59 replies to this topic

[Cottonhead]

I've decided to kick win rate to the curb.  When I was first shown the win rate stat I was at 47%.  I felt dirty and shamed so I studied up on youtube, watched everything that concep, bushka, and 48_ton every put out.  I got into a clan, a great clan, Triarii.  I started platooning.  And something new, I started raging.  I got to my highest win rate 55.50%.  And something else happened.  I began to be afraid to push battle for fear that my win rate might drop.  I'm sure this is just a weakness in my own personality and probably some sort of over competitiveness.  Obviously getting better at the game is still a goal, but being a slave to a stat that either gains me respect with people that play internet tanks, or makes me rage at others who are not a slave to the stat is out.  So why post this?  I hope if there are other people out there like me who want to win, but not be a slave to it will join me in making the forums a better place, making the game a better place.  By better I mean fun and relaxed.  Excellence without rage.  That is all.

[mershongraphix]

I salute you Cottonhead!

 

The win rate is waaaaay over rated. The dirty secret...this is a team game and 6 other players can ruin it for you (frequently). Not to mention if the other team has great players as well or a platoon of nasty mediums on red causing havok.

I couldn't care less about win rate. More often than not since becoming a more mature player I have found that I am on top with 30-50% more damage than the person in second with the last 3 doing little to no damage. Last night I received my first Pool medal for 6 kills in my Object 704. We won but only because I was lucky. The stars have to be aligned just right for that to happen with opposite players being preoccupied and the terrain open with people on my team in just the right spot for me to see the enemy. This is nothing that can occur on a regular basis. YES it is possible for one player to sway the results of battle, but to carry every team they are on is just not possible. You will find alot of lucky entitled snobs who say otherwise who claim their stats prove contrary to my statements but trust me....luck is on their side more that they will admit.

 

Just have fun and shred some metal. Look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

[Duke_87]

Ha - fear of the battle button! I have that same issue during bad runs. And you do find yourself raging more when WR is your god. Truth. 

 

We need to seek the inner Zen of WoTB!

[_TheBull_]

Well said!  Unfortunately, I tend to rage every now and then.... But it's not a result of worrying about win rate.  I really think the adrenalin messes with your emotions.  It's really bad driving a fast medium where things happen quickly and you need to be on constant alert.  Heart rate goes up and I get so focused on the game I don't know what my wife is saying sitting right next to me....  my only cure would be quitting the game.  I'm not ready for that... So I apologize now if I rage at a forumer.  It's not personal, I do respect you, it's just the adrenalin raging.

 

Good luck and happy hunting!

[HereFishyFishy]

Amen,  I have always been a stats guy and when i saw they released the API i started watching my stats on wotbstars daily at least, and i was obsessed with not letting the ones that are important to me (Damage Ratio, Hit rate, etc) drop.  What i found after looking back at this was that i was not being a very good teammate at times.  I was like you say, a slave to my stats.  it took a while but i have gotten back to playing the way i used to.  Sure i check my stats daily still, but just to see where my i had ups and downs so i can continue to get better.  

 

I have a few friends that are focused on getting unicum status in as many tanks as possible, at the cost of them taking the time to enjoy the game.  They rage so hard at Potato teams and threaten to sell their tanks all the time, and i get tired of having to calm them down and get them to take a break.

[t4four]

Sounds like you have a good handle on things. It's that obsession that leads to burn out.  Sit back and enjoy the game.

[glass2707]

It is tough to find the balance between taking activities seriously enough to enjoy and do well, but not taking them so seriously that set backs make those same things unenjoyable.  This is true whether it is sport, hobby, or video game.  

[DukeNukedem]

Double Amen!  The beginning of the first end came when I cracked the top 100 players on WOTBStars back in March.  I too became obsessed with staying there and moving up.  At that time, ranking was on WR alone and it ruined the game for me.  Come late April, I was miserable and rage-sold half my garage (I became one of Onemeaus' examples) and then walked way from the game for an entire month (May).  I came back in June and am enjoying it much more and worry less about my STAR1, WR or WN7/8 metrics.  I try to play well, be a good teammate and just have fun.  Taters are going to tater, both green and red - that I cannot control.

 

So, you are not alone and it is possible to back off and find joy in this game again.

Edited by HerrOverlord, 08 July 2015 - 03:52 PM.

[NwOnt211]

Wow. Can we be soul mates? Hahajk. Well said Cotton. We cannot do anything about what the other 6-5 players do during a battle. All u can do is try to nudge them in a direction. Wouldn't it be great if they listened every battle? I've been aiming for 60% for sometime now and I got to say it's getting taxing as I approached 10k battles. I'm at 58.65 ish.

