World of Tanks...free ww2 tank mmo

[Daehawk]

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/53123/World-Of-Tanks-Free-To-Play-MMO-Announced

We shall see. Cute video for it. Was thinking wth??

[Jarrodhk]

Sounds interesting.

[Blackjack]

If you hadn't heard, this'll be a PVP-only MMO. I can see that from a big publisher, but for a small niche title, it seems a bit risky. Cause if nobody else is around to play, ya got nothing.  
http://www.massively.com/2010/02/24/world-of-tanks-producer-gives-a-look-into-the-game/

[Jarrodhk]

If it is something like the old Tanarus (I think?) game that Sony had, futuristic tanks, I could have a fair bit of fun with this.

[Daehawk]

I was in the Tanarus beta through 3 name changes. loved it back then. Even got to frag John Smedley True story.

[TheAtomicKid]

Tanarus had its own brand of fun. Pencil me in to at least try this one out.

It's the return of Nerfball, folks! RUN IN FEAR!

Atomic

[Daehawk]

Brand new video.

Not as sold on it as before. It seems too shooter'ish. I like my tanks in a more sim world. Guess the best MP tank game with at least some sim to it will be Red Orchestra still..sigh.

[Harkonis]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=12805941&id=494440040376

[Daehawk]

WOOOHOOOOO!

Howdy,

You've won one of the hundred World Of Tanks beta keys we're giving away!

vroom vroom BOOM!

[CeeKay]

If you hadn't heard, this'll be a PVP-only MMO. I can see that from a big publisher, but for a small niche title, it seems a bit risky. Cause if nobody else is around to play, ya got nothing.  
http://www.massively.com/2010/02/24/world-of-tanks-producer-gives-a-look-into-the-game/

that'd be funny, wanting to play and there's no one around 

[Harkonis]

People seem to get confused when they see the phrase 'MMO'.  It doesn't mean 'like WoW'   This is like a lot of f2p shooters in the sense that there is a persitant level up with research and equipment trees and segregated team battles.

It's similar to Heroes in the Sky or AvA only with tanks.  Can't say more due to NDA, but it's very fun for me.  Great combo of arcadey and sim.

[Daehawk]

I'm liking it. Need more research points though.

[CeeKay]

People seem to get confused when they see the phrase 'MMO'.  It doesn't mean 'like WoW'   This is like a lot of f2p shooters in the sense that there is a persitant level up with research and equipment trees and segregated team battles.

you mean I don't have to skin 15 tanks to craft a codpiece? 

[Blackjack]

I mentioned this in another thread, it's a shame Gamescampus's (Heroes in the Sky) WWII Tank Ace game got derailed by server issues their devs haven't been able to solve:
http://tankace.gamescampus.com/gameguide/begin/index.asp
So Tank Ace is currently in limbo. Their forums still have a lot of back and forth debate over whether World of Tanks is better/worse/the same compared to Tank Ace.

[Harkonis]

I mentioned this in another thread, it's a shame Gamescampus's (Heroes in the Sky) WWII Tank Ace game got derailed by server issues their devs haven't been able to solve:
http://tankace.gamescampus.com/gameguide/begin/index.asp
So Tank Ace is currently in limbo. Their forums still have a lot of back and forth debate over whether World of Tanks is better/worse/the same compared to Tank Ace.

no question in my mind which is better.  It's WoT by a mile.  Between the much, much better graphics and the sim layer underneath it's got it beat hands down.

[Blackjack]

We never agree on anything Harkonis, so I'd probably prefer Tank Ace.   But I'm skeptical they'll ever get their server issue worked out, so it's probably a moot point.

Here's the World of Tanks official site btw:
http://www.worldoftanks.com/about.html
It sounds interesting at the site, but I too have found some of the promotional videos either too snarky, trying too hard to be hip, or not really illustrative of the actual game. I love WWII history and hardware, they don't need to cater to the Facebook Generation^TM to get me interested.

