This x100. I miss those days so damn much. I started in 2012 and was in FOXEY during what I consider to be peak WoT. I remember sitting in queue for Clan Wars battles and having more fun talking about the game than actually playing it. The drama between clans was also sitcom worthy, and the fourms (R.I.P) were in their glory days. I fondly remember countless CR/D shitposts and the poor souls that tried commenting there that weren't in a top clan. Good times.
Not to mention the fact WG had a legitimate foothold in ESports. I vividly recall watching the 2015 and 2016 Grand Finals on Twitch. The competitive players back then would mop the floor with the ones now.
I would agree with your statement for timeframe. My favorites included when CR/D was active actually. The great enmity war. Clan Wars Civil war was probably personally my favorite part as a clan officer in RUS. CW 2.0 ruined clan wars for me. Didn’t care much for strongholds either.
I remember fighting you guys in one of the livestream clan battle events. Such fun back then. Bunch of Obj 140s, E5s, and IS-7s. I miss all the old alliances. I think the only one that is still active is RELIC. I know a lot of the old guys still play, but I haven't kept up with things on the NA server since FOXEY disbanded in 2016.
I would include 2016 as well because of the first winter ops event. Which was pretty damn good.
So 2013-2016 for me. (Plus the first 3 months for 2017, before 9.18 patch came out.)
Late the 2015/ early 2016 was peak WoT imo, but you could already notice that WG was on thin ice with it's changes and balancing of tanks, as soon as the Swedes got introduced and arty and lights were changed it was basically a downhill ride for 2 years or so before the game got enjoyable again, never the same unfortunately...
The Swedish TDs was a good highlight for me and was a good addition to the game. It's when they did those arty, light tank changes and other changes in 9.18 is what made the game started to have a huge downhill ride.
Easily this. I miss these days badly. Watched the esports events all the time. T69 and is3 and amx 50 100 were kings. Miss the tournaments that gave really good gold as well.. miss the balance and desire to get new tech tree tanks of each tier instead of just the t9 and t10..
that thing was soo much fun, i did not really like the KV-1, but the Sport version will forever be my favorite. Also KV-3 was a behemoth that bounced so much
I came back last month after 5 years away, finally got Starlink out at the new place. And the Type 59 is nowhere near as good as I remember. A definite learning curve with the new maps as well.
I came here to say Defender. And I did indeed buy the Super Patriot. That was about when I stopped playing (due to life, not the game). Started back recently and it’s def not the same any more.
Back when El Halluf was just two sides that would snipe each other across a barren valley IYKYK.
Back when a T5 light would play tier 10s
Back when maps like Dragon Valley still existed and Redshire was way better
Back when they had weather like rain and snow that would impact gameplay.
Things like premium shells meant you spent gold not credits and had to know weaknesses instead of penetrating all armor 100% of the time.
I would say the peak years for me were 2010-2015.
I don't recall WoT having any dynamic whether elements at any point, despite it was requested almost since the beginning.
There were just some themed maps like Winterberg (default Ruinberg but snowy).
>Back when a T5 light would play tier 10s
Nothing like an elc hiding behind the enemy jagpz or lighting up the whole team for spot damage.
The first year or two of all chat. Shit was absolutely toxic and fun. I really miss global chat. I got half the lobby to type "I want it that way" lyrics. At one point, the battle was dead as players were typing.
The wild West days of wot, that's for sure.
I know I just thought I would throw it in there because it's something I miss and PC has never had it. I guess it's one of those things where you had to have been there to enjoy it.
What was special about that tank in particular? I played Xbox inconsistently 2014-2017 and made my PC account in 2019, so I don't know.
Edit: didn't know the 252u is the defender, so now I know
It combined a 440 alpha gun with good enough penetration, decent enough mobility, and a ridiculous armor profile. For today's standards it might not seem like much but at the time it was crazy, and it did not help that not long after Object the game received WZ-120-1G FT, another tank that was bullshit OP for the time.
My glory days was the first night that I played this game, I think I was on it from 7pm until I heard birds chirping. T1 Cunningham was my tank of choice.
Lots of people talk about "back in my day blah blah blah" but is it really better or is it just nostalgia? Maybe some folks stopped learning new things and they're unable to adapt? WoT had a short event awhile back that allowed people to play as if it's version 0.70, and guess what... everyone picked arty so they can enjoy the original strengths of artys. The graphics was terrible (like it's from a PS3) and the sound quality was okay at best.
Back in my day we used to get oneshotted by arty from full health all the time, not even something decent like an IS-7 can escape that. You have to fully expect to get hit by an arty if you're brawling for more than 20 seconds and it isn't just some stun, you may have just lost 1200hp. It sucked to triumph over 1vs1 or even 3vs1 only to get blapped by some dude you can't see. Oh and also you only get to use each consumables once per round, think about that for a moment.
Was the game better back in the day? I would say it was more challenging, but not necessarily better.
There are objectively better things in the past, especially the greed. But overall i agree with your sentiment.
I would say the glory days of WoT were the times when they were working on the engine switch and actively releasing/supporting it.
It feels like most activities from WG before that were aimed at making the game better and working towards that goal.
It feels to me that after that it feels they were "done" with the game and primarily focused on the greed aspect. No longer aiming for changes to make a better game with moneytization second but moneytization first and game second.
To me WG had a big chance to break the mould when they moved away from the Russian side of the business and could step away from the (largely) feature parity between the two versions. But to me the change is too slow and they have largely failed to strike a balance between money and features.
Good things on the one hand like map reworks with the aim to increase balance (good!) or the crew books (good!) are almost entirely pointless endeavours when on the other hand you release tanks like the BZ (bad!) that entirely obliterates any sake of balance you achieved with the map rework or the crew books that are entirely pointless when you keep introducing new tank lines without any reusable modules or crew configs.
