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Sorry Im a noob, but when should we upgrade to a better tank?

when you have enough XP to reserch it then grind enough credits to buy the next tank

There is no set time you should upgrade so I say that the best time to upgrade is when you feel that you a ready.

There is no easy answer. Early tanks are quick and easy to upgrade, but later  on, there are some tanks you really don't want to play without upgrading first.  In those cases, spend more time in the tanks you have and fill your piggy bank so you can upgrade faster.

One thing I will say is if you find a decent tank that you can earn exp and credits in don't sell it off when upgrading. This usually is Tier 4-6 vehicles but I kept my Tier 3, Marder II around after moving past it. The reason being, and it took me a week during beta to realise this, was that when you unlock that next vehicle it is usually the last step to eliting your current vehicle, you will get a message indicating elite status. Once elite you can use the extra exp to transfer (using gold) to free exp. Or accelerate crew training to make a good crew to move into another tank later. I used to get in such a hurry to progress to the next tank that I would sell a good elite vehicle to finance the next, bad move.

I upgrade my tank only after reaching elite status in the current one then I keep playing in that tank(or some other) till I get the sufficient credits for my next vehicle. This has a  few advantages:

1) Some modules(gun,radio,engine,etc) from your current elite tank may also be used by the next tank in tree Since you have researched all modules you can add those to your new tank as soon as you buy it. This saves experience points & credits (if you already bought it in your previous tank) and improves initial gameplay at the same time. Just make sure you don't sell such modules when you sell your current tank.

2) The longer you play in your current tank(and wait for elite status), the better you learn how to control your tank properly and learn its role,strength and weaknesses. The next time you upgrade to a new tank, you will have less difficulty in adapting to its play style particularly when it belongs to the same class.

3) Besides, if you just keep upgrading your tank without spending some decent amount of time on it , you might become a victim of P.U.T.T.S (Premature Upper Tank Tier Syndrome) as coined by ARGO. Read this thread to find out more about this.

Elbow, on May 19 2011 - 19:09, said:

Unless you like spending gold and credits early in the game, I consider training crews on elite vehicles a complete waste of time and energy especially in low tier vehicles. The reason is that in lower tiers each crew skill percentage takes longer to rise due to low distribution of experience among crew members. Each time you upgrade to a new tank, you have 2 choices:

A: Get a new crew which starts at 50% primary skill (considering no extra gold or credits spent) making any previous crew training go waste.
B: Retrain your current crew which has a penalty of 20%-40% (again considering no extra gold or credit spent).

Even if you spend a lot of  time in accelerating your crew  to...say 75% and take choice B , it will still drop to 50-60%. A wise decision would be to easily train your young crew faster in higher tiers (higher exp distribution). Also, since higher tier tanks give more credits, you can spend them in crew retraining too.
Good Luck Tanking!

One thing to always check is whether modules available for research on the current tank are usable on the next tank, if so then it is often worth researching them in the lower tank than in the new tank as basically the match maker HATES stock tanks (because modules are not taken into account at all) so until you have a few upgrades you will generally be over matched in any new tank you get, at lower tiers this is not such an issue, but later on it can make certain tanks just painful to begin with!

I usually buy new crews at 75% experience, and if I plan to move them to the next tank (to keep their medals etc) I always make sure they're at 85% or higher. That way they'll be at 75% in the new tank (unless it's a new type of tank) and keep their medals.

the easy answer is when you have enough money and want to change to a better ride. But not all answers stay easy. Buying newer rides means not having the money to upgrade the one you have already. Sometimes it's better to upgrade first, sometimes it's better to go straight for the next tank. I wish I knew that before getting the m3 Lee or I would have waited and saved even more money for the t1 heavy, which BTW is waaaaaay better than the Lee but I don't have it yet. Or I could have done the same thing for a KV now. Or maybe even an su-100 if I tried hard. It seems like the longer it takes you to get a better tank, the more you should upgrade your current one to close the gap in the mean time.

in the lower tiers, upgrade as soon as you are able to..


in higher tiers, be sure to know what modules are shared between the one you have now and the next, as well as know how much will the playstyle change


also, as said, taking the 75% courses in high tier is pretty much necessary or else you'll suffer unecessarily with stock tank and 50% crew

Why people think that you always have to upgrade? You may very well get to tier 4 and just keep playing it if you enjoy it. The game is very different at tiers 5 and up. When I go to play a round or two in my StuGIII after few days in Lowe or IS only, it's amazing how game is different in tier 4.

Upgrading to a bigger or higher Tier Tank means increased costs all around, not just for purchasing, but for playing.  Not to mention its like starting all over again as the stock version of the vehicles are only shadows of themselves until fully upgraded and such.  So, when you have a comfortable income from the vehicles, are prepared for getting owned until its upgraded then do it.

upgrade only when you have enough credits to upgrade everything from crew,ammo,modules,consummable at one shot from 1 tank to other.
no use upgrade a tank with no credit to buy ammo.

You could refer to my guide, it may not explain exactly WHEN but will explain when should it be ideal for you to upgrade it.

http://forum.worldof...r-tanks-faster/