Hello Gaijin team and fellow players,
First of all, I want to say how much I genuinely love War Thunder. I have put in hundreds of hours and invested a fair amount of money over the years because the game offers something truly special: detailed vehicles, intense combined arms battles, and a depth that is hard to find anywhere else. It has immense potential to become a true multi million player title that players recommend to friends without hesitation.
That being said, like many in the community, I believe there are a few areas where thoughtful improvements could make the game even more enjoyable and accessible for everyone new players, veterans, and everyone in between. These points come up often across the different player communities (air, ground, and naval), and I hope they can be seen as constructive feedback from someone who wants only the best for the game.
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The Grind Feels Very Demanding
Progressing from the early tiers all the way to top tier vehicles (especially modern jets) represents an immense time investment. Many players are particularly excited about higher tier or modern content, but the current pace can make it feel like a full time commitment rather than a fun hobby. We still want meaningful progression, but a more balanced system would let us test a wider variety of vehicles, play with friends, and simply enjoy the game without burnout.
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Premium Vehicle Pricing
Top tier premium jets and vehicles can sometimes cost as much as a full AAA game on Steam. While we understand that premiums help support development, many players feel that more accessible pricing generally around 15, 25 dollars, with a maximum around 30 dollars even for the highest tiers would make them feel like a fair option for those who want to support the game and enjoy variety sooner.
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Vehicle Variety and Easier Testing
Every update brings new content, but many of us notice a lot of similar variants or low copy vehicles added across tech trees. The community would love more unique options, rare historical pieces, special collection vehicles (like interesting bombers or prototypes), and fresh ideas that give each nation more personality. It would also be fantastic to have better ways to try out different vehicles without committing hundreds of battles perhaps through expanded test modes, temporary events, or improved rewards.
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Naval Mode Has Huge Untapped Potential
Naval battles are exciting but currently feel somewhat limited compared to air and ground. Many players dream of modern warships, aircraft carriers operating with jets, submarines, and a richer selection of contemporary assets. Seeing what Gaijin has achieved with Modern Warships on mobile (with its wide variety of ships, helicopters, bombers, and subs) shows how engaging this kind of content can be. Bringing even a portion of that energy and modernity into War Thunder naval mode could attract a lot of new and returning players who love modern fleets.
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Listening to the Community
War Thunder has passionate, diverse communities across different platforms and playstyles. Many of us feel that feedback is not always clearly addressed, and more open, consistent communication from the developers would help build even stronger trust. Fair play is important too a robust anti cheat system that keeps matches enjoyable for everyone is something we would all appreciate.
War Thunder could so easily become an even bigger and more beloved game. Reducing some of the friction in progression, offering better value, expanding exciting content like modern naval, and making it easier for players to have fun and test vehicles would not remove the challenge it would simply let more of us enjoy the incredible experience you have created.
I am not asking for everything to be free or for instant changes. I just want the game we all love to thrive long term and be something we are proud to share with friends. Thank you for everything you do, and thank you to the community for all the passion you bring.
We are all here because we want the absolute best for War Thunder.
Best regards,
A dedicated player
3 Likes
Although I agree we have to consider the reality here; War Thunder is a free-to-download game, the long grind is a indirect source of income, Gaijin won’t handle it away making the grind easier or shorter, on top of that War Thunder made itself its own category, essentially a monopoly in vehicular combat games, something no other game can compete with nor replicate at their own style because it will demand huge amounts of money and for the most part War Thunder have a very strong community, most of which paid for something in-game.
Which comes to being the direct source of income (in contrast to the previous point), I have no doubt that Gaijin could make them cheaper but given how the grind works, the lower rank vehicle will be pretty much useless by a few in-game hours compared to the higher rank vehicle, the Store seems to be heavily populated of various vehicles to choose but at the end of the day the only that matters is the highest ranking vehicles, again, War Thunder is a free-to-download game but far from a free-to-play game, either you hand your time or money.
Copy-and-pasted vehicles are more common nowadays with the excuse of: giving away accessibility for all players of all tech trees (if possible) without gatekeeping content which honestly is just a blank way to say that Gaijin is not interested in adding a huge amount of different vehicles, if I want to play a certain vehicle I just go to its own tech tree instead of researching it somewhere else out of place.
I can’t agree more, I’ve been expecting modern naval for years at this point, surely is time to make Coastal vessels something to offer other than either being paper-thin points piñata or blantant absurd units, I also hope for a proper matchmaking (since there is Coastal-exclusive maps, they’re just not available in the current matchmaking).
That’s why moderators and community managers exist, War Thunder is a game way too big to have a efficient community-to-developer communication like a Indie game, my only problem is the inconsistency in Gaijin’s end to certain in-game changes, I hope (lie, I don’t, I personally don’t like the game as I used before) that this situation will improve some way or another for the good, not the bad.
3 Likes
I feel like something that could help would be to give some free time with a premium, possibly in 10.0 so newer players get to experience “top tier” while also not getting brutally mauled at top top tier. They could be given a one-day pass to use a premium vehicle from any nation only once. This could also motivate newer players who want to experience higher up without grinding. I do see how this could lead to a ODL team but… this idea could use some ideas :)
1 Like
i agree with your sentiment but some little differences in what i think.
I dont think its a bad thing. however the jump in RP demands from rank 4 and upwards is unnaturally large. reduce them a little bit so the progression feels smoother
Completely agree. a prem vehicle shouldnt cost that much, its not as bad as MSFS is (i pirated most of my planes in that sim, im not spending £50 on a bloody Spitfire). all premium prices should be anywhere from a third to half what they currently are. also limit the purchase of premiums above rank 6 until someone has a tech tree vehicle at rank 5 in that nations trees (this goes for air, ground and naval)
C&P is a neccessary evil in many a case but its excessive and overly lazy most the time. The strela and osa in the british tree or the amount of T-80s slammed into random trees are just an unpleasant stain on a trees unique feel. Trees should represent what they used but focus on the unique crazy stuff first.
goes for all modes. They are all acceptable for a 2012 game but dont hold up to 2025 standards at all.
Yes and No.
on one side you have dedicated accuracy bug reporters that know the vehicles better than gaijin could ever, they should be listened to more for vehicle modelling.
however a lot of the average players either dont know the game well enough or have been heavily misinformed by slop youtubers like TheEuropeancCanadian, Astro and DawgIVlife. And thats why the proposed changes to APHE to make it represent how it really works was shot down.
not much bigger. this is one of the biggest MMOs EVER. however player retention is bloody awful.
Reducing the ramp up of the grind while making the game easier to learn (without watering gameplay down into WoT slop) is the main need
2 Likes
Not gonna change (gaijin needs money)
Not gonna change (money again)
Gaijin logic: no one plays it so we won’t fix it
2 Likes
I don’t get why people don’t play enough naval. Sure I haven’t played much myself, but when i do, it feels fun, like a refresher. Especially on lower tiers like 4.0 to 4.7, which are especially fun. I usually head to naval if War thunder becomes somewhat stale.
I would love for there to be more, especially aircraft carriers supporting the teams. However, the maps Gaijin makes for naval are somewhat atrocious and small.
I feel like Gaijin should also look at what World of Warships has done (I know nothing about Modern Warships, btw). Yeah, it’s somewhat arcade-like, but I feel as if a lot of things are done incredibly well compared to what Gajin has given us. Though it has been a while since I played World of Warships. :)
1 Like