knutliott

That's when I started playing (June of 2016) and for a new player not using boosts or premium time, it wasn't actually all that fast. Fast compared to WOT, sure, but that's one of the main reasons that I don't play WOT. AW felt like you could actually make progress by just playing, which at the time felt really good because it was unusual for a FTP game. The problem was not the base income rate. The problem was stacking bonuses alongside events in ways that allowed you to do things like this attached screenshot. I wasn't even horribly abusing the stacking when I did this, either. 4 of the 5 games were "first win of the day" but one of them wasn't, so the result could have been even more spectacular. As I recall the 5 games were played over Christmas 2016 during a week-long 3x XP event. Haswell really nailed the current problem. Too much of AW appears to be balanced to keep the BVs (Billionaire Veterans) in check. That's a good way to starve your game of new players, because in trying to make things challenging for BVs you make the basically impossible for new players. At least that's how it feels to the new players, so whether or not that statement is technically correct is irrelevant.

Yeah when you move from Tier 6 to Tier 7 in PvE you're entering a new matchmaker. At Tier 6 you're guaranteed to be top tier (because that matchmaker is for Tiers 4-6 in Standard and 3-6 in Hard), but in Tier 7 you're virtually guaranteed to NOT be top tier. Tiers 7-10 are all in the same matchmaker which means you're virtually guaranteed to at least see Tier 8s in your match and often Tier 9s. Which means you'll be fighting Tier 9s and 10s, and that's rough in a Tier 7.

As Soren said, there's a new line in the Details tab of the after action report that tells you how many enemies you eliminated (right under enemies destroyed), so just check that tab.

It's still sounding like it's going to take ~50 boxes like last time, which of course is 62,500 coins this time instead of 50,000. Once I get to rank 36 (to complete the stupid camo set) I'm going to stop spending coins on anything and just stockpile them until much closer to the end. Unless I suddenly find myself buried in coins to the point that I'm very confident that I can get both the Type 10 and the Hunter, in which case I'll get the Hunter then and then grind to the Type 10 by the end of the BP. I suspect I'll have to spend some gold to get both, and the best way to do that is to spend gold to ensure that I complete at least 1 repeatable mission per day. Repeatables are 200 gold for 600 coins, which is the best rate of return available. The most efficient pack of coins is 24k coins for 10k gold.

Granted I only play PvE and I know that Ophelia is a much bigger problem in GLOPS and PvP, but I've actually started moving away from her except for specific kinds of vehicles. I use Cortez, Douglas, or Vincent in my MBTs. Mostly Douglas, but my Vincent build helps in the waddling boats so I use him in Challengers and Merkavas, etc. Cortez gets the all-'rounders that are already pretty good at everything, such as the Object 640. I use Erin or Juan Carlos in vehicles that make use of stealth and/or vision. If a vehicle already has good camo I use Juan Carlos because he gives a much better VR bonus, but Erin is good for vehicles that have borderline camo but can be powerful if given significantly more. This generally includes most AFVs and LTs. I use Freja in SPGs. I use Fyodor while grinding vehicles of just about any type, until the crew gets to level 4. I play somewhat more conservatively while grinding because Fyodor isn't great at anything except that XP boost. I really only use Ophelia in vehicles that are basically fragile and lack camo to the point that Erin can't help, or in brawlers like Terminators that can accidentally find themselves surrounded and overwhelmed. Both sets tend to also be vehicles that do crap tons of damage, so the reason I use her is so that when I'm blasting away and suddenly get spotted and insta-erased by a massive volley of bot return fire, I at least have a chance to hit 'g' and '8' to smoke and repair.

In addition to what Komitadjie said, you also have to factor in "early release" vehicles that are straight-up OPAF but get nerfed later. Object 490, CATTB, I'm lookin' at you. People will play the crap out of those while they're OPAF but they less once they've been "balanced" which to me could distort your results. You also have people like me who simply play Premium vehicles as often as possible for the extra credits. Unless I'm grinding something, I specifically play Premiums whether or not they're better so that I can continue to build up my credit stockpile. I happen to be above average in PvE (which doesn't affect your GLOPS stats of course, but could affect PvE stats) so me in a Premium is a significant boost to a team that has little to do with the Premium itself.

