While I’m figuring out what I want to focus on as 2022 approaches and the world is cautiously opening back up, I looked for a new game that I could grind. I tried Valorant, but it only makes me anxious and regret not having played more CounterStrike. I thought about Final Fantasy XIV, but the onboarding process is so complicated that it discouraged me. Then, I went back to a genre that I used to enjoy and found myself enjoying it again.
The genre of military vehicular combat is the battleground for the rivalry between Wargaming and Gaijin Entertainment. They do a lot of sponsoring YouTube videos — not as much as Raid: Shadow Legends, but still quite a lot of it. Life of Boris and TheRussianBadger both made videos for World of Tanks and War Thunder.
The former even has videos on Gaijin’s Crossout — a game I’ve always been curious about. Maybe I’ll play that game next.
Perhaps those ad spots did get to me as I found myself reinstalling these games. War Thunder first, then World of Tanks Blitz, then found that World of Tanks is on Steam and I don’t have to deal with the separate launcher. I was looking for a game that I could grind and have fun with whenever I either take work breaks or feel like streaming.
I’ll have to watch videos like this to figure out which one I really want to put my time (and even money) into.
War Thunder
This was the first game I tried getting into. War Thunder was a pretty good experience at the start as I was doing very well in the first rank arcade matches. I would get as many as 12 tank kills in multiple games due to my unga-bunga playstyle. But once I got a second rank tank, I started sucking. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gotten one right away until I researched more of those tanks to have enough armor and firepower.
I chose to go with Soviet vehicles as I’ve heard that the game has a Russian bias. When I first played War Thunder years ago, I tried British tanks as I hold a bit of romance for them as a history buff. The roster of tanks in this game is not as thorough as that of World of Tanks, like including the Abrams for the US while not having the Churchill for Britain as well. That’s weird.
Right now, I’m trying to get back into it, but I’m currently addicted to a much faster game, as you’ll see below.
World of Tanks
I played this game way back in 2013 and actually got quite proficient with it. However, I stopped playing due to how tedious it felt. Unlocking tanks was already pretty slow even back then and I didn’t want to spend money to boost my way up. Also, my brain somehow couldn’t understand the in-game system with crews, research, and all the other stuff.
I stopped playing World of Tanks because everything is way too slow. I like tank combat, but not when everything takes a billion years to take place. Also, it has since been given artillery, which is basically a point-and-click adventure minigame within World of Tanks. If only it has a Girls und Panzer visual novel minigame as well to make it better. I know I can install mods to do just that, but that’s too much effort for a free-to-play game.
I didn’t mean to make World of Tanks look like a chump here, but I can’t be arsed yet to get into it right now due to being a much slower game compared to its counterparts. Perhaps later on, when I get more used to patient tank play again, I’ll get back into this game and perhaps actually do the things I didn’t get to do eight years ago.
World of Tanks Blitz
I actually got to this game before the full World of Tanks game, but I thought it would look better on this blog post if I mention it last. This is what I’ve settled on after trying all the games, and it’s certainly what I’m going to be playing for the rest of the year.
World of Tanks Blitz is now my main game. I can’t get enough of it, especially once I got the KV-1 and upgraded it. Almost every game, I top out in damage. It’s all the basic parts of World of Tanks, but made faster and less convoluted.
But with the faster pace, it does have a few quirks that may have it play second fiddle to its bigger brother. For one thing, the name alone relegates it to off-shoot status. Also, the gameplay being a more basic variation of World of Tanks, which emphasizes patience and tactical skill, makes it less of a distinguished game that’s held in high regard.
Also, since it’s a free-to-play game, it’s full of microtransactions. While it’s faster than the base game, it may still be slow for many people. All the quirks and microtransactions may be off-putting to a lot of people, not to mention that its visuals make it look a lot like a mobile game.
As of this writing, World of Tanks Blitz is in the top 70 in most concurrent players on Steam, averaging around 10,000 to 15,000 players at a time. War Thunder does tend to have more players, with 15,000 to 20,000 players at a time.
However, with its faster pace and shorter games, I feel a lot more comfortable playing this than both War Thunder and World of Tanks. I can just have it open in the background while I’m working or doing something else, then play a game whenever I get a break.
It’s like how I played StarCraft II around a decade ago. But unlike that game, this game is actually less stressful. I tried playing Call of Duty Mobile on an Android emulator the same way, but I didn’t like how the grind in that game was made too grueling, likely to encourage spending actual money for boosts and paid items.
That means World of Tanks Blitz is now my new trash game. I might even spend money for it because I got the KV-2 for the memes, but I should’ve bought the KV-1S first to be able to grind better. I just can’t quit Soviet tanks.
Conclusion
We’ll just see how long I keep playing it before I either get bored of it, switch to its bigger counterparts for more challenge, or just play something else. For now, my goal is to grind all the way up to the highest tier tanks and progress from playing heavy tanks to medium tanks and tank destroyers to actually getting good with light tanks.
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