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Many people have asked what I was like as a noob. Here is my story.

In the beginning was the bad. I installed the game in early beta, mainly on the recommendation of friends. It was my first "shooter" (as I cannot play FPS games), although I've always been a fan of history. I was hooked from the start -- I loved the blend of history, pvp on demand, and trying the different tanks.



These are my first 75 games. Although my win rate was great, note my personal performance was poor. (And interestingly, note the characteristics of my playstyle are apparent from day one -- I was always aggressive, win focused, a poor shot, with poor survival). Also keep in mind long range sniping was much harder back then due to tank warping, but I shot by volume anyhow. Also for the haters, note I was bad at arty from the start.

But then I hit tier 3. In tier 3, I floundered badly. My win rate tanked, the game was very unfun. Each game I was a useless, ineffective "scout" fighting steel mountains. (Keep in mind back then the MM was even worse). At my worst, I was down to a 24% win rate and less than 100 exp/game. I was so awful and so demoralized I nearly quit. The only thing that kept me playing was remembering how fun tier 2 was, and friends telling me it got better.



Time moved on. I got "1337."  I got past the terrible tier 3s, and started enjoying the game again. But I was still largely average, but improving slowly. Shortly after, I passed a key barrier -- I averaged more than 1 KPG. At that point, I felt like I was above average. I never did get past tier 8 in beta, I spent all my time trying different lines and tanks in the middle tiers. Perhaps this affected my playstyle, but I preferred those tanks.

By the end of beta, I had improved dramatically. I had played about 5k games, with final stats of 57% win rate, about 680 exp/game overall, and ~1.5 KPG. My combat skills were improving rapidly. My favorite tanks were the T23, VK3001H, and IS because I liked the blend of speed and firepower. By beta standards, 57% was something to be proud of. At that point, I felt like I was in the top 25% or maybe 10%.

Then the game launched:


Remembering my painful tier 3 experience, I vowed not to do it again. This time, I bypassed the hated tier 3/4 (to this day, I won't play those tiers because of the horrible experience I had in beta). I went down the german med lines, mainly because I liked them so much in beta.

My stats picked up where I left off in beta. Since I'd never had any way to track current progress, I was surprised and impressed. Almost no one in beta averaged 60%. I was recruited into AOD, one of the top clans on the server. However, I continued to play with RL friends almost all the time. Note my kills per game -- 1.8. This stays interestingly steady for my entire career.



To my disappointment, AOD told me they had given out all spots on the A team to AOD vets, and I wouldn't be allowed to play medium/scouts regardless. To get a chance to play, I started working on my IS7. Although my stats stayed steady, many of my worst tanks were played at this time (KV3, Tiger). I unlocked my first tier 8, the IS3, and instantly fell in love. Its still my most played tank. This was my first tank to break 70% win rate and 1k exp -- at the time, I thought this was the highest any player could reach (as no one did it in beta).



The lowe was introduced, I hit tier 9. Frustrated by my lack of opportunity to play in AOD, I transferred to a new division. I began getting a reputation as being one of the best around this point, as very few had as much exp/game or win rate as I did.



I joined MLP, the elite of the elite. My personal stats stagnate, but I learn a great deal from other unicums. I unlock a tier 10, begin grinding multiple lines again.



More grinding, progressing through many lines of middle tiers, especially my favorites (tier 7/8). I also begin trying out arty. By now, I have many tanks at 70/1k+. Some higher. I push the outer limit of what can be achieved to 75%.



MLP disbands; I join A_A as a chip but never play with them. My IRL friends quit, and I spend a LOT of time solopubbing. I begin to realize that tactics are more important than personal performance, and focus on making good plays (before this, I had spend a lot of effort trying to maximize DPG, bouncing shots, etc). My win rate jumps dramatically.



More of the same. My skills in a solopub are extremely high at this point.



I decide to get back into CW, join RS. However, I don't play well with the other kids and spend most of my time alone. I ragesold my lowe around here.



I join G. G's style perfectly fits my own, and they have many strong players I learned from. Also, the french tanks were released which fit me perfectly, and were flat out OP. These tanks propelled my stats forward once again, as the blend of power and speed fit perflectly with my scouty, flanky, reactive style. I also play my first CB, and enjoy it a lot.



