BumbaX

@TeyKey1 while I share almost the same feeling about PvE, and even if I did not have try SH after the latest changes I disagree with you about them. I also have gone trough SH with randoms very often and, if going in a platoon with my Battalion there is no problem at all, we get a win rate very close to 100%, with randoms the win rate was sometimes way too low. Having been in platoon with you and having seen your videos I know that you, as player, are top tier, while I don't share the same quality, I am more in some medium one, medium high or medium low I can not tell it for sure, and this can be the reason for our different opinions. It is possible that you, and the few other top tier players, can make the difference and carry a SH operation with randoms getting a win rate that is not an automatic win, but is also not a frustrating streak of losses, for me going alone, at least in the 3rd and 4th Spes OP, boils to loose until I am finally in a party with at least 2 other over the average players and 2 not completely not useful ones. Now if the Spec Ops should be by design something that is possible to beat only in platoon or, for not unicorns, when finally, after trying maybe for 2 hours, you finally find a party with other players that know what to do and have the skill to do it, thing that is over the average PvE population, or something that is possible also with randoms for a good, but not top tier, player is something that can be debated. And it is something that is also very related to the regular PvE as if the quality of some PvE players is so low is also because of choices made by the developers. They have improved something, they are slowly starting to give us bots with at least a little intelligence in their AI scripts, instead of seeing lemming trains of bots rushing to the caps and spamming AGTM like in the past now we see some bot using actively the dead tanks as protection. But still the regular PvE is too predictable and easy, maps that compel to use some brain and have some tactic like the old Snake Bite or Tiger claw have been removed or changed in an easier and more predictable way, there is little effort in making the bots less predictable, as we have different cap points in Frostbite we could have different spawn points in almost every PvE mission so the party should adapt to what the bots do that particular run instead making the mission less predictable and boring. The win rate would probably drop, but the rewards can be increased to balance it, and having an easy mode, that at least at high tiers is very seldom played, would finally have a sense, who wants to win easy could use it and who wants at least some challenge in PvE could use the hardest one. Those changes would compel us as players to improve, not the single, but the average level, as too point and click and predictable missions encourage not improving at all, as require only to learn some proved tactics for every mission and repeat them over and over. Then, with a PvE population that has improved, because the regular missions are designed to be less predictable as possible, I am completely fine with Spec Ops that are really hard to beat with randoms, but not now as now we don't have that kind of average populations, we have a lot of players that do 10K dmg at T10 with their MBT in a +30 bots mission, that go TD mode with their arty and die in the first 2 minutes, that stay in the back with their Sphinx, not spotting and doing few and so on. The level of difficulty of the whole PvE should be rised, not spamming more bots or AGTM vehicles, but making the bots less predictable, but until it has been done, if ever will be done, probably to tone down a little the Spec Ops was needed as not all the players are in Battalions, not all the players can or want to do them in platoon and very few players are good enough to carry in them, at least the T9-10 ones, for the T8 or less ones i don't see problems in doing it.

Actually I liked Tiger Claw, it was a map where the players had to actually use at least part of their brains, that could be done with different approaches, so not so linear and boring as some of the other maps are (Ricochet anyone? only a possible route there, almost all the times the same story). The fact that the developers don't consider it a good map, for the reason that many PvE players refuse to use their brains, and the developers baby sit them giving them maps where you can find a way to go and repeat them over and over with a good win rate, does not make me exactly happy. I really feel that PvE can become more challenging, not in the way of having tons of spitfires spam their missiles with god like precision at your weak spots, and if the difficulty rises and so the win rate drops rising the rewards can be the solution. I liked Tiger Claw, I liked the old Snake Bite and I like all the maps where at least a little strategy, skill and coordination are needed to prevail, but if the goal of the devs is to give us easy, linear and boring PvE maps I suppose that I have to accept it, and any way there are the Spec Ops and 2 PvP modes to play when I get bored to play regular PvE missions and I have 10 tiers to chose, so when i get bored probably the main problem is inside me, not outside me.

I suppose the introduction of the smoke and phosphor rounds.

