WoTB – Perspective
9 min readSo, after Tankfest, some stuff happened, and I ended up thinking a lot about the game. We (as in, those that play Blitz) all pretty much agree that since the profitability nerf we got early April last year, the game has steadily gone downhill. We’ve gotten a lot of stuff since then, too.
The profitability nerf is still a pain, imo, even though WG tried to make up for it with some increases afterwards, and making prem-cammo free to re-use rather than paying credits for it per battle. We’ve got the seasonal milestones, which give you 5x the XP and 2x the credits on a tank once every three months. Then there’s the vehicle enrichment, which I suppose belongs in this bit too, even though it costs wayyyyyy too much money to ever be worth it.
I also still mourn the loss of +/-2 MM and the introduction of +/-1MM. I miss the diversity of the game, the challenge that made the game so dynamic. The dynamic came back, a bit, with the Supremacy game mode – as that mode means you have to think differently. I much prefer Supremacy to encounter mode now.
We’ve gotten tournaments in the game, which have given people the opportunity to be truly competitive, as a team, or as a clan, depending on how they go about it. It lets them train and work on tactics, work on being a team. It’s sort of like the ultimate matchmaking, and I know a lot of people enjoy it. And tournaments helped get credits too at one point, as the bronze tickets we’d been collecting for tournaments for some time were converted to credits.
We’ve also gotten Valiant Effort, which lets us get aces on draws and losses, so that an epic game that you lose, doesn’t feel so deflating anymore. We’ve gotten boosters, to help grind free XP, XP on a tank, or crew XP, which can be particularly useful with seasonals, or just when grinding a specific line.
We’ve gotten 10 levels of clan supplies over time, which added things or made things cheaper, and allowed us to get the IS5 for 1500 gold. We’ve gotten the gift store for a month – which was something I really liked, and I hope it will return, because it’s a nice and easy way to send each other things legally.
Global chat and the ability to chat after you’ve died in the game were removed, which brought a lot of peace and quiet, even if also frustration because you couldn’t give any pointers or advice anymore either. It didn’t last long though – we got both back fairly quickly, along with a rating system. And that’s actually made people tone down on the abuse a lot.
We’ve gotten new equipment, along with the new currency Spare Parts. This is still a massive pain in the behind, but by now, it is a little bit easier to get spare parts, even if you still need way too much to equip tanks, and unless you want to waste gold, you still can’t equip a tank properly without waiting a very long time for the timers to finish.
Our prammo has been nerfed. Though it’s cheaper now, you do less damage, so it makes it harder. The biggest problem is that with some tanks, you can’t avoid having to use it much at all, and that both makes it more expensive – as you need more of it – and riskier, as you need more time to get the same damage dealt as before.
And last update, we’ve gotten ranked battles. This is sort of like the tournaments for solo-players. Your ranking goes up with every win, and down with every loss. And you meet opponents of the same ranking. So the higher the ranking, the more skilful your team and your opponents. That’s the general idea at least.
Along with this, we got a Hall of Fame for Clans. This isn’t a hall of fame at all though, but just a list that ranks clans by points that they’ve earned in tournaments. So, it only actually means anything if you enter just about every form of tournament there is.
That’s basically the list of major changes to the game since the profitability nerf, for me. Some good, some bad. I excluded new maps, buffs and nerfs, and new tanklines in that list, because even though they add to the game, they don’t actually change the game itself.
For me, tournaments, ranked battles, and now the ClanHoF make things far too serious, and I actually worry about how serious some people take these things, not to mention the amount of time they invest.
In my opinion, it isn’t healthy to spend every other night, or even every night as some do, training for whatever tournament in an online game or actually having those tournaments. This aside from having random battles, grinding new lines or credits, even. There should be school/work or at the very least a life, family, friends, etc, and for some people, there seems to be a distinct lack of that. Of course, everyone is free to put as much time as they want into this game, but I hope they don’t lose sight of real life.
