World of Tanks is a great free2play title for several reasons:
- Production values are great the graphics are very nice, gameplay is solid, quick reflexes are welcome bonus, yet far from necessity and you'd have to really suck at games in general not to get the hang of it during the first few matches. And you don't have to pay a dime for it.
- You don't need to pay to win. Throwing money at the game will get you faster progress, less grinding. You won't get any significant advantages in combat. Only very few items that can be bought for gold (acquired for real money) cannot also be bought in some form for credits you make by playing the game. Only extra garage slots and premium tanks come to mind.
- You are likely to throw some money at it anyway, simply because it feels like a full retail game experience that deserves to be paid for. (I may have spent around 150$ on the game over some 4 months, as far as I am concerned it was worth it. I don't really like grinding... or selling tanks I like, so, yeah a lot of garage slots were bought.)

Eventualy though, somewhere around tier 7 vehicles (out of 10) your tanks will start to make less credits than the costs of repairs and ammo refills, so you will have to either grind credits with lower tiered tanks, or pay for premium account, which gives you +50% credits/xp. So far I have just one tier 7 tank (Porshe Tiger) and unless I do at least average damage in a match, I lose credits on it.

Personally although I somewhat enjoy playing the Porshe Tiger, most of my favourite tanks are in fact tier 3 vehicles (most favourite being 38t). And you can get to tier 3 within a few hours.

What pisses me the most about WoT (besides scouting) is... the players..uhm.. expressing their discomfort with abilities of their teammates. Matchmaking if fairly random, so outside high tier battles most your team will be bad regardless of what you end up with, so stop whining about it. And then there are czechs and to some extent polish people spamming chat with their crap. (And I am czech, so I know.) That in particular however won't be a problem unless you are from europe.

Well, World of Tanks is still pretty enjoyable in the long term even if you are not into online stuff, random battles means random maps/enemies/game modes and there is always a lot of strategies you may want to try out with current setup. Various medals are attained for exceptional perfromance and usually you feel well rewarded for your efforts. It can be annoying when you end up being the worst tank in the roster, or when someone one-shots you at the first clash, or when you can't hit a thing with the artillery, but in most cases the game is still fun, you just need to find yourself the tanks you enjoy playing.

Oh and by the way I got to World of Tanks through Girls und Panzer anime. I'd reccomend to everyone getting a GuP music pack, personally I find it way more appropriate and more enjoyble than the original music. Fans may also consider using some of the voice packs (I used to use Hippo team, now I roll with the Turtle) or some other GuP related mods.

Panzer vor!… Expand

I write this review as response to a lot of people who gave this game a "0." I think they're being unfair to say the least as one aspect of the game they don't like doesn't make it a bad game! However, first thing's first. World of Tanks is a free-to-play Arena MMO with optional micro transactions. The game-play revolves around choosing a tank from one of the six nations and fighting on an arena/map with and against a number of other players. The standard random battle has 15 vs 15 tanks.
The tanks are one of the five types: heavy, medium, light, tank destroyer and self propelled guns. Each one of them plays differently and each nation has certain subtle differences which makes the game-play varied. It's necessary to learn the strengths and weaknesses of your tank, and adapt to battlefield conditions to succeed or at least to do well in. That said, the game is updated every two months, usually with a few tanks and a couple of maps added.
Those are the basics. Now for why the game is so heavily criticized matchmaking and the free-to-play model. The matchmaking can indeed be an issue in this game, there are 10 tiers of tanks and the game puts no more than 3 adjacent tiers in any single battle (ignoring the self-propelled guns and light tanks, those work differently). So, for example, tiers 6,7 and 8. It is impossible for any tank in this game to destroy a tank two tiers above it without using teamwork or just thinking. It's absolutely necessary to think on your feet, which, of course, is impossible for legions of players attracted by the "free-to-play" pay model. If you look at the gameplay of more experienced players, they always find themselves a way to support the "superior" tanks in battle. Just as you get placed in matches with two tiers above, you also will be placed in matches with tanks two tiers below. You will be placed with and against players of all skill ranges. I think the tier spread could be lowered further but it is not a game-breaking issue!
The other heavily criticized feature is the micro transaction model. Yes, there are things you can pay in this game a premium account (a period of time when you receive 1.5 of experience and credits for each battle), premium ammunition (a slightly superior ammunition is available for every tank) as well as certain tank upgrades (3 are available at most at any one time), consumables an increase in the number of tanks available at any one time, barracks for the crew and premium tanks. That said, players can purchase premium ammunition, consumables and tank upgrades for credits. The options also available for gold are expensive but freely available to everyone. Purchasing them for in game cash (credits not "gold" which is the currency bought for real money) doesn't cost days of your time. Wargaming (developers) have recently stated they want to limit the advantage of paying players right now paying only saves time.
This game is, overall, very well thought out, well balanced and frequently updated. The different tank types support a wide range of tactics so even if you can't damage other tanks you can gain the most credits and experience from a battle.… Expand

This game is fun at low levels but becomes a terrible grind beyond tier 5.

Also, if you don't buy premium game time or tanks, you will have to spend a lot of time grinding low level tanks to earn credits: the higher level tanks are very expensive to repair and buy ammunition.

I found this game intensely frustrating (it seems designed to frustrate you into spending real money).

World of Tanks is a game based entirely on an RNG (Random Number Generator). Any veteran of the game will tell you, that basically, nothing matters. Every single aspect of the game boils down to the RNG and the vague boundaries that are defined in its algorithms. No-one knows exactly how it works, but what is known is that you have as good a chance at succeeding at one thing, as you do failing at it. The in game numbers listed on the weapons and tanks are almost completely irrelevant, because the actually mathematics used to determine armor penetration and damage are so convoluted and apparently outside the bounds of what is listed or logical, that its meaningless.

Wold of Tanks is a game designed to completely remove player input, decision making, and "skill" with the use of the RNG to determine everything from whether you can hit your target, to whether you can even SEE your target, and its built around a game that gives the illusion of actual action based, skill oriented gameplay. The intent of the game is to allow everyone to be able to succeed, regardless of skill level or investment. In this way, it gets significant props and can never be accused of being "pay to win" because everyone is at the mercy of the RNG and its modifiers.

The game also can manipulate individual player accounts to keep them within a certain "success metric" in order to make you want to keep playing, and keep folks from getting frustrated. Its not known the exact number, but it seems as though the sweet spot is somewhere between 48-51. That is, the game will manipulate your ingame performance behind the scenes (by performance i mean your chance to penetrate/be penetrated, damage, etc) to keep your win rate somewhere between 48% 51%. If you get above around 52.25% win rate a modifier of varying intensity gets put on your account that causes your shots to penetrate less often, and your armor to be more susceptible to penetration and damage, until your win rate drops back down to the target global ratio. The games matchmaker works brilliantly in that it lumps people together who are above or below the curve, and places them against folks at appropriate levels to balance out the regional server winrate. IE, the people on your team are most likely all either doing too poorly, or too well, and are being placed against a team that they are highly likely to either win or lose against, thus bringing both groups of players up or down in winrate as necessary to keep the golden 48-51 ratio. Its quiet an impressive algorithm, but it completely removes the competitive aspect of the game and renders everything you do meaningless. It is of course possible to go above or below the global ratio, if you are just absolutely deliberately trying to do badly or have a really good group of friends you play with that are capable of overcoming the account modifiers (this is hard to do, the game limits groups of friends called "companies" to 3 per match. each match is 15vs15 so its very, very hard for 3 people no matter how skilled to change the outcome, although its very possible if your company is skilled and coordinated).

However, rarely, you will get a match that is balanced with the Matchmaker algorithm not trying to promote or demote anyone. When this happens the game really shines, and its a shame that the game is built around the model that it is, because the game can be very fun. Unfortunately everything is designed to be very comfortable and to prevent anyone from either falling too far behind or getting too far ahead, in order to encourage spending money on the in-game real world items and "premium time" (which increases your rate of experience gain for leveling up tanks). It is obviously a very successful system, as the game has done extremely well, but after playing awhile it becomes utterly soul-less and unsatisfying and only the absolute die-hards or the folks that have spent vast amounts of real world currency hang around beyond the tier 5 or 6 vehicles (out of possible 10 tiers).… Expand

Great game! Fun to play and best part its free to play. Reason i didnt give it a 10 is that more variety in maps would be welcome. Often updates with new tanks and stuff.

Im giving this game a zero because it simply, pay to win, and the game is setup to basically make free to play insanely frustrating and pointless, you are literally cannon fodder for wallet warriors. I know they are a business but this is an extremely greedy money mongering business that has corrupt practices, meaning I wouldnt support it based on that alone. I wont go into speculative reasons of their wrong behavior such as, premium shells rolling higher, matchmaking being rigged, or releasing overpowered pay to win content (then nerfing it when they release new pay to win content, aka planned obsolescence), or anything else which cant be verified but is widely thought as true, I will simply state the facts which are more than enough to show you this game is not worth your time or money.

Let me give a quick summary so everyone can read this. This game is about giving people who pay money an ego boost and good time, thinking they are good. If you read the forums its painfully obvious the hordes of pay to win wallet warriors deny its pay to win when it clearly is. Its like if everyone was saying the earth is flat, its just not true, sorry. So these people who pay to win think they are good at games. All MMOs are for low skill players for the most part, thats how they make their money, but this is doubly worse because its pay to win with an illusion of fairness. Its a slow paced game with basic strategic elements so old people with real jobs (or idiots with credit cards) can pay WoT a bunch of money to make them feel like they are any good at games, but they are not. Thats why random battle doesn't have any ELO or else the pay to win wallet warriors egos would stop getting fed and they wouldnt pay to win anymore, but with this grand illusion the suckers pay in to the system to continue to feel they have any skill in a game at all. I mean $50 for a TANK in a GAME... its just shameless greed. This company makes double digit millions of profit per month on this trash.

Pay to win. There is direct pay to win, one quote of the devs goes "you should pay us money if you want to be the best", quite literally too. No that is not how competitive gameplay and clan wars works, whoever is the best skilled should win, and the best and pro scene should be getting paid for creating idols that make people want to play the game and spend money, oh but wait the game is pay to win so it could never be taken seriously. You dont HAVE to use the best items but regardless it creates an unfair playing field where money gives advantages even if both players are maxed out and equally skilled, this is NOT acceptable. Anyone who cares about competitive or fair play will automatically hate this game. Also the russian tanks are OP by the russian dev, great job.