There are maps, like Perseus, but also others, that are perfect for the sneaky spotters, and if you get often the blue star there (both optics and Erin or eventually Sabrina are needed, maybe also the camo paint) and you can get 50% of the times the star with a MBT you are in good shape. To have ramka or T15 players, and not only them by the way, that are very good players and often steal you the star is part of the game and is fair if you are only average or something better then average. By the way we played at least a couple of times in the same missions with randoms, I don't know if you noticed it, and so I have at least a clue of how well you play, but my evaluation about you will not be disclosed here, as this is nor a praise nor a shame thread... let's say only that you have the potential to figure out how to get the stars often, you are far from be hopeless in it, but I am aware of why they don't come to you naturally so often. Anyway an other very good map to get stars with the Chally is Starry Night, same map of Harbinger, but starting from south. On the first cap you have to defend the town and the Chally should do it well farming some damage, then the second cap is tricky, but if you drive straight and fast behind the 2 houses right at the south of the cap and you ram them their ruins will cover your LFP and being few meters from the cap you will spot every tank there and with view retro also the ones that join to the party later, you can farm a ton of spotting damage there, then you have to drive to the 3rd cap and a MBT can do well there if you are careful to not be flanked or shot in the back by the tanks approaching from the south. The tremendous spotting damage (even if is likely that your gun will be disabled a lot there) on the second cap and doing well in the 1rst and 3rd one are very often worth a star, even if there is the very good Ramka player that does 20k more damage then you. An other way you can try is playing at low tiers and equipping strong tanks with sight retros. The reason is that most of the players at those tiers don't spend 1.2 or 2.4M credits for retros so, better if also the commander has some view range bonus, you can see 30-40m further then your team mates while moving and 100-110m if you are stationary. Both with a sneaky vehicle with camo and a well armored MBT this can give you a true advantage, and you count on the fact that at low tiers there are more not experienced players and their tanks are probably not full upgraded and equipped with retros, as they are grinding them and at the beginning of the grind credits are the problem. Try to avoid to be matched with T5 to avoid the daka daka machines, York, AMX-13 AC VBL, T3 should be perfect as you are in platoon with T5 only few times. Or take the AMX-13, if you have it, equip it with view retros and try to do better then the Yorks with your very good ac and the better view range from the retros, dmg and spotting dmg can do the trick unless you find a very good York driver.

@Baron_Georg which T9 do you have? T10 are better for Heroic, no doubt about it, but there are T9 that can anyway be very useful in some roles, as an example in the mission were you have to shot down the plane one of the best ways is to use 2 well armored MBTs to hold the caps and 3 T15 to take down arty, helicopters and do damage. Then they have to do the bulk of the damage to the plane as the MBTs lack of the dpm to do it, at best can help in it. A Chally 2 can hold the caps, maybe with a triple rebuild kit, if you properly use the terrain features, you don't need an ADTU or a 490, and the Termi can do almost the same function of a T15, while if your T9 is an Hellfire I see much more difficult to be useful in that mission. The same is true for almost all the other missions, and I think that with a well coordinated platoon to have a T9 is not a problem at all, while a platoon that lacks of a plan will fail many times even with the strongest T10. I am not an Heroic specialist, usually I do what the platoon strategist tells me to do, but I had played with at least 3, maybe 4 different kind of platoons that used different strategies, with my former Battalion, my present one and with 2 different sets of friends that invited me as needed the 5th in their already well coordinated platoons. And I am glad to help, I will look at the ArmoredLabs discord channel more often in the future, even if I have a crap internet connection and having Team Speak, for the vocal chat of my Battlalion, Discord, to check if someone needs help for Heroics and the game running all at once can cause to me ping problems, that some evenings I even have running only the game. Or feel free to ask me for friendship in the game, my name is the same as here, B and the final X capital letters, so you can open a chat with me directly in the game, if I am not on Discord. For the " (badly I might add) " part let's see, a T9, at least some T9, is not an obstacle, but you need to have a minimum level of efficiency as player to not be completely carried by the team, and for all but the strongest teams it is not easy to carry in 4 babysitting the 5th, but as long as there is someone that knows what to do and has a plan you have to be really under average to not be capable to help in the role you are asked to cover. Maybe it can mean some more failures until you find out how to do, but then to be unicorns is not needed at all to play Heroics.

So I have underestimated the rewards as in the Heroics every party member should get the same reward as the xp is the same for everybody and killing all the enemies or leaving some of them alive should not do a big difference. But wait, you are talking of T10 premium tank, I have only 1 of them, and yes it can make a big difference, I would say more then a single boost and a platinum insigna. Also I when I play my CATTB get a lot of credits, and I suppose that with premium tank, 2 boosts and a platinum insigna it can be even much more as more bonuses you stack more each bonus becomes good.