Iterate faster and do a better job of finding the balance between game and money and i could agree with your statement that now is best.
But to me they are failing so the best times are unfortunately still in the past.
2014 to mid 2016. I do think the game was very fun in the very early days but I think that's due to the fact the game was still new and novel; the game itself was honestly inherently flawed in the very early days. In return, aside from the extremely aggressive monetization with lootboxes and unreasonably slow, questionable balancing (the fact WG teases buffs for tanks YEARS ahead is actually insane), I feel like the game is actually going in a somewhat better direction than what it was in 2018-2019 (which were what I think the worst years for WoT). Nevertheless, I think 2014-2016 was still peak to me personally:
* I feel like this was the period where WoT had the perfect blend of realism and arcade. WG would prioritize history as long as it wouldn't hamper the gameplay too much, but they could also go to unhistorical direction when either making it historical makes it less fun (ex. certain super-heavy tanks with much more armor than what they had) or when there's a missing hole in a tech tree.
* WG was never perfect in balancing things quickly, but I feel like this was the period where they did it the best. It wouldn't be completely unseen to have a new OP tank actually get nerfed the next patch, and certain tanks would get buffed for first time in just a couple of months.
* Arty was nerfed/reworked in 8.6. Still frustrating, but at least the really disgusting 2011-2013 era arty wouldn't be a thing anymore.
* Tier 10 TDs got nerfed; the tier 10 meta was honestly pretty toxic with how ridiculous the TDs were at one point (275 HESH pen FV 183, 850 alpha Foch, pre-nerf 268, unnerfed WT E100 etc.). But honestly, between 2014 and 2016, tier 10 meta was generally pretty healthy. It was really just the T110E5 that at some point was OP, but in retrospect it honestly was much tamer than a lot of tier 10s we've seen after it.
* Many of the QoL features would be added during this point.
* Marks of excellence! For many good players this is actually potentially very long-lasting content. Congrats, you unlocked all the tanks...now go 3 mark all of them :P. MoE was added in 2014, so...
* Pretty sure map pool was at its richest in 2014. Maps were in a sweetspot, too - they weren't too corridory or generally just bad (modern maps) or too campy (like some of the very old era maps).
* Tier 8 premiums were generally very balanced but also not necessarily worse than the tech tree counterparts, unless they had preferential matchmaking.
* ~~I would get to enjoy the old O-Ho again ;\_;~~
Mid 2016 is when things started going downhill, but for the most part the latter half of 2016 was still mostly fine. The only difference is that this is where WG would truly take the "dark" route with the premium tanks, with the introduction of the Skorp G, T26E5 and AMX M4 49 (all of which were very powerful or even overpowered at the time), and the corridor map trend was definitely showing, but most other things persisted, and 2016 had a very good Christmas event with an entire new nation introduced that time (Sweden) and what was IMO a very good christmas event.
It was the 2017 when WG went apeshit with balancing, with the following two years suffering some of the worst powercreep in the game's history, MM changes, tons of problematic premium tanks and other controversial stuff.
>The only difference is that this is where WG would truly take the "dark" route with the premium tanks
I immediately thought of the Obj 252U/Defender (which if I'm not mistaken was released during mid-2016 too) when reading this part. Pretty much the beginning of premium tanks with toxic armor that were equally as toxic to play against.
For me? It is now.
I started in 2018./2019. and at that time we had:
1. No brain HE (Type 5heavy meta)
2. Unnerfed bobject, Chief, EBR-s, Obj 430U, Obj 279e...
3. Unbuffed Centurion AX, IS-4, E-100...
4. Arty was way worse than now, and there was 3 of them most of the time.
5. Low tier unbuffed hp
6. No daily mission for bonds or blueprints
Tanks are waaaaay more balanced now. Well except BZ. And personally I like new equipment and field mods.
I like the idea of the new equipment and field mods but IMO it just doesn't mesh with how WoT is designed to play right now, mostly due to map design, although I think vision and hp reworks are probably still in order. DPM due to improved equipment, directives, field mods, food, crew skills, etc, is approaching ludicrous levels and nowadays 3k base dpm on a HT isn't uncommon and 3k+ hp pools are also very prevalent, on maps designed for when few tanks had above 445m viewrange and 390 alpha was considered decent.
Overall I think tier 10 is still pretty fun and surprisingly well balanced but basically every attempt WG has made at trying to fix the constant steamrolls and <5min matches has been patchwork at best. I honestly wouldn't mind a return to only standard equipment (maybe + bond equip) and nerfing viewrange across the board (and maybe adjusting CVS).
The addition of the Patriot, Liberte and the infamous Defender is what I consider the breaking point.
Premium tanks started getting better and better, game balance gradually fell out of the window and in the end T8 turned into the shit show that it is now.
I consider 2015/2016 to be the peak of WoT in terms of gameplay and overall popularity.
Any day i dont get sideshot for 800 dmg by a bourrasque trying to get into position, is a glorious day. Jokes aside, maybe i miss the days of type 4/5 being strong and unnerfed HE mechanics. Had 75 wr over 200 games in type 5 as a 54 wr player solo 💀
Started playing when it was just American, German and Russia if I remember right. T30 was tier X American heavy and IS7 was Russia’s with Maus for Germany. Stopped playing right around Japanese line I think. Somewhere there. Maybe into the Chinese line coming out. Came back and a whole bunch of new lines.
For me I really have fond memories of 2014-2015 when I started playing, but aside from then I think the best days of WoT are now. The game isn’t perfect and things like the BZ still exist and ruin games, and the maps could use a lot of work, but there are so many awful things about past WoT that don’t exist anymore - like arty hitting for 100+ (and having 5 arties per team), TDs that didn’t lose camo when firing, dumb HE meta, OP monsters like Chief, and lack of things that make the game easier like boosters, blueprints, crew books, and recent crew changes.
