War Thunder - F2P Combat Flight MMO

[Ruptga]

My preliminary thoughts are that the matchmaking change is fucking terrible, like 109trops and FWs eating folgores and a20s alive. Any talk about limiting the number of old tier 9s as they massacre old tier 4s and 5s is pure lip service. Even one such plane per side completely screws the match's balance. And in that scenario you're at the mercy of your one tier 9, if he flakes out or is just a noob you're flat out fucked.

This was supposed to fix matchmaking for tiers 8+, allowing them to find matches fairly quickly, but all I see this doing is driving away the sizable population of tier 3-7 players, and once that is done the seal clubbers will be right back to 5 minute queues. I'll give it more time, but I may put WT on the shelf for a while, go back to Skyrim or something.

On the other hand, the changes to research are pretty good, mostly because it's gotten over with so quickly. There's not much I hate more than stock planes, but it's pretty tolerable when one good match will get you MGs, compressor, airframe, engine, and wing upgrades.
Never mind, that was due to a launch-day bug. Grinding lives up to its name, starting at the end of the new tier 2.

 

[gorobei]

yeah im putting this game aside for a few months(probably uninstall) if this is how they envision it.

there is no point in changing the ranking system if you arent going to enforce strict parity. i should not be facing cobras/hein/109 trop/yak when im using (new)tier 1 planes. if you allow planes from higher ranks in the matchmaking, all you are doing is serving up noobs to veterans. no amount of bonus research points and lions is going to make getting killed in 15 sec worth sticking around for unless you are a masochist with the short term memory of a goldfish.

its like giving a cod player a pistol only and telling them to take out the camping sniper across the map with all the ar/ak rambos duking it out in between the 2 of you. you might make it to the other side without getting riddled, might not get sniped through his chokepoint, might somehow get close enough for your pistol, but it aint the how a man is supposed to get around.

 

[Genx87]

I dont think the MM was working correctly last night. They had an in game announcement about it. The one head scratcher for me is how did the XP50 get stuck in Tier 2? I brought it into a T3 match and was dominating. Against early\pre war planes it should be sick. This used to be a lvl 15 plane lol.

I do like the FM changes. The FW190-D12 can actually take off in historical now! And Focke Wulfs in general are climbing better.

Also like the 50mm ME410 was given 2x20mms. I took it out for a spin in arcade and it is useable now.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I was getting mad at the matchmaking yesterday so rage quit.

Today is better. Couple new maps. Matches que up almost instantly for me. Haven't really noticed any big changes to how my planes handle or are equipped.

 

[gorobei]

i've been monitoring the WT forums, looks like there are sticking with the +-1 tier matchmaking. so you can now end up with an old rank 2-3 facing old rank 9-11 planes.
biplane vs yak9: fight!

since the seal clubbing seems to be official, im just gonna stop playing. less players playing is probably more effective than complaining on their forums.

 

[Rinaun]

i've been monitoring the WT forums, looks like there are sticking with the +-1 tier matchmaking. so you can now end up with an old rank 2-3 facing old rank 9-11 planes.
biplane vs yak9: fight!

since the seal clubbing seems to be official, im just gonna stop playing. less players playing is probably more effective than complaining on their forums.

I have a feeling a lot of the changes they just made are going to come back and bite them, maybe (hopefully) they switch some things back. I tried playing a game today and honestly its so different I'm not sure I even want to try another round. the old version had that appeal for me in that I'd log in and do 2-3 games every week for fun. With this new patch I just don't see that happening. At all.

 

[gorobei]

the research tree plane unlock change i could live with, it seems to be there to slow down the rate at which players were buying planes. if fp2 can buy all the non premium planes they will probably stop playing as much. f2p games live on the 'gotta catch em all' grind. so making it last a year or 2 seems logical enough.

the matchmaking is entirely unacceptable. +-1tier when the new tiers represent 3 or 4 old tiers means you have up to a potential 8 or 9 tier difference. the battle ranking means if you are half way decent in skill you will be thrown in against planes way above you. no one will bother to grind if all 3 or 4 of your planes get slaughtered in 2 min by a jet or cannon sniper.

if they want more people playing HB or even just higher tiers, then you have to put a carrot out. forcing them into upper tiers thru MM will make them quit like i did.

 

[Ruptga]

I'm on the bandwagon as well. I'll still be logging in for a few matches every 2-3 days, I think, but if they don't make some adjustments I may even taper off from that.

