Air RB and its possible rework

Players have been trying to make them understand that for years!! It just doesn’t work.

I honestly don’t know. This is kinda a last ditch effort from me. If they introduce ARHs without any change I will probably stop playing the game. I mean they probably will at least for this update, but if they don’t show any initiative towards fixing ARB I am not coming back. It’s just unfun right now.

Idk why y’all keep saying this.
They have acknowledged that airRB needs a change, and they stated they will change it up with the ARH update.
Just let them cook before assuming the worst

the last time they cooked we had to review bomb them XD

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im speechless…
cause youre right :D

I want to believe, can you please point me to where they said that. Unless if you mean this

im not wasting my time looking for a line of text to win an argument on the war thunder forum
(☝🤓)
But no, i dont mean this. If i remember correctly, it was after the testing for ARH ended (maybe during ) on the dev server

Okay, I’ll go look for it

Gl @themadseventeen

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Yes please rework is needed. Air rb is not fun right now.

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A lot of people talk only about increasing map size but this wouldn’t change a thing, the “EC” map that we have now are still the same thing, everybody still meet a one and only point, the only difference is that it’s just takes longer to get there

What we need is just an adaptation of the SIM EC to RB, there’s not a lot of work to do.

Allies markers should stay, ennemy markers should go away.
In the actual RB mod, when there is a sunset, I don’t know if it’s a bug or not, but enemies markers tends to appear a lot less and it make the game more enjoyable.

And i would love that top tier fighter would have there bombing and CAS equipment to be actually useful

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I agree, just increasing map size isn’t enough. But it had to be increased at some points because planes were getting faster and missiles got longer reaching.

We were going for something that is similar to SIM EC, but we put some twists on it.

I think this is part of the spotting system, but I am not sure.

You and me both

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@Macekeeks and @themadseventeen

I read your proposal and the following discussion. You put a lot of effort in it - this shows passion. I support everybody who is passionate about the game and tries to improve it.

Imho you might consider the following (valid for all proposals):

  1. Ask yourself what kind of player types play Air RB with which goal.
  2. Ask yourself what kind of player types are more profitable for gaijin.
  3. Ask yourself how many passionate (and experienced) pilots are able to take a neutral and sober view on proposals if their own goals whilst playing the game are threatened.

You might agree that Air RB is dominated by:

  1. Pure grinders (bomb, bomb, bomb…)
  2. Pure shooter players (kill, kill, kill,kill…)

This leads to the following:

  • Both groups are not really interested in more complex game play as they follow just individual goals and use Air RB just as a tool to achieve their goals.

  • Depending on their own goals any proposals which change the status quo are either good or bad - and every real and straw man argument will be used to increase their chances to achieve their goals, or simply deny others to pursue their goals.

  • Imho these mentioned groups are the main customer groups for gaijin.

  • The rather high effort in order to progress can be countered by simple tasks like base bombing (grinders) whilst the other group (shooters) kill the first group. Both are willing to invest a lot of money in top tier premiums in order to achieve their goals.

Your proposal:

  1. Your proposal looks very interesting for very experienced players looking for a way more demanding game play and who are able (and willing) to play PvP and PvE in the same match.

  2. These players have usually also the necessary knowledge about how aerial warfare works irl - and which goals are attached to the usage of aircraft on a tactical or strategic level.

  3. But - imho these players are totally outnumbered by the grinder / shooter pilots. If those are just by their sheer numbers the main target group for gaijin, the implementation of your proposal is not really a desired goal for gaijin, as it is imho just a niche product.

  4. Therefore an additional game mode has from gaijin’s perspective objectively seen just downsides: The number of players in the classic Air RB mode might decrease (and the potential income from top tier premiums) whilst queue time might increase. In addition the have to invest time and money to create and maintain an additional mode without any financial benefit.

  5. Imho the only “realistic” way to proceed with your proposal is to find a way to minimize financial risk of gaijin and using the “right” forum in order to gain the necessary community support.
    This means in practice:
    A) Try to work as volunteer for gaijin in order to get a grasp of the necessary investments of such a mode, and
    B) Try to get community support from the wt.ru forum. It is common knowledge that they are able to convince devs to change the game if enough people support this.

Have a good one!

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Thank you for reading and your feedback!

I see your points, but I think there is hope.

I know a lot of people people play ARB just to grind to the “next thing”. But then I ask myself, what are they even grinding for? To get to top tier? Or do they think that they’ll find “fun” once they are done with that rank? As it currently is there is no “reward” for grinding. There is no “fun” at top tier. It’s the same meaningless gameplay loop.

I was there too. I thought it would be fun at top tier, but it isn’t. It’s the same exact thing, except now I am not even grinding for the next thing, since I reached the end.

I think a lot more people would play this mode than all of naval. Gaijin spent a lot of resources on naval, only for it to be the worst performing gamemode, by far. Still, they still invest in it, adding new ships and such. I would say that tweaking a gamemode/missions is much cheaper than getting new vehicles for naval. I don’t have anything against naval, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want naval resources to be redirected or anything.

We haven’t though much about financial side of things, or at all really. We aren’t the first people to suggest something like this. I would say that there is an audience for this here. If this audience is made up only from passionate and experienced pilots, I don’t see why Gaijin would object to separating them from “grinders” in ARB.

Another thing to consider are that some premium strike aircraft are currently useless in ARB. If they were actually useful more people would buy them, I figure.

