I’m approaching my one month anniversary with my new clan, Vorbild Panzergruppe. And I continue to enjoy the people in the clan, the opportunity to platoon (err…group) with some really great people, and the new found fun of Clan Wars. I’ve made it into four battles thus far, with a 2-2 record. The most recent of those came with my return to town and gaming this week, as we take part in the Landlords Summer Campaign, with the carrot at the end of the campaign being the otherwise-unobtainable M60 for the top 5 clans of each “stage” and the top 30 clans overall (provided you meet the participation requirements – 5 and 10 battles, respectively).
I have no idea where we are in the standings, as apparently Wargaming, as usual (and like Sony) dives in first without putting together all the loose ends (there are still unanswered questions about what counts as a participation battle, for instance). But before the campaign launched, depending on which stats your parsed (it always comes down to that, doesn’t it?) we were somewhere between 26 and 32 in the rankings. So there is at least a shot there.
There were, of course, the usual riots over an otherwise unobtainable piece of “gear.” And while Wargaming set the campaign up in such a way that all tiers 1-10 each had a time period of use, it was clear from the beginning that only the best were going to get this tank. What was (and is) unclear is to what extent the top clans intended to rig this contest.
Early on there was a semi-joke thread that the big clans should get together and decide among themselves which 5 would get their tank in each phase, and then drop out of the running. And apparently, at least some of those clans thought – hey…that’s not a bad idea. In any case, we do have a small advantage in that we have a rather unique diplomatic position.
VPG is not a top clan, of course, but it is a stable and quality unit with some excellent alumni. You see, quality players come to VPG, learn the ropes, hone their skills, and then invariably move on (by invitation or application) to a top clan. As a result, we have good relationships with a number of the clans through former members. And nobody wants to screw us over because we keep finding, grooming, and sending on quality players to refresh their ranks. So we are often in the middle of horse trading for territory, or watching someone’s back, and so on. Believe me, this makes life much easier, and gives us a leg up.
In fact, the only real problem is that we got on a losing streak the week before the campaign started. And while we shook it off long enough to pull down a couple of territories, its reared its ugly head again. Unless we have a solid outing tonight, we may end this campaign without any victory points, and that will probably be a hard deficit to overcome. Here’s the map as it currently stands – you can just barely make out our red stylized “V” down in South Carolina:
Personally, I have a deficit to overcome as well. Last night was my first summer campaign battle – which means I need nine more to qualify if we make the top 30. And I’m going to be gone two of the next four weeks. Ouch. Not to mention that with the kids off of school, our usual bedtime/nighttime schedule has shifted backwards a bit, often running smack into game time. Double Ouch.
I’m trying not to worry too much about that though, and just show up as much as I can and contribute as much as possible. If I end up with an M60 – great. I had no idea that was coming when I signed onto a clan, so its just gravy. And if I don’t…well, at the very least, I can say that World of Tanks is making for some interesting summer gaming!
Harbinger Zero 