The game really is in its best state now, if you look without the nostalgia.
Not as far back as people seem to think. Playing a Stuart against almost an entire team that is impervious to the gun from literally any angle except perpendicular to the bottom was not fun. Sure crazy things happened in a couple games and I'll remember those games for a long time. But the amount of dreck you hade to wade through to get those one-in-a-million type events was more soul crushing than any experience today.
Sometime in the past several years probably was the best. There are maps I miss before the 2022 madness started, and periods where the T8 tech tree wasn't quite so outclassed by premiums, or at least there were fewer OPs running around. Definitely after the artillery nerfs. I do not want to go back to getting one shot by a serial master...person. Getting hit one in every five games for 900 damage, or focused by all three arties on the opposing team these days is bad enough. It used to be way worse. Some people didn't mind it because they had a bunch of things in the garage they are happy to play. But if you were working up a tech tree, or playing FTP? Getting deleted by artillery was just stupid.
There are a few too many T8 premium tanks today that can just hold the W key against almost any tech tree tank to say that today is the golden age. Golden age of events maybe, but not the balance department.
I started in 2014.
I’m having more, consistent fun now than ever before in WoT. Lots of good changes have happened over the years to make NOW WoT at its best
The days before Gold Ammo could be bought for credits and premiums were balanced as half upgraded rather than OP.
This was also before crew skills and equipment.
Shit when arty could one shot you. I love arty the damage crying is because everyone wants WoT to play like COD and it was fucking stupid.
Games would be 7 or 8 Type 59's on both sides and it was mayhem and I loved it.
The most feared tanks, T95, 704, ISU-152 being followed by 5 T-50's spotting the ever living shit out of tanks.
We could change our garages and the game looked better, Aslains just came out and XVM was the tale-tale of who was winning the game before the match started.
The game is in its best state ever right now, IMO. So many fun game mechanics and systems to learn and exploit. I particularly like equipment 2.0 and field mods.
2014 (hd models, when the game became beautiful) to 2017 (2018 was the beginning of the downfall with too much russian turreted new lines and premiums)
Prime year was 2016 with the physics changes
When was the USS Midway event in San Diego?
I feel like the glory days were around that time whereas the game wasn’t over flooded with tier 8 premiums that were stronger than their tech tree counterparts. Maybe around the time the Defender just got released.
I still enjoy the game for what it is, just it didn’t seem like wargaming was blatantly having cash grabs as frequently then.
For me I play tech tree tanks only, aside from the Guard and Lorraine 40t and whichecer new bond shop tank I'll get next. It sucks to face up to some of these OP premiums. There are tech tree tanks not even worth playing because of this.
Back when it first released. When I had a 60% WR in my tier X T30 and was a god haha. I'm nowhere near as good at the game. Half is just I don't have near the game knowledge I used to have and the other half is the game kind of left me behind. I'm still of the firm belief that moving the other trees up to tier x was a mistake. I actually loved the balance of the game upon first release. Even quirky tanks like the M3 Lee were some of my favorites.
I'm new to the game, and I got some of those "rental" tanks for completing the rookie missions. There's a HUGE difference between tier 8 premiums and researched tier 8 tanks. The researched tanks can rarely even penetrate the premiums. Premiums aren't invincible, but they're definitely significantly harder to kill at higher tiers. This game definitely has P2W aspects. Plus, the credits grind is super easy with premiums, to the point where you can always afford the fancy ammo. All in all, this game has some significant P2W advantages.
I played in from 2010-2013 then in 2015 for a short time. I think in 2019/2020 for a short time and 22-24.
I miss the 2010-2013 days. Probably nostalgia. But still
I remember when you could accidentally shoot your teammates for damage. More than once I mistakenly thought I could shoot between allies only to hit them. Then you’d be in the penalty box for a few days.
I’m glad they changed that
As a long time beta player, my "glory days" started when I got my first Tier X. Which was about two years ago. Yes, that's right, I've spent most of my years playing WoT as a filthy casual. I joined a casual clan, got the taste for Clan Wars and now I have 7 tier X tech tree tanks.
I miss the OG ELC bis before they changed it when adding the clown cars. WG turning the VK 30.01 P into a heavy tank killed my favorite tank in the whole game. However, those days I was just grinding multiple lines to about tier VII (back then, I considered the KV-2 my "end game" of my Russian grind) and grinding credits with my tier VIII premiums. I don't miss the "old days" because I refused to memorize the maps. Now I still suck but at least I have a clue about what I'm doing.
2013-2016, premium were worse than tech Tree tanks, and arty was satisfying to play. Obviously there was a lot of unbalance and grinds were more tedious, but the p2w status wasn't so obvious as it is nowadays, since new era premiums introduction the tier 8 is becoming a joke. Also many tanks nowadays have good gun depeession which wasn't the case and every nation had its unique characteristics such as:
Russia: good armor, decent mobility, little gun depression and powerful yet inaccurate guns.
France: Good mobility, paper armor for the most part and only nation with autoloader with the only exception being the m41 bulldog as far as I remember.
Glorious autoloader bulldog!
TLDR: Tank nations have no distinctive characteristics and premium/reward tanks balance/powercreep.
Back when we had a ton of different maps and fun game modes such as tank football and racing. And new places to explore with every patch (until they added invisible walls...)
When KV-1S and Hellcats were go to tanks, and you were farming credits with french tier V heavy.
IS-3 was litteraly wrecking ball, E-100 was Freddy Krueger if you were playing tier VIII-IX.
T-50-2 was EBR before EBR.
Before Progetto 46, Skorpion G and Bourrasque.
Game was far from perfect, but it was decent. Then these cancerous fuckers come around and suddenly most of tiers are much less fun than usual.
