I first saw a TV commercial for it a year or so ago. I think it was at least. Then it got advertised on some of the podcasts I listen too (WTF and Never Not Funny). I still stayed away from it though.
Being as how I can fit into many stereotypes I try to buck as many as I can. I was a jock who played D&D and was in drama. I'm a fantasy/sci-fi/nerdy reader but a bouncer at a nightclub. I'm a comicbook fan yet I can still talk to women in a bar.
One of my weaknesses is my ability to get sucked into a video game. I have a love/hate relationship there.
In 1999 I bought a refurb'ed Playstation, Diablo II, and Resident Evil: Nemesis on a rainy Black Friday at 7AM. Later that day my phone rang and it was my friend Scuffy.
"Dude, what you got going on?"
Me, "Playing my new Playstation, why?"
Scuffy, "I'm at BOG having drinks with Susan, Sara, and Sally*." *<names changed to protect the innocent.
Me, "Oh..."
Scuffy, "You should come out and meet us, Sally says she would like to see you."
Me, "OK... I'll see you in a few then."
I'm thinking, "Shower, get a quick bite to eat, etc." When I look at the clock and it's past 10PM.
Anyways, though I slide occasionally I am still reluctant to be that stereotype. It annoys me really. As a matter of fact video gamer culture annoys me to some extent. The behaviour, the habits, the justification.... just go outside! I'm old, get off my lawn.
It's all about balance - I like video games and I'm an outdoors-man. Go figure.
I avoided World of Tanks for a long time despite my love of tanks and the game Battle Zone. Finally, I see that The Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society has some active members playing and I load the game while on my 11 day winter break from work and the last 3 weeks has been history.
First off, I suck at it. I'm a down-right crappy player. My tanks get stuck on rocks and I can't aim and I forget where my crosshairs are and when things get hairy I panic and hit wrong buttons. What I need is a control paddle like a PS or Xbox but WoT is 90% PC game.
On a sidenote and related to gamer behavior:
I do some research on adding a console controller to my PC for WoT and my search leads me to the WoT forum. Someone had asked the same question about a year ago on the WoT forum and half the answers were of the ilk: "Shaddup noob! WASD 4 ever!! Go back to your peasant box!!!". Seriously? Man, forums and gamers bring out the best.
The good thing about WoT is that the contact with other players is minimal. You've a chat on the lower left of your screen, I ignore this 99% of the time. I've only seen myself get called a "moron" 2 times - both for shooting at a tank on my screen that was behind good cover.
Loading and playing is free and the kind of free where you can still have fun. You can be competitive if you are a good gamer and not pay a cent. If you pay money you get credits, upgrades, premium stuff... that kind of thing.
Game play is straight forward. You've a specific tank with specific capabilities assigned to it. You go onto a battle field with other tanks (other players world wide) and duke it out. Typical scenario is capture the base or blow up all opponents. Seems to me that the kill all the opponents is much more popular than taking a base, which consists of a tank(s) sitting on the designated area of the opponents for 1 minute (faster if multiple tanks). I've seen people do this as opposed to hunting down and killing the last opponent only to get booed on chat.
The battle fields vary from urban to quaint farmer fields. All kinds of variations of terrain exist. Gullies, trees, rocks, buildings, water, etc. all with different affects that I could not list here (long list and I don't know 80% of it). It seems WWII-centric though.
You can advance your tanks, which you start out with 6 of in your garage (one from each nation in WWII), and crews gain experience. Some tanks are better than others obviously. They are all different enough that they are distinct. Without any prompting or guidance I leaned towards American tanks. I also like the Japanese options.
I quickly dumped Russian, German, French, and Chinese tanks. you can "sell" tanks you don't like. The mistake I made was selling experienced crew off with tanks. I have learned that, if you are going to stick with a country but not specific tanks than pull the crew from the tank and put them in your barracks and save them for later.
Tank improvements can be researched and bought by experience earned. This also leads to better and heavier models of tanks. Like a tech tree. American tanks start with a T1 Cunningham and work up to Shermans and Stuarts and such. As this advances so do your "tiers" which is how battles are grouped. I have a Medium US tank that is in Tier 3 though I am reluctant to play Tier 3 as more advanced players are there and I get killed right off in those battles. Stay in my league!
The other thing I learned very quickly is that the "fast track" for heavier tanks is via Soviet tanks. So if you want to get into heavy tanks soon go that route. That's not for me right now though.
I'm learning the nuances of light tanks or "scouts" Fast and agile, you hit the flanks, find good terrain, hide, and identify enemy positions. One of the mechanics that is neat that I don't fully understand is being able to spot. Light tanks can go undetected and spot other tanks within a certain range and "call them in" to other tanks around you, ranged dependent on your radio technology. This is really useful if you've artillery (SPD or self propelled guns) on your team as they won't be able to target anything unless it gets spotted first.
Light tank guns are pretty weak, even if you level them up. What I like to do is make sure I spot it for bigger guns in my area and try to hit the tracks of the target immobilizing it for a few moments so my team mates and arty can zero in and maneuver around them. Sometimes I actually do this, most of the time I do this and get immediately spotted and destroyed. I'm learning.
Speaking of artillery, you can play SPDs or self propelled guns too. This is artillery. You hang back and find a good spot and let the other tanks do some spotting for you. You have a bird's eye view capability and you can aim from that view. It takes awhile for you to "zero in" and be accurate. It's hard to hit a target that is moving or has cover. Sometimes they disappear on you too. What you are looking for is repeatable patterns in movement you can anticipate or a tank that's not moving. I've actually done well with this - suffice to say there is a popular movement in WoT Community of Arty Hate. Again, see forums.
The only other variation is Tank Killers. Big guns on light frames with frontal armor. I have one in my garage and it's hot or cold. I die first or I do OK, get a few good shots in, and die towards the end of the game. Depending on the map I love/hate my T18! My main tactic with this is to hang back, find a hiding spot, and snipe. Shoot, move to new hiding spot. Most of my kills have been with a tank killer and most of my worst games has been with them.
Anyways the addicting part for me is earning experience and spending it on research and upgrades. You earn experience for wins and losses, spotting opponents, damage done by spotting, assists, kills, penetration, damage done, damage avoided... lot's of different ways and I do not know the quantification. You get more if you win, hit stuff and kill other tanks. You pay a fine or are even locked out of the login for 24 hours if you hit your own team mates. I know this because I killed one of my own guys my 3rd day of playing (by accident) and was not allowed to log back in until the next day. Pretty cool and simple rule.
There is a leveling mechanic for your crew members too but I do not understand that one. They go up in skill every battle they are in, it's all I know.
If you pay money you can get permanent camo patterns painted on to your tank, name it and put a custom emblem on the side, You can also expand your garage so you can collect more than the allotted 6 you get for free. You can also expand your barracks over the limit of 16 so as to keep more of your crew members for later. There's also all kinds of premium and special tanks you can buy. Meh... not sure if I want to pay yet.
That there is my new thing. I'm having fun with it though I do not ever see myself as a "good" player. I've seen my overall stats and I'm batting a .499880 right now so just below average!
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