4Game

(Too many words to put in the master thread) After playing a few battles on the test and doing a lot of fiddling about in the garage these are some of the biggest problems I've found. They clump into 3 main points; 1) Inadequate translation of crew strength, 2) Gold mandatory & punishing for people who play more than one tank in a nation's line, 3) Problematic new skills

1)
-The relative power of a 3-4 skill crew does not translate at all in the new system. These are the crews that most people will be playing with for their WOT career and they are incredibly weak in the new system.

-This is even worse for any crews who have, or are made of "Zero-skill" crews. My Bat-chat crew of 4.5 skill Campaign female commanders converts to a 47 skill-crew, my 3.6 skill STB crew of OG dudes? 49 skill-crew. These zero-skill crews (or now "instructors") used to be highly prized as they would allow you to gain a proficient crew in a new or much loved vehicle very quickly. If this crew change goes through everyone who used them will be penalized by way of receiving a weaker "new" crew.

-On top of that the bonus these "Instructors" provide to your skills is weak at best but more accurately described as sad.

-My best crew who I've played with since 2011 (Chinese MT's) only translates to a 70 skill-crew, this is laughable when they were 4.93 skill crews with no zero skill

-This is a problem because the 75 skill+ is where you start to see overall boost to "vehicle handling" which is more powerful than BIA. They removed the 10% crew skill your commander gives to your crew and bundled it into "vehicle handling" making a 75-skill crew so much more powerful or food mandatory. I sunk 1,000,000 free exp (5million crew xp) into a converted 4.5 skill crew and now they are 75+ with a always on 15% "vehicle handling" boost, this is an insane level of power discrepancy between 75+ and sub-75 skill crews.

-Later I used approx 12 Training manuals to raise a 67 crew to a 75+, that's 3,000,000 crew exp for 24 million credits. 3 million crew exp to get above 75…I shudder to think of how many battles that would take.

-However what about max instructors up to doubling your crew exp?! That's still thousands and thousands of battles (1k exp, on an elite-premium vehicle with the 100% boost from instructors = ~2750-3000 crew xp per battle…over 1000 1k-exp wins to) not to mention getting up to 67 skill in the first place.

2)
Ok so the skills don't transfer over well, but at least you can crew multiple vehicles right? Well kinda but not really.

-It costs 700 gold to add on to each additional vehicle, even when you've unlocked OR PAID 1500 gold to do so. The 90% credit option takes 10% of TOTAL exp which at 70-75 skills can be close to 1,000,000 crew xp (this is why we don't have sub-100% crews any more, so that they can force us to spend gold instead of retraining for -10% VEHICLE skill and playing a few matches with diminished performance).

-Further more, this change screws over people with multiple crews. For example having an obj 140 crew (old 2.9skill, new 42 skill) and an obj 430U (old 3.7 skill new 49 skill) crew I now have to select the best crew for both, with the other crew being made redundant and useless. There is no way to say merge crew exp together. So anyone who took the time to grind out new crews for tanks they enjoyed but progressed from or from different lines, is now being punished.

3)
Finally we reach the new skills/perks and right away we can see some large problems.

-Fighting spirit (deal 1/2 your hp in damage to get stacking 2.5% vehicle handline per kill, up to 3 kills) requires kills, I have had many games where I get 2x my vehicle's HP in damage before I get a kill, if I get a kill. This will undoubtable encourage people holding their fire to secure the kill or blocking allies from getting the kill and other negative behavior simply to get the perk active. Even if I were to get 3 kills that's only a 7.5% boost, which is still dwarfed by a 75+ skill commander.

-Rapid fire only has benefits for auto-loaders and sub 5sec reload tanks (at tier 10 this is the K-91 and maybe 907). This is in effect a buff to auto-loaders who now get 10% better gun handling and a nerf to all tanks who have reloads longer than 5 sec (STB and 140 maybe benefiting)

-Repairs, camo, View-range perks, "vehicle handling" (old BIA, new Coherence), snap shot and smooth ride are all still just as strong and pretty much required, which demands 60 skill points and would only allow you the Tactical training talents or the technical training talents. Seeing as the core mechanics of WOT have not changed to accompany the crew changes, not running the above mentioned perks puts you at a marked disadvantage 99% of the time.

-I really like the direction WG is going in with the addition of situational perks but they just fall so short of being attributes we can build a loadout or playstyle around for 90% of the tanks and for the other 10% they are a flat buff to the playstyle those vehicles already cultivate (Active recon for EBR's, Rapid fire for autoloaders, Clean shot for TD's and Arty)

However It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, what could be changed to make it work better? Because as it stands I truly believe crew 2.0 would ruin WOT.

-Allow merging of crews from same nationality and tank type to combine crew exp

-make the "vehicle handling" bonus 2.5% per every 10 skills or similarly laddered up to 75-skills level with every 75+ level adding 1-0.5%

-Make skills cap at 10/10 but allow instructor's bonus to count as part of the required skills to unlock talents. Allowing for more talent and perk selection but removing the ability to stack specific perks (Camo, view range, adrenaline rush ect ect)

-Make Instructors provide a boost of 8-10 to your commander skill which can be stacked upon the 75-skill cap. This would make assigning Instructors a serious decision as well as making the unlocking of additional instructor slots a big accomplishment. It would also allow you to reach a strong crew level more quickly but still make an end-game crew-grind to get 75 "base" commander skill

-Change "rapid-fire" talent to a three times stacking +3.33% gun handling and -0.01 dispersion buff, can only increase stacks for 2 sec after shell is reloaded, resets upon missing. Making it beneficial for all tanks/tankers who hit their shots.

-Change "fighting spirit" to activate after 1/2 hp dealt in damage +1 kill for stacking 2.5% OR 100% hp dealt gives 5% vehicle handling, talent gives which ever bonus is higher not both.

-Arty cannot benefit from the "clean shot" talent

-Commanders training on second and third vehicle costs 500 gold each or 500,000 credits for second and 1.5-2 million for third at no loss of crew XP

Honestly I really like the direction WG is trying to go with this, but I think the implementation is way off the mark. Personally I would hope crew 2.0 is not implemented. 6th sense becoming a basic feature not a perk is a good call. Yet beyond that I feel as though the current crew system is as much a part of WOT as the tanks themselves and should not be messed with.