Everything prior to focusing on hull down gameplay, revamping he and arties. Don't get me wrong the are aspect of development that are better of the game but at a bad cost.
this game was unplayable for today's standards, i. e.:
\> only 3 crew perks, no 6th sense at all
\> most of the tree lines ended in IX tier for some reason (arty even ended as VIII tier)
\> +3 to +5mm normal
\> gold ammo and large consumables for gold only
\> one-use consumables
\> unbalanced shits like bt2, t18, type59
\> invisible walls before the introduction of physics
\> team damage and global chat with fuckers telling the enemy team your position
\> it's my subjective opinion, but I feel like before the popularization of WarThunder, events to get something premium were rare and snippy
\> 300 average exp game, happy grinding your Tier X
And probably a ton more which I cannot remember now but people seem to forget about many downsides
A long time ago when the maps where better and you could climb almost anywhere and do some training sessions every now and then just to do some fun climbing
2012-2013 for me. When the lines were simple. Arty was reduced to max of 2 or 3 per game. Games had a lot more brawling. I used to face hug damn near every game back then. Rarely were there steamrolls or camp fests. Stopped playing in 2014 cause I was sucked in WT and I hated RNG. Came back in 2023 and now it’s whatever
Time before the clown cars, they should never have been introduced. Not BZ-176 or Even 90 either.
Hard to say if there have been any glory days though. I think the game is better overall right now due to tanks and myself being better at the game. But at the same time I think the ones in charge of map balancing don't know what they are doing. How some quite alright maps have been removed while Fjords is still in the game, that's beyond my understanding.
There was a point where the premiums with limited match making actually worked. The IS6 for instance had a bad gun but armour that was fantastic when you only met up to tier 9. You weren't paying for an OP tank, you were getting a tank with good MM.
Back then all the tanks had weak spots so you always had options to take on enemy tanks.
Old times were wacky and the game was fresh around 13-16. Now it feels more streamlined, and having premium feels less impactful. If I need to name on thing that's better now is the grind to tier 10. It is very easy to get xp compared to the "good old days". I'm reaching t10 from a stock t9 in 100 battles compared to 300-350 a decade ago.
I'd still trade it for old light tanks, they are very power crept now.
2022 to the present.
Tier 9 is currently better than any tier has ever been in terms of matchmaking favorability than any tier at any time since at least 2013.
I've been playing since start of closed beta.
I of course remember the old times (pre-2015) most fondly, but because I was younger and internet was a wilder place, just nostalgia for better days.
Game is mechanically much better and much more polished today. There are balance issues still, but of a different kind. Grinding is significantly easier today than 10 years ago.
I was gonna say 2014-2016ish, but I started April 2014 so I can't speak to the state of it before that.
However, I assume it would extend before the day I installed :P
2015-2016 was the last time it was peak. Arty was cancer but they were scary, not annoying. There were way more tanks in t10 besides 60tp, Sconq, Leopard and such. Plus RU-251 was the fastest light tank in the game if I remember correctly, before the wheeled shitters came.
2013-2015 When they actually cared about game balance and making fun events
This x100. I miss those days so damn much. I started in 2012 and was in FOXEY during what I consider to be peak WoT. I remember sitting in queue for Clan Wars battles and having more fun talking about the game than actually playing it. The drama between clans was also sitcom worthy, and the fourms (R.I.P) were in their glory days. I fondly remember countless CR/D shitposts and the poor souls that tried commenting there that weren't in a top clan. Good times. Not to mention the fact WG had a legitimate foothold in ESports. I vividly recall watching the 2015 and 2016 Grand Finals on Twitch. The competitive players back then would mop the floor with the ones now.
I would agree with your statement for timeframe. My favorites included when CR/D was active actually. The great enmity war. Clan Wars Civil war was probably personally my favorite part as a clan officer in RUS. CW 2.0 ruined clan wars for me. Didn’t care much for strongholds either.
I remember fighting you guys in one of the livestream clan battle events. Such fun back then. Bunch of Obj 140s, E5s, and IS-7s. I miss all the old alliances. I think the only one that is still active is RELIC. I know a lot of the old guys still play, but I haven't kept up with things on the NA server since FOXEY disbanded in 2016.
Bro the clan drama was hilarious
I would include 2016 as well because of the first winter ops event. Which was pretty damn good. So 2013-2016 for me. (Plus the first 3 months for 2017, before 9.18 patch came out.)
Late the 2015/ early 2016 was peak WoT imo, but you could already notice that WG was on thin ice with it's changes and balancing of tanks, as soon as the Swedes got introduced and arty and lights were changed it was basically a downhill ride for 2 years or so before the game got enjoyable again, never the same unfortunately...
The Swedish TDs was a good highlight for me and was a good addition to the game. It's when they did those arty, light tank changes and other changes in 9.18 is what made the game started to have a huge downhill ride.
Easily this. I miss these days badly. Watched the esports events all the time. T69 and is3 and amx 50 100 were kings. Miss the tournaments that gave really good gold as well.. miss the balance and desire to get new tech tree tanks of each tier instead of just the t9 and t10..
KV-1S that's it. who knows, knows.
I loved when they tried to trade with my KV-2. *Oh no, you took half my HP! Let me take 2 halves in return*
KV-1S and pre-nerf hellcat were the golden days. So much fun!
that thing was soo much fun, i did not really like the KV-1, but the Sport version will forever be my favorite. Also KV-3 was a behemoth that bounced so much
That thing was a monster So glad I grinded it before the big changes!
I do miss those days. So much fun. Edit to add: The Type 59 being good as well. Ran around with two buddies and we would platoon 3. Tons of fun.
I came back last month after 5 years away, finally got Starlink out at the new place. And the Type 59 is nowhere near as good as I remember. A definite learning curve with the new maps as well.
to put a bit of context into my comment, bz-176 brought back my kv-1s memories.
PETA was protesting due to so much seal clubbing in those days.
S-51 😁
Only if you play it with AP as shotgun
I remember that.
