Balthazars

Thread necro! I've just finished grinding through the Pershing in late 2019. 175 games with a 51.43% win rate, 1,290 damage per game with about 600 assist. I ground it out pretty much entirely from stock. So, for an average-ish player, it's... pretty meh. In an day and age where standard 240 alpha mediums are well and truly power-crept, the Pershing is just lacking something. While it doesn't particularly suck in any one particular area, it doesn't excel in any particular area either, which leaves it middling. Gun handling is okay, although not brilliant (although common for the class and tier). Penetration on standard rounds is okay, although the gold round is very good (it's damned expensive though). DPM is mediocre, especially when you compare it to things like the Swedish medium line and the Italian auto-reloaders. It's a pretty big medium, so it can't hide as effectively as a T-44 (it's main competition as an all-rounder medium in the tier). Armour is useless on the hull and the turret only occasionally against lower tiers (unlike say the Cent). Mobility is okay, not outstanding. So yeah, just an average package. Not awful but in the current environment, nothing special. There are far more interesting options in the class and tier in this day and age. Was happy to move on.

I don't know if I really miss any of these maps. Swamp, South Coast and Pearl River were okay to me. Dragon's Ridge is the only one I never played on. Hidden Village was awful, as was Severogorsk in the version before they took it out (it was okay before that). Those two the main ones I would never want to see back. The rest were all meh.

You forgot the conclusion: best tank in tier 6.

The problem is that you're relying on those troll bounces, it's not really that reliable, and even with the troll nature, there are many weaknesses to the armour. Perhaps I was a bit more unlucky than most, but I never relied on the armour, it was all about minimizing exposure, conserving HP and keeping your big alpha in play until the late game (as you're great at mopping up with the alpha strike). I also don't tend to fire a lot of gold, which probably didn't help me too much either. I don't have the 50TP proto, but the standard tier 8 is better tier-for-tier than this one, which is my keeper in the line.

As my first (and so far only) 3-marked tank, the VK 30.01P automatically defaults to best tier 6 tank in the game.

So, finished grinding through this tank this week. How does it stack up for your average-ish player? It's good, but not great. On paper it looks like a great combination: it has a gun with generally good stats, awesome alpha for the tier, decent mobility for a heavy and some decent armour stats. In practice, it ends up trolling you constantly. The gun in particular I found to be extremely troll. Sometimes it works and you stack up massive damage numbers easily. It's also a great bully when top tier because of the alpha strike. Other times, you bounce off lower plates and other weakspots like there is no tomorrow, and it does take a long time to aim in so snap-shots are a lottery. The armour troll too. It's difficult to use due to the cupolas on the turret plus a turret roof that can be penned by big guns with a bit of downward angle onto it. The hull has logical weakspots plus that little raised drivers hatch which can be awkward to hide, and the side armour can be easily penned if you slightly over-angle. But then you get games where you block 4k easily as everything bounces. I wouldn't keep it, but it's a pretty easy grind, and it's certainly good at winning. 55.3% win rate for me after 235 games, so above average for my tier 9s. 2,044 average damage (a bit low-ish) and 520 assist. Quite a well balanced tank overall.

The WG post seems to suggest that the no-stun shells are supposed to have a proportional damage output (i.e. damage relative to HP pools) similar to what they currently have on the live server, which is supposed to be about 15% higher damage, so yes, not a huge increase. It's basically, keep the stun but be doing less damage relative to the increased HP pools per shot, do the same damage relative to the increased HP pools but without the stun, or risk it all with full-pen AP/HEAT. While I don't like the idea of full-pen AP/HEAT coming back (unless the damage is in-line with overall average damage per shot for the tier), overall it's a sensible move. One of the primary issues with low-tier arty in particular is that their damage output is way too high relative to the HP, so given lower tiers in particular have seen a good spike in HP, it would completely undo that work if they gave arty an increase in damage as well as keeping the stun. This seems like a decent compromise.

