Top 5 ships by rounds played:
Wait, too many premiums. Top 5 regular ships:
I think I need to check into rehab. I mean I’m 1 ship away from unlocking the Research Bureau and the first line I intend to reset is my KMBB line. If that’s not proof enough, how about this? I can spell Gneisenau correctly without looking it up. HAPL!!!
To be fair I have 113 rounds in all my Kongo variants, and 143 in all my Myoko variants. So that would put the Myoko after the Scharnhorst and the Kongo after the Tirpitz. 
LOL! You’ll likely really enjoy the results of Wargaming evaluating the current meta (everyone playing at range, hiding behind islands to avoid getting burned down with IFHE, fires, and waves of torps) with regards to improving the German BB shell dispersion that was implemented in a different meta … I’m in a similar situation that the line I’ve worked up to Tier IX with is the German BBs, the Tier X that I’m looking to finally casually unlock is Großer Kurfürst. 
I can’t recall seeing anyone try to brawl at all in the King of the Sea Tournament matches that I saw, getting out in the open with a BB and get focused, with waves of torps heading your way, was not on the menu for the matches I viewed.
Don’t know that there is anything we can do about the opposing CV players preferring the German BBs as nice fat juicy targets. 
Based on my experience with World of Tanks, I found that I personally seem to prefer the “economics” of playing premium ships, and actually have more enjoyment when not in Tier X matches.
However, there are certain game modes (current season of Ranked, for example) that are locked behind Tier X, so I would like to have some in my harbor … I’ve been saving my coal, and I’m interested in this current holiday Tier X Puerto Rico chain, https://worldofwarships.com/en/news/general-news/new-year-2020-event/#dockyard
Complete all phases to get cruiser
X Puerto Rico along with an exclusive permanent camouflage, and a Commander with 10 skill points!
Word of advice on the FdG, do not get the 420mm guns. Stick with the 406mm. The 420mms are considerds a newb trap. You don’t get any significant benefit on overmatching with them, they fire slower, and while they do more damage per shell your theoretical DPS drops. Add to that the typical KMBB dispersion when you miss with the 420mms it hurts you more than missing with the 406mms. I actually ground out most of my way to the GK on the 420mms before someone set me straight.
As for the dispersion changes, they’re just adjusting the shape of the dispersion, not the values of it. There will be less drift horizontally, a but more drift vertically. Right now KMBBs have a elliptical dispersion pattern. The test was to give them the same cylindrical pattern other BBs have. It’ll make them a tad better at angled/chasing/head-on enemies, a tad worse at broadside enemies.
Welp, I screwed up.
I finally completed the Buffalo grind last night. Holy hell that ship was a turd. I got the Research Bureau unlocked, decided to reset my KMBB line so I could finally have some cash again and get in on this new progression.
0.8.11 dropped, along with Snowflakes. So I just removed a T8, T9, T10 snowflake from my stable of ships. D’oh!
OUCH Greyed!
I reset two lines when they added Research Bureau, US BB and Heavy CA. Regretting doing at the same time now. I’m going to limit myself to one reset line at a time once I finish the regrind. Thankfully Tier X in WoWS is much friendlier economically than in WoT.
In addition to the Puerto Rico, save up that Coal for a Thunderer or another Tier X premium ship. There are several real good ones out there.
Tell me about it. I just looked up my old WoT account on Noobmeter. I have 117 rounds in my ST-I, my one and only T9 tank. From what I recall I don’t even have all the upgrades of the tank unlocked yet. 117 rounds!
Meanwhile in WoWs my most recent T9 grind was the Buffalo. That ship was a turd for me. 47 rounds before I got enough XP/FXP to get out of it. 47 rounds to unlock all upgrades and the next ship in a ship where I was just dogging it.
For comparison I did the same thing in my Ibuki in 27 rounds. The main difference between the two was the Buffalo was around a 45% WR whereas the Ibuki was closer to 65%.
I picked up the Yoshino. It got a “meh” review on the forums and the wiki. Other coal ships getting much higher marks. However, one of my two 19pt captains is my IJNCA captain. I don’t regret it in the slightest. She’s shaping up to be one of my top performing ships.
Yeah. I’ve avoided the Yoshino so far. Only ships I regret now getting right now are the T9 annual premiums Missouri and Kronshtadt. My next target for coal is the Smolensk.
Forgot one. The Belfast. Would love to take that our for a few battles.
I got the Missouri and while I do take it out from time to time, I neither like or dislike it. I think the meta right now makes it a pain to play largely beacause…
My next target for coal is the Smolensk.
The Smolensk is a thing. Honestly it, and other ships like it (Kleber, Mogador, Kitakaze, Worchester) just make T9, T10 BB battles a chore Low detection radius, high rate of fire, high chance of fire. Often when you bumble into range of one of those ships you either lose 2/3rds of your health to them as you sloooooowwwwwly back out. Or you lose 2/3rds of your health to the BBs waiting for you to turn broadside.
Ouch, indeed!
I like free stuff, so I’m reluctant to criticize Wargaming on their drop rates, but with my luck and their unpublished drop rate chances, I don’t expect anything out of them and so am pleasantly surprised with anything the crates do produce. 
