1st Annual Captain Skills Award List

[Lochnivar]

I enjoy doing these for ships, so I thought I would try something other than ships and move into a few thoughts on captain skills.  Especially with all the hoopla about the "skill-which-must-not-be-named".

 

The nominations for the most overpowered Captain Skill are:

Radio Location

Fire Prevention

Priority Target

Emergency Takeoff

Preventative Maintenance

 

When I evaluated these skills, I set a few guidelines for myself.

 

1. Cost - How many points the skill costs

2. Applicability - How widespread is the skill applicable for.

3. Utility - How the skill fits into play.

4. Frequency of use - How often is the skill going to be used.

 

Your list will probably be different than mine and I hope it is.  These are my impressions and meant to provide some extra fodder for thought.

 

And the award for Most Overpowered Captain Skill goes to....

 

Drumrolll.......

 

Priority Target!

 

Now, put down the potatoes and let me explain.  I'll go through each skill and explain why I came up with my decision.  Starting at the bottom of the list and working up.

 

5: Emergency Takeoff - This is a skill that carrier players have been needing for a long time.  At three points, it's not a bad investment for what it does, though the penalty seems a little severe.  Unfortunately, what kills this skill is it's applicability.  It only applies to carriers, which severely limits it usefulness.  I like the skill and I completely agree that the utility and frequency of use are top notch, just that applicability.

 

4. Radio Location - The top contender and the causation of destroyer driver rage (DDR) since it's announcement.  However, since it's come out the only thing saving it from the bottom spot is that it's applicability spreads to all classes.  It's going to be frequently used, it's on all the time after all.  As for the cost?  Entirely too high for the utility.  What we have here is a skill that tries to remind the player exactly which way they should be pointing their guns.  The location arc is almost a quarter of the radius around the ship, severely limiting it's utility.  If the wind is right, I could smell the sake coming off a Minekaze with more accuracy.

 

One player suggested the skill could be used in tandem to triangulate a target's location.  It's a fair enough comment.  However, trying to type and steer at the same time is cumbersome and trying to tell your partner detailed via text is simply not feasible.  It's true you could probably do it over a division voice chat, I still doubt the utility of it.  In the final analysis, the hype over this skill is completely over blown.  You can get a much better picture of where a hidden destroyer lives by watching the world around you and processing it, not simply seeing it.

RL shouldn't even be on this list; however I know there will be complaining if I didn't have the devil's skill on it.

 

3. Preventative Maintenance:  PM is a solid choice here.  One skill point for 30% protection on all modules?  Sign me up.  It applies to every ship, however, BBs and cruisers are going to get the most utility out of it.  It's a solid skill for DDs, however, there is competition at the 1st slot for quite a few handy skills and you might not want to delay going up the ladder for better skills.  It's pretty much the same thing with CVs as well.

2. Fire Prevention:  An old fashioned goodie just got a lot hotter.  Or less hotter...  You know what I mean.  FP was a solid choice pre 0.6 and has simply gotten better.  At 4 points, it fits rather nicely with the other skills at this level.  It's utility is simply amazing.  Not only does it lower the risk by 10%, it also limits the total number of active fires to 3.  Battleships, this is a must for you.  It can be of great use for CAs as well, however, you don't have the HP to soak up one fire for any period of time, let alone 3.  For DD's, well, if you're getting three fires, you've got other problems to worry about.  I could see some nice use for CVs, the 10% reduction is very handy for keeping the deck open, though Emergency Takeoff might clear the way for you to pick something else at 4th level.

 

1. Priority Target:  Yes, the star of the show has arrived.  Without a doubt, this skill is the most OP out there right now.  To start with, it's only 1 point.  For DDs and CAs, it's about as close to mandatory as I can think of.  BBs and CVs can get some nice use out of it as well.

 

Let's put it another way.  I think we can all agree that the difference between WOWs and other FPS/Tankish games is that WOWs is much more cerebral.  Any idiot (i.e. me) can wasd myself to a yolo death; however, to truly be a consistent victor, you have to be aware of the world around you.  That's why SA became a default skill.  Everybody was picking it, it was the clear winner for DDs and CVs.  CAs could get a lot of use out of it.  Knowing that you have been seen lets you adjust tactics and can provide some assistance in knowing where the enemy is.
 

PT takes the same concept to a whole new level.  The difference between a daring attack and a suicide mission is how many people are shooting at you.  How hard you push the objective is determined by how "hot" the zone is going to be.  As a CA, I need to ride the line between suicide and brave to make a difference.  I can take a little punishment to get the goal accomplished.  If I can know how many people I'm targeted by, I can decide whether to push or pull out.  It's even more true for DDs.  PT changes your whole style of play.

 

PT isn't the most flashy of skills.  However, it does provide the best weapon, information.  It's not nebulous like RL.  You get an exact count of how many cross hairs are on you.  And for 1 pt?  Sounds over powered to me at that price.

Hope you found this informative.  I enjoyed writing it out.

[Mesrith]

3. Preventative Maintenance:  PM is a solid choice here.  One skill point for 30% protection on all modules?  Sign me up.  It applies to every ship, however, BBs and cruisers are going to get the most utility out of it.  It's a solid skill for DDs, however, there is competition at the 1st slot for quite a few handy skills and you might not want to delay going up the ladder for better skills.  It's pretty much the same thing with CVs as well.

 

I feel like you're unaware that PM only considers Main Battery, Torpedoes, Engine, and Steering to be "modules", ignoring secondaries and AA.  Most battleships and cruisers should not be bothering with PM.