Harbinger is the one where you spawn in the NW corner and you have to cap and then defend the town in the middle of the map, a big village that has a round square in the middle. Chally 1 is a strong tank and should do well in that mission and spot easily if you have view retros, watch out because there are enemies between you and the town, but others will show up from the NE and from south, crossing the river, so you can be flanked by 2 sides as you fight the ones in the middle. So at the beginning don't push too hard, use the left side of the little hill you find right after the bridge and try to have your LFP covered by the terrain, from there you can spot the enemies with good sight range from the retros, and be careful when the ones coming from NE spawn, use that little hill to cover you from the ones in the middle and focus on the ones that want to flank you. If you are the only MBT going there, as some MBT drivers are too scared and prefer to snipe from the spawn point, or even if there are other MBTs with you, as they probably don't have sight retros on their tanks, you should farm a lot of spotting damage at the beginning and also when you reach the town, as your snipers from beyond the river can fire at them (let them reach the square and engage them when your allies can shot at them. It is not a super easy map for MBT, but this is the reason why learning how to play it can be very rewarding as you can spot a lot. You have to play some missions any way as waiting for a complete rotation takes a long time and a mission is not in the rotation every day. An other mission where is easy to get stars is Perseus, as long as you use a tank with good camo and dpm, view retros and Erin as commander, there you have to defend 3 caps, and knowing where to go you can do both a lot of damage and spotting, tanks like the Spinx, the Griffin or at lower tier the BMP and BMD series are perfect for it, with the Griffin when I was grinding it I was getting like 30k dmg and 20k spotting dmg on average there, that for a T8 is more then enough to get the star almost every time. But as I don't know the tanks you own and, even more important, your play style, I can suggest you only tactics that work for me, that am more a sneaky spotter little tank player then a well armored MBT one, maybe for you is the opposite. About the Wiesel i would say that most of the missile based tanks are not perfect to get blue stars, they have camo, but the reload time don't allow for the dpm that the AC tanks have and if you are not very good at it is difficult to hit the enemies if are moving, specially the fast ones. Is perfectly possible to get stars with them, but I would say that with a BMP or Bradley, that can use the AC while you wait to reload the missiles, is much easier. The 2 only exceptions imo are the premium Striker from the last Battle Path and maybe the hellfire, they can spot quite well and have many missiles, the Striker also the rockets that can use to kill tanks with low hp avoiding to waste a missile or to do damage as the AGTMs reload. And obviously in some missions the best thing to do is to take a Ramka or T15 and hope to be the best player if other ones are there, those are tanks that can do incredibly high damage and also take some beating, also the Marder and the AS21 are tanks that can do very well, the AS21, with the double mortar, in some missions can give you easily 6K more damage from the infantry, even if my personal record is about 17K damage with the BMP AT squad, but it was a very lucky mission that time.

It seems that even the latest missions should not be a problem if rigged with a full platoon. For the assist ones probably taking a well armored MBT, ADTU or 490, and going forward to spot while your team mates farm the damage and when it is not possible focusing on keeping the enemies tracked I don't see problem. Better if you equip the tank with both the view retros and use a commander like Douglas that brings further view range and your mates remove such retros if they have them normally mounted. If needed they can even blind themselves using smoke... Battle Path missions that are so much more easy if rigged with a full platoon are probably a wrong choice, if to destroy 7 bots in PvE going alone is not every time possible even in a T15, at least you have to probably try it some times if you are not lucky, there is no problem at all with a platoon, as long as your mates agree to prepare for you the bots and leave you the kills. But I have to be honest, as I personally hate to grind forever I am quite happy to see missions that can be easily done in a fast way with a good platoon.

I assume that the results you show are with 2 stacked credit boosters and the better insigna, I don't spend my few gold to place a booster in the slot that is not free as at those tiers you actually have a surplus of credits and even with a single booster and insigna it is more then enough rewarding. To need credits is more an issue of the beginning or mid grind, by the way how is Dima going, are you still playing him? Heroic is also an incredibly fast way to grind commanders, using a XP booster and stacking XP and commander XP insigna you can probably get more then a million XP for a commander each week, if you constantly play Heroic, and this is also very interesting as to grind commanders is a pain much more then to earn credits at those high tiers, where even playing PvE regular missions and some GLOPS it is possible to almost earn the 5M needed each day to buy the battalion mission. Having played Heroic both with my Battalion and with mixed platoons, friends coming from different Battalions, but valuable ones, not the average randoms you find in a regular PvE mission, I would say that the team coordination plays a very important role, there are different strategies, some teams deal with the arty in the 1rst mission using arty, other use T15 or Sphinx to blind shot it and so on. With a well coordinated team it is much easier to play the heroics never loosing a game or loosing very few, with a team not used to play them together I seem to get a much lower win rate even if the level of skill of the players is similar, unless there is a person that acts as leader and gives precise instructions to any one about the role he has to cover in each phase. And as those are missions that can not be carried by 1 or 2 strong players, they need coordination, it seems very logical.

