It has been well over a month since my last entry here, just as long as I last played a round of Armored Warfare. With other projects going on in real life, I haven't tried too hard to find any time to roll out on the virtual battlefield, let alone spend any serious time on my computer.
However, I decided to try out a round, since there have been a least two updates from when I queued up for a battle last and was curious to see if there were any major changes to the gameplay or how the human and artificial assets interacted with each other.
Selecting my tier VIII T-90A, I jumped into queue and Operation Hydra loaded....
Despite having the highest tiered premium vehicle in Armored Warfare, I don't use it very often.
One of the reasons being is that I doesn't suit my preferred playstyle, namely the heavily armored, tracked type. The only wheeled tank destroyer that I do like to use more is the tier VIII AMX-10 RCR, mostly due to it's "skid steer" capability, turning without moving. I still have to remind myself with the other vehicles in this class and configuration, every time I want to turn in a new direction, I have to be motion first.
Sadly, the premium tier IX Centauro 120 Wolf Edition falls into the later category, then to make using it that much more difficult, a clip system was introduced for the main cannon. Although I read about this change somewhere, awhile back, I totally forgot about why I was experiencing glacial load/reload times, until this particular battle was well under way....
Like a few other games out there, Armored Warfare gives enough information for a player to "game the queue." From the screen above, a person can clearly see which tiers have the most active players waiting to join a match, throw in some educated guess work and lining up which selected tiers for a particular game mode level should come pretty close to what is actually going on.
Quite a few opportunistic players are able to use this information in an attempt to collect a higher advantage going into their next battle, such as leaving the queue, picking a better vehicle for a more populated tier and rejoining the wait to get in.
Although this system has been removed from the PvP portion of some games (for obvious reasons discussed above), it still exists in PvE mode, since the artificial enemies are adjusted to meet the highest tiered vehicle of the five person team entering the fray.
I "game the queue" to a certain degree, not so much to get the best tier possible, but I use the countdown timer as a "jumping off point" before the map I wanted to fight on is rotated out. Most times, I leave myself a ten to fifteen second window before the time expires to leave the queue, go back a window and see if the next map coming up is one I would like to battle it out on, or avoid like the plague.
In light of a limited time reputation bonus in Armored Warfare, I thought I would try to catch up on some overdue progress for my tier VIII T-90A. Another nice touch was seeing Spearhead, a map I haven't been on in quite a while, coming up in queue.
Little did I know things would be slightly different from the last time I ventured into this particular environment....
Once again, Armored Warfare has a monthly offer for premium vehicles, check out those August details here.
Taking a look at the selection myself, nothing there really interests me. Besides, I have a plan for my next and quite possibly final premium purchase, I certainly hope my patience and Gold collecting is rewarded.
In the meantime, I decided to break out an old favorite, the premium tier VIII Terminator Reaper and queued up for a match on Kodiak. After the battle began, I started to pull mental blanks on where to go and what to do, slight frustration and bewildering self confusion was starting to set it....
Now that I have completed Episode 2 of the Storyline Campaign in Armored Warfare and before they decide to launch Episode 3, or another bonus mission requiring me to use more vehicles I am not interested in at this time, I want to knock out some progress on my original goal.
I have allowed myself to be detoured, distracted and any other words that fit, starting with the letter D, from remaining totally dedicated and focused on putting a tier IX T-90MS into my garage. However, I have always come back to chip away a little more towards acquiring that machine, despite the temptations and attractions.
Perhaps, I should have waited a day or two before jumping back on that bandwagon. With my recent binge playing to complete Episode 2 and not nearly getting enough sleep the night before, I was rather disappointed with my first outing in an old favorite....
If you are looking at news, leaks and other things that have Armored Warfare related information, be sure to check out Armedbushido's blog at http://drysocksaar.blogspot.ca/
Despite the fact I had already laid out plans to pace myself in finishing the PvE Hard portion of the Storyline Campaign, Episode 2 in Armored Warfare, that idea was thrown right out the window.
