Times are a changing

First things first, I am dumping both World of Tanks and War Thunder Ground Forces, two games that I haven't really tried too hard to find time to play.

Although I am grateful for the learning experience I had in WOT over the years, it's time to give up and cut my losses. The subject matter of World War II has been used to death, literally and the original appeal that drew me to WarGaming's first title (and subsequent other offerings, like World of Warplanes and World of Warships) has been slowly eroded away.

My list of things that pushed me away would be a very long read, if I took the time to type it all out, so best to say I just want to move and stay away from anything with a WG logo and leave it at that.

On the flip side of that coin, sits Gaijin. I first went to War Thunder to check out how they interpreted an air combat game, also to take a break from WoWP, but still do the same thing (make sense?). With the release of Ground Forces, I made a very honest effort to try and like their system of doing things. Perhaps I was so used to WOT and other tank games with a very similar feel in the mechanics, but Ground Forces just never clicked with me, no matter how many times I went back to try again, after an update.

Once again, like World of Tanks, War Thunder is mostly based on WWII technology and despite their efforts to incorporate more post war assets into the game, the long playtime to get up to use those vehicles isn't a wise or healthy investment for me.

So, I will go forward with Armored Warfare as my main and currently only tank game. Not to sound like a fanboi, but I feel Obsidian got a lot of things right with this title. However, I am not going to sweep what I consider to be strong dislikes under the rug either.


Although the first vehicles have their origins in the later war/early post-war years, the progressing assets get a lot more modern, right up to the plausible prototypes of the near future battlefields. That alone is a nice change. The Player vs Player mode is still a team deathmatch, made up of randomly selected players, just like WOT and WT (and similarly, player can form mini-teams of Squads, Platoons, etc). The Player vs Environment experience is a mini-story driven mission, with clear objectives and mutual effort to accomplish them (at least, that is the way they are designed). I prefer the PvE experience, after many years of toxic exposure in the PvP arena of WOT and WT.

For me, Armored Warfare has what I am looking for in a game of this genre, much like my switch from the classic Call of Duty/Battlefield series to the modern incarnations.

Last time, I shared my plans for progressing down towards the tier IX T-90. I have added another goal, slowly make my way up through the Chinese offerings too. Now, this isn't a totally new statement, I have made theses same plans before, but after my long break, I have decided to revive this course of action and move forward. My attempt will be limited to five battles per day that I can play.

However, Obsidian has announced they are going to shake things up with the game. Not really new news, but more specific details were revealed recently https://aw.my.com/us/balance-2.0

Tech tree pictures are courtesy of user_2681131.

How will these changes affect my plans? Well, to sit down and read through all of the information presented would take some time, then tack on more time in an attempt to process it all, even more to compare what is to what could very well be to come (subject to change during testing, of course). 

Thanks to user_2681131 from the Armored Warfare forums, I can see what the intended plans are for the vehicles. If the above image holds true, the Type-80-II I am currently grinding through will drop a tier. Will I get a replacement, or just a refund of time and effort to carry on, remains to be seen. 

For the Soviet/Russian offerings, things get very complicated. From what I can make out, my T-80 will become a T-80U and dead end that sub-line. That means I have to grind out from the previous vehicles that have been moved into other lines.

Perhaps, I might get lucky and make it to the T-90 before that all happens?

On the American/Western Europe side of things, I am not too overly concerned, since I haven't progressed far and the changes to be made won't affect me.

However, I am very tempted to see if I could make it to the XM1 before it is removed/replaced and turned into a premium vehicle. Although the developers are claiming that folks who have it before the change will be getting a free premium from the deal, it's hard to say what the real, last word on this will be.

One thing that I have read over and over, current premium vehicles will not be changing in tiers, despite their tech tree counterparts moving all around. This is something I will keep a very careful eye on, since I have more than a few world dollars invested in this holding true.