Also, as I told, there is no way to have the stars be on the barrel on every tank editing a camo and no way to have the decals show up on the barrel. I am fine if a player can chose how many circles to have on his barrel as the game grants, if we want, anonymity, we are free to show our stats to all the players, only to the Battalion mates or to make them private, and an further on the mod would only be visible by us, so if a player wants to see a lot of circles on his barrel even if sucks why not? Or he can manually decide how many circles he deserves, any way he will be the only one to see them...

Keep in mind that the mods are on the client side, not on the server one, so adding stars on the barrel based on your statistics will be visible only by you, while the other players will see your tank as not modded and I doubt that it is possible to implement a function like adding the stars or circles right on the barrel, it is possible to edit a camo or a decal, so probably you can edit a decal to display the stars, but in the usual place that decal shows up in every tank, and not on the barrel, and any way you will be the only one that sees them, the other players will see the usual form of that particular decal.

Fixed an issue where the Matchmaker would assemble teams consisting solely of unarmored vehicles I am not sure to like this change, even if with randoms and in some maps it meant a lower win rate, but I don't expect to have a very high win rate in PvE, if it happens IMO there is probably something wrong, and actually the fact that most of the players play only the higher difficulty setting is a clue that it, or a little less difficult as it, should be the easier setting, while the hard one should be IMO more challenging, at least in a clever way, not giving super powers to the bots, but making them smarter. Anyway I had fun when I found me in some missions like Riding Party, Harbinger and Ghost Hunter with no MBT, both in platoon and with randoms. With randoms it meant to loose more often, but at least it meant to play using the brain and not only clicking the left mouse button... I will miss those low win rate, but fun to play maps without MBTs in the party.

Firestarter: for me the recipe is ATDU, PISH and Sabrina, even if some others have good result with Wilk, Pele and the same commander and I can also do well with every high alpha MBT and Sanna, that I have optimized for setting fires, even if he can also be configured as a strong spotter for TD. But ATDU and PISH seems to work the best for me, i often get 8-9 fires in a single mission even if at now I never completed it in a single match, I always have to play a second one even if the combined result is 16-18 fires that is over killing. Or if I plan to play more missions any way I just play whatever I want as with only 1 or 2 fires to start I will surely get them without even caring of it. Anyway a big alpha seems to me the key start fires easily, probably is more important then the ammo type, as with tanks with good dpm, but low alpha like the Merkava or the K2 even if you aim at the correct spot you hit the component without damaging it or you damage it in a situation where with a bigger alpha you would have started a fire or explosion with a single shot. And as it is very true if you try to ammorack a T15 I am not happy when I have to face them with those low alpha MBTs, while with some ADTU, T4 or XM1A3 i immediately go for their ammo rack and in one or 2 shots i get the fire or the explosion.

Sometimes I think that the AI cheats on this regard as I too often see an enemy not moving for many seconds, but as long as I am pre aimed at it with a long reload tank, like Hellfire or Vbl, he moves right a split second after my reload has ended, the same seems to happen while using MBTs and HEAT, it is like that the AI is checking that you are aiming that tank and order it to move, rotating, as soon as you are ready to fire. I am not 100% sure that it is happening, but I saw it too many times to think that is only a coincidence. And this can be relevant also for those missions, better to not pre aim as you reload and wait a little before you have reloaded. Very good suggestions, this is what I try to do, even if I probably prefer to use the Leclerc T4 as its AP is strong and the reload is faster, it is a little harder to not get killed in it as it has not the best armor, but in a map with enough bots and eventually use a triple healing kit or respawning it can be active enough time to do the task. Also I prefer AP, as even if HEATH can do damage while not penetrating sometimes it seems to don't do damage at all, even if the target is not moving and in some cases you aim at a completely green side, 90° so no ricochet is possible, with the aiming circle completely inside the profile of the tank. It does not happens often, but often enough to cause problems in those 2 missions as getting a hit with 0 damage is failing them. Both the missions are much easier if done in a full platoon with vocal chat, then the one that requires assists of kills is surprisingly easy and can be done in 1 or 2 tries without problem. Your mates have to drive some well armored tank and at least one of them an AC one and you have to use a MBT with fast reload and good penetration and accuracy. The other MBTs tank the enemies and bring down their health to something a little higher then their maximum possible alpha, so they are sure to not kill him, the AC guy/guys then bring the enemy HP under your minimum possible alpha (if you have Cortez, that I don't have, it is even better) and then you get the kill. As soon as you have 20 kills you avoid to fire any more, and is better if they call for the tanks ready to be killed, like:"Bradley on the left ready", so the other ones will not steal the kill making your shot hit the an already killed tank. The fast reload on your side is better then a big alpha as the ones that have to tank must survive and the more efficiently you kill the ready bots the less fire they have to bounce or dodge. I got both the missions also alone and also with tanks like the CATTB (watch to avoid unwanted double tap, fire both the shots when full aim) and the Leo using mostly or only HEAT, but it is very difficult to get them in few tries with randoms, in full platoon is the easy way to go.

