Well folks, I am here to say I was wrong about the BZ-166. I just finished the grind last night and am now on to the BZ-68.
The BZ-166's initial first game had me feeling very wary of it. I was fearing the worst. In my prior post on this (after finishing the BZ-58 and starting on the BZ-166), I said I feared that this would be another AMX 65T. By the time I finished the grind (at 65% winrate), I had come to find some good/bad things about it, and realized it is not bad. It is DEFINITELY not AMX 65T levels bad. It just isn't good, either.
The good: The armor is trolly to the enemy. I got a lot of bounces I probably shouldn't have.The bad: The armor is trolly to you. I absorbed lots of damage I probably shouldn't have.
The good: The gun slaps hard and makes enemies sit up and take notice.the bad: The gun slaps air a lot and it makes me sit up and say naughty things.
The good: Mobility with a normal turbocharger and not using rocket charges isn't bad. With charges, it is pretty good.The bad: The rockets will let you climb unclimbable objects, but it leaves your belly exposed when it does it. Not that the FV4005 last night didn't enjoy that shot.
So, at the end of it, is it as bad as the AMX 65T as I feared? No. Nowhere near it. Just initial overreaction by me. Is it a great heavy? Not at all. Is it serviceable enough to not be a terrible grind? Yes, it is just another average/blah/boring heavy. It is nothing I would recommend for or against anyone playing, and would just instead say it is forgettable.
Anyway, I started my first match of the BZ-68 grind last night. As with the prior 2 in the tree, since I have NOTHING else to spend Free-XP on as I have all other tanks researched, I just banged out the researchable modules and mounted them.
Initial impressions from match 1: It was a nice win where I did OKish. Mobility is surprisingly decent. Going up to 5 rocket charges is nice, and lets you plan ahead for more flexibility later in a match. The armor I still need to learn, but it seems like average heavy tank armor. That gun though. If this was my first Chinese Tier 9 heavy, I'd probably enjoy it. But the WZ-111 1-4 spoiled me. The gun on that one is no great shakes, but it handles well enough for a heavium and does some fun things in match. The gun on the BZ-68 does not handle near as well. It hits hard. The DPM is acceptable. It just feels BAD when I compare it to its brother on the WZ-111 1-4. The accuracy makes me feel like hitting somewhere in the general post-code is a victory, even when at 20 meters.
I am hoping that the grind to tier X on this branch gives me some good surprises the same as the BZ-166 did, and that when I come back to review it after I finish the grind, that my initial impressions are that it isn't as bad/frustrating as I initially feel right now.