The grind to even getting to that unfair pay to win playing field is so unfair. Basically you start with a stock tank that is absolutely horrible and cant beat anyone, and you run in and die until you get it fitted out completely, but guess what, you still lose to people who have better tanks through the unfair matchmaking where you face opponents you cannot damage. Their is an illusion of weakspots and theoretically you "could" kill those tanks, but statisically, even if you are skilled and they are not, it is extremely unlikely and they would have to be afk in order for you to kill them. But how can you target a weakspot if your aiming reticule is as big as the tank itself when you are trying to hit something the size of a dinner plate. Its like carnival games that are rigged with a bunch of flashing lights so if you pay them more money you will win eventually. Its kind of like arcade games back in the day, except at least those were fun.
And pay to win wallet warriors will have 100% crews which have bonus skills while you have nothing and every stat you have is worse because of your crew skills.
And you have to pay for repairs and ammo, so your xp and silver you get is reduced by a much larger percent than a premium player so you basically have to grind 5x more even though they only get 50% more experience, because that 50% more xp+silver is pure profit, that they got more kills in because they had better tanks with full 100% crews, upgraded camo, the best gear for the tank, and expensive equipment you wont be able to afford for a long time. And they can essentially buy their experience and move it to another tank, so they never have to drive stock since xp is locked per tank unless you guessed it, you pay to win it to another tank
Again, the games random battle is not skill based matchmaking, its there so pay to win wallet warriors can kill you, you are cannon fodder, you are basically a bot with the added benefit of wallet warriors egos being satisfied.… Expand

Game starts out fun in the lower tiers, but quickly turns into a pseudo paygate situation if you happen to choose the wrong tank tree. There exists no fun way of advancing with certain tanks, and either you pay up to skip to a better tank or for better equipment, or you tough it out and risk losing all drive to play the game. Either way, the game feels like more of an exercise in frustration than any other game I've come across.… Expand

Excellent game, very very good maps, game models/mechanics/art. Challenging in the fact you do need to play each tank to its strengths, for example using a light tank for their speed and scouting NOT going toe to toe with a heavy tank. The game requires a tactical mind for example in a tank with strong turret armor but weak hull armor sitting hull down (sitting with only your turret above cover) is a good tactic. I personally have played for over 6 months and used premium once (24 hour) its good to use but its not game dependent, so you can have plenty of fun for free.… Expand

One of my favorite free to play games and one of the first ones I ever started playing. I still jump in occasionally to play. Great community and it's always fun to try different tank.

This game really started to become a good game. However, the vendor has disconnected it's self with it's customers and have turn the game into a totally frustrating Pay-To-Win game! It's promoted as a Free-To-Play game and nothing is further from the truth. Without a premium account the player will reach a point to the game is near unplayable because the developers have slanted the game to give those players an unfair advantage. The developer match low level tanks with tank upto 2 levels higher and then make it to where the lower tank can't harm the higher level. Also the developers seem to think it's funny to have most rounds (even ones you have to buy) hit and simply do zero damage. The Vendor has lost the balance between greed and promoting a good balanced game which in turn would make even more.… Expand

Great game overall. It gets better and better as you progress and kills are very rewarding. The maps are built for teamplay and tactics and you must learn to play tactically. If you can learn how to play this game I believe you are open for a great time.

This game is great in concept but idiotic in realization. The Devs and artists have done a great job of re-creating these beautiful tank models and bringing them to life. The gameplay is great, if you can get past the other players. The running and gunning is great, if you can avoid the ridiculous RNG system that seems to rob you of credit at least three times a round. The map rotation and match making are completely bogus and should have been just left in the unfair way it was at the start. Before getting into detail let’s talk about the backend/administrative side of things. For some unknown to me or the forums reasons they have changed the team damage criteria. Instead of like it was you can now get team damage AND be reported AND turn blue for having a friendly scout ram you at top speed and kill himself on you. You have not shot anyone, you have not done anything but be a tank at the onset of battle. Out of nowhere a friendly scout rams you and you are reported when you turn blue the next round (because YOU killed someone) and the scout gets exp and credits for having dashed himself against your tank. Seem fair? No, it isn’t. Seem unlikely? Yes, it is. I am writing from a currently banned account for this very reason. The RNG system... heaven help you if you are not in a Russian tank and you are firing on a Russian tank. The Devs have said over and over that there is no favor toward the Russian tanks it being a Russian game ;P. This is not correct. There is favor and it shows in-game. There are countless YouTube videos showing same tier tanks firing on Russian tanks over and over with penetration but no damage. My highest count for this was eleven. Eleven hits against a Russian tank and no damage. The stats on the gun say they can pen the armor you are firing at and the game will register and even say, ‘Penetration!’ but you get no damage scores whatsoever. There have been instances of tier 10 tanks firing on tier five Russian tanks and getting no damage. And if you decide to go with a Premium tank I highly recommend it. The only issues you will have are the scouts ramming you but all the above issues seem to go away with any premium ride. Good luck and have fun. You’ll need it.… Expand

World of Tanks is typically billed as an MMO, but this game had it’s formative months in an era when “MOBA” wasn’t even a genre title, and since everyone else is comfortable calling it an MMO, it stuck. It is, however, an online battle arena.

When you first register (at http://worldoftanks.com/; completely free) and log in, you’ll be given a selection of several light tanks to choose fr choose from to get yourself into battle, straight away. These tanks will never need to be repaired (which costs credits earned simply by playing matches). They’re you’re old stand-byes. If all else fails (read: your medium and heavy tanks get junked), these will always be there for you to jump back into some games, and earn yourself some credits to fix up those scrapped monsters. This is the reason why you honestly never have to spend a dime on this game. You will always have a tank with which to earn currency, and not just credits. You also slowly accumulate “free experience” which you can then use to upgrade your tanks and crew, or trade it in for gold to buy new tanks of varying class. You can also outright purchase gold, if you’re not earning fast enough, but you never have to. Personally, I always tend to pick up a little bit of currency for cash. It helps support the fine men and women who make these wonderful games, and my middle name happens to be “Instant Gratification.”

The game plays as you’d expect an arcade style tank simulator to play. Your WASD controls, move and turn your craft, while the turret is tied to your mouse-look. Range finding in WoT is extremely easy if an enemy tank is spotted by an ally, there’s a red diamond that appears above them and the map is automatically pinged. You know you’re properly aiming at an enemy because they’ll be outlined in a bold, red line when they’re in your sights. Two reticles aid you in aiming, as well a static circle that stays centered on your screen and not only marks where you’re aiming, but also tightens to indicate a steady, well fired shot the longer you remain still… moving and firing is a bit difficult to master; and a semi-transparent circle that actually accounts for terain, showing you were your shell will land in relation to where you’re aiming. It’s a simple system, but ingenious. It conveys all the important information regarding your aim in as compact a package as possible.

World of Tanks is beautiful. The textures are appropriately gritty, but also colorful. In the screenshot above, you can see the blue of the sky, the white of the clouds, the red roofs, and green trees. Though this is a war game, gunmetal gray is nowhere to be found! And the attention to detail is incredible. Look at the segmented windows, with cracked and broken glass. The piles of rubble that seem to have each individual rock textured and shadowed; in other areas of this city, park benches are present, wrought iron fences, and telephone poles all modeled with a great degree of care… which you can then roll over in your hulking slab of armored cavalry. Shells hit the dirt and send earth flying, exhaust fumes belch forth from the bellies of your steel beasts. I have, and often, been shot dead in the middle of taking in the environments, because they’re just so nice to look at. Most free-to-play games don’t have this level of detail… Hell, some box titles don’t have this level of detail! All those years working on proper battle field visuals has really been put on display by Wargaming.net in WoT.

Verdict: ++Good (9.0 out of 10) Though this particular game style won’t appeal to everyone, and there is a limited amount of game modes to participate in, both competitive arena gamers and WWII buffs will get tons of mileage out of World of Tanks. What is here is done extremely well, and the Wargaming.net team knows tanks better than any other development house in the business, providing proper heft to the tanks themselves, excellent play-mechanics and responsive controls, as well as authentic sound effects for the cannons and engines. It’s fun for 15 minutes, or 5 hours!… Expand

So many reviewers complain about the fact that this game (like most games these days) uses "experience" to "unlock" equipment not to get an advantage over other players, but become even. True: You have to spend much more time IF you are not willing to spend real money on "Premium Tanks" and you have to play harder more carefully without "Premium Ammo", as you cannot penetrate an enemy with each not so well aimed shot. But it is exactly the same with Battlefield 3, where you can lay AT mines right from the start, but a "more experienced" player with more unlocks on a tank can just see them highlighted like Christmas tree with no skill at all, making AT mines redundant (but no one complains about that, right?). This game has an awesome game mechanic and decent controls, allowing you to play it like a true arcade game, while ballistics and vehicle behavior work like a true simulator. The only point really to hate about this game is the "Tier System", unlocking bigger tanks with more hit points and guns, able to deal more damage (so the balance remains WITHIN a Tier). The matchmaking, placing you above or below other players, kills that balance BAD! Nevertheless you can be a useful addition to any group, if it is scouting, flanking, drawing attention to you, etc. I'd like to see some more effort in team play development or more specialized scenarios, as random battles become very boring. PLUS better friend integration. What's the point of a filled friend list, if you can only join a battle with on friend (or two, if you have a Premium Account)?… Expand

I hate to use the term, "Pay to Win" but in this case, it applies.

Riot Games' League of Legends is Free to Play as well, but that game can be competitively played without spending a dime and I don't understand why more developers don't follow their model. After all, it's highly successful.

I don't mind supporting developers, but the nature in which you present your product has to be honest. WoT is not honest in it's implementation. "Elite Tanks", which require real money to buy, are vastly superior to the free to play versions, therefore providing players the option to Pay to Win.

Call your game what it is, a Demo, and don't insult the intelligence of your player base. This game is monotonous and boring if you're not buying "Experience Boosts" or "Elite Tanks."

game /gām/
Noun
A form of play or sport, esp. a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck.

Paying cash to buy the best is not skill, strength, or luck. Go buy Battle Field 3.… Expand

The game requires the use of gold in order to enjoy. As others have said, things become frustrating, after a while, when you are incapable of playing well against opponents without upgrading.
Additionally, the price of gold is obscene. It costs $100 dollars for enough gold to obtain a premium account for merely a year. I expect more than than that.

Ir is a nice game to start with, but at the higher tiers the fights are mostly unbalanced. Although a fight is scheduled to last 15 minutes most of the time you will be out within 2-5 minutes. Only rarely you will see a fight where you can have fun slugging it out.

Biggest problem however is the amount of verbal abuse in this game. A lot of the higher tier players will blame others if they lose (even the best players have a win rate below 60%) and they will tell you loud and clear… Expand

About 6-8 months ago I rated this game a 6 due to a serious problem with the matchmaking system. That has been resolved now and the match ups are much tighter and much fairer. With the only exception being the tier 10 tanks which are a huge step above tiers 8 and 9 for the most part, and the top end artillery are still way OP. Tier 4 and above Light tanks are classed as true scouts and get tiered high as well.

However. Stay at tier 7 or below in a Medium/Heavy/Destroyer tank and you will always have a good/fair match. Premium rounds are now available to all players for credits and can be used freely, but will quickly kill your earnings if used all the time. The new physics system works great and a lot of maps have been redone and made much more dynamic. The new addition of a SEA server has much improved game play for most Australians as well.… Expand

After a year of playing world of tanks to the test. I've come to my own conclusions that they are not at all the best. Once you start getting into tier 4 or higher tanks the experience rate dramatically drops and it could take you for ever to get any where. Aside from the high cost of higher tier tanks. Aside from the credits you make after a battle and the cost of repairs and restocking of ammo you practically make next to nothing same as the experience. You could be a good player and really end up getting screwed in free experience or experience alone. After a yr playing i have not been able to get past having a t1 heavy tank and it is not all that good as it would seem. The higher tier you are the more cost it is in repairs and restocking. So really not all the best as i thought it would be. Match making is very horrible and unbalanced. You could have low tier tanks with much higher tier tanks their suppose to scout, but to be honest you are not making credits or experience from this All these other reviews are coming from kids. What would you expect from that? World of tanks is a grind fest, and you really don't have much an mmorpg in this game. you can't even play in the same match with your friends if you wanted to. The matches are not randomly maps as they should be. At most you will get stuck to one or two maps. really boring doing the same maps over and over in a 1 hour period.… Expand

Fun free to play casual game if you want to blast tanks away in 15 vs 15 battles, but like its upsides it has its downsides, such as tedious grinding past tier 6 without a premium account, unbalanced premium paid tanks, a mixed game community where you got decent folks and complete assclowns and a downright TERRIBLE forum community. I would equate the moderators on the forum to Soviet style authorities back in the USSR days, giving infractions for minor things.

