Navy Arcade Sucks Now

Game Discussion Arcade Battle
106

Personally, I never play Naval without “Join Already Active Battles” turned on. They extended the time in which you are able to join an in progress Naval battle fairly recently (month or so before current major update.)

I have not waited more than 1-2 minutes since they extended the time to join an active Naval battle (with the option turned on.) Before and after the current major patch too. I would highly recommend at least trying it out for Naval and see what you think. For me, more play time per/hour is worth any negatives for joining late (but still imo, I don’t find it is a negative anyway.)

And I greatly prefer joining Naval battles “late” as you don’t get focus fired in spawn right away. For anyone who doesn’t know where the setting is, here is a screenshot:

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107

Probably a smart move. Can’t flip an intended naval outcome anyway.

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108

Fwiw, you can log into the War Thunder mobile app and keep your login streak going (applies to your PC login streak), if that helps.
Only works on the WT MOBILE app, the game one, NOT the helper app fyi.)

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109

No, I mean I’m losing motivation to keep it going. I’m sitting at my PC with the launcher open and the PLAY button red and ready to go. NOT CLICKING

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110

Sorry to hear that bro. Idk if you are Naval only, but maybe one of the other modes? I especially enjoy playing some very low BR ground or air battles when I get aggravated with the “main” stuff.

111

Yeah I like tanks but for the life of me I can’t learn Helos, so progressing deep into tanks is a slog. I was really enjoying Naval and looking forward to grinding each nation pretty deep, but this naval patch is a rug pull, big time.
I’ve contemplated making the jump to RB, but I can’t just do it because of a sudden patch deleting a game mode.

112

I feel that lol.

Spoiler

I finally forced myself to learn them, also helped me a LOT by watching some youtube videos of other players using Helis. Not so much to learn how to use them, but to see what you can do with them, and then trying to mimic what they did in a test drive. Especially for the Ka-50/52, you can do some very unusual maneuvers with those two. Like pointing straight down over an enemy tank while using the cannon, firing down into their turret.

113

The problem is in Arcade you never know what helo you’re going to hop into, so learning a specific helo is just… nevermind. A bit off topic.
I’m just saying this naval patch really hurt.

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114

OH I have some suggestions for Ground Arcade+Helis, sending you a DM. Cheers bro.

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115

As a naval mode veteran since the open beta days, I’ve played several matches with the new arcade mechanics, and this “simplified” aiming system makes me question whether the developers even understand their own game anymore. I get that they want to attract players by streamlining mechanics, but let’s be real—this approach of constant simplification has been going on since naval mode launched, yet the player base keeps shrinking. The core issue is asymmetric knowledge gaps.

Why has the new system faced such backlash? First, it’s historically absurd. There were no WWII battleships equipped with modern fire-control systems, yet here we are. Second, even with these overly simplified mechanics, new players still struggle to land hits and end up getting farmed by veterans or AI. Let’s set aside the historical inaccuracies for now and focus on the latter problem. The devs seem to think that making aiming easier will level the playing field, but naval mode’s ever-shifting mechanics—armor spalling, hull integrity, compartment systems, ammunition behavior, ship-specific weak spots—require layers of knowledge that new players can’t possibly absorb quickly. This is why naval struggles to retain players. Compare it to ground battles: tanks have straightforward crew layouts and weak zones, and core mechanics rarely change drastically. The learning curve is manageable. Naval isn’t ground forces, nor should it try to mimic World of Warships or mobile game arcade nonsense. It needs to carve its own identity through realistic mechanics.

But here’s the dilemma: how do we balance realism with engaging gameplay? The answer, as I’ve stressed repeatedly, lies in overhauling map design and victory conditions, not dumbing down systems. Let’s talk about the EC mode again. Imagine a scenario where everyone starts with destroyers. Veterans would use their expertise to earn points and spawn cruisers or battleships later. To protect newcomers, we could segregate the EC map into zones—designate a “destroyer sanctuary” as a beginner-friendly area, while capital ships operate in separate sectors. Implement safeguards like diminishing rewards for seal-clubbing in low-tier zones or AI patrols targeting players who dominate matches early. This way, new players aren’t thrown into instant battles against veterans armed with encyclopedic knowledge of armor angles and shell drop rates.

