Artillery broken?

[Rure]

Did they really break artillery? It only has sniper mode now?

[Soren]

It have sniper mode and HEAT, yes, it's an intended rework to make them more useful and enjoyable

[Doom Slug]

Artillery was broken ever since they nerfed the ♥♥♥♥ out of HE shells, now it's actually viable again

[deaddrop82]

Don't think of them as arty; they're really somewhere between light tanks and tank destroyers. That also fire WP.

[Rure]

I haven't played awhile, But the last time I played the artillery option actually allowed you to shoot at a distance like it give you a top down view of where your aiming vs just aiming from the tank

[deaddrop82]

Yes, the artillery view is gone. They only work in direct fire mode only.

[Tigger]

They did this once before and removed artillery (yet again) saying it had become too powerful as a large calibre TD - nerfed the damage this time though and added HEAT to all

[2000Valand]

The changes of artillery as an indirect support class, to direct support were dictated by the opinion of the community, which wanted changes. Except for the MSTA vehicle, every artillery vehicle now operates like a "tank" except that with special phosphorus and smoke ammunition.

[Rure]

thanks for the little info I had been gone awhile.

[Maerkuz]

Originally posted by deaddrop82:

Don't think of them as arty; they're really somewhere between light tanks and tank destroyers. That also fire WP.

Every match I've been in for the last few days with an Arty, all they do is roll around like a regular tank, and cheese kills. So many potential kills and assists I need for Missions, and they all get stolen by these players acting like this was a tank version of CoD.
But then again, WoT players been doing that for years, so why should I expect anything different here.
There's no point in even having artillery if ppl are going to just turn them into aluminum-foil TD's, instead of letting the other tanks spot things, and then rain hell from above.
Would even get better exp and rep hitting scouted tanks instead of hunting them down manually one by one.
Yes I'm b!tching. I have an extremely sore spot for Arty not doing their damn jobs.
Sux getting pinned down with no ammo left, and a call for an Arty strike falls on deaf eyes because they're busy chasing down individual enemies.

Originally posted by 2000Valand:

The changes of artillery as an indirect support class, to direct support were dictated by the opinion of the community, which wanted changes. Except for the MSTA vehicle, every artillery vehicle now operates like a "tank" except that with special phosphorus and smoke ammunition.

Okay.
'Don't expect fire support because they're to busy running around and getting in bad positions chasing individuals...' Got it.

The whole point of Artillery is *indirect* support. Not as a glorified 'Shotgun-taped-to-catapult-taped-to-slow-as-molasses-wheelbarrow', or whatever else it might get called now.

Sorry, that's just IMO.

At least I now know not to waste time going down scouting LT/IFV paths. As a rolling shotgun, I have problems seeing everything BUT really high Armor/HP MBT's not get one-shot in (most) encounters, and even then it's a coin-flip.
No offence to the community. However I've seen way too many players over the years, in almost every game that uses tanks, use this play-style to try cheesing kills with stupid damage Artillery-only ammo just for the hell of it.

[Tigger]

Caveat I play mostly PvE and have not played PvP for about 2 months now - not played arty in PvP for years.

Originally posted by DragN Daemonz:

Originally posted by deaddrop82:

Don't think of them as arty; they're really somewhere between light tanks and tank destroyers. That also fire WP.

Every match I've been in for the last few days with an Arty, all they do is roll around like a regular tank, and cheese kills. So many potential kills and assists I need for Missions, and they all get stolen by these players acting like this was a tank version of CoD.
But then again, WoT players been doing that for years, so why should I expect anything different here.

Since the game went into open beta the whining about artillery started - many from the WoT community (who ran back to that game anyway)

So arty has had many changes, over the years (direct fire TD was tried once before and got rid of)

Originally posted by DragN Daemonz:

There's no point in even having artillery if ppl are going to just turn them into aluminum-foil TD's, instead of letting the other tanks spot things, and then rain hell from above.
Would even get better exp and rep hitting scouted tanks instead of hunting them down manually one by one.
Yes I'm b!tching. I have an extremely sore spot for Arty not doing their damn jobs.
Sux getting pinned down with no ammo left, and a call for an Arty strike falls on deaf eyes because they're busy chasing down individual enemies.

There is no artillery now apart from the MSTA - its a large calibre TD - armour no worse than many of the AFV/LT/TD in game already really

If you are pinned down and no ammo left - whats an arty call to help you going to do? you cant shoot, so might as well just sit and spot - or pop smoke and make a bee line out 4

If I have no ammo and am close to the AI - I will just go to suicide ram or spot - possibly getting myself killed so I can respawn with a full load of munitions again (I have killed a Stingray 2 with a MG when that was all I had left once)

As for calling for help? do be brief, most people will not even look at in game chat, let alone do anything about what is said there - or look at map to see what others are doing.

You want players to pay attention and act like a team you need to find those that will and team up before (friends or Battalion)

Originally posted by 2000Valand:

The changes of artillery as an indirect support class, to direct support were dictated by the opinion of the community, which wanted changes. Except for the MSTA vehicle, every artillery vehicle now operates like a "tank" except that with special phosphorus and smoke ammunition.

Originally posted by DragN Daemonz:

Okay.
'Don't expect fire support because they're to busy running around and getting in bad positions chasing individuals...' Got it.

You mean like just about any other class and vehicle - they are a TD now, not arty so play as TD

Originally posted by DragN Daemonz:

The whole point of Artillery is *indirect* support. Not as a glorified 'Shotgun-taped-to-catapult-taped-to-slow-as-molasses-wheelbarrow', or whatever else it might get called now.

