A whale of a question

[I_cant_Swim_]

How is a Whale born? If you consider yourself one, did you intentionally become one, have you always been one, or did it just happen? What was the fascination? When did you become aware of your true species designation, and did you embrace the revelation in glee?

Asking for a friend.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

Every whale in this game is born in a different way. Mine was born out of having lots of fun in the game and wanting to give something back to keep the lights on at WG. 

[Beleaf]

Whaled a lot back during the Covid era lock downs. Nowadays I only buy doubloons with my birthday coupon and sit on it.

[I_cant_Swim_]

@Ensign Cthulhu Yes, but we’re all having lots of fun. I hope. So more specifically, was it the technical aspect- finding the optimal ship for a task, the aesthetic appeal because most ships are beautiful, the historic perspective, the competitive urge, the collector’s enthusiasm, or a mix thereof? Did you know of this trait in yourself beforehand? Like through other collections.  Etc etc..

[Ensign Cthulhu]

11 minutes ago, I_cant_Swim_ said:

So more specifically

Some ships it was the historic aspect (e.g. Warspite), others it was getting a ship that looked like it was going to be interesting to drive or a good bargain after the grind (most dockyards, excluding Lushun and Schroder). 

A couple of times, though, it was about getting my hands on a banned ship that was only reasonably available from Santa crates (Benham in 2021; Kamikaze R in 2022, though any of the Kami sisters would have sufficed). I got so many ships and other useful things out of those spurts of whaling that I feel no need to pay for Santa crates ever  again

[Wolfswetpaws]

2 hours ago, I_cant_Swim_ said:

How is a Whale born? If you consider yourself one, did you intentionally become one, have you always been one, or did it just happen? What was the fascination? When did you become aware of your true species designation, and did you embrace the revelation in glee?

Asking for a friend.

Missed-out on anime collaboration content when I was new to WOWs (High School Fleet and Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Azur Lane and etc.).
Missed getting Enterprise and Musashi and Missouri (because I didn't have the resources) before they were first pulled from being available.

Later-on, when the anime content returned, I would "whale" by getting the "All In One" bundles.

Other times, I've "whaled" during the holiday season by getting crates in an effort to get desired ships to drop.
(Side note, the ships I was trying-for didn't drop.  But, I've grown fond of the ones that I did get.)

I've since welcomed additional all-in-one bundles, as the anime collaborations added more content.
And, with the recent Battle of Leyte Gulf event, I accomplished the qualifying missions and won the opportunity to welcome the Enterprise to my Port (which, I did, of course).

I'm probably not the biggest "whale" in the world, but I've no regrets about how I've spent my money.

 

[desmo_2]

I started playing when Open Beta started in 2015.  I played for free for quite a while.  At some point I justified spending money because I was thoroughly enjoying the game and felt it was right to throw WG some coin.  My first real money spent was for Tirpitz shortly after it was released.  She was a pretty big deal back then.

I started keeping track of money spent on this game in 2018.

I don't mind sharing what I have spent during that tracking period:

• 2018 - $186.31
• 2019 - $154.29
• 2020 - $228.21
• 2021 - $148.08
• 2022 - $111.00
• 2023 - $152.04
• 2024 (so far) - $59.22  (I may buy a year of premium time for 1/2 off this year, if offered again, and I may spend a bit on Santa Mega crates)

I think that is A LOT to spend on a video game.  Not because it hurts my bank, but because it is just a video game!  However, I have some idea how much others spend so I don't think I qualify as a "whale".

[downedpilot]

you dont have to be a whale to have the best from wows,i too started has a free loader, but has time has gone bye i have set £20 a month on blooms just to give the makers some thing back and so i can progress threw the game, i must tell you i find it very hard not to splash out on some ships i would just love to have,but have held back all the years,and had a great time with out them.

[Frostbow]

4 hours ago, I_cant_Swim_ said:

How is a Whale born? If you consider yourself one, did you intentionally become one, have you always been one, or did it just happen? What was the fascination? When did you become aware of your true species designation, and did you embrace the revelation in glee?

Asking for a friend.

How do we define "whale"? Is it tied to a specific range of spending?

[downedpilot]

9 minutes ago, downedpilot said:

you dont have to be a whale to have the best from wows,i too started has a free loader, but has time has gone bye i have set £20 a month on blooms just to give the makers some thing back and so i can progress threw the game, i must tell you i find it very hard not to splash out on some ships i would just love to have,but have held back all the years,and had a great time with out them.

if i become rich i would spend spend spend a blue flag for 100 ships my ships would just be blue how many blue flags would that be

[Sumseaman]

6 hours ago, I_cant_Swim_ said:

 and did you embrace the revelation in glee?

I very much approve of this vocab and sentence construction. It implies that one can truly be inflated by oneself and dispensing of any external opinion. A near perfect description.

Like @Ensign Cthulhu whatever has some historical significance or offers interesting gameplay was always a must buy for me. CVs would be purchased not for their necessary strength but rather their aircraft type. Always different ships with different configurations.

