What Tier Should a Returning Player Start With?

[Lpaladin]

Its been quite a few years since I've played and barely know what's going on anymore, I have ships up to tier 8. I've started playing some co-op missions to get familiar with the game's systems again, but I will assume of course bots are cake. What tier would folks recommend starting with to get back into team v team?

[kaneeden]

6

[Jackson]

It doesn't matter, really. It's like riding a bicycle. You don't really forget, but if you want to brush up I'd try Asymetrical mode right now or Operations.

For PvP probably 5-7.

[Nepgear]

Originally posted by kaneeden:

6

^

[Jaynoble55]

i wouldnt asym a 6 imho. bracket is too vicious for a returning player. its bracket that accounts for most if nt loses in that mode. it could be because i am bad with my t6's but either way you may be unlucky enough to land in a game with my division friends.

[Ace42]

For PvP T5 & T6 - they've got all the fundamental mechanics in place without too many novelties and gimmicks to obscure the basics; and if you can't get a positive winrate it those, you will only struggle more as you go up the tiers. They also will let you progress various combat missions to earn economic rewards that will help you when you're ready to focus your grind - although often higher tier ships are a bit better suited to farming missions as quickly as possible.

Once you're comfortable with those and seeing at least a break-even winrate for your recent matches (can see the details on wows-numbers.com ); T7 will see high-tier ships' gimmicks start to appear and let you learn some of the more specific features of various ships.

I wouldn't recommend T8+ unless you're confident you have complete understanding of the game's fundamentals.

But there's other PVE modes available that don't really care about the tier you're in:
Asymmetric is currently up and is way more rewarding than co-op whilst still giving a straightforward way to farm bots, build up combat experience, and get good rewards - so worth doing while it is live.

Operations don't play like PvP, so can be a bit weird - but they're a decent way of getting to grips with the absolute bare essentials in a scripted environment that is also decently rewarding economically. T6&T7 have access to more ops than T9&T10 do - with the narrower selection of higher tier ops having different ships in opposition; T8s can find themselves both in the lower and higher tier ops spread.

If you're struggling to get back into the game, creating threads asking for information, feedback, and advice is a really good way of improving quick - the forum has a lot of accomplished players that are happy to help.

Especially if you create a thread;
Upload a replay to replayswows.com - the game makes them automatically and stores recent matches in your replays folder.
And / or ideally use OBS (free on Steam) or equivalent to record then upload a video to YouTube / Twitch whereever too;
and along with the link ask for feedback on that specific match - anything that's particularly confusing you is worth asking about, although 9 times out of 10 players fixate on the wrong things and miss the much simpler bigger problems that are causing them to struggle.

Can really help you identify issues with your basic decision making and give you the best possible perspective on improving.

Can find up-to-date Captain Builds here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XfsIIbyORQAxgOE-ao_nVSP8_fpa1igg0t48pXZFIu0/

[Jackson]

Originally posted by Jaynoble55:

i wouldnt asym a 6 imho. bracket is too vicious for a returning player. its bracket that accounts for most if nt loses in that mode. it could be because i am bad with my t6's but either way you may be unlucky enough to land in a game with my division friends.

You can lose at any tier unless you're prepared to carry the whole thing yourself. I've been doing them all day at different tiers. Only lost one. A T9. Either way, you're going to less than you'll lose in random.

I think lower tiers are no worse, they just may have less experienced players. Also some ships aren't great for Asym. They just aren't. You can't carry in them, and you can't really participate well. Even if you want to use strategy with them - which might normally work, your team will not expect that and will rush in and die while you do the equivalent of "nothing" leaving you with too much to handle.

[christof]

To get back into the groove?

In Coop: Whatever you want.

In Randoms: I would say tier V or VI.

In Asyms: Probably tier VIII.

Operations: Tier VII or VIII.

Those would be my recommendations.

[Virtual Ocean Horizon]

depends on how much you used to play and how fast you pick things up. Also really depends on what ships you have at T8 and how good you were with them. If the answer to most of that is "i learn fast and mained t8" then just play t8.

