Quantum_Ranger

That was the point - having a playthrough would allow you to insta-queue into the next mission without having to sit one out... And yes, @Haswell is god. QR

Special abilities: Finding stacks of 500 gold coins and infiltrating crates.

I respectfully disagree, after playing several matches in M113 ACAV with MM teaming me with *two* Yorks. I fought for the scraps, but the MBTs might as well take a nice Sunday drive around the battlefield sniping secondaries. QR

At least on this one we know where to aim to start a fire, even if they delete the fuel tank. Hope the articulation is flexible enough to prevent getting stuck inside the refineries.... otherwise we will need tank recovery vehicles as a new class. QR Plus active radar will degrade its camo rating. Hard to believe it will survive at Tier 8. Might be an OK Tier 6/7 if the reload times are like the Stalker. QR

Don't forget the AMX-DCA as another dakka wannabe, in the right hands. QR

A PvE playthrough might be interesting - chain a series of PVE missions together so you play through all the maps, instead of being stuck in the rotation getting funneled into the same 3-4 maps in a session. QR

Depends on the guidance system and agility. The RL Igla has infrared homing and improved guidance over the Strela, with automatic lead calculation. A small warhead that hits the target is more effective than a large one that misses. Could be useful against the gunships and UAVs in GLOPs for example.... and if the Shilka gets these, why can't we have them on the Stalker (which in RL has SA-18 Igla as its second launcher, but this was not implemented in AW)?

Not sure how Haswell and Dima are doing, but I'm now 6 months in and finally unlocked T9. Economics are stabilized... Finishing enough contract points to earn vehicles, and this provides some additional credit income. Although I am not Bill Gates, there are enough credits to purchase what I want, when I want, especially at the middle tiers... now choices of vehicles and upgrades are determined by playstyle and features, and less by what I can afford. So now I think it will be the social element that will keep me interested through the long grinds... but the pressure to grind progression is also a bit less because I have some steady income and entertainment from the prem vehicles. DVC, QR

Thanks to everyone here - finally finished T8 M1A2 Abrams grind after 322 missions. I must say, after the 0.33 rebalance and retrofits for V2 breech and vision the M1A2 is a pretty reliable machine. It's finally capable of doing things that I want it to do (contract kills/damage/fires), and it even earns a blue star every now and then. With 0.34 on the horizon, I might hold off on the T9 purchase while I round out the Israeli line. Looking at the stock stats for the T9 MBTs is depressing because it looks like a big step backwards before I go forwards. Right now Abrams is looking better than Leo, but I suppose that could change again depending on the whims of the devs. DVC, QR

Thanks for the tips - mission accomplished! Looks like a long grind through the Sprut, but leads to Tier 10 eventually. QR

This is helpful. I was tempted to quit grinding LAV-600 because I thought MGS-1128 was a dead end. QR

Maybe a better idea for next time (if there is one) is to let folks start somewhere in the middle of the series (or randomly start them on Ch1 somewhere) and go all the way around if they want. Kind of like a shotgun start golf tournament. That way if a group starts on CC, and 1 person drops after the last chapter, a player could fill in the hole for starting BSI... etc etc. I had to be time efficient this past weekend, so just stuck to PvE to get the contract missions done. The SO playfest looked like a cool idea, just didn't have the time to sink into it. QR

If the spirit behind 0.33 (and 0.34) is to make the game more fair and balanced, removing lootboxes is also a step in the correct direction. That way, everyone pays the same price for the same reward. I think a key frustration with the lootboxes is that someone might spend $$$$ for the same reward that another (more fortunate) player might spend $$ or $ for. And it's OK to have cheeses or discounts, as long as folks have an equal opportunity to have them. DVC, QR

Some reactions: 1. As a newer player who started during Sprithaven, how long did seasons last previously? Will the Spirithaven missions get added to the weekend rotation of PVE maps? 2. When "every vehicle becomes irreplaceable" , will we still get respawns in PvE??? And will the "Q" key still give us a reload if every round of ammo counts? 3. Likewise, if a player goes AFK or gets blown up, is the whole mission doomed? I think this is what distinguishes Heroics from non-heroic SpecOps... might be hard for casual players. 4. If the Apocalypse comes in late November, it means we might have about a month to finish the Spirithaven contracts. This might influence how much gold one might want to put towards the next crate to finish it (more gold if you are close, no gold if you are far away from finishing). 5. For those of us with limited awareness of global events, Russia Unity Day = ~4 November, Polish Independence day = ~11 November, Black Friday (after US Thanksgiving) = 27 November. 6. I hope new BP doesn't require BP tanks to complete BP missions. 7. Update 0.34... I wonder if this will bring a low-tier rebalance... hmmm. Definitely interested to see how all of this becomes manifest. QR

1. Sorry you aren't getting much opportunity to play. It's fun (and inspiring) to see you in game. 2. Yes, I think most of the frustration around lootboxes is because AW finally created a lootbox prize vehicle actually worth having. Far too many recent vehicles are like the T8 Stalker, which maybe would have been a good T9 if they added armor | beefed up AC | added 2nd launcher, but unfortunately got pre-released nerfed into meh status. 3. For me, the APS is a huge benefit in addition to the ERA, especially with all the ATGM spam that we have in 0.33. I am definitely living longer with it. 4. There is still a power gap from T9 to T10, so some of these properties do help when engaging higher tier opponents. DVC, QR

This is helpful - gotta figure out what to do with my first Tier 9 token as a next step from M1A2 Abrams... so it looks like T9 Abrams is better than Leo now?