With my son off with a summer day activity, the wife at work and me enjoying a day off from my own job, I sat down and binge played the tier VII M1A1 Abrams from the moment the house became empty, until they came back home. Other than enduring the monotony of it all (eating and bathroom breaks), I was making pretty speedy progress, quickly knocking down my estimated seven hours to complete what I had left to do.
After, with everyone else in bed and just two more victories needed, the defeat streak started.
If you take a look at the picture above, note the times (Pacific Time) and the maps. For whatever reason, I was getting stuck with teams that were not nearly as cohesive as those I had been a part of earlier in the day. Nearly every battle lost during that period consisted of the other four human players getting annihilated by the never ending swarms of bots and yours truly being the last to fall on the battlefield in a fiery death. I just couldn't perform any miracles, the was no magic left in the Abrams.
So, for some unexplainable reason, I took a very serious gamble on the only other vehicle that qualified for this event that I owned, one that got me a short time ban some time ago, thanks to a serious issue with reticle bloom and team damage.
Here is battle 40 of 40 needed to finish the series....
With the vehicle restrictions for Armored Warfare's Storyline Campaign, Episode 2, I figured the tier VII M1A1 Abrams would have been the better fit for my playstyle.
Since I don't have the M1128 Stryker and previous use of the M2A3 Bradley had been a less than ideal experience I would rather avoid, frankly, the only thing left to use is the Abrams.
To be perfectly honest, I am nit found of this American mainstay vehicle. Despite it's real world operational success, time-money-research into development, production and subsequent variants, the Abrams doesn't excite me like it seems to do with others. Perhaps not being an American myself might be part of the reason why, I don't have any patriotic attachment to this machine.
Nevertheless, I played through the tier VI version it, as required for the last mission installment and I will continue on with the tier VII through this one. However, I am forgoing my usual upgrade-as-I-play-it practice, something very common among these types of games and make full use of the "fastlane" option. I truly dislike the fact I felt I had to do this, pouring in all that Global Reputation to bring the Abrams up to Renown Status, just to prematurely unlock everything along the way.
I have become very tired of shooting the main cannon and coming up short of it's full damage potential. The frustration from the lack of serious protection from the "never miss, missile spam" enemies in PvE Hard mode is almost enough to put the game on hold, until the mission itself comes and goes....
....so here's to hopping these upgrades help just to get through this ordeal.
Now that I have completed my goals through participation and performance in another project, I can return and focus on the unfinished tasks in Armored Warfare.
So, let's apply a little math to this equation. Worst case scenario is all the remaining battles will run their full course of 15 minutes, that's 4 matches per hour (not counting queue time). With 13 already accounted for, that's about 7 hours to play out the rest (building a cushion for queue time). Meaning, I just have to play an hour a day, right up to the end and I will comfortably exceed the minimum requirements for completion.
I haven't been spending too much time with Armored Warfare recently, since another game I am playing is also currently running a mission, but with a much smaller window for completion (or the attempt to do so). As for Storyline Campaign Part 2, I still have a surplus of time (compared to the other game) to achieve the 1000 Gold reward for the PvE Hard portion.
Over the past few days and on the side, I have been collecting the login bonus and catching up on any news that interests me from the main portal (and nothing much to speak of there).
However, I did squeeze in one battle, but the volume of the captured gameplay is incredibly quiet. Not sure what happened during the latest Nvidia ShadowPlay update and I tried every adjustment I could think of to improve the sound levels during editing.
Still, it's watchable, if you lean in close, or turn your volume up....
No sooner does my son return to Armored Warfare that he is gone, again.
This time, it's Summer Camp to blame, so I hope that he is looking forward to playing with his "old man" when he returns, after telling the family about his adventures and good times.
In his absence, I am getting myself back on track to collect the forty PvE Hard victories in the tier VII M1A1 Abrams for the Storyline Campaign reward of 1,000 Gold.
