World of Tanks (formerly World of Tanks) is a session-based arcade tank battle simulator with RPG elements. It includes many classic MMORPG elements, such as clans, classes, leveling up, forums filled with "why are you nerfing" and discussions about which class and specific tanks are true imbalances.
There are no quests or an open world. The gameplay consists of choosing a tank from those currently available (researched, purchased, not in battle, refueled and repaired, and those not yet on the list of "Why did I get behind the wheel of this vacuum cleaner!?"), entering a battle, and trying to bring the KD ratio to above 1.
Since death in battle is permanent and respawning only occurs after returning to the garage, not everyone succeeds, so each class has its justification for why it failed. Light tanks, the fastest and most unprotected class, have it the easiest – no one expects miracles from them, not even teammates, so the cry "I spot!" and an LT charging straight into enemy territory at the start of battle elicits nothing but shrugs. Just as their posthumous cries 30-40 seconds later, "I spotted everyone, why didn’t you shoot?" At this moment, it’s time for the self-justification of artillery units, the "arty", the longest-range class. They—the ones who didn't have time to load, couldn't aim, weren't reaching the cover, and were otherwise busy waiting for an attack from enemy medium tanks on their vulnerable bodies.
Medium tanks represent a compromise between speed, armament, and armor. Their job in battle is flanking maneuvers and striking from the rear, which is exactly what they do. Usually on that side where a friendly group of heavy tanks awaits, turning a collective dash of a "wolf pack" (an official term!) into a picture of "A shell hit the tank."
Heavy tanks, boasting the biggest guns and thickest armor, generally have it hard. They are universally recognized as the main strike force, and their frustrated screams, "By the time we crawled up, you all already died!" concern no one. Meanwhile, tank destroyers, with excellent guns and no decent armor, make no excuses – their opinion doesn’t matter to anyone. They sit in the bushes quietly stealing kills until enemies notice them.
With the introduction of clans and clan wars into the game, a world map was also added. Now, beyond the opportunities to sabotage neighbors in battle, there’s a chance to do so at other times – diplomacy! The most successful clans in this activity are rewarded with posts on the forums with titles like "XXX – scoundrels who set us up." The RPG component of the game consists of the crew – not just two, three, four, or eight little figures on the screen but also valuable experience. Initially, it’s experience in the main skill, which allows your tank to move faster, turn sharper, shoot more frequently, and hit more accurately. A tank with a starting crew and a tank with a fully trained crew differ drastically in effectiveness.
Additional specialties can further increase this effectiveness, making the tank less noticeable (camouflage), fixing broken parts faster (repair), extinguishing fires more quickly (firefighting), and so on.