So I bet this get’s locked but here we go. If Team A starts with 16 players and 4 leave within the first few minutes, the matchmaker should be allowed to put 4 waiting players into those empty slots.
That exact idea is being discussed by War Thunder players right now, including the suggestion that new players should be allowed to join an ongoing match to keep player counts equal.
That alone would eliminate a huge amount of the “we’re down 12–16 and getting steamrolled” problem. 2. Stop putting all the weak/strong players on the same side
The matchmaker shouldn’t just ask:
“Are these vehicles within the correct BR?”
It should also ask:
“Are these teams reasonably comparable?”
For example:
| Team | Current system | Better system |
|---|---|---|
| Team A | 16 players | 16 players |
| Team B | 16 players | 16 players |
| After 5 min | 10 vs 16 | 16 vs 16 |
| High-BR vehicles | 4 vs 4 | 4 vs 4 |
| Experienced players | Random | roughly distributed |
I wouldn’t make skill rating the main matchmaking factor because that could dramatically increase queue times. But I would use a soft balancing system.
3. Balance the number of respawns, not just players
This is especially important in Ground RB.
Imagine:
Your team
- 5 players with 1 vehicle left
- 3 players with 0 SP
- 2 players who left
Enemy team
- 12 players
- lots of SP
- several players bringing second/third vehicles
- CAS already in the air
Technically that’s still “12 vs 10.”
In reality, it’s nowhere close to 12 vs 10.
The game should calculate something like a remaining combat strength.
4. Detect when a team is collapsing
I’d have the server constantly calculate something like:
Team Combat Strength
- Active players
- Vehicles remaining
- Spawn points
- BR
- Number of players currently in aircraft
- Captured objectives
- Recent deaths
- Players leaving
If one team becomes severely disadvantaged, the matchmaker could intervene.
For example:
Team A: 15 players / 25 remaining spawns
Team B: 9 players / 12 remaining spawns
That’s obviously different from:
Team A: 15 / 25
Team B: 14 / 24
The first situation needs intervention.
5. Give players a reason NOT to leave
This is another huge one.
I’d give players a Battle Commitment Bonus.
If you stay until the end:
- +10% RP
- +10% SL
- small bonus for each additional vehicle used
- additional bonus for defending/capturing objectives
But don’t punish someone who genuinely disconnects. The goal should be to make staying attractive, not trap people in a bad match.
6. Don’t let one-death players completely destroy the match
War Thunder recently added a mechanic where J-ing out of a ground vehicle can give the nearest enemy destruction credit. That’s a step toward addressing the consequences of leaving, but it doesn’t actually solve the missing-player problem.
I’d go further:
If someone leaves during the first, say, 5 minutes, their slot becomes available for another player.
That would be huge.
7. Separate “bad match” from “bad team”
This is important because sometimes you aren’t losing because your team is terrible.
You might simply have:
You: 14 players
Enemy: 14 players
Then suddenly:
Your team: 8 players
Enemy: 13 players
At that point, even very good players are going to struggle.
And because Ground RB uses limited respawns and spawn points, losing players compounds the problem very quickly.
The system I’d personally give Gaijin
I’d call it Dynamic Team Balance:
Before battle
- Match by BR.
- Keep top-BR vehicles reasonably balanced.
- Distribute squads fairly.
- Soft-balance player skill.
During battle
5. Replace early leavers with queued players.
6. Continuously monitor team population.
7. Monitor remaining combat strength.
8. Prevent one side from becoming massively outnumbered.
Late battle
9. If a team is heavily outnumbered, give it additional defensive spawn options/objective assistance.
10. Increase rewards for players who stay and fight.
And I’d accept an extra 10–20 seconds of queue time if it produced substantially better matches.
Gaijin has already acknowledged that matchmaking quality can be improved by adjusting matchmaking settings at the cost of somewhat longer queues.
And here’s the interesting part
You’re not the only person noticing this right now. There are current 2026 War Thunder forum discussions specifically complaining about one-death leavers and uneven teams, and even recent testing where players documented repeated matchmaking imbalance.