Ok. I’m not a player that is here to cultivate a beautiful K/D ratio, but rather one that came to try and enjoy tanking. My goals have never been “typical”, though, so I’m used to this. If you came for tank battles, then maybe what I have here will be helpful.
Needless to say, this game has changed a LOT since I started playing.
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I really think it’s best to start with a preset in every country except Israel. You’re given the reserve tanks to begin with, and feel free to add the 1.0 tanks as soon as you can buy them. Continue playing 1.0 until all of your reserve and 1.0 tanks are spaded for each country. You may find everyone kills you, and you’re not having much luck killing others, but as you keep playing, your crews will slowly get better, and you will be getting better too, and gathering the modifications for your tanks will really help. Work on buying everything 1.3 while you’re getting all of your reserve and 1.0 tanks modified. (Fully modified vehicles are given a spade symbol on the ‘research’ table, to let you know it no longer needs more modification. Such tanks are referred to as having been “spaded”.)
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Repeat spading every vehicle for 1.3. By doing one BR at a time, you are learning about the tanks around your BR. By starting at the bottom and working your way up, and by doing this for every country, you are learning about your opponents at the same time. By doing this with every country, you are learning all of the tanks, which can help you to kill them, but also you have the ability to switch nations at any time, if (for whatever reason) one nation is having harder times than others at finding a match. (Or if you decide you don’t like a given map or mode, you can always switch to avoid 8 minutes of waiting because of crew lock.
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As you rise in BRs, aircraft are going to be more capable. Each round starts as just tanks at the lower BRs, but once you’re up to BR 6.7, you can start seeing helicopters spawning at the start of combat. They get much more capable quickly as you advance in BRs.
One of the many changes that have happened since I started playing is that they have shortened the rounds a LOT. I was never keeping track of how long rounds were, but in a good round I can now live through most of the round in my first tank. I’m fairly certain I have not suddenly gotten better, so I know things have changed.
You will need to find your own path regarding aircraft. I can fly, but I’m not inclined to do it nearly as much as I want to drive a tank. Some people leave after their first death, and maybe they are shortening rounds to keep that from being as apparent. The start of the round is generally the only part that is tank battle. After, it shifts into air raid mode. Good luck.
What to buy for crew skills? I dont’ know. At low BRs, I like to pay to have expert crews. The higher you go in BRs, though, the costlier that gets. After you’re above BR 4.0, it’s nasty. You will likely want to figure out which vehicles you like playing best, and make those crews expert. Once a crew is expert, you can earn “Ace” via combat. (Yes, you can spend money to do this too, but I think you’re better off earning it via kills.)