@Lenticulas The Sergeant York can farm blue stars with no problem even if is matched with higher tier tanks, unless you find an other York player better then you obviously. I feel guilty when I use it as it is too OP, sometimes i farm more then 50% of the whole party damage and kills even in a T6 party, but if I am in a hurry to get those 10 stars is the way i go. Being premium you farm also some good money, even if you play at medium tier. If you like to get the stars at higher tiers I would say that there is no perfect tank for it, but there are perfect tanks for specific missions. Let's take Harbinger, there is possible to get the star easily with a well armored MBT if you are the one that spots all the tanks for the high dpm tanks camping on the hill, but it is also possible to get it with a GAU on the hill as long as you can spot the enemies coming from the river and do a ton of damge, hopefully also tracking the tanks in the middle so you "steal" assist damage to the MBTs spotting them. In both cases to have the best binoculars and maybe even the upgraded optics is a great help as you spot earlier then the others having more range and with the MBT you also can defend yourself better as you actually spot the tanks firing at you. For the GAU using sabrina is perfect in that mission, some bush camo bonus and improved tracking and engine breaking capability, use the slowest fire setting and short burst so you don't loose too much accuracy and you have an overheated gun much later instead of fire all at once until it is overheated. For some other missions it is better to use a very high damage tank like the T15, for others a MBT with good dpm and mobility is the better chance, and even LT and gun based TD can work very well for some missions, as tanks like the AS21 and T40 can in others, like Onix or Cerberus. The blue star is not only a matter of damage, it is a combination of damage, spots (the first one to see a tank), assist damage (damage done by others to a tank that you see for them, have tracked or designated, does not matter if it was spotted earlier by some one that is no more spotting it) and kills. I don't know in which percentages those factors work, but it is possible even to get blue stars with a tank that has problems to do consistent damage like the Crap Jeep on maps like Cavalry if you, with both the view range retros, the stopped camo one and Erin spot for your party most of the enemies, being really careful to avoid that they don't came too close to you ruining your camo and being behind a bush when the lieutenant shows up other way he will out spot you and then you will last very short, as you spot him pop out smoke and retreat behind a bush spotting him and hoping that your mates help you kill him fast. By the way as the blue star is, or should be, the reward for the better player in the party it is fair if an average player don't get 10 of them in only 10 games, thing that an over the average player picking the right tank for every mission can do, or maybe in 11-12 games as it is always possible to screw something, have something going in an unusual and not predictable way or to find some other one even better then you... I hope it can help you.

@Katsumoto surely they can be compared, you misunderstood me. What I meant to say is that if we do it the American T10 IMO feels much superior compared to the T9 one and the roughly 50% more HEAT alpha damage, and also superior AP alpha, that maybe don't mean a sustained damage so higher in percentage, as also the reload time is increased, but surely mean that you can set enemies on fire or ammo rack them much more easier, in PvE with Sabrina as commander you do it almost always at the first shot with Bradley and very often with T15 and some LT from the front and ATDU turret from the side. This is why for me there is no comparison, I feel that one tier more in the same line brings a tank that is much better, when I use the XM1A3 i constantly do much more damage, and as I was lately grinding both them to unlock the over progression modules I played both at least once every day. I checked now their statistics and in PvE i have roughly 6k more average damage per match. I don't feel the same power ramp going from T9 to T10 with other MBT lines, Armata is better then T90MS, but not so better, Leclerc T4 is a very good tank, but also the T9 is so, is only with the American line that going from T9 to T10 i feel like when a turbo compressor kicks in.