If you liked WW2 and the armored warfare or just want to blow **** up, give it a try but avoid the forums at all cost. They are a nightmare!… Expand

The negative scores are just because the persons didn't understand the game.. The matchmaking is fair and it's not pay2win. Sometimes it's frustrating (if you don't understand the game and aren't willed to learn) but the game keeps your win rate about 48% (2% draws, 50% loses) if you are an average player. No one with over 1000 battles has a win rate under 42%.
The tanks are balanced too. There matchmaking only puts tanks in a game if there is just 2 levels difference and a tank 2 levels lower than the other can damage it if you know where to aim.. The premium tanks which you can buy for real money aren't overpowered. They are as well as the other tanks on their level. You can buy premium ammo for ingame credits or real money. Premium players only earn more experience/credits so they aren't better than other players, they just reach the next tank/gun/tracks/... faster.
The game is not about getting a level 10 tank (last level). The game is about having fun on your level. And sometimes it's more funny to play a level 2 tank than a level 10.… Expand

This is a weird game to play. In the beginning you love it and you want to keep playing to get that next tank. However, the higher you go the more you realize this game makes little sense. I've literally taken the same tank as my friend and we decided to shoot one another square on (in the same location). One deflected and the other destroyed the tank (Note: we targeted same location on each others tank [Hetzer]). Other issues are extremely poor matchmaking. You can't decide which game to join on your own but are forced to play depending on some random computer generated game. One team will have great players with amazing tanks and the other will have horrible tanks with bad players. On average one team with dominate the other. I also find that I was in plenty of battles where I was a teir 4 in a tier 8 battle. I can't understand why I would have been put in those battles. Overall, this game has fun points and I'm sure to keep playing but I think it's very lopsided and isn't far when it comes to tank battles.… Expand

Grinding is not fun. The cost of faster advancement is not cheap. You can easily spent more than $100 on this game.

You will be cycled through a pattern of being frustratingly weak and slow, until you upgrade your tank fully. You can either then try to get your crew experience if you enjoy fighting in that tier and want to stick to a tank, or move on and restart a new cycle of frustration and upgrading. Those who upgraded or have paid, will enjoy destroying others in your helpless state... "zomg, I killed 5+ tanks! So epic!"

I personally got fed up by Tier 3/4. I finally found a tank I liked, the German "Luchs", but the reward for the grind just wasn't very satisfying. Some have said that Tier 6 tank that my Luchs can research into, a VK2801 or something, was amazing, but I rather not play a game with so much grinding, unless it had a better social aspect.

To say the least, I really like the music.… Expand

This is a long review, but I've played the game for so long and I'm honest enough about the entire thing to give a useful opinion without being a fanboy or bashing the game completely, so please keep this in mind as you read.

This game is a very mixed bag. First off, the core gameplay can be entertaining if you're willing to learn how it works and operate within those boundaries. There's a lot of satisfaction to gain from this, which is why as a person who detests this game, I actually do still play it. The game is all about grinding. Tier 1-3 goes fast, 3-4 is a little longer, 4-5 is very long, then after that it doesn't seem to be long before tier 6, and then 7, but 8, 9 and 10 are very long grinds. I've played since June 2011 basically EVERY day and I have two tier 10 tanks unlocked, a couple of tier 9 tanks, half a dozen tier 8's, many tier 7's. So you can see it takes a long time to get tanks. I play to get one win a day in each tank I care about, never grinding because that's too tedious and it takes me this kind of time.

The game heavily rewards money spending via premium tanks that are poorly balanced and with premium shells (Though these can now be bought with in-game currency - which has caused some chaos and imbalance). The premium tanks are frequently overpowered when introduced, causing much anger among players who face them - which of course means lots of players run out and buy these tanks. They're not cheap either. The game's in-game currency is gold, you can buy 1250 gold for about $8. Most of the tier 7-8 premium tanks which are the most powerful and fun to use are about 8000-12000 gold which comes out to about $35-50. That's $35-50 for ONE tank. The next step, Wargaming nerfs the tank so the normal playerbase stops complaining, but then they buff it again and it goes on and on. All these tanks do is return more in-game credits than a normal tiered equivalent. Lots of normal tanks are poorly balanced so the problem becomes that to get a fun to use tank you may have to go through a few badly balanced and unfun tanks. Despite these tanks being unbalanced negatively, players who complain in the forums trying to get these tanks improved are ridiculed and told they're just bad at the game. Wargaming NEVER listens to player feedback, as the game is most popular in Russia and that is truly the only playerbase they care about. The Russian developers ignore American feedback, they just allow us to pretend we matter to silence us - this may sound conspiracy theorist but it really is true in this game.

The community is also one of the worst I've ever seen. Players are very bad at the game even at higher tiers, and they just keep playing which ruins the fun for a normal/good player. Battles are 15 players vs 15 players and the matchmaker is notoriously bad. Using an external mod which shows player's skill ratings and win rates during a match, I've observed the game frequently stacks one team full of very good players and the other team is full of bad players. This game is NOTORIOUS for losing streaks, worse than any game I've ever seen. You can be good (which not to brag, I am pretty good at the game) and still be shafted by bad matchmaking, poor player skills, and random number generation - which is how the game determines damage, penetration, and basically everything.

Wargaming is also probably one of the worst game companies I've had the displeasure to play a game from. They give their moderators free realm to basically do whatever they want, and their "appeals" section if you get chat banned in the game is basically for show - they never repeal bans, no matter what. This game is so terrible about censorship, that despite allowing you to disable a profanity filter I personally have been banned for calling somone a noob before. Yes, they're THAT kind of moderators. If you insult the developers, other players, in ANY fashion even calling them stupid or dumb you'll get banned for a few days. They also frequently tell people to stop spamming or stop using caps when no one is doing either action. Wargaming is a very shallow company concerned only with squeezing profit out of the game while doing as little as possible to improve long standing issues. Users make great suggestions, and they're never listened to. The also ignore all test server player feedback, they just use hard stats like win rates, average damage and other things that do not reveal the full picture to determine what's balanced and what's not.

The game can be fun when everything is alright, but too many times the game is just awful. Many maps are bad, many tanks are bad, and the community is awful, the developer/staff is terrible. There's a fun game buried underneath this mess, but it's not worth your time to find it if you ask me - I've played over 2k hours, I'd know...… Expand

This game is free but the way they have designed it pretty much forces you to spend lots of money to advance at all in the game. You will end up in tons of very unfair matches forcing you to have to spend real money to convert experience just to advance to the next tank. But you can always just not spend money and play a terrible tank that has a gun that won't even damage other tanks, Which is required to make a reasonable amount of experience. Avoid this game at all cost. Its just a scam.… Expand

After playing 4k battles I have to say, stay away from WoT. Once you grind/pay your way to the tier 9/10 tanks the game is ruined by tier 7/8 artillery. Higher tier.. the tactics consist of hiding behind any hard cover to avoid artillery.

They completely dictate the outcome of any battle more then 3 per side are in. They splash damage of 600+ often, direct hits will be 1200+ to 2000+.

WG themselves simply DO NOT CARE even tho the forums are livid with complaints, US and EU. If you want to play and never spend a dime and stick with tier 1-7 then it can be fun.

They should stop misleading people and rename the game World of Artillery (supported by various tanks)… Expand

The biggest moan about this game comes from people, who think they are good because they have nice k/d ratio in Call of Duty or Counter Strike series. Suddenly they met a game which requires some skills, but basically THINKING. And that's the reason why the score is so low for such a superb product. Never before anyone has even tried to approach ww II tanks in such a great, MMO way. The graphics after the 8.0 patch are very decent, and the added physics let's You take advantage of terrain and environment. There are good and worse maps, but I've never seen one criticized by all - there are always at least 50% positive reviews. The modules upgrade system is really expanded and the satisfaction when You kill a Tier 8 tank being a Tier 5 is just an amazing feeling which can be felt only by people who spend some time to learn basics. Matchmaking is really ok - There are battles where You play against weaker, there are battles where You are a victim, but cooperation with other team members let You get through even toughest battles. This is not a surprise that most people playing the game are lemmings and are very passive in what they do (plus there worst part is a dude in $$$ Lowe or T34 who has 300 battles and doesn't even know the map, but he MUST play on high tier because screwing up for his team satsifies him). Still surprisingly, there are people who want to cooperate and sometimes team consisting of three cooperating dudes in platoon and 12 lemmings can do a lot. To sum it up - You won't like this game if You like easy, casual playing, if You like scripts, fireworks and lasers. But if You're searching for a true MMO challenge and won't cry when You get killed - this one is definetly a title for You. Just please. Start from 1st tier.… Expand

I give this title a base score of 5 points simply for being original. Now the graphics are very well done. The audio is fantastic. The ballistics are very nice. The controls are very responsive. The maps are a great deal of fun. And lastly, you can do just fine in this game and never spend any real money. It isn't pay to win. There is some grinding to rank up to new tiers but isn't that what we do when we play anyway? Overall I give the game a 9 because there is still room for improvement. Great fun.… Expand

It's a fun game, but the fact that people can shoot "gold bullets" pretty much completely unbalances the game. The few maps available becomes extremely repetitive after a few games.

Alot of content and depth for a free to play, however it's bias is an incredibly long play through to get what you want unless you pay, having said that, clan wars and public matches a like provoke fun gameplay that keeps me coming back for more.

This is an incredibly fun and addictive game. I really don't understand the poor User scores for this game. After a quick look I realize most of them are from try-hards that get frustrated with the fact that they can't one-shot every single thing in the game. Most likely FPS and RPG gamers that don't quite understand anything other than mashing keys and getting instant gratification. Anyways, this game creeped on me slowly, and now it has become one of my favorite games to play. First of all, the game concept itself is really fun and simple and easy to get in to. If you start getting into the game more and more then it's when it actually gets addictive. There is a lot more than just driving a tank with simplistic controls and shooting other players, it's actually quite more complicated than that if you want to excel at it. There is fidelity (somewhat) to the real life attributes of most tanks, regarding guns, engines, amor, weak spots, etc etc. Then there is actually the dual progress of your tank(s) with credits and XP, and your crew who also get XP on their own and can be further specialized with cool attributes. All of this, in a FREE to play game. Let me repeat, FREE, yes, you do NOT have to pay anything if you don't want to, however, if you want to advance faster or get certain advantages, you can do it by paying. And this where most of their negative reviews come from, most likely 14 year olds that want to have the best tank possible RIGHT NOW, not a fun progress through weeks of playing, BUT RIGHT NOW, and they can't seem to understand any other way to get things than actually paying. Unfortunately, even when that happens, you are qued against similar tier tanks, therefore there is no such a "glorious advantage" over anyone at any point really, and that pisses off certain people. However, if you are a decent player that enjoys challenge, that understand there is progression in a game and likes to understand every aspect of the game, this game is an amazing bargain. Conclusion: The game is incredibly fun and addictive with a certain depth if you want to get into it. It's free to play, however if you impatient or want to get certain small advantages while progressing then you will have to pay some. If you are a tank/WW2 junkie then this game is a must. And if you are player that likes competition and challenge, not easy brain-dead fun, then you will like this game. You also need to understand that this is a MMO, so there is a progression designed to last several months, so NO, you WON'T "beat" the game in few days, stop giving bad reviews because of this. Also, ArenaNet is doing a fantastic job at keeping the game updated, not only with new maps, new tanks, but also new very important additions, such an updated Physics engine, graphics rendering, etc etc, things that most games charge you for or simply wait until releasing a "part 2" of the game. They really seem committed to make this a great game, which already is to be honest.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pros:
-Anti-map/wall/ESP hack feature. The server determines who can see you and who you can see so hackers cannot shoot undetected tanks. They can still shoot randomly or take an estimated shoot though.
-Lots of tanks.
-Multiple nations.
-Lots of equipment for each tank.
-Team balance algorithm that gives you a variety of tank lineups per battle.
-Battlefields are full of objects.
-You can now ride down cliffs.
-Sophisticated game mechanics.
-World of Tanks allows you to mod the game.