You guys have already said anything I would have, except that this is all just sad. They had a great thing going, and they're throwing it all away for nothing more than shiny UI updates and faster matching times in the short term. The really sad thing is it may still work for them, even after 40-70% of their players leave. IMO, the people that appreciate and benefit from those changes are primarily vapid sealclubbers, but those people typically spend a lot of money on any game that will allow them to succeed (and by succeed, I mostly mean "be a flaming douchebag while putting in no effort"). I had only paid them $7 so far, I was thinking about paying another 30 or so until this patch hit, but still that is a drop in the bucket compared to the (literally) hundreds of dollars that a dedicated moron will happily pay for the chance to derp around, faceroll, and seal club. In particular, I'm reminded of a WoT player I ran across back in August, Kurt1966. At the time he had 1135 battles with his is6, and had won about 465 of those, by my math. The maximum he had destroyed in a battle was THREE, in an su100y. He had bought TEN premium tanks, and played matches in zero regular vehicles (except the t1s, of course). An epically horrible player, and an epically lucrative customer.

 

[Blitzvogel]

I was ok with the wait times involved with having a Tier 17 He-162 in the German Air Force, and rarely having to face off with F-86s and MiG-15s. Now it's normal.

5 Tiers was oversimplifying the game to a huge degree. I think 6 Tiers would be more appropriate considering the vast performance differences of so many of the jets. Instead of lumping all of them into one, the actual WW2-era jets like the Meteors, Yak-15s, Me-262s, etc should be lumped into Tier 5, with a theoretical Tier 6 reserved for the F-86s, MiG-15s, and if they are released, the La-15 and F9F-6 Cougar.

 

[Rinaun]

I'm on the bandwagon as well. I'll still be logging in for a few matches every 2-3 days, I think, but if they don't make some adjustments I may even taper off from that.

You guys have already said anything I would have, except that this is all just sad. They had a great thing going, and they're throwing it all away for nothing more than shiny UI updates and faster matching times in the short term. The really sad thing is it may still work for them, even after 40-70% of their players leave. IMO, the people that appreciate and benefit from those changes are primarily vapid sealclubbers, but those people typically spend a lot of money on any game that will allow them to succeed (and by succeed, I mostly mean "be a flaming douchebag while putting in no effort"). I had only paid them $7 so far, I was thinking about paying another 30 or so until this patch hit, but still that is a drop in the bucket compared to the (literally) hundreds of dollars that a dedicated moron will happily pay for the chance to derp around, faceroll, and seal club. In particular, I'm reminded of a WoT player I ran across back in August, Kurt1966. At the time he had 1135 battles with his is6, and had won about 465 of those, by my math. The maximum he had destroyed in a battle was THREE, in an su100y. He had bought TEN premium tanks, and played matches in zero regular vehicles (except the t1s, of course). An epically horrible player, and an epically lucrative customer.

The funny thing is, this can be said for ANY new game out there. Look at CS:GO. The key system is nothing more than a glorified scratchers lotto fest. VValve makes a fortune off of what amounts to internet gaming gambling. Developers have just now hit the level of comfort in ignoring gameplay in hopes of making fat cash. Freemiums suffer obviously much more than larger companies like valve, but it's already starting.

My guess? By 2020 there isn't such a thing in the AAA title game circuit that doesnt have DLC or buyable skins. It's just too lucrative. I'm amazed Valve hasn't been hit for gambling since all items are is virtual gambling.

 

[gorobei]

looks like they are using my carrot dangle idea. the daily challenges allow you to get a pair free premium plane (tb3 or xf5f) if you complete 10 of 17.

though i doubt they will do this often enough to counteract the MM revolt. they will probably have to offer free gold eagles for playing HB or getting into the jet tiers.

 

[Harabec]

I've seen the new tank gameplay video...looks a LOT more fun than WoT, actually, plus GRAPHICS!

Anyone happen to be in the closed beta (yes, I know, NDA and all that) and can say whether it is worth buying the tank packs?

 

[Ruptga]

I got so pissed I had to take a 5-day break from WT, but I'm back now. I'm not hating it as much, I think it's a combination of lowered expectations, a better understanding of the new FMs, my garages being tuned for the new MM, and those incremental MM improvements we were promised. The game still has serious problems, and I'm not giving them any more money any time soon, but I have some hope.

I was about to buy a $50 tank pack when I thought "big patch coming up, better wait to see how it goes." I think that was a good idea, but I too would like to know how they're doing with the tanks.

 

[Ruptga]

They finally relented on the 14th, but IMO it's a patch of half measures. They fixed most of the glaring bugs that they introduced and they scaled back some of their heinous reforms, but they're refusing to reduce MM spread, which I would say is the game's single biggest problem right now. They're trying to sidestep the stupid grind times by giving 4x to each day's first victory, which sortof works, but mostly I think it just highlights how unwilling they are to admit they fucked up badly. There was also a fairly long post "replying" to the community's extensive list of complaints, they basically denied everything.

I still play a couple times a week though.

 

[gorobei]

lol, called it.
kingcobra prem russian giveaway challenge this weekend. 200 kills with any cobra or bf109 gets the free plane.

between this and the tb3/xf5f giveaways, they have probably seen the drop in player base activity from 1.37 and are resorting to free planes to toss gasoline on the fire to keep it from dying. seems to have boosted RB/HB activity.