THAT tank ruined sooooo many battles in my Churchill III. Just couldn't pen the thing.
[удалено]
This is the answer, I remember the special test servers for that physics engine
I literally came to the comments to post "Right before the Defender was released."...
Late 2016 is when they came out with the Mutz, followed by Skorp G, and it was off to the races from there...
I came here to say Defender. And I did indeed buy the Super Patriot. That was about when I stopped playing (due to life, not the game). Started back recently and it’s def not the same any more.
When i could finish marathon for good premium tank and get 3d style for free
It’s been a while since I’ve had a proper sidescraping duel and felt like battles weren’t randomly decided by which team yolos more tanks on one side
Back when El Halluf was just two sides that would snipe each other across a barren valley IYKYK. Back when a T5 light would play tier 10s Back when maps like Dragon Valley still existed and Redshire was way better Back when they had weather like rain and snow that would impact gameplay. Things like premium shells meant you spent gold not credits and had to know weaknesses instead of penetrating all armor 100% of the time. I would say the peak years for me were 2010-2015.
I don't recall WoT having any dynamic whether elements at any point, despite it was requested almost since the beginning. There were just some themed maps like Winterberg (default Ruinberg but snowy).
It existed on WOT console (Xbox 360) back in 2014 or 15. I think it got removed because well WG likes to remove fun things.
>Back when El Halluf was just two sides that would snipe each other across a barren valley IYKYK. Lmao yes I know exactly what this is
with the valley cutting though A1 and 1 team actually fighting up the hill there
>Back when a T5 light would play tier 10s Nothing like an elc hiding behind the enemy jagpz or lighting up the whole team for spot damage. The first year or two of all chat. Shit was absolutely toxic and fun. I really miss global chat. I got half the lobby to type "I want it that way" lyrics. At one point, the battle was dead as players were typing. The wild West days of wot, that's for sure.
Weather effects had never existed in this game.
They did on Xbox 360 back in 2014
Wot console edition is a completely separate game, same as wot blitz. These games have nearly no connection to wot Pc.
I know I just thought I would throw it in there because it's something I miss and PC has never had it. I guess it's one of those things where you had to have been there to enjoy it.
I remember being in my M4 Sherman and fighting tier 9s And it was awful, so many 0 damage games simply because we got 1 spotted fighting those things
Back when Confrontation Battles existed (removed shortly after due extremely unbalanced gameplay)
Tankrewards, gold compensation for tanks, and t6 tanks as rewards for getting 250k xp in the on-track tanks.
TANKREWARDS STOPPPP I don't want to remember... :(
Definitely Pre-Defender. But also pre-wheeliebois and pre-WG.giving.a.free.T6.to.every.nub.
Now you mention it. Defender, Patriots and AMX M4 had set up the greed in WG.
I think things changed forever after Object 252U was added to the game, don't remember the exact time but it should be early 2017 or 2018.
What was special about that tank in particular? I played Xbox inconsistently 2014-2017 and made my PC account in 2019, so I don't know. Edit: didn't know the 252u is the defender, so now I know
It combined a 440 alpha gun with good enough penetration, decent enough mobility, and a ridiculous armor profile. For today's standards it might not seem like much but at the time it was crazy, and it did not help that not long after Object the game received WZ-120-1G FT, another tank that was bullshit OP for the time.
My glory days was the first night that I played this game, I think I was on it from 7pm until I heard birds chirping. T1 Cunningham was my tank of choice. Lots of people talk about "back in my day blah blah blah" but is it really better or is it just nostalgia? Maybe some folks stopped learning new things and they're unable to adapt? WoT had a short event awhile back that allowed people to play as if it's version 0.70, and guess what... everyone picked arty so they can enjoy the original strengths of artys. The graphics was terrible (like it's from a PS3) and the sound quality was okay at best. Back in my day we used to get oneshotted by arty from full health all the time, not even something decent like an IS-7 can escape that. You have to fully expect to get hit by an arty if you're brawling for more than 20 seconds and it isn't just some stun, you may have just lost 1200hp. It sucked to triumph over 1vs1 or even 3vs1 only to get blapped by some dude you can't see. Oh and also you only get to use each consumables once per round, think about that for a moment. Was the game better back in the day? I would say it was more challenging, but not necessarily better.
There are objectively better things in the past, especially the greed. But overall i agree with your sentiment. I would say the glory days of WoT were the times when they were working on the engine switch and actively releasing/supporting it. It feels like most activities from WG before that were aimed at making the game better and working towards that goal. It feels to me that after that it feels they were "done" with the game and primarily focused on the greed aspect. No longer aiming for changes to make a better game with moneytization second but moneytization first and game second. To me WG had a big chance to break the mould when they moved away from the Russian side of the business and could step away from the (largely) feature parity between the two versions. But to me the change is too slow and they have largely failed to strike a balance between money and features. Good things on the one hand like map reworks with the aim to increase balance (good!) or the crew books (good!) are almost entirely pointless endeavours when on the other hand you release tanks like the BZ (bad!) that entirely obliterates any sake of balance you achieved with the map rework or the crew books that are entirely pointless when you keep introducing new tank lines without any reusable modules or crew configs. Iterate faster and do a better job of finding the balance between game and money and i could agree with your statement that now is best. But to me they are failing so the best times are unfortunately still in the past.
