Okey so… Yeah, 1.5.1 CT was out since thursday. I now played on friday 13 games in the changed Leopard 1. I as per usual did a video explaining everything I am going to write down with It is long tho. I try to short everything I say in there down to make it more digestible and to be used as feedback for the forums.
Why do I care so much about the Leopard 1:
First things first. I like the Leopard 1 a lot. It is a unique Medium and was one of my first mediums in the game. It reminds me of the old days of WoT I played with my friend ( little wn8 rat played 140 to pad his stats :P) It used to be one of my most played tanks in the game as you can look up . Already back then the Leopard 1 was very skill based. You have to know positioning, where you can pen and how the map evolves as well as use your concealment. It is what I liked about the tank. Back then it had one of the better / best DPM's in the game and was the only sniper tank with a 105mm gun which was capable of more or less accurate hitting its target. Still back then the accuracy RNG didn't do it any favours but it was "okey"… managable at best.
How do I imagine a Leopard 1:
The Leo 1 has no armor to speak of. It has the worst T10 medium tank armor in the game if I am not mistaken. Even Batchat can be more bounce due to the more angled parts. It trades the non existing armor for a potent gun, basically its a glass canon. This is also in line with what Germany planed during the development of the Leopard 1. They said screw it and went for hardly any armor what so ever because they where certain that HEATs won't ever be stopped by better armor. So they opted out to make this ambush vehicle which was able to get into a position quickly, make one precise shot and destroy the enemy tank. This can also partly work in WoT, except for the destroy the enemy in one shot. Anyway, when I heard of the engineering plans of Germany about the Leopard 1 it was clear to me that the Leopard 1 should have amazing mobility and an amazing gun to compensate for its bulky look and nonexisting armor. This was also what the Leopard 1 more or less is in the game right now. It has the best T10 med topspeed and has this very much known L7 Royal Ordnance gun. The problem so far is though that you don't have any real adventages over other tanks with an L7 gun or other mediums. Your DPM is worse then the one on a AMX 30B or Hovermedium. With the introduction of newer mediums and rebalancing of older ones it is now one of the worse T10 DPMs in the game. Only 430U and E50M are worse by 100+DPM. So you don't have this advantage anymore.
You still got a accurate gun, just the problem is with the accuracy system in WoT it hardly makes any difference if you have a 0.28 or a 0.35 accuracy gun (.).
To the mobility. Yes it is good, lacks HP/t ratio tho. The tank accelerates like a truck. Is it historical? Yes. The Tank hat historically a 19.6 HP/t ratio, in game it is even better at 20.6 . At least it had a decent back wards speed to get away from a sniping position as you lake decent camo to shoot in a bush at 380m.
So in conclusion the Leopard 1 should be an accurate, fast tank which ambushes its enemies. Somewhat what we have in game, just not potent enough
Lets look at the changes now:
So with Update 1.5.1 CT 1 WG decided to adress some problems the tank had in game. Like the lack of accuracy on the move ( A2+ variants had a Gyro to help with accuracy) and buffed slightly the turret traverse accuracy and Aimtime. Those changes are welcome and definitely reflect what I would have done different for the Leopard 1.
The changes to the gun however looked very weird to me. Why give it a gun with more Alpha but less reload? The biggest problem for the Leopard 1 is and will always be that it is not consistent. On Paper you have such a great accuracy yet as already explained it doesn't matter due to how accuracy works in WoT. I found myself often missing several shots in a row because the gun simply didn't wanted to hit remotely close to where I aimed. Hitting a hull of a Emil 1 on 350 meters starts to be a challenge which is just laughable. So what I would have done is to give the tank less reload time and less Alpha. Something in the ways of K-91. Maybe 360 Alpha ( btw its sad to see that the changed Type 61 makes a better Leopard 1 then the Leo 1… or the changes they showed to the AMX 30B) and give it quicker reload so it is not too punishing for yourself when you miss a shot. After all you will have a new one ready in 5+ seconds anyway.
