Dynamic lineup adjustment phase before battle

Game Discussion General Discussion
1

Hello everyone,

I’d like to suggest an idea for improving matchmaking, especially at high BR, where many players feel they are constantly uptiered.

The Problem Right Now
Currently, the matchmaking system allows a ±1.0 BR spread. This often means:

If you queue with a 12.0 jet, you often end up against 13.0–13.3 opponents.
Many players feel “hard uptiered” constantly (e.g., flying older jets against modern ones).
Downtiers are much rarer, so you almost always feel disadvantaged.

This creates frustration because players cannot adapt their lineup after they see the match BR ceiling.

The Proposed Solution

When a match is created, the game first determines the highest BR in the lobby.
Example: 32 players found, highest BR = 13.0 → the match is set to 13.0.
Before the battle starts, all players get 1 minute to adjust their preset/vehicle choice.

If someone brought a 12.0 jet but they also own a 13.0 in another lineup, they can switch to it.
This gives players a fair chance to adapt instead of being “stuck” with a disadvantaged lineup.
[*] Lower-BR players who don’t want to change can simply press “Ready” and wait.

To address different preferences, Gaijin can offer two options in the game settings:

Classic Matchmaking (no 1-minute adjustment, as it is now).
Dynamic Adjustment (players can change vehicles before the match starts).

This way, players who don’t want to wait the extra 1 minute can opt out, while others who value flexibility can benefit.

Why This Would Improve the Game

Reduces frustration for players constantly uptiered.
More balanced battles because more players will fight at the actual top BR of the match.
Player choice: You’re not forced into the system — you can use the classic mode if you prefer faster queue times.
Minimal development effort since the feature mostly reuses existing lineup/preset mechanics, just before the match starts.

Possible Downsides

Some players may dislike waiting an extra 1 minute before every match.
To fix this, the system should be optional (classic vs dynamic matchmaking toggle).
[*] Some players may still choose not to switch vehicles, but that is their choice.

Conclusion

This system gives players more control, reduces the frustration of constant uptiers, and still keeps matchmaking flexible. It could greatly improve War Thunder’s quality of life without major drawbacks.

Thank you for reading, and I’d love to hear your feedback!

1 Like
2

Anything but proper balancing

4 Likes
3

Let me make it simple for you. You’re stuck in a room with someone and you want to attack each other. You have a knife in your pocket and your opponent has a firearm in their pocket. This is how the game works now. I’m trying to suggest a solution, where you have the opportunity to have a firearm so that you can have a fair fight against your opponent.I think this helps. It’s not perfect, but it’s still a step forward. If not, please explain the problem clearly.

4

Neat idea, but proper decompression would be better. The only thing worse than being uptiered, is being uptiered when every single enemy is in a vastly better vehicle.

This could also be abusable to gain near infinite downtiers in many aircraft of your choice too.

5 Likes
5

That’s why I said there should be two modes, where you can choose the old matchmaking mode and if you know it’s useful for you, choose the new mode.However, the more conditions we apply, the further we get from the original idea of ​​reducing matchmaking time, so I wanted to see if this idea could be improved with the opinions of others.

6

Your example is Air battles.

Thought matchmaker averaged the highest 3 vehicles in your garage to calculate BR for air battles.

If you have a 13.0 and a 12.0… couldn’t you just make another lower BR plane available in preset to avoid the 13.0 assignment?

Most people - by later stages in the game - have at least 4 or 5 slots opened up. Why is that not enough to get the right vehicles into battle?

As for the opt-out … I have a feeling even players that opt-out would be impacted as they still might have to wait for players who have opted in, or enough “regular players” because you have split the player bases.

7

The BR averaging only happens in arcade. In realistic the highest BR is always the BR you queue for.

1 Like
8

Been a while since I played Air realistic - forgot about that difference. Thanks for reminding me.

So now I’m confused even more by the OPs problem…

If they have a 13.0 jet and a 12.0 jet, and want to use the 12.0 jet, why not send the 13.0 jet to holiday? BR now = 12.0 and problem solved.

9

My man you clearly have no clue how realistic works. Lineups are only a thing for realistic ground and naval.

Realistic air battles only let you enter the battle with the vehicle selected when you click to battle so it literally makes no difference what the other vehicles you have not selected are. You can also only spawn in the one singular selected vehicle.

10

No need to be rude.

And the OP never specified realistic. Topic says general.

11

Was your issue described in your original post related to arcade or realistic (air)?

12

Sure the topic says general but have you read the post?

This here makes it seem as if it’s meant for both realistic air with one vehicle choice and any mode that has lineups.

13

Nah but however in arb it would be nice if instead of only the plane you selected you could use any other plane of the same br in your lineup, that way for example I can go to a battle with my Ouragan and my F-84G-26-RE (both 7.7) and pick one based on which one the map favors

14

Yes I read the post.

Based on how arcade and realistic work the OPs suggestion is not needed.

Air Arcade

  • BR is average of top 3 planes in garage. If average is higher than most wanted plane, then user can send the highest vehicle to holiday or equip a lower BR vehicle to lower the average to desired BR

Air Realistic

  • Just pick the plane you want to use and you go into the battle with that as your BR

Ground Arcade

  • similar to Air arcade but no averaging. Easier to get the BR you want by sending crews to holiday or equipping a lower BR vehicle

Ground Realistic

  • Similar to Ground Arcade - equip lower BR vehicle in place of the higher as needed.
15

Yes all you wrote is true but you’re missing the forest for the trees. The suggested thing is for you to be able to change lineups upon entering a game that is an uptier. The way the lineup BR is calculated is irrelevant