Howdy Folks!
I've been thinking to myself. If I joined the game today, what is advice I would want about the game? i'm not talking about which CC to watch for more knowledge on how to play, or which guides to read for what tanks to get. Those topics are the big things.
I'm talking about advice for things that are 'common knowledge' to a veteran of the game. Possibly it could be creature comfort settings in game that make gameplay or garage usage more convenient. Maybe it is a hint on how to save time while grinding. Maybe even a hint on how to find hidden credits you didn't know you had.
I'll start with some creature comfort tips that will help any player out.
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I'll start with the 4 most important options to turn on in the game settings. On the general tab, scroll down till you see this area on the bottom right. Make sure the selected 4 are ticked on (even if you leave the others off). By default, they are not on. These show you the following on your minimap:
Proximity Spotting – 50 meter auto-spot circle around your vehicle (spotted no matter what if enemy tank drives through this spot)
View range (how far you can spot for yourself – especially if your view range is lower than the 445 max)
Maximum View Range (how far away you can spot an enemy tank – 445 meters is the max range anyone can spot)
Draw Circle – aka Render Range. This is how far away you can see enemy tanks spotted by others – outside your own spotting range – before they disappear outside of your render range.
What used to be a 3rd party mod is now an integral part of the experience. Learning to use this information in match will help you out greatly in your WoT career, especially as you start to use and practice your upcoming learned knowledge of spotting and camo mechanics.
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Next, is a brand new feature to the game that will help veterans and new players alike. While still in the Settings menu, go over to the Reticle tab at the top, and then the subtab Outlining.
Set it to simplified on Outlining Type (so that 3d styles don't show non-hitbox 3d art as possible hitbox). It will be up to you which you prefer for penetrable or impenetrable (for fill vs. texture), but pick what is comfy and easy for you to remember. This way, once you get a reticle on a tank behind bushes/trees, then you can much more easily see if there is a hidden rock there, or hidden soft cover that will reduce your penetration, but still give you a chance to hit and cause damage.
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Now, while staying in Settings, move on over to the Marker Tab, on the Enemy Team Subtab
What I have highlighted in Yellow is the most important information you will need. The other stuff is nice to have, but some people think it clutters your UI. Others think it still isn't enough enough. Either way, having Health Indicator checked gives you a bar that empties from right to left as the enemy tank loses HP. The 2nd is to indicate vehicle Health in HP, instead of percentages. As dumb as it sounds, WG presents all stats for damage done and health of tanks in garage in HP Numbers. Yet they default to percentages in match. Change it to HP left/total, and you will know for sure if your 240 alpha gun is likely within range of that 5% tank – or in other words, it has 300 hp left you didn't know about.
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Finally, to round out the first set of Tips Veterans Forget to Give, Collector's Vehicles.
What is a Collector's Vehicle? It is a vehicle that used to be in the tech tree, until WG did a general "clean-up" of the trees to help streamline (so they claim) the grinding experience. What this did was take many tanks of tier 5 and below out of the game, as well as some branches up to and including Tier 10's.
To access these tanks, you must first have researched up to and unlocked (but not necessarily purchased) a tank of the same nation/tier. These tanks work exactly like Tech Tree tanks (unlockable modules, and many share research with tech tree tanks). They have no bonuses or special abilities attached to them. What they are, though, is a way to try out some nostalgia from the past, or even a possible way to find new fun tanks that are not in the standard tree anymore.
So, if you really want to be a history buff of sorts and drive a Firefly, M3 Lee, or many more iconic tanks of history (or made-up history, whatever you drive is up to you), then give this spot a look once in a while. Actually, give it a look now, and plan ahead if you want to get a chance at a unique Tier X that is nowhere else (but again, you still have to at least unlock a tier X of the same tree, in this case, the French and Chinese Collector Tier X's).
I hope you newbies to the game find this helpful, and hopefully, this is the first of many such "Tips that Veterans forget to give Newbies" posts to come.
