Why is this game so popular?

[Chili Dogs]

Everyone just one shots you, takes 5 hits for me to kill someone but I die in one shot?
My tanks feel like paper while theirs are made of titanium.
if I DON'T happen to die in one shot I am disabled and have to just sit there while they line up another free shot on me so what's the point?

The new player experience for this game sucks ass and completely ruins my desire to even bother playing, I won't pay for anything in a game that introduces you to it in such a ridiculous fashion, Why am I being paired up against tanks that can just steamroll the whole match? I am open to spend money for a better experience IF the experience doesn't immediately give me the impression the only way to be viable is to sink hundreds of hours grinding or open my wallet for overpowered ammo, tanks or the like.

Look, maybe I am salty a bit after having like 6 loses back to back that were so one sided we might as well have gone AFK, but that is exactly the problem, THAT SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING. Not winning a single match since installing the game and playing online is a joke and demoralizing. That's not how you keep new players engaged.

I understand the cat and mouse of vehicular combat, coming from older tank games and MechWarrior I understand positioning, proper targeting mechanics like aiming for critical spots, I tested against some tanks finding their weak spots in the 1.7 power range of possible enemies and watched youtube to understand the game before diving in, this just feels BAD.

[Alukat]

Originally posted by Chili Dogs:

Everyone just one shots you, takes 5 hits for me to kill someone but I die in one shot?
My tanks feel like paper while theirs are made of titanium.

That's perfectly normal in the beginning, pretty sure every player went through that.

[Pvt.Laurin]

Originally posted by Chili Dogs:

Everyone just one shots you, takes 5 hits for me to kill someone but I die in one shot?
My tanks feel like paper while theirs are made of titanium.
if I DON'T happen to die in one shot I am disabled and have to just sit there while they line up another free shot on me so what's the point?

The new player experience for this game sucks ass and completely ruins my desire to even bother playing, I won't pay for anything in a game that introduces you to it in such a ridiculous fashion, Why am I being paired up against tanks that can just steamroll the whole match? I am open to spend money for a better experience IF the experience doesn't immediately give me the impression the only way to be viable is to sink hundreds of hours grinding or open my wallet for overpowered ammo, tanks or the like.

Look, maybe I am salty a bit after having like 6 loses back to back that were so one sided we might as well have gone AFK, but that is exactly the problem, THAT SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING. Not winning a single match since installing the game and playing online is a joke and demoralizing. That's not how you keep new players engaged.

I understand the cat and mouse of vehicular combat, coming from older tank games and MechWarrior I understand positioning, proper targeting mechanics like aiming for critical spots, I tested against some tanks finding their weak spots in the 1.7 power range of possible enemies and watched youtube to understand the game before diving in, this just feels BAD.

This game is for tanks lovers my man, this has nothing to do whit any other vehicles games out there... Sorry to say but you gonna have to sink a metric ♥♥♥♥ tons of hours into it before getting remotely decent :/

[Toblm]

Why is the game so popular?
Because its the only game in the space that does what it does as well as it does.

As for your complaints.
They boil down to what is commonly referred to as skill issues. Warthunder holds your hand for something like a dozen match and then you are part of the of the player pool. Sinking or swimming is up to you.

[Chili Dogs]

Originally posted by Toblm:

Why is the game so popular?
Because its the only game in the space that does what it does as well as it does.

As for your complaints.
They boil down to what is commonly referred to as skill issues. Warthunder holds your hand for something like a dozen match and then you are part of the of the player pool. Sinking or swimming is up to you.

I don't need my "hand held" I need balanced matchmaking. I think you missed the entire point of what I am explaining, why am I forced to play against someone who has the ability to one shot me while taking practically no damage? Why am forced to play against opponents that are clearly superior in power level, not even skill, just raw damage?

This game is for whales, it's apparent when the right side of the research tree is "paid" content and, in most cases, demonstrably better in every way than the stuff you get for actually playing the game.

This clearly isn't a game designed for balance and enjoyment meaning for someone like me.

