World of Tanks - Xbox One Console - Is MM still 50% W/L?

World of Tanks - Xbox One Console - Is MM still 50% W/L?

It's that time again, time to see how the MM in World of Tanks Xbox one stands up to previous views on the whole 50% win/loss.

In this one I'm going to try and be more descriptive in the tank I'm using along with other factors to try and make sure that all the bases are covered. Obviously there are so many variables in this game that can determine a win or loss that I won't be able to cover all but neither will any one else. So let's begin.

We are playing 25 games in the T20 American T7 Medium. This tank is fully upgraded with the 105 and at present has around 69k in XP as I'm aiming towards the Pershing. My stats for the tank are below thus far and today we are starting a fresh with X2 xp for the first win. For clarification, I do have a premium account. All games are run solo by myself. The rules are as follows:

• Played 25 matches in a single tank one after the other
• Server choice constant, in this case the server was Europe
• A photo at the start of the game showing tanks on both teams
• Recording the result of the game
• Record the map and gamemode being played
• Record the spawn point of my tank on the map ( the theory is that to assist in the game handicapping or allowing you to play better by spawning you in a different area can either help or hinder your game performance )
• Take notes of unusual things within the game relating to RNG not being in your favor.

In addition to all this, I am also taking into account the new maps. This has been a pet peeve for me as I have my own views which whilst they do not directly link with the 50% W/L, I find that the new maps are being picked too often for the fact that before the update, they were rare. Not so much an issue you might think but when you get Great Wall 7 times over the course of the night and spawn in exactly the same spot every time, something is not right. ( not just Great Wall but other maps are also included in this. Fingers crossed I don't get Fisherman's Bay War! )

Abbey – Standard Match. Spawned A6, team flanked down the left, their team down the right. Lost from base cap but came within 1 second of a draw. X2 game I died

 

Erlenberg – Standard Battle. Team flanked right, I went left for passive scout, other team didn’t play well at all, purple Super Pershing set cruise control and drove to his death. We won, destroyed all tanks, they only killed 3. X2 game. I survived

 

Widepark – Standard Battle. OP spawn, won again 15-3. Balanced in most respects. I survived

 

Serene Coast – Standard Battle. Well worked Team effort, won by base cap although they had 1 T29 left but the team pushed forward as one on both sides. I survived 

 

Port – Standard Battle. Over aggressive purple team causes them to lose this match. We won 14-4, destroyed all tanks. I died

 

Airfield war – Standard Battle. Questionable decisions by the team to base camp in heavies but overall should have done better in the middle. Lost by base cap, 3 tanks alive on our team. I died

 

Pacific island War – Assault Defending. Won due to battle time expiring. I was the last alive

 

Fishermans Bay War! – Standard Battle. This spawn needs to change, won 14-3 by base cap. It’s far too overpowered and easy to win. Seriously WG, what were you thinking?!?!? What is wrong with the original map spawns? I survived. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_MAA0JyI0g

 

South Coast – Standard Battle. Funny game this, overly aggressive purple team meets base camping heavies as soon as the game starts, they are all removed and as we move into their base, we meet their base camping heavies. On another note, I bounced the rear of an M12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbgGsQTZxL8 Won by base cap, 4 tanks left on their team. I died. 

 

Pacific Island War – Encounter Battle. Purple team removed from the game very quickly. Our team based capped with one enemy tank left. GG team GG… 14-4 before the game ended. I survived

 

El Halluf Rain – Standard Battle. Won the game after destroying all tanks, odd since we had base camping E75’s but the team did well. I died after falling off the cliff and then got a message from someone calling me a camper. 15-11 overall score even though we also fully capped the base

 

Airfield – Standard Battle. One of the closer games, won by killing everyone and won 15-13. All our tanks low health. I died by arty ( rawr ) but stayed alive in the middle to remove 4 people. 

 

Pacific Island War – Assault Attacking. What a game, just shy of 5k damage, overall 3.5k in Xp and we won 15-11. If there is ever a reason to show how good prem time is, this should be a prime example. I survived

 

Swamp – Standard Battle. Won 15-5, seemed that none of their team wanted to go left and it opened a new flank for us. Getting close to the Pershing now so I am expecting to have bad games leading up to it. I died

 

Pearl River – Standard Battle. Thought this would be the one with the T9’s appearing but we won 15-7 and I stayed alive. Team moved well to remove 3 T9’s and a few T8’s down the left. 

