World of Tanks Tank Screenshots

I thought I'd share some of the tanks I have been able to use so far in playing this game. I am still having a blast playing this game and am really enjoying the ability to play a handfull of quick matches and not have to devot large chunks of time to playing. Once they had some more content to this game (Including some talked about PVE content) this will be a solid and enjoyable game for the long haul.

Click on any picture below to see a larger image of them. Oh and one other thing there is alot of maps, no i'm not kidding alot and they are for the most part well designed and nice looking.

Game Design Influences Optimization Needs

There is an ongoing discussion in the Blogging community over the world of optimizing oneself in order to be better at a game and Raiding. The discussion revolves around the value of optimizing your abilities with cookie cutter specs and such. Here are some of the blogs talking about this subject. Some have written multiple posts on the subject.

Tobold:

Nils MMO Blog:

Blessing of Kings:

I Like Bubbles: 

Now with all that being said I tend to look at the discussion from a different angle. While at its core, I don’t have a problem with a player wanting to be the best that they can be or using available tools to achieve that goal. My problem starts when game design requires a player in order to play even the most basic of raiding content.

            Taking World of Warcraft as an example the devs decided to create content designed for those who want a challenge, heroic Difficulty or hard modes. The problem with a game like WoW is that most of the raiding requires a certain level of gear in order to actively participate. By instituting gear checks for your raiding content, you develop a community that uses this as a judging tool for acceptance into a raid. The game design of World of Warcraft encourages Elitist mentality among its player base because it requires those players to be the best simply to complete the content they made.

            There should be a noticeable difference between regular raiding and hard modes. Now in WoW there is a noticeable difference, the problem is the lower level raiding is hard as well, just not as hard and it also requires a certain level of gear (optimization) to even be able to play. The average player will never complete raiding content in World of Warcraft unless they institute an Optimization plan or they have friends willing to carry them. In Blizzards defense I do believe they have made some changes, like harder raiding and gear checks on behalf of their player’s requests, but the very design of their game has created a level of elitist thinking not seen in any other game.

As I have stated before, I have given up on raiding in WoW and this system is only one more reason why I have made that decision. I like playing to the best of my ability and don’t mind using tools to further that cause, however I don’t need it to feel like work. I am playing a game after all and I want to be able to decide how to enjoy the game without set requirements.

World of Tanks First impressions

A few things I have noticed after a day of playing the game.

The game seems pretty much clear of bugs and glitches which I must say is a welcome relief.

Controls are relatively easy to pick up and are not that complicated. You move using the w, s, a, d keys and operate your turret with the mouse.

Graphics look pretty good, terrain is interesting and seems well designed for tank combat. The tanks themselves look good.

I have only seen about 4 maps so far and am looking forward to more in future.

The game is centered around pvp combat in organized matches that are a mix of players from different levels. looks like its 15 vs 15 combat and each team contains a mix of tanks from the three different trees.

There are 3 tank trees to research (Level) centered around the Soviets, German and Americans.
You can research and then upgrade different parts to your tank including, turret, gun, engine, tracks and so forth.

The game uses gold and regular currency to upgrade your tanks.

The option is there to purchase a Premium account. There also appears to be the ability to purchase the Premium account for in game currency possibly making the games higher level free to play as well.

Most importantly I am having fun right now and am enjoying the apparently good community that plays this game.

World of Tanks Trial

In an effort to explore the broader world of online computer gaming I will be trying out some popular titles in the F2P and Broiwser format. I have decided to give World of Tanks a try first as it looks rather interesting.

What it is:

World of Tanks is a F2P World War II Tank MMO that allows you to control and wage combat in multiple diofferent tanks. I tried to get into the Beta for this game, but was unable to. I am going to give it a try and will report back here as to my expirience in the game. If you want to check it out yourself, please click HERE.

Howdy Keyboard Required

Hello all you key tapping, mouse ramming, trackball spinning video game playing wazoos.

I'd like to take an minute to give you all a little of my back ground.

I have played some type of interactive, electron interfaced mechanically controlled time waster for 30+ years. i have most endured myself to strategy and puzzle games. If it were not for the nagging of certain other humans, I would have never taken the plunge into MMORPG. to those that contributed, Curse you to Hell!!!

That being said, I now find myself in the position of playing those more than my old school side scrolling shoot em up style games. To be honest, I don't miss them much but have not given them up either.

I have a limited taste in building PC's. sadly, with the advent of scada drives and USB interconnectivity, the skill is now lost. its all plug and play in my humble opinion.

I would like to lift my hats off to Armatus for allowing me to tickle the keys a little with him and maybe even entertain a few of you that read the blog.

If you have any questions or would like me to research something, leave a note, comment or email.

lets get back to Gaming!

"life is what happens when your not playing WOW".....