We’re checking out Wargaming’s WW2 MMO tank shooter World of Tanks for our latest Things We Love About... article. A veritable giant in the free to play tank shooter genre this game has stood the tests of time despite competitors, it was the first of the “World of…” titles that began a successful trilogy and is to this day one of the biggest free to play MMOs on the market. Focusing on its arcade PVP gameplay the game has a huge eSports following and is accessible cross platform on PC, Xbox (One and 360) as well as Playstation 4, many have tried to rival it, many have failed, and though it has its own issues there’s so much we love about the game.

• The Arcade Gameplay - The game doesn’t offer realism at the expense of fun. Whilst it is easy to make the constant comparison between War Thunder and World of Tanks, that isn’t so much what this article is about (though some of the things we love about WoT are what make it unique and so are generally missing from WT). What we love about World of Tanks is the arcade gameplay without, it makes the game being a fun shooter the most important aspect and then the “realism” is there to support it. At times other games focus on the realism, and sometimes that does have its place and is ideal for certain audiences, but WoT aiming for the FPS/TPS shooter crowd definitely did it right. The controls are simple, the system requirements are low enough to be accommodating for other players, portable to console and still retain some decent graphics. There is a nice curve with the game where players who want to pick up and play can get into the game relatively easily and don’t have to put much thought into their modules, upgrades and ammo whilst still retaining a perfectly fine level of usefulness. On the flip side, it also allows players who want to focus on customizing, to get every inch of performance out of their tanks the ability do so and so ranges on the strategy light side and staying fun.


• Fast Matches - The game matches don’t take forever. With the arcade gameplay comes much quicker matches, again following on from other FPS MMOs, and appealing to a similar crowd, the matches in game rarely touch the 15 minute timer and near every minute of the game is spent in action. Lacking in a slow build up or maps too big to traverse, players will zip around the battlefield in their tanks in no time and get into the fight. For the casual player this is a great thing, not everyone has the time it takes to wait for a new game to load up, or inflated HP and slow movement leading to long match times, some people want to get in and blow stuff up for 10 minutes before dinner is called. This is further expanded by the ability to jump straight into a new match once you’ve been killed (providing you have more than one tank) whilst the other game carries on and still giving you whatever rewards that may have come with the victory claimed in your absence.


• Tank Variation - There are lots of tanks and they all play differently. Whilst for many it may not always seem that way, the truth is that the subtle nuances and changes between tanks is there and in turn every tank can handle completely differently. More than just a reskinned version of an older tank with a new name, the tanks all have their various stats tweaked to offer something different, allowing players to really pick out their own favourites. Whilst so many tanks comes with its own set of problems in the way of balancing, an issue often faced when new tanks or tech trees are implemented, having a time of chaos is much more preferable if it means having a much larger variety of vehicles to ultimately play.


• Map Design - Maps make the game. You don’t always notice when a map is good, but you always notice when a map is bad. Level/map design is more than just making something look pretty, or switching it from normal to winter season, it is about working out where cover is available, which routes to battle each team will take, where the main chokepoints are that will result in huge skirmishes. World of Tanks have done this exceptionally well and with their variation of maps, which could always be extended, the time spent tweaking and perfecting the layout definitely shows and has helped find an element of strategy and potential for planning in an otherwise fast paced arcade MMO.


• The Grind - The game has found a good grinding balance. When it comes to MMOs, particularly F2P games where progression is usually hindered to make way for fast track methods through payment or converting players into subscribing accounts, World of Tanks actually isn’t too bad. Whilst there is still an element of grind when it comes to earning XP, spending it to advance down the tech tree and unlocking new tanks, it’s at a pace that doesn’t make it feel like too much of a slog. In the early game the grind feels longer initially as players learn the game and die more than they win, so XP acquisition is a slower process; similarly the inflation of top tier tanks is a lot higher and the endgame is the last stop and so reaching it takes longer. However, there is a long sweet spot in the middle where players have options, they have the time to take out and try their newly acquired tank as they build up more XP as opposed to the grind being so quick that their new toy is obsolete straight away.

So that’s what we love with World of Tanks, but more importantly what are some of your favourite things? What do you think could/should be added to our list that makes the game great? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Articles, MMO News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.