Last week we learned that instead of having the community staff we’ve been working with for a long time already, we’ll get a centralised staff based in RU. Considering the RU server already isn’t known for its democracy nor for allowing criticism, it’s a worrying change. Not to mention that we, as contributors, didn’t get any form of heads up about it, which, considering the fact we work quite closely with the staff, would have definitely been nice. The communication masterclass in WG still hasn’t taken place, apparently.
Then there’s the people that do disgusting things in the community. Since about two years now, I’ve gotten quite a bit of abuse in this game. This goes from namecalling, to sexism, to having my pictures taken from Facebook and spammed places with ‘jokes’ with it, to people drawing penises on them, or photoshopping my head onto porn images. It’s disgusting, and sickening. And those are just the things done to me personally. Other things done, directed at my clan, other clans, other people, can go as far or even further, such as the spamming of discord servers with necrophilia and beastiality, memes comparing people to Hitler, ISIS and whatnot.
I’ve never reacted in public about any of that. But of course that kind of stuff doesn’t just slide off, and of course I don’t just forget about it, especially when it’s aimed at me personally. My clan and other in game friends always help me through whatever happened, by making me laugh about it, be it about the things themselves, or about the ones that posted it or spread it. They’re there for me unconditionally, and that’s one of the main reasons Phoenix is my home in every way. And I always find myself thinking that if that is what the people that make those things, or order them made, need in order to feel better about themselves, just how sad is their life?
Since it came into existence, Phoenix has always felt like more than ‘just’ a clan. It was never only an in game clan. Even though quite a few of us have started playing a lot less since all the bad updates rolled out, we still hang out and have fun together. We’re more like a family than anything else. That’s why there’s very few people that actually leave it, with the exception of the spree we had when it became clear we wouldn’t go for being particularly competitive because we wanted to focus on the Clan itself more.
Yes, I’m actually going somewhere with all of this, and with listing all the things we already know.
A doctor in London has been accused of sexually abusing at least 118 people, including minors.
Last Tuesday, 29 people died and 64 were injured in an attack by a suicide bomber and people throwing grenades at praying people in Afghanistan.
Dozens of people have lost their lives in Venezuela since April, for protesting against economic changes that have happened there, and protesting because they fear their government is changing things to slowly become a dictatorship.
One of the world’s most influential countries is being run by someone that has no decorum and few morals, that destroys or ruins things one tweet at a time and says something more ridiculous every day.
There are currently 65.6 million people running from war or violence in the world. To give you an idea – of the whole world populace, that’s 1 person out of every 113.
Or, closer to home; two of my clanmates are going through something no family should have to go through, someone close to me recently had a miscarriage, my grandma’s health is deteriorating and she won’t be with us all that much longer, and someone I love very dearly lost his best friend a week ago.
These are just a few examples, but you get my point.
When you look at all of that, and then think about it – what exactly are we complaining about? Are we really making this big a fuss about an online game? Because, let’s not forget that fact – it is a game. It’s made for your enjoyment. It’s made to have fun with.
I get it, I really do. The game isn’t perfect. WG isn’t perfect, far from it. But I’m getting tired of all the negativity, of people being unable to do anything but complain about the game and all that’s wrong with it, repeating themselves just about daily on different platforms.
I’m choosing to move on, and I’m choosing to enjoy the game as it is, to be less frustrated with the things that go wrong or that have changed for the worse, and focus on the things that go right, to have some laughs, to actually view it as a game again. If something is changed in the game that I don’t agree with, I will always speak up about it – because if I don’t, then I definitely have no chance of changing anything and because I feel it’s my responsibility as a contributor – but there’s only so many times I can repeat the same arguments, and that goes for others too. If what we don’t like is not going to change, it’s not going to change, and that’s just something we all have to accept eventually, because talking to a wall won’t get us anywhere either and kicking it will only end up breaking your own toes, not the wall.
Again, it’s a game. You’re free to spend your money on it, or not. You’re free to invest your time and energy in it, or not. Count your blessings – you have the freedom and the luxury to be upset over a game. But if you’re not enjoying it, if you can only complain about your team, the enemy team, matchmaking, how much things cost, or how the game has gone to ruin, you shouldn’t play it. Find another game, or something else, that will actually give you enjoyment.
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SInce when is Putin running a twitter?