Should start by saying the "600" hours logged here is FAR FROM how many hours I have invested in this game. I would assume my actual play time is somewhere between 2,000-3,000 hours in total (Maybe even way more. I could be so far off on this number). I've basically unlocked the majority of T10 ships as well as a good number of freemiums and hell, I've even spent money on the game (though my wallet regrets that.)

So where do I start with this one.

World of Warships is a game that I think everyone who plays it REALLY wants to love. Let's face it, you are in control of big boats and shooting big guns at other ships. It's a blast and mechanically the game is MOSTLY (Important here) sound. So we'll go through a quick pros and cons.

Pros:
- Art Department. I can't stress this enough. If there is one division of WG that has their stuff together it's these guys. The game looks great and the ships are AWESOME.
- The core gameplay itself. (Assuming you have a team that works together it can be pretty rewarding to set up crossfires, angle your ship correctly, have great brawling drive-bys in battleships. It's a blast when it works.)
- It's not a hard game to pick up and learn the basics. (More to note here)

Cons:
- On the note of it being a easy game to learn the basics. It's a difficult game to master. This results in some VERY poor play at higher tiers where people pay their way to get there.
- Meta shifts. Currently the game is going through a frustrating shift where stagnant gameplay/static gameplay is becoming more commonplace. HE (High-explosive) shell spam, CV (Carriers), and the upcoming submarines all limit the ability to utilize tactics and work correctly as a team. These three things really damage the core "tactical" gameplay that makes the game great.
- Balancing. Holy hell... You can look this up on the forums and see how brutal this really is. It's a lot to go over and I'm not going to fill this review with it. The balancing is bad and is only set to get worse. (Tip: Look up Carrier Rework, Smolensk, Colbert, Russian Battleships, Russian Heavy Cruisers, Stalingrad, SAP...) Yeah, there is a lot here. Some has been somewhat fixed but a lot is still problematic and this is parasitic mess that isn't being solved faster than it's being expanded.
- Cash Shop. Yeah. "Free to play game." But not really. If you play this game without spending money you are in for the grind of your life. It'll be frustrating and at higher tiers you won't break even on credit loss as high-tier ships cost more. Everything costs money - not just a little bit either... Premium time, Ships, Converting XP, Buying Doubloons, Buying Credits, yadayadayada. There is a lot of monetization in this game and it's REALLY important for people to be aware of this before jumping in.
- Probably the BIGGEST con of this game is Wargamings disconnect from the playerbase. This game could be great if WG would sit down and listen to some of the playerbase and actually consider their opinion. Recently they had a QNA on their discord which ended up being more of a "Ask us questions so we can tell you to piss off." This, unfortunately, sums up most of the interaction with WG and their staff. It's a dodgy company with horrible public relations.
- A lot of fantasy ships. Some of which aren't what really need to be added to the game. This goes back to balancing and WG's disconnect. (Looking at you USN Split BB's and Smolensk. WG just doesn't want to listen.)
- Competitive is absolutely dead and the rewards aren't worth the pain of taking part.
- EDIT (Dec 5th 2020) Figured I should add this to the CONS since it's a pretty big deal! Basically this years Christmas Containers (And 2018/2019) have a shortlist of ships you will ALWAYS get. Problem is, WG advertises it as if you can get ANY of the 107 premiums when in actuality you can only get a handful of ships. I'm not going to explain this in detail, instead I insist you go to the forum post below and look this up. It's VERY scummy since this actually takes advantage of people's wallet WHILE being COMPLETE false advertisement.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WorldOfWarships/comments/k6ivy5/how_wg_chooses_your_santa_gift_ship_and_why_you

And below one of WoWS larger Community Contributors testing this himself and basically proving it in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hyuejlhsts


I'm sure I could add a lot more to these lists. Especially on the cons side. But ultimately what is pushing me from the game is just how disconnected Wargaming is and that's really the core of all the things listed in the CONS. This game could be fantastic and I REALLY want it to be fantastic, but I just don't see that happening with WG at the helm.

I have a hard time recommending this game in the current state. If this was three years ago it would be a different story. It's just gone so downhill and the quality of the gameplay has grown really stale.