Reading the About page got me excited about the game. Viewing said videos, not.

[Harkonis]

playing it's what matters   Put more hours into it in 3 days than I have any game in the last few months other than AoC

[DOSHIGH]

3000 Beta Keys available through Massively.

[raydude]

Got mine last night.

[CeeKay]

light tanks.

[Blackjack]

Got mine last night.

Got it just now, I don't think there's a mad rush on the Massively keys.   I'll try to check it out tonight.

[Harkonis]

keep in mind the game changes drastically at tier 3

[raydude]

OMG, just tried my first beginner game. Started out in a light tank. Even as a light tank it feels like a tank, i.e. this thing has intertia, momentum, and just feels like I'm driving a steel monster. Still, as a light tank I can't just bust through walls like some of the heavier tanks.

I can see that there's a lot of room for strategy and the use of actual tank tactics. Instead of firing on the move I would stop and fire (just like in WW2). I used the radar to figure out where the enemy was, and hid behind cover to get the first shot.

Killed two tanks in my first game before I died! I also saw that there were quite a few noobs that would just go right up to the enemy tank and fire at point blank range. I can see how even a 4 man team working together as a tank platoon would rack up some kills.

Thumbs up after my first play. In-game name: raydude.

[Harkonis]

add me to your in-game friends list.  I'm usually in the channel with the name Qt3 (case sensitive)

my in-game name is Harkonis

until at least the next patch there is no easy way to play with friends other than timing your joining of a game together and hoping.

[raydude]

I really like how they're trying to simulate engine horsepower with regards to the weight of your tank. In the starter tank w/ the crappy engine you can definitely tell that the engine is very underpowered when it comes to moving the tank around. Steep hill grades would cause the tank to slow down to a crawl. I actually found myself trying to look for the more gradual slopes and really paying attention to the terrain as I drove my tank.

The only downside is not being able to choose to play with friends. I'm wondering if that option is going to go hand-in-hand with clan vs clan combat. Possibly even being an option only in "premium play". I'm still digging it though, and the fact that everyone gets sent back into the garage after a battle means that I don't have to suffer through round after round of being on a crappy team while the good players all migrate to the winning side.

[Harkonis]

there are rumors that it will be in the next patch (playing with friends easily).  The devs have said it will definitely be in eventually.

[Daehawk]

I'm in there as Daehawk. Been there a while. Working on getting a Stug III. Once I get that i'm going to start over and go for some cheap early Russian arty. Then go down the German Tiger line. I'm in the German tank destroyer one right now. This is one I may go premium on.

[CeeKay]

Play with friends? What kind of insanity is that? 

[Harkonis]

Just got my T-34-85 and still having a blast.  The game changes feeling when you realize you are spending over 100 creds with each pull of the trigger.

[Blackjack]

Play with friends? What kind of insanity is that? 

That's in keeping with the 49 times I asked CeeKay to team up in Tabula Rasa and he ignored me. 

[DOSHIGH]

This game is hurting my productivity, it's just to easy to tell myself: 'just one more battle'. I really think they need to add more battle tiers though as an option.  After the recruit battles you're basically cannon fodder using an entry level piece of equipment against half the the other armor.  It wouldn't be so bad but it takes so long to advance past Tier 3 I find myself going back to the Recruit battles. I may gain less credits but I'm not so disadvantaged and actually contribute to the fight.  This is based on playing a TD, which I think I'm about to abandon since the negatives seem to outweigh the positives of the class too much.  I've also played with the SPG and pz35.  The SPG can be awesome if you avoid getting whacked by light armor penetrating your defense, which seems to be often.  I managed to knock Raydude in his MS-1 down to 4% but someone else finished him off  .  I haven't noticed anyone else yet and my gamer tag is letotse.  I also just ditched the pz35 since the pz2 with the upgraded long 2cm cannon seems to be far superior.  I wish I had more slots to mess with the Russian stuff. 

[CeeKay]

Play with friends? What kind of insanity is that? 