So, the Caernarvon in 2019...yep, still OP. After getting mega-buffed, this thing is now one of the best tier 8 tanks in the game. It's not as well-rounded as the IS-3 but in the right circumstances where you can leverage its strengths, it will blow all the opposition away. The DPM is absolutely insane. The alpha is more than reasonable given the rate of fire. The gun handling is pretty decent (aim time is a bit slow but it can snap reasonably well). The gun callibre is enough to reliably track opponents - and oh, if they don't have a repair kit available, this thing track-kills enemies like no other (so many times you will kill near full-health enemy heavy tanks who lack repair skill and who either don't have a repair kit or its on cooldown). The turret is excellent (only really had issues with high-tier HEAT on the turret forehead), and the hull is good enough to reliably bounce lower tiers and troll when angled same and occasionally higher tier guns. What's bad? The mobility isn't great. It has a great huge fat ass and horrid hull deck which means that arty - especially the low-tier fast, firing bastards (tier 6 arties will murder this thing as they can do 350+ damage reliably to you per shot if they know how to aim) - will end you pretty quickly. Penetration is weak when going up against tier-10 superheavies from the front, but hey, you're a tier 8. 95 games (without a premium account as I've let it lapse), 58.95% win rate, average damage of 1,900 and 589 assist. I managed to Mastered it once, which took a ridiculous 1,515 base XP, which gives an idea of what good players are capable of in this thing on a regular basis. The win rate for me is only below the O-Ho for tier 8s, and the only one tank that has comparable is the Cent I (which for some reason has a very high win rate, over more games too). The DPG is the highest of all my tier 8s, about 100 damage more than the IS-3. This thing is utterly insane. And it's fun to play too. Keeper.

Tried it just now a little bit. I agree starting with just 8 ammo is ridiculous. My first game, I only found 2 green crates (no ammo) before my first encounter with an enemy. Because he also isn't an idiot, it's a bit of a duel and we're bouncing shots off each other. Except I run out of ammo before he does (he had killed another player) and then I'm left trying to run away to find more ammo. Radar ping the map...not a single ammo crate in sight (plenty of green). By the time you run further, you just run into more enemies, and because you are all the same speed, it's very hard to lose someone, especially if they are set on killing you. So frustrating. Not sure I can stand to keep on grinding in this mode, it looks like it has the capacity to be irritating as all heck.

Used up my two fuel yesterday shortly after it dropped, without much information. It didn't seem much fun. At level 1, trying to stop 4 Panthers at the end when standard ammo bounces off the side and half the team of pubbies are already dead (i.e. used up all 3 of their tanks) means there is no hope of victory. Another game-mode where the grind seems absolutely unreal (they've killed Frontline in this way too). It's like WG is determined to make grinding in the standard game as quick as possible while simultaenously every event has a torturous, unrealistic grind unless you play the game like a full-time job. While a piece of improved equipment is pretty nice carrot given the bond cost, the game limit per day means you're pretty screwed in terms of your progress if you get unlucky in just one game.

I thought most people grew out of designing double-barrelled tanks once they got past the age of 6... It looks ridiculous, and it's hard to think of a way it could be designed where it would not be ridiculously OP.

So, the T20 in May 2019... Still a good tank at tier 7. It has great (if no longer that special after the introduction of the Leo and the Italian line) alpha for a medium in this tier, with quite good penetration (especially gold ammo), excellent mobility and flexibility with gun depression. Has a relatively small profile so can do sort-of-scouting roles when absolutely required. On the downside, the gun handling isn't great, although still nowhere near as rage-inducing compared to say the Swedish Leo, and the rate of fire is as expected a bit on the slow side. Armour is also pretty much non-existent and you will get penned by most things. Overall though the package is nicely balanced, and the tank is probably one of the best mediums in the tier, and even when bottom tier the gun and mobility means that you're never going to be completely useless. 70 games to finish the grind, 57% win rate, 1,256 DPG - right on par with my T-43, only a little less than the P43 ter and way better than my Leo.

I'm pretty happy with it. There's probably only one map which I totally hate in all tank types at all times - and that is Mountain Pass, which is the single most restrictive and corridory map in the entire game, which I hate with an absolute passion. It is awful to play as a slow heavy (long drive to get anywhere useful, and that crossing point in high tiers often means losing HP), awful as a paper medium (no flanking opportunities), awful as a scout (few safe spots to actually spot anything), half the map isn't useful, and it is entirely possible due to bad deployment/imbalanced teams to get trapped in one third of the map for the entire game. Hate it in all circumstances. Delighted to have it as my single map excluded.