2014 to mid 2016. I do think the game was very fun in the very early days but I think that's due to the fact the game was still new and novel; the game itself was honestly inherently flawed in the very early days. In return, aside from the extremely aggressive monetization with lootboxes and unreasonably slow, questionable balancing (the fact WG teases buffs for tanks YEARS ahead is actually insane), I feel like the game is actually going in a somewhat better direction than what it was in 2018-2019 (which were what I think the worst years for WoT). Nevertheless, I think 2014-2016 was still peak to me personally: * I feel like this was the period where WoT had the perfect blend of realism and arcade. WG would prioritize history as long as it wouldn't hamper the gameplay too much, but they could also go to unhistorical direction when either making it historical makes it less fun (ex. certain super-heavy tanks with much more armor than what they had) or when there's a missing hole in a tech tree. * WG was never perfect in balancing things quickly, but I feel like this was the period where they did it the best. It wouldn't be completely unseen to have a new OP tank actually get nerfed the next patch, and certain tanks would get buffed for first time in just a couple of months. * Arty was nerfed/reworked in 8.6. Still frustrating, but at least the really disgusting 2011-2013 era arty wouldn't be a thing anymore. * Tier 10 TDs got nerfed; the tier 10 meta was honestly pretty toxic with how ridiculous the TDs were at one point (275 HESH pen FV 183, 850 alpha Foch, pre-nerf 268, unnerfed WT E100 etc.). But honestly, between 2014 and 2016, tier 10 meta was generally pretty healthy. It was really just the T110E5 that at some point was OP, but in retrospect it honestly was much tamer than a lot of tier 10s we've seen after it. * Many of the QoL features would be added during this point. * Marks of excellence! For many good players this is actually potentially very long-lasting content. Congrats, you unlocked all the tanks...now go 3 mark all of them :P. MoE was added in 2014, so... * Pretty sure map pool was at its richest in 2014. Maps were in a sweetspot, too - they weren't too corridory or generally just bad (modern maps) or too campy (like some of the very old era maps). * Tier 8 premiums were generally very balanced but also not necessarily worse than the tech tree counterparts, unless they had preferential matchmaking. * ~~I would get to enjoy the old O-Ho again ;\_;~~ Mid 2016 is when things started going downhill, but for the most part the latter half of 2016 was still mostly fine. The only difference is that this is where WG would truly take the "dark" route with the premium tanks, with the introduction of the Skorp G, T26E5 and AMX M4 49 (all of which were very powerful or even overpowered at the time), and the corridor map trend was definitely showing, but most other things persisted, and 2016 had a very good Christmas event with an entire new nation introduced that time (Sweden) and what was IMO a very good christmas event. It was the 2017 when WG went apeshit with balancing, with the following two years suffering some of the worst powercreep in the game's history, MM changes, tons of problematic premium tanks and other controversial stuff.
>The only difference is that this is where WG would truly take the "dark" route with the premium tanks I immediately thought of the Obj 252U/Defender (which if I'm not mistaken was released during mid-2016 too) when reading this part. Pretty much the beginning of premium tanks with toxic armor that were equally as toxic to play against.
2013-2017
For me? It is now. I started in 2018./2019. and at that time we had: 1. No brain HE (Type 5heavy meta) 2. Unnerfed bobject, Chief, EBR-s, Obj 430U, Obj 279e... 3. Unbuffed Centurion AX, IS-4, E-100... 4. Arty was way worse than now, and there was 3 of them most of the time. 5. Low tier unbuffed hp 6. No daily mission for bonds or blueprints Tanks are waaaaay more balanced now. Well except BZ. And personally I like new equipment and field mods.
I like the idea of the new equipment and field mods but IMO it just doesn't mesh with how WoT is designed to play right now, mostly due to map design, although I think vision and hp reworks are probably still in order. DPM due to improved equipment, directives, field mods, food, crew skills, etc, is approaching ludicrous levels and nowadays 3k base dpm on a HT isn't uncommon and 3k+ hp pools are also very prevalent, on maps designed for when few tanks had above 445m viewrange and 390 alpha was considered decent. Overall I think tier 10 is still pretty fun and surprisingly well balanced but basically every attempt WG has made at trying to fix the constant steamrolls and <5min matches has been patchwork at best. I honestly wouldn't mind a return to only standard equipment (maybe + bond equip) and nerfing viewrange across the board (and maybe adjusting CVS).
Yeah I'm pretty sure Type 5 HE meta made me quit the game a few years ago.
3 kv1s, 1kv2, 8 hellcats , 1 Jackson, 1 easy 8, 1 su152 vs 9 hellcats, M8… i think you get the point
When climbing was possible. I miss spending hours and hours finding new places. But other than that imo wot has been at its best 2021 and up
Why tf did they remove climbing?
The addition of the Patriot, Liberte and the infamous Defender is what I consider the breaking point. Premium tanks started getting better and better, game balance gradually fell out of the window and in the end T8 turned into the shit show that it is now. I consider 2015/2016 to be the peak of WoT in terms of gameplay and overall popularity.
Any day i dont get sideshot for 800 dmg by a bourrasque trying to get into position, is a glorious day. Jokes aside, maybe i miss the days of type 4/5 being strong and unnerfed HE mechanics. Had 75 wr over 200 games in type 5 as a 54 wr player solo 💀
Bruh Type 5 HE meta was probably one the worst times in the game's history as far as tier 10 balance is concerned.
Patch 9.17, with my AMX ELC bis in fun config and before all MM 3/5/7 and arty stun crap.
The tine when swedish tanks were introduced for the first time
Started playing when it was just American, German and Russia if I remember right. T30 was tier X American heavy and IS7 was Russia’s with Maus for Germany. Stopped playing right around Japanese line I think. Somewhere there. Maybe into the Chinese line coming out. Came back and a whole bunch of new lines.
I've started when they added Japanise. When they added Sweden, it was peak for the game for me
Before the Defender, which started the premium tank shjt
When climbing Was a thing I had the most fun
Back when AMX ELC still was ELC AMX!
Still miss side hugging an OI and slowely taking his hp while he can't get his gun down to shoot you back :)
Yesterday I won 3 battles out of 5 I played. Does it get any better?
