This already happened in 2018/2019 when they gave us AIR RB EC and it took too many players away from AIR RB so they canned it.
After that they removed historical MM, increased ticket bleed and reduced timer from 45m to 30m and at that moment I quit the game for 2 years. :)
My eternal wish is for the reintroduction of AIR RB EC. Now that we have at least 3x the amount of players we had 5 years ago seems like a perfect time for it, especially with the coming of FOX3 missiles. I think AIR RB EC is the only suitable mode for FOX3 missiles. And if we won’t get it in 2024, the AIR RB stays the same 16v16 mess we have now and on top of that they will introduce FOX3 missiles, I will take another 2 year break from the game.
small maps and the associated cancellation of markers for the opponent
small maps and limited distance to display enemy markers
small maps with variable day/night time
small maps with changeable weather
large maps with targets spread across the entire map area
via 3rd person view only view, use of weapons only from first person/bomber point of view
etc.
It’s about how you are willing to play and think about the game…
If the interest is only to fly to the center of the map, near the ground and play in the style of killing or the end of the game, then there is no need to think about the game at all… !
Fighters are generally much easier to play,
with attack aircraft it is more difficult and
with bombers you have to know a lot what you are doing…
It is important to have a view, observe the spaces in the game, try to be detected as late as possible and other things…
The reason gaijin prefers these fast paced unsatisfactory matches are because they want the game to be addicting. Its the same idea as what makes tiktoks algorythm so addicting.
A satisfying ec match that lasted 1 or 2 hours like sim makes the player feel “that was fun, but i might not start a second one because i was satisfied by all cool situations and im not sure i could play 1 or 2 more hours.”
Right now after a match youre thinking “i almost had a super cool match ill play JUST one more and i might get a cool one”. And that is repeated over and over
in my opinion what ARB mode needs is to completely change the gameplay style of the mission, that is, the objective is completed if you complete the mission objectives, not if you defeat the enemy team, because until this option is removed, they can add all the objectives they want on the map, but people will only think about killing the other players to win the game, while killing the other players only has to give scores and prevent the opposing team from completing the objectives, and consequently respawn is required. of course the games will be longer like this but consequently the reward will also have to be adequate, but by doing so people will start to study in-game tactics to win and not just to get as many kills as possible to end the game, full stop, start again
You seem to be describing a pure PVE mode here. I don’t think this is the best solution to players grievances, at the current moment.
I mean look at Gaijin’s record with PVE modes. Air Assault and Ground Assault are jokes. Gaijin literally has to pay people with boosters to play these modes. Heli PVE is a good way to learn how to use a helicopter, but its super bare bones and gets really boring after playing for a couple of hours.
Gaijin just isn’t great at creating PVE modes. Im sure if they devoted a bunch of dev time to it that they could produce a good PVE mode but it would be a fundamental change for the devs and I just think that’s not where they want the game to go. At least for now.
These modes also tend to be a lot less popular than PVP modes. You could say its because they don’t make the mode good and maybe theres some truth to that but thats just the way it has played out so far. War Thunder is predominantly a PVP game with some PVE elements.
I think the best and most realistic scenario for someone who wants more Air PVE content is for Gaijin to add a separate Air RB EC mode with respawning, similar to Sim EC. They can obviously add maps and objectives to this mode. Looks like we’re gunna get some SAM systems soon from some of the datamines. This is probably the most likely scenario and it would certainly give PVE players something more to have fun with but there would still be PVP in this mode.
Air RB could then be tailored more to hardcore PVP players or could just be left as is (maybe with an upper tier team size reduction at least).
The other option would be to adjust the current Air RB to be more like EC, without going “full EC”. Ive been calling this an “EC Lite” mode which essentially takes the current Air RB and adds Ground RB’s spawn point respawn mechanic, along with additional PVE objectives to the current Air RB mode, additional airfields, carriers, etc.
This EC Lite mode could be a good compromise, if Gaijin refuses to add another game mode to Air RB. It gives PVE players something without taking anything away from PVP players.
Either way Air RB certainly needs an adjustment but a pure PVE mode is probably not on the immediate horizon for us.
absolutely not, it wouldn’t just be PVE, in fact the combat would still be there, the only difference is that just fighting the opponents doesn’t guarantee victory, but you have to complete the objectives, such as stopping the bombers or the ground units, or prevent the launch of a counter-protected missile, destroy a fleet, etc. etc. fighting against other players would then become a way to prevent others from completing objectives, as if it were a battlefield, where kills score, they don’t eliminate the team without the possibility of returning to the game and reversing the situation, but only winning the objectives guarantee victory, so you could also have killed a large number of enemies but if thanks to the tactics the opposing team somehow managed to complete the objectives at that point you lose the game
RB and SB enduring confrontation are the modes I’ve had the most fun in the entire time I’ve played this game
Its really a shame RB EC isn’t up regularly because sometimes getting VR and stick out for sim is just too much of a commitment