Opinions on the London?

[dechion]

I've read the post from WG, just curious if there are any out there that can give some comments on the London. I'm aware that it's not available quite yet, but there are testers out there that have played her.

Basically wondering if she will be worth the grind.

[Commander_367]

1 hour ago, dechion said:

I've read the post from WG, just curious if there are any out there that can give some comments on the London. I'm aware that it's not available quite yet, but there are testers out there that have played her.

Basically wondering if she will be worth the grind.

WG usually promotes reward ships in the premium store to make directive grinds easier … 

Generally, you have to wait for those guinea pigs to bite before finding out a ship is crap :)

 

 

Edit: Apparently, in the hands of flamu it can do wonders … paraphrasing what he says "in the hands of an inexperienced player, you're likely to explode" :)

Remember it's T6 after all so … Seal Clubbers Only?

[DrHolmes52]

5 minutes ago, dechion said:

 

Basically wondering if she will be worth the grind.

That greatly depends on the grind.

[warheart1992]

A heavy cruiser with it's own smoke in an environment where Radar isn't that prevalent overcomes quite a few shortcomings.

I foresee her being a Gudbote for a change.

[paradat]

Not sure if she has changed since this vid.

 

[BrushWolf]

Pretty much the only people that can talk about her at this time are the CC's.

[Ensign_Cthulhu]

21 minutes ago, DrHolmes52 said:

That greatly depends on the grind.

THIS.

We will find out, one way or the other, when the patch goes live tomorrow. 

This will be sometime after a dozen different people all come crowding onto the forums to complain that the game is unplayable because they did not read this:

...or this:

You can lead a horse to water, but... actually, no; sometimes you can't even do that.

[poeticmotion]

Near as I can tell, she's a Devonshire that gives up a little range and has a slightly slower reload time in exchange for smoke. Devonshire is amazing. Unless I missed some other major differences between Devonshire and London, I expect London to be even more amazing; the survivability buff of having smoke more than makes up for a minor nerf to range and reload (especially since Devonshire wants to be played up close...her gunnery at 14km is nothing to write home about, she's a mid-range fighter.) 

[HazeGrayUnderway]

London looks really good on many fronts.  She reminds me a lot of a better Aoba.

+ Both are close to each other in speed and agility.

+ Both have solid HE & Fire Chances, though Aoba is better in both regards.

+ Both are very stealthy Tier VI CAs.  At Stealth Build, both should come down to 10.53km surface detection.

+ Tier VI CA with good HE damage and Fire Chance.

+ + London has access to both Smoke and Repair Party, a powerful combination together for a Cruiser, especially below Tier IX, never mind Tier VI.  Smoke is even stronger this tier because Radar is a lot less prevalent compared to higher tiers.  The only Radar London will encounter are from VII Atlanta, Indianoplis (latter is rare), Belfast (uncommon), and the Tier VIII Radar Cruisers.  A significant chunk of London's MM bracket will not have Radar.

+/- Aoba shoots faster at 11 seconds for her 8" x6 guns.  London reloads slower at 15 seconds but has 8" x8 guns.

- Aoba has better torpedoes.

- Both Aoba and London have really lackluster gun ranges.  Aoba with 14.91km max gun range I felt was already in big trouble, and London has an even worse 13.4km range.

 

London has a lot of significant gimmicks for a Tier VI Cruiser in terms of survivability.  Great stealth, Repair Party, Smoke.  She looks really strong but her woeful gun range, with zero access to Spotter Plane, I guess is how WG intended to balance her.

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind having this CA.  If you know how to handle Cruisers with bad gun ranges, London has the toolkit for you (consumables and stealth) to let you do your thing.  I think she'd be very strong in Tier V-VII games, but her bad gun range can have issues for Tier VIII where Radar starts showing up as a standard feature and engagement ranges get longer.  In a Tier VIII game, you'd probably be better off with a Pensacola with her longer gun range than with London.

[KiyoSenkan]

56 minutes ago, dechion said:

I've read the post from WG, just curious if there are any out there that can give some comments on the London. I'm aware that it's not available quite yet, but there are testers out there that have played her.

Basically wondering if she will be worth the grind.

It isn't Russian, so it's going to be sub-par. That's been the pattern for the past 2 years or so.

[Helstrem]

2 minutes ago, KiyoSenkan said:

It isn't Russian, so it's going to be sub-par. That's been the pattern for the past 2 years or so.

This kind of hyperbole really doesn't do anybody any good.  There have been many good, non-Russian premiums over that time span.  The difference is that bad Russian premiums are very rare, not that good non-Russian premiums are uncommon.

[KiyoSenkan]

1 minute ago, Helstrem said:

This kind of hyperbole really doesn't do anybody any good.  There have been many good, non-Russian premiums over that time span.  The difference is that bad Russian premiums are very rare, not that good non-Russian premiums are uncommon.

The pattern isn't perfect, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[Admiral_Thrawn_1]

50 minutes ago, warheart1992 said:

A heavy cruiser with it's own smoke in an environment where Radar isn't that prevalent overcomes quite a few shortcomings.

I foresee her being a Gudbote for a change.

Depends on how bad the armor ends up being. Her offensive capabilities look nice enough as long as she does not eat too many citadels in the process. Also her mobility is good as well.

[Commander_367]

1 hour ago, warheart1992 said:

 … 

I foresee her being a Gudbote for a change.

That would be refreshing - a reward ship that people actually want to play :)

Remember, WG still has time to nerf it lol

[Aaron_S_Merrill]

11 minutes ago, KiyoSenkan said:

It isn't Russian, so it's going to be sub-par. That's been the pattern for the past 2 years or so.

Alaska, Jean Bart, Massachusetts, Georgia, Ohio, Thunderer, Bayard, Colbert..........yeah, not seeing the pattern.  That's just quickly off the top of my head.

[Admiral_Thrawn_1]

10 minutes ago, KiyoSenkan said:

It isn't Russian, so it's going to be sub-par. That's been the pattern for the past 2 years or so.

 

5 minutes ago, Helstrem said:

This kind of hyperbole really doesn't do anybody any good.  There have been many good, non-Russian premiums over that time span.  The difference is that bad Russian premiums are very rare, not that good non-Russian premiums are uncommon.

I agree there have been many very good non Russian Premiums within the last couple years.

Jean Bart

Yoshino

Thunderer

HSF Harekaze

Alaska

 Massachusetts 

Just to name a few quick examples and there are others as well.

[Sovereigndawg]

1 hour ago, dechion said:

I've read the post from WG, just curious if there are any out there that can give some comments on the London.

I can let you know tomorrow because getting the ship early is how I buy my doubloons, that is, if I don't decide to quit spending money on this game entirely.

[Leslie_Reigart]

simple, if the grind isn't bad she's well worth it because she's FREE. and the rewards from the grind can MAKE her worth it, especially if they allow you to progress something else in the process. if nothing else there should be utility as a RN captain's trainer. but it all comes down to the ship playstyle you enjoy.

[Commander_367]

15 minutes ago, Leslie_Reigart said:

simple, if the grind isn't bad she's well worth it because she's FREE. and the rewards from the grind can MAKE her worth it, especially if they allow you to progress something else in the process. if nothing else there should be utility as a RN captain's trainer. but it all comes down to the ship playstyle you enjoy.

I was looking forward to skipping this event, especially after the previous month of earning tokens for zero early access … 

 

If the grind is no big deal, then another T6 for your port is hardly a bad thing as you say :)

If they make the grind difficult to promote selling it in the premium store - that's a hard pass in my view