Is tier 8 a dead tier

Draschel: I was like that, before. When I started. Hundreds, thousands of games into a collection of free, tier 4-6 grinders.  T150, KV1, Jag pz, VK3601, SU100, Matilda. My first lines were object 268, Fochs 155, E50M, JP E100, Conquer GC. I'd do the daily double in each of the lines, and appropriately play 10-12 support battles in the crappy credit gatherers to provide for the progress. I'd be lucky if I even managed 25,000 credit progress a night. BUT, luckily seldom did I lose credits. How the things were different back then, where 5 million credits meant the world to me. No, 5 million credits are things I can throw down a night, then the night later. While not to say I make a plume of credits every night, and I certainly work now as opposed to then, around 45 hours a week - a weekend to myself doing SH I can manage 1-2 million. So 6 million a month seems reasonable a goal. My fortunes changed big, 2012. I won a tier IV tournament, awarded 40,000 gold. I bought IS6, 112 the first moment they went 30% off sale price. A year later, won 12,000 in a cross world of tanks / planes tournament. Even without premium time, and even just spam 530 damage HE splashing things like mini-KV2 but with more accuracy and ROF, they could easily make 30,000+ credits a battle and cause 1k+ damage. Economically huge, training wise, huge. But not so great on the WN7 and efficiency. Then I bought 59-patton, STA2, won IS5 in CW - and these became my more played premiums because they teach speed. And speed teaches ability. Have not looked back, and no longer grind tiers 4-6 for cash anymore.