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This thing is  just a rolling ammo rack wallowing around the battlefield with it's crappy handling, wheezing on  opponents with it's ineffectual  gun. Yes I have a WAR installed. I think it just keeps my tank from  blowing up instantly. I didn't dare go without. If I'm struck by anything my reload rate is slowed to the point of further helplessness.  At this point I'm happy to be knocked out of a match: and that does not take long. It's a lucky hit that only causes a single critical.

I've tried not getting shot, but that's  rosy optomism in a game like this. Staying on the second line doesn't help either. Even a BT-7  can  get past and come ruin my day by shooting me in the side, then it's ammo racked, and I either  use a repair to get my next shot or pray he moves on to kill the arty I'm supposedly  guarding. How are any of you managing the Panther?

A great deal of my disgust is coming from how this is one of the best tanks of WW2 and it's represented so very poorly here. Also I went far out of my way to experience this sniper and now hate every single second in it. Some of the most hated tanks in this game I persevered through and got to like  (B1, Lee, A-20). I keep thinking that I've missed something in all the guides and posts about the Panther.

I have never gotten ammo racked in any of my battles with my Panther... and I don't have a wet ammo rack...
I think it is great, I still have it even though I have the E-50...

100% crew, optics, binocs and combined with the L100 ( the surgical gun) will dice up alot of tanks long before they ever see you. Find a good second line high point to snipe from behind a bush and that tank can be quite effective.

 DeathBacon, on Feb 10 2012 - 02:50, said:

I think last game was the only one I've been critically hit and not ammo racked. It took out the main gun and killed the commander. Don't think I'm up to 100 games yet.

 wildcat18, on Feb 10 2012 - 02:56, said:

Yes, I might pull off the WAR. It's only the difference between  going on to the next game or using a repair anyway. I'm not sure I should be so close to the action that I need the binocs though. So far I've stayed well. well back and picked at red dots. The trick is making sure I'm not just camping.

Binocs are needed so you can stay even further away from stuff.

What the guy said, basically - stay well away from action and damage stuff with L100. If they can't see you, they can't shoot you (and your fragile ammo rack).

Until L100, don't expect much from it. It just doesn't work without L100.

If the going gets tough - don't sweat it, do dailies and you'll still get your gun eventually.

P.S. I run it with a rammer, binocs and camo, with 100% crew traned 100% in camo (don't ask - it just happened )

If you give up on your Panther, may I please have it?   Ever since I saw the penetration on the uber-long 75, I've wanted a Panther. I already play tank destroyers so I'm familiar with the notion of not taking hits and sniping from cover where possible. It's my belief that, played as a TD, Panther should have good effect on battles with its pinpoint accuracy needler gun.

It's my belief that, played as a Panther, Panther should have good effect on battles with its pinpoint accuracy needler gun.

 Rypper, on Feb 10 2012 - 07:04, said:

I'll mount the L100, wait  for the crew to get to 100%. and work on my play style. A lot of my rage stems from  expecting the Panther to be a good tank when something does eventually find me. I used to snipe with my T20 and then just slap out opponents who got close. Same with T-43. Doesn't work that way with the Panther.

 Momaw, on Feb 10 2012 - 08:01, said:

The 75/L00. That's why I'm here too, but I'd get a JP if i wanted a TD. True I'm more used to the delicate Russian TDs, but they have terrifying guns for tier. I'd like my Panther to play like a Panther...however that is.

I really enjoy my Panther. It was a pain grinding to the long 75, but it was totally worth it now. Almost everything on the field can be penned by it, and people don't prioritize the Panther even though it's poking holes in them while the KV next to be is bouncing. For some reason, I find that the long 75 penetrates more relaibly than the long 88 on my Tiger. Don't know if the round flies at a higher velocity, but I always have sucess with that gun.

 IHateDells, on Feb 10 2012 - 15:34, said:

That could be due to the 75's superior accuracy, especially if you tend to aim for weak spots.

