The recent “decompression” or re compression has only benefited the 9.0 to 10.0 planes and 10.0 - 11.0 planes to an extent. Matchmaker is almost the same for previous 11.3+ planes.
Mig-23s and Phantoms with worse RWR and agility can still face 4th gen fighters with superior flight performance and/or weapons. Early 4th gen fighters with non IRCCM missiles and relatively low performance SARH missiles can face fighters with high performance ARH Missiles + IRCCM Missiles.
Most of these match-ups are not even in a full +1.0 up tier where the better jets are limited in numbers but in just +0.3 or +0.7 steps.
Below are some highlights of the current matchmaking which are absolutely criminal.
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SAAB J35XS with no RWR, no SARH, very limited countermeasures, low performance IR missiles, relatively bad flight performance facing tomcats with PD radar, long range ARH and SARH missiles, excellent flight performance.
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F-4J UK with primitive RWR; relatively low performance SARH and IR missiles, a hard wing phantom facing F-15s with better SARH, IRCCM Missiles, way better flight performance, better avionics and modern ARH carriers like AV-8B+ and J-8F.
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F-16A with 6 non IRCCM IR missiles and 60 countermeasures can go against end of the line fighters with modern ARH and IRCCM missiles.
Please decompress current top tier by a minimum of +1.0 to 14.7. Make top tier enjoyable where all planes have a fighting chance please.