Another adventure with me and my son in Armored Warfare. This time, I am platooned in a tier IV Puma at the bottom of the list, while a tier VIII C1 Ariete takes the top spot. Add to that, the deadly encounter all happens on Erebos....
Quite some time ago, my son came to the conclusion that he lost enough interest in Armored Warfare to uninstall it from his computer, despite my short spending spree on him during the Christmas season. Now, many months later, he made the decision to give it another try, after all the updates and changes that have come since then.
Episode 2 of the Storyline Campaign, named "Monsters," has been launched in Armored Warfare!
First, I got an email about the event, then I checked out the details on the main website. Even with some truly rare prizes (namely the premiums tier V T-64AV Hunter and the tier IX B1 Centauro 120 Wolf Tank Destroyer, or the Gold payout for those who already own one/both of them), I wonder if PvP and Global Operations will be revitalized enough for players to stand a chance at collecting those.
Not to sound like I am taking the "easy road," but I think I will pass on the first two (recently got the T-72AV Ice which covers me at tier V and already have the Centauro 120 Wolf from a while back) and make my attempt with the 40 battles in PvE. My decision is based on real world timing (work, family time, alien invasions, etc) and realistic completion potential (PvE has been a lot more stable with having people in the NA queue than the other two game modes, but even those numbers have been dropping this past while).
However, just like Part 1 of the Storyline Campaign, this next chapter has restrictions on the assets that have be used before those actions are counted for progress towards the prizes. Since I used the tier VI M1 Abrams last time, might as well put other things on hold and make the attempt with the next vehicle inline.
How quickly I forgot Hard was much different than Medium, especially without upgrades....
Noting really much to say about Armored Warfare. Other than slowly progressing up (when there are enough people on to join a battle, even PvE numbers in queue have been going down), I managed to collect all the extra bonus rewards for this week. Despite some issues others posted about on the forums, I experienced no problems redeeming the new daily prizes.
Progress through the tier VIII T-90A has been a very slow venture.
Armored Warfare, much like other games that use a similar model for advancement, allows for fairly rapid gains in the lower tiers/levels, headway slows slightly in the mid tiers/levels, then becomes a snail race in the upper tiers/levels.
While bonus events do help speed things up a little, it's still going to be a long tour to my goal. It was once said "it's not so much the destination, but the journey" and while this is mostly true, things have gotten a wee bit stale.
It has been quite a while since there was new progression vehicles added to the game and the last two maps, Watchdog and Raiding Party, are already "old news." Events, like Mercenary Showdown and the current Storyline Campaign do add a little something in an attempt to spice things up, but technical issues and slow support to correct these measures overshadow the original intent of the ideas.
Still, I load up and bang out a battle or two, continuing up the line towards my original goal....
In the year between, the tier VIII premium AMX 10 RCR French Tank Destroyer was added to the game as an everyday available Gold purchase. The blue livery, special occasion variant, has made sporadic appearances along the way.
Previous to Update 0.19, this was my top tiered, premium machine and I was having a lot of fun with it. It didn't drive like any other wheeled vehicle and the cannon was a delight, when it made contact with enemy forces. After Update 0.19, the Terminator Reaper was moved up from tier VI to VIII and slowly replaced this French offering as my new "go to" vehicle for bigger reputation and credit payout potential. Plus, the Terminator had more weapons options and could take a lot more punishment over the thin skinned AMX.
However, I decided to take my old French favorite out for a spin, been a while since the last round of changes....
Not much going on today on my end (at least, with the tracked/wheeled variety), however there is a Bastille Day bonus taking place in Armored Warfare, read more here.
Starting today and for a limited time, Armored Warfare has substantially increased the login bonus rewards. Offered as a prelude to upcoming Update 0.21, be sure to check out the specifics here.
With the Day 6 reward being the premium tier III Type 59-IIA Legend (or 500 Gold if already collected from a previous opportunity), I thought I would load up mine and see just how well I would fare.