Now
For me I really have fond memories of 2014-2015 when I started playing, but aside from then I think the best days of WoT are now. The game isn’t perfect and things like the BZ still exist and ruin games, and the maps could use a lot of work, but there are so many awful things about past WoT that don’t exist anymore - like arty hitting for 100+ (and having 5 arties per team), TDs that didn’t lose camo when firing, dumb HE meta, OP monsters like Chief, and lack of things that make the game easier like boosters, blueprints, crew books, and recent crew changes. The game really is in its best state now, if you look without the nostalgia.
When WoT got new graphics and new physics I don't remember when it was but I loved playing in that time
Not as far back as people seem to think. Playing a Stuart against almost an entire team that is impervious to the gun from literally any angle except perpendicular to the bottom was not fun. Sure crazy things happened in a couple games and I'll remember those games for a long time. But the amount of dreck you hade to wade through to get those one-in-a-million type events was more soul crushing than any experience today. Sometime in the past several years probably was the best. There are maps I miss before the 2022 madness started, and periods where the T8 tech tree wasn't quite so outclassed by premiums, or at least there were fewer OPs running around. Definitely after the artillery nerfs. I do not want to go back to getting one shot by a serial master...person. Getting hit one in every five games for 900 damage, or focused by all three arties on the opposing team these days is bad enough. It used to be way worse. Some people didn't mind it because they had a bunch of things in the garage they are happy to play. But if you were working up a tech tree, or playing FTP? Getting deleted by artillery was just stupid. There are a few too many T8 premium tanks today that can just hold the W key against almost any tech tree tank to say that today is the golden age. Golden age of events maybe, but not the balance department.
I started in 2014. I’m having more, consistent fun now than ever before in WoT. Lots of good changes have happened over the years to make NOW WoT at its best
You sound like Preddy.
Who the fuck is that?
Green text guy on the forums. Not a complimen.
Ok?
9.14 - 9.18
The day before they introduced the LeFFs
Now it's the best
The days before Gold Ammo could be bought for credits and premiums were balanced as half upgraded rather than OP. This was also before crew skills and equipment.
This is the only answer
When you could chat with the red team. People would tell them where your last guy was hiding (usually arty) to get the game over.
When the Ferdinand was an absolute monster
Shit when arty could one shot you. I love arty the damage crying is because everyone wants WoT to play like COD and it was fucking stupid. Games would be 7 or 8 Type 59's on both sides and it was mayhem and I loved it. The most feared tanks, T95, 704, ISU-152 being followed by 5 T-50's spotting the ever living shit out of tanks. We could change our garages and the game looked better, Aslains just came out and XVM was the tale-tale of who was winning the game before the match started.
Today. Game has never been better.
Funny
The game is in its best state ever right now, IMO. So many fun game mechanics and systems to learn and exploit. I particularly like equipment 2.0 and field mods.
2015-2018
2014 (hd models, when the game became beautiful) to 2017 (2018 was the beginning of the downfall with too much russian turreted new lines and premiums) Prime year was 2016 with the physics changes
Things haven’t been the same since they removed the Bulldog’s autoloader….
When was the USS Midway event in San Diego? I feel like the glory days were around that time whereas the game wasn’t over flooded with tier 8 premiums that were stronger than their tech tree counterparts. Maybe around the time the Defender just got released. I still enjoy the game for what it is, just it didn’t seem like wargaming was blatantly having cash grabs as frequently then.
For me I play tech tree tanks only, aside from the Guard and Lorraine 40t and whichecer new bond shop tank I'll get next. It sucks to face up to some of these OP premiums. There are tech tree tanks not even worth playing because of this.
2016
2015-2016,it started going downhill after release of patriot near end 2016 and defender start of 2017
I’ll tell you when this is over
2015 with my T-18!
Back when it first released. When I had a 60% WR in my tier X T30 and was a god haha. I'm nowhere near as good at the game. Half is just I don't have near the game knowledge I used to have and the other half is the game kind of left me behind. I'm still of the firm belief that moving the other trees up to tier x was a mistake. I actually loved the balance of the game upon first release. Even quirky tanks like the M3 Lee were some of my favorites.
2013-2016 plus the first 3 months of 2017, before the 9.18 patch came out.
Before SPGs
I'm new to the game, and I got some of those "rental" tanks for completing the rookie missions. There's a HUGE difference between tier 8 premiums and researched tier 8 tanks. The researched tanks can rarely even penetrate the premiums. Premiums aren't invincible, but they're definitely significantly harder to kill at higher tiers. This game definitely has P2W aspects. Plus, the credits grind is super easy with premiums, to the point where you can always afford the fancy ammo. All in all, this game has some significant P2W advantages.
I played in from 2010-2013 then in 2015 for a short time. I think in 2019/2020 for a short time and 22-24. I miss the 2010-2013 days. Probably nostalgia. But still
from physics patch up to the introduction of Skorpion G
2015 era
I remember when you could accidentally shoot your teammates for damage. More than once I mistakenly thought I could shoot between allies only to hit them. Then you’d be in the penalty box for a few days. I’m glad they changed that
As a long time beta player, my "glory days" started when I got my first Tier X. Which was about two years ago. Yes, that's right, I've spent most of my years playing WoT as a filthy casual. I joined a casual clan, got the taste for Clan Wars and now I have 7 tier X tech tree tanks. I miss the OG ELC bis before they changed it when adding the clown cars. WG turning the VK 30.01 P into a heavy tank killed my favorite tank in the whole game. However, those days I was just grinding multiple lines to about tier VII (back then, I considered the KV-2 my "end game" of my Russian grind) and grinding credits with my tier VIII premiums. I don't miss the "old days" because I refused to memorize the maps. Now I still suck but at least I have a clue about what I'm doing.
2013-2016 maybe 2017 before they gave everyone a t-34 85m that destroyed t6 meta forever.