Cons:
-Very horrible grind. If you are a free player you automatically suffer a -50% credit and experience penalty. Depending on your tank, you may need to fight over 200-400+ battles to get the tank crew to 100%. After that it gets even worse, you need to do an additional 2000-5000+ tank battles to acquire enough experience to fully train the crew.
-Boring game modes. I would like to see modes such as light tanks vs light tanks only or team death matches were the team who gets x kills first, wins.
-Crew training>Player skill. The player skill doesn't really get better, instead its the crew's performance that gets better that makes the player look like they are skilled when really the player never really improves.
-Sight mechanics suck. In this game, wild tank sees you through wall. Wild tank appears in the open field out of nowhere.
-Physics limitations. There are tanks in the game that actually go faster than 72km/h but the game forces the tanks to cap at 72km/h.
-Where are all the tanks. If this is really the world of tanks, then where are the modern tanks? Copyright issues?
-Game balance hurts the historical performance of tanks.
-Very few maps. Game gets repetitive real fast.
-In order to get to a tank you want, you have to play some really horrible tanks.
-Sometimes you get put in battles with tanks that are 7 tiers above you. You have absolutely no chance of surviving.
-Lacks good music.
-Lacks foreign language dialogue. All dialogue is spoken in English.… Expand

This is the game that I have chosen to play 90% of opportunities since July 2011, totaling nearly 5,000 battles. I have reached Tier 10 in the German tank tree (E-100, E-50M and JagdPanzer E-100), 7 in the French tree, 8 in the Russian tree and 6 in the American tree. My latest high-tier tank, the E-50M is AMAZING. I have done so well and have dealt so much damage in it. Maybe it's a little too powerful, but if you don't like that, GET ONE YOURSELF! :D Almost all of the time I've played this, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. There is definitely a huge split between good days and bad days, as I've been lucky lately, having done about 25 battles in the last week in which I dealt over 4,000 damage and capturing part of the enemy base, but sometimes, the game just gets really tough on you, matching you with some "not-so-good" players and/or against a team full of Unicums (not unicorns, but top players). However, if you manage to make it through these battles, winning, there is a great feeling of triumph. It's a very high-quality strategy tank shooter that receives updates every 1-2 months - and the updates are always exciting. I have enjoyed this game so much that I have 5 Tier 8 premium tanks (well worth it for me; I love them), which are in NO WAY overpowered compared to the rest of the tier. They each have advantages over standard tanks, like higher shell penetration or armour, but they also come with disadvantages, such as a comparatively long reload time, slow top speed or long aiming time. A couple of months ago, Wargaming.net released the new Tier 10 Tank Destroyers and Medium Tanks, and at first, after playing on the test server, I was worried that they would make the game unplayable at high tiers, but my worries were for naught, as on the proper server, you won't get matched in battles with 26 tier 10s and 4 Tier 8 SPGs. Recently, I've been getting a lot of Top Gun achievements and Ace Tanker Mastery Badges, which is very pleasing when it happens, and this just makes the game more fun to play the longer you go on. Probably one of the most exciting moments in the game is when the last enemy tank, of your tier or higher, is dying quickly and it seems like there is no way you'll be able to get to them, but then their armour starts bouncing shots and extending their life. You finally come around to the last corner, blocked by some friendly tanks, irritating you that your team won't let you get the shot, then all of a sudden, everyone moves out of the way, allowing you an easy shot, which you take, getting the last kill. Aaaahhhh... how exciting. :)
10/10. This is a fantastic online strategy game with a huge range of vehicles and maps.… Expand

The game walks a fine line between historical accuracy and balanced gameplay, and does so successfully for the most part. A Tiger tank -- while one of the most lethal on the battlefield in WW2 -- is 'only' a tier 7, and based on game design is primarily a sniper tank for example. Having played over 3000 matches, I can say that every tank in the game has strengths and weaknesses. Most complaints of tanks being overpowered or underpowered are based on an unwillingness to learn different styles of play, where you need to take advantage of the tank's strengths and offset their weaknesses. Are you a brawler? Sniper? Intended to scout? Fast speed for flanking actions? Heavily sloped armor so you're intended to play mostly hull down?

I've spent about $80 on the game having played almost an entire year. I purchased one 'gold' tank, where the gold tanks' main advantage is the ability to generate credit income faster than other tanks. Real $ tanks are almost exclusively inferior to experience point equivalent tiers, whcih is the primary reason why this game is not 'pay to win'. The gold tanks facilitate easier experience point and credit grinds... but offer no advantages on the battlefield. Its a brilliant design, and works well.

My experience indicates the most fun tiers to play are between tiers 5 and 8. Tiers 9 and 10 have exceedingly expensive repair bills (unless you're running as a premium account) and typically are very conservative matches due to the severity of artillery. Lower tier matches tend to be very zerg-like and usually your teammates are still learning the game. Great game, very well balanced -- a 'thinking man's FPS.… Expand

I've been playing this game for more than a year now, and I can say i'm pleased with it. It's totally possible to play it successfully without using any premium subscription or equipment, I've reached high tiers with none of that. Beware, the game requires a lot of grinding in order to advance to higher tiers, patience is required. Still, lower tier tanks can be definitely fun to play, there is no real need to advance up in tiers.

+ Good models
+ Non-premium players can do just fine
+ Great variety of roles that can be played (scout tank, medium, heavy, tank destroyer, artillery)
+ Some realistic mechanics (mostly ballistics)
+ Good destructible environment
+ Game updated very frequently
+ Many maps
+ Several game modes
+ Good tank customization

- Some broken game mechanics (no damage on hit, fake penetrations) - A bit too much RNG
- Very expensive high tier vehicles, almost impossible to upkeep without premium
- Dumb friendly damage compensation system
- Broken matchmaking
- Overpriced items at store
- Very bad tank specs when stock, which means terrible grinding times
- Excessive amount of artillery sometimes

I reccomend trying this game though, but beware: it can be quite addictive.… Expand

This game is one of best F2P games on the world. Why ? Because you cant pay hard money and you will be good player like this guys who have premium account. WOT have very easy controls, nice graphics, a lot of vehicles and its VERY FUNNY GAME.

World of Tanks garners very strong opinions. Most people seem to either love it, or hate it. The biggest challenge seems to be the learning curve when starting the game. It takes awhile to learn the various strengths and weaknesses of the various vehicles and adjust your play style accordingly. For those who take a more casual 'run and gun' arcade approach to the game, they will frequently be frustrated until they find the handful of tanks which match their play style. Balance is fairly good and constantly being adjusted based on statistical analysis and player feedback, but this is by far the biggest point of contention amongst players. One one side there will be a perceived imbalance for a certain tank or class of tanks while the other side will insist that those who complain simply don't know how to play their tanks properly.

The micro transaction model is actually quite convenient, and can be affordable if you are careful. Going from tier 1 to 5 (there are 10 tiers) can usually be accomplished quite easily with the 'free to play' model. Once you hit tier 7, it becomes difficult as without a paid Premium Account, you tend to lose more money per battle than you make on tier 7+ vehicles. This can be offset by keeping a mix of lower tier 'money making' tanks which fund the higher tier tanks in your in-game garage. The 'premium vehicles' which can be purchased directly, or indirectly with in-game gold (gold is purchased through micro transactions) are typically stronger than non-upgraded tanks within their own tier. Once a normal non-premium vehicle has been properly upgraded and researched they are usually on par with or better than the premium vehicles with only a few exceptions. The big draw for the premium vehicles is that the amount of money and experience they earn is much higher than a normal tank and maintenance costs are usually lower.

The game play itself is quite addictive and has an interesting blend of arcade and simulation feel to it. Graphics and effects are good for what they are and can be run on mid range laptops or better. For a player willing to put in the time and effort, you can continue to play this game without spending money on micro transactions through careful management and taking advantage of events such as double XP/money weekends or other specials. For players who are wishing to fast track or play more competitively, micro transactions are the way to go. For the more casual player, the biggest challenge is getting through your first few hundred battles and learning how to play effectively.

Pros:
-Addictive game play
-Built in social features such as clan, platoon and company battles
-Ability to play 1000+ battles before micro transactions become a real asset (or more, through creative play)

Cons:
-Large community complaints of imbalance of some tanks (perceived and real)
-Challenging learning curve

My verdict is that this game is certainly worth a try for those willing to put in a bit of a time to learn how to play the game effectively. I have no complains about the micro transactions since the developer offers the game for free initially, and while payment offers an advantage it is not an un-balancing advantage nor is it necessary to enjoy the game.

Cons… Expand

Pay to win game don't waste your time.

The episode starts out with Android 18 about to fight with Mr. Satan (who is scared out of his mind) at the World Martial Arts Tournament. Mr. Satan imagines what will happen if he loses to Android 18: Android 18 laughing at him, Videl disowning him, and the entire crowd booing and throwing things at him. He then laughs and says "Watch out, you don't know what you're messing with!" while walking backwards. He then charges at Android 18 with his fists flying, but Android 18 dodges each one. She then puts him in a headlock and says she will throw the match for 20,000,000 Zeni. She lets go but the crowd thinks Mr. Satan kicked her away.
18 putting Mr. Satan in a headlock
BeadtmdcAdded by Beadtmdc

At the tournament, Mr. Satan throws Android 18 across the ring and she tells him to do his most powerful attack. He performs his Dynamic Mess Em Up Punch. She stands there and says "That was your most powerful attack". She then jumps out of the ring and Mr. Satan is declared the winner. Android 18 then says "I will see you tomorrow and get my money and if you don't pay I will kill you".… Expand

World of tanks has a lot of potential and is fun at times when it is balanced which rarely happens. WoT suffers from poor design. More often than not WoT is very dull, boring and lame. This game suffers a lot from imbalance! This game was outdated before it even left alpha. Very poor overall design of the game! The developers focus way too much on money making than actually making this game work properly. The game mechanics are broken and this game suffers from a lot of bugs and poor coding. The best way to describe this game is a bunch of high school kids made it. Just simply put a bunch of amateurs made this game who are greedy and just see dollars signs everywhere! Avoid this piece of Trash on less you are willing to spend money to have fun in this game. That is the only way WoT is worth playing and that is with gold account! This game gets a 0 out of 10 for the overall trash factor it offers!… Expand

I give this game 0 score. Because there are developers of the game rating the game up on the user review. Personally, this game is pretty good, but the devs are not impartial, they are russian. Therefore the game is not as great as it could be. The users that are FAKE are: RedNord Dys88 reignoftanks check the similarity between dys88 and reignoftanks. Rakashin DutchDK (probably) Pirate21110
AceGunner
mrtanker

...
...
The list goes on. The user reviews are not this high.. check the low reviews.… Expand

Game is basically designed to frustrate you into spending money. Full of stupid mechanics (yes, I know how they work and why are they like that. 55% win rate with 1300~ rating out of 2000 games) like spotting that makes very little sense or massively overpowering artillery that basically decides every high-tier game with ability to one-shot a tank into uselessness by killing off 2-4 crew members and knocking down 1-3 modules per shot. Sure, you can take maybe 3-5 of the shots, but even one near miss drops your combat effectiveness by over 50% easily. Everything is priced very high and if you want to spend real life money you won't get much bang for your buck. Single tank costs 30-40 euros. Imagine, a single tank in a game with hundreds of them. See Tribes Ascend for F2P done correctly.… Expand

Just plain brilliant!
It's fun, realistic and easy on matchmaking.
Good community and I have loads of fun playing it.
Now with the new update there are more maps and gameplay stuff to play. And for a free game they sure update it a lot making it never boring.