Of all the tier VI premiums I own in Armored Warfare, the Chinese WZ-1224 is at the top of my list.
This prototype, never mass produced vehicle, has proven it's worth time and time again, with very good reputation and credit returns. Tough, surprisingly agile for it's class and tier and fairly dependable damage output against targets. In comparison to my top tier VII pick, the Challenger 1 Wolf, the WZ-1224 is slightly faster all round, giving up some armor to accomplish this.
Couple this vehicle with the map Watchdog, I decided to change up things, breaking an old developed pattern on how I usually deploy and engage....
There are some that don't like Armored Warfare's introduction of certain edition premium vehicles, since all they really are repackaged dealer tree assets with increased reputation and credit modifiers. Some have even posted about how they have flooded the market this past while, with their wild liveries and high bundle prices.
Honestly, I don't mind some of them (others, I have no interesting in acquiring), since I know there are a cost/time saving
way to get a quick batch of assets into the game, without the long
development and testing periods required to create something from
scratch.
Another benefit to this option is testing them, before laying out real world money to buy one. Because they are clones of the very same dealer tree vehicles, one could take a non-premium version into a live battle and get a much better feel on how they perform and their battle returns. Sure, some might make the case about being available on test servers, but those same folks could forget to mention the "subject to change" clause, before being released to the public. And others don't like the Battle Hardened option, wanting to stand out in the crowd.
For example, if I was interested in picking up the gawdly decorated, premium tier VII T-80U Shark Edition, how would I know what it performed like, short of reading a review written by somebody else, or watch a gameplay video or two?
Aside from the continuing Campaign Storyline in Armored Warfare, one of my plans going forward is to collect up all the Gold I can, through the daily logins and other opportunities, for a big purchase around Christmas. Parking another tier VII premium Main Battle Tank in my garage will be the result of that lengthy venture.
Although I already have the formidable Challenger 1 Wolf, having a stablemate could come in handy for extra credit generation, or even a special mission calling on something I would like to use for some mid-tier action. I have scratched the Merkava IID from my list, I don't think that is the vehicle I am looking for.
I haven't never hidden the fact I like the Soviet/Russian T-Series tanks. I cut my teeth with the T-72, as interpreted in other games and the version in Armored Warfare carries on my expectations on how I believe this vehicle can and should perform.
As of right now, there are two candidates that have piqued my interest, the gawdly decorated T-80U Shark (identical to the dealer tree offering, with a boost to reputation and credit earnings) and the recently added Object 187 (which nearly mirrors the current attributes of the dealer version T-90). In reality, both vehicles are decedents of the T-72 design and in the game itself, both are special, limited time purchases.
Based on current and sporadic availability, one of these two will be the best choice for me, unless something else comes along to beat the praises I have read concerning these vehicles, or top this recent performance....
With Episode 1 of Armored Warfare's Storyline Campaign now over, the results of those who completed the offered tasks have been posted here. On the upside, for those who didn't have the time or other issues on recruiting Fyodor Sokolov, there is a way to buy him (and a certain female Irish commander) through this limited time offer. And, for a little bonus action (albeit with restrictions) check this out.
Despite not sitting down and playing for countless hours on end and putting my own personal/professional life unnecessarily on hold, I am pleased with the results and rewards I have earned from this event. Although I will not do so well with the Main Event activities and collect the mysterious, high tiered reward vehicle at the very end, I can more than live with these side events and claim those prizes instead.
At any rate, time to start the training of the new commander....
If you live in the lower 48, north in Alaska, enjoying the sun in Hawaii or other places of business and/or pleasure, Happy Independence Day!
Considering I haven't advanced very far up an American line (except for the tier VIII M3A2 Bradley, but I wasn't getting a good vibe to use that), I went with the tier VI XM1 Abrams prototype, originally built by Chrysler Defense, as my vehicle of choice for this pseudo-special Armored Warfare battle....
As a bonus, I get to have my own little celebratory event, by completing the last battle required for the newest commander to be added to the game, Fyodor Sokolov.
