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Dear Wargaming,
Since I first stumbled upon the game through a flashing ad in 2011 I’ve experienced thousands of battles, played houndreds of hours and made new and long-lasting friendships through your game. I remember watching the World of Tanks Gamescom trailer from 2011 like it was yesterday. Gazing upon a video showcasing tanks fighting on top of bridges, navigating through deserts and rampaging battle-worn cities blew my mind. I HAD to play this game. The continued excitement and enjoyment of being able to commandeer a tank strategically through a battlefield has stayed with me since that day.
After I picked up the game again a few months ago after a break I tried to get some old friends back into the action with me. In the beginning everything felt like before! We were in the zone, plowing down everything in our path and wreaking havoc upon the less competitive players. The sweat from our foreheads engraved in the shells we sent to unsuspecting tier 3s laid the foundation of a regained passion for me and my friend. However, as I progressed with him through the tiers, the once exciting feeling got chipped away and replaced itself with something else. Slowly but surely, piece by piece and shell by shell the sour taste took its place. The gameplay that once made us into an unstoppable force on the field started fighting back. Long nights turned into short nights, and fun, harmless gameplay turned into frustration, confusion and rage for my friend.
The days passed, and after enough time my “Platoon? =D” messages went unanswered and were left on read. “ShadowSwapz is playing –another game--” was all I could see. The warmth of friendship and companionship left in the cold. A trusted teammate missed in action. His most played tanks left to rust in the garage. Desperation surged through me as I scrambled to find ways to get him back into battle. Empty promises of epic battles and victories were made. My lost comrade finally returned! Our battles progressed, but for him it never looked like his tracks were fully repaired. He couldn’t gain traction on the field, struggling for grip and to find his own balance amongst the veteran players. His last battle turned into a nightmare. I pinged on the map and gave him a tip on where to go. “These bushes should provide you enough cover, and a nice angle to hit enemies” I regretfully told him. He complied. On his way to the bush he encountered an enemy light tank patrolling the woods. My friend had never seen such speed! He sent a shot towards this mysterious object, but unknowingly my friend didn’t know it yet, but his life was already forfeit. You could feel the circles getting smaller, the wind in the trees abruptly stopping, my friend widening his eyes, gasping for more air to process what was about to happen. I zoomed over to his tank in horror of what I was about to witness. The server skipped a tick, and in the very other end of the map you could hear them. “Click, click, click.”
Actual feedback is below:
This is the story of my friend trying to get into the game in its current state with artillery. I will start this discussion with noting that I believe 100% that artillery has an important and valuable place in the game, but I don’t believe that the current state of the SPG class reflects what it is intended for.
After the 9.18 all-round SPG revision patch in 2017 it was stated on the blog post that the updated artillery class was designed to make them more team-oriented, more rewarding to play and far less frustrating to play against. The introduction of the stun mechanic in theory should have facilitated a more action-packed and fun experience for all classes, and it was meant to make heavy tanks less afraid to push out and lead an assault.
However, in practice from my own experience this does not seem to be the case at all. It seems like SPGs target advancing heavies and mediums most often, which discourages people from playing aggressively. This often results in a lot of camping from both sides. Playing with 6 artilleries in a match on an open map makes progressing and pushing forward on a flank a painful and extremely frustrating experience. Even poking over a ridge to try to get a look at the enemies gets punished swiftly. Getting stunned and being unable to hit shots, reload and relocate in time often makes the best possible play in such a matchup most of the time to remain dead still behind cover and wait for the enemy team to push out, making the matches to go on to a draw because neither team dares to show themselves in the end. It’s been 3 years and some change since the stun mechanic update hit the live servers, and I believe it’s time to really look into this issue.
Limiting the number of SPGs depending on the map might be a solution. One can justify 3 SPGs on for example a map like Empire’s Border or El Halluf, because it requires you to choose a side to focus on instead of being able to shoot everywhere from one position. Maps like Prokhorovka and Malinovka should be limited to 1-2 SPGs due to the lack of cover so the heavies/mediums can still progress and the SPGs would need to choose which flank they want to focus and help the most on. I believe an honest evaluation of each map judging by movement (heatmaps) comparing games with and without artillery could help a lot in balancing this.
Working through the tiers with my IRL friend severely highlighted this issue for me, and he was the inspiration behind making this post. Being a new player in tier 5-6 and getting matched up against for example a 105 LeFH18B2 and two M44’s in an open map without having a crew with sixth sense makes it terribly confusing and rage-inducing for new players. In the words of my friend before he left: “I can’t tell what I’m doing wrong, or how to get better.”
Since you’re reaching the end of this I will have to give credit where credit is due. I feel like this game has been going in the right direction with the recent updates, and I thoroughly enjoy (most of) the games I play. Thank you for still keeping the game fresh – even after 9 years.
TL : DR – 1-2 arties on some select maps would improve the overall quality of gameplay of some matches, 3 arties on all maps isn’t as cool.
OP requested its removal.
~BethHarmon
Edited by BethHarmon, 31 October 2020 - 02:40 PM.
