Hey everyone,
I wanted to bring up a topic that’s been on my mind for a while, and I think a lot of players have probably felt the same way at some point. It’s about how premium vehicles are handled in terms of balance—especially what happens after you buy them.
To explain how it feels, let me use an analogy:
Imagine you buy a brand-new set of high-performance tires from a dealership. They’re advertised to handle great, grip well in all weather, and improve your car’s performance. You test them out and love them. But a month later, the dealership remotely degrades the tires—reducing their tread, weakening the grip, and making them perform half as well—because they decided they were “too good.”
It would feel pretty frustrating, right? Even if the company said they technically had the right to do that, it would still feel like a bait-and-switch.
Well… that’s what Gaijin does with premium vehicles.
- A premium aircraft or tank gets released at a suspiciously low BR, and it’s clearly overpowered.
- Everyone talks about how good it is. Content creators make videos. Players rush to buy it.
- Then—after a few weeks or months—it gets a BR hike, a weapon/engine nerf, or worse.
- Now you’re left with a product that no longer performs the way it did when you bought it.
That’s what it often feels like when you buy a premium vehicle in War Thunder. A new premium gets released, performs really well at a lower BR, and gets a lot of attention. Then, a month or two later—after many people have already bought it—it gets a BR increase or some kind of performance adjustment that changes how it plays entirely.
Now, to be fair: I understand that Gaijin’s Terms of Service allows them to change vehicle performance for balance reasons. I’m not saying they’re doing anything illegal. And I do understand the need for ongoing balance adjustments to keep the game healthy.
But I think what a lot of us struggle with is the timing and transparency of it all.
- If a vehicle was clearly overperforming from the start, why was it released that way?
- Could it be balanced before it goes on sale, rather than after?
- And if changes are made so soon after launch, is it fair to not offer refunds or compensation?
This isn’t meant to be an attack—just a genuine concern from a long-time player who cares about the game. At the end of the day, we’re paying real money for these vehicles, and when they change significantly after purchase, it naturally leads to frustration.
And to be honest, this isn’t just about one or two vehicles. It’s become a consistent pattern over time. Many premium vehicles—especially aircraft—launch at strong BRs, receive glowing reviews from creators, and are then adjusted a few weeks or months later once the initial sales spike has passed. Whether it’s the F-5C, A-10, MiG-23ML, or others, this cycle has repeated enough times that it no longer feels like a coincidence—it feels like a business model.
I think Gaijin has an opportunity here to build more trust with the community—whether that’s through better balance testing before release, clearer disclaimers, or some kind of goodwill gesture when major post-sale changes happen.
Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear how others feel about this too.