 

Siegfried Line – Standard Battle. This whole 50% W/L is not looking good, another win. 15-2 overall but again, my team pushed with me and got shots on targets very well that were spotted. I stayed alive

 

Northwest – Standard Battle. Very poor game. Our team pushed right, their team pushed left. Our team won through base cap with the scores 5-4. 

 

Pacific Island – War – Encounter Battle. Pushed the flag and won by base cap 6-6. Their team mainly camped the hill but wanted to make sure of the win with the game in the balance. I survived

 

Prokhorovka Night – Encounter. Easier than I thought it would be. Won 15-2 with all enemy tanks destroyed. 

 

Redshire – Standard Battle. First loss in a very long time. Enemy team pushed the right side and our team didn’t really move from base. I’ll never understand why but shit happens. Lost by base cap, 7-12 final score. I died

 

Artic Region Snow – Standard Battle. Easy enough game to win top tier. 14-6 final score with all tanks destroyed. I survived. 

 

Pacific island War – Standard Battle. Started off being a close game, eventually the enemy team took the advantage. Not helped by two base camping Heavies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzq8HPhuQ4 . I don’t normally comment on it but I think we would have done better with them being in the game despite their ability to play the game is something less than average. It really does annoy me. Lost, all tanks destroyed. 15-7 final score. 

 

Great Wall – Standard Battle. Lost by base cap. I’ve genuinely given up with this map. I’m bored of spawning on the same side every time and also watching people going the long way round and stopping to fight 2 tanks. I survived

 

Abbey - Team Destruction. Game won but a big shout out to the base camping IS3 with designated target sat in a bush, you did your team well mate :D. No noticeable difference in balance, just the other teams refusal to move forward

 

Murovanka – Standard Battle. Last game to round it all off and it was a win. 15-9 the overall score. 

25 games today, T20, no Op's active on the tank.

20 wins and 5 Losses. 

8 wins 2 losses first 10 games

9 wins and 1 loss in the next 10 games

3 wins and 2 losses in the last 5 games

I was noticing whilst playing that the server population for T7's was higher earlier on and if I was to find a T7/8 game, the game would not launch me into one but make me wait in the main screen where you can see the amount of tanks playing. Those games with T9's it never showed me it and launched me in.

Whilst you can see a wide variety of maps on show, this is not always the case. the 50% W/L looks debunked now, at least from the above data. I've not done this well solo in a very long time but there is another pressing issue I touched upon and it shows here.

The amount of times I get the same " new " maps is unreal. Why should I have to play Pacific Island War this many times when every other map barely showed up more than once. Another point is the amount of times that I end up spawning in the same location on the same map, Great Wall is a perfect one to point out. If I take the time to say " xbox record that " every time I start it will be of the same video showing me in the same spawn.

It seems to me that people requesting the new maps be in rotation more has made WG change it so it does but at the cost of the other maps ever being shown and the game not wanting to vary the actual game played ( TDM, encounter etc ) or if the map is Snow, Night, Rain, etc but just to play the same one over and over again.

If there is one thing to take from this it's that the W/L IMO is not as showing as it first was, this possibly being down people becoming better at the game or that I'm getting very lucky and using my tank to the best of it's ability. Below is the before and after stats for the T20

World of Tanks - Xbox One Beta Review

So it is finally here, the end of the beta for the Xbox One. The relatively short, by old standards, time available to play is gone and now the wait is on for the 28th July for the release on the Xbox One.

During the the short amount of time I tried to get as much done in terms of how things look and the integration between the One and the 360 more so than the features as they are pretty much the same. I recorded a lot of gameplay and intend to make a video version to this which will illustrate my point so it will be happy days when I can put it up on YouTube and be able to free up many GB of space on my HDD.

So let's jump straight into it.