I am not sure what you mean by this. Volunteer to make the missions? I was thinking of making one or two. I even downloaded the CDK.

I unfortunately don’t speak Russian.

Another reason why I have hope is because they ran that ARH test last dev server. I’d like them to run at least a test for RB rework and collect feedback from people that played it.

I am rambling a bit in this reply, I am just typing what’s on my mind.

If you have any tips on how to get this to the Russian side of the forum, I am taking notes.

Thank you!

Imho investments in Naval have to be seen as a kind of opportunity costs. From my perspective Naval is mainly implemented to strengthen the USP of wt (air, sea, land warfare and combination of different weapon systems) and to increase the entry barrier for potential competitors.

So even if they might produce losses with Naval it makes sense to continue with this in order to protect your core business (tanks & aircraft).

I thought about applying as tech mod / suggestion mod. Most of them are just players like you and me and doing their job as volunteer & for free.

Gaining insights how certain things work within gaijin might be helpful.

You might want to check this thread:

From my pov it boils down to this (my reply):

Thank you very much for your insights how the RU forum and devs are connected.

Seeing this thread as a whole it looks like all you need to initiate changes is access to the RU forum, 70+ people with >30k battles and the ability to read and write in Cyrillic letters.

Finding these 70+ guys looks much more effective than writing thousands of posts/bug reports/suggestions to improve the game.

Hope this helps!

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I thought about it before, but it’s not for me.

I am not devoting that much time towards this, as I said in a previous reply I am very close to quiting the game. Ground RB has been ruined for me a long time ago, and now Air RB is walking a very fine line. If I don’t see it going uphill until next update (not this one that’s about to come out) I am done. I am willing to put out ideas and even make that mission as a proof of concept in my spare time, but no more than that. If they want to run the game into the ground, who am I to stop them.

At the end of the day, it’s just a game. While I am do want it to improve, I don’t want it that much to get a “job” at gaijin to maybe fix it.

If they don’t want to spend a few dozen man hours to improve that gamemode, what is there more to say. Ideas have been out there for years, Macekeeks and I didn’t really invent hot water here.

We’ll see what this update brings. Maybe they already fixed it, who knows.

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Agreed - but imho the game mode looks exactly like the silent (regarding forum representation) majority of rather new/rookie players wants it to be: A more or less plain shooter or a cheap grinding tool for SL/RP to play CAS in Ground RB.

The challenge for long-term players is to find a niche which offers fun & a challenge; imho it is more than obvious that you won’t find this at top tier Air RB.

Have a good one!

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I like a lot of these ideas. Im not sure how i feel about pushing strike fighters and bombers to be the most important portion of the team but i think they should at least be given equal footing to fighters.

This suggestion is ultimately pretty similar to an Air RB Enduring Confrontation (albeit with some changes).

One of the biggest issues with these longer form game modes are people leaving after their team loses. Sort of like those one death leavers in Ground or what happens in Sim EC.

If a mode like this were to be made for Air RB, there should be incentives for players to stay. These incentives could include a 10% SL and RP bonus once tickets drop below a certain point (like 33%) or even some AI reinforcements. Like once tickets drop below a certain amount, a 4 ship of AI planes come to help the team. Not necessarily meant to be OP AI assistance but just a distraction for the enemy at least.

Additionally, i think getting the spotting mechanic well balanced is VERY important. I personally feel that enemy vehicle markers should remain off but enemy missile diamonds can remain on. There would be some exception to this. If enemies get within a certain range of a friendly airfield or objective, they become spotted. This could also help mitigate the airfield camping.

I also feel that any mention of a longer form Air RB should include helicopters. Even if they’re at a disadvantage, it would be nice to have them as an option and they could also provide that low altitude “manpad” risk to aircraft to provide additional risk to staying low. Similar to ground, Gaijin could also give the option for researching helicopters through aviation.

Really good ideas here and i would love to see some 30-45 minute matches come for Air RB. Kind of bored of the 5 to 10 minute match at top tier.

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Thank you for your time!

I hear you. We had thrown some ideas for this but nothing made it to our final proposal. One way to combat this is to make games joinable while in progress, like in SIM EC. This introduces it’s own problems like reward multiplier on win or loss, but I have nothing better honestly.

I agree and I like your idea.
Here’s one more. In a game called titanfall 2, if you lose a match you are given one last chance to escape on an evac ship. If you succeed your loss is treated as a win in XP bonuses and similar. Maybe something similar could be implemented in War Thunder? A last ditch objective to escape maybe.

Adding AWACS type aircraft that cover areas closer to their team’s side of the map would make it feel realistic and not tacked on for gameplay purposes.

I am honestly not sure how exactly they would fit given their speed and all. Another potential problem I see is that Chinese helis have that unflarable all aspect missile. We have suggested manpads, but that has proven to be quite unpopular in this thread.

On the other hand I am all for giving helis a proper gamemode, heli PvE sucks.

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This could be a very cool idea. Maybe something like when a team loses, a nuclear bomber spawns in unspotted at a random location on the map at low altitude and your team has to find and destroy that bomber before it gets to one of your airfields. It would force the whole team to basically conduct a frantic search. There could probably be other ideas too.

I like this idea. It definitely would make it feel more realistic.

Heli PVE feels like it was made by the unpaid intern during their lunch break. Its really boring.

If helis were to be added to an Air RB EC mode, they would need their own bases much closer to AI ground units and in a position where they could cut off any low flying planes.

Yea that chinese missile is ridiculous though.

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