At last in PvE (which is all that I play, there's only a brief window where AP is better than HEAT, and that's roughly through the mid tiers. By Tier 10 for sure, and arguably Tier 8 or 9, HEAT is once again superior in general because the shells are vastly improved over the low-tier shells. That said, it's still a good idea to carry a few rounds of AP for those situations where HEAT just isn't going to work. I typically carry 8-12 depending on the tank, which is sufficient for both AP and leaving enough HEAT in your bin, especially now that 'Q' gives you a free full reload. Generally speaking, if you're already loaded and need to switch it's probably better to pre-select AP and then just fire whatever's loaded. That will also get you in the habit of paying closer attention to everything on the field so that as you start to run out of HEAT-able targets, you can swap to AP naturally without having to do an actual ammo swap.

Insta drop? Don't mean pathetically small chance for an insta drop? If it goes like last time, you'll need around 50 crates (plus the 5 bonus crates that gives you) to get a Hunter. Some have already reported lower totals (I've seen as low as 30) but of course others have needed more. Last time the bell curve seemed to peak between 40 and 60. I needed 48 (but of course had already purchased 50 because they come in 10-packs). 50 crates is 62,500 coins, which is 15+ ranks. I just hit rank 30 and got the Pimpdad... once I get to rank 36 to complete the camo set I stop spending coins and see how things develop by the end of the BP. My goal is rank 39 (for the 30M credits) and the Hunter, but if I can't quite eek that out I'll get the Type 10 instead.

We're almost to the point where spotting itself is useless in terms of rewards. I routinely track targets that I want to destroy, and that immediately overrides any spotting that's taking place. And I can track/destroy targets faster than AFVs can designate targets, so I end up with the bulk of the spotting damage in these kinds of matches. Don't get me wrong, spotting is still necessary so that you can see your targets, it's just not a valuable reward mechanism. And if I'm in an MBT, I'm tough enough to move forward to where I can spot targets myself and don't need an AFV to do it for me. I don't think that AFVs should have dramatically greater spotting range than MBTs. Greater, sure, but not 200m greater like on the AS21. AFVs generally don't need that much spotting range because what they have instead is camouflage. An AFV should be able to be near a friendly MBT to provide spotting for it while remaining hidden itself. What I'd like to see - and will probably never be done - is a rock-paper-scissors style spotting engine that gives vision roles to vehicle classes. AFVs should be best at spotting MBTs and TDs because that's kind of their job. LTs are supposed to counter AFVs, so they should be particularly good at spotting AFVs. SPGs should be visible to everyone and should spot nothing - they're supposed to rely on teammates for protection and spotting. MBTs should be better at spotting vehicles firing at them so that they can return fire. TDs are supposed to be able to fire stealthily, so they should be able to counter/avoid the MBT ability to spot incoming fire. Things like that. I think something like this (refined as necessary) would dramatically improve the role distinctions between the vehicle classes.

Douglas is available from the Tier 10 M48 GAU-8 BRRRRT! of death. (Oscar Faraday's vehicles.) If you're just starting out, you can have as many commanders as you want at any level up to level 10. To get beyond level 10, you must have a commander at each preceding level (stopping at level 10). So to get a commander to level 11, you need another commander at level 10. To get a commander to level 12, you need two more commanders, one at level 11 and one at level 10. To get a commander to level 15, you need 1 commander at each level 14, 13, 12, 11, 10. Yes, you need 6 total commanders to get one of them to level 15. Once you have 2 commanders at level 15 (which only requires 7 total commanders because the "placeholder" commanders can be the same as the ones you used for your first level 15 commander), this restriction disappears and you can have as many commanders as you want at any level.

