_3f8VqMtKw

Flamu: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6jZ3uNWJKtJokkJxPLA88g

Voulezvous: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIBwcnplWO0jOmBGey0x8kg

Aerroon: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOQoJ6G4D04d05fxjfPHPQ

 

And for the fun side of life

Claus Kellermann: