Naval mode is finally dead

_Poul · May 8, 2025, 6:05pm

It’s the number of players that played battles, not battles. It counts all battles of all players (since it’s BR based), so one player can be counted many times if he played many battles.

For us this is actually much better than the number of battles or the number of players during the month (one player counted only once) for 2 reasons:

The number of battles would include every battle, it doesn’t matter if the battle had 32 players or 2 players plus 30 AI bots. So it’s not a good way to determine the popularity of the game mode, especially after the devs added more AI bots to Naval and battles now start much faster.
The number of players that played Naval Arcade during the month (one player counted only once) wouldn’t be that good as well, because someone can play only 1 battle during the month, and he would still be counted as Naval Arcade player.

The way the StatShark devs decided to count the number of players makes the most sense. I’m just not sure how exactly they gather these stats. Maybe there is some API in War Thunder that allows them to get this data, I don’t know.

I saw this in battles, but also on other players screenshots. There were players on the forum posting their scoreboards, and you could notice they faced a lot of AI bots in basically every battle. I never saw that many AI bots before. The Naval Arcade game mode looks very empty lately, at least from what I saw. I don’t play Naval anymore, so I still wanted to see April stats to confirm this. But I was pretty sure the number of players would be much lower than before. I just see too much negativity everywhere about this aiming change, it was only a question how many players left the game mode.

Total number of players in February: 707922
Total number of players in March: 765447
Total number of players in April: 581452

To be honest, I expected an even bigger decline. The difference between March and April is -183995 players. It looks a lot, but keep in mind that March was the month with Naval event and we had this aiming change in the middle of it, so probably a lot of players wanted to try the new aiming system. This is probably why March had more players than February. You also have to remember there were some serious Naval bugs in April. If you take all these factors into account, 581452 players in April may not be that bad. But it’s still clear that Naval Arcade has lost a lot of players (even compared to February).

I know that some players were expecting a huge increase in player count because they thought WT Mobile players would join Naval Arcade, but I don’t think that was a reasonable way of thinking at any point.

The big question is where are all the players who claimed they didn’t play Naval Arcade just because they didn’t like the overly difficult aiming system, but will definitely start playing Naval Arcade with the new much easier aiming system. I bet most of these players played only a few battles after the update and decided that they still don’t like Naval Arcade.

FuegoTigre · May 8, 2025, 7:32pm

Hmmmm. Well, I played roughly 3 to 15 games a day. x30 days. I USED to.

I’m not playing ANY. Until they fix this.

Thanks for the clarity.

FuegoTigre · May 8, 2025, 7:57pm

I think this is accurate. Players who were curious tried the new aiming mode and maybe even liked it better! But… then… found the game mode boring because there was nothing left to it anymore.

No skill. So…

No room for growth.

If you’re not growing your skill in a game… are you even playing a game?

The problem is, the damage Gaijin did is going to take time to recover from, even if they revert the changes right now.

This is the first battlepass I haven’t participated in. It’s also the longest time I’ve kept the client closed. And I’m perfectly comfortable not participating in sales, when I used to be excited to pick something up on a discount.

Revert the aim changes, and then provide some kind of incentive to bring players back. Maybe some more Coastal boats that are zoomie. Those are fun.

Humoreske · May 8, 2025, 8:23pm

Oops sorry for the misunderstanding. This is about AB. It should not have been given an unusual reaction time to a large caliber gun with a one-hit kill.
Actual, Arras’ win rate, KpS, and KpD all jumped from before the update.

yairobe · May 9, 2025, 3:04pm

Naval is dead:

Shooting from resp to resp
On NRB your viewfinder go down and down and some time go back to enemy ship
Maps are not balanced
Coastal fleet should play only with other coastal
It is boring

RogueFlameHaze · May 9, 2025, 3:51pm

Honestly almost all the naval changes that came with Hornet’s Sting and after have decimated both player numbers and enjoyment. The shell velocity changes seem fine, and I wont talk about bugs, but its easily pinned on a few changes.