Skill issue isn't the answer either dude. Try coming up with someone of value. If I flank, line up a shot and get a "critical hit" why do they have the ability to turn around and one shot me with a haphazardly place panicked shot?

The game, in my opinion, is just too flawed to be enjoyable.

[theduk181]

I'd say most people that have been in it have more hope in what it could be than what it is. When I noticed "weird" things so consistently happening they are obviously normal, I had people from back in my working with military simulators look at it who went on to be developers, in things like Micro Soft Flight Sim, and a person who loves doing statistics. Using their inputs and my observations, I conclude at least 50% of the games are programmed wins and loses. Often you are in matches where there might be five non-bot players in it... This was before people were complaining about long wait times in the lobby, so now there is a shorter wait time - the complaint was addressed - and more AI bots in the game, and more choreographed matches... see that map turn out the same way numerous times.
I did a game last night where I nailed a French AMX-30's gun barrel but his shot ended me, we fired at the same time. Later I get the eye for and eye award on him... Killing him in a Leopard 1. Apparently, you can change nations in a match if you're AI. You or I can't.
I wrote a review and go into more and still don't cover the lists.
You are supposed to get frustrated and spend gold to have improvements that make the difference, might be true for that 50% of game you aren't being gamed. Oh, and having 4,000 hrs. in the game means you don't have to check protection analysis to verify you've been ripped on on a shot. My situation in needing something I don't give a flip about because I have to drop what I'm doing at a moments notice sometimes for hours? It's perfect.
That said, skills do matter and so does map knowledge. If you're going to hang around with it, do time in custom battles to get acquisition and movement skills or choose no opponents and cruise around scouting the map at your leisure and not getting boinked. Just something I found myself doing.

[Lucky_Star_Fan]

It's free
Target Destroyed gives dopamine
Once you get over the learning curve it becomes a lot easier

[Toblm]

Originally posted by Chili Dogs:

Originally posted by Toblm:

Why is the game so popular?
Because its the only game in the space that does what it does as well as it does.

As for your complaints.
They boil down to what is commonly referred to as skill issues. Warthunder holds your hand for something like a dozen match and then you are part of the of the player pool. Sinking or swimming is up to you.

I don't need my "hand held" I need balanced matchmaking. I think you missed the entire point of what I am explaining, why am I forced to play against someone who has the ability to one shot me while taking practically no damage? Why am forced to play against players with that are clearly superior in power level?

This game is for whales, it's apparent when the right side of the research tree is "paid" content and, in most cases, demonstrably better in every way than the stuff you get for actually playing the game.

This clearly isn't a game designed for balance and enjoyment meaning for someone like me.

Skill issue isn't the answer either dude. Try coming up with someone of value. If I flank, line up a shot and get a "critical hit" why do they have the ability to turn around and one shot me with a haphazardly place panicked shot?

The game, in my opinion, is just too flawed to be enjoyable.

Matchmaking IS balanced. Everyone is equal before the matchmaker.

Why can someone one shot you but you stuggle? Because you dont understand the rounds and the weakspots yet.

Because you are new. Everyone is better than you. Until you develop your skills.

Game is for whales? Sure. Whatever you'd like to think. Nothing premium is significantly better than the tech tree.

It is a skill issue. Congrats you got a crit. What did you crit? The engine? A track? The MG? Great. Failing to eliminate the gunner, barrel or breach means you will face return fire.

What did you crit with? Did it have filler? How much filler? Whats the post pen damage of the round like? What did they hit you with?

The point of WT is to kill the crew. You failed to eliminate their crew before they got yours. End of story. Learn from the experience and do better next time.

[Riggex]

Warthunder has a pretty brutal learning curve for new players. It's understandable to feel frustrated with it in the beginning. There is lots the game either doesn't tell you - or does a poor job of telling you.

The reality is that experience is a huge part of it. Memorising the armour / ammo / crew layout of literally thousands of vehicles, Memorising what weaponry opponents have, knowing what all the ammo types are and when you should use which. Knowing where to (and just as importantly, where *not* to) go on each map. There's no quick way of consuming all that info. It's just something you gradually accumulate over time, all whilst fighting against people who have already been through this learning process.