I had finished almost every line in the game at this point. I did the KV5 challenge here. I have tanks over 80%/1150+ exp. Virtually every tank I play can hit 70%+/1k+. I'm into territory most believe is impossible.



I broke 70%. By now, maybe 20 people can match my win rate and personal stats. I ascend to valhalla. From here, I went back to grind the TD lines, lowering my exp some but pushing my win rate even higher (I'll likely be at 71% and ~967 exp/game at 12k games).

EDIT:


Hit 71%, just over 12k games.

Some trends:

- I averaged 1.8 kills and spots per game from day one, pretty much regardless of tank.
- My stats follow similar trends you can see from day one -- high scouts/exp, moderate dmg/kills, poor accuracy/survival, great win rate
- I play essentially every line/role/tank/tier -- except tier 3/4, thanks to my beta abuse
- My stats/skills have risen steadily for two years. From horrible to average to good to great to unicum to the god of internet tanks
- focusing on personal skill got me to unicum status, focusing on tactics made me a unicum among unicums
- My personal stats actually went down somewhat after i began focusing on tactics, but my win rate made large jumps
- for large stretches, I didn't play CW/CB or platoon.

And that's that. From 24% to 70%.

You must be god.. lol

Thanks for the story and how did you pull the historic screen shots or did you have them all along?

Oh wow....wait...Im guessing you decided to post this like 2 years ago? You had some reason to take a screenshot of every 1,000 games or so.

Great thread

How about some spoilers for that wall of pics?

Otherwise congrats on being good@tanks.

I am VERY interested in seeing a few replays of what you consider average (not great, just really average) battles.

i want to  know  what you look like?
Edited by garth112, Aug 29 2012 - 17:12.

This is my reaction to your stats on the final sentence...


http://cdn.uproxx.co...ted-quickly.jpg

garth112, on Aug 29 2012 - 17:10, said:

http://noob-dad.com/...-south-park.jpg

fritz3d, on Aug 29 2012 - 17:10, said:

My replay game has a wide variety of games in different tanks. See my sig.

Sparater, on Aug 29 2012 - 17:06, said:

Yes, for my own interest I have taken and saved many screenshots. Some are very old.

I'd love to know what it means to 'focus on tactics'. In pub games, communication is difficult at best - particularly when others don't want to talk or cooperate.

Are you talking about your singular tactics? Did you trail along with other tanks and try to enhance whatever they were doing?

Are these tactics along the lines of how to break stalemates in peek-a-boom or how to use the various maps? As a new player who is hitting a wall at Tier 6, I'd love to know.

Thanks for sharing you story!

So you stopped being bad and instead started being.....

*puts on sunglasses*

gar bad?

Hey, if you are having fun, gratz on the stats!

With those stats, u should be in the Ural Steel tourny.

lmao! All I can say .

frealms, on Aug 29 2012 - 17:18, said:

Garbad doesn't play for fun.

Tanks are srs bznz.

razzi123, on Aug 29 2012 - 17:19, said:

I was invited to several teams, but was out of town during the registration period. Which is fine with me, I don't like tournaments much. 5v5 is gimmicky.

Democratus, on Aug 29 2012 - 17:16, said:

I'm thinking - being able to VERY quickly identify your team's weak point and shoring it up, or being able to again very quickly (before all your mindless teammates get themselves killed) identify where you can apply your awesomeness to force the push through.

Recently I've had quite a few games where I lost because, in retrospect, I provided fire support when I should have been up front. Instant reaction was "dumb pubbies" but then I looked back and realized that if I was more aggressive it would have tipped the scales. I'll be working on that.

Garbad, on Aug 29 2012 - 16:58, said:

^^^^ THIS. THIS is what I want to learn about. Yes, I read and read and read, but I have a difficult time in translating that info into actually using it in battle, especially pubs.

Aside from this being yet another way for you to stroke your ego and show how good you are (you are as good at those as you are at tanks ...), it actually was an interesting read.

You don't need to tell me to try harder...

BTW what was your most memorable achievement?

Mine was taking out a T28 TD with my KV-1. :D

Better nerf Garbad...