Thanks for pointing me to that thread. The thing is, I'm not sure that "more damage with the AP" is actually useful. The PELE that both vehicles have normally does 38-40 damage for me when firing at something with soft armor, which is about what you'd expect from the Hunter's AP. So except for those in-between cases where the AP's 192mm pen is enough to pen but the PELE's 120mm pen is not (and thus reduces the damage of the PELE), you're going to want to be firing PELE all the time. Which makes the AP "upgrade" not that significant. Your NERA thread is also useful to the debate, because that should mean that the Hunter is basically immune to autocannons until the NERA is destroyed by something bigger. I had been worried that its armor was going to truly suck in PvE, but if it's at least temporarily immune to ACs then that's very useful. In the end, I'm still looking forward to the Hunter because I prefer to play Premium vehicles for the credits boost. As long as the Hunter's overall performance is reasonably close to the AS21's, I'll happily play it. I used to play my old Terminator Reaper all the time instead of the Ramka-99 simply because it was close enough and I wanted the extra credits. (Then I got the 2017 which is a Tier 9 masquerading at Tier 8.) So I'll probably switch to the Hunter regardless as long as the armor doesn't truly suck.

I clearly still don't understand how this works, because based on everything said above this mission shouldn't be possible. As you can see from the first screenshot, were 37 total enemy vehicles in the match. And as you can see from the second screenshot, I got 19 Eliminations. According to everything that's been said in the thread above, an Elimination and an Assist can't happen against the same enemy vehicle, which means that there are only 37 (total enemies) - 19 (my Eliminations) = 18 possible Assists available in this mission. Yet there were 27. I've seen this numerous times now, but it's most obvious in a crazy mission like this one. Based on what I remember from the mission, I think it's entirely possible that I solo killed 10 enemies. Meaning that no one else did any damage to those 10 vehicles at all. If that's the case, then perhaps an Assist is always awarded unless there's a solo kill? I.e. as long as at least 2 people contribute to destroying a vehicle, someone will be awarded an Assist? Or to put it a 3rd way, you get an Assist if you don't get the kill but do the most damage to a vehicle not counting the player who got the kill.

I don't even use the missiles on the AS21 because the AC/PELE is so good. I understand that the Hunter has better missiles and I fully intend to use them, but my understanding is that the Hunter needs those missiles to keep up with the AS21's dpm. In part because it only has half the ammo of the AS21 and so you can't just use its AC constantly for the entire match. I haven't seen the Hunter's stats yet so can't compare the two directly. If it can actually out-damage the AS21 and it has better camo, then it's going to be completely broken in PvE. Because the AS21 already is, it's just that most people don't seem to realize how strong it is. It's a support-fire dream, so if you know the maps from that point of view you can utterly dominate. If you're a brawler... yeah maybe it's not god tier, but it's close.

AS21 is OPAF in PvE. It's nearly T-15 levels of domination if you know how to use it correctly, and it doesn't even need the mortar teams to be that OP. I can see how it might be just fine in PvP, or possibly even in GLOPS, but it's crazy good in PvE. The damage combined with good camo is among the best - if not THE best - in the game.

Doesn't seemed to have worked out all that well for them...

I'm happy to help on the forums or on Discord, but when I'm playing the game I'm playing to have fun. That's my time, and as others have already expressed above most people who say they want to learn really don't. It's tiring and taxing and it sucks the joy out of playing the game. I don't even platoon much anymore because most other people don't seem to care about tactics (at least not in PvE). They just want to rush in, get their damage and kills, and then move on to the next game. The bots always go to the same place(s) - why not take up advantageous positions and let the bots come to you? Why rush forward to their spawn points, disrupting everything and causing chaos in the process? Oh right... MUH KILLZ!!!

Yeah it looks like it might be fixed finally. I got backed into a bad spot today and had to rely on smoke to survive, and it worked like it should. Pretty much the instant that I popped smoke the bots turned to shoot at someone else, and they didn't instantly turn back to me after 10 seconds either. The smoke had broken their interest in me, and as long as I didn't do anything to attract attention and there were still others around to hold their attention, I was able to just sit there hiding in my corner. I had to pop smoke a second time when a new bot in the distance came into range and fixated on me, but that also had the desired effect and my teammates eventually cleared the area enough for me to escape.