Best thing i can possibly recommend to a new player is just play with someone who's been around and knows what they're doing. You'll learn all the important stuff more organically and memorable than just watching info dump youtube tutorials.

[Sir Jeremy]

3,400+ hours and pretty much 10yrs of playing... it happens to everyone at all tiers. Its about learning tactics, ammo, weak spots, and honestly alot of luck.
Trust me, youll learn to love getting 1 tapped by a tank instead of having a 1000kg bomb dropped on you by a plane you cant defend against because you dared to kill someone... or spawn camped over and over...

War Thunder life is the grind... and its a rough life. I have a love hate relationship... 9/10 games feel like utter BS to being decent... but its that 1 amazing game that keeps bring you back.

[Sir Loin]

Starting is rough. In fact, its gonna feel rough in many aspects of progression at a certain point. You dont need to spend money on anything, theres nothing that is just overpowered because of pay. Everything plays different, and where you shoot and with what makes a difference. Over time you learn this, much you can learn by considering your own deaths. Map knowledge takes time. There are crew points, invest them, its another slog but it makes your tank do everything better. You often have to unlock the most useful ammo by playing.
It may be unpopular but after screwing around in arcade a bit i suggest giving realistic a fair shake, thats how I feel the game is more balanced.
It all takes time and can be frustrating I know. Dont worry about getting to high tier vehicles and enjoy the ride, thats where the game is at. I still come back as its a better tank game than most, and its free.

[mogami_99]

In your hanger when you look at the tech tree for the nation you are playing you will see vehicles in lines. Each vehicle on top does research on vehicles directly below them. (you research 1 vehicle at a time)
Crews are trained in slots you place the vehicles in. So starting on the left side of the tree slot one is for the far left vehicle and all the vehicles that will come after. Slot 2 is for the next vehicle and so on. As you fight battles the slots will gain experience that will be called crew experience but always bear in mind this crew experience goes to what ever vehicle you assign to that slot. When you place a vehicle into a slot you pay silver lions to qualify the vehicle. At certain point you can pay more silver lions to increase the crew quality to expert and later ACE can be bought for Golden Eagles but I don't recommend that since you can also earn the ACE by experience.
So you really don't want to progress too rapidly before you have these slots trained up.
The way to progress is to
1. Install modules on vehicles to enhance performance
2. Train the slots to enhance performance.
3. Learn the maps while your still low. But maps are also tied to BR so as you increase levels (tiers) The maps will change.
4. Study likely enemy vehicles at your current BR to learn their weak spots.
5. Test drive vehicles before taking them into combat. So you can learn the ballistics of your gun at various ranges.

[RXDimA]

You said it yourself, everyone one shots their enemies, so it's popular lel

[Sir Loin]

should also note some nations are harder to start out with...what nation are you playing might i ask?

[Chili Dogs]

Originally posted by Sir Loin:

should also note some nations are harder to start out with...what nation are you playing might i ask?

USA and Germany, mostly USA

[Boii Fan]

Originally posted by Chili Dogs:

Originally posted by Sir Loin:

should also note some nations are harder to start out with...what nation are you playing might i ask?

USA and Germany, mostly USA

well that's one of the issues, USA's first tanks have in general the 37mm, which has terrible starting rounds. in fact the first round you start with has no explosive filler. Other nations start with guns that have explosive filler and that can and will incapacitate the entire crew of a tank. UK is the worst offender in that regard, i'd highly avoid it until you're good with your aiming. USSR has a lot of tansk with APHE that has explosive filler and enough damage to one shot tanks. T-26 is an amazing starting vehicle. China is also a nation that has it and its a good experience. Germany and Italy also can be added to that list. France's beginnings is about as bad as UK, except somehow worse. Play against bots for a bit. Learn how the tanks function. You can clear the first rank doing AI battles. It teaches you how to aim mainly.