world of warships currencies

Hi folks!

Now that we've gone through the ships and some game basics, let's take a closer look at the "free to play" setup that's designed to get you to spend real money.

As I've said before, this game is actually one of the good ones out there - it lets you have a serious amount of fun without paying anything at all, there's no "waiting" system that can be bypassed with money etc.

That said, of course there's plenty of motivation to get you spending. We've got the classic two-currency setup: There's "silver", which you need to purchase and upgrade ships and buy consumable supplies, like the rather essential repair and damage control kits. You get silver after each battle. Then there's "gold", which you mostly have to buy with real money (except for small amounts being occasionally dispensed during special events). Gold has multiple uses in the game:

* buying additional ship slots
* all but two player portraits need gold to unlock
* buying improved repair / damage control consumables
* creating a fleet
* changing elite bonuses on ships
* converting "tied" XP to "free" XP
* buying silver
* premium ships
* premium account time

Let's look at these one by one, and see how important they are in the game.

Ship slots

You start with some free slots for ships, and given how quickly you get through the first tiers, you'll be running out of them soon. You can unlock more by using gold, but of course, you could also sell your old ships to free up space. Do you need to keep lower-tier ships?

There are some advantages - playing lower-tier is easier, since you're mostly going to encounter new players, so you can improve your win stats, if you're so inclined. Every day, you get a 100% XP bonus for the first victory, so the more ships you have, the more you can use this. Lastly, if you're playing team battles, you can only have a spread of two tiers in your team, so if your friends sit on lower tiers, you'd want to have a ship around to join them.

Personally, I don't quite see the need to increase the number of ship slots. I tend to "get used" to a certain ship style and play style, so in the end, I've got about three ships I use regularly.

Player portraits

That's a vanity thing, I guess - really just to show off that you spent money on the game. Matter of personal taste.

Improved kits

This I'd call a clear waste of money. Yes, the kits are slightly better in their effect, but if you're in a bad position, like facing a salvo of nine torpedoes with nowhere to dodge, they aren't going to help you any more than the standard kits are.

Creating a fleet

This is, again, a matter of taste - there isn't any ingame bonus attached to being in a fleet or running one. Given that it's quite expensive to set up (2k gold atm), I'd weigh it against the other ways to spend money.

Changing elite bonuses

Honestly, another waste of money. Make up your mind. By the time you've fully upgraded your ship, you should have a good feel for which bonus makes most sense, knowing the weaknesses and your personal playstyle.

Free XP conversion

This is an interesting one. There are two types of XP in the game: XP you gather for a particular ship, which you need a certain amount of to unlock the next tier, and "free" XP, which you can use whatever way you please. Once you've fully upgraded a ship, any further XP you gather with it