It's the end of the Chinese road in Armored Warfare with this final battle in the tier VII Type 98 Main Battle Tank. Other than some future sorties with the premium tier VI WZ-1224, nothing more than a long wait for new/previously announced vehicles to be added to Zhang Feng's offerings.
To those of you who were born and still live north of the 49th parallel, or moved on to other lands around the world, Happy Canada Day!
Currently, Armored Warfare is running a little special in celebration of Canada's Birthday (turning 150 years old!) and America's Independence Day (coming in at 241 years old, still looking good!). Read more of those details here.
In my own celebratory way, I hauled the storage covers off my tier X Leopard 2AX, applied my free Canada flag and queued up for a battle. Although I had hopped for a snowscape map, I guess a little summer sand wouldn't be so bad....
A recent trend that is starting to become an annoying habit for me in Armored Warfare is dying or the more frequent use of repair kits.
To me, a truly satisfying PvE battle is where everyone lives, all the secondaries are completed and I don't have to touch a single consumable to make it through to the end. However, with artificial opponents severely punishing minor to major gameplay mistakes through a much improved aim and a steady barrage of missiles, players drop like flies, including me. In the pre-2.0 days, this was almost a non-existent issue, but now, the stubbornly accepted norm.
I do realize that some of my own errors in judgement/overconfidence are the cause of my own untimely demise, but one can't ignore the game has changed a lot over this last while and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Still, I was given a rare treat in this particular sortie, where it felt like the hands of time were rolled back to something that felt like a pre-2.0 situation....
....especially given the fact it was in the tier VII Chinese Type 98....
It's funny when something goes awry, after taking it for granted for so long....
I am sure I have made mention before about how I film the Armored Warfare action for videos I upload to my YouTube channel. Most of the time, I click on the capture program during the battle queue screen and let it all unfold. Rarely, I will go back into the replay folder and create something from there, but it has to be something truly special or couldn't be saved under normal circumstances.
Even then, I do have backup options. My first choice and ideal program is Nvidia Shadowplay. Since my laptop has a Nvidia graphics card and drivers, just makes sense to use it. Easy on the system resources and framerate doesn't take a serious hit. However, there is an issue with trying to start it up if an update has been released and not installed (not sure how they do that) or if I Alt-Tab from the game and attempt to capture something after that.
The second option (and the only other one that works for me, despite lengthy testing with other programs) is the built in capture that come with the game. When it was first released, there were some issues, but over time, they have improved on it greatly. Imagine my surprise at the painful results when I ran it during this Challenger 2 battle....
Now, unlike some other folks out there, I don't fly off the handle and ready up a finger to point blame without trying to get all the facts together. First thing after the battle completed was take a look at the system resources that were in use (Alt-Tab then Crtl-Alt-Delete to bring up the Task Manager). Everything looked well within normal operational parameters. Was it a software issue? Did I miss an update?
My answer came in a almost comical way. My battery warning indicator flashed that I was below 10% of available power.
Let me explain here. Without going deep into the technical specifications of my Dell laptop, trust me when I say it is more than capable of running this game and multi other tasks, at the same time. For heating issues (haven't encountered them, as of yet) I was proactive enough to pick up a powered cooling pad around the same time as acquiring the Dell. Also, I read up on and educated myself on the increased power consumption of gaming versus normal battery use discharge, so I always have it plugged in when attempting activities in the virtual realms.
Which is all well and good, if the wife doesn't turn the power bar off, to save money while the family sleeps and/or leaves a note explaining this so when the household does wake up to compute, the power bar can be turned back on.
I guess that old adage about "assume" came into play and got me.
Today marks another update in Armored Warfare, but an incremental one. Read those details here. Coming in around 500ish megabytes, it will take a while for those on a slower connection. For me, about a half an hour (unusual morning slowdown on my end). Installation went fairly quickly, a noticeable difference over the last update of this type.