To pay 5M is what I usually do and even if i am playing lately without Premium time and I play seldom the premium tanks i am still gaining credits on average. So there is nothing wrong in doing so, but only if you have high tier tanks and you are done or almost done with the grind, as when you are at the beginning or half way trough the grind you are often short of credits and 5M/day is a lot, I perfectly remember when I had more then one tank or some not essential upgrades unlocked and I did not have the money to buy them. Anyway IMO this is one of the few battalion missions, if not the only one, that can be easily done in 1 day without playing for many hours as long as the player likes to play some GLOPS. I am not a super PvP player, but usually after I have played the over progression MBTs and the few T9-10 tanks that i am still grinding in PvE or focusing on the 10 missions for the Season contract I need only very few GLOPS and I am done also with the 200 kills. When I have less time or feel lazy, want to play in platoon with my battalion for achievements or feel to play Random Battle I buy it, sometimes even if I have already 120-140 kills. Only playing Heroics with premium tanks pays for many Battalion contracts, probably playing it weekly you pay the cost of all the week Battalion missions just with the credits earned in Heroic. But again who is at mid grind can lack of a tank that is viable for Heroic, you need at least a T9, and a good one or a very good platoon to baby sit you if you have only something that does not work so well in Heroic.

Welcome! AFAIK the mods recently introduced in AW are only cosmetic ones, you can mod the camo, choose to have an old garage background and stuff like that, and are only working on your side, the other players will see your and their tanks with not modded camo. So at best it is maybe possible to create and use camo with the weak spots outlined, but probably not even that as every camo works on all the tanks and every tank has different weak spots. But the modding, as it is implemented here, should not allow unfair mods that give an unfair advantage.

T5 in competition with the dakadaka premium tank from the last battle path, i suppose the MBTs will have an easy life when a single York eats half of the enemy HP. I played it yesterday as I had to get 5 Destroyer medals for a mission, and I wanted to do it in 5 missions, but every time I take it I just feel guilty... Possibly is fastest in T3, lower alpha and reload, enemies with less hp, but even a very good player in T5 MBT, if he finds 1 good York player or 2 semi decent ones can not do much other then watch the bots melt as he waits to reload. Great decisions developers!

The M1A2C and the XM1A3 imo can not be compared, they share the same weak spot under the gun that can make them an easy target both in PvE and in PvP at close/mid range, and the T10 bounces a lot more with the side, if is moving and the enemy from a long distance can not aim at its weak spots, but the difference is all in the gun. While the T9 has an average gun the T10 has very high pen with the double shot one and a really high damage, specially if it uses HEAT, at the cost of some accuracy with the 140mm one. Even without Cortez, that I don't have, I get often 1200+ dmg on Bradley and some other tanks in PvE, and the high alpha makes very easy to set fires and is sometimes possible to ammo rack a T15 with a single shot, with 2 you do it almost always if you know what to aim. When I play the 2 tanks I really feel that there is way more then a single tier of difference, to me they feel like having 2 tier difference at worst. As the T9 MBTs are anyway somehow sub par, as in PvE have to fight the same enemies you find with T10 and often they have to compete with them as you are in a T9-10 party and in PvP it is often the same, but worst as you have often to face T10 MBTs driven by humans, so you can not use the PvE tactics and trick to survive, only some times you get in a T8-9 Random Battle or GLOP, it is probably more important to focus on what a T9 tank can unlock then how it is good. Unless the tank is used to gain (player) experience in PvP, then the MTTB is surely better. But they both perform well in PvE, if the player is able to make them shine, other way they will be constantly out damaged by the T10 MBTs and other tanks like T15, AS21 or Wilk that have a much higher dpm. And even if i like very much the GAU, that is a tank that in some PvE maps can do an incredible amount of damage and even spot in some situations, with the right retros and Sabrina or Erin as commander and using the bushes, and is viable also in PvP, even if needs much more finesse ( I got my single gold medal with it in RB mostly playing near the MBTs that was brawling and peeking out from a ridge exposing only part of my turret while i was melting the enemies occupied in fighting vs my party mates, not sniping from far) I think that the tanks that are unlocked by the T9 American are more interesting options, you have get a lot of xp to have the GAU really functional and tanks Sphinx and XM1A3 are very good tanks and Leo 2AX has the better gun of all the MBTs, very accurate, good damage and very strong HEAT, and as long as you learn how to use it has also decent protection, even if obviously is not a 490 or an ADTU, but at least his weak spot is the LFP that is way easier to protect then the spot under the gun.

