Hey folks.
As Gaijin is ramping up the efforts to build the esports portion of it, even giving people free skins for watching squadron battles, there is an elephant in the room that is anti-esports spirit and essentially kills player interest in certain BRs and certain modes; top tier air arcade being one example, but it also matters for ground battles (how do we have new blood into the esports scene if no one wants to play at all?)
Squadrons in public matches.
Elite squadrons using powerful vehicles, can easily turn the match around, and this can contribute to people feeling hopeless and leaving the matches, the infamous one death leaving.
Vast majority of competitive video games, such as CSGO, when in causal matches, have randomized teams that do not discriminate and puts “squads” (in this case, people following one another) into one team. Pubstorming is only posssible if the “squad” members join one team very quickly in games like Team Fortress 2. So we can see, that it is techanically possible in these games, but it is not delibrate and intentional.
Furthermore, the dynamic nature of War Thunder, including things like crew skills and different vehicle types, make the balance more…asymmetrical (to put it nicely). Just imagine a team of F-5Es fighting randoms with base bombing F-104s. “Meta” players only amplify this dynamic.
If squadron battles exist, as known as “competitive” mode in other games, then “causal” mode shouldn’t cater to squadrons, following the examples of well-established esports titles.
The idea is:
Allow squadrons to queue together, but do not necessarily put them in the same team; only allow same teaming if other team also has squadrons. Also, seperate between squadrons with top level ranking and causal squadrons, such as these for grinding vehicles.