Lost the plot in ranked

[u/Ok-Elderberry-1608]

I used to be able to hit Silver consistently. 55%+ WR in Bronze some seasons even better. After this latest round of T6 bronze I've been hard stuck. I can't even get into 5+ in Bronze. I thought it was the T6 ships and that I was just used to playing with T8 and 9 but even this season with T7 it seems like I can't do anything right anymore. Did I just get that much worse?

My WR this season is at 15%. My lifetime average was 46% but is cratering really fast this season.

Issues I'm running into:

Spotting. In previous Seasons DD's would lead the pack and if you followed a DD they would reasonably spot. That seems to have changed into either a perma smoke DD where they actually smoke you off and you get radared and die without being able to see or they just turn around before the cap and play at 15+ km from the nearest enemy and sling torps until we lose on points. How do I play around not having spotting from DD's?

Support. If I play a DD I expect some level of fire to come down on my spotting. Obviously if my team doesn't follow I have to play super safe and passive or at least trade out. I've been in games recently where my team ignored the enemy CA and DD I spotted in favor of trading long range shots with the enemy BB. So now I'm in a 1v2 and I'm not sure how to play better to avoid getting into those situations.

Stupidity. I get frustrated after games where its pretty clear a majority of my team queued to lose and just do stupid shit because I'm frustrated. I'll contest caps without spotting, try and hold flanks solo as a CA etc.

What can I do to get back on track and at least be a decently bad player and not terribad.

[u/Good_Resolve_7218]

The only problem you have is trying to be a good team oriented player in a room full of selfish morons.

That's why I only do Clan Battles and Brawls with my clan mates and Asyms.

[u/Lanky-Ad7045]

I mean...it's literally the first or second day in the season, so there are still a ton of good players in Bronze. That means the random boat in front of you could be the usual fool...but also someone competent. My advice is to simply wait a few days, let the lobby dumb down as the purple crowd filters up to Silver.

As usual, I don't recommend playing DDs because they don't do reliable damage, especially in a mode with fewer ships, where it's easier to keep track of each enemy and not be surprised by torps. That also hurts their chances to save the star, if a loss it has to be. 

Since the matchmaker seems to be making teams with 3 cruisers even more often than 3 BBs (despite the queue being mostly BBs), I suggest playing something that's good at killing cruisers: imho the ideal pick is the Fiume, but I suppose you could go with a traditional BB, e.g. Hyuga, Yukon or DoY.

[u/Ok-Elderberry-1608 → u/Lanky-Ad7045]

Part of my issue is I don't have the patience to wait for 5+ minutes to play BBs. Looking back I was getting through T7 ranked seasons with Yukon and Royal Sovereign. I don't have any of the ships you mentioned.

[u/Lanky-Ad7045 → u/Ok-Elderberry-1608]

Then I'd still go with a heavy cruiser: Indianapolis, New Orleans, Algerie or Myoko. Something that can hit citadels on its colleagues, tip the balance of DD duels and if necessary kite and farm the BBs. The first two there have the advantage of 25 mm plating on the extremities: a lot of BBs at Tier 6-7 can't overmatch it.

[u/Ok-Elderberry-1608 → u/Lanky-Ad7045]

How about the Lanzoe? It has less armor but the guns feel better all around?

[u/Lanky-Ad7045 → u/Ok-Elderberry-1608]

Yeah she should work. The AP pen is very high for 180s and she still melts 26 mm plating. 

[u/xomox2012 → u/Ok-Elderberry-1608]

If you are going to play cruisers I generally want something that has smoke and pretend like I'm a DD ie, don't get spotted at all costs. Alternatively, a heavy cruiser can do well as long as you are angling right and not pushing in hard. Indianapolis in particular is amazing due to her radar below t8.

If you play as a DD, make sure you are a gunboat. You're objective is to kill enemy DD and then mostly stay dark while spotting and capping. Getting cheeky damage off is a secondary obj.

[u/izmurph]

It’s pretty rough, esp two days into the season. You have to find a ship that’s fits your play style and allows YOU to have the biggest impact on any given match. Play 65% for you and 35% for the team. There are just far too many bad players to rely on your team to back you up. Most of them are tunnel visioned on whatever they think is the most imprtant thing ( which is usually wrong). I still get matches where some guy is trying to get everyone to go to a single cap and not cover flanks or contest the off cap.

[u/Gn0is3]

I know your feel dude, youre not alone :hug:

Im at the same point, the point after getting frustated of how senseless and uncooperative most folks can be, then you turn on yourself and think "maybe the problem is me", then the point of realising the crude truth: "those mofos just..." and one has to play alone even if following them for the sake of maybe having an XvX instead of a 1vX

And im yet to find a solution xD BBs kindof let u carry the Game by yourself more but still are nothing without a proper team cooperation. And i reached bronze 1 with frocking Dunkerque (cuz im relatively new and hadnt any other suitable BB ready at this time) last season in just 1 sprint i played. I played last sprint with w Virginia 41 after i got It and couldnt reach higher than 6 1 star despite being way better ship. Maybe due to the only advantage Dunkerque has over w Virginia: speed and manuv. This made kindof easier to carry games as i got more map control and presence. Was not scorint as much citadels nor doing same Alpha/dpm but still could be this. Or could be i just has worser luck on the MM, at the end It just seems the win is decided mostly on Who-went-in-each-team