New Orleans - Future Buffs / Nerfs planned?

[Herr_Reitz]

I've had her sitting in port for weeks on end; sold some of her modules off to raise coins for other ships. Well, I stepped back on her deck, refitted/equipped her so she's better than before and working on the grind to her B hull. 

 

I did a reasonable search on her as I'm curious about the lack of torpedoes on the NO. Didn't find the results. I'm curious if anyone knows if she and the Baltimore on a future schedule to be buffed. Heaven forbid they nerf them. 

 

All this to ultimately reach the Des Moines, right? Which really makes me ask another question:

 

Does the good times stop at Cleveland when it comes to the USN cruiser line? 

[Raven114]

All the ships in this game play differently and that is great part of this game. As each class of ship is built the designers focus of different objectives in the construction and what they want that ship to excel at. WG tries to stay close to those spec's. That's why they slow the EXP points so you can learn what each ship does.

[LubzinNJ]

I've had her sitting in port for weeks on end; sold some of her modules off to raise coins for other ships. Well, I stepped back on her deck, refitted/equipped her so she's better than before and working on the grind to her B hull. 

 

I did a reasonable search on her as I'm curious about the lack of torpedoes on the NO. Didn't find the results. I'm curious if anyone knows if she and the Baltimore on a future schedule to be buffed. Heaven forbid they nerf them. 

 

All this to ultimately reach the Des Moines, right? Which really makes me ask another question:

 

Does the good times stop at Cleveland when it comes to the USN cruiser line? 

 

The US did not feel that having torpedoes on their cruisers was worthwhile because of the risk of them detonating in battle, hence the no torpedoes. And the line does kind of underperform compared to its contemporaries on other nations tech trees but the ships aren't total garbage, I actually enjoyed the Pensi/NO grinds and had some really great battles in them.

[alexf24]

I doubt it will receive any attention soon.

I gave up on the line. After sitting in port unused for a long time, I needed money for my new Gearing, so NOLA was sold. Not interested in Baltimore and my T10 DD of choice, which I am aiming to get someday is Zao anyway.

[Aeries1]

I stopped at Cleveland and is the only USN cruiser even in my port and it very rarely gets played.  IMO the entire line is severely handicapped and not even worth it (plenty of threads on why).  Have ground up all 3 of the other cruisers line with Hipper (soon to be Roon......maybe), Myoko (almost to Mogami), and Buddy in port.  All 3 lines offer different experiences and can be competitive and successful in each if played and outfitted correctly.  Plus statistics don't lie. 

 

Win Rate and Damage rank per Tier out of total ships

 

Cleveland - 4/5 and 5/5

Pensacola - 7/7 and 6/7

New Orleans - 6/6 and 6/6 (with a pitiful 29782 average damage over last 2 weeks)

Baltimore - 4/4 and 4/4 (with a whopping 31.5k average damage, 14k behind 3rd place, so sad)

Des Moines - 3/4 and 4/4 (with those fast autoloaders finally able to give a US cruiser >50% WR since Cleveland)

 

Bottom line the entire line mid tier and up is always outclassed.  It's final saving grace is the Des Moines, but that is a MASSIVE amount of grinding to finally get a ship that is still performing mediocre and getting stomped by Zao's and Moskva's. 

 

So many more enjoyable ships and lines to play, not wasting my time.  Good luck to you if you do.

[1Sherman]

 

 

Does the good times stop at Cleveland when it comes to the USN cruiser line? 

 

Nope. The Pensacola, in my experience, is a great ship. Good speed, good maneuverability, very good guns. So far as I know, the NO is similar, but with Radar. However, the good times stop with the Baltimore because her and the Des Moines have the same diseased shell speed that the Cleveland has.

[MeekANTIFUN]

I've had her sitting in port for weeks on end; sold some of her modules off to raise coins for other ships. Well, I stepped back on her deck, refitted/equipped her so she's better than before and working on the grind to her B hull. 

 

I did a reasonable search on her as I'm curious about the lack of torpedoes on the NO. Didn't find the results. I'm curious if anyone knows if she and the Baltimore on a future schedule to be buffed. Heaven forbid they nerf them. 

 

All this to ultimately reach the Des Moines, right? Which really makes me ask another question:

 

Does the good times stop at Cleveland when it comes to the USN cruiser line?

The Pensacola is a really good ship as long as you know how to treat her large citadel. The American designers decided to go for AA and arterially over torpedoes because most cruisers wouldn't get close enough to use their torps. 

The NO is still a good ship. One of the best T8s with high quality amour and 8-in guns that can pen any T9 and below ship. However similar to the Pensa, many ships can pen her armour and smack her citadel hard. Best advice: turn your bow to the enemies, slow down, and fire.

[Dr_Richtofen]

I find the USN line to be rather jack of all trades like after the Cleveland and not in the good way really. That's the issue is they are good overall to sorta fill gaps but are not going to excel in any real way. The strong point for them used to be good AA and that while technically hasn't changed it has become more irrelevant with the lower numbers of carriers.