This game is quite nice game,even tho it seems easy its not really noob friendly ,especially after tier 7.. so most of people who wrote bad reviews are probably people who played total time of 7ish hours and made a judgement over game that require hours and hours and hoooours of practise

It's simply unbelievable how much fan this game gives. The strongest things here are 1) gameplay 2) feeling of constant improvement of your garage with every game played 3) very well balanced free/premium gameplay (premium is really VERY nice, but you don't feel weak without it).

For me personally gameplay in WoT can be compared to... Counter-Strike :) At first glance: nothing special. But both games have "this thing", which just make "walking and shooting"/"driving and shooting" simply pleasant and fun, and time running waaaay too fast... :D… Expand

The game is fun and good. It's one of the best example of good F2P. I played it over 2 years now, and only spent like 5$ just for new slots, because i wanted to buy even more tanks). Without premium you progress faster then in ,for example, Tribes: Ascend and you'll only lack credits if you play bad/ only have top vehicles (They are not profitable even with premium acc so there would be wide range of tanks playing). Gold(paid_ shells are only used in Clan Wars, Some people just don't get that if they are not top, they should fight low tier tanks, but i think it's CoD illness that makes them think that if they are on a light tank(that used mainly as scout and point targets for arty, because it's really fast and can avoid shells) they need to somehow fight with the top tanks.… Expand

Slow paced, unskilled, and worst of all just plain boring game play. The balance and matchmaking in the game is way off as well. The entire game has a decent core concept but they need to go back to the drawing board. They need to make the game feel more like a game and less of a driving in a parking lot simulation. The also need to find some way to encourage more team work and tank slection stratagy rather than putting everyone in a generic mold team.… Expand

I have been playing since open beta and agree with many of the other low reviews. This game while being genuinly free to play hence i awarded 1 point :) Is quite simply not fun, after playing the same gamemode on simular maps for over 1,000 times this game tires. The ideas as said in other reviews are awesome however just dont translate into a fun game, my main problem is the system for upgrading the tank and the teiring, with for example a Ferdinand, one of the best tank destroyers of world war 2 you come up against tanks from the 1950s and many prototypes and as the starting gun on this tank means u cannot kill tanks ur level it becomes tedious and frustrating, only after about 100 battles can you unlock the best gun and it becomes playable, this is very simular with other tanks also. Matchmaking is also a contrivertial issue as the battles are oftern heavily biased to one team. My second biggest fault after enjoyment is the lack of community, I myself am in a clan and have played clanwars however the developers of the game make little attempt to communicate with players other than tedious events, on the forums the "community team" only post to remove explicit content which I think says alot about their approach to the games community. I much prefer Blizzards approach of atleast getting involved in conversations which helpes players feel more part of the game. There are many ways to make this game great however in my opinion it is likly to be another of those games which could have been awesome which is however destined to be a flop, its lack of penetration itno the European market says its all. Another word of warning is to ignore most of the critic reviews as many are simply fantasy and quite irritating. Sorry if this has dissapointed you, just trying to stop people wasting as much time as I have :) Thanks for reading… Expand

Not a pure FPS, but combined with strategy.The game is free to play, and spending money doesnt make you better than a free player, just ur progression is fast.
The only advantage cash gives you against free palyers is "Gold ammo", but almost never used in random battles where u use to play, but clan battles where the reward is gold is where this kind of ammo takes use.

You have classes as many FPS and making your role properly is mandatory for a succesful win.
In this game doesnt win the one with better ping, the one who shoots first or the one who knows the map.
You need to know the strengths/weaknesses of your tank and focus in your targets wisely.If you are a big tank with a BIG gun, you must focus in big tanks, medium flankers and heavy defenders.
If you are a weak(but fast) tanks, you must report enemy tanks location to bigger gun mates for sucess.
Also you must know where to aim and the consecuences, here's where a huge part of the strategy takes part.Should I detrack a tank? direct damage? destroy its cannon?

Overall a good game.

The only true con i see is the matchmaking system.Playing vs +/- x lvls tanks sometimes makes you have no chance against the enemy or 1shot all the entire enemy army.… Expand

Free to play - Pay to win. In a nutshell, that is WoT for you. Well, mind you, it's a given that F2P games somehow have to give you an "incentive" to spend some money on them, but aside of the even more horribly lopsided F2P Battlefield I've not seen anything like this in the F2P field. Let's even ignore for a moment the fact that as a F2P player you have to spend ridiculous amounts of time to actually "level up" because the amount of XP you get per battle is ridiculously low, as a "free" player you are, essentially, the target dummy for the paying community. You're not their player, you're essentially part of the product being sold, kinda-sorta like a bot with some brains, there to make those feel good that shelled out some dough for it. You get invariably dumped into games where you're on the lower end of the spectrum, which more often than not leads to you being pretty much unable to put even a dent into their armor. It gets old kinda fast if you keep shooting at an enemy from behind (where it should be "softer") countless times for exactly zero effect before he finally realizes you're there, turns his turret and blows you out of existence. More because you're an inconvenience rather than a threat. Sure, I could buy some "premium ammo" for real money, then I might get to score a hit from time to time. But you may think it's temporary, and all you have to do is to get to the next tier of tanks, then you'll be on top of the roster. You will not, because now you get tossed into a battle of the same **** combination as before, just one tier higher. But that's not even your problem. You're now again in a "stock" tank without any improvements, in other words, you're not only the runt of the litter, your crate now also sucks on top of it. So you improve it, you spend countless battles where you're little more than the target dummy for some paying player... the treadmill repeats itself until you're finally fed up and give up. I somehow wonder if there are any "free" players in the higher tiers at all... Or what do you shoot at when you spent a few hundred bucks on this game and managed to get to tier 10? Do you have to play against others who did the same? And keep spending to stay in the game? Sorry. I don't mind dropping a few bucks to a game I like, but when a F2P game starts to cost more than a premium title, without being anything close to premium, something's terribly wrong.… Expand

Having played the game for just over four months, the only thin I can say is: unless you're ready to dish out serious amount of cash, this "free 2 play" online shooter is not worth it. Don't get me wrong, the game is tremendous fun until you get to about tier 4. Then you start being thrown into fights with tanks that can effortlessly one-shot you, while you can't even do any damage to them. This is where the fun stops, and you start a grim grind, getting ever higher tier tanks, thinking the next one will not suck so badly. But it does. And when you're up at tier 7-8 you will start losing money on battles, even if you play on a premium account. And higher tier tanks don't get any cheaper, so to keep your cash balance positive, to got to either play lower tier tanks again, or buy a money-making premium tank for 45 euro. Imagine, say, in WoW having to play several 40-50 level characters for the sole purpose of paying for the upkeep of your 85 level main character. That's a bad design right there, and the game is not fun at all when you get to that point. Sooner or later, it will become as a chore, playing just to get the daily experience bonus. I understand the company wants to make money off their game, but disguising World of Tanks as free to play just seems cheap to me.… Expand

World of tanks is quite nice game for casual gaming. It's free and one will get his portion of fun. Dark side of the game is when you get to grind something. Higher tiers are (intentionaly) basically unplayable on their own without either premium account or having other tanks to support expenses. I would for sure recommend giving this game a try.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Amended review ~ Where to start with this one... I still play occasionally I have 15k+ games played, and a guild that can rub shoulders with the big boys but doesn't more often than not. Basics ~ 15 on 15 pvp matches Everyone plays a tank,spg,td or scout. Matches are near instant you click your tank ready you usually pay in 1 minute. Constant gratification It's kinda has a weird shaped enjoyment curve .. it's starts out great and then you start to get abused at tier 5-6. If you slog past this to tier 9/10 for simple love of the game and the genre you will continue to play. If not you will find better things to do with your time. It's a Russian game, which has it's pluses and minuses. Their original intent was to make WoW and they ended up with WoT. No clue how. So the bad first #1 The match maker is purposely trying to defeat you, you can change your fate through skill, teamwork and intuition, improvisation. But you will find that no one will win more than 60-65% of their matches because the match maker doesn't consider accurately the ability of various tanks, skill of the players (in and out of 3 man cell groups called platoons). And at this point with what over 100 tanks to choose from the problem is exacerbated and un-fixable, without a completely different game play design . #2 Micro-transactions ~ There isn't a less trustworthy way to to employ micro-transactions than selling power but that's EXACTLY what they do. They sell everything, it's like they read a game developers paper on what to do and what not to do and did everything anyways just because. Well a lot of games sell power, every pvp game does it, but none in the universe charge you as much as WoT will. You pay for tanks that grind experience faster, you pay to transfer experience from 1 tank to the other, you pay for bullets that will penetrate better and are more accurate, you pay to boost your tanks crew experience, you pay to paint your tank ~ everything in game has a very real dollar cost. There are a lot of givens and you don't have to pay a cent many do this ~ but you will never compete or progress at a reasonable rate unless you do. Those issues are bad enough to never ever return to a game. They are classic what not to do when making your video game mistakes of severe magnitude. #3 browser game that takes more time than a full time job, and just as involved in planning. Want and 8 hours a day job, manage a team in WoT and try to keep property. If you don't show up EVERY night of the week including holidays, and play as hard as you would and at any real life sports you'll get booted off the game map or never even make it on. That's minimum 15 players with reserves. But~ WoT is also relatable, when you play your tanks for the first time you really feel like your in a real tank. No game has delivered this ever, and for the market to completely overlook this until a Russian developer finally made a decent tank game is a shameful proof of what inbred circle proof marketing benefits the world. WoT has actually strategy, bouncing around like bugs bunny in other pvp games doesn't exist here. You THINK where you need to go you coordinate and you move tactically. Actual strategy, actual. Do you understand how completely foreign this is to video games these days that spoon feed everything to you? WoT is realistic, and you are constantly gratified. No waiting an hour for a group or even 10 minutes, jump in and play until it hurts. WoT gives you real choice, you get to decide what you want to play and how. Hundreds of tanks, hundreds of guns. Finally ~ I give WoT a 5, the gameplay is well above a 9 probably a 9.5 but the match maker and miserable micro transanction system ruin what could have been a benchmark industry changing game.… Expand

The game simply does not provide positive emotions. Once you pass the initial excitement and start developing your tanks you find out that unless you've been playing the game for the last couple of years you gonna be a cannon fodder on the battle map. To avoid it you'd need to put in A LOT of money (say a hundred bucks per month) and A LOT of time (say 4-5 months of everyday play) to become a decent team member. But the game needs cannon fodder so they keep flocking in :)… Expand

The game is very engaging for the first 2-3 hours but then turns into grindfest. Each new tank you get comes in a "stock" configuration and needs upgrading. "Stock" means cannon fodder even for a lower level tanks. Stocks are slow, have inferior guns and very limited visibility. And you need hundreds of games to research your stock tank into "top" so beware of topping up your game account with real money.… Expand

Good idea, terrible implementation. Let's wait till some team that has brains implement it.

