Whilst i fully agree from a game play perspective i am not sure if you are actually on target with what kind of goals and mindset is motivating the average player to buy a Ju 288 and to participate in Air RB.
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From my perspective the plane is (besides the captured Yak-1B which requires at least some skill) the only reliable and easy to use grinding tool in the German prop BR range - not more, not less.
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So for the player focused on Ground RB whilst having no intense passion for aircraft the Ju 288 offers the maximum outcome for the smallest possible skill necessary - the perfect grinding tool.
But:
- From my pov the Ju 288 is also a prime example of the general downfall of prop Air RB, the demise on the German air supremacy and the severely deteriorated average pilot/player skill - and i would not even take one for free (for warbonds) these days.
But this just my own opinion - simply because i have all i need and i am not trapped in the hamster wheel called grind.
Why it makes no real sense for experienced pilots (without grinding intentions) to fly this plane:
- Countless open and hidden nerfs of Ju 288s over the years
- Severe lack/absence of game impact of Ju 288s / bombers in general
- Stupid BR placement at 6.0 thx to incompetent fighter players
So whilst pre May 2020 (=introduction of respawning bases) the plane could decide tight matches in the axis vs allies world and was in the right hands a real threat to untrained enemies, the people which are buying the plane right now have usually no clue how good the plane was in the past.
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From a pilot’s perspective the Ju 288 was nerfed into oblivion - i stopped playing it on my old Microsoft xbox account mid 2020 as it made for me no real sense to bomb respawning bases.
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I played 5.172 matches with 56% WR (800 kills, 1.670 deaths) just for fun - even admitting that fun vanished almost entirely after the A2D-1 was introduced and the WR droppod from well above 60% to the final level.
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But you could at least avoid the usual ticket defeats vs US teams with hordes of AD-2s & 4s (which murdered your own tickets early game) by killing 8 moving tanks with 8 SC 250 drops as axis teams (fighters) had severe issues to kill pillboxes or tanks.
For people who wants to see the former potential of the plane i recommend to look for vids from 2020 or older. Regarding more recent experiences i recommend to watch this 7 kill game of hitman in a full downtier from 2021:
I recommend that undecided players (buying or not buying) check the emedded texts describing the most noticeable downsides.
Have in mind that almost all bombers saw a large increase in artificial bullet dispersion of their turrets (around late 2022) - imho the sole exceptions are the 20 mms in the Pe-8 and the G8N1 which are real sniper weapons.
Have a good one!