I kind of like the collections mechanic, where one can slowly earn rewards from regular play, those free crates seem to regularly drop a collection item, and some credit is given for duplicates.
Whether it’s to get us hooked on gambling, or because Wargaming is in the Christmas giving spirit, they are giving us four free containers with this new patch:
HOW CAN YOU GET YOUR GIFTS?
Grab your first free presents—as many as four Santa’s Gift containers—right in the game!
- Enter your Port, click the New Year banner on the screen with the cargo container ship—and the first two containers will be yours.
- Head to the festive section of the Armory to collect the other two containers!
I’m looking forward to trying the Puerto Rico building chain, but since I’ll be out of town for a week during the latter parts of the chain, I’m considering taking advantage of their cash option to assist with the building, rather than spend money on “Santa’s containers” gambling. 
I’d drop doubloons on on the ship, not the crates. The only crates I have opened have been from 3 sources.
I’m not saying that WG hasn’t gotten coin from me. They have gotten so much coin from me. But all of it has been in the form direct purchases of coin for a specific ship and or prem time.
So, Santa crates, I get the 4 and then any I earn from missions, no more. The Puerto Rico, dropping coin on accelerating the building process is a direct purchase, so is OK.
The may get a couple of bucks out of me for a chance at the Missouri.
I like the looks of the Puerto Rico, I don’t yet have any Tier X ships (turns out I’m still suffering burnout from Wargaming grinding from WoT years ago, I just casually play what I feel like now), and like you I don’t mind spending money to support a hobby and devs that I’m enjoying. I had the dubloons in my account so I went ahead and bought the first shipyard guy … as I understand the shipbuilding mechanic/process, his impact is greater the longer he’s on the job, and since I know I’m going to miss a week when out of town, I went ahead and got him on the job working. 
I do like that whole dockyard animation and all, pretty cool.
LOL, good luck! I bought some of the Black crates, because when I looked at the contents those were camos that I’m actually using, & I needed more premium time, so didn’t mind getting the low tier items out of those crates … I have not looked to see if the Santa crates offer similar value, where if a premium drops it’s an added bonus, not a waste if one doesn’t.
Yeah, unfortunately its 6k doubloons for the first tier of paid booster and I have <5k on my account. Ah well. 
First match in the reacquired Konig. Forgot about the revamped ballistics on the KMBBs. First shot of the match on a broadside CA. 2 citadels later he’s making a B-line away from me. Muhahahahaa. I’m lucky to get 1 cit in a match, let alone 2 on the same ship with the same salvo. Got a 3rd on a broadside Dunkie. Where’s my “cackling maniacally” emoji?
LOL, congrats! That’s great news, glad to see the change makes them more equivalent / competitive with the other BBs. 
As for the dubloon “booster”, I don’t have a feel for the grind required, but I hope I didn’t end up throwing those dubloons away … I don’t get as much enjoyment from crates as others do, like you I prefer to “pay as I go”, so I figure I’m in for another booster if required, especially to make up for being out of town for a week.
I went ahead and picked that first booster up, although the clock has not yet started ticking on the Puerto Rico construction. Being somewhat confident that I’ll need the help, when the construction actually does start in a couple of days I’ll be in at liftoff with the booster dude ticking away with no time lost. 
Wargaming must have been listening … “24-Hour Charity Stream – Get Some Amazing Rewards!”!
The charity, Save the Children, sounds like a worthy cause, I’ll plan to donate, likely during Mr_Gibbins and/or The Mighty Jingles’ streams. I’ll keep a close eye on “the minimum suggested donation tied to the individual reward to obtain it”! 
What You Can Get for Donating
On December 14, we’ll start taking donations that will go directly towards the campaign, meaning that any donations made in the time between then and the end of the stream will qualify you for rewards.
When donating via the link below, you’ll be given the choice of which reward to get, as long as the amount donated is equal to, or higher than the “value” of the chosen item.
During this time, you can give the minimum suggested donation tied to the individual reward to obtain it.
Apart from the satisfaction of having aided a good cause, here are some of the more tangible rewards you can claim:
Torpedo plushes.
Signed posters.
Rare ship bundles, including the likes of
VII Belfast ,
IX Missouri , or
V Kamikaze.
Division time with Contributors.
Commander packs.
Exclusive event permanent camos.
Here’s the rewards page, https://tiltify.com/+world-of-warships-community/charity-ship/rewards, … they are not unlocked so they are obscured a bit, and it is not easy to tell, but it looks like Kamikaze is tied to a $100 donation, while Kronshtadt, Belfast, and Missouri are tied to $200 donations? 
I don’t understand the grid display with the same ships shown multiple times, with different unlock times. I wonder if it’s tied to individual stream times? I can’t imagine that when a digital item unlocks it is only available for a single donator, I would not think that there needs to be an auction format for a digital item, the more happy contributors the better all around.
Here is a graphic showing the rewards. The Helping Hand Commemorative Flag is a nice “token of gratitude” for anyone who thinks Save the Children is a worthy charity. For myself, I would not criticize anyone who had charity money in their Christmas budget and chose to use it on Save the Children.
Looks like need to click the graphic once to open it, then a second time to make it a readable size.
