Balthazars

I'm no unicorn, but the 703II certainly feels pretty OP. It's a small sample size so far (only 12 games) but I have a 83% win rate, and 2.1k average damage, with 381 assist. I even managed to ace the silly thing in my very first game in it. These are figures well beyond any of my other tier 8s (mediums, heavies, whatever). In contrast, the E75TS (24 games) has only a 63% win rate and average damage of 1,727 (542 assist) which is more in line with my other heavies. Yes, it's possible (even likely) with more games that will come back down closer to my typical averages, but the tank feels very powerful (especially if you avoid a tier 10 game). I agree with @hazzgar that the flexibility the gun offers, plus the fact that it has not-awful mobility and very good armour for the tier means even for a poor-ish player, it is a very powerful tool. The fact you had to gamble with loot-boxes for this OP vehicle just ups the "**** WG what were they thinking" mentality for the whole thing.

Well, I've just finished grinding it. Nice round 100 games, for a 52% win rate, 1,446 DPG with 529 assist. Pretty decent results, on par with some of my heavy tanks in the same tier. It's definitely fun when fully upgraded, and will echo the comments that the gun is simply awesome for the tier: alpha comparable to a heavy tank, great penetration and darned good gun handling. I do find the suspension awkward to use (sometimes you really seem to need to be at an absolute crawl, if not completely stationary for it to kick in) but it does allow you to minimise exposure and get off some funky shots not possible in other vehicles. Armour is trash but that's kind of expected. Mobility is solid as well, and given it's a flat pancake, camo is good too. Kind of functions a bit like a highly mobile TD. Avoiding early trading seems important as the alpha strike otherwise lets it clean up pretty well in the late-game if you still have your HP. Stock grind is a bit painful. Mobility isn't brilliant stock, and the gun is only manageable. Overall though, a very fun package, particularly given most mediums in the tier have been power-crept to death by premium tanks or are simply so badly outclassed (the whole range of 230-250 alpha mediums with 7+ second reloads, when compared to this at 360 alpha with a <10 second reload is simply no comparison). Keeper.

Not all of us are purple unicorns, you know! For the record, I meant that my DPG was the same as my Type 64. I actually only have a 50.4% win rate in my Type, because yes, I don't really know how to play actual scout light tanks, to be honest. I mostly just drive around like a headless chicken.

Okay, the 59-16 in late 2019/early 2020 - after starting on the Czech line, thinking that it was the last nation that I didn't have a complete line finished up to tier 10, I realised that I haven't done that for the Chinese. I know the heavies are the best line, but I haven't ground a light tank line for a while and the mid-tier lights look kind of fun so decided to take the plunge. I quite like it. It's basically the same as the Type 64 (used the 76mm), with slightly better pen, more ammo, better camo and what feels like better mobility (although lower top speed). I quite like it, it's fun and can act as a pseudo-medium when required. In fact, I often played it like that, particularly because it's so long since I played a light tank that isn't a Derp-49 that I can't remember where to go on most maps anymore as a scout... 25 games, 56% win rate, with 815 DPG (exactly the same as my Type 64, although that has 100 more games), and 311 assist. I'll probably hang onto it.

I've not played the Mle 51 so can't really compare, but I don't really disagree with anything you've said. Personally I have definitely been caught out trying to relocate or get to a position that you're just a little too slow (or other tanks on the enemy team are just a little too quick) to actually arrive at safely, so I agree that the speed is probably it's biggest limiting factor. It has to get to a particular location safely, and because of its speed, that can sometimes depend on the line-ups. It's also true that arty absolutely craps all over this tank when you're trying to anchor a flank, although to be fair that's true of pretty much any tank, although the Conq obviously suffers more due to its thin armour and huge ass. I think your comment about it needing to be 'the heavy' in the team also really shows when trying to use the stock gun, because not only do you have to then deal with the two issues highlighted above, you then also have to deal with weak penetration and bad alpha, which I think is a big part of the struggle with the stock grind. I still find it a lot of fun to play though.

First thread necro for 2020 (at least where I am)! The Christmas bonuses are great for completing grinds, and I have a lot of time on my hands during this period of time, so why the heck not. Anyway, the Conqueror in 2019 (which is when I did most of this grind) for an average player. Yes, it's still really awesome, and to be honest, this is probably how you balance a heavy tank properly. It has clear strengths: the awesome gun, with great penetration on standard rounds, a good gold round, good gun handling gun depression, great DPM, plus a turret that stands up to anything except tier-10 tank destroyer gold or those odd shots that nail the commander's hatch dead on (although those are rare). It also has decent enough mobility, enough hull armour to troll lower tier (and occasionally same tier) tanks, and can also sidescrape pretty darned well. It then has clear weaknesses too, with a lower plate that is still capable of being penned by lower tiers, paper side and rear and poor traverse which makes it vulnerable to being flanked. Also, it has a fat ass so arty will make you its b*tch. A comment about the stock grind: it's pretty painful. The stock gun (top gun on the Cearn), while awesome a tier below, really shows it's limitations a tier higher, despite a further boost to its already ridiculous DPM, due to its lack of alpha and penetration against the greater number of super-heavies that you have to fight a tier higher. The lack of alpha just means that you lack holding power and deterrence, especially when your team is relying on you to anchor a flank. At times it will work pretty well, but other times you'll feel its limitations. 220 games to finish the grind. Only a 51.35% win rate, which is disappointing for me, although some of that is due to struggling to repair the win-rate (46% at one stage) during the stock grind. 2,019 PDG with 600 assist, which is on the low side but it's still increasing and actually isn't too far away from 2-mark (which I find pretty surprising). I'm likely going to keep playing it for a while, and the DPG is going up still, so yeah. Definitely a keeper, it's good fun.

