Kind of baffled by your logic here. So you’re saying that event vehicles don’t change winrates, and its “strange” to suggest an event vehicle as a solution to a missing kind of vehicle in a tech-tree… Isn’t this literally the core problem with suggesting a King Tiger for the USSR, and the entire point I was also trying to make? I can’t tell if you’re agreeing with me in a long-winded way, or if you disagree.
You also still seem to fail to understand what I mean by a niche. The battle-doctrine of the USSR did not produce a King Tiger equivalent. The solution isn’t to add a King Tiger as an event vehicle, it seems you at least agree with that. But if you want to play the USSR with gameplay comparable to a King Tiger, I was simply suggesting a vehicle I know is tried and true similar. When I said niche, I was specifically talking about a gameplay niche. For the USSR, anything akin to a King Tiger would be a niche in its playstyle, such as the 248. It has a faster reload than the T-44-100, which is arguably the closest thing to a King Tiger you can get for the USSR. It has a non-overpressure cannon/ammunition, but great pen, somewhat decent reload, and incredible frontal armor. Only reason its 7.0 instead of 6.7 is probably because of its superior mobility.
It sounds like these players should be making a discussion post begging Gaijin to nerf the King Tiger again then, rather than suggesting they get one as well. And I am not saying this from any malicious place, as despite being a Germany main I have more time spent playing Russia in all honesty. I’ve found in my years playing the game that Russian tanks require more movement and map knowledge than German tanks, but with good enough game-sense they can easily outclass them.
The King Tiger only feels OP because a lot of Russian players I’ve seen in my matches develop bad habits from playing earlier Soviet tanks. The T-34 and KV-1 both bounce rounds like its nobody’s business. The players get used to brawling as their main form of combat. Flanking or sniping are afterthoughts when your cannon can easily pen at close range from the front. However, when you get to 6.7, they start to struggle. The IS-2 is not a brawler, it serves best as a mid-range sniper. The T-44 is not a brawler, it does its best while flanking. The King Tiger is a brawler. Yes it can snipe pretty well, but its superior in close-range frontal fighting with its reload speed, penetration, and great armor. Every single weak spot it has (excluding the MG port since its hard to hit) is its side and rear armor. I’ve seen Germany players APLENTY not understand this. They overextend, get flanked by one guy, half the team dies, match is over. Competent Russian players lean into their vehicles’ strengths, and win at rates that clearly Gaijin thinks is more than acceptable, because I remember them a couple years back moving the IS-2 from 6.0 and 6.3 to 6.3 and 6.7, which I thought was overkill. I thought the T-44 should be 6.3, and the (FM) variant is overtiered at 6.3. Yet apparently they perform more than well enough at these battle ratings, despite serving different roles than the Tiger II.
Moral of the story is don’t underestimate a player who flanks with the IS-2, one shots a King Tiger, then rolls back into cover. Sometimes, that does more to win the game than a guy in a Tiger II who tries the same strategy, only kills the enemy’s turret crew, then gets killed by the enemy’s teammate before he can even get his 7.5 aced reload in. The IS-2 is no slouch, and also one of the most satisfying tanks to get kills with. You clearly know that judging by your stats.
Tiger II & IS-2 (1944) vs. M103
As you can see, the BR471D round is two times more likely to get a lucky shot through the hull on a tank that is infamously hard to pen the hull on, specifically because it is curved angled armor. The two green spots are guaranteed, while adjacent spots around them are yellow, but not shown by the protection analysis. For the Tiger II its basically impossible to go through the hull at that distance (500 meters).
Also I find it hilarious that you bring that up, I made an entire post about how it confused me the T29 got a reload nerf while the Tiger II 105 didn’t, despite having better ammunition, mobility, and even some may argue armor, all while still being at 7.0. They at least since then nerfed the ammunition a bit. Maybe if it comes back for the anniversary, like the Maus, the influx of players using it will encourage them to nerf the reload too, bring it on par with the T29. Because right now it has a much better argument for being OP than the standard King Tiger does.