The game from the get go does look very good from menus and then into the game itself. This is a given with it being the One but the detail from the light bouncing off the tanks to the noises of gun fire ( not engine sounds ) and then the graphic detail for the grass of Prokhorovka waving in the wind. Below is a short video from 2 maps and the in game cinematic when you purchase and crew up a new tank. Inmy case it's the AMX 50 120 Heavy. I've also included a game I had on the 360 on Mountain Pass as the closest comparison that I can get between the 360 and the One. If I'm able to get a hold of the 360 footage I recorded not long ago, I will be putting up a proper comparison between the two.

But coming back onto the beta there isn't much that you can talk about as the game itself is pretty much the same as the 360 other than the graphics so I have also come back to how the game has progressed in it's play and how it is now compared to it's release on the 360 all that time ago.

My main gripe with it is the Xbox party system. Not being able to platoon with cross platform friends is an annoyance to say the least. You can play with 360 players in your game but you're unable to join their platoon or vice versa. It made for some very lonely games but at the same time it highlighted an old issue which has really come into its own the longer the game has been out and the better people have got.

Twitch

 There is still the issue with twitch streaming. The idea of being able to do it directly from your console is brilliant but one of the main features and what people will enjoy is being able to hear other people either in your party or in the game chat. This is not supported on the Xbox and unless you have a decent streaming set up at home, you're going to be stuck with your voice only being heard on the stream and it doesn't make good for play back. I actually think it makes me look like I was talking to myself rather then people that are actually in my game. I will admit though, being able to export my files to YouTube that are recorded from the in console app is a dandy thing to do. Most of my following is built around my YouTube channel so for anyone else who is the same, there is something to take away from the app as being useful. Now just need to find a way of making it easier to reply to comments mid game.

Below are the two videos that I exported to YouTube during my Live Stream:

World of Tanks Xbox One Beta Live Stream - 11/07/2015

World of Tanks Xbox One Beta Live Stream - 12/07/2015

Platoons

If you're going to play this game, you NEED to be in a platoon in order to win on a regular basis. Xbox party systems lead the way in lack of communication on the battlefield and if you're running solo, you have an issue. The problem is not being stemmed by peoples lack of ability as the examples I'm going to be using are for those in T9-10 games. Anyone at this level is capable of knowing how their tank plays and what would be a good use of it depending on the situation. Yes there are people that base camp E100's but my explanation below will illustrate my point very well as to why they are doing this.

When you run solo, you play this game with an Agenda, that being is it Standard, Encounter, Assault etc and then you have your play-style. Each person playing this game plays their tank their way. When you add lots of single man players to a game there is a good chance that 2 or more will fall into the same play-style and have two different tanks. This is a problem as they may both be using the tank wrong for the job at hand ( that being that the tank will always be better placed at another place of the map for the terrain or support a lemming train ) Then you find that they both are in the wrong place to best support the team for the win and the other team will be better organised with platoons who go onto win. A very good example of this is Prok and the location of E2,E3,F2,F3 ( this is the middle of the cross ) if you spawn on the north side and get a fast medium into this spot and have your team set up behind you, you will get tons of spotting damage and are very well protected by the dip. You also take arty out the game as it is most likely you're the only thing spotted on your team

Too many times playing it did I see that my team fell apart early on from people with too similar playing styles and unwillingness to work as a team. You need to play as a platoon in order to win games effectively and you need to use your mike to communicate.


The Mini Map
I don't understand why people don't amend the mini map to show the full map in the bottom right hand corner. During the start of a game, people get spotted out of your view range. They appear on the mini map but don't appear on your screen meaning you need to load up your back button to spot. The enlarged mini map allows you to see where they are without that need. It takes some getting used to but it will be something that will only benefit you in the long run.

Training
The addition of the live fire training and custom games is a big plus. It will be turning this into a more competitive game for those who wish to go down the route of getting better but at the same time it allows you to explore new maps, play battles with friends and also, much like in the Halo series, there is most definitely going to be some new gametypes. I'm talking about the ones like zombies, tab, VIP etc. Different from your standard gametypes but done so for fun. My only downside to the training is the cost involved. Yes repairs are free but the fact you have to pay for your ammunition is a very big turn off in my eyes and unless you can afford to fork out a fair amount of cash ( in the upper tiers ) it's not something you'll be doing to often.