Arcade aiming: most people hate this, its an overly simplified system with a lot of bugs, and relies on the game client running perfectly to function properly most of the time. Its been beat to death with dislikes so I’ll leave it there.
Fire Spreading: Fires can now spread and detonate your magazine, and do so extremely quickly (as in 2-5 seconds quick), even from turret fires. The extinguishing system was not updated for this to lower spreading chances when active or faster times for ammo fires, nor was any countering mechanism added like flooding mags. As it sits it lowers times to kill massively, as you can just hit an enemy turret and change targets, as they will explode soon after most of the time. If you’re a stock ship and your turret gets set on fire, get ready to respawn momentarily. Your armor values also don’t reduce fires, as small spalling shrapnel can set undamaged turrets or elevators on fire as well, even from small caliber guns.
Gaijin Bots: Increased threat and increased rewards, but more frustrating to play against. These bots will all target the same player many times and constantly shell them, causing infinite repairs and flooding. Their shells seem to have increased trajectories and cant be dodged, as you can watch them fly in almost parallel to the water. Added to the fact they use their main guns as 20km+ super accurate AA, and constantly kill snipe (stealing player rewards) makes for a frustrating experience. Doubly so if a bot kills your ship with a magazine fire soon after spawning.

A complete reversion to pre Hornet’s Sting (minus the added ships) would be preferable to most players than what naval has become.

Cepeleon · May 9, 2025, 4:26pm

Agree with this, I have not touched Naval at all, and in fact I have not played WT for about a month. Only played a few matches in ground recently to get that snail deco but that’s about it.

Humoreske · May 9, 2025, 11:01pm

Under the current AB aiming system, the respawn points are extremely unfair on some maps.
The respawn point on the southeastern coast of the African bay is especially problematic.

When players respawn there, they are immediately forced to move westward into an exposed area with no cover, effectively guaranteeing their death. Given the current mechanics, where players are exposed to unusually accurate fire, a respawn point like this is clearly inappropriate.

Teufelwolf · May 10, 2025, 1:15am

The armored boats are insanely OP now, since the AimBots ignore the issues caused by boat bob. They are firing from mostly unstabilized tank turrets and they slaughter larger but thin skinned boats that only have AA defenses.

Teufelwolf · May 10, 2025, 1:19am

It is SOP now for game companies to release untested updates and let the users betatest - it is a win win. They do not have to pay for betatesting and they are getting paid by the players who have to do the betatesting. (actually not just game companies, pretty much every tech company has given up on testing and QA/QC

Kweedko · May 10, 2025, 6:27am

And then look at NRB numbers so what we got there same ~20-25% drop in Player count and Games played, then we look at GAB and also see the drop in %(actually even more drop), AAB also drops, do you gonna argue that NAB changes affected all modes?

So i think naval modes changes in aiming and other stuff barely affected playerbase, the more what affected it is just patch release, when player numbers increase and absents of events - why playerbase decreased. When new patch come in June there gonna be new wave of increase. So relax, i don’t think they gonna change aiming back. And looks like next patch gonna be Naval one with new meta superbig ships probably with some changes in gameplay too.

btw Steamcharts also shows that drop.

_Poul · May 10, 2025, 7:18am

Of course it affected Naval Realistic a lot. Numbers you are talking about:

Total number of Naval Realistic players in February: 323276
Total number of Naval Realistic players in March: 384651
Total number of Naval Realistic players in April: 291457

You can notice a huge increase in March. I just want to remind that the first 2 weeks of March had the old aiming system in Naval Arcade and 2 weeks the new one. I’m sure many players switched from Naval Arcade to Naval Realistic or at least tried both modes to compare them after this change. We also had Naval event in March, which surely affected the number of players.

That’s why I wrote before that March is a weird month and it makes sense to compare numbers to February. You can still see players reduction, a bit less than 10%. Meanwhile the Naval Arcade number of players got reduced by 18%. These are facts, everyone can calculate it, math doesn’t lie.

The interesting thing is that when you look at my battles, I only played 31 battles last week (according to my forum profile). Previously I could play even 200-300 battles per week (I know it’s crazy), so it’s a huge reduction. Naval Arcade was probably my main game mode, but I also played other game modes (Ground Arcade, Air Arcade, a bit of Air Realistic). But when I stopped playing Naval Arcade, I decided to stop buying Battle Passes. I also stopped doing events, e.g. I’m skipping the current T-34-85 event.

In my free time I simply started playing other games than War Thunder. I still log in to WT from time to time and try to get enough RP for my squadron activity, but it doesn’t take that many battles every 3 days. So the Naval Arcade aiming change definitely affected how I play War Thunder. I can’t speak for other players of course, but at least based on my example, the aiming change in Naval Arcade also affected Ground Arcade and Air Arcade game modes.

Previously, War Thunder was pretty much the only game I played for years. That’s not the case anymore, and I actually enjoy this situation a lot. There are many great games out there and I have never had time to play them before.