[WhiskeyCyclone]

I've noticed the same thing. Ignorance is bliss- I had way more fun when I was clueless. I'm happy with my current WR, now my goal is to learn to not get upset with bad outcomes, no matter how bad my teammates are. Letting a game dictate your emotional state is a sign that there is room for improvement mentally. That said, I have a long way to go:

Spoiler

 

 

[tcamp48]

Well said. Not unlike Jerry McGuire... it does get a bit stressful at times and all consuming. I've often thought I may need a break from the pressure I put on myself because of perceived notions.

[WouldChip]

Cotton, you are a very well rounded player as I've seen you. You play very well and there is no reason to let the WR bug bite you. I am glad that you are taking a different tack to playing the game. Focusing too much on the WR stat can really be hard thing to deal with. Many kudos to you for realizing what you have before it has gotten too late, or worse, force you to quit entirely.

 

Play it for the challenge, the excitement, the adrenaline rush. Less focus on stats, and more focus on having a good time. A good time means winning, obviously, but a stat is just that, a stat. The only real stat to worry about is the one that makes you happy, not the ones that can bring you down. Raging only makes it harder to enjoy the game, and life.

 

Excellent post, and from a very good tanker, it means more than you might imagine.

[koop123]

I have been writing a sort of guide the last few days. May end up posting, may not. Back in December ats1080 wrote a guide that really helped me. I read it every day. At the time I was struggling in the M3 Lee. My win rate was around 46-47% I commented on the post and friended ats1080. He probably never will know it, but he really helped me get better. He tooned with me, which is opposite of what is advised. Why would a Krieg 60 percenter toon with a noob sub 50? I donked, potatoed and dragged him down but watching him play was a revelation.

 

I began to watch vids and learn about the game more then I played. I discovered mediums. My win rate began to climb. I was in a very bad slump recently. I had set a goal and it seemed like I was taking one step forward and two steps back. I started feeling like I had to play every day or I would get rusty. I decided that looking at my win rate as a static thing, something to manage was my problem. I started writing down everything that helped me get better and the first thing I wrote was this: Look at your win rate as a thermometer, a measure of how you are currently playing--not a status symbol that needs to be obsessed on and managed every day. When my win rate would drop I would drop down to play lower tier OP tanks to "correct" it (see my Panzer S35) but if I want to really get better, that is not the course for me. I can learn far more from playing higher tiers then I can in Tier III. If my win rate drops, then this is just a reflection of me playing in high tiers and being beat more often then not by better teams and players. If it goes up, then this is a measure of me getting better and helping my team win more at higher tiers. No, I don't want to fall back below 50, but if that happens it just means I do not have the skill to play well at higher tiers. It will then be up to me to get better, or accept the fact I can not do well in tiers VIII-X.

[Pitorkas]

Cottonhead, on 08 July 2015 - 06:34 AM, said:

I've decided to kick win rate to the curb.  When I was first shown the win rate stat I was at 47%.  I felt dirty and shamed so I studied up on youtube, watched everything that concep, bushka, and 48_ton every put out.  I got into a clan, a great clan, Triarii.  I started platooning.  And something new, I started raging.  I got to my highest win rate 55.50%.  And something else happened.  I began to be afraid to push battle for fear that my win rate might drop.  I'm sure this is just a weakness in my own personality and probably some sort of over competitiveness.  Obviously getting better at the game is still a goal, but being a slave to a stat that either gains me respect with people that play internet tanks, or makes me rage at others who are not a slave to the stat is out.  So why post this?  I hope if there are other people out there like me who want to win, but not be a slave to it will join me in making the forums a better place, making the game a better place.  By better I mean fun and relaxed.  Excellence without rage.  That is all.

Totally in your ferry brocefoulous, you are describing chipthed0g, I even pondered leaving my clan feeling unworthy and incapable of winning anymore in a constant manner. Last week I run a streak that took me from 58.20 (highest ever) to 58.02...it takes a lot to drop that amount with my battle count...

 

I tooned with a forumer last night and we lost 2 in a row. The guy ranted, carefully not at me but at my tank, approach and so...I went..."I don't need this" I told the guy I may not be the right partner for him so I said farewell and kept playing solo for a bit then with another friend and the win streak came back. This other friend is no clan member and as far I know not a forumer but a decent middle 50ish player. So no pressure, more fun, more wins and no remorse.

[mike82198]

_Irregular_Apocalypse_, on 08 July 2015 - 03:06 PM, said:

 Back in December ats1080 wrote a guide that really helped me.

