Main page

simple and easy, i can't decide between the two because well they both look pretty much the same and so do the statistics (mostly)
so i would like anyone's opinion on which one is better

They are totaly different playstyle and statwise as well...
Easy 8 (E8) is a proper med with faster movement, better traversing, less armor designed for fast flanking and more of a hide and seek game with heavies from same tier and other meds.
Jumbo (E2) is a med/heavy hybrid with epic armor on turret mantle where u can litteraly hide behind decent hull cover and pop shots directly without hiding, I have alot of steelwalls with that thingie It was best med so far
The income and guns are pretty much same, your choice if u go for HE derpie 105 or fast annoying AP gun. I personaly liked tracking them and placing well aimed shots with the fast gun.
Also, if you want to move forward in the line to T20 and further then the E8 is a better learning experience since its more of the same playstyle. I went Jumbo=>T20 and the first dozen or more games could not believe how much crap armor that new tank has, then I learned the whole peekaboo game and loving it so far

EDIT:
One more thing. You need to choose them accordingly on where u wanna go next E8 --> t20 OR slugger, so the med or TD line; E2 --> T20 OR M6, so the med or heavy line [on that note, i now wish i chose M4-->E2-->M6 rather then going thru T1HT :)]
Edited by ThanPL, 19 August 2012 - 06:37 PM.

E2 is heavily armored but slow.
E8 is moderately armored but is very fast.

Both have the same armament.

It depends on what you want afterwards - E8 = M36 and T20. E2 = M6 and T20.

ThanPL said almost all. In the end is all about your playstyle: E8 is a flanker and a harasser and E2 playes more like a medium-heavy hibrid. I played them both, but i like more M4A3E8. Is harder to master than M4A3E2, but i find him much more enjoyable to play. That enjoyable that i delayed the bought of IS-7 and bought him this friday and equip him (i had the old crew in baracks). In the 3rd game (todays 3x) i got ace tanker with it.

I recomand if you are not in a hurry to buy one of the tanks to wait until 0.8 test server will be online and test them both. Test server isn't far away ahead.
Edited by chuao, 19 August 2012 - 10:15 PM.

Jumbo Sherman had its big problems when it had to face battles with up to tier 9 tanks.... Now with better MM,  your armor has much more worth,  let alone that tier 7s struggle to pen you if you are hull down...  I went jumbo and then T20 and dont regret my choice at all....  On the other hand,  Easy 8 has to rely on careful moves and flanking,  since its armor is just paper.  To summarize,  if you like a heavy medium go jumbo.  If you want a proper medium go E8

E2 all the way.
You can deffinately kill any T6 med. Speed is OK. the m1A2 gun is awesome. Your armour is the same as that of the t10 american med.
while the E8 is more agile it aint agile enough, so you will have a dissappointment.
in its tier only the heavys are a threat. your great DPM means that you can even kill the T6 TD's

JUMBO sherman kills all.

E2 cause for me it's armor over speed, with E8 you'd get killed really easy and just get frustrated.

thank you everyone for you comments, i think i now have a clear understanding of both tanks and i have made up my mind

I played both of them about half a year ago and recently bought again E8 because I like speed
Advantages of E2 is good frontal armor on turret and good shapes that allows you to bounce hits that E8 maybe couldn't take.
So if you just grinding to T-20, E2 is a good choice - but if you thinking about tank which is fun to play - than choose E8 because it's really good when you train you crew to 100% and elite it
It is like a Chaffee with better armor and lack of speed

For a year I only drove russian meds (love the T44 and 54) and I tried out the french heavy and medline (dont like either, but I had an epiphany with the arl). The driving style of the ARL led me to american tanks and boy, am I having fun !

I can make the 44 dance and the 54 just rocks and their fast playing style holds great fun for me, but now that I have discovered this thing called "gun depression, I have difficulties switching back.

The easy drives around and hides and peeks and kills. Especially that. It kills. The T-34 has a notority for having a machine gun and I loved that tank, but the topgun on these tanks is so much fun. First tank I had more than one kill per battle on average. Just wow. The fact that the E8 can shoot from unexpected angles, helps so much. And it's bouncing factor should not be underestimated. On sand river, I once solely picked off 2 full tanks in a shooting match against 5 opponents without taking damage in return. So that is the power of hull down.

I pretty much picked between the jumbo and easy 8 line at random. Well, I wanted the american meds, so I picked the easy. But after reading this thread, I probably will go back to the jumbo too. As a 54 enthousiast, I might like the 'ping' of that tank as well.

Which turret you use on jumbo with howitzer ? Stock with better armour side/rear or upgraded ?

Kuba9m, on 23 August 2012 - 11:39 AM, said:

I use the stock turret, since with the howizer I try to keep myself at range as second line support. Those thicker sides help when you have two (or more) enemies shooting at your turret from different directions.

I tested the upgraded turret but didn't like it since anything and everything shoots through the sides, and I got some hits in from bad angles where I knew the stock turret would have just bounced the shot. Might have to retest the Jumbo with the M1A2 and upgraded turret, now that the MM doesn't pit it all the time against hugely armored monsters.

I have one question. Don't you think that earnings on M4A3E2 are a little bit too low? Just some minutes ago I had a nice battle in which I dealt 2000+ dmg with 4 kills(I soloed a Tiger from 100%-0 with just getting my track damaged- we just standing in the open and shooting each other). After the battle I noticed I earned just 27k(non-premium). If I would deal such amount of damage in for example KV-1 I'm sure I'd get at least 35k.
I really love this tank, but it's not really that profitable.

IMHO, Easy 8 is good choice (but it depends on how are u playn' - stayn' back or go in the front lines). Easy 8 is very fast, gun was great. Its true that its armor is very weak, but when u get used to this tank, u will be able to take advantage of its qualities. Going from the rear is a good tactic with E8. You can easily shoot 2 - 3 times and hide. It's useless in open spaces - but great in cities.

I haven't played E2 - but i think whatever you choose u will be glad

Darkherring, on 24 August 2012 - 08:47 AM, said:

Yeah, WG in it's great wisdom decided that the M4-series apparently earned too much credits so they've been nerfing the income on them bit by bit, both by reducing the income directly and by upping the repair costs.

I guess that while the M4s aren't the most popular tanks (not by their numbers) I'd guess that those who like and keep them have become quite good at using them, which means more damage done and more battles won and that means more credits. Apparently too much more, by WG's standards. But that's just a theory from the Sleeve & Stetson Institute.