The idea of an easy to use, first person shooter with a wast online audience is immensely appealing. Just this particular case sucks. First of all the game producer does not put enough money into server capacity. When you just drive around you've got decent 30-50ms ping but in the heat of the battle when you need your game to be responsive above all you start getting network lags and the pings becomes 100-300ms. That means 3-10 frames per second. Just imagine playing a first person shooter with a slow motion camera.… Expand

All you need to know about about World of Tanks is that it will NEVER be more fun than the first 5-8 hours you put into it; in fact, you will end up chasing the novelty and fun of those first few days for the remainder of the time you remain committed to World of Tanks. Because after you have tiered up and onto battlefields where Tier V+ tanks are present, the game just begins this stifling exponential decay curve regarding fun. If you have managed to only invest time in your tanks and not any $$$ up to this point (which *is* possible if you are the glutton for punishment type) you will nearly immediately find yourself compelled not only to upgrade to a premium account but also to purchase large chunks of gold at $20-$30 at a time just to eke out a little more fun and novelty. And if you decide to rage against this machine that wargaming.net has constructed for you (not advisable), you will be rewarded with a smoldering, charred metal corpse of a tank just about every time you play. Don't be fooled, this game is eventually p2p and the reality is that by the time you are "encouraged" to pay. . . it's just not all that worth it any more. Enjoy, but be advised.… Expand

Its hard to rate this game. For a casual player it is good. Action packed. For mmo veterans, it can be a massive timesink and an exercise in frustration. The endgame is split between high tier random battles and Clan Wars. The random battles at high tiers is very flawed, but the clan wars system is fun and challenging. Very hardcore.

I honestly doesn't understand those 1s-3s scores. Does this game have a lot of flows? sure but which isn't? Does micro-payment here is a little to much 'youhaveto'? yep but devs won't feed themselves with praises and it IS free to play if you don't wanna pay - just a lot harder than. But the same is with dificulity system in other games - you can give easy and be king of the world killing everything without scratch or you can give hard or expert and die a lot. If you can't deal with this that in 30 person battle you won't be only one standing 9 out of 10 games than this game is just not for U. On average there is no more than 3 survived from a battle. Will it be always you? almost certainly not. Depending from your role you can be sometimes sure that you wont survive even in 90% of your games. It's WW II tank simulator! you're not happy that some old panzer III is no match for KV? well it's not and it wasn't when real people were driving them but they had to take those kind of battles anyway and die almost certainly. Coz they could buy time for other tanks from their squad to go around KV and destroy it. For example it was main Sherman tank tactics against Tigers -swam him, go around and pound him where he is vulnerable. Easy to say but to do that out of 5 tank sqad at least 2-3 will be destroyed by Tiger for sure. I honestly love this part of WoT - If you're driving light tank and most of others are 2 tier bigger than you have almost no chance to stay alive! but still you can be of valiue to the whole team as a scout. And you will die without even scratching one other oponent? well tough luck. Life is brutal! you have problem with that? try Sims. you have full control over there, and U won't die or lose because you were in a team with more noobs. But for me WoT is a lot more real life simulator than Sims - you will learn here that you are just one small screw that is most of time unimportant but sometimes because it;s lucky, or skilled it can do something big.… Expand

One thing you may have noticed is how I tend to ignore MMO's; they just don't appeal to me for some reason. "World of Tanks" sounds like another isometric 'RTS' game where the outcome of battles is resolved by showing you a bunch of numbers and classes without anything else. WoT however is a very finely crafted MMO with plenty of variety to keep you engaged. Graphics and sound are excellent for a free game and the battlefields are interesting without being too campy. However, balancing can be a real issue: with some occasions where your new vehicle is significantly weaker or slower than your previous one with one meager benefits. Premium tanks are also a bit unbalanced, as is the whole gold system. Nitpicking isn't helpful however, and I'm going to finish by saying that if you're into tanks or strategy, WoT is definately worth a look despite its inevitable balancing issues. 77%.… Expand

Pay 2 win is very present in this game. Directly present with premium ammo and premium consumables. I don't encourage in any game, that if you pay more you have advantage over others. Indirectly present with free xp, credits, premium account and premium tanks which if you never buy them this game is a pain to play. It seems even with clan wars they created a system to gain money, because the clans that own a lot of lands doesn't need to invest money and the (new) clans that doesn't have lands must invest a lot to be equally equipped so it becomes a fair game. You can feel the makers of this game are greedy. The game is not to great, matchmaking is unbalanced and the game is very random with:
Artillery, penetrations, aim from long range, the skill/tactics of your team sometimes you know you lose the game if you see lemming groups (this game is very team dependant), which map you get, engine fire, ammorack explosions... etc. These are all a gamble boxes.… Expand

First of all I have to say game is fun at the times, but it is also very frustrating so you can easily forget the fun part. I'm used to grinding games, I'm grind addict. I don't mind spending hours and hours to get to the next tank. I don't think tanks should be "skipped" just to get to the last tank possible asap. Every tank you play has its strengths and weaknesses, there isn't perfect tank. I wouldn't consider this game free 2 play, its more like a demo you get to play for free. If you want to advance in the game to the end tier you will need to pay for premium account. Although I have around 4000 matches played, I'm still not bored even though game lacks game modes badly. Maps are poorly designed in my opinion, maybe a bit too small too. Most of the maps are either fully open with hardly any cover, or you get 2-3 narrow passages, then it becomes stupid lemmings train match (everyone goes to one side). But all that isn't as bad as matchmaking system which kills ALL of the fun out of the game. Seems like it gets worse with every next patch they release. Now don't get me wrong, I know each tanks' role and what it is supposed to do. I don't mind being placed in tier 8-10 match in tier 4 light tank. Let me give you example of terrible matchmaking. You drive KV-3 (tier 6), very slow (so its not scout), and it gets you into tier 8-10 matches with more than half of the team being 9-10 tier. You really stand no chance in such game. I mean you can still win if your team is good enough, but then again where is the fun playing such match? You cant really damage anything, you can just hide and hope to get that last shot on someone. There are many examples like that you will 80% of your games be thrown into unfair matches. You will be on the bottom of the list, and that's when frustration comes in. Tank companies on the other hand have tier limits which is good, and I don't see any reasons why "standard" battle mode isn't using same rules. WG devs just want to force you to buy premium account so you can get to the tier X ASAP and then forget about lower tier tanks... What's the point... I want to enjoy playing every tank not just tier X. And do you know why? Because nothing really changes at that tier, sure tanks may be looking more cool. Have more ammo and firepower, but the gameplay stays exactly the same. It never evolves to something. And all this could be easily forgiven (long grinding, poor map designs, very rude community if I may add, lot of kids etc.) if it wasn't for that terrible matchmaking system which day refuse to improve just so you can spend your money on the game. It is fail Free 2 play title.… Expand

This game is really geat addiction to my and all my freinds. Game is really interesting and fast. There is no several months of one story/battle, but only fast 15 minutes battles that give you more or less silver nad XP witch give you ability to progress to better tanks. I play this for 9 months and there is time when I am bored with game but because clan wars and team mates I come back every time :-)
Only bad thing in game is overprised gold witch give you better progress in game.… Expand

I've been playing this for almost a year now, since Open Beta and have about 7000 battles in total. The current version is 0.67. I'm an absolute nut for WW2 armor, and I naturally liked the concept of WW2 armor FPS. The game is fun to play at first, and you can really pass time on the battlefields. But after a while I find that it has a couple of flaws. It lacks depth because in every battle, you get a random team. So sometimes you get a good team, and at other times complete noobs - and that really affects the outcome of your battle. There's no character or team development at all. You can't practice your tactics or improve your team, because your team mates keep changing. I find that battle after battle, it just becomes meaningless fragging. Although the game is free to play, but there are many disadvantages. Such as once you get to the higher tiers, you can't really play without a premium account. The number of battles it takes to reach tier 8 SPG, or tier 8 tanks is just ridiculous unless you have premium account. Plus, without premium account, you'd go bankrupt when playing tier 8, 9, 10 tanks because they are designed to earn you very little credits and cost expensive repairs, so that you have no choice but to use premium tanks that make a lot of credits to make up for the losses. While I don't mind that its a paid game, but just be aware that nothing is for free. The match maker also does a bad job. Sometimes you get 5 high tier arties on each team, and they are put into a pointless map for arties (Ensk). Other times you get 5 T59s stacked on one team, and you already know who has the advantage for that battle. Of course sometimes it does a decent job too. The plus side is, nicely rendered and realistic tanks/graphics. Nice battle mechanics, good strategy mix such as tank destroyer, scout, medium tank tactics, etc which are all different. Each one requires different tactics to play. I'd give this a 5 because there are good and also bad.… Expand

This is a unique game and the tanks are very realistic, the gameplay is decent, doesn't get boring too quickly. However this game has one MAJOR flaw that makes it completely unplayable - the MATCHMAKER. They algorithm they use intentionally put your tier 5 medium tank in line against tier 8 heavy tanks - essentially making you a free kill and unable to scratch your opponent even after you flank him and shoot in the back. Until you get in the latest tier you can 't expect to have a fair fight (maybe once per 20 fights you are actually able to scratch top tier tank in the battle).… Expand

The lack of diversity in multiplayer gaming modes makes the game more boring the longer you play. As tanks get heavier and heaver the fun is mostly removed from the game. Tanks seem unbalanced based on damage and reload for the same tiers. Once new game modes are added the game will likely be more enjoyable.

World of tanks is a wonderful idea done wrong. I've played it for a week and then gave up. The premise of having upgradable tanks is really neat, but the devs have their heads up their arses. Battles are fought from automatically matched teams and this is the killing point. After playing for a few days and upgrading your tank you will end up being outgunned 95% of the time. It's like playing CS with only a glock. You will spend your time speccing battles you cannot possibly influence.… Expand

Judging this game as a free game is wrong, the basic concept of the game is that you grind your way to the highest tier of each type of tank to help your clan fight for provinces in their tournaments. The only way to get there is by spending money on a premium account since basicly grinding your way to the max tier without it would just take way to long. Now since we know then that this is not a free game lets review it accordingly. Gameplay : The gameplay isnt bad, its unique in the current genre with a little bit of a mmo features. However after you spend some time playing the game and grinding your way to the max tier and learning the game you can get very bored of it. To give you a small idea of how boring it might be, to get from the tier 7 to tier 8 artillery which is the highest tier artillery. You will around 330.000 experience, this is not counting the huge amount of experience points you need to get the upgrades on your tier 7. These would take around 150.000. Now since you probably get around 800-1000 experience points on average with a premium account you can then see why its considered a boring grind. The developer. The developer of this game is wargaming , a russian company which is noticed by the unbalanced russian tanks in the game. The developers in this game are basicly one of the worst you can come across, they are clearly nationalist russians which is shown by how they bend historic facts in their events they host. This alone makes me want to give them a 1 for this review, simply claiming that Stalin liberated eastern europe is just unforgiveable. Overall : The game can be fun if you dont play it to much as in 1 time a week, do this and the game can be something to kill time with. However since the game unbalancing is caused by biased developers towards russian armor the game can not become a serious online game. So if you are looking for a serious game you want to play at a high level, go look somewhere else. If you want a game you can download for free and have a few minutes of fun then go ahead and download, just make sure you dont get draged into buying premium accounts and tanks. The score im giving is a 1 as i said basicly out of protest towards the developers.… Expand

This game is funny in the start, but after some battles you face the truth. Very unbalanced battles try to force you to buy a premium account or spend some RL money in them. Dont waste your time in this thing.