That's in keeping with the 49 times I asked CeeKay to team up in Tabula Rasa and he ignored me. 

I swear they need to put in some red flashing lights and an alarm klaxon for when I get whispers/tells in a game otherwise I almost never notice them.

[Harkonis]

what's your name in game DOS?

There is a chat channel you can join called Qt3 that I'm in whenever I'm on.  I'd love to get in some matches with you guys.  I'm usually on the GT Mumble server as well (thanks to Kato for hosting it!)

Having way too much fun in the game and I think I'm nearing 700 matches.

[Blackjack]

Play with friends? What kind of insanity is that? 

That's in keeping with the 49 times I asked CeeKay to team up in Tabula Rasa and he ignored me. 

I swear they need to put in some red flashing lights and an alarm klaxon for when I get whispers/tells in a game otherwise I almost never notice them.

That was because Tabula Rasa didn't have... AN LFG CHANNEL RARAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!   

I forgot about this. I'll try to catch up.

[DOSHIGH]

... After the recruit battles you're basically cannon fodder using an entry level piece of equipment against half the the other armor.  It wouldn't be so bad but it takes so long to advance past Tier 3 I find myself going back to the Recruit battles. I may gain less credits but I'm not so disadvantaged and actually contribute to the fight.  This is based on playing a TD, which I think I'm about to abandon since the negatives seem to outweigh the positives of the class too much.

If you're going up the German Tank Destroyer line the Tier 3 tank destroyer is actually very, very dangerous once you get the 7.6 Pak 36(r) top of the line gun.  It's actually better than the Hetzer's best gun (that's the Tier 4 TD).  I've taken out KV-1S heavy tanks with it.  It's a very, very good gun.  You'll still be a glass cannon, but once you get that gun mounted you'll be able to damage pretty much any vehicle in the game.  With that gun mounted you definitely won't be just cannon fodder.

I messed around with the Marder some more and have done a bit better by changing some tactics.  Still sucks to run into the upper tier stuff but I think the damn small fast armor is killing me the most.   More people are starting to grind out the King Tiger and IS tanks, hopefully the cost of using them will keep their numbers low.  I'm trying to figure out if my next purchase will be the Hetzer, Grille spg, or go up the traditional armor line. So many options to try, I can see how they could do well with the F2P model by enticing people to limit the grind.

[Daehawk]

I still have my Hetzer in the TD live. it has all upgrades and in that line I'm just waiting on the STUG to open up for me. I've also opened up the Russian SU arty tanks. I have the little SU18 and SU26. I think thats as far as I'll go in them. They are powerful and I have both fully upgraded. They are FUN. I love playing Arty. The next line is going to be IS Russian. I really love the German stuff and want a Tiger but it seems almost everyone is going that line and I want to be different. Yesterday I got to see the Ausf B the second best German tank do some damage. First as an anemey I have 5 arty hits bounce off him. Then in the next game he was on my team. I just followed him around when I died and watched that thing eat everything. He musta gotten shot 14 times and nothing lol..still have 94%.

[Harkonis]

This is really how a game should be imo.  It is fun to play and I find myself enjoying the grind and generally not noticing it.  I'm playing to have fun and then occasionally I get new stuff.

[Daehawk]

I thought this would be ok for a week in beta and then move on. But I am going to buy this thing when it hits. I love it. I thought I only had TOR to look forward too and my older games like TF2...but this is really great. I hope they open up the British, French, and American line of tanks. Also add friend and server type joining and maps..needs a lot of new maps. Maybe special play types..like German tanks vs Russian tanks etc etc.

[Harkonis]

there's nothing to buy when it's released other than gold.

They are adding 5 more countires eventually with American tanks added at release.  Next patch should have friends and clan party system to join friends as well as faction versus faction modes.  You really should read the official forums.

[Daehawk]

Its best to shoot at them from head on or behind. If they are zooming back and forth in your aim you will never hit them.