Well the F-86 is yeah, that was the point of that post, I did say the others were bad too but that’s called a personal skill issue, and idk it could just be skill issue but the Gripen is so much better than the Typhoon
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Overall the rerun was good! I played a lot (around 800 kills). I’m going to be honest, I have played this game since 2015 and this is just about the only thing I’ll come back for. The state of top tier is just not enjoyable for most of the OG players in this game. These flight models are way too fun to just be slinging missiles in top tier, this game mode needs to stay for good.
For my criticism of the tweaks:
Minimum two spawns: This change is bad for most players, its common for air players in this game to use only one crew because its all you need for air RB so requiring two crews for this is a big hassle for most players. It was better when we could just spawn one vehicle 3 times but its also nice to have the choice to bring multiple.
Reduced rewards: The rewards are just a little bit too slow right now. You shouldn’t be punished for playing this mode so try to balance this to have the same reward level of air RB.
Rearm zone improvements: overall good but it’d be nice if the zone always showed on the HUD instead of just when you have no ammo. Plus a proper way to repair would be good. You actually CAN repair if you land on the ground in the zone but I don’t think this was intended and it’s not the easiest thing to do on some maps. If airfields are added I think they should be unprotected.
BR range changes: Lower BRs are nice to have the option of playing but they were unpopular due to balance issues, the Ariete and MiG-19 really cant be as low as they are. Honestly not much to do here other than balance BRs, which you guys are horrible with so PLEASE reach out to the community, there are lots of players like me who are willing to help and plenty of content creators too.
I really think this mode should at the very least become a weekend event but I would love if it came back as a real mode to queue any time. This mode is a blast and the only thing that brings me fun in this game anymore.
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Great event, just like last time. I would love to see this more often.
Limiting the spawns to 3 was a nice change, but let people choose the same plane 3 times in a row if they want.
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Though the F-86K is fine when spaded. About the EFTs, I’ve seen videos of duels between highly skilled players with one playing the EFT and the other playing various top tier aircraft, and the one with the Typhoon consistently crushed his opp. I suggest you watch such videos, might help you improve
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That gamemode should remain permanent
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I lowkey believe they added the 2 plane requirement to discourage people from playing this game-mode, so they could later say that the players didn’t want a guns only mode because of the low player count.
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Meh, they want people to appreciate ARB, and they can only achieve it by giving the mode the most Gaijin-like implementation by adding AAB elements into it.
It’s not that it should become a regular mode to the game anyway, it’s a gamemode that within 11.0-13.0 doesn’t make sense and its fundamentally broken, the gap in flight performance between planes across those BRs is absurd, to the point missiles are part of the core reason some planes were even built (Tornado F.3, F-4s, MiG-23s, Viggens).
To be fair the only reason it doesn’t work as a permanent mode is that it uses GRB BRs rather than an individual set based on airframe performance. But if this was changed this could be a great mode.
It would essentially be a PVP equivalent of air assault in what it brings to the game, where you can use it to help with stock grinds for the main modes. But unlike the PVE assault mode it could actually get reasonable rewards since you are still fighting players.
Though they did overcorrect the rewards a lot this time to the point where it’s only about half the RP/min as it is in regular ARB, at least for me personally, which just isn’t enough for a PVP mode.
Again, a big meh. Bullet hell as a whole is significantly overrated, the worst part is those people that will potentially become a regular at that mode will take refuge in there and refrain from learning to use and defend from missiles, fooling themselves into a mode which doesn’t have a high skill floor and doesn’t demand a really high skill ceiling either.
Its only saving grace and I must concede is the stock grind potential, but then, if it comes a proper mode, you’d have to face people using the meta vehicles endlessly, no matter if you’re trying to spade an F-4J or an F-16, you’ll always have a Hornet or a Gripen to make a run for your money respectively. In that case, I’d humbly better try my luck at ARB anyways.
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I also wouldn’t say this really takes away from regular ARB, since that would mean never actually getting to use the full set of capabilities an aircraft might have. Especially among RB players, which already takes out a majority of the casual player base, I think that modern weapons and avionics are something most are excited to use in a game, so they wouldn’t exclusively play Bullet Hell. Instead this mode would probably be somewhat less popular and more of a niche option outside of stock grinds. Some vehicles also just fit the ARB meta more like the F-15s.
Like I said before this serves essentially the same role as the arcade assault modes, where it’s main purpose is the stock grinds, though at least here I can see it be a fun mode outside of that too. Not an ARB replacement, but an option people would use.
Sure you can still face issues with higher BR and more meta vehicles (even with a flight performance based BR spread), but it is about as easy as it gets. It’s still PVP, so there will still be a certain meta, but here it’s at least a somewhat different set of aircraft with Gripens and Hornets for example benefitting a lot.
The only part where I’d say it’s actually just easier without a tradeoff is threat management. With kills only happening in gun ranges again this makes it much easier to manage threats. This ends up making it less punishing for stock vehicles too, since there’s now less external factors distracting from a fight with a spaded / better aircraft.
Quite a nice event.
Though I think I prefer missile jousting at top tier, dogfighting at top tier just feels wrong