WoT is not perfect but then what game is? With over 20 years experience playing video games this for me, has to be one of the most addictive games of all time. It has a simple formula that works. The game does have it's problems but they are not game breakers as other suggest. I started playing WoT during the Closed Beta and have over 7500 battles under my belt in total. For those that are finding it a constant struggle and frustration to play I will say this, this is not a FPS like COD4 or the likes but, a game that needs the use of good tactics and team work. You can't just go around running and gunning. You really need to think about how you engage the enemy and to use the equipment that you have to it's advantages whilst minimising it's disadvantages.

The game is free to play and use micro-transactions that is in no way a "pay to win" model.

Buy in game content only enhances your experience.

A person who spends money on the game has no advantage over somebody who plays for free on the battlefield. Both can kill each other just as easily.

So if you like tanks and blowing stuff up look no further than WoT.… Expand

Theres seriously nothing like World of Tanks. It starts out slow, and starts to chime in about after an hour or two of gameplay. Overall, it's a very remarkable game. You start out with no cash, and no real tutorial and a bunch of simple controls, nothing complicated or special. The tank controls itself are nice, it remains smooth and customizable through the 'upgrade' system-- there are a bunch of combinations too for several gameplay styles or preferences. Balance wise, the game tends to be too rewarding to people who buy 'gold'. Everything from slightly better tanks, more powerful ammo and the ability to host a platoon (group/party) with more than one friend (Yeah.. seriously) costs gold. However, the in-game cash system is exceptionally fair, the amount of cash you can obtain per game tends to be a lot, there are also very helpful 'power ups' that are near priceless when in combat, these do not cost gold, but are very expensive. The game itself is very, very team dependent, 90% of games I've played I either hear people whining or not developing any form of strategy, it's very quiet and tends to be awkward. Overall, I would give it a try it's free, theres nothing to lose. If you love strategy games or just want to try something new try out World Of Tanks.… Expand

I hate tank games. I expected this to be some boring FPS/TPS game with completely no dynamics, the tempo of it being slugger-ish and the whole thing to suck ass. But something seemed to make me play it. Beside i knew it was going to suck. But when i actually played it, i looked at the customization menu, which made my scrotum jump away and sit there staring at the screen for 30 minutes of me checking the stuff out. Its quite educational if you think about it. The tank history and information makes the game add up to like a MMO-FPS-TPS-RPG simulator with lots of facts and actual events. The whole game was surprisingly
awesome! "Confound all this hard work put in to this game, it drives to me insomnia!"

The beta, was one of the best parts which is now unavailable. Now we get to the minuses, like the payment requied to get about 1/10th of all tanks.
And apparentaly, by the end of the making of the game, there will be over 150+ tanks. Now there is over 60. Wow.… Expand

Game is very fun in low-tier battles, but as you progress it becomes more and more static and boring. You are not allowed to make any mistakes, almost every attempt to play a hero and roll into action on full speed will be severely punished. Combat model isn't any good either, it's relies strongly on the RNG (for example, the penetration capacity of AP shells can vary from 170 to 280 mm of armor, so one shot can penetrate a very armored AFV and another will bounce from some mid-tier AFV).
You can actually have fun in this game, but i wouldn't recommend go further than 3-4 levels.… Expand

first of all: this review is about the version 0.6.5 and below, so there might and will be some changes that could very well influence the rating of the game
in this version you can choose tanks from 3 nations (USA, USSR and Germany), in 5 different categories:
light tanks - fast and agile, but weak tanks with the purpose of scouting enemy tanks
medium tanks - the heavier version of the light tank. less maneuverable but better armored and armed
heavy tanks - mobile bunkers that are designed to crush and destroy
tankdestroyers - usually without a turret but with thick frontal armour and huge guns. equivalent to sniper class
SPG - "mobile" artillerie. less more than a huge gun mounted on tracks

each class has their own playstyle with their own advantages and disadvantages, leaving enough space for tacticians to make up some nice strategies
the tanks are also divided into 10 different levels (called tier) in order to balance the game.
sadly the balance system doesn't work too good, sometimes pitting m4 shermans against king tigers, or putting too many artilleries in the game, in which cases the match always end up in a campfest.
the mentioned "popping up tanks" in the game can be fixed by lowering the graphic settings
from tier 4 on, it also takes a lot of time to further advance in the tech-tree, so it's legitimate to call this game a "grinder", but if you enjoy roleplaying games, that's nothing new to you and won't stop you from having fun with this game.
additionally you can upgrade your account to a premium account (which obviously costs money) in order to level 50% faster
the micro-investment system is actually quite good.
with gold you can buy:
premium tanks (which aren't better than their free counterparts, but they're awarded with more credits and smaller repair-bills)
premium ammunition (which are better than the "free" ammo)
premium consumables (i.e. a big repairkit repairs all damaged modules, whil a small repairkit can only repair one)
credits (1 gold = 400 credits)

about the tanks themself:
all tanks are modeled realistically after their historic originals or blueprints but with some changes in order to balance the game
for example the tiger I is a bit slower and has a weaker armour and unlike some of the real counterparts, all tanks have a radio (the early soviet tanks didn't carry radios for example)
sometimes the developers decisions towards these changes are questionable, but generally acceptable
the tanks also feature special hitzones, where hits from enemy fire can be devastating. i.e. hitting the viewport of the driver doesn't only cause damage, but can also kill the driver, and hitting the front of the tank is less likely to penetrate the armour than the weaker rear or flanks
it's also possible to destroy certain modules such as the radio, the ammorack, the engine or even the gun, which will cause penalties to the tanks performance (a destroyed engine or tracks will cause immovability of the tank, until the damage is fixed)

it's sad that there are only a few maps playable and the only game-mode is "capture the base", but there are more modes planned for the future and with each major patch, the selection of maps increases

it's certainly not a perfect game, but it's fun and easy to play
I'd recommend it especially for tank- and tech-fans that are resistant against frustration caused by grinding… Expand

Well, I have been reading the (above) reviews and have to admit that it is impressive how many below 3s and above 7s you find. I always think that everyone is entitled of their opinion, which I totally respect even if I disagree. To my humble opinion, the game rates low by hard core WWII fans or MMO gamers. I read above that it takes 3 months to get a tier 8 tank... Well, I play for 5 months now and only been to tier 6. I guess I am a casual gamer myself... However, I LOVED the game. I stick to the tanks I like and I am not obsessed by reaching Tier 10 anytime soon. I simply do not care. I love each and every tank I own, even created a "bond" with the crew (as you can transfer them from one tank to another)! I lose some battles, win some others, get destroyed and destroy others. I strongly believe that there is a huge research project behind its development and every single detail is thought of. Ok, you might have some balancing issues but what can you do? Enjoy the time you spend playing people! I have spent some money and I think it totally worth it... Don't get me started with all the AAA titles that I have purchased and spent 0 time with them... To my point of view, get a Tier 2 tank (it's free) stick with that alone, find your preferred tank type (Light, Medium, Heavy, Tank Destroyer or SPG) and follow each one's path slowly enjoying all the way. After all it is the journey that matters and not the destination ;-)… Expand

The game starts slowly and builds on solid tactics and awesome kills. Teamwork,Solo,Wallet Warrior or total free loader, it all plays the same. The first tank you are given is a one shot tin can, it is so awesome to see the difference as time goes by just how much better the tanks get. Speaking of which there are several different kinds. Heavy tanks rule the roost as far as front line gauntlets soaking damage. Medium tanks work best as hit and run grinders. Light tanks run in as close as possible to the action to spot out the tank positions. SPG's (self propelled guns) are the real firepower of the game laying out tremendous damage from across the map but they are balanced well with a firing ring and timing needs. The firing ring is essentially just a circle of dots where the shell may theoretically hit. Destroying a tank at full speed is a sight to behold. Finally Tank Destroyers are the snipers of the game so to speak, staying in cover for ambush operations. Every type has its strengths and weaknesses which make for some interesting battles to say the least. The 'lobby' is basically your hangar, which is graphically just more fancy with a premium (paid) account and with premium comes other perks such as bonus XP in battle. The game really does exhibit some depth of play and a lot of work has obviously been put into the interface/leveling system. The experience you get per battle will vary depending on your performance as well as winning or losing. As for in-game currency you have Credits with which to purchase items like tanks and modules to mount. The Gold in-game is valuable to convert your experience that you've earned into a lump sum of XP called FREE XP. That free XP can be used for upgrades on other tanks/modules and converting it with gold bought with real world money is really not an advantage other than saving time. The premium tanks bought with in-game gold are already fully equipped and seem to yield higher than normal XP/Credits per round. End-Game is just as fun as there are usually about 4 tiers of tanks in any one battle up to and including tier 10 which at the time of this review is only available for the Heavy tanks and maybe a Destroyer or two. There are also currently 3 factions, Russia (Dev's are Russian ((hint hint)) America and Germany. All can compete also in not just solo random matches but in platoons with friends of up to 3 people and companies of up to 15 people and with a Clan (guild) system as well. There is even a world map of domination gameplay where some of the larger clans battle for countries on a global scale. All in all....I cannot recommend this game highly enough. Just be prepared for some early frustration in the newbie tanks and some grinding into the upper tiers as per any MMO. Thanks for reading.… Expand

This is a fantastic game. I started playing about a month ago. My first impression was that the interface etc is almost completely bug free! This shouldn't be noteworthy, but given the state of most new release online multi-player games, the fact that it is bug free is awesome. Starting off in a little, weak, slow tank seemed a bit painful at first, but once you get the hang of it and skill up to higher techs, the game becomes extremely addictive and great fun. It is possible to play without spending a cent of real money, but I found that spending a minimal amount (… Expand

All the users giving this game below a 6 are idiots,
I have been playing this game since CBT and i have to say the improvements to this game have been staggering, I have been playing USA/German tanks and have NO issues killing Russian tanks.

Graphics- to me they are dated around 2007, however for this game it works. animations for the tanks firing smoke and sparks, demolished tanks look great, New updates Upgraded maps and made them look more believable.

Sounds- this is where i have issues with the game. the sounds for every tank are the same. all the guns sound the same, all the tank engines sound the same, tracks are the same and hits are the same.
There are no good sounds for tanks getting hit in the distance, shells wizzing by or pinging.

Gameplay- the mechanics of this game are solid, with more improvements coming, i cannot review this to much. but what is here works great. Final thought- To manny people give up on this game, they get to tier 4 and get fusterated, they look at it as a grind. I have 2 tier 9 tanks 1 tier 3,5,7,8 and i play them all. every tank has its purpose yet people cant understand what a light tank is for, or why a tank destroyer cant rush in a enemy base and survive.