UI
The look of the game since it's launch after the beta and the addition of the new tanks has got better. There are some that are not fond of the Log to see previous battles but seeing several previous battles is a nice idea. There are occasions that you die early on in a tank and jump into another and complete that game before the current one finishes and quite often I find myself wondering how the team did and how I did. The end battle screen shows a lot more data and in depth detail in your game. Again another feature which if used correctly, you can find yourself learning more about how well you're playing. Seeing the tanks you hit, the damage done to certain modules and you're overall performance against other players in your tank again will help improve your ability to get better at the game.

The garage layout is still similar to the old style with more buttons but still remains simple and easy to use. I'm never one to use the type of tank to find the one I need ( light, heavy td only  etc) but then my garage is never that full of tanks and they stay in the same spot so I know where to look.

My Live Stream videos will show a little bit more into the menus and whats contained within them.

That pretty much sums it up in a nut shell. Come the release on the One, I will be streaming on Twitch more often as I have my setup working as well as it could be. I will be attempting to iron out some flaws I've found but all in all, its looking good. The links will be at the end for my twitch.

As always with this, please share it as much as possible around and let me know what you think, there is nothing more that I would like to happen then to have it provoke a debate and get people discussing their thoughts on the game and their anticipation for the release on the One.

Twitch: www.twitch.tv/bae2005k

World Of tanks Xbox One beta is finally here!

So I really should have been keeping on top of my blog in regards to WoT but my recent acquisition of an Xbox One has hampered my playing time on tanks but with the great news of it coming to the One ( and being cross platform between the 360 and One ) I figured I would get back on here and let you know of my thoughts.

As of July 11th to July 13th ( starting and ending at 2AM PT, in the UK that is 9AM ) the beta is open and downloading the beta now before it goes live tomorrow allows you access to the  Premium T1E6-X1 which a few people will already have. The release date for the Xbox One version is set for 28/07/2015 ( 07/28/2015 for the American readers )

The full details for this beta is available from: World Of Tanks Xbox One Beta

The other advantages from this will be certain events happening in between certain times such as "Participate in the Beta Weekend by logging in (to the Garage screen) to World of Tanks on the Xbox 360 or Xbox One between July 11, 02:00 PT and July 13, 02:00 PT and you'll receive a free M22 Locust Premium tank and Garage slot! Already have the M22 Locust? Then you'll receive 180,000 and a Garage slot!" nothing like getting a free garage slot. So many occasions I ran out and had to make the difficult decision on which one I want to sell.

Along side the beta though there are a few bundle packs showing up on the market place for the One ( not sure on the 360 ) the first on offer is the Assault Pack, Battalion Pack and the Vanguard pack.

Assault Pack - $34.99
Includes the rare prototype T95E2 tank. This medium features a 90mm gun, good speed and the ability to withstand damage. Rush into battle taking front line positions or snipe from long-range. • American Tier VIII T95E2 • "Xbox One Founder" Emblem • 30 Days of Premium Account • Player selectable T95E2 Ace Op. (Must be completed within 7 days of receiving bundle. Once per account.) • Op T95E2 Ace

 Battalion Pack - $48.99
Get the AMX Chaffee light tank and the T95E2 medium tank. BONUS: The ultra-rare MTLS-1G14 American light tank and a ton of Silver to fill your war chest. • "Xbox One Founder" Emblem on included tanks • American Tier III MTLS-1G14 • American Tier VIII T95E2 • French Tier VI F224 AMX Chaffee • 500,000 Silver • 30 Days of Premium Account • Player selectable Ops (Must be completed within 7 days of receiving bundle. Once per account.) • Op MTLS Ace • Op T95E2 Ace • Op AMX Chaffee Ace

Vanguard Pack - $19.99
Features the rare AMX Chaffee French light tank. Combines scouting ability with a lethal 75mm autoloading cannon. Use this tank to spot, cripple and finish off targets. Leverage your mobility to ambush enemy tanks and escape before they can react. • French Tier VI F224 AMX Chaffee • "Xbox One Founder" Emblem • 7 Days of Premium Account • Player selectable AMX Chaffee Ace operation. (Must be completed within 7 days of receiving bundle. Once per account.) • Op AMX Chaffee Ace 

The one I would agree is the most appealing is the Vanguard Pack purely on the Chaffee and the fact it is the cheapest one that still comes with the tank. If you have ever used the Chaffee and the AMX13 turret you kinda have an idea of the fun you're going to find yourself having.