And with any other update day I have experienced, some folks are a little slow to download the latest version (school, work, aliens, etc). So I wasn't to overly surprised to find the upper tiers were lacking any serious population, but the mid tiers were most definitely occupied.
Why not try out the new changes with the sturdiest mid-tier premium I have?
I am not usually the negative type, but I do believe I have just experienced a culmination of everything currently wrong with Armored Warfare, in one battle.
Since my.com dismissed Obsidian Entertainment and released their revised vision of the game through the subsequent updates and patches, the game has certainly changed. And for some, not necessarily for the better.
Granted, they have added a few new vehicles, switched up the dealer lines a little and produced a few new maps, which can freshen up the situation a touch. But, the tradeoff has been some major changes that some see as being completely unwanted. I am starting to agree.
Take the Terminator Reaper, for example. First released as a tier VI premium Armored Fighting Vehicle, now it's a tier VIII Tank Destroyer. Those who saw the value of buying it then are enjoying it now. Well, some are.
The Terminator Reaper is suffering from the massive overhaul performed on the ballistic values affecting it's auto-cannon, among other things. Posters on the forums claim this and more was needed to "balance" this over-powered vehicle. I don't agree and I am not about to list of my reasons to counter their statements.
Instead, I will just post this video, letting this experience explain it all, to those who know what to look for....
I still have a long ways to go before I reach my original goal of parking a T-90MS in my Armored Warfare garage.
Part of the reason for this is I have been attempting to play it out in PvE mode, which nets much lower returns from battles. I have queued up for PvP sorties recently, which turned into nothing more than a very long wait for nothing, except for the timer surpassing previous benchmarks of idledom.
While others make their claims that PvE is "easy mode," sometimes I agree, other times, they have no idea what they are talking about. This battle, despite being on Medium, was starting to feel a little too close for comfort, with the artificial opponents making exceptional use of their pinpoint, nearly never miss aim. I have played on and created videos from my adventures on Hard, where the bot hordes over power us poor human players by their sheer numbers, concentrated firepower and variable skill levels.
I have seen, over and over, the case the true game lies with PvP, only human on human combat matters, period. Other than much higher rewards dueling enemy humans on a win, I am not about to argue against their opinions on which mode is better. However, more out of circumstance than design, I do know which one has the most players and the shortest wait time when I load up for a battle.
Before World of Tanks, few people had even heard of the Soviet IS-7, save for avid tank enthusiasts and/or armored vehicle historians (both professional and amateur).
Despite the fact that the real, lone surviving IS-7 is on permanent display in the Kubinka Tank Museum, thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people around the world have owned and used the virtual version. To give due credit, World of Tanks has brought a lot of obscure and mostly forgotten vehicles into the spotlight of modern awareness.
When I played World of Tanks in the past, I would occasionally use my own IS-7 on the rendered battlefields, with mixed results in outcomes and rewards. However, I have long since moved on from that title, without regrets (I do miss some of the vehicles I have left behind). When word came down last year about the IS-7 finally making it's debut in Armored Warfare, I was thrilled. Even though it is fairly low on the tier scale compared to World of Tanks (a top Heavy Tank at tier X, compared to a Main Battle Tank of tier III), a lot of the qualities I had gotten used to seemed to be transferred to Armored Warfare.
Both versions have a main cannon that delivers a wicked punch, if it hits the intended target. Tough armor to challenge an opponent to aim for just the right spots. The list can go on....
For this battle, I am trying it out in a new role as a Desert Cruiser....
It would seem the latest event in Armored Warfare, the Storyline Campaign, has revealed some sobering numbers. Just over 500 players completed all three main objectives of the main event, 151 completed the Desert Rush bonus objective. Read more about that and the thoughts/opinions from the NA/EU playerbase here.
Far from being a definitive "State of the Game" sign, it does show a grim sample size from the current situation surrounding the health and well being of Armored Warfare. Although the 151 player count for Desert Rush won't change, the 500+ player count for the main event could go up, slightly, before it's all said and done.
