War Thunder - World War II action mmo from russian studio

[Merfie]

About the game
War Thunder is basicly action mmo durning II World War, game is about flying planes and have sky fights, soon there be also possibility to use tanks (it's Closed Beta with tanks right now, soon Open Beta for everyone). Cool fact is that there won't be seperate matches for tanks and planes so we'll be able to use them both in one battle. But as I said, this is close future - right now you can "only" fly plenty of different planes like heavy bombers, light bombers, diving bombers, fighters, heavy fighters and more.
With strong hardware the game looks awesome, but also on slow machines it looks good. Optimization is well made.



MMO aspects
Joining to matches and destroying enemy planes or ground forces (right now only AI ground forces) gives you money and so called "research points".
-With research points you can unlock upgrades on your planes like better engine, less overheating machine guns or ammo racks of your choice. Collecting research points you also unlock new planes.
-Money are basicly for buying new planes, buying upgrades and repair damaged planes durning battles. I can assure you that you'll mostly collect more money than you need and situations when you unlock new plane and don't have money to buy it are very rarely.

Basics
You start with biplanes from before the World War II. They're slow and mostly don't looks deadly, but first matches gives much fun also learns you how things like aiming or moving works. In couple fights you should be able to unlock first monoplanes. Better planes you use, stronger enemies you'll meet on battlefield. Planes in game are divided into 5 eras.
At 1st era are basicly biplanes and first monoplanes or weakest one. Higher the era, better the planes.
At 5th era you can fly jets like german me262,first jet that fought in WWII or Korean War jets like Sabre or MiGs.

There are 3 different battles you can join:
- Arcade Battles, basicly most energic fights, if you lose a plane, you take another one until all planes you took to the battle are gone.
- Realistic Battles, you can fly only one plane, if you'll be shot down, the match is over for you and you'll have to join another fight. Planes acts more realistic than in arcade fights, but for me fights are more boring, but might be more rewaring in research points and money gained if you're good at it.
- Simulation Battles, basicly same as realistic battles but you can only look from the inside (pilot seat) of a plane instead of from behind.

About in-game nations:
Japan - Nation for most skillful players imo, they're deadly if you can play them smart but mostly Japanease are a bit weaker then other nations. They have one of the coolest bombers with many 20mm cannon turrets, but you'll be able to unlock it very very late.
USA - Quite balanced planes, not many best fighters but still decent, very good bombers like B-25 or B-17 Flying Fortress. They really like rockets, half of the planes can carry them.
German - Maybe not best bombers but they do their job. Very good fighters like bf109 or fw190, they're fast and hit hard, very hard.
Russia - This is game made by russian company and in my opinion the russians are stronger than they really were, but that not important right now. About russians: Strongest biplanes in the game so playing russians from the start you'll have better start. They have good fighters, also best bombers but that is historicly incorrect and soon should be fixed because community pressure. After some balancing russians should have good fighters and decent bombers.
Britain - VERY good fighters, maybe even best ones. Spitfires are beasts. They also got one of the best if not the best bomber - Lancaster, but british bombers fly like a brick, especially Wellingtons.

Here's so called reflink: http://warthunder.com/en/registration?r=userinvite_6921430 
If you register by this link I'll receive 100 premium cash when you reach 3th era with any country and you'll receive 50 premium cash. If you register without reflink I get nothing and you get nothing, but some peope are enemies of reflinks and prefer that way - in that case - you'll find register option at main page.

About premium cash (golden eagles):
The game like every free mmo game have microtransactions but this game is not pay to win. You can pay basicly for premium account what gives you faster research points and money gain, but it changes nothing beside giving you opportunity to unlock new planes faster. You won't get anything better than non-paying players by buying premium cash. Only one cool thing with premium cash is you can buy premium planes that sometimes are unique, but never are stronger than normal ones. Sometimes are even a bit underpowered than normal ones. Only cool thing with premium planes is that they're gain research points and money a bit faster than the normal ones. Still - skilled player with normal plane gain better Research Poinst and Money than non-skilled player in premium plane that's why I'm not bothered with anything related to premium cash (golden eagles).

This game isn't pay-to-win and this is last and for some most important information. You'll never be shot down because someone have bigger wallet than you, it's all about skills, quick reaction time and good eye , the game is very dynamic. I had smaller or bigger breaks in playing the game, but always enjoy coming back to War Thunder. Also enjoy the fact that game is still in development phase, there won't be only planes but also tanks and navy in future. Worth the try it right now and even if you'll get bored one day it's worth come back to the game in future when there'll be new features and improved gameplay.

Here's a little War Thunder presentation how graphic looks and how dynamic are fights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_tsyy8pl3o

[Jones-250]

I like WT. However, according to some HC WT-fans I am a complete prick and most definitely an inberd idiot due to the fact that I prefer WoT. Problem? 

[Galileus]

Both WT and WoT are way too casual for me. WT with it's p&c controls... and when I want to fly planes, I want it to be considerably hard, so that when I do something awesome I don't feel like the game handed it to me. As for world of tanks... well, no drop off from shells is enough. I'm used to shooting guys going 250kmph with slow moving atomic frozen pizzas, so yeah

[Wopian]

Been playing it since initial release <3

[Plasmatic]

Both WT and WoT are way too casual for me. WT with it's p&c controls... and when I want to fly planes, I want it to be considerably hard, so that when I do something awesome I don't feel like the game handed it to me. As for world of tanks... well, no drop off from shells is enough. I'm used to shooting guys going 250kmph with slow moving atomic frozen pizzas, so yeah

Have you tried simulator battles in WT? supposedly a very accurate flight model and control scheme..

[Galileus]

Ha-ha. Yeah. Very supposedly