4Game

Hey folks!

As per the title – Perspective matters. An example of this from real life – I grew up at a time before the internet existed. Before cell phones existed. Before computers as more than spreadsheet crunchers existed. I can remember watching shows like Star Trek TNG and thinking how cool it would be to have datapads and tricorders.

Advance time from the 1980's to the early 2020's. It is no longer science fiction. I can hold in my hand a device that is almost as thin as a few sheets of paper that is a voice communicator, video communicator, library, encyclopedia, dictionary, still camera, motion camera, radio, tv, movie theater, computer, and arcade all at once. I now have a datapad from Star Trek! Except it isn't star Trek. It is a Cell Phone and/or Tablet. I can interact with it by touch or by voice, just like on Star Trek all those years ago! What was sci-fi is now reality, and seeing that change over my lifetime gives me a big appreciation for how far we have come.

My daughter (who is a teenager) has grown up in a world where the Internet has always existed. Cell phones and touch screens and wifi and all the nice modern conveniences have always been. She does not comprehend what life was like back in the 'stone ages' before the ubiquity of electronic media in every day life.

So, what is the point of all this old-man rambling? The same thing happens here in World of Tanks. I've been playing since 0.6.7. That's right, since public release. Some of you have been playing longer (since beta). Some of you have played almost the same length of time or nearly there. I'll include anyone who has played 10+ years as "the old guard".

WoT has changed tremendously over the years. When I look at how things are now (especially with in-game creature comforts) compared to what it was like back then, and then trying to explain the concepts of how much better almost everything is now than it used to be, I know I get stared at with eyes glazed over like my teenage daughter does when I talk about the old days.

Modern/newer players didn't have to learn the game or play the game in the same circumstances, so their perspective is different. They never experienced unlimited MM (where tier 1's could see Tier 10's) like I did. They never experienced the only crew skills in the game being Repairs, Camo, and Firefighting. They never experienced the game pre-phsyics when random bumps in the ground caught your tank and you couldn't move again that match. They never experienced the transition from premium ammo/consumables being gold only to being for silver, and the revelation that was. They never experienced repair kits only repairing 1 track, even if you had both tracks busted. They never experienced repair kits/extinguishers/med kits only being single use – so you had to be very selective on what you fixed. They never experience the days before x2 was the only multiplier, back before the rare 2-3 times a year x3 or x5 xp events. They have never experience the game where you didn't get constant free boosters to grind specific branches of certain trees, or even tons of free research in the form of blueprints.

So it makes sense when newer players complain. They don't know how good they have it. Does it mean WG doesn't make mistakes that are not worth complaining over? NO! WG is far from perfect. Trust me on that. Trust anyone that has been playing since launch (or before) on all the mistakes, the "take 1 step forward, 2 steps backward" type updates/fixes. It happens to all the big game companies. It happens to WG too.

So in the end – what am I talking about? Why is the old-geezer/boomer/whatever term you kids use pontificating?

Because even I forget perspective. Even I forget that many of the players and community in here have been playing WoT for MUCH shorter periods of time than my 12 years. Some only a few days or weeks. Some 3 or 4 or 5 years. As time goes on, fewer and fewer of us 'old guard' who played the game back in the dawn of time are around. And our perspective and voices start to get drowned out. We are forgotten and lost.

But trust me. No matter how mad you are at WG for nerfing this, buffing that, or changing this or that mechanic – I've seen it all. I've seen tanks be meta one day, nerfed the next, and then brought back as an unintended consequence of another change. It happens. Changes happen.

So what to do about it? Take the long view. WG has done something right, and has a game that is going on 12+ years online. That is VERY impressive, and something very few studios can claim for longevity of their titles. Be patient. Stop getting in such a hurry. Enjoy the game. Get mad at your teammates. Curse Arty. Blame WG for not listening. Blame RNG. Keep playing the game.

From this old guy's perspective? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Hope to see you all out there on the battlefield!