Helicopter RP Requirements Are Broken — Time for a Rework

Game Discussion General Discussion
,
1

I’ve been grinding helicopters for a while now, and honestly — the RP costs are insanely high and inconsistent with the rest of the game, especially when compared to tanks and aircraft. This isn’t just my opinion; the community has repeatedly raised the same issue across multiple threads. Post nr.1, Post nr.2, Post nr.3.

The Core Problem

Helicopters, especially top tier ones, require huge amounts of RP — up to 400k+ for a single vehicle. That’s the same RP cost as Rank VIII tanks and jets, yet:

  • Helicopters have fewer unlocks in their tech tree.
  • They are harder to use effectively.
  • There’s no efficient dedicated game mode for them.
  • Without premium vehicles/accounts, the grind is painfully slow.

These prices feel like they were designed to gatekeep helicopters unless you pay or grind endlessly.

RP/Hour: How Long Does Helicopter Research Take?

Right now, practical RP gains for helicopters are very low, especially if you don’t use premium gear:

Heli PvE RP Gains

  • With premium heli + premium account: ~15,000 RP/hour (best case)
  • Without premium: ~8,000–10,000 RP/hour
    This means you need around 380k–400k RP just to unlock one top helicopter — that’s 25–50 hours of dedicated grinding just for the research.

Why This Matters

Compare this to opponents at similar battle ratings — say Rank VI ground vehicles and jets:

A top Rank VI tank or aircraft might cost ~220k–280k RP to unlock AND you can unlock multiple vehicles within that range.
A single Rank VI–VII helicopter costs 350k–400k RP, and that’s just for one vehicle.
On top of that, you then grind modules and stock penalties which adds even more RP requirements.

This means helicopters:
✔ Cost the same as end-game vehicles
✘ Have worse progression tools
✘ Lack reliable high-RP game modes
✘ Require high skill just to get competitive

That’s a bad design loop, not balanced progression.

Also don't forget half million RP heli

image

Conclusion

Helicopters in War Thunder have:

  • High RP costs equal to top vehicles
  • Slow RP gain, especially without premium boosts
  • Lack of efficient grind modes
  • Exponential jump between ranks

And all this for a vehicle type that feels less rewarded and more situational compared to tanks and aircraft.

Fixing this should be a priority if helicopters are meant to be a fun, viable part of the game — not just a paywall grind. Also improving and adding more different type of load outs/ammunition would be a nice touch

4 Likes
2

Helicopters should get a dedicated game mode and less rp cost 👍

1 Like
3

Here’s where your wrong, it still is slow

2 Likes
4

Helicopter PVE its real

5

If i want to chase AI driven Israeli AMX-13 through canyons, get gunned down by gepards from sixty-billion miles away, and have Ka50 steal all my kills, for 45 straight minutes then yeah 👍

2 Likes
6

What???
Seriously, in that setting I earn on average over 4000 RP in 10 min, so we talk more like over 24.000 RP/hour.
Due to match length and respawn ability, boosters can be used for the full 30min, creating reliable bonus income.

You can also grind choppers using tanks. So going by your own argument, you can use way more efficient research methods to research choppers.

This is not the logic used anywhere in game. The position within the tree is what matters. Look at naval: Reserves at 3.3, top tier at 3.3. And no, they don’t cost the same. Their price difference is far bigger than for choppers vs tanks. No special negative treatment for choppers and surely no gate keeping here.

Most choppers I played so far have very little stock grind difficulty. Most nations have a PVE suitable chopper as entry or second vehicle (Japan was fixed recently). If you don’t like the entry model, use tanks to grind to the next one and use that. Works for all but Sweden. For Sweden, buy the premium or use the army all the way.

Where is the problem with that one? Rank VII only 38% more expensive than rank IV seems OK.

7

The heli tree is short. And Gaijin want all trees to take about same time to research, so while being shorter it make sense to be harder to research to allow for same research speed to top like tanks or planes. So in reality,if the heli tree should be as fast as tank or air progression,the helis would have to cost 800k RP minimum per each.

8

Helicopters can be researched with tanks… the biggest problem is the modules that need to be researched, but looking at what some helicopters offer, it’s balanced ok

9

Yes, that is possible in 4 people match with 500% booster, premium account and premium helicopter

What? There is no confirmed “logic” used in the game

image
image637×1078 148 KB

10

It it possible in many matches with a premium account and a premium helicopter of rank VI and some of the rank V premiums as well. Of course, in some matches you have bad luck. But on average, 12.000RP in 30 min sound realistic.

It will not be possible if you don’t understand the economy and suicide all the time to respawn near new targets. That is what some people do and it will ruin their RP income.

The mighty Sardine explained it to you too. But if you ignore all observations, you can’t confirm things, that is true.

Check the rank IV Liverpool and do the math yourself.

Edit: Just did a 30 min trip in a chopper and got 12856 RP from a pretty lame match with six people in it.