Tips Scouts are fast tanks used for killing Arty or scouting enemy's, do not get shot, if you see lots of enemy's don't rush them. turn back and scout another area,

TD(tank destroyers) Do not rush in the front lines, stay back a bit and snipe. a bush will do nice since your tank is so low its harder to see.

Heavy and artys don't need tips just have common sense and you can play the,. NEVER solo, stay with a few tanks and pick enemy's off.

Guys just give it a try and learn your roll for tanks,… Expand

A very good MMO about tanks. Fun, interesting and doesn't get boring right away ( like most of the f2p MMOs nowadays ). People who take interest in WW2 should really try this game out. I think they wont be disappointed. The only thing that may ruin your game experience here - is a premium account stuff. You know - pay real money to have an advantage.

This game is highly recommended for those who are looking for an online game, that doesn't require you to spend gazillion hours to start having fun. Those who give low score, have totally different expectations of this game. This is not a tank simulation, so don't expect 100% accuracy. For me the game has the right blend between realism and fun. Some people have commented this game is grindy. Yes, it becomes a grind if you try to get to the heavy tank class as quickly as possible without enjoying the process. Think of this game as counter strike, with some progression elements. The game play is amazing, it's easy to get into, but has a lot of depth. Try reading the tactics, cause i suck so bad when I first played it. Due to the nature of the game, it's so lag tolerance, in fact i can play this game with 300ms ping and still can do well. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, DON'T MISS THIS ONE.… Expand

I would consider it an okay game, good graphics, nice maps, and good tanks. The tanks are limited to WWII range or so and it mostly relies on money. If you happen to buy some gold and buy a special tank, you can blow up a newbie (me) with one direct shot near or direct. Not the best game because it relies on money but very fun experience!

This game got me hooked off one of the other large MMO's around (hint: same name as a storm). Please do not be thrown off by the uninspired title, it's an awesome game; think counter strike with tanks. If your the kinda person who enjoys tactics and gameplay over pure graphics then this is for you, if you want developers talking about different gameplay features instead of how they're creating some new 'awesome' engine which boasts 10x better graphics then please try a 'le look' franchise like CoD. This game has a fresh feel about it, a step back from the postmodern, homologous and uninspiring wasteland that the game industry is slowly creeping towards.

In short I love it, and I recon you will to.… Expand

This is one of the most greedy "Free to play" games around. It's free if you wish to grind for 3 months to get to tier 8 tanks. I did in open beta, it's really boring. In the release, it's very EASY to spend 100$ a month on this game or more. The game recently introduced 2 tanks that are ~40$ each, and are ridiculously overpowered. So you either get those tanks to compete OR buy premium ammo to shoot at them at 2-4 cents per shot. Even those shots still bounce half the time. In terms of fun, the game has good moments, but those are rare. Most of the matches are predictable and newer players would have a terrible time playing low level tanks matched against 6+ month veteran ace tanks. Can you say R.A.P.E? This is what this game would feel to you, unless you spend a ton of money and buy premium account and one of the 40$ premium tanks....… Expand

Let me say that I have 0 previous experience with online playing. WoW and all else did not appeal to me and I got to this game pretty randomly, thanks to a tank--oriented discussion board - because of tanks and WW2. I was immediately ensnared, trapped and became an addict.
WoT is fairly new game, with limited content (under development), some maps, and about 100 tanks so far. Many people would say "hey, that's not much", but... It is plenty already. You can play legends, as well as little known experimental designs. You can choose from 3 development trees, each with unique tanks, and while in some cases the balance could be better (or adherence to history), overall it is a fast-paced, enjoyable game where the main decisive factor in battle is player skill.
Since the release, the developers also steadily add (a nd plan to add yet more) vehicles, maps and other features, like recently started Ultimate Conquest clan wars.
All in all, it is an excellent game that promises to get yet better in the future.… Expand

Game has a good balance between realism and arcade, tactics and action. Some tanks are more laid back and easy to ;ay whilst others give you your tactical fill. All the fun of an arcade shooter, and the tactical metagame of a sim without the boring non combat realism. Games only take 10 minutes to play and a massive variety of tanks to choose from, from prewar tin cans up to the massive Maus.

I like the idea. Killing other nations' tanks is cool. Good to improve your team-play. I played quite a lot of games with tanks in it, but it really is concentrated on the real wars circumstances.

One of the best games that I played. Fast, dynamic with good graphics and of course this is WWII. Few types of tanks : Heavy , Medium , Light. Tank Destroyers and SPG. All this is what TIGERS :P like the most.

As a quite big fan of ww2 armor i quite enjoy this game, its one of those pickup and play games, no manuals, no guides that take two weeks just to get ready to click start game.. Quite fun and relaxing but with some very intense momments. Good diversity of vehicles that dont require players to grind for a month just to be able to have fun. All in all i do like this game, quite unique and interesting, 10 from me… Expand

Poorly balanced, full of bugs, devs dont listen, endless grind, its a free game that ends upp costing alot of you want to get to the end game. Devs should really sort out some of the glaring issues with sight system, ghost shoots etc before they bother implementing more tanks for real money.

If you can look past the lack of any sort of story/plot/etc. and focus on the actual gameplay, World of Tanks can be quite enjoyable. Like Counter Strike, this game doesn't have an engrossing story, it's all about the hot tank on tank action. Above all else, this game is quite fun, especially if you're a World War II fan or tank fan, like I am.

The combat can be swift, tactically challenging and all around a blast to play. There's a wide variety of tank types to play, from the Leichtraktor (loltraktor), MS-1 and T1 Cunningham, to the awe inspiring, 200 ton Maus, the swift and deadly IS-7, the devestating T30, and almost everything in between.

The game features fairly realistic hit location specific damage. Shoot one in the engine, and the enemy tank might catch fire, burning to death. Shoot his gun and you can destroy his accuracy. Shoot his treads to knock them off and immobilize him for a bit, so your team can finish him off. It does have it's flaws, and I'll discuss those:

1) It ain't free. I have yet to play a pay for free game that was actually free, and this is no exception. As long as you're willing to pony up a few dollars to help get you started though, it will likely be worth it.

2) Russian bias. Many of the Soviet tanks are overpowered for what seems like no good reason. It's an ongoing hot topic of discussion on the forums how the developers will nerf an American/German tank sighting "balance" reasons, while buffing an already overpowered Soviet tank like the IS-4 for "historical accuracy". A great example is the Su-85 tier 5 tank destroyer. Fully upgraded, it's capable of performing better than the Jagdpanzer German tank destroyer which is a tier above it. Another example is the KV. Easily upgraded, a decent KV driver can decimate an entire team by himself. Another example is the IS vs. the Tiger. The Tiger, the most powerful tank of its era, is little more than a paperweight until fully upgraded, while the IS is a solid tank almost from the first moment you get it. The list goes on.

3) Platoons. You have to pay gold (purchased with real money) to have a premium account, and only then can you form a platoon to play with up to 2 friends. This one issue almost made me not want to play anymore. In order to play a multiplayer game with my multiplayer friends, I have to pay real money? You're kidding, right? Well, I decided I liked the game enough to try it out for a month... and here I've paid for another month of premium. This is still the biggest issue in my mind, not being able to play with the friends you make in the game seems really silly. I can see how it could cause the game community to lack cohesion and longevity over time.

4) SPGs or self propelled guns. They suck the fun right out of the game. They're capable of 1-shotting tanks even 2 tiers higher than them from across the map, and they amount to little more than a griefer mechanic. They are a good idea, but are in need of some balancing or some game mechanics retooling. If you're in a good tank brawl, blasting away at the enemy, and taking hits from them, take a deep breath, because your good fun is always just 1 SPG shot away from being ruined. Most battles quickly devolve into hiding from the SPGs more than dealing with the enemy tanks, which slows down the game tempo, destroying the flow of the game and turning it into a campfest rather than a tank vs. tank slugfest.

There are many battles I've had that have overcome the SPG issues, often times by having our SPGs take theirs out early on, our light tank scouts take them out, or the other team simply not spawning with very many SPGs (or even 0!) and these fights that occur SPG-free are almost always fun and rewarding.

The gameplay is quite fun. Tanks hide in cover behind buildings, conceal themselves in bushes, rush in wolfpacks, flank their opponents in pincer attacks, and various other maneuvers to gain the upper hand. Almost every tank has a different playstyle to learn and use effectively. Played well, even a low tier tank can have a devastating impression on the enemy. Played poorly, your high tier tanks will effectively sabotage their own team by denying them an essential element of the team's composition. Player skill accounts for as much of the effectiveness of their tank as the tank crew and equipment they have on it. Reveling in the challenge of learning the intricacies of these tanks and playing them to their fullest is what has kept me playing this game for the past couple of months, and I don't intend to stop.

World of Tanks is by no means perfect, but the developers have designed a good mixture of arcade action and WWII tank simulation that I think most WWII tank fans would find enjoyable. It's certainly worth the download, since it's free.… Expand

Excellent game! Perfect for all people, who want to spend their time effectively. Realistic game details in combination with faithful graphics bring real enjoyment. I play this game every day since Beta version and I´m still impressed by all those tanks. And that´s the next thing I like. A lot of tanks to play with and the next are on their way! Often a lot of patches are released and they bring more and more things to the game. Developers and Support team members are very friendly and they always help you, if you need them. One year ago I didn't know any tank of the World War II. Now I know all the tanks! Developers, thank you very much for so perfect game!… Expand

I want to say the truth about this game. World of Tanks is awesome game! It has very nice graphics, easy controls a it is very realistic. The best WW2 game I´ve ever played. A big positive is no lags and bugs, developers are really taking care of this game and we can see the result of their work. :-)
And now the Clan Wars came! Another very good part of the game. I can´t write everything here...it is a very long list of all advantages. I just love this game and it´s only one I have installed on my PC. :-)… Expand

Great game and very well support from developers, a lot of patch and extra options. It have so much fresh breath that You want to play it all time, I recommend it for all, You will enjoy it a lot. II World War and tanks, what else You want?

A game whose sole existence is based on â

Update. We now have the situation where community feedback is not only being ignored by the DEVs but moderators of the forums are now being policed by the minute to stamp out as they call it threads that create unrest. In effect any posting discussing the failings of the game, the broken mechanics, the falling server populations is being met with a forum ban and removal of the thread. Never before in my life have I seen a community forum for a game being repressed in this way. So in short this is one to avoid. The DEVs are now only interested in scrambling as much gold sales before the game dies completely. This week has already seen a 25% drop in server population.… Expand

At first it's fun but then it's constant struggle and frustration. I played closed beta for 4 months then stopped. Now I started again and after two weeks I must say that it still has many flaws. Sure, it's free but playing without premium account is a pain. Additionally, developers are trying desperately to encourage players to spend some money by forcing you to fight against higher tier tanks. Believe me, after playing countless battles in which you can't damage anything you will hate this game. Some may say that it's a challenge but I think that fun factor is important and this game lacks it.
Next con are maps. There are too few of them and some are really badly designed. Another important flaw is imbalance. Some tanks are much better then others of the same tier, eg. infamous Russian T-54. Avoid this game, not fun.… Expand

nice game easy come in and play
nice people there too, easy lern

Hey everyone!
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Novel idea is the main appeal of this game, but graphics look outdated and in general is looks and feel dodgy and unfinished. Tank balance is pretty bad and once you get in the higher levels it becomes even more apparent. On top fo this, their customer service is the worst I have ever experienced...even though i had a premium account they didn't give a damn and were about as helpful as a solar powered flashlight and downright rude.… Expand