The current system forces rookies into unwinnable face-to-face duels where veterans exploit every mechanic advantage. It’s a recipe for constant player churn. Until the devs address this fundamental imbalance between skill tiers and create structured progression through smart map design, no amount of “simplification” will save naval mode. Stop chasing mobile game trends. Double down on what makes naval unique—authentic combined arms warfare with room for both learning curves and epic-scale battles.

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116

Also having some small boat shoot out the bridge on my destroyer from 5Km away seems unreasonable.

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117

That’s a fair summary - but the info being used to lay the guns was from a fire control system that “kept the sights” on the enemy ship - whether by individual turret or director control - the rangefinders all worked like that

118

this actualy in not “realism” at all… you can be the “capitain” LOL of some first war ship… but it works as if it had “AI computers” to shoot…

if you are “the captain”… why can you be the gunner in the MAIN, auxiliary, AA, or torpedos?.. you can EVEN fly a damn plane… yeah… you can just “drive” the damn boat, if thats what you like an “captains” do… wait… no!.. “captains” just “give orders”!.. grab a headphone and a mic, and you can just “talk” :D
being the Fckn “captain” is NOT the reason why I play games with “realistc physics” and “aiming and…”

yeah… it SURELLY is VERY DIFERENT just “Pointin” and let the computer do “what you dont understand”… OR… have some indicatorr general notion of where THE BOAT MIGHT BE moving, and move your “falling points” there… and PAY ATENTIONS to see, if you are not shoting to a 5 Kms range… when the boat you are trying to hit, is at 4kms… and getting closer… and have to see to where the point is turning… so you can correct your AIMING… instead of “JUST” point to some “green whatever” that it seem you dont understand…

you have 2 “marks”… a round one that shows where its “calculates” the boat MIGHT BE (even with some weird jumps) and where you SHOULD AIM (and correct MANUALLY your AIMING)
and you heve other marker where “shots” will “land”… that SHOULD BE, more or less, where it was calculated the boat might be…

that “pic” you put there… shows NOTHING AT ALL about ANYTHING you were complaining…
but yeah…
you are “moving”… so your shots will “ALSO MOVE” to the “side” with the speed of your boat… (with longer distances it get ever “worse”… BUT THATS HOW PHYSICS WORK!)
THATS WHY you NEED TO AIM more to the RIGHT of your target… (you are going to the left, so YOU NEED TO COMPENSATE FOR THAT!..
if you aim RIGHT AT IT… the “direction+speed” of your boat… will make the bullets fall BEHIND your target… probably in that “shot”, you might have hit the end of the boat

if the target was moving to the front… the FASTER he was going… FURTHER to the RIGHT you need to aim… if it could move backwards at the same speed than you, you might just shoot “right at it”… (since you SEEM TO BE more or less “paralel” to it) but it cant… BASICALLY even with the “HELP” of that “target”… you need to COMPENSATE YOUR SHOT… with YOUR SPEED+direction… the DISTANCE you are from your target… and the target speed and direction…

and YEAH men… “realism” in a “realistic physics” game… is trying to understand and EVOLVE with this “VECTORS”…
NO ONE reaches “captain”… it the “realistic world” if it doesnt “master” the BASICS of the stuff you are being “the captain”… except maybe… if you are a rich kid like elon… that can “buy” a boat and "be the captain… and “SELL THE BOAT RIGHT TO THAT CORAL… I KNOW WE CAN FLY OVER IT… CAUSE I AM THE CAPTAIN”

