Seditious, on Jan 06 2019 - 16:18, said:
And so I was thinking this morning, there is no rule against encouraging the lights on my team at the start of a game to make a run at the enemy arty, especially if I'm in a light. Could be a quick trip back to the garage, but might be a quick trip back to the garage for the arty. I mean, after all, fast lights are a mechanic that have been in the game since the beginning. Fast lights function exactly as the devs intended them too. Only the hurr durr arty mains are going to gripe about suggesting it cuz 'I wantz to clik purplz moar!'. Anyway, how can it be griefing if it's part of the game right? Certainly there is no other game or game mode where I can yolo into arty.
Sportsmanship? Seriously? I should think deleting the indirect fire 'mode' from a match early would result in a far better tanking experience for all remaining players. Besides, how is it not team play to delete or aid in the deleting of such important segments of the enemy team make up? Why are you playing them if they are not important? This would almost be a public service.
Now, yes, that is all kind of tongue in cheek. Kind of. There a re a few non-full-time-trolls here who could be introspective of the idea. What if, as a player base, we took it upon ourselves to do the responsible thing and limit the PvE aspect that is wedged into this PvP game? No Tk's, just playing the game within the rules the devs have laid out and using it to promote PvP play. No toxicity, just do your job and move on in the match. Let your tanks guns be your voice.
You are certainly free to use light tanks (and armored cars) that way, and to try to encourage your teammates to join you. I see nothing "unsporting" about it.
As to whether it's griefing... I stand by my opinion that griefing is mostly in the head of the aggrieved person. I think most griefing claims are false; the enemy is trying to crush you, but he's not doing it just so you don't have any fun, and you just assume he's griefing because you're frustrated. But if you start kamikaze'ing SPGs with the goal of ruining their fun so they'll quit playing the class, then by your own definition you are griefing. So there's a certain hypocrisy there for your conscience to deal with.
I think, though, that it won't work for light tanks. If you do it right away, all the enemy tanks will still be near their base, so they can turn their guns and kill the light tanks -- if not before they get the arty, then soon afterward. You'd probably have to send two light tanks to be sure of getting to the enemy SPGs, and three lights to have a chance of killing all them. Trading all your scouts to kill the enemy SPGs is probably not smart, since light tanks have better carry rates than SPGs. I don't think you'll have much success coaxing other light tank drivers to sacrifice their own games along with you. You might create some short-term unhappiness for SPG players and schadenfreude for SPG haters, but the tactic is unsustainable.
After all, as soon as this starts to happen frequently, some light tank drivers will say, "No, I'm not going to rush the SPGs. I'd rather wait for the enemy light tanks to rush our SPGs, so I can kill them." The more often rushing happens, the more light tank players will want to anti-rush. And of course other tanks will learn to be ready for the charge of the light brigade, too.
For armored cars it might work better, because they're so fast and so resistant to immobilization and terrain damage. Maybe a single armored car can reliably get through and kill an SPG with his clip before he's destroyed; maybe two of them in concert can kill three enemy SPGs, and a 2 for 3 trade is surely a good deal. I'm not too worried, though; if it becomes a meta for armored cars to kill SPGs before the SPG can even load its first shot, Wargaming will do something about it to keep SPGs playable. They would do the same if light tanks started succeeding in this tactic. (Some obvious responses: above Tier 3, no more than one light tank or AC per platoon and no more than two or three per match, just like they did with arty. If that doesn't work, they'd have to do something like nerf light tanks' top speed, reduce their hit points, make them easier to track, or improve the HP/camo for SPGs.)
Bottom line, you're welcome to try it if you don't mind being a griefer by your own definition, but I don't think it will work.
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