The single most useful resource I've seen in this community. It came too late for me, but the lessons of thousands of battles can be learned through 5 minutes vicariously. I refer decent noobs I encounter in battle to it regularly. 

[koop123]

mike82198, on 08 July 2015 - 01:27 PM, said:

The single most useful resource I've seen in this community. It came too late for me, but the lessons of thousands of battles can be learned through 5 minutes vicariously. I refer decent noobs I encounter in battle to it regularly. 

 

Hope he comes back when clan wars drops. He popped up a few months back and we messaged back and forth and platooned a few games. PC is probably just more challenging and fun for him. . .I also try to send people to it as much as I can, but some people feel they learn better by trial and error and never bother to learn about the game other then pressing battle over and over.

[Klaus_Klavier]

Can there be a "euthanasia" option where I can make an Idiots phone electrocute his brain?

I had a 47% wr noob in an IS-7 calling my Maus crap and he didn't do a damn thing the whole match except telling me I had a crap tank, he barely left spawn because he kept typing about how crap my tank was, and he laughed at me when I got overran when our team scrubbed off like pubbies often do.


Can you please give me the option to track a persons location so I can walk up to the front door of their home, ring the doorbell, and punch them in the gut so they bend over in pain and I throw a knee right into their face

Because I'd so love to do that to some of these idiots who throw the game away because they think a tank sucks and they want to see you lose so they take the entire team down with them

[mike82198]

Cottonhead, on 08 July 2015 - 09:34 AM, said:

I've decided to kick win rate to the curb.  When I was first shown the win rate stat I was at 47%.  I felt dirty and shamed so I studied up on youtube, watched everything that concep, bushka, and 48_ton every put out.  I got into a clan, a great clan, Triarii.  I started platooning.  And something new, I started raging.  I got to my highest win rate 55.50%.  And something else happened.  I began to be afraid to push battle for fear that my win rate might drop.  I'm sure this is just a weakness in my own personality and probably some sort of over competitiveness.  Obviously getting better at the game is still a goal, but being a slave to a stat that either gains me respect with people that play internet tanks, or makes me rage at others who are not a slave to the stat is out.  So why post this?  I hope if there are other people out there like me who want to win, but not be a slave to it will join me in making the forums a better place, making the game a better place.  By better I mean fun and relaxed.  Excellence without rage.  That is all.

Versus this:
 

Klaus_Klavier, on 08 July 2015 - 05:49 PM, said:

Can there be a "euthanasia" option where I can make an Idiots phone electrocute his brain?

I had a 47% wr noob in an IS-7 calling my Maus crap and he didn't do a damn thing the whole match except telling me I had a crap tank, he barely left spawn because he kept typing about how crap my tank was, and he laughed at me when I got overran when our team scrubbed off like pubbies often do.


Can you please give me the option to track a persons location so I can walk up to the front door of their home, ring the doorbell, and punch them in the gut so they bend over in pain and I throw a knee right into their face

Because I'd so love to do that to some of these idiots who throw the game away because they think a tank sucks and they want to see you lose so they take the entire team down with them

Turn off your Tanking brain, and read this as if the discussion was about tag team words with friends or something: which is a better mental place?

[Asiaticus]

Cottonhead, on 08 July 2015 - 09:34 AM, said:

I've decided to kick win rate to the curb.  When I was first shown the win rate stat I was at 47%.  I felt dirty and shamed so I studied up on youtube, watched everything that concep, bushka, and 48_ton every put out.  I got into a clan, a great clan, Triarii.  I started platooning.  And something new, I started raging.  I got to my highest win rate 55.50%.  And something else happened.  I began to be afraid to push battle for fear that my win rate might drop.  I'm sure this is just a weakness in my own personality and probably some sort of over competitiveness.  Obviously getting better at the game is still a goal, but being a slave to a stat that either gains me respect with people that play internet tanks, or makes me rage at others who are not a slave to the stat is out.  So why post this?  I hope if there are other people out there like me who want to win, but not be a slave to it will join me in making the forums a better place, making the game a better place.  By better I mean fun and relaxed.  Excellence without rage.  That is all.

 

Well said. If it's not fun, why bother to play? I find that it's best not to worry about matchmaking, campers, AFKs, flanking T95s, or dead ragers*. No battle is fair; and so what? If you don't hit the button, you can't win.

 

*My new punk cover band will be called the Dead Ragers.

[Klaus_Klavier]

If you wanna play for fun download tanktastic (I HEAR THEY HAVE ARTILLERY)