In light of the beta approaching and the fact I now have the ability to stream my gameplay ( not with overlays properly on twitch ) I shall be joining in the tank fest and be steaming the action as much as possible. Wargaming would pick the one weekend I'm actually working but that is not going to stop me getting back in the grove of some good old fashioned tanking.

My Twitch is going to be where I'm streaming mainly from; www.twitch.tv/bae2005k and I will attempt to have some sort of a platoon going but on some occasions, I may be on a solo trip just to get back in and hopefully make it entertaining.

I will be looking to stream from about 10PM BST ( 5PM Eastern Standard Time ) for a few hours and may also be looking at early doors on Saturday 11th July from 9AM BST  (4AM Eastern Standard Time ) again for a couple of hours.

I will also be looking at streaming to YouTube: www.youtube.com/tampreture347 so be on the look out for live events and as always subscribe to the twitch and YouTube for more videos and roll on the 28th for when I can be producing lot's more videos and blogs for your enjoyment :D

For now it's time to set up the stream and get ready for some tanking action. See you all on the battlefield! 

And here's a quick image of the beta screen

A Look On: World of Tanks Matchmaking

I've started to take notes on matches that I'm playing on World of Tanks to try and figure out the matchmaking process and find issues relating to it if not evidence to support it handicapping good players and trying to keep win ratios balanced at roughly 50%.

The information gathered is as follows:

• Played 25 matches in a single tank one after the other
• Server choice constant, in this case the server was NA East
• A photo at the start of the game showing tanks on both teams
• Recording the result of the game
• Record the map and gamemode being played
• Record the spawn point of my tank on the map ( the theory is that to assist in the game handicapping or allowing you to play better by spawning you in a different area can either help or hinder your game performance )
• Take notes of unusual things within the game relating to RNG not being in your favor.

Of each match I played there is a picture to accompany each statistic relating to the game played. At the end there will be a small part that will show everything taken into account. This is one of a few tests as the next parts will be to do the same with a 2 man platoon and the next with a 3 man platoon.

 Mines Standard Battle. Balanced teams in number of tiers. I spawned K9. Game Won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Malinovka Assault. Spawned on the defending team. Game Won. All enemy tanks destroyed. Mali assault not balanced IMO.

 Cliff Standard Battle. I spawned A3. Game won. Enemy flag captured. One more 8 on our team but not a game changer.

 Sand River Assault. Defending. Not balanced game. 3 Tier 10's, 1 Tier 9, 5 Tier 7's and 1 Tier 7 on our team, 4 Tier 10's, 3 Tier 9's, 1 Tier 8, 5 and 4. I was last alive against 6 tanks and survived. Game won, only just. Time limit reached.

 Mines Encounter. I spawned A5. Game won. Enemy flag captured. Game balanced for having one less Tier 8 but 1 more Tier 7 on our team. Debatable on the types of tanks on the other team. x2 Caernarvon, x2 Tiger 2 and a T32.

 Malinovka Standard Battle. I spawned J6. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Balanced on Tier tanks.

 Cliff Standard Battle. I spawned A3. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed. Green team extra 2 Tier 8's.

 Mountain Pass. I spawned J8. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Blue team had extra 2 Tier 7's.

 Sand River Assault. Defending. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed. No balance issues as defending team has advantage.

 Malinovka Assault. Attacking. Game lost ( no surprise ) All friendly tanks destroyed, Game finished 15-0. No tier balance issues but this is Mali Assault and pointless in playing. I drowned my tank towards the end.

 Mountain Pass Standard Battle. I spawned B2. Game lost. Friendly base captured. Green team balance issues come into play only on where they go. A6 flank lost causing flag to be captured. My own tank along with some tier 8's and below limited ability to contribute to the match outcome.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned A5. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed. Felt unable to pen tanks in weak spots and had accuracy issues.

