This is what the main PvP mode of a game should be.
Quickly getting into the action, and actually PvPing against the other players, with a reasonable expectation of how long 1 match is going to be taking on average.
RB is a TDM mode, and it should be. Thats the main selling point of the game, quickly going into battles vs other players, with a relatively low entry barrier; if I want to PvE and spend like an hour flying around potentially doing nothing, I boot up DCS and not WT.
I boot up WT Air RB to go slam other players, and thats the one strength this game has, besides the huge amount of vehicles that are available.
(before someone comments with the “tHeN jUsT pLaY aRcAdE”, AB flight models are completely different from how RB FMs are, theres reloads in AB, and on top of that its a mode with respawns, its essentially a completely different game; -so if you want your roleplay simulation my counter to your “tHeN jUsT pLaY aRcAdE” is: “then just play Sim”)
Thats also why the increased size maps are shit. It has nothing to do with where the objectives are (the objectives in Air RB are basically irrelevant, especially at higher tiers, they’re literally just there to give attackers/ bombers a pseudo-purpose), or how the players in the game are playing, in a PvP mode players will always choose whatever playstyle wins them the most games; thats why in top tier air the meta is flying low and forming a furball, because thats how you quickly get kills, because its in a furball where the individual player’s mechanical skill matters the most; because a skilled player can rack up kills quickly in a furball, and thus win the game through the snowball effect.
The issue now is that people complained that “the large maps are boring to play and shit for grinding” (which is just factually true) so in Gaijins infinite wisdom, instead of reverting the map changes, they instead increased the player count from 12 to 16 per team, which just overall objectively made the gameplay at higher tiers worse (since no matter the map size you get the same furball forming due to that just being how the game plays, but a 16v16 furball is much harder to control for a palyer than a 12v12 one, and the impact of an individual player also massively decreases; to have the same effect as killing 5 people you now have to kill 7).
IRCCM missiles that are, under a lot of conditions unflareable, existing now + planes still having pretty limited countermeasure counts just made all those issues with 16v16 and the larger maps even worse.
I think in lower tiers (like sub 10.7) 16v16 is honestly fine, because without potent missiles in the equation and with energy states actually mattering its less of an issue that there’s more players in the match. However what is not playable at all is the fact that you can get the maps that are 90km airfield to airfield in your 8.0-9.0 jets.
The 90km maps are already boring in top tier, but they’re still bearable there with jets that go mach 1.3 on the deck, but in a jet that goes 900 spawing on one of those maps is just a major waste of time (let alone the fact that an 8.0 also takes forever to even reach top speed).