both are good tanks, MTTB has an ammo rack and takes reduced damage on the turret, M1A2 has the hard kill aps, but it takes forever to unlock it. PvP wise i would say MTTB, but if you almost don't play it both are good IMO. What I can suggest you is to try more PvP, probably starting from GLOPS that at least let you re spawn, while Random Battle is way less forgiving, an error or 2 are a trip to the garage. It is not easy coming from a PvE experience, most of what you have learned there does not apply in PvP, you are no more facing a large number of very predictable BOTS, but players that play, at least some of them, in an intelligent way, that can push one flank of the map or the other so the battle is never completely predictable and you have to use a lot the minimap to be aware of what is happening. And some players are probably way better then you, so when you face one of them you have little chance, but not all the PvP players are unicorns. Avoid to go alone, you can not carry a PvP battle in the way it is sometimes possible in PvE, unless you are super strong, and I have seen often unicorns trying to do it and failing. It needs some battles to adapt to PvP, more or less depends on you, for me was surely more, in all the Random Battles i did try I was always destroyed very fast without doing anything really relevant, then I begun to adapt, even if to get my first gold medal i had to wait some more time. But for sure playing PvP, specially Random battle, but also GLOPS helped me a lot to improve, overall and also in PvE, that becomes more easy. So I would say pick the MTTB as it can help you to experiment with GLOPS and later with Random Battle, to use the terrain to get cover exposing only the turret and in PvE is not a bad tank at all. EDIT: M1A2 can unlock the Sphinx, a very fun to play and powerful tank in all the modes and XM1A3 that in PvE, with its big alpha using HEAT is a great tank. Also GAU is a good tank, but way more situational, you can use it in all the modes, even if in RB i got the gold medal only once with it, is not so easy to play, and to have it in good shape needs a lot of xp, while with the XM1A3 once you unlock HEAT you are ready to go, at least in PvE.

An other couple of screen shots from Glops and PvE games done yesterday. Glops: Narrows, north side spawn, i take my sniping place, with MGM i can not really go to brawl near the cap points, and when i reach it who I find? A 490 player well hidden behind a tree ready to snipe After a while he decided to move from there and go to help the other MBTs near the cap, but he spent at least a couple of minutes there giving to the enemy a big advantage as he was the one with the better armor in our team. then some PvE missions and look at this result. The arty got destroyed almost immediately and did not respawn, the ADTU survived and did some passive spotting just because the tank was there, but probably the player was drinking some coffee instead of playing, as the tank never moved from its spawning position or did anything else, and i swear that he was not off line, no offline mark in the UI, he just went in queue then did something other to farm free XP and money without actually playing, but very careful to pick the right tank for it, the only tank that has the actual armor and hp to survive passively the first spawn as both the CATTB and 490, if he has them, are weak to Bradley missiles or have weak side armor. So we had to play the mission in 3, with the only active MBT that has not the best armor to survive a focused fire on him, I was lucky to have the Crap Jeep, that can spot quite well and in situations like this also do some noticeable damage (while in a party with 2 good T15 can shot only on already dead tanks) and that the other 2 active players was good and able to adapt at the situation, almost always avoided to come too close to me ruining my Erin's camo bonus, was ready to use my spots and avoided suicide attitude recognizing that we had not the option to tank the bots but our only chance was to spot them one by one and slowly carve our way to the cap. When I have games like this it is a mixed feeling, I am happy as the challenge is risen and we succeed anyway, and also when we don't succeed, but we try hard and play well by the way, but i feel also very disappointed to see players that are intentionally afk right from the beginning or that die in stupid ways (arty has bad camo, but can pop out smoke to gain the time to find some cover if in Cavalry the bots rushes in) without re spawning and doing nothing at all.