Why such the low numbers? This could very well be a gauge of the amount of new/retaining interest the game has, fallout from the controversial changes to the design team and the content found in the last batch of updates. Also, due to the restrictions, namely the specific vehicles to be used, in conjunction with the with the limited gamemodes where those activities would be considered valid, many just didn't even bother.
Now, there is another bonus objective and it makes playing a lot more worthwhile, in my opinion. The restrictions have been relaxed greatly and appears to be fairly easy to manage, if one has the time to do them. Read more, including how to access the counter on the profile here.
And good things (depending on your perspective) keep on rolling in.
For a limited time, the tier VII premium Object 187 Soviet/Russian Main Battle Tank is part of an offer, check that out here.
As tempting as it looks on paper from me, I think I will hold out for a sale, or all the currently unavailable tier VII premiums to make an appearance )hopefully, both). In the meantime, let's roll out the Challenger 1 Wolf and see how it fares since the latest hotfix patches....
Without taking a serious look at my ingame statistics, I would confidently guess the premium tier V Chieftain Mk. VI Leader is my most played vehicle in Armored Warfare. Without a long and lengthy rehash of the whole history of how I got one and some of my adventures with it along the way, I can safely say there is something terribly wrong with it now.
If a person were to search the forums for comments on the Chieftain line, one would come across a lot of negative posts and responses. Right up until today, I would have just quietly laughed to myself and played on, collecting decent credit and reputation returns for it's tier. However, I am starting to see what they were talking about and sadly, have to agree with their previous and current findings.
Based on a recent development, namely the first time ban in Armored Warfare for yours truly, I have decided to rethink my whole playing strategy going forward.
First, my biggest mistake was using assets armed with highly inaccurate auto-cannons in PvE Hard mode. After reviewing all of my videos and replays, I have discovered I have dealt out a lot more "friendly fire" than I realized. Not one of them was an intentional, aimed shot, but the after effect of a ally moving to a position directly in front of me, ruining my bead on the target, coupled with a slow reaction time and taking that damage instead.
Going forward, I will only use single shot equipped vehicles in PvE Hard, which have a more accurate aim and offer a better control on holding the shot back if a friendly decides to relocate directly into my view.
Second, if an event or mission doesn't line up with my agenda, I am just not going to do them anymore. Despite the potential of interesting and mysterious prizes, my progress is getting sidetracked with vehicles I am not interested in playing at this time, nor want to get just to complete the tasks for an unknown reward.
My previously mapped progress offers up a real and tangible goal, who knows what I could have wound up getting if I continued to participate in other ventures.
Now that I have laid down my ground rules, it's time to get back on track with the T-90A....
Something I have read about happening to others on the Armored Warfare forums has finally happened to me. A one hour ban for....just read the reason above.
The story from my perspective, I was using my tier VIII M2A3 Bradley in another attempt to win a battle for the Storyline Campaign event. The map was Red Opossum on PvE Hard and I knew something was going to go wrong from the get go.
First, NVIDIA ShadowPlay failed to load, so I couldn't capture the battle as it was taking place in real time. No big deal, if the battle was that good (or if circumstances like this should happen) I can always restart my laptop and create a video from it. Secondly, one of my allies developed this habit of rolling right out in front of me, just as I was zoomed all the way in to deliver the most carefully aimed damage I could with the reticle bloom expanding and contracting after every shot.
I am quite sure they took a few of my shots at the first objective, since this is where they drove out from my right, going left in front of me. I was frustrated to say the least, but the battle continued. Then we moved on to the second objective and it's hard to gauge where my shells were going from my position. However, it was when the third objective had been reached and I just get into a decent position....
One of two things, either the player I shot at took too much damage and the automatic system kicked in, or the player reported my them-self, for ruining their good time.
Sadly, the replay option won't load during this "banned" period, I have tried a few workarounds to no avail. So, I will update this entry when the ban is lifted and created a video from my short time in that battle, just to see and share from a fresh perspective what happened.
