So the next major update is upon us and with that some interesting ground additions.
Since ground brs were increased to 11.7 maximum and certain vehicles went from 10.7 battle rating to 11.0, I would like to discuss a theory for the revival of a long dead battle rating for high tier ground. Some of the affected vehicles are tanks like the IPM1, M1a1, AGS etc. Due to this increase these vehicles were given certain buffs to aid them in fighting stronger vehicles, whether its a better round or a faster reload no vehicles uptiered were left behind. However some did not meet the bar to be raised and remained 10.7 like the Russian T-90a. The issue here is Russian players have a single tank at a battle rating that has since been killed off with no lineup whatsoever which forces the player to make a lineup of tanks lower in br.
Moving forwards to the upcoming Major which will replace the current update “Air superiority” we have seen additions such as the T-80D which in short is a T-80 that mounts a diesel engine as opposed to the classic Klimov turbine engine. This heavily nerfs the mobility of the T-80 and may force it to sit at a lower br and possibly give the T-90a a battle buddy. Now this one is a bit touchy but the Canadian Leopard 2a4M may possibly also be worthy of sitting at 10.7 depending on its munitions and statistical protection. Hopefully adding these tanks too weak for 11.0 but too strong for 10.3 will be the beginning of reviving 10.7 and raising the ground ceiling to 12.0.
To address some possible complaints I will ask hypotheticals and answer them!
Q: Won’t these vehicles be too overpowered at 10.7?
A: If the vehicle received certain buffs to make it playable at 11.0 then simply those buffs will just be removed as they will no longer see the highest possible battle rating in game for ground.
Q: Will 9.7s be able to adequately fight these 10.7s?
A: Seeing as the common trope with the old 10.7s are MBTs with excellent firepower but lackluster armor or engine power like the T-90a or the M1a1, 9.7 vehicles should have no problem penetrating the armor on these tanks.
Q: Won’t 12.0 have bad queue times?
A: Much to the dismay of many players top tier ground for both arcade and realistic are constantly full. This is especially thanks to the 11.3 ground premiums as the M1a1 “Click-bait” is labeled as a Best Seller on the Gaijin.net store.
I am more than happy to discuss complaints regarding this theory or how it may be a bad change. This is simply a guess wherein I throw my hat into the ring and see if I can predict a future change that may very well benefit the player experience in the long run.
P.S. Forgot to mention the chunky Abrams/M60 hybrid thats also supposed to be coming to the game which would be a lovely 10.7 as its a mix of poor armor but strong firepower!