Ranked Battles Review/Guide, Getting to Rank 5+

I review Ranked Battles in World of Tanks (WoT), with replays of three Rank 4-5 battles.

I've reached Rank 6 in Stage 1 and in Stage 2 of Season 1, playing exclusively in the Bat Chat. Ranked has been a steep learning curve for me as I have no experience with Clan Wars (CW), and many CW concepts are applicable in this game mode, e.g. coordinated pushes, counter-spotting, etc.

My performance significantly improved between Stage 1 and Stage 2, so I'm excited to share tips and tactics that I've picked up.

Stats after 2 Stages
- 12 Rank Points: #331 on NA leaderboard (top 4%)
- 67% Ranked Battle Efficiency
- 58% Win Rate
- 103 Battles in the Bat Chat
- Averages: 2012 damage, 793 spotted, 2.25 spots, 1.31 kills (100% silver ammo)

Ranked Battles has been a lot of fun overall as it's the most competitive context I've experienced in WoT. The players at Ranks 4-5 are quite skilled and this makes for high-quality gameplay. I love that the mode is solo queue so that premades can't drive outcomes.

I discuss several issues with Ranked Battles, including:
1. the current reward system incentivizes selfish play instead of the shared goal of a team win
2. no risk of de-ranking at Rank 5, so players who attain Rank 5 can spam battles to farm Rating Points. Therefore the leaderboard is influenced not only by skill but also by number of battles played. The mode would benefit from a standard ELO implementation where your rank can be impacted by each match based on the outcome / your performance
3. some tanks and classes (notably heavies) struggle to perform without heavy premium ammo usage. This makes the mode a significant credit sink for many participants

Re: #2 above, Ranks from 5 and up should be an achievement, e.g. similar to 3-marking a tank in WoT, but every battle needs to carry de-rank risk for your current rank.

Let me know how your experience has been with Ranked Battles.

This video is part of my "Road to Unicum" series in which I share what I learned as I progressed towards account Unicum rating (top 1%) with silver ammo only. I talk through how I'm reading the battle as it unfolds and discuss key decisions and mistakes. My hope is that these videos meaningfully help players improve their gameplay.

"Road to Unicum" full guide and FAQs:
http://taugrim.com/2015/02/19/road-to-unicum-guide-videos-for-world-of-tanks

If you want to support my WoT habit (thanks that's generous of you), you can send me gold in-game, or you can donate via PayPal or by shopping on Amazon:
http://taugrim.com/2015/02/19/road-to-unicum-guide-videos-for-world-of-tanks/#donate

Cheers,
Taugrim

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Видео Ranked Battles Review/Guide, Getting to Rank 5+ канала Taugrim