I love mine.  It's great in it's sniper role, the long 75 shines, and makes it very easy to get spoiled on it's accuracy and fast reload.  The key is not to get hit, as nearly every hit on me since the last patch is an ammo rack, no matter where it seems where I'm hit.  I use it to pick off the stragglers or to cripple tanks so the team can pick them off easier. Another trick is not to get carried away and keep nailing a tank, as that lets them see you and gets you artied or hit by other tanks, only way it pays to be greedy is if you can finish them off in 2 shots, 3 max.  Otherwise, I retreat and target something else.  You shouldn't have much trouble penning most tanks with the "Joker Gun" and it's accurate enough to track tanks and get crits on them from 500+ meters.  Good luck.

 subweevil, on Feb 10 2012 - 16:32, said:

From what you and IHateDells are saying, my problems are using the 88 because it hits harder, death staring my targets, and  I have to add bad teams letting T-50's drive through our territory at will. Yeah I know that's my job too, but I'm up on a flank looking for side shots.

Not only has the ammo rack on the Panther been reduced in durability for the 3rd straight patch, it now seems to fill 80% of the tank's interior. So expect lots of confetti.

I didn't really like the short 88 on the Panther, even though it was good on all the other German mediums, including the DB. Since I've been using the (super-)long 75, my Panther has become much more effective.

 Kzerza, on Feb 10 2012 - 02:42, said:

Arguably, PzKpfw V (Panther) was the best, influencing post war tank design, more than any other. I think the problem lies in the fact that the tank was allocated to wrong tier. T-34-85 was introduced in Autumn 1943, few months after Panther, yet the former tank belongs to a lower tier VI. Panther has been moved up in the tier tree perhaps to make room for the experimental VK-series, but this means that on the battlefield it has to face tanks from the future. To make each nation even, some tanks had to be downgraded, others over-powered.

Personally, the biggest problem I have with driving Panther is that I need to fire many penetrating shots in order to destroy 1-2 tanks, unless I'm lucky to finish off the job started by my team mate. For this reason I am using Panther as a sniping tank, almost a tank destroyer, hidden far behind enemy view and using friendly tanks as proxy. With little practice I was able to achieve similar, if not better, results that on T-43.

I'm not trying to be an ass or anything but you're complaining about a tank which you don't seem to have fully upgraded: you're missing the L/100. If anything, you still have the L/70, which doesn't provide enough penetration for distance sniping at that tier. I haven't played the Panther but I would suggest that you upgrade it fully and then return to the forums and restate your opinion. From the looks of things, the 88mm L/71 costs 16500 exp to research, so the L/100 should be around the same (can't check this). In any event, this particular grind is about as bad as just trying to get the 100mm gun on the SU-100 or the 107mm on the SU-85 and KV.

The grind with the short 88 was pretty bad, but not as bad as with the stock (historically accurate) 75 mil. Hopefully you'll be singing a different tune when you do get the final gun.

 jankar, on Feb 10 2012 - 17:43, said:

Unfortunately tank tier wasn't determined based upon date of introduction; it's based on performance instead. That's why the Tiger is tier 7 and matching up against tanks that came out years later. They seem to first look at actual performance and try to base a tier decision on that, then tweak hit points and performance to try to balance that out. It doesn't always work.

WRT the Panther, I had poor performance at first even with the L100; I kept trying to brawl with it. Eventually I figured out that I needed to hang way back and use that laser-like accuracy, and once I did that things took a very sharp turn for the better. If you don't have the L100 yet then I am sorry, because I suspect that's going to be a painful grind. The 88/L56 on a tier 7 tank really needs to shoot at the flanks of enemies, because you can't frontally penetrate most of them consistently. And unlike the 3002DB, you don't have the maneuverability in the Panther to do that.

 IHateDells, on Feb 10 2012 - 19:27, said:

Almost there.  Since it has lower damage, I'd disregarded the L100 in favor of researching the Panther 2 and  selling the tank. Based on your advice I've diverted to getting the L100.