 

[gorobei]

free golden eagles this weekend.
http://warthunder.com/en/news/473-Spring-Golden-Battles-en

The event is held twice a day, so pilots in all time zones are able to earn Golden Eagles. Event will happen at: (02:00 GMT to 06:00 GMT) and (15:00 GMT to 19:00 GMT). Thus, total amount pilot can earn is equal to 600 Golden Eagles.

i only got 300ge last fall by accident(didnt know about the second session). if anyone wants to squad up to farm wins quicker let me know. im trying to save up enough eagles for the xp55.

 

[gorobei]

1.39 is out
some improvements to little things, matchmaking got worse.

im staying away until tanks goes open. tanks and bomber maps are probably the only thing i will play. the air battles are just stupid now.

 

[Ruptga]

How did matchmaking get worse? I don't see anything about that in the change log. They increased the BR of my spitfire 2b, but other than that I'm really not seeing anything.

Still I can't argue with wanting to avoid Gaijin, I only play from time to time. I had high hopes at first, but they're gradually adopting everything I hate about WarGaming.

 

[gorobei]

they introduced a new formula for ranking arcade BR that tries to average your top 3 planes.

instead of 1.3 spread from 1.37, people are reporting seeing matches with +-2.0 spread, jets regularly appearing in tier 4.0, full on clubbing on almost every server.

 

[Genx87]

I play but dont pay anymore. I think when tanks arrives this game has potential to be really good. Right now it is meh. High tier games not enough people to play.

 

[Ruptga]

they introduced a new formula for ranking arcade BR that tries to average your top 3 planes.

instead of 1.3 spread from 1.37, people are reporting seeing matches with +-2.0 spread, jets regularly appearing in tier 4.0, full on clubbing on almost every server.

LOL, somehow that doesn't surprise me too much. I don't play enough to have really noticed, and I mostly play 109Fs and the b7n2, and those aren't nearly as sensitive to MM problems as something like a Hurricane for example.

 

[brandonb]

I play but dont pay anymore. I think when tanks arrives this game has potential to be really good. Right now it is meh. High tier games not enough people to play.

People don't play because it's just not that fun.

I have a Tier 3 German rank, and I get annihilated hardcore. It's not me. I ends up being that a plane comes out of nowhere (usually from the ground and pitches up and snipes me with a single cannon shell from 1000 meters below me) and that one cannon shell breaks my plane apart.

That is not fun. The funny thing is I get most my kills with an Ju-87 outfit with 50mm cannons with anti aircraft shells. If you can't beat them, join them. I do the same thing against B-17 bombers. I just fly 2000-3000 feet, see one, and snipe it as it comes in for a bombing run while I loiter around the bases. One shell instant death. Hit Y for reload, wait for the next one.

 

[Genx87]

People don't play because it's just not that fun.

I have a Tier 3 German rank, and I get annihilated hardcore. It's not me. I ends up being that a plane comes out of nowhere (usually from the ground and pitches up and snipes me with a single cannon shell from 1000 meters below me) and that one cannon shell breaks my plane apart.

That is not fun. The funny thing is I get most my kills with an Ju-87 outfit with 50mm cannons with anti aircraft shells. If you can't beat them, join them. I do the same thing against B-17 bombers. I just fly 2000-3000 feet, see one, and snipe it as it comes in for a bombing run while I loiter around the bases. One shell instant death. Hit Y for reload, wait for the next one.

Arcade is arcade. I typically keep 2km distance from anybody but my target. It is by design supposed to be relatively easy to get kills. The only thing I would say is keep a tab on everybody around you. 90% of pilots shot down in WWII never saw it coming.

I just wish they didnt make flying high tier so expensive and unrewarding. When I do venture in T4 with my FWs and Ta152 it is usually a 6v6 match and the other side has 2 jets. It definately makes the game change. But it is really difficult to kill a jet without a huge energy advantage and them making a mistake. Even in a Ta152.

And while I like the idea of realistic battles. I spend more time fighting the instructor than the enemy. And the FMs are still screwed up for many planes. That make it not so much fun.

 

[Ruptga]

+1 for situational awareness. I'm holding C and swinging the camera around nonstop when I'm not engaging someone. Between that and refusing to fight at less than 12k ft my K/D is generally pretty good.

But, that's in fighters and attackers like the b7. In a multi-engine bomber there's not much you can do other than climb and hope for really stupid enemies. Sometimes I fly a ju87D, but I often have trouble killing people when they come for revenge. The first kill is easy because almost nobody expects a stuka to be paying attention, let alone armed with mg151. The second time they come at you, unless they're some idiot noob climbing at stall speeds, it's a whole nother game.

 

[gorobei]

quasi tank open beta this weekend.

if you completed at least 1 ground forces cbt challenge last fall, you'll be getting an invite pass to cbt. if not you can do 2 new challenges this weekend for an invite.

seems weird that they are ready to ramp to 100,000 beta testers but wont put it on the main server and make it full open.