 

The issue of the line existed before the problems that exist with the carriers but it has been made worse by the fact of it. I found that before I could always escort a BB or protect my own carrier if I didn't not see a good place to go otherwise in my US CA's but now not so much.

[_Rumple_]

One very noticeable thing about playing US CA's: you get focused on! People will stop shooting at closer targets cause, oh look, it's a squishy Pensacola or New Orleans. And no, I am not making this up; play german and IJN cruisers also( Roon and Ibuki).

[HazeGrayUnderway]

Implement Torpedo Tube Detonations and you'll suddenly find some value in those torpedo-less USN Cruisers.  Until then, they are ships fighting with 1 hand tied behind their back compared to other Cruisers.

[jabberwalkie09]

 

Nope. The Pensacola, in my experience, is a great ship. Good speed, good maneuverability, very good guns. So far as I know, the NO is similar, but with Radar. However, the good times stop with the Baltimore because her and the Des Moines have the same diseased shell speed that the Cleveland has.

 

I find that the Pensacola requires a different playstyle from the rest of the USN CA line, but that just might be me. I'd liken it to being similar to the Yorck actually, in that to survive longer periods in a match you have to keep maneuvering and fire at range. I haven't gotten to the tier 8's for the Soviet or IJN line though. I agree that the Baltimore is where any enjoyment stops for the USN CA line, and playing it becomes more of a chore than anything. Once I hit the Baltimore I crashed through the KM line, which was far more enjoyable to play IMO. And I think the Hindenburg is pretty darn competitive, even in my hands for the odd game that I don't get whacked by a Yamato, Iowa, or Montana.

I did a reasonable search on her as I'm curious about the lack of torpedoes on the NO. Didn't find the results. I'm curious if anyone knows if she and the Baltimore on a future schedule to be buffed. Heaven forbid they nerf them. 

As mentioned previously, USN cruisers did not have torpedoes. I am not aware of any plans to buff any of the USN ships at this current time, as they have said they plan to do more adjustments after all the lines are in the game. Perhaps not until the USN cruiser is split into CA's and CL's. I'm doubting we'll get an armor buff when it comes, but I'm hoping that the USN CA's are buffed to receive the best dispersion amongst the the cruisers in the game since they have no torpedoes. Among the tier 8 ships, it has the lowest rate of fire and second best dispersion at 134 vs the Mogami's 131 (per the wiki). The NO also has the highest reload time as well.

 

Can't really see how they would nerf them, unless they just wanted to entirely kill the line. It's already some of the worst performing ships from tier 7 on.

 

Outside of the Cleveland, I've kept only the NO. I find those to be my two best ships in the USN CA line.

[Herr_Reitz]

Hmm... see that's the thing then isn't it... you have so much time to play, what do you play, what line do you pursue? I've got a Fletcher (B hull, Torps) grinding to get the updated gun system (28K xp - halfway there) which I may skip and just grind to the Gearing.

 

I have a Fubuki which I'm enjoying (she's like an amped Kami R) which is a third of the way towards the Kagero. Add to those an Aoba and Amagi and I'm wondering why I am grinding the NO towards the Baltimore. I'm not sure there's a point to grinding her then, generally, if I'm reading you guys correctly. 

 

Maybe, maybe next time the USN Colorado goes on sale, I buy her back and grind up the US BB line? Would that be a better choice? 

[Roadrider7021]

Hmm... see that's the thing then isn't it... you have so much time to play, what do you play, what line do you pursue? I've got a Fletcher (B hull, Torps) grinding to get the updated gun system (28K xp - halfway there) which I may skip and just grind to the Gearing.

 

I have a Fubuki which I'm enjoying (she's like an amped Kami R) which is a third of the way towards the Kagero. Add to those an Aoba and Amagi and I'm wondering why I am grinding the NO towards the Baltimore. I'm not sure there's a point to grinding her then, generally, if I'm reading you guys correctly.

 

Maybe, maybe next time the USN Colorado goes on sale, I buy her back and grind up the US BB line? Would that be a better choice?

 

    Got the DM. Didn't enjoy the Pensy, 53% w/r. Liked the NO but did sub 50%; bought her back and am doing better, I think I'm learning how to play her (using Propulsion). Baltimore. Wanted to like her, like 49% in 109 matches. It was a long grind tbh, but 90 games in I swapped the ROF module out for range and with my 9.6 conceal (I think that's right) I started to enjoy the ship ALOT more because well, I can hit stuff with USN 8"/55 over 16k and used DE as well due to lack of CV's.  Des Moines with Range Mod, what can I say? I love the Hipper and Roon, got the Hindy and sold it after 15 or so matches cuz well... the Des Moines is that much fun, the Hindenburg was sitting and I was itching to go up the IJN BB line. It's competitive for me at 58%, 83 k damage. Who cares, it's awesome and it's fun!

[sargentmki]

Pensacola is one of the better performing USN Cruisers. 

 

New Orleans is basically the same ship with a little more armor, pretty much the same guns and better camo.

 

Baltimore is STILL the same ship, but bigger, slower, a little more armor, perks, with worse range, and same guns.....

