Frontline 2023: Episode 2 is over!

It's been a busy week on World of Tanks, Frontline was back for Episode 2 of 2023. Starting on August 25th and ending on September 4th.

This was the most fun I've ever had playing Frontline and I certainly did the best I've ever done. I was consistently getting either Lieutenant, Major or General rank wheras in previous Frontlines, I'd maybe be good enough to get Lieutenant and possibly even major if I was really lucky. I'm super happy that my play actually contributes to the overall team and I don't feel like I'm just a spare part. This was also the first Frontline I've finished all 20 stages on:

I think the rewards are OK, the crew book is definitely worth it and of course I'll always welcome bonds. I think it would be cool if completing stage 20 gave you a Tier VIII premium tank or maybe a style or something though.

This Frontline introduced the "Twist of Fate" mechanic. Previously, you'd select your combat reserves ahead of going into a game. With Twist of Fate, whilst you can still assign reserves in slots on tanks, this doesn't guarantee they'll show up in the game, in fact, it only gives an extra 10% chance of them appearing. Each time you level up (up to Lieutenant), you'll be given a choice of 2 reserves, and it's up to you to decide which one would be more beneficial. You could, for example, have to make the choice between an Airstrike and Mines. By placing Mines in a slot in the garage, there's a 10% bigger chance of that appearing.

At first, I wasn't a fan of this new mechanic. I preferred selecting everything ahead of the game. However, about half way through I actually really started to like it, because it made each game different. Instead of using the same reserves each game, I had to adapt my play to whatever was dealt to me, sometimes I'd be really lucky with my selections whereas other times, not so much. Overall, I think this is a great addition.

I'd like to see some changes in the next Frontline though:

• Make it impossible to have the same mode on the same map, twice in a row. I don't want to play defence on the same map twice in a row because that's 40 minutes of gameplay in pretty much the same game. I could understand if it was the same map and you alternated between attack and defense, that wouldn't be so bad.
• The Fata Morgana map that was added earlier this year I feel needs some tweaking. In several games on that map, I felt like I ran out of stuff to shoot at quite frequently and would then have to spend 4-5 minutes just driving around. The other 2 maps seemed to be a lot more engaging.

Going into this Frontline, my sole intention was credit boosting. With the anniversary event over, I spent around 25,000,000 credits buying tanks whilst they were on offer and I also went on a pretty big consumable sale whilst they were half price. This put my total credits down to about 7,000,000, which didn't sit right with me.

My method was pretty simple, I only played Tier VIII premium vehicles and always ran a credit boost, I have hundreds of them just sat there and this was the perfect opportunity. Doing this, I was getting 300 - 500k per game, this was one of my best games:

My top 4 most played tanks in Frontline were:

• T-832 USA Heavy Tank
• TS-54 USA Heavy Tank
• 56TP Polish Heavy Tank
• 50TP Prototyp Polish Heavy Tank

I also jumped in the Chinese 122 TM Medium Tank if I was having a particularly bad game and was waiting for my 4 main tanks to repair.

So how much did I make in total? Well, I kept track! These numbers are approximates as I didn't really subtract my games from the random queue, but I spent the majority of the week in Frontline so there wasn't that much random queue gaming anyway.

• Started Frontline on 7,000,000 credits
• Boosted a further 8,750,000 credits, taking me up to 15,750,000
• My credit reserve of 750,000 credits was opened, taking me up to 16,500,000 credits. Frontline adds so much to your credit reserve!
• I then decided to buy what I was actually saving for and purchase the Obj. 430U for 6,200,000 credits. I also spent around 100,000 on ammo. This took me back down to 10,200,000 credits.
• I then boosted another 6,200,000 credits which took my end total to a nice 16,400,000. I also have another 750,000 in my credit reserve, again, thanks to Frontline, so that'll bring my total up to 17,150,000.

Honestly, frontline is insane if you're wanting to boost your credits. 20 minutes work for 300k - 500k? Yes please! Frontline also filled up my gold reserve twice (although 500 of it is still locked in the reserve), so I put the 1000 gold into unlocking the tier 4 progressive level for the Reapers Scythe style for the Obj. 430U:

So am I glad Frontline is over? Absolutely. It's only ever on for one week, but it's a pretty intense week. Luckily the Monday was a bank holiday here in the UK so I was able to use that day to really grind through the stages.

I'll definitely be playing it again for Episode 3 but now, my focus is on Tier X for the next Onslaught and Battlepass XII, both starting on September 6th 😰