[Warped_1]

Nice write-up.  The only one I would potentially toss is emergency takeoff.  The number of times in actively on fire without a repair available is a pretty low number.  Many more CV skills I would choose instead.

[Fuyukaze]

I'm going to have to disagree with Emergency Takeoff as it is highly situational and in most cases a carrier on fire is effectively a dead man because someone(i take the likelihood of pursuing DDs to be the highest) is and will be focusing on them till they're drinking rum with Davy Jones. 

[GhostSwordsman]

Fire Prevention pre-0.6.0 was one of the worst level 2 skills you could pick. The way WG calculates fire chance made is so it didn't give you a flat -7%(the old value) reduction to fire chance. In most cases, the fire chance came out to be less than a 2 or 3% reduction in total.

[atPrick__]

Priority target is great.

 

I get people think it's asinine and understand why but it just does soooo much. Easily worth a point and considering all of the other Lvl 1 skills suck it is easy to pick.

 

[LittleWhiteMouse]

You missed out on Inertia Fuse for High Explosive Shells.  Short of Priority Target, it's one of the biggest game changers.

[GoldPile]

No love for Adrenaline Rush? It's cheap & rewards you for taking damage while allowing you to pump out DPS in critical times when you need it. Also reduces the rage factor since I get something out of loosing HP.

 

Not only that but it affects torp reload speeds as well. Eventually WG says they're also adding this skill to secondaries. This one 2 point skill covers multiple modifications & skills all in 1 package simply by taking damage.

 

To put it in perspective for DDs it's basically rolling up torpedo armament expertise & BFT into 1 skill for 1 less point, the total is 4 less points if you count both of them.

[atPrick__]

No love for Adrenaline Rush? It's cheap & rewards you for taking damage while allowing you to pump out DPS in critical times when you need it. Also reduces the rage factor since I get something out of loosing HP.

 

Not only that but it affects torp reload speeds as well. Eventually WG says they're also adding this skill to secondaries. This one 2 point skill covers multiple modifications & skills all in 1 package simply by taking damage.

 

To put it in perspective for DDs it's basically rolling up torpedo armament expertise & BFT into 1 skill for 1 less point, the total is 4 less points if you count both of them.

 

plus in a couple weeks we are going to get video of a div of shimas shooting each other to get their reload times down to ridiculous levels

[Camo68]

Is this only for the new skills?  

If it is for all skills number 1 by a long way is Concealment expert. Mandatory on many ships!

[Pope_Shizzle]

I used PM on my GK.  I took off Main Battery Mod 1 in the first slot and instead used the mod that gave 100% health to AA and Secondary mounts.  It's a slight nerf to my main turret durability, but a massive buff to my secondary and AA survivability.  PM would only be useful on Bismarck, FDG and GK in terms of battleships.  I wouldn't use it on any of my cruisers.  I use it on all of my DD's.  Need to keep those turrets and torpedo tubes operational.

 

Radio finder is an almost useless skill considering the cost.  I don't have it on any of my ships and have yet to experience where an enemy having it affected my gameplay at all.

 

Fire prevention is awesome.  Use on all my BB's.  Limiting my superstructure to only 1 fire is a massive buff to my BB survivability and makes up for the survival skills I can't afford to take.

 

The CV takeoff skills are meh.

 

Priority Target is meh as well.  I use it on my cruisers because there isn't anything at tier 1 that is useful.

 

Based solely on your options, fire prevention is the best new skill, IMO.

[Raptor_alcor]

Is this only for the new skills?  

If it is for all skills number 1 by a long way is Concealment expert. Mandatory on many ships!

 

On many, but not all, I would never really use it on russian DDs, however priority target is amazing on litterally everything. I nearly got a kraken today purely because I knew it was safe to charge a trio of enemies who ignored me until the last moment. 

[centarina]

2 must abilities for my captain is  PT and AR.     I have them on basically every ship   (  AR  does come after EM on certain ships,  so depending on points on ships)

[Lochnivar]

Thank you everybody for your responses, I've enjoyed reading them and they have given me some new perspectives.

Inertial Fuses: I think the reason I didn't choose this one is that, frankly, I'm not sure how the HE mechanics work when it penetrates the armor.  I'll try to look at it again to make sure.

 

AR: I like the mechanics and a max 20% reduction in reload time is nice.  The problem that I have with it is how much use you are going to get out of it.  For DD, the skill is pretty much useless.  The HP pool is so low in the first place that getting into the higher percentage of reload benefit is dubious.  Add to that, the reload times for DDs are so low in the first place that even a 20% reduction isn't going to shave but a few tenths off.  In other words, if you're taking damage, you're taking hits that are blowing hundreds and thousands points, which on a DD represents a large percentage.  CV's aren't going to get much use out of it unless the crap really hits the fan.  Don't get me wrong, AR is a solid skill, it's just the utility that pushes it down on me.

CE: What gets me on CE is that it lies in the level that has so many good other options.  While not being seen is a great thing, I feel as though it encourages a style of play which depends on not being seen and shies away from using ships to the best of their ability.  I can certainly see where DDs and CVs get the most use out of it.  Their existence pretty much depends on not being seen.  For cruisers, it depends on the cruiser.  For BBs, I think either FP or Manual Secondaries are better choices.  However, that may just be my style of play.

 

Again, thanks to everybody for their input, I've enjoyed reading them.