 

The Des Moinse I heard is amazing, but the Grind past the Pensacola is basically having the same ship.

 

[jabberwalkie09]

DM is a really probably one of the best CA's if you have a pretty aggressive playstyle since it's a cruiser that rewards brawling because the ship is just that good against other cruisers and has pretty good armor. You'll likely end up getting focused on if you get too far ahead of your team. I haven't played the DM on the live server, but I've played it a few times in the public tests. I think it's a good ship, but I'm not in any rush to get it. IMO the Baltimore really needs the range mod to offset it's rate of fire vs the range it encounters of her opponents.

 

Hindy is a a lot like the Hipper, but with the benefit of more guns. I threw the range mod on it and it will shoot 20km, and I can hit stuff pretty well with it over range. Only BB I have trouble with at range is the Tirpitz. For some reason, when it's broadside I just can't seem to find the sweet spot. Hindy has some great arcs like the rest of the KM line, save for the Yorck.

 

I'm playing through the IJN line right now, but everything I've seen of the Zao makes me want to suffer through it. I've enjoyed the Myoko a lot though.

 

Personally, I'd play the Roon all day over the Baltimore. It just fits me better.

[Herr_Reitz]

See I stopped my climb up the German cruiser line at the Konigsberg... I adore her. The Nurn seemed it would be meh, not so hot... which reminds me I do eventually  have to go up that line.

 

Right now though, I'm thinking in a week or two, the seas will be filled with German BBs... I'll probably stop everything and hit that line. 

 

But I am conflicted in a way over the USN ships. The Gearing will be mine one day. I have to get back into the USN BB line and grind out of the Colorado. Better things lie above her. I want to get to the DM but man... the grinds are getting old... I don't know about you guys, but there's only so much time available for grinding ships, you know? 

 

Making choices - that's what WoWs is all about - choices. 

[Roadrider7021]

See I stopped my climb up the German cruiser line at the Konigsberg... I adore her. The Nurn seemed it would be meh, not so hot... which reminds me I do eventually  have to go up that line.

 

Right now though, I'm thinking in a week or two, the seas will be filled with German BBs... I'll probably stop everything and hit that line.

 

But I am conflicted in a way over the USN ships. The Gearing will be mine one day. I have to get back into the USN BB line and grind out of the Colorado. Better things lie above her. I want to get to the DM but man... the grinds are getting old... I don't know about you guys, but there's only so much time available for grinding ships, you know?

 

Making choices - that's what WoWs is all about - choices.

 

     True, and you've got to make yours. Good news, there are few bad choices in this game so you're going to have fun, your way. For me, the Des Moines turned out to be worth it, no ship except maybe the Fletcher suits me like her. When I'm done screwing around with other lines, I'm going to turn her completely loose on Tier 10 and leave a burning path of destruction in her wake.

[TenguBlade]

New Orleans is still fun because her 25mm bow armor is a middle finger to 14" shells.  Against lower-tier ships she is great, the power gap between T8 and T10 (most of it in the 9-10 transition) really hurts her though, even more so than the other CAs because they at least have torpedoes to make the most of a bad situation.  I personally don't think she needs a buff, because she would stomp the T6 and T7 CAs and DDs.  No, what needs to happen is that Russian cruisers get re-evaluated first.  Being gunboats with AA like the USN while having superior ballistics and range just kills the latter's purpose.  Sure Russian AA isn't as great as the USN's but it's not too far behind to make it a distinct disadvantage, and they out-range the USN across the board after T4 while having flatter arcs, faster velocity, and retaining enough maneuverability to still dodge as well as any other CA at their effective standoff range.

 

Personally, I run escort build: Concealment Expert + Radar + DF makes you an excellent DD hunter (with concealment just outside your radar range), fire support ship (ducking back into invisibility almost at will as long as you're not out front), and AA escort (American AA, enough said) for battleships.  With the increasing willingness to use team play at high-tiers, I'm actually having quite a bit of fun with it.  I just wish I wouldn't occasionally lose situational awareness and not see my BBs pull back.

Baltimore, from my experiences playing against them, is a bit harder to kill now that her armor model is improved, but still sucks because her guns just can't keep up even with ahistorically-buffed reload and traverse.  I'm more scared of a New Orleans than them when playing any ship, except maybe my Hiryu before this last patch.

[TacoSallust]

Took me awhile to enjoy Pensa but in final form she's a fun ship. I really do not like the NO and I'm hoping Baltimore (which I will finally be buying tonight) will be a little better. I miss torpedoes compared to the other heavy cruiser lines, but I also feel like US cruisers just aren't as tough as the Japanese or German cruisers. 

[Herr_Reitz]

Thanks to EVERYONE for their input and guidance. I pondered about her a bit... and today sold her off to a developing nation who promises I can buy her back in the future should I decide to finish out the American cruiser line. I trust them. 

 

Pulled Amagi out and learing her ways again... and finding she's a trooper. Going to keep what i got otherwise and wait for the German BB line release. 

 

Again, thanks everyone!