So now with the higher Alpha gun you drift towards a playstyle I would call "run and gun". Get into position, make a shot and reposition. Like I can get used to it but then again, why did WG decide to throw this Idea out of the window by butchering parts of its mobility? So now we have a gun which got a whooping 30 DPM more then post change… omg… amazeballs, right? Leo PTA got 130more. (Speaking of it. Leo PTA is Tier for Tier much better then Leopard 1 after the change… so you don't need to bother gettign Leo1. Saved you 6 mill credits fam :)) You recieved an additional 0.5 seconds reload time to "compensate" for the additional 30 dmg per shot. So I found myself often in Situations where I would had been able to hit an enemy again and do in total more dmg then with just the shot I did with the new 420 alpha gun ( in the video I have exactly such an example). So lets say WG is done and stays with the 420 Alpha, why did the Mobility have to take such a huge hit?
You gain 5 km/h more forward speed but loose crucial 3 km/h backwards speed. The problem with the 70 kph topspeed is that in 85% of the cases you won't achieve em. Did you ever played VK 7201K prebuff? It had 50kph topspeed. Only achieved it down hills. Its the same with the Leopard 1 right now on the CT. You hardly reach 65 kph let alone the 70kph on flat surfaces. Only downhill you get to 70. For that you lost 3 kph backwards speed. In the 13 games I played on CT I can say for sure that in 3 I died because of not being able to retreat fast enough. Most notable, getting hit at the turret roof by a FV 4005 Stage II because the roof was still exposed because I was too slow.
This nerf makes no sense to me what so ever. How do you want to make a tank "run and gun" style when you can't even run away? Your engine has not enough HP/t to make you go vroom away fast and your reverse gear got compromised making retreating even harder.
Also 100HP less. Had also some encounters where I would have survived with the additional 100 hit points… Feelsbadman
What do I recommend on doing:
First thing is adressing the gun:
- Zhe most important one would be DPM. Give it its old reload time of maxed out 7.03 sec. this gives it a DPM of 3600. Which is better then a lot of mediums, on par with russian hovermeds and worse then what STB-1 and K-91 has. It should be punishing for the enemy to drive in the open field and this DPM might help achieve such a punishment. Alternative give the Leopard 1 a gun with less alpha but more shots per minute to compensate for RNGaccuracy shots.
- A tad quicker aimtime would also help the run and gun style, not necessary tho.
- A bit more accuracy would also not hurt. Still so many shots go haywire and its frustrating when you have in your head that this should be the second most accurate tank in the game. Grille lvl of accuracy should be comfortabler to play then what we have now.
Mobility:
- If you add 70kph as topspeed, give it a stronger engine to make it actually reach this topspeed. I don't know, use better gasoline or smth to bump the HP/t ratio up to 23~25. Playing the STB-1 feels much more comfortable then Leopard 1 in a lot of cases as it is much more responsive to your inputs.
- Give back the 23 kph backwards speed. It makes no sense to give a bulky hunk of metal with no protection such bad mobility to get away. This is not a freeking Stage 2 which is going to one shot you. At best he deals 500 dmg if he is lucky, thats it. It also feels just so bad when you stand beside a Udes 15/16 or STB-1 and they just out drive you with their backwards speed, making those tank much more forgiving to play.
In Conclusion:
I was concerned when I saw the changes to the Leopard 1. It was always one of my favorite tank. Never meta or anything. It needs a lot of skill to perform well in it and it can be a fun tank. It is also one of the best looking tanks in the game. I don't want to make this tank broken or OP but just bare in mind that so many other mediums have comparable DPM's or even better ones. You pay a huge price in armor for the most accurate medium gun, yet you don't even have competitive DPM against hovermeds and the new kids on the block.
As final note. If those changes go through like this on the live server… I am scared… I am scared as hell what they are going to do to the E-100 and IS-4.
Thank you very much for your attention and I wish you a good weekend
Kind Regards
RagingRaptor
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/WorldofTanks/comments/bq52we/151_ct_iteration_1_leopard_1_conclusion_and/