BUT HEY… you CAN just be in “voyeur mode”… and you can enjoy seeing “other players” when you die… and try to “give the orders”… to see if they listen LOL

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119

yeah… but it was ALL “calculated manually” it took some time to “do the math”… and at EVERY change in speed and direction of ANY of the boats… that “aiming” needed to be recalculated…

now you dont even need a “range finder”… you can just shoot at marker/boat you cant even see, (and hit it anyway… just cause the “computer” KNOWS where that “boat” is going… even if it is IMPOSSIBLE to track it (at least, without today’s or “future” tecnology"

this “new aiming” could be used to fix some “errors” in shooting main and auxiliary guns… where the diffent speeds and trajectories of the bullets made the secondary shot fall FAR WAY from the point you were trying to aim with the main gun…
it could be nice, that “computer” could help the secondary guns to compensate the shot, EVEN if the “aiming” was made using the “main gun” (specially at long distances)

120

at first it was also weird to me… the predictor show “more or less” where it “predicted” that you should shot… but back in the “analog” times… doing all that math “by hand”, with vectors, and speeds and distances and time the bullets took to reach… and… and… would take some time…
by the time you ended the “math”, in the “predictor”, ANY change in any of those “numbers” in the meantime… could have changed completelly! and you might shoot… but the other boat could be already going in the oposite direction…

you could use that “predictor” to get a general idea of “where to shoot”, but you needed to “aim” using your “skills” to correct distance… or to follow any target direction changes, and made corrections yourself… not just “rely” on that “predictor”…

to me, that was the most funny part of naval battles!

now its just boring… the “computer” knows where the boat is going, and you dont even need to be moving “straight”… you just point at the boat, and at any speed/direction/distance, and the shot (usually) hit it there, without you even understanding “how” that happened!

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121

No those aren’t what yo say, on my screens shoots will land in the center of the model, those marks are where you should aim and where you aiming your guns that’s all, there is no markers where target will be or shots will land and that is counterintuitive in old system for newcomers, and what about the times where you and target move opposite directions and pointing 2 screens sideways can’t even look where your shots will land on target - is that fun starring and pointing at the sea? Is that entertaining? I think not.

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IRL when you shoot you must see the target to correct your fire cause if you don’t observe observe it you don’t know where you hit it, with old system in certain moments players have no visual on the target yes it not often for Battleships fights cause they are slow targets but for quick costals and DDs and fast cruisers it happens every match and get worse when you are moving too. So lot of people don’t move at all. Now if you not moving you are sitting duck just as in IRL. Lost of those who oppose the new system, either want to sit like old times, or don’t understand how to use new aiming cause used to old one(and that the devs false cause they don’t explain new system at all). And just bunch of those who oppose don’t like it cause it’s “too easy”

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122

I agree in one point - the observation of the target when on opposite course. Even with zoom-out it was sometimes diffcult to see your salvos esp. on far distances.
The now(or ever) useless window in the upper left could have been replaced by a live-picture of the target to correct your shots - like the new window for drones implemented in ground battles.

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123

This ain’t entertaining to stare at small picture in picture, observers on the ship look at the target at maximum zoom in that surveillance devices allow them, why shouldn’t we as a players?

124

maybe - the change in aiming for bluewater might be not so critical. But the coastal boats which never had a director or marker (and not in RL!) have now also the aimbot - maybe for not irritating the bluewater players which now have to lead - this is a worse side-effect. Same for the now laser-guided AA which start to shoot at planes where one not even can see any name-plate.

125

On close range coastal it’s almost unnoticeable, on long rage no it gives chance to slow fire rate ships against rapid ones and early big ships.

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like here i need to aim seeing my target barely on the screen(and thats and RB ) on AB i must shot not seeing the target or barely seeing the salvos. Besides that ship i used has FCU IRL. Now this ship can compete with Destroyers.

ps. if you give new system only to those who have FCU how others can compete with them? It’s the game in the end, and arcade mode.