 Mountain Pass Standard Battle. I spawned B2. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned A5. Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Widepark Standard Battle. I spawned A6. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Issues dealing kill shot to a side on Caernarvon that I had penned 3 times before. Both shots only counted as track damage.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned F3. No surprise the game was lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Balance issues. Green team had 2 Tier 10's and 2 Tier 9's. Blue team had 1 Tier 10 and 5 Tier 9's. Some green team members of high tiers spawned at the bottom.

 Widepark Standard Battle. I spawned J4. Game won. Enemy flag captured. Once again limited in my contribution. Death star shot me early on from A9 although he was not spotted, it was pot luck where he and I went.

 Sand River Assault. Attacking. Game won. Enemy base captured. Not sure where the other 2 T28's came from but defiantly contributed in the win. Maybe since I was on my own I could have been put on the other team?

 Widepark Standard Battle. I spawned J5. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. T95 ran amock. No shit really considering the power of it.

 Malinovka Encounter Battle. I spawned J0. Miles away from anyone. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. No tier issues but placing the top tier away from the hill and their 2 tier 2's next to the church is not balanced. But then this gametype on this map is not balanced anyway. Church spawn is closer to the hill. End of.

 Cliff Standard Battle. I spawned A3 ( this is a trend atm on cliff to spawn on this side ) Game won. All enemy tanks destroyed.

 Malinovka Encounter Battle. I spawned F0. Can you guess what happened next? Game lost. Neutral flag captured.

 Mines Encounter Battle. I spawned K6. Game won. Neutral flag captured. Green team extra Tier 9 but only came into play when all 5 top tiers bum rushed the flag and killed the E3 quickly.

 Cliff Standard Battle. Same bloody spawn. Game lost. All friendly tanks destroyed. Still I bounced a shot from the E100 so I can't complain.

 Westfield Standard Battle. I spawned J3. Game won. Enemy base captured.

Those are the 25 games I played today with the T28

15 Wins and 10 Losses.
7 Wins and 3 Losses in the first 10 games
5 Wins and 5 Losses from the next 10 games.
3 Wins and 2 Losses from the last 5 games.

Games that were lost only came about after a win. After the 1st ten games, the game seemed to try to be getting me into games that resulted in the opposite to the last game. Any time I'm placed into Mali Encounter Battle and spawned on the other spawn from the church only came after winning the previous game. Winning that gamemode from that spawn is difficult.

Maps
Cliff - 4.    75% win ratio ( 3 won 1 lost )
Mountain Pass - 3.     33% win ratio ( 1 won 2 lost )
Sand River - 3.     100% win ratio ( 3 won 0 lost ) Fun fact. Assault was the only game mode played on Sand River today.
Malinovka - 5.       20% win ratio ( 1 won 4 lost ) Fun fact. The only game mode won on Malinovka today was Assault on the defending team. The losses included attacking on assault, the shit spawn twice on encounter and 1 standard battle. This was also the most played map today making up 20% of the total maps played.
Westfield - 4.   75% win ratio ( 3 won 1 lost ) Fun fact. Won most games from A5 spawn.
Widepark - 3.   33% win ratio ( 1 won 2 lost ) Fun fact.I don't like this map.
Mines - 3.   100% win ratio. ( 3 won 0 lost )

Theory
After time the MM system will work out what maps you do not perform well on and uses that to increase your chance of a loss to even out the 50% win/loss ratio. Generally just on this I believe you should be winning once and then losing and then winning. In the event of the game you're meant to lose ( sand river assault where I got Kolobonovs medal standing alone against 6 tanks of which 4 where tier 10's ) the MM should put you into a better balanced game then before but place it on a map and gamemode that is not in your favor. Couple that with spawn placements and team mates can cause you to lose the game and to balance the XP gained in the previous game before hand.

I am happy I did this today as yesterday I only got 3 maps on a regular basis, Mali, Sand River and Mines of which it took the game at least 15 matches before Cliff appeared. This is the tip of the iceberg and only a test to see if what is said about the MM holds weight. More info to come in later posts.