Frontline Feedback Request

zhimbo2018, on Feb 14 2019 - 12:38, said: Am I enjoying Frontline?  In a word, no.   I'm a relatively new player, so did not play in the last year's Frontline mode.  I was looking forward to this year's based on the descriptions about last year's from my clan mates and comments here in the forums.  Clan mates said I could make lots of credits, grind tanks and crews up quicker and earn some "goodies" (credits, consumables, reserves, etc.) as well.  All in all a great mode and lots of fun.  My experience (so far) belies that.  It's been a disappointment, to say the least.  Definitely not fun.  And not a mode for new(er) players.   Take the credit earning.  It's been a bust for me.  I'm lucky if I clear 20K-30K after a battle.  I can do that well in a Random battle.  And in a lot less time.  Someone above said "if you're not making 300K" in a battle "you're doing something wrong".  Well then, I must be doing something wrong.  But what the hell that is I don't know.  And none of my clan mates have offered explicit advice on playing the mode.  Just platitudes and generalities.  It's frustrating.  Someone else above said there "should be a tutorial" on how to play this mode.  I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment.  At least from my viewpoint as an inexperienced player.  I find plenty of info describing the mode but a dearth of info on HOW TO PLAY this mode effectively.  Such as what tanks to use, overarching strategies for both offense and defense, where to go to best implement them and so forth.  Tactical elements transfer, but this mode is not the same as a Random battle.  If someone out there has usable advice or is willing to help I'd certainly welcome it.   I'm beginning to suspect that only a few Tier VIII tanks are suited for this mode and all the others are not.  If you don't have those tanks available (or know how to play them) then you're screwed.  I have just three VIII's at the moment: a Super Pershing (with my best (100% 3 skills) medium tank crew from my Tier IX M46 Patton), the regular Pershing (with a basic 75% crew) and my T28 Prototype (with a 100% 2 skills crew).  Only the Super P has been able to consistently earn credits for me.  I'm lucky if the Pershing and the Prototype break even.  So, whatever those "best" tanks are, I don't have them.  From what I've seen in the few battles I've tried it's some sort of autoloader or fast loading, high DPM tank with good mobility.   And the "special" rental tank (T-44 FL Soviet medium) that's offered if you don't have a Tier VIII ... OMG.  From my viewpoint I think this thing is set up by WG to be another "money grab".  You either drop some gold coins (which you have to buy with real money) to rent it for the duration with a 100% crew.  Or you do a credit rental.  Now you're down 240K.  And it's NOT a premium tank.  So you can't just drop your best Soviet medium tank crew in it.  Either run it with the 75% crew that comes with the credit rental version or retrain your "best" crew for the tank.  So, now more gold to keep your crew at 100% or take an XP hit with a credit (80K) retrain for the tank.  Eventually you'll have to re-retrain your crew, once FL ends, back to their original tank.  So, more gold or another credit/XP loss.  I went that route (credits) and this little niggle bit me in [edited].  My fault for not reading the fine print.  And to top it all off the damn tank performs worse than my other three Tier VIII's.  It has yet to make a profit any time I've run it in a Frontline battle.  You'd think WG would offer a tank that's competitive.  Three hits from an autoloader or one arty strike and the damn thing's blown up.  The whole deal has left me with a sour taste in my mouth.  And I notice all the other "rental" tanks are available only with gold being dropped.  Money grab, money grab.  Kudos to those of you with buckets of gold or deep enough pockets to buy gold to access those rentals.  I know I don't.   I'm getting tired.  And my wife's [edited]at me.  If you got this far, thanks for reading.