Weekend Spree - 3 to 5 November 2023

[Ensign Cthulhu]

My, how time flies. November already!

Did my naval battles, streamed. Advanced a set of grinds which are my piecewise projects. Finished three of them, which were the B gunfire control system on the Brindisi, the upgraded (longer range, slightly less hard-hitting) torpedoes on the Gearing, and the regrind on the Nagato. If the WOWS Wiki is to be trusted, the Yumihari will require 140,000 XP to unlock. Crossed that threshold today. Nagato, Gearing and Brindisi go off the preferred-ships list, the latter to be dealt with when I feel ready to tackle the Venezia grind (which will also involve the Brindisi's B hull, so it's quite the long march!). 

Meanwhile, my Duncan and Buffalo grinds are on track to unlock St Vincent and Des Moines by the end of the year. Brought in Tallinn at ~2000 ship XP/day to get Riga by the New Year, Nebraska to grind out her B gunfire control system and Split to get the B hull unlocked, the latter two to be played at one co-op battle per day until the job is done and then put away until I'm ready for THEIR major grinds.

Soon I'll have to start planning my long-term goals for 2024, but that's for another post. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Ensign Cthulhu

[HamptonRoads]

Picked up the Brandenburg B, Black B, and Iwami B; so I spent a good deal of time grinding out the XP for the doubloon missions.  I won the Smolensk B in the auction, so grinded out that doubloon mission, and had enough doubloons to get the Repulse B.  

[Asym]

Well, we played a good many RO's.  I don't really want any of the Black Ships so........that's a pass for me.  The personal challenges are fun to accomplish but, there really isn't anything to spend the rewards on......

Other than that:  range time galore and a glorious weekend !  I have the my x39 and the SOCOM loads optimized with the hunting 150 grain Soft Points (hogs later this year !) and the obsolete 400 grain JSP's - and,  the game camera's are showing several 6 or 8 pointers with my name on them !  So, there will be less WoWs and more meat later this month ! 

[Project45_Opytny]

Managed to claim 106 successful attempts in Personal Challenges stage 2, earned 4950 event tokens so far in total. Still hesisting on what to get from the event, currently considering getting Early Access Yumihari and collecting all 3 commemorative ornamental flags (Japanese battlecruisers event, Ise and Tsurugi) by paying.

Earned one Jack-o-Latern container everyday thanks to the Halloween event. Besides consolation prizes get "Mutantovsk" for Khaba (yet I absolutely hate that style), "Blade" for Wakatake (why don't create similiar themed perma-exterior for related ships of higher tiers?) and Commander Klaus V. Teslau in diving suit and breathe apparatus (so assigned him to Cachalot).

Engaged in the heated speculation and discussion regarding Mir Korabli and the future sustainability of Global WoWS. Reflected on what to do regarding the uncertainty and reasoning that what I primarily care about now are basically how to earn Scharnhorst 43 and Michelangelo in December, what to do with Japanese tokens and to farm more coal in anticipation of the Salvage event (I plan to get Defence and call it a day) to rebuild a reserve for such events. I have yet tried Research Bureau and thanks to the introduction of Superships, not that sufficient in Credits at present.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

3 hours ago, Project45_Opytny said:

earned 4950 event tokens so far in total.

If I had got that high, I would probably have picked up the perma econ bonus for the Bungo. As it is, I realized that getting that high would probably burn me out so I settled for the Yumihari permabonus (and finished the collection for her permaskin). I'm quite happy to let the rest convert for credits. 

3 hours ago, Project45_Opytny said:

"Blade" for Wakatake (why don't create similiar themed perma-exterior for related ships of higher tiers?)

The steampunk camos are reflective of the ships they are fitted to (St Louis, Nassau, Wakatake) being from an earlier (turn of the 20th Century) technological era. However, the Intanian Fleet camos for Iowa, Kitakaze and some others are very similar in theme.

3 hours ago, Project45_Opytny said:

get "Mutantovsk" for Khaba (yet I absolutely hate that style)

Way back years ago, I opened a Pumpkin that gave me the Kiev permacamo/built in bonus. I ground my way up the Soviet DD line purely because of getting that camo. I had thought beforehand that I was going to hate Soviet DDs and I found to my surprise that I was wrong. As a co-op player, their short range torpedoes suit my style and the limitations of the mode (bots are unholy good at dodging torps at longer ranges anyway and you can survive the YOLO rush better), and I had an absolute blast. When they told us the Khaba was going to become a coal ship, I was nicely positioned to have an easy grind of it. Randoms are quite another matter; I could never really get them to work properly in that mode, at least until I unlocked the 8km torps on Kiev and could play it a little more like I was used to.

Edited November 6, 2023 by Ensign Cthulhu

[Asym]

3 hours ago, Project45_Opytny said:

Managed to claim 106 successful attempts in Personal Challenges stage 2, earned 4950 event tokens so far in total.

 

Engaged in the heated speculation and discussion regarding Mir Korabli and the future sustainability of Global WoWS.

Well done on the Personal Challenges !  I am still trying but, the rewards simply don't move me to try real hard.

Global WoWs is problematic.  Governments are waking up to "potential revenue" and to the gambling-esk antics.  At some point, this game will become even more divided because, say a Country starts Taxing spending and the rest of that region won't......  The game will have to start fragmenting to comply with those changes...

Many, such as myself, are involved in where gaming is potentially headed (AI);  and, my opinion is that gaming is very close to a major paradigm shift that will make games like this one and others be left behind with many failing....    The new game modes are simply stunningly smart and exceptionally adaptive to player needs, wants and desires.....

We'll see and well done !

[Project45_Opytny]

I made some... impulsive purchase this night on Japanese battlecruisers, then almost immediately started to regret that: that the event flag looks not that good due to having a different aspect ratio than the majority of others, that in hindsight I may have exchanged something more useful than three ornamental (yet not to my artistic-historic taste) flags, and as such.

I noticed that like Tsurugi, the lowest part of the deckhouse (so to speak) is designated as "superstructure" rather than "casemate" on Yumihari. That would likely be detrimental to her already weak survivability.

The solution may be returning to real life work, work hard enough and such events would be forgotten, or at least would be viewed with much calmer mood later.

Again have a reflection on what I would like to acquire with the overall grim prospects in consideration. Results: Yumihari already exchanged. Dmitri Pozharsky that demands continous grinding through November, and Elli/Ferucciolo/Defence (Salvage event; I plan to get the trio with coal and call it a day), Scharnhorst 43 (as long as they don't nerf her accuracy back) and Michelangelo in December. And continue to watch how the WG-Lesta troubles would further develop during these days.