There is a billion dollar pro sports industry based on the idea that watching somebody really professional excelling at a game is more fun to watch than watching some local kids playing the same game. While I still play World of Tanks regularly, I'm pondering why the game isn't more fun. And I do think that one of the design flaws the game has is that it gets less interesting at higher levels. Watching good players in high tier battles is far more boring than low tier battles full of noobs. A game of World of Tanks in which everybody is playing as professionally as possible is going to be a boring draw, because defending is more often than not more efficient than attacking. All the action the game has comes from people who either don't know better, or are just plain impatient and attack anyway. And sometimes they get lucky and attack where the defense was weakest, and then they win.

My problem with that is that the who progress and reward structure pushes me to higher tiers. I should pursue tank lines to tier X. I should farm credits in tier VIII premium tanks, as they give the most credits per battle. Instead I am playing lower tier regular tanks, where I would have to pay gold to convert the experience points I make with them, and earn a lot less credits. Many of the missions either can't be done with lower tier tanks at all, or are just far more difficult, e.g. if you have to deal a specific minimum amount of damage.

On the positive side, if you opt out of the whole tech tree climbing thing, World of Tanks can easily be played for free.