class="MsoNoSpacing"> alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/252652">

One
advantage of being press is that you are occasionally
given a press account to test out a particular title. These accounts
are
normally loaded with gear or unlocks to allow you to hop into the
end-game
content instantly. That’s great and all (and truth be told,
has been useful on
more than one occasion), but that doesn’t do any good when
you want to tell
folks how they can proceed through the tech trees of World of Warplanes
quickly.

 

Since
World of Warplanes is a free to play game with the
option to unlock later tier planes and upgrades with cash, I felt it
was
important to see how your average Joe would progress from the beginning
earning
experience and cash on their own. On that note, that’s
exactly what I did. I’ve
checked out the later stages of the air to air combat with some top
tier
aircraft, but I also started a personal account to see how the
progression
system really works.

 

One
of my biggest concerns before I started was that it
would take an inordinate amount of time to progress past anything but
the first
tier in a reasonable amount of time, thus making it style="">possible
to progress through the game without spending any money,
but being such a snail’s paced grind as to make it not worth
the effort.
Fortunately for everyone, I’m happy to report that
isn’t the case. It’s true
you can spend real world money to unlock some elite aircraft in higher
tiers,
or to get your pilot trained up quicker, and that doing so will
certainly speed
the process up, but you’re not going to be horribly
handicapped if you don’t.

 

class="MsoNoSpacing">

alt="" src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253005">

When
you start the game you’ll go through some quick and
well informed training missions ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/world-of-warplanes/open-beta">see
here for
more about them). All three
missions take about 20 minutes combined. If
you’re really not familiar with air to air combat, then you
may find yourself
taking longer, especially in the AI team versus AI team training match,
but keep
trying and you’ll get the hang of it. Don’t be in a
rush to get through it
either because if you have a hard time with that mission,
you’re not going to
stand a chance in the player versus player battles. These missions are
all
repeatable so if you want to brush up on some tactics any time later,
feel free
to do so.

 

Within
the first two hours of playing matches (each match
has a 15 minute timer but tends to only last about 5-10 minutes), I had
unlocked and purchased my tier 2 plane, unlocked and purchased every
single
upgrade for it in the tech tree, and unlocked my tier three plane. It
took
about another 30 minutes of matches to get the cash to purchase that
one. This
was a far cry from the pace of progression I was expecting to see
within the
game.

 

Getting
a tier 3 plane may not sound like much, but
there’s something you need to keep in mind as you work toward
progressing
through each tier – if you’re a fan of air to air
combat in any way, the
matches are a blast to play through. Even if you yourself get blown out
of the
sky quickly, or do a sideway somersault across the ocean after the tip
of your
wing dipped into the water (ALLEGEDLY!), there’s a great
spectator mode.

 

class="MsoNoSpacing">

style="width: 640px; height: 400px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253006">

The
spectator mode of World of Warplanes is awesome. When
you’re in this mode, you can use the mouse to spin the camera
around so you not
only get some great views, but you can also use it to watch how better
players
get position on other aircraft. If you play long enough,
you’ll see some truly
spectacular flying. You’ll also see a number of techniques
the tutorials don’t
show you. I witnessed a beautiful sideways sliding stall maneuver a
member of
the opposition used on a teammate to get position and a kill shot. It
was
definitely impressive. There are some very, very good players out there
and if
you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll see some pretty
spectacular stunts pulled.

 

Use
these times of observation to learn from others. It
can prove to be invaluable later on. It will also help you progress
quicker
through the tier unlocks. Since you’ll gain experience and
cash whether your
side wins or loses, you should play as many live matches as
you’re comfortable
with. There is a training section that allows you to practice on your
own or
with a team, but unless you have a team, it’s going to be
better to just play
in the live matches. Practice is great, but only up to a point because
the AI
systems will never be able to give you the unpredictability of a live
opponent.
If you want to gain experience quickly, get out there and play.

 

class="MsoNoSpacing">

style="width: 640px; height: 400px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253007">

Before
I abandon you for the moment so I can head out and
get in some more matches myself, here are a couple of tips the game
won’t give
you. The first is being aware of the ground anti-aircraft guns. It
seems like
nearly every team I’m on, we chase our opponents to their
side of the map and
half our players are lost to anti-aircraft ground fire. Instead of
rushing
headlong to face your enemy on their turf, let them come to you so
they’re the
ones getting chewed up by anti-aircraft weaponry instead of you.

 

Second,
and even more importantly – use the terrain! The
game will give you numerous warnings about being too low, but guess
what? Being
low to the ground and flying in between cliff sides of a river can save
your
life. If you’ve got someone on your tail, either pour on the
power and whip
through those valleys, or get some altitude quickly. Flying along the
terrain
will help protect you from anti-aircraft fire (until you get too close
to
them), but in the first few tiers, it can also mean destruction for
some new
players as they’re not used to the controls or flying in
tight quarters.

 

That’s
it for now, but if you’re playing the
game, pipe up with some of your favorite tactics or maneuvers in the
comments
below!