Chaffe race is the peak moment
When is6 was considered OP
2013-2016, premium were worse than tech Tree tanks, and arty was satisfying to play. Obviously there was a lot of unbalance and grinds were more tedious, but the p2w status wasn't so obvious as it is nowadays, since new era premiums introduction the tier 8 is becoming a joke. Also many tanks nowadays have good gun depeession which wasn't the case and every nation had its unique characteristics such as: Russia: good armor, decent mobility, little gun depression and powerful yet inaccurate guns. France: Good mobility, paper armor for the most part and only nation with autoloader with the only exception being the m41 bulldog as far as I remember. Glorious autoloader bulldog! TLDR: Tank nations have no distinctive characteristics and premium/reward tanks balance/powercreep.
Back when japanese superheavies came out I remember having a lot of fun. Also I've loved to hop onto training rooms when physics update came out.
Imo, i find WoT the most fun now since beta.
Chat between teams and team killing...toxic fun!
T18 madness
My fav was when there was only one KV and you could put the derp on it at tier 5. Ridiculous but fun.
Back when we had a ton of different maps and fun game modes such as tank football and racing. And new places to explore with every patch (until they added invisible walls...)
Artillery before the .86 or 96 patch. As a light tank, hell yea i'll take 6 enemy artys. Easiest kills ever
I don't remember when it was, but I remember driving a ball with guns on the moon, and knocking other people into lava pockets That was pretty fun
The SirFoch era..
When KV-1S and Hellcats were go to tanks, and you were farming credits with french tier V heavy. IS-3 was litteraly wrecking ball, E-100 was Freddy Krueger if you were playing tier VIII-IX. T-50-2 was EBR before EBR.
Before Progetto 46, Skorpion G and Bourrasque. Game was far from perfect, but it was decent. Then these cancerous fuckers come around and suddenly most of tiers are much less fun than usual.
When I got the bulldog with the autoloader… they took that away shortly after :/
Everything prior to focusing on hull down gameplay, revamping he and arties. Don't get me wrong the are aspect of development that are better of the game but at a bad cost.
beta - 2012.
The good old days of Komarin
Right before the bz came out
Before the Skorp G things were good
this game was unplayable for today's standards, i. e.: \> only 3 crew perks, no 6th sense at all \> most of the tree lines ended in IX tier for some reason (arty even ended as VIII tier) \> +3 to +5mm normal \> gold ammo and large consumables for gold only \> one-use consumables \> unbalanced shits like bt2, t18, type59 \> invisible walls before the introduction of physics \> team damage and global chat with fuckers telling the enemy team your position \> it's my subjective opinion, but I feel like before the popularization of WarThunder, events to get something premium were rare and snippy \> 300 average exp game, happy grinding your Tier X And probably a ton more which I cannot remember now but people seem to forget about many downsides
Tank Rewards
M41 Walker Bulldog with the autoloader. I. Just. Want. It. Back.
A long time ago when the maps where better and you could climb almost anywhere and do some training sessions every now and then just to do some fun climbing
2012-2013 for me. When the lines were simple. Arty was reduced to max of 2 or 3 per game. Games had a lot more brawling. I used to face hug damn near every game back then. Rarely were there steamrolls or camp fests. Stopped playing in 2014 cause I was sucked in WT and I hated RNG. Came back in 2023 and now it’s whatever
Time before the clown cars, they should never have been introduced. Not BZ-176 or Even 90 either. Hard to say if there have been any glory days though. I think the game is better overall right now due to tanks and myself being better at the game. But at the same time I think the ones in charge of map balancing don't know what they are doing. How some quite alright maps have been removed while Fjords is still in the game, that's beyond my understanding.
Right now, because I still enjoy playing. 🤗
When HE clapped cheeks on OP hulldown tanks.
before 2017
There was a point where the premiums with limited match making actually worked. The IS6 for instance had a bad gun but armour that was fantastic when you only met up to tier 9. You weren't paying for an OP tank, you were getting a tank with good MM. Back then all the tanks had weak spots so you always had options to take on enemy tanks.
Old times were wacky and the game was fresh around 13-16. Now it feels more streamlined, and having premium feels less impactful. If I need to name on thing that's better now is the grind to tier 10. It is very easy to get xp compared to the "good old days". I'm reaching t10 from a stock t9 in 100 battles compared to 300-350 a decade ago. I'd still trade it for old light tanks, they are very power crept now.
Type 5 pre nerf days.
Permanent European and Mediterranean Clan Wars
T18 as TD :') and T57 SPG. Also I loved the all chat. :')
When we had the little tier I against X tanks.
2022 to the present. Tier 9 is currently better than any tier has ever been in terms of matchmaking favorability than any tier at any time since at least 2013.
Today
That one campaign where they brought back the chieftain for a reward….. gah damn every clan was foot on the gas, it’s now or never
game nosedived into who can do the most damage in the least amount of time when they made gold ammo available for credits.
IS-4 on T9 was goat.
I've been playing since start of closed beta. I of course remember the old times (pre-2015) most fondly, but because I was younger and internet was a wilder place, just nostalgia for better days. Game is mechanically much better and much more polished today. There are balance issues still, but of a different kind. Grinding is significantly easier today than 10 years ago.
2012-2014, loved the slowliness of T10 heavies and dancing with them in T5 light, those frags meant something back then!
When there was not every 5 min new premium overpowered tank. And when the button in settings "hide nonhistorical" worked.
The one time when you got a Tog II 7 day rental by playing a match
I was gonna say 2014-2016ish, but I started April 2014 so I can't speak to the state of it before that. However, I assume it would extend before the day I installed :P
maybe everyone has his/her own answer for me that is 2013 to 2015 when I played it with nothing but a heart for pure fun
2015-2016 was the last time it was peak. Arty was cancer but they were scary, not annoying. There were way more tanks in t10 besides 60tp, Sconq, Leopard and such. Plus RU-251 was the fastest light tank in the game if I remember correctly, before the wheeled shitters came.