Blame a vocal part of the community not the devs - since when do vehicles in game actually correspond to what they "should" do anyway

Originally posted by DragN Daemonz:

At least I now know not to waste time going down scouting LT/IFV paths. As a rolling shotgun, I have problems seeing everything BUT really high Armor/HP MBT's not get one-shot in (most) encounters, and even then it's a coin-flip.
No offence to the community. However I've seen way too many players over the years, in almost every game that uses tanks, use this play-style to try cheesing kills with stupid damage Artillery-only ammo just for the hell of it.

Artillery was changed because vocal players whined about them having the top down view, that arty was useless and did no good always coming bottom and pointless being in a team.

I always used mine as direct fire weapons even with the top down view - now as high calibre TD I dont even like the couple I did play

My tier 6 Akatsiya no longer has its three round clip to loose damage with and then fire a WP before pulling back into cover.

As for the LT/AFV paths, they are my most played and favourite vehicles, spotting and damage dealing with the speed makes them a great class.

[[Food] Hungry Bandit]

Personally, I enjoy the artillery/ "bird's eye view" for smoke and white phosphorus shells. Without that bird's eye view, it's hard to shoot them at the exact place you want them to go. If you move the mouse a little bit, your smoke or WP shell might end up in a different postcode.
With the HE/Heat shells, I often play the SPG as an oversized shotgun. The bird's eye view didn't work well with those shells, as the aiming time took too long to get a precise point to shoot at. Shotgunning HE or Heat worked much faster in those moments.
If it was possible, I'd enjoyed having the bird's eye view for the support shells (smoke and WP) but not for the offense shells (HE/Heat). Shotgunning the smoke/WP isn't very accurate sadly, instead of dropping WP in the middle of a zone, now WP needs to hit a spotted vehicle that's inside of the cap. It still does damage, yet it feels slightly different/odd in a way.
In short, the change is definitely good for the HE/Heat shells, dealing damage is more accurate like this and doesn't punish the SPG as much. Sadly the smoke/WP shells are less useful from further away. Smoke can be shotgunned at your team, but you don't want to do that with WP.

[Maerkuz]

I'm just pissed because even though they can't be used in PVP, with the higher numbers and larger maps with Global, a damn good deal of strategy is lost. Personally I liked to drop down shells to close off an area and make ppl go in specific directions for ambushes and such.
You can't do that sh!t with direct-fire. If they're not spotted, most likely you ain't hitting squat. And even with spotting, you still need a direct line of sight.
At least before, you could rain hell OVER buildings instead of having to drive around them now.
The biggest problem with arty in any game, is it requires at least a modicum of teamwork.
9/10 that's why they always end up bottom-list with jack-squat to show for it.
But that's a whole other issue entirely.

[Tigger]

Originally posted by Food Hungry Bandit:

Personally, I enjoy the artillery/ "bird's eye view" for smoke and white phosphorus shells. Without that bird's eye view, it's hard to shoot them at the exact place you want them to go. If you move the mouse a little bit, your smoke or WP shell might end up in a different postcode.
With the HE/Heat shells, I often play the SPG as an oversized shotgun. The bird's eye view didn't work well with those shells, as the aiming time took too long to get a precise point to shoot at. Shotgunning HE or Heat worked much faster in those moments.
If it was possible, I'd enjoyed having the bird's eye view for the support shells (smoke and WP) but not for the offense shells (HE/Heat). Shotgunning the smoke/WP isn't very accurate sadly, instead of dropping WP in the middle of a zone, now WP needs to hit a spotted vehicle that's inside of the cap. It still does damage, yet it feels slightly different/odd in a way.
In short, the change is definitely good for the HE/Heat shells, dealing damage is more accurate like this and doesn't punish the SPG as much. Sadly the smoke/WP shells are less useful from further away. Smoke can be shotgunned at your team, but you don't want to do that with WP.

I only used my arty in direct fire even with the top down view, I was always up front or close to it - loved my Akatsiya and tier 7 Chinese SPG -

fire the 3 round mag fairly quick and accurately then lob a WP right after with no problem and move back to cover to reload (even hitting moving targets - but took practice - I used to go to training area and drive around firing HE and WP on the move)

Now though the Akatsiya has lost its three round mag, so lost the main interest for me - can still use WP pretty well - even firing into a position I know the AI will be driving into so they take damage

Got a few of my old Arty vids up on my teeny channel of how I used to play the Arty, rarely using top down view

[Tigger]

Originally posted by DragN Daemonz:

I'm just pissed because even though they can't be used in PVP, with the higher numbers and larger maps with Global, a damn good deal of strategy is lost. Personally I liked to drop down shells to close off an area and make ppl go in specific directions for ambushes and such.
You can't do that sh!t with direct-fire. If they're not spotted, most likely you ain't hitting squat. And even with spotting, you still need a direct line of sight.
At least before, you could rain hell OVER buildings instead of having to drive around them now.
The biggest problem with arty in any game, is it requires at least a modicum of teamwork.
9/10 that's why they always end up bottom-list with jack-squat to show for it.
But that's a whole other issue entirely.

in Alpha and Closed beta no one had a problem with arty play - it only happened with the great whines when AW went into open beta

Arty in PvP had a counter battery system

Fire one shot a big circle shows around the general area you are for the opposition arty

Fire a second round without moving the circle gets smaller

Fire a 3rd round without moving and you are shown up, exact position and can see your vehicle

It worked very well - but arty players were accused of colluding somehow and agreeing in chat not to target each other (no idea how - some secret handshake over public chat between teams)

Then the WoT players started their great woe is me - arty is too powerful, it forces me into cover (in truth it stopped them camping)

[HULT]

people who complain about arty are just cod whining kids shame they ruined in AW only learned it from here