THE GRIND- MWO vs WoT

I've been playing some MWO (Mech Warrior Online) as of late and I enjoy it quite a bit. To be brief you hop in giant bi-pedal robots armed with various assortments of lasers, cannons and missiles (also some machine guns if you like the sound of being useless) and fight other bi-pedal robots of similar flavors. If your computer can handle it it's a very fun time to be had. It can be a bit grindy and it is in many ways similar to WoT (World of tanks) in some respects and I wanna detail those differences and explore the "grind" of these games.

On the Mech side

The main issue when comparing the grind between MWO and WoT is the tech tree. Specifically MWO does not currently have one for mechs that would be comparable to WoT. The grind in Mechwarrior is currently based on pilot skills and a few module skills along with the necessity of "c-bills" to purchase mechs among other mech related goods. Not counting premium Mechs and counting mech series as individual mechs there are currently 50 mechs available to purchase. All the player needs to do to acquire the mech is amass the appropriate amount of c-bills to buy it. If this process is taking too long you can purchase a premium account or mechs that have increased c-bill and experience income with the real world purchase of MC- MWO's premium currency.

C-bills

a look at the Mech garage in MWO

In my experience a player can net between 50k and 80k c-bills on a well fought match that is a victory. Unlike World of tanks repairing your mech and replenishing ammo does not cost c-bills. This may change in the future as the game is still in open beta but I doubt it since the player base seems to have found it balanced. As of right now there are no tiers of mechs. The developers for MWO argue that every mech should be capable of taking down another or preforming well in the role their mech excels at. From what I've seen in game there a lot of mechs that are ignored or openly badmouthed for their supposed lack of capability. Personally I've yet to walk in every mech's shoes so I can't go into detail for every mech but the consensus I've taken from the community is that some mechs are simply better than others.



On the tank side

In WoT there are currently 6 nations; America, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. In a single tech tree a nation can sport around 50 tanks itself (not including premium tanks). In all you're looking at well over 200 or so tanks to choose from and several premium vehicles that can also be purchased with gold, the premium currency in WoT. This comparison of content is a bit biased as WoT was released in America around 2010 and Mechwarrior Online just got out of the starting gate here in 2012 with its open beta. Adding to the issue of several intricate and complicated tech trees WoT also charges their players for repairing and resupplying their ammunition for their tank(s). The argument for this mechanic is to ensure players think clearly, don't drive out in the open and die quickly only to receive a large repair bill or fire blindly without regard to where their rounds are going. The resupplying and repair bills add to the grind and ensure that players spend a long time getting to know their tank and either come to love or hate it before advancing further into their respective tech tree choice. To do this they need to have the next tank in their tree researched and have the silver(in game currency) available to purchase it.

Advancing with tanks

The American tech tree for World of tanks.

A premium account for WoT can be purchased for a price that's comparable to MWO for an increased silver and experience gain. Silver income from matches varies wildly depending on what tier of tank you're playing with, how well you do in the match and what tank you're driving. There are 10 tiers for tanks in a tech tree. Every step further costs marginally more experience and credits to advance. Subsequently the silver payout at later tiers (typically 8-10) is poor unless you do exceptionally well during battle. This prohibitive cost for playing at higher tiers will typically limit how much time can be spent playing them and force those without a premium account to play a lowered tiered tank with a comparably higher silver income rate. Unlike MWO each tank in WoT has its own crew. They gain experience in each battle and can be trained using silver to 75% efficiency or trained to a higher quality of 100% with gold. Past their training threshold of 100% they can also gain a variety of unique skills. Advancement at this level is very slow and cannot be sped up by any means save community events here and there. Players can pay to have their crew skills reset using in silver and taking small percentage loss of their gained exp thus far for that crew member or by using gold to not lose any progress.

Which grind is worse?

Both games offer a free exp system wherein a portion of your battle experienced is funneled into an amount that an be used across the board for unlocking various things. Both games offer an exp conversion system wherein you can convert exp for specific tanks or mechs and allocate it to any other area of research you desire. As for getting to the end game content WoT offers the least appeasing option as getting one tier 10 can be a chore even with a premium account. MWO is at the moment more approachable for late game play but only just as the it lacks the depth and complexity WoT has simply because it hasn't been out long enough to flush out all of its possible battle mechanics. This issue will come to be resolved as it moves out of open beta and more content is added most likely. While some will argue MWO is less grindy than WoT I would argue the grind too similar to split hairs over. In either case to do well in both games and advance yourself as far as you can a long time must be devoted to learning the mechanics of the game and outfitting yourself with the best tanks/mechs you can muster.

Personally, I enjoy both games but at the moment I've given tanks a rest because I've been playing it almost non stop since I got it.