That is to say, if you had a favorite tier of matchmaking or a favorite ship you'll probably pick the game back up much faster in it

But yeah generally everyone else is right, T6. No lower than that or you'll start to pay with bots again

[Lpaladin]

Thanks, the advice is appreciated!

[Jaynoble55]

Originally posted by Jackson:

Originally posted by Jaynoble55:

i wouldnt asym a 6 imho. bracket is too vicious for a returning player. its bracket that accounts for most if nt loses in that mode. it could be because i am bad with my t6's but either way you may be unlucky enough to land in a game with my division friends.

You can lose at any tier unless you're prepared to carry the whole thing yourself. I've been doing them all day at different tiers. Only lost one. A T9. Either way, you're going to less than you'll lose in random.

I think lower tiers are no worse, they just may have less experienced players. Also some ships aren't great for Asym. They just aren't. You can't carry in them, and you can't really participate well. Even if you want to use strategy with them - which might normally work, your team will not expect that and will rush in and die while you do the equivalent of "nothing" leaving you with too much to handle.

I dunno. I have the exact opposite experience. In t8 - super Its a 90% win rate. Once it drops to t7 and t6 its a whole different ball game. I am not sure why. I wont pretend to even have a inkling as to why. All I know is I have played hundreds of Asym this round and this is what I have experienced. Top tier is actually the easiest. Its kinda hard to lose when you are in a capable t10. For me.

Now, I can say that most of those t6 bombs have been from team mates rushing out to die. I am sure some of them I did not play well and contributed to the loss. But mostly its bad team mates. I do not like to throw fellow players under the bus and I know I was in their shoes when I started. But I do not think Asym is a good place to learn the game. But thats IMHO.

I think there some real over performing ships at 9 and 10. Schlief, Yamato, Iowa, Vermont, Napoli ect. I havent seen anyone else play a Krem but when I take it I end up tanking half the enemy for the entire match, Im just a idiot savant in it. Its strange.

I think there are a lot less oppressive ships in the t6-7 tier. You still have some stompers like Serov and Queen but overall its a much more tame line up. This is all once more my opinion based off of pure observation which is prone to bias. So make of it what you will.

[Jackson]

Hopefully I'll have more time to play tomorrow. I've got multiple games/projects with things ending soon so I've been busy!

I'll try some T6 and see how it is.

[christof]

Originally posted by Jaynoble55:

I dunno. I have the exact opposite experience. In t8 - super Its a 90% win rate. Once it drops to t7 and t6 its a whole different ball game.

In my experience, Asyms are in fact harder at tier VI and VII than at VIII and above. I've actually lost somewhat regularily on those tiers, even when sinking half the enemy team basically solo at times. So at the very least, it's not just you.

[Jaynoble55]

Originally posted by christof:

Originally posted by Jaynoble55:

I dunno. I have the exact opposite experience. In t8 - super Its a 90% win rate. Once it drops to t7 and t6 its a whole different ball game.

In my experience, Asyms are in fact harder at tier VI and VII than at VIII and above. I've actually lost somewhat regularily on those tiers, even when sinking half the enemy team basically solo at times. So at the very least, it's not just you.

Well its good to know I am just not terrible at that tier. But I would still like to know what factors combine to make this bracket so difficult. The only thing I can think of is new players, bad maps (bad in my opinion) and Very few unbalanced ship choices for the mode (Ie Schlief, Ohio and so on.). Not to mention you are almost always thrown in with 7s which adds a extra layer of statisical variance. Im sure if I was a better player I would win more. But not enough for this bracket to give out wins on a regular basis.

[Jackson]

I did not do 6 today, but I did some 7's. I had a friend who wanted to division and wanted 7. I won all 5 of them, but I was top xp in all but 1 and in that I was 2nd. I felt like the player quality was definitely much lower at the lower tiers. At lower tiers players seem to be struggling with competency - or were when I played. At high tier it's a race to see who can get the damage before everything is dead. I used Hood, she worked well.

[Jackson]

I did two 6's just now. Enough to determine it's the same. Neither match was close to a loss. Esp the 2nd one. It was a race to see who could get kills and damage.
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