A somewhat disturbing fact is that I will go for a ship if it causes unsubstantiated offence or grief. The second a fellow player in chat or a streamer/tuber has a cry about something, I'm there. More often than not this is just another subjective opinion and not in any way a measure of the ship's capabilities. I hardly play something like Thunderer (crap at BBs anyway) though I'll get and play every carrier and sub. I'll pay to punish those who would vomit unfounded 'cause I say so' drivel all over every medium associated with the game. I would have gone all out on Hildebrand if I didn't get it on the second roll when I saw those knees jerk at its release. I think it's just a symptom of the abuse hurled when I began innocently playing the game in a type I thought was interesting. 

Come end of next month Shinano/Archerfish will complement the fleet.

Edited December 2, 2024 by Sumseaman

[Wulf_Ace]

5 hours ago, desmo_2 said:

I started playing when Open Beta started in 2015.  I played for free for quite a while.  At some point I justified spending money because I was thoroughly enjoying the game and felt it was right to throw WG some coin.  My first real money spent was for Tirpitz shortly after it was released.  She was a pretty big deal back then.

I started keeping track of money spent on this game in 2018.

I don't mind sharing what I have spent during that tracking period:

• 2018 - $186.31
• 2019 - $154.29
• 2020 - $228.21
• 2021 - $148.08
• 2022 - $111.00
• 2023 - $152.04
• 2024 (so far) - $59.22  (I may buy a year of premium time for 1/2 off this year, if offered again, and I may spend a bit on Santa Mega crates)

I think that is A LOT to spend on a video game.  Not because it hurts my bank, but because it is just a video game!  However, I have some idea how much others spend so I don't think I qualify as a "whale".

when I see this I remeber the title

"Free to play game"

I dont know what makes you a whale, how much spending, I do buy sometimes, I think this year only to get Enterprise, beacouse its was a must for me ship. This forum helped me in terms of doublon rewards, and I play a lot of tournaments where I get a big share of doublons so I kinda dont need to spend. This was the best year in terms of earned free doublons!

But this is the only game I play so I dont regret if I spend a little. But every year less and less.

[I_cant_Swim_]

4 hours ago, Frostbow said:

How do we define "whale"? Is it tied to a specific range of spending?

I'd say fairly subjectively, if only because it's your subjective impression I'm after. Perhaps along the lines of a significant amount of time and real cash spent, resulting in the substantial accretion of in-game objects in your port to a level that would make your fellow players go hmmm.

[Admiral_Karasu]

5 hours ago, downedpilot said:

if i become rich i would spend spend spend a blue flag for 100 ships my ships would just be blue how many blue flags would that be

A lot, I'd guess.

As for being a whale, I guess I wasn't actually trying to become a whale, per se, but since I'd already been conditioned by WoT to grab those Satan's crate loot boxes, that kind of carried over. Apart from those, my spending has otherwise been rather measured. This was also back in the days when those loot boxes returned a fair value, unlike what I mostly perceive the case to be these days. Before WG 'rigged' the game economy, in other words.

This highest attainable achievement truly marks 'par excellence' in WoWS.

[Andrewbassg]

12 hours ago, I_cant_Swim_ said:

How is a Whale born? If you consider yourself one, did you intentionally become one, have you always been one, or did it just happen? What was the fascination? When did you become aware of your true species designation, and did you embrace the revelation in glee?

Asking for a friend.

I think whales are an important species for the health of the ecosystem. Never had qualms with/or about them. What one does with its own ....."things", it is their personal biz.

That being said, we, who play with instruments and music gear, we are familiar with the term and phenomenon called GAS, as Gear Acquisition Syndrome and manifest itself in the sudden urge to buy the newest  and shiniest ( sometimes is the other way around!!) "toy" (they can be quite expensive ). The usual symptoms includes staring at with with big eyes, accompanied with the conviction that it will provide a paradigm change. The latter can be sometimes true, also not, but the verdict will always come later after the purchase i.e "the proof is in the pudding". We all got thru this, sometimes more than once 🙂 

Edit: Almost forget there is always a "honeymoon" during which our senses are at sleep and we try to convince ourselves (even if its  not the case) that it was the best acquisition ever. Still sometimes that is the case.

And .... there are also people who don't care coz.....

 

 

Edited December 2, 2024 by Andrewbassg

[Andrewbassg]

1 hour ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

WoWS.

 

And yet Wedgie still didn't learn anything from her fate  .....

[Aethervox]

6 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Where do you get these hilarious images? 🤣

[Admiral_Karasu]

10 minutes ago, Aethervox said:

Where do you get these hilarious images? 🤣

Bing AI image creator. It's a bit of a pot luck, though, what it gives in response to the prompt. Sometimes you have to give it several tries, at least. The upside is that these don't have copyright and they are free, the downside is that they censor words and images, and trick you into thinking your images are stored online, but they will erase them a couple of months later so you have to download everything you want to keep.