OK, now that I have ZTQ-15 and Discord, I am toying with heroics but have no clue about what the real prerequisites are to be useful and not a drag. I am guessing I need some retrofits - probably vision/camo/breech. And some experimental rebuild kits! @Baron_Georg - Any experience with the Leo here? Am thinking it might be the next progression vehicle after I finish the M1A2 Abrams (now at 82%). QR

I happened to unlock the Raid after polishing off the 10 contract missions (which I would have done anyway) and the Raid missions are totally out of my league. I just have barely enough time to get the daily Eastern contracts done.... and I usually die at least once per PVE mission. I understand that the devs need some return on investment for the event - the BP model where the missions are doable and you pay in to advance farther is probably better than this Raid model where the missions are impracticable so a lot of folks won't even begin trying. Haswell was right... I'll be ignoring this one. It was enough fun just unlocking the map to see what the fuss was about. QR

OK, just finished getting the T8 Stalker from the second Eastern Contract.... so now there's the mystery crate that follows. Realistically, what do these contain? I'm hoping it's not just another rental tank... QR

I think it would have been better if they had given us the second launcher, or beefed up the autocannon a bit. Definitely in the "casual-fun-to-play" category, but will have to figure out best map locations for it. Mobility seems good for driving around to pick off secondaries. QR

So I'm browsing my inventory looking for a use for the 1-day rental tanks left over from the anniversary event. I have three 1-day AT10 rentals, among many others. I was thinking about using them to finish unlocking the NM142 (farm 800k PVE damage with ATGM in T7+ TD). I'm already about 70% of the way there from previous rental TDs, so I'm looking at farming ~250k more ATGM damage somehow. I'm hoping that using a T10 will be a little less irksome if damage scales with tier. Any advice as to how to play the AT-10? It sounds like I need to stay back since it's a missile boat, but then I hear the ATGMs are slow with a long time-of-flight, which makes fighting from a distance more challenging. Also, what's the best way to beat APS at this level? And of course the result of this grind is another grind - NM142 to Sprut etc. Any suggestions as to what to buff on the NM142? Is unlocking and upgrading Rashid worth it for all this ATGM spam, or will Sabrina do? Thanks in advance for advice. DVC, QR

Yes, I was opening special crates every time I hit 10 special crate parts... most of the special crates were yielding 5 parts, which made me feel a bit better about my accumulating inventory of rental tanks. Then on the last set, there was a drop of 10 extra regular crates instead of the special crate part... this gave me a wave of nausea, as I knew this meant I would be unable to complete the last special crate, and my fate hinged on the extra 10 crates.... with the remaining special crate parts being totally useless. Hit 99 parts with two unopened crates left. I've never played scratch-off lottery tickets, but this must be close to how it feels.... an odd blend of suspense and anticipation of despair. Received the final part and completed the ZTQ-15 on the penultimate crate (#59/60 regular + 4 special crates). Whew! Took it for a test drive and even with a level 1 crew, it performs nicely. I might keep the last unopened ZTQ-15 crate in my inventory as a souvenir of the whole experience. QR

Well, since rental tank crates contain a special crate parts, they do essentially contain about 0.33 of a ZTQ-15 part.... so maybe it's a "ZTQ-15 flavored crate."

Opened the second set of 10 ZTQ-15 crates, for a total of 15 parts and some 1-day rental tanks. Assembled a special crate for an additional 3 parts. As expected, it's all going to come down to the wire with the last set of 35 crates. Hey @Katsumoto, any advice as to what to do with unused parts? It looks like the blueprints and crates are sell-able.... do the crates have more value if unopened? At the current rate of 1-day rental tanks, I am thinking about cracking open the crates for the rental tanks (to add to reserve fleet in the hopes that someday will get the permanent prem tank to redeem the rentals for gold) and selling off excess parts. QR

I would even by happy with "fire with what your weapon will damage." At upper tier where there is a lot of ERA, my infantry will just keep plinking away at an MBT they can't pen, until somebody else destroys it so they can acquire a new target. Sigh. The enemy bots will priority aim at places where they will deal damage, so infantry should be able to prioritize the same way. QR Ooooh, loved that game. Wish I could get it working again in DOSBox. And yes, in addition to vehicles it had a pretty good infantry model (infantry could climb buildings to see farther, officers had binoculars, medics could heal injured men, infantry could fight infantry, mount/dismount from trucks, capture field guns and MGs). All pretty autonomously.