BTW: In the current sale I didn’t buy a single premium vehicle. I also consider stop buying Premium Time, since I don’t play War Thunder as much anymore, so I don’t really need it. And I have been using Premium Time since I started playing this game many years ago. So this Naval Arcade aiming change affected many things for me. It’s not as simple as just “stop playing Naval Arcade, play more other game modes”. Everything is connected.

Kweedko · May 10, 2025, 7:26am

Man 291457/384651 = 0,757 so ~25% as i wrote

ghost51377 · May 10, 2025, 8:58am

The production team should first achieve the most basic balance, and then complete other detailed tasks at the end
In this game, the US Navy, whether it is warships, cruisers, or large cruisers, has a very fatal weakness!
This is an armor issue! I vividly remember that 10 minutes after the start of the game, my warship and the side armor of the Alaska were completely unable to withstand the firepower of the Soviet Red Navy cruiser “Zhelzniakov”.
May I ask why the armor of US Navy ships is so weak? So much so that even the shells of cruisers can penetrate the main armor belts of 343mm and 228mm?
This is a very infuriating thing! If it’s not resolved, it’s better to delete the United States

ghost51377 · May 10, 2025, 9:00am

Uploading: 屏幕截图 2025-05-10 165642.png…

ghost51377 · May 10, 2025, 9:00am

Rennie1018129-live · May 10, 2025, 9:18am

With all due respect this has nothing to with this topic or the other 2 youve sent it in, yes there are weakpoints but every ship in the entire game has them

Tubby_Vermin · May 10, 2025, 10:23am

The naval mode has been steadily deteriorating, and with every update, it seems like the developers are finding new ways to strip away what little strategy remains.

What was once a mode that demanded precision and careful planning has turned into a frustrating mess where you no longer feel in control of your own shots.

In the past, positioning was crucial, and landing a hit required thoughtful calculation, you had to factor in distance, velocity, and shell trajectory to properly damage an enemy ship.

That challenge was what made naval battles engaging. But now?

The aiming sights make no sense, and tracking where your turret is pointed has become an ordeal. You line up the shot, expecting it to land where aimed, but instead, your rounds veer off unpredictably.

Instead of rewarding skill and tactics, the game now feels like a mindless click-and-hope system. If you can’t accurately judge where your shells will land, then what is left to engage with?

It’s hardly even a battle at this point, just an exercise in randomness.

Your sarcasm regarding automatic firing is eerily accurate at this point. While I understand its presence in Arcade battles, most players prioritise realism. I personally spend most of my time in Realistic mode, but if this trend persists, what comes next?

An “idle mode” where ships auto-fire while players just sit back and watch? The game is dangerously close to eliminating any sense of involvement.

Naval mode needs a serious overhaul before it becomes completely unrecognizable. Strategy should be at the core of the experience, but with every patch, it feels like it’s slipping further and further away.

_Poul · May 10, 2025, 10:42am

Since I’m wasting my time checking stats, I decided to check Air Arcade and Ground Arcade as well to get the full picture.

Like I said a few times before, March was the month with a major update. So you should expect an increased number of players in this month anyway, it simply makes sense. We also had Naval event and Naval Arcade aiming change in mentioned update.

Total number of Naval Arcade players in February: 707922
Total number of Naval Arcade players in March: 765447
Total number of Naval Arcade players in April: 581452

Total number of Naval Realistic players in February: 323276
Total number of Naval Realistic players in March: 384651
Total number of Naval Realistic players in April: 291457

Total number of Air Arcade players in February: 5101116
Total number of Air Arcade players in March: 5642192
Total number of Air Arcade players in April: 5389363

Total number of Ground Arcade players in February: 6378269
Total number of Ground Arcade players in March: 7585078
Total number of Ground Arcade players in April: 6850371

I think the most interesting comparison is when you ignore the March (major update month) and compare February (last full month before the major update) to April (first full month after the major update). This gives you interesting results:

Naval Arcade lost 18% of players.
Naval Realistic lost 10% of players.
Air Arcade gained 5.5% of players.
Ground Arcade gained 7% of players.

It will be interesting to see if this situation continues in May. In June we should see some iconic battleships added to the game, so maybe that will improve the situation a bit, we will see. But currently, it doesn’t look good for Naval and especially for Naval Arcade.

Kweedko · May 10, 2025, 10:57am

Don’t forget that there will be no naval events till the august and this is sad