I've continued my power-grind through the tier 8 thanks for blueprints and Christmas bonuses plus other stuff. All I can say is thank goodness for that! 40 games as with blueprints I managed to get 72% discount on the research cost for the T50. Abysmal 45% win rate, and gutter trash DPG of 1,096 with 460 assist. For comparison, I had a better DPG in my very first tier 8 medium, the Panther II, and I have better DPG than this in 2 of my tier 7 mediums (T20 and T-43). It basically has nothing going for it. It is huge, has zero armour, mediocre gun depression so minimising exposure is difficult, gun handling isn't great and only so-so- mobility. It doesn't get awesome DPM or penetration either, although with a decent crew and optics it can put out some decent view range numbers so at least you're not blind too. Because I didn't play many games it's hard to judge between the top 88 or the 105 gun options. My gut feel is towards the top 88 as the gun handling is better, as is the penetration and DPM, but the alpha strike of the 105 is hard to ignore, but in both cases it's finding whatever works best for you to make your suffering a little more tolerable. For a moment I considered playing up to 60 games to get a bit of a better feel for the tank, given all my tech-tree tier 8s have at least 90 games in them, but after the last couple of games I realised that I already knew that it's an awful tank and that I hate it so decided to sell it and move on...plus I need those Christmas boosters etc. for the stock T50 grind!

So, with a bunch of blueprints from this year's Christmas event, and given this is the last nation where I have not completed grinding at least one line through to tier 10 (well, this nation only has one line, but hey)... I decided to drop a lot of blueprints and free XP, which meant I start the journey at this thing. Big mistake, given the tier 5 and tier 6 look kind of fund to play (I guess I'll go back to them someday). In late 2019, this thing is just...frustrating mediocre to bad. It's basically a tier 6 tank with a tier 7.5 gun (kind of feels like a stock tier 8 medium tank gun). The gun is good for the tier, with decent penetration and good alpha, but the handling is really, really bad. The platform itself suffers heavily given it is basically a tier 6: no armour worth speaking about, it's big and doesn't handle very well (you need the elite engine to even feel like a medium tank). Lack of gun depression compared to many of its peers also means it is not very flexible. 30 games, given I have enough blueprints to unlock the tier 8 straight away as well. A flat 50% win-rate, 947 DP (with about 340 average assist). I see a few comparisons to the T-43, which isn't a bad one given that is also basically a tier 6 platform a tier higher. To me they are in completely different ballparks. For the T-43, with just 45 games (so a very similar sample size) I had 57.78% win rate, 1,288 DPG with about 398 assist. No comparison, the T-43 is just flat out better - it has far better mobility and while it's gun is a lot worse, the better mobility and smaller size lets it flank and utilise it's gun much better.

So, just completed the grind through the 50-120 as 2019 closes out. What do I think? I hate it, and think it is a steaming pile of trash. 220 games, 51.82% win rate, 1,741 average damage, 442 average assist. Pretty much my worst performing tier 9 tank. It seems to take all of the worst aspects of the 50-100 the tier before an amplify them. The gun, if it works, is obviously nice with good pen and a meaty 1,200 clip potential. The problem is the gun handling on this thing is atrocious, bloom is massive, it aims slow, accuracy is poor at long ranges and the 3.33 intra-clip is so disgusting that it's hard to even trade 2-1 when certain tanks poke into you. Plus no gun elevation, and while it has 9 degrees of gun depression, it often feels like less because you expose a lot of the turret to poke ridges given how tall the tank is. Additionally, it's huge with zero armour and with low HP, meaning if you get spotted you'll die. As an auto-loader with a long clip reload you can't operate independently either. The bad gun means you need to second-line, but it's so hard to hide because of the size. Mobility is decent for a heavy, but it's not even that fast (barely keeps up with things like T-10s and WZs). Basically no redeeming features. Sure, occasionally when you find yourself avoiding attention and get to unload the clip into unsuspecting enemies you can rack up the damage quickly, but unless you're very consistent, the garbage games will outnumber the nice ones. Cannot wait to sell it. I hope the 50B is at least less frustrating!

I dropped AUD 136ish (forget the exact) for 75 boxes. Tanks: All of the low-tier ones, including some multiples (particularly of the Sexton and PzIII ausf K of which I got at least 3 of both, didn't bother counting the rest) Obj 730 II E 75 TS SU-130 Skins: Obj 430U Obj 140 E100 Amx 105 E4 Gold: About 30,000 including from doubles of premium tanks Credits: Actually forgot to calculate, but doesn't seem that much, definitely under 5 million. Premium Account: 64 days Also got the new Christmas commander. Overall, my luck has been good with the Christmas loot-boxes. Last year I also snagged all the tier 8 premiums that I didn't have (IS3A, Defender) and got the skins for the tanks that I actually have the in the garage, so I find the investment quite worthwhile once also factoring in the Premium time and gold. In my opinion definitely the best value-for-money when you consider that a straight-up premium tank (e.g. the Renegade, which I could only get to 40% with limited playtime is just under half of what I paid for the boxes). That said, obviously my RNG has been good two years in a row. The 703 II was in the last set of 5 boxes I opened, the E75TS in the 3rd-last set so for a while it wasn't looking anywhere near as good. I screwed up and bought the wrong set of decorations though, I wanted to go for Lunar for the sakura skin but bought the New Year set instead for the stupid carpet...

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.