I want to talk about something thats been bothering me and a lot of other players for a while now, the glaring double standard between the US and RU tech trees. It feels like there are two completely different rulebooks for how vehicles, weapons, and core mechanics are added and balanced in the game.
Take the aircraft timeline, for example. Were constantly getting cutting-edge Russian jets like the Su-30SM (2012) and even the Su-30SM2 (2020-2021 ). But when you look at the US side, we either get much older airframes, or if we do get a modern jet, its historical loadouts are instantly artificially nerfed or restricted right out of the gate.
Then there’s the “burden of proof” for ordnance, which is incredibly frustrating. The RU tree gets highly advanced stuff like the Kh-38MT - a missile that barely left the prototype phase and is extremely rare in real life - added with zero hesitation. But for the US? The criteria are absurdly strict. You can hand the devs concrete proof, full technical specs, and literal photographs of a weapon mounted on a specific jet, and it still gets denied. The excuses are often ridiculous, like “we don’t have the exact drop speed limit.” Why are minor missing details a hard stop for US historical weapons, but questionable prototypes are green-lit for Russia?
Ground forces are where this bias becomes completely undeniable. Russia gets top-of-the-line MBTs like the T-90M, T-80BVM, and upgraded T-72B3As, fully decked out with state-of-the-art ERA and APS, plus very generous armor modifiers. Meanwhile, the Abrams series is totally compromised. Sure, we got the SEP V1 and V2, but they’re artificially weakened. In reality, the SEP V2 uses the Trophy APS, but we don’t get that in-game. We’re also forced to rely on outdated APFSDS rounds when far superior versions like the M829A3 or A4 exist. Worst of all, the Abrams’ armor values are severely nerfed compared to real life, completely ignoring public documents about its depleted uranium hull arrays.
Look at the SPAA situation at top tier, too. Russia basically has an impenetrable anti-air umbrella. First, they got the Buk-M3 as the ultimate long-range deterrent, and then the Pantsir-SMSV to completely lock down medium and close ranges. While RU enjoys this state-of-the-art combo, US anti-air is left drastically underperforming by comparison.
Finally, this asymmetrical treatment even bleeds into the core game mechanics. It’s basically an open secret at this point that RU MBTs benefit from heavily reduced secondary spalling. You can pen their side armor or carousel and it often does nothing, whereas a similar shot against an Abrams guarantees catastrophic internal damage.
We desperately need a unified, transparent standard for how weapons, armor, and vehicles are introduced and balanced across all nations. The current double standard is obvious, and it’s completely ruining top-tier matches.