Top tier Air RB, in its current state, has various issues that need to be addressed. In light of Seek’s recent video regarding top tier Air RB, I figured someone ought to compile the arguments addressed and possibly add onto it. Here are the main issues that I personally see as major problems and how they can be solved:
1.) BR Compression at Top Tier - Decompress to 13.3 (or higher)
This honestly does not need much of an explanation. The current top tier environment is far too compressed and needs to be decompressed quickly. Starting out with 13.3 for planes like the F-15C, F-16C, Su-27SM, etc. would help, but the ultimate goal should be to get the max BR up to at least 14.0 or higher.
Certain aircraft also benefited from the multipathing changes far more than others. The biggest example of this is the F-14A Early and F-14B. To address these two directly, they need to go up in BR. Whether that entails adding new IR missiles (eg. the AIM-9L to the F-14A and the AIM-9M to the F-14B), that should be addressed and their BR increased accordingly.
- 13.0 is fine as it is
- 13.3 is needed
- 13.3 and higher is needed (eg. 13.7, 14.0, etc.)
2.) The Stock Grind - Add stock FOX-1s and FOX-3s
As it stands, the current stock grind is attrocious for anything not carrying FOX-3s or Chaff. We already have stock flares, which were added in light of the addition of IRCCM FOX-2 missiles. Now that we have extremely dominant FOX-3 missiles, we should absolutely get stock Chaff as well.
Furthermore, stock FOX-1 and FOX-3 missiles should be provided. This does not mean having all missiles available upon purchasing the vehicle. Rather, it means that we should have the ability to use missiles that give us some chance against other aircraft. Depending on the vehicle’s rank, BR, and era, two stock FOX-1 or FOX-1 missiles should be made accessible alongside the stock FOX-2s.
For example, the F-16C should get 2x AIM-120As alongside its 2x AIM-9Ms while the F-16A ADF should get 2x AIM-7Ms and 2x AIM-9Ls.
An example from the Russian side would be the MiG-29SMT getting 2x R-77s and 2x R-73s, while the MiG-29 (9-13) gets 2x R-27s and 2x R-60Ms stock.
NOTE: I am explicitly stating 2x radar AND 2x IR missiles, making it a total of FOUR stock missiles. Two IR missiles on/under the outermost pylons, two radar missiles under the innermost pylons. What I am NOT saying is “two missiles total, selecting either radar or IR”.
- Both FOX-1s and FOX-3s are needed
- Only FOX-1s are needed
- Only FOX-3s are needed
- None of these are needed
3.) Match Sizes (16v16) - Make 8v8 standard
Gaijin recently added an opt-in function for smaller matches. The result of this is the vast majority of matches being 16v16 with a few 12v12 matches being thrown in. This is not at all what the community asked for and needs to be addressed.
There are many ways to fix this issue. One of the ways this can be fixed is by inverting the match-size priority. This includes making 8v8 and 10v10 games the priority in the matchmaker, meaning as soon as those smaller matches fill up they launch. Another way to help with this is to eliminate 16v16 from the matchmaking entirely and replace it with 12v12. Then 10v10 and 8v8 matches can be the “1 in 10” matches that appear rather than 12v12.
Overall, the current implementation of “the option to get into smaller matches” does not accomplish what the community wants. We want smaller matches to be the norm so that we can have a larger impact on the match as a whole - not be subject to the whims of our teams dying out and being overrun by the other half of the enemy team.
- Yes, I have it enabled
- No, I have it disabled
- I prefer 16v16
- I prefer 12v12
- I prefer 10v10
- I prefer 8v8
- I prefer 6v6
4.) Tree Heights - Reduce the average tree size to ~10-20m
Since multipathing got reduced to 60m, the tree height in WT has become an interesting topic of discussion. Currently, the average tree height sits around 50-60m off the ground, making it very difficult to use multipathing. This is especially an issue for people stock grinding, where having zero chaff and no radar missiles makes it extremely difficult to grind out modifications. These modifications, mind you, are required to give your plane a semblance of being competitive.
(Personally, I don’t use multipathing very much since I always climb, but the argument is still valid, especially for stock grinding).
- They are fine as they are (50-60m is okay)
- They should be decreased in size (40-30m)
- They should be decreased in size (20-10m)
Conclusion - TL;DR
Overall, each of these issues overlap a lot.
The current BR spread at 13.0-11.7 makes little sense. The fact that Vietnam era Phantoms and newly nerfed MiG-23s have to face AMRAAMs or Phoenixes the way they do is simply terrible. These planes very often lack RWRs capable of giving them a lock tone, much less a missile warning.
Personally, I like how top tier plays at the moment so long as you have FOX-3s and are not stock grinding. The max BR simply needs to shift up to give lower BRs some breathing room. The issues with multipathing would also not be nearly as bad if the number of people in the matches was not so large and the tree heights were not absurdly large.
The stock grind certainly has to change, the current state of stock grinding is ridiculously bad. Giving stock Chaff and SARH/ARH missiles would help the stock grind tremendously, and progression would actually be viable.
Edit #1: Here are some examples of new stock loadouts that I am proposing. There was some confusion about the stock loadouts in some of the discussions. I hope this clears it up a little bit.
Stock FOX-3 Examples:
Stock FOX-1 Examples:
I hope this clears up what was meant by this a little bit more.