***UPDATE***
While waiting for the ban to expire, I received an email notification about the incident. Perhaps my old eyes are reading it wrong, but I was quick to pick up on the accusation of being a "repeat offender," despite this being the very first time anything like this has happened. I have no doubt others have collected the very same notice, no matter how many times they "break the rules."
With the ban lifted, the very first thing I did was create this video from the replay. Although I can't remember how to zoom in, much like I do when playing the game live, it should be pretty obvious from the angles I have selected what actually happened.
At any rate, my participation in this phase of the Storyline Campaign has come to a close, partly from the aiming mechanics of an auto-cannon, especially the on mounted on the Bradley and it's current crew level. Although I could take the low road and try to put all the blame on the player who took damage from me, I am the one who is ultimately responsible for not having a better awareness of my surroundings and pulled the trigger.
Just a friendly reminder, you have a limited time in Armored Warfare to pick up one or two of the three offered bundle packages, containing hard to get special vehicles.
Despite the controversial way this vehicle made it into some players hands (codes were even sold on European versions of Ebay, for well above a fair market value), it seems the wait has paid off (literally) and I finally acquired one of my own. I have this feeling others have been waiting for this vehicle to make an appearance for purchase too. Question is, was it worth it?
For a limited time in Armored Warfare, three bundles packages are available for serious collectors or players who just missed out on acquiring these special vehicles the first time around.
As you can see from the picture above, I went with the cheapest of the offers, simply because it contained the two assets I really wanted. One of them I have been waiting for a very, very long time now.
I had this original plan of saving up all my Gold, adding more to the amount through the Daily Login and cashing in on a later Christmas/New Year's sale, a new stablemate for my tier VII premium Challenger 1 Wolf.
However, since the changes with Update 0.19, my tier V Chieftain Mk. VI Leader has been rather lonely. With the former tier V Chinese WZ-1224 being moved out and up to tier VI, I decided to now fill that vacancy by purchasing the rebalanced and redesignated ICE Edition T-72AV premium MBT, a vehicle I have been waiting for the opportunity to finally get....
I do believe the M2A3 Bradley, as implemented in Armored Warfare, is a very situational vehicle.
Based on it's current armor attributes, clearly it isn't a frontline fighting asset, nor does it posses the speed and maneuverability to race around the battlefield, surprising enemy forces. It's main cannon is mostly ineffective against the thick armor of most adversaries it will face, but it can still deliver enough damage to be annoying and if the shot lands just right, even cripple an enemy long enough to be finished off by an ally.
About the only real thing the Bradley has going for it is the missile system. Despite the long reload, even with a skilled commander to chip that time down just a tad, the fire-and-aim-to-target missiles can be very devastating, when they hit the right spots.
To make up for the severe deficiency in armor, I experimented with using cover on this moonlight map. All was going quite well, until I made that one, fatal mistake....
Another loose end in this post-2.0 Armored Warfare era I wanted to take care of was the final progression through the tier VII Type 98. However, it seems this latest update wasn't too kind to this Chinese vehicle, from my perspective.
While others complained about quite a few shortcomings with most of Zheng Fang's offerings in the pre-2.0 days, I did rather well up the line. Granted, the Chinese steel wasn't nearly as invulnerable as Western or Russian assets, but it was still tough enough for me to get most of my jobs done.
Now, I have grown disappointed with how the vehicles have lost some of their durability and battlefield effectiveness. The main cannon still hits pretty hard, but reload times turn glacial if the turret takes just about any kind of damage. And don't get me started on the armor, because lacking any advanced protection against anti tank guided missiles, the Type 98 specifically is suffering in this age of "missile spam" from artificial opponents with "never miss" aim.
It took three battles to collect on the Daily Bonus, The first two were frustrating defeats, due to the Type 98 falling short of performance and result expectations, coupled with teammates who exhibited indicators they were not interested in wining. By the last battle, things were looking very promising, right up to the end....