Gen Con is in Indianapolis (previously Milwaukee, and before that Lake Geneva, WI which is where it got its name)... I think Dragon Con is in Atlanta? The pods have always been pretty finicky. We had them in Seattle at the Wizards of the Coast Game Center in the late 1990s and they were constantly repairing one thing or another.

From waaay back (like when we had a forum) so my memory may be slightly foggy... but as I recall SS told us that bot missiles are self-piloted. Meaning that it's more than fire-and-forget in that there's a tiny little missile AI that drives the missile after it has been fired. Back in those days, missiles completely ignored smoke because smoke wasn't specifically coded to affect those little AI missile pilots. This was acknowledged as a bug and was fixed. Unfortunately the fix made smoke effectively a wall against missiles. You popped smoke and all missiles that were on a path to go through the smoke just instantly crashed and burned. (And IIRC it worked both ways - you could kill your own missile if you fired and popped smoke too quickly. Also IIRC they quickly patched smoke so that it wasn't a missile wall for players, only bots.) It made smoke way too powerful, especially in PvP, so they had to fix it again. THAT fix actually worked pretty well, and is what you most likely remember missiles working like. You could still guide a missile by hand if you thought you knew where the target was through the smoke, but bot missiles simply flew straight after the smoke was popped. Which was good - it meant you couldn't just pop smoke and be immune - but it also meant that bots weren't the godlike missile terrors that they were before. (I mean, they still are, but if you never experienced the old missiles that flew themselves you should be happy.) Now it seems that they've broken them again because they're clearly steering even after smoke has been deployed.

Yeah mine is offering to sell me a Tier 4 Ontos for $8.50 and claiming that it's 50% off. Um... no... Tier 4 vehicles should be $5 to start with...

I will spare you the deep dive into my past history on the design/development side with the BattleTech and MechWarrior franchises, and instead simply welcome you to Armored Labs! Though I do have to mention the Virtual World pods... if you enjoyed MW4 you should really experience it in a full cockpit some time. 7 screens, 60+ buttons, joystick, throttle, foot pedals... it's a pretty immersive sim. They bring ~20 of them to Gen Con every year, but unfortunately Gen Con has been cancelled this year due to the pandemic. There are also a few sites around the country that keep the pods going, but they're few and far between.

Ah, thanks for merging. I don't supposed we could get the title of this thread changed to something useful? Makes it hard to find a thread about the K2 when the subject says nothing about the K2.

I finally finished my AS21 grind and purchased the K2. As I recall, there is one particular configuration of upgrades that clearly superior to all of the others. Someone made a spreadsheet to figure it out, but I can't find it for some reason. Anyone have it handy, or just remember the conclusion? If it matters, I only play PvE so that's what I'm looking for. A PvE config.

The Terminator line* needs an autocannon damage nerf across the board. For some inexplicable reason that is clearly not Russian bias all of the Terminator series ACs do roughly double the amount of damage per shell that they should be doing. They need to go back to when damage was (allegedly) standardized by caliber and tier, and then balance using rate of fire, penetration, and only minor tweaks to damage. And while they're at it, they should bump the 2017 to Tier 9 where it should have been in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love wreaking havoc in PvE with my Terminators, especially the 2017 in Spec Ops. But they're OPAF and it's due to the insane damage that the autocannons pump out. *Yeah, yeah, technically the T-15 isn't a Terminator. Whatever. For all intents and purposes it is in AW.

This is precisely why I'm not even going to bother trying to get it. I'll spend my BC on crates to get the Hunter instead because I feel pretty certain that the Type 10 is going to get nerfed and don't want to get suckered by that again. I went ahead and got the CATTB after it was nerfed the first time because I'd already picked up the BroSAT and it sucked (and still does). The CATTB was still appealing after the first nerf, and honestly it's still good in PvE even after the second nerf. But I'm worried that the Type 10 isn't OP enough to survive a first nerf, because you know My.com will over-do it when something's only a little too OP.