Even if I did not knew that bushes and fallen trees did not stack I don't think that it is not a relevant thing. Sure not all the players try to rely much on bush camo bonuses and even those that do it to complain have to know, if I never complained it does not mean that I had never tried to use a bush and a fallen on purpose tree to make my camo better, it mean only that I was not aware, but only that I was only loosing my and maybe exposing my tank to some risk to have the tree fall right ahead or behind the bush for a not existing camo bonus that I did not had a way to check, as there is not an in game tool to do it. And the screenload tip that suggest you to create fallen trees nests was at least misleading, a wrong tip or maybe a tip valid in an even previous iteration of the bush camo mechanics. And If changes are made tips obsolete for that changes should be removed. Also the new way of having the density of the bush affecting how much camo bonus is given, while before the main problem with small bushes was to have all your tank bihind it, is imho a very relevant change. It is a matter of fact that if in some woodland maps there is plenty of trees to fell, even if in PvP an experienced player can notice them and blind shot, in some winter maps and desert ones at best you find some bushes that i suspect with the new mechanics will give less camo bonus even for the players careful enough to hide all the tank behind them, thing that sometimes needs some finesse as you should also be in a position that let you actually shot at your targets if you are not only spotting for your team snipers. Until I have tested the new mechanics I can not tell anything for sure, but my first impression is that with the new mechanics it will be even easier to get good camo in some maps, that have plenty of bushes and huge trees near by, while in some other ones, that have almost no trees and only very small and not dense bushes the life will be harder for every tank that relies on camo to survive. And as it adds to other changes in the game, like the introduction of tanks like the AS21 and T40 that promote aggressive game playing and even more Ophelia, that at least in GLOPS gives some more survival when using such tactics, I am not completely found of it. For the tanks that really rely on camo to survive, being them sniper oriented tanks like the T10 wilk or the Centauro, or little spotters like the Crap Jeep, to be effective in some maps will become harder, both in Glops when they are already easily revealed by suicide runs with T40 or Sphinx and in PvE when before was possible to out spot even lieutenants using little bushes, while possibly the reduced camo from them will make it no more doable. I am fine with changes, so i think that in this case " if it ain't broke don't fix it" does not apply, as even something that is not broke can be changed if it makes the game play better. But I suspect that the impact of this change will not be so positive, making the bush and fallen tree camo bonuses more map depending instead of more player skill depending, how well you will perform with a tank that relies on camo will depend even more on what GLOPS and Random Battle map you are in, thing on which the player has no control, or PvE map, thing that the player knows before starting the queue, but that anyway possibly reduces the missions that can be done with such tanks, even more if you go with randoms and you can find only MBT snipers so you have to risk and go to spot by yourself.

Thank you guys! Even if I like more the old garage, not much for a nostalgia factor, I just prefer it from an aesthetic point of view, I don't think that I will revert back to it as I don't care much about how garage looks, while I think that the whole garage UI was easier and more intuitive to navigate into, now some functions, like ie enabling or disabling the recording, are somehow hidden. But as it reverts only the garage background and not the whole UI I am fine with the present one. Still it will be probably VERY useful for me in some special situation, i remember how the continuous fireworks noise, probably in a new year special garage, drove me almost crazy as I was waiting in long queues or doing stuff in the garage, to be able to revert to a silent garage as a noisy one is active for me is really a big plus, not only an aesthetic concern that after all i don't care much about as the aesthetic change is only apparent to me, but the removal of a very annoying for me sound feature. While having changes apparent to all the players would be really appreciated, like to have dedicated battalion camo that you can use when you platoon or do ranked battles with your battalion mates, but as it would need a change on the server side it is obviously impossible, even if I think that a single camo for each battalion, working in all the environments and allowed only for battalions that have at least 10 members, to avoid that every player creates his 1 man only battalion just to wear his special camo, probably is a thing that could be implemented and would not overload too much the server side of the game.

In an car race no one would stop to try when they get a good qualifying lap, they keep trying until the allowed time elapses. As here is forbidden to submit more then a result why to do it early if there is a chance to do even better later? It is a deliberate design decision that makes to submit the result at the last possible moment the best strategy, it works like a blind auction ( I don't know if i name it properly) when different contractors submit a secret offer and the best one is picked, the result is uncertain until the end. Allowing to submit more results it would have been more like a regular auction, where everyone knows what is the higher bid and can bid more money or the qualifying lap of the car races where every pilot knows the results of the other pilots and try to make better. Also giving let's say 24 hours to submit a result would have been an interesting choice, where the teams have to "fight vs themselves", evaluating if they possibly do better or if it is worth it to submit a good result, denying the chance to improve it later. To save the recordings of 4 games is not annoying, is a very simple thing to do, what can be annoying is that you don't know how you did compared to the other teams before submitting your result as probably who has done it early will be outclassed by some others that will do it at the last possible moment.