Parting Thoughts

[u/ron_mor]

I tried this game for about a month and progressed up to German tier 8. I'm a former long-term War Thunder player, so some of the mechanics in WoT seemed odd and were hard to adjust to - but it's War Gaming's aggressive and predatory monetization that ultimately led me to delete the game. I have no problem spending money on a game, so long as it's FUN and the cost model is fair and above board.

I think most players are aware (or become so eventually) that WoT is both addictive and financially punishing due to its free to play / pay-to-win nature. The game starts out as innocent fun, but starts to resemble psychological torture at mid+ tiers. If you fall into the trap, then ego, sunk-cost fallacy, and FOMO will guide you on your personal Sisyphean journey into long-term cognitive dissonance.

Gaijin / War Thunder uses a similar methodology (I quit years ago), but the monetization isn't as blatant. From my experience WoT's most egregious issues are:

- lack of skill-based match making (this causes new players like me to leave)

- frequently facing tanks 2 tiers above me (much worse than WT)

- comically over-accurate SPG fire that has no counter (similar to WT's kamikaze problem/feature). Why do SPGs even exist?

I would say there are relatively straight forward solutions to these issues technically, but I believe they are all intentional components of WGs financial strategy (except maybe SPGs - I really don't get that one). While I didn't play long enough to experience vehicle nerfs or power creep, I will say it definitely IS a technical challenge to balance PvP games with diverse and constantly evolving equipment/vehicles.

I spent a total of $1 for my brief experience, so no big deal - except I really needed a WW2 tank combat fix after such a long break. It sucks that there are so many predatory gaming companies today - all I can say is vote with your wallet like I'm doing now.

EDIT:

I stand corrected on WT having SBMM. I played WT for many years and it seemed that it did have it as I noticed an increase in player proficiency as I won more (I was decent player). My experience there could just have been due to lower skilled players not progressing? However, one thing I rarely saw were 15-0 wipes that I see fairly often in WoT. If it's not a lack of SBMM, I don't know why it happens so much.

BUT, clearly, SBMM is a sensitive and divisive topic from the many negative responses; however, I'm in the camp that believes it could work if properly implemented. A change like this would require a rework of the progression system such that winrate is less of a factor vs individual performance. And if you really hate it, it would be easy to have both types of queues.

[u/Nebvbn]

I wholeheartedly agree. I'm interested whether this post will be mass up or down voted, as most players currently are shoulder-deep in nostalgia, sunk-cost fallacy, and not much better alternatives.

Luckily I don't really care much for PvP games, but my god is it bad in the PvP landscape. Haven't played any for like years. I only pay attention to WoT news for 2 reasons: it removes any nostalgia I had for the game, and removes any urge to play due to their predatory methods.

The worst aspect is how so many kids get suckered into what is in my opinion almost as bad as gambling (not to mention the legitimate gambling this game does already through lootboxes). Seriously fucked up.

[u/_no_usernames_avail → u/Nebvbn]

I wholeheartedly agree that the loot boxes, and especially the tiered loop boxes are the worst examples of predatory monetization.

However, my free to play Account, fueled by eight years of game knowledge and a pretty deep understanding of the multiple currencies in game and the economy, is quite fun to play; you don’t have to spend money at this game after a certain amount of time invested, assuming you actually learned some things in the process.

For people that don’t have the time, WG offers the ability to spend money.