Killcams in GRB that show the shooter’s position ruin the experience because it removes the suspense and strategic challenge. Part of the fun is knowing you have to rely on your instincts, your team, and your positioning to survive, not a magical camera that gives away someone’s hard-earned spot. Killcams also invite cheap revenge kills, whereby the player just forgets tactics and rushes to get one back, which takes so much from the feel of the battles and makes them more arcadey. Plus, it’s frustrating to carefully outmaneuver someone only for them to get a free look at your location and come back to take you out. Every decision carries a lot more weight without killcams, and the tension of not knowing keeps the gameplay rewarding and fun.
I’d like to get the thoughts of some of my War Thunder peers. Do you think killcams are useful? Useless? Why or why not?
They nerfed it a while back. You get far fewer folks trying to kill you.
I like them because I can learn from what mistakes I make, and I can learn new locations/more about a map. Gaijin changed them earlier this year to not show the full shell travel, which I think is fair.
I don’t think they should be changed, atleast in RB.
My skill issue ass loves them because I can use them to revenge bomb <3 (jk)
In my opinion kill cams shouldn’t be available until your game is over, at least in GRB.
It’s a good tool to learn, but I think they give out way too much free information and are detrimental to good flanking plays.
Yes!!!
This exactly.
On a more serious note:
I like them a lot, because they force repositioning. If you know that someone knows you’re there, and you have the opportunity to move (because they’re dead), why would you stay and wait until your position is compromised?
This makes no sense to me. I understand your point, and if the enemy spots you you should move, but why in the world should I be forced to move because the game decides to hold my enemy’s hand all the way to my spot, instead of making them figure out where I’m lurking?
Problem is when your position gets compromised just because you killed someone.
I don’t see a reason why should they be entitled to that information. It’s a like a reward for being killed.
Honestly, i think the map design is so questionable, and some spots so downright overpowered, that I feel it sort of necessary. There’s far too many spots someone can take a bushed up little goblin tank and spawn trap. I get the argument about immersion and that, but it’s really only the fear of retribution that forces people to move away from these cracked spots, after they’ve overstayed their welcome.
If the person is directly in LOS of the spawn, they get their immediate payback for being a gremlin. If they’re not, they have plenty of time to move before anyone can act on that info. Heck, it can even be an advantage too, by baiting someone back for revenge to where they think you are, and setting up an ambush to the route there.
CAS revenge is a whole different beast, and allows them to act on the info way quicker then any tank could. It’s one of many reasons why I think all CAS should spawn stationary on the runway.
Just try to head cannon lore this as a friendly tank saw the direction of the shot, and relayed this information to the crew of the new tank you spawned in lol.
It’s there to model how it would be to imagine another crew seeing your tank get shot, and relaying that information to the crew that mans your second vehicle. At least thats what I think its for
That’s so bad though because we already have other crews on your team to communicate to you.
On a unrelated note, I despise those hit indicators that show the direction you’ve been shot from. It’s yet another crutch that I don’t think belongs in GRB.
So basically, if you leave the line that Gaijin set up for a certain map and you try to play intelligently and flank, you’re a “little goblin” and a “gremlin” and you should be killed because the game doesn’t want you to leave the line.
I hated spawntrappers and bushed-up people just as much as the next person but it should not be ok to ruin the “realistic” mode because some people are sad they got killed by a hidden enemy.
If they’re not, they have plenty of time to move before anyone can act on that info.
That’s just ignorance about the design of many maps. You can have a good spot but get ruined before you have the chance to move.
Heck, it can even be an advantage too, by baiting someone back for revenge to where they think you are, and setting up an ambush to the route there.
While that’s possible I’m willing to bet that a situation like that is in the vast minority of times and can’t be considered a real benefit. Anything can be considered a benefit if you do mental acrobatics.
Just try to head cannon lore this as a friendly tank saw the direction of the shot, and relayed this information to the crew of the new tank you spawned in lol.
Sure sure but how can you argue that x mechanic supports y mechanic in real life when y mechanic exists in the game? x mechanic does something that does not happen irl.
Actually what that says ^ kind of doesn’t make a good argument either since respawns don’t happen IRL either, we can’t exactly have perfect realism so somebody is still gonna spawn in with knowledge of where they were shot from. But at the very least, not the precise location to blitz / bomb?
Can you share a few of those overpowered spots, as I’m genuinely curious ?
Some tanks are purpose built goblins and literally need that playstyle to perform as expected. Kill cam actively hurts their rat playstyle so their efficiency is surely taking a hit.
I’m talking about certain situations on certain maps. Think of things like Euro Province, Poland, Ardennes, Fulda etc, where there are forested areas where someone in a fast tank can just hug the map border on cruise control, all the way into LOS of the other sides spawn.
You can call that intelligent if you want. Because from an ingame economic perspective, i guess it is smart to pull out every trick in the book that results in the most easy frags as possible. But spawncamping is just rubbish gameplay for the other side, and the camera helps the team being trapped to counter it.
War Thunder wasn’t, isn’t, and will never be a team game.
There’s a reason we call them “blue enemies”
Ah that definitely explains the reasoning that the killcam is your team helping.
If it’s not a team game we shouldn’t be simulating teams.
One that I just learned the other day, you know the north cap on Vietnam, (I think it’s A?), that has a mountain directly on it’s north face?
The team who spawns on the left side of the map can get ontop of that mountain with friends pushing each other, and fire directly into the right teams southern spawn (As well as a good portion of the map). Seen a Chally 2 up there and was completely baffled by it lol.
No doubt, and without being corny, we are playing a war game - and it’s not in anyone’s interest to fight fair. But still, gotta be a compromise somewhere right?
Tbh, if they removed the camera, i would not lose sleep over it. This is not a hill I will die on, i’m mostly just playing a bit of devils advocate for a purpose it serves. ‘Realistic’ has plenty other non realistic elements like flight instructor, scout markers, hit markets etc.
Sounds almost like a feature that’s just there to counter very specific situations, but messes with most of them.
There’s already the hit cam, using your eyes to see where you’re being shot from (or were shot from, if you’re dead) and the post-death cam that shows the shell flying into your tank and killing you. Showing the exact location of the enemy is unnecessary handholding.