I bought a Type-59 before they removed it from the store and 2 months premium with the leftover gold, so still play pretty regularly. The credits needed at higher tiers really does become a pain after T8, luckily the Type-59 makes between 50k and 100k for a decent game.
Currently (still) grinding my Tiger II, S51 and now also SU100.
If you get the top gun on the VK, it'll come in handy should you go the Tiger > Tiger II route, the 88 just doesn't do enough damage.