Now that I have talked about the issue of “realism”, let me move on to the rest of your arguments.
I’m a German main. Actually, I’m basically a German only.
I only play German vehicles up to BR 7.7 (the WW2 vehicles in particular, the postwar ones that are available there are helpful but not what I’m here for). My interest in the economic history of the Third Reich (and therefore its industry) started in an academic context and by reading specialised literature like Tooze’s Wages Of Destruction, years before I knew War Thunder was even a thing.
Precisely because I know a fair bit about how German tanks performed IRL, I can assure you, War Thunder is extremely flattering to them (as it is to the Soviets, in fairness).
So, it’s kind of funny to see you say that I’m defending the M-51 because I love killing Tigers and Panthers with it. Buddy, I’ve never played the M-51.
The only time I ever kill Tigers and Panthers is if I end up in a mixed all vs all GRB match, or if I encounter foreign-operated versions like the Heavy Tank No.6 or the Panther Dauphine and T-V. Otherwise, I’m the Tiger/Panther killing those pesky M-51s, or being killed by them.
You may disagree with my arguments, but don’t try to chalk them up to what I play. Because you assumed incorrectly.
Besides, there is nothing wrong about enjoying particularly cathartic kills. Look at what this guy says:
And tell me you’ve never felt anything like that while playing Germany yourself. Have you never taken out a Sturer Emil and sent a Black Prince to the shadow realm while thinking to yourself “target un-damage this”?
Have you ever nailed a T95 cupola at a distance, one-shotting it frontally with your Jagdtiger? Or one-tapped the weak spots of several IS-3s and IS-4Ms in a row with the Maus in simulator battles?
It’s perfectly normal, even a good thing I would say, because it motivates you to play. We all have that one tank (or more) that for one reason or another, we love killing. That competitive spirit is part of what makes WT fun.
The only reason why a vehicle should be in the game, is so that people will play it. Otherwise it’s a waste of assets. For people to play it, it has to be competitive. And for it to be competitive, well…
Is the Dicker Max part of the problem with the lack of armour meta? Sturer Emil? Nashorn? Waffentraeger?
I am completely on board with armour meta, more than most players I think, there is nothing more gratifying to me than memorising weak spots at BRs like 6.7 and getting them right while under pressure in a match.
But the M-51 is not a speed demon or a HEAT-FS go kart, which is what really breaks the armour meta around certain BRs. It’s basically a regular tank destroyer. Turreted, sure, but still a tank destroyer. Slow and no armour means it’s sacrificing everything for its gun, so the gun has to be good, otherwise why else would you ever bother to spawn it?
Same thing with Dicker and Sturer, the gun is their only redeeming feature, if it wasn’t exceptional you would never bother to deploy them in battle.
If you shoot at the lower front plate of an IS-2 with a Panther, does it not die in one hit? That’s how it works in this game. Many things are “easily killed” but the kill shot is only the culmination of all the tiny decisions you and the opponent made, that led you to that encounter.
You play WT a lot, you’ll get killed many times, by many things. Sometimes you’ll make very dumb mistakes and feel like a bloody idiot for 30 minutes afterwards. Sometimes you’ll pull out the performance of a lifetime and feel unstoppable. Either way, mistakes and failures are not something to be shunned. They are a necessary part of the process of getting better.
Well, for a start, you were hit.
Tiger Is and Panthers are not tanky tanks in this game. Even if you angle your Tiger, you will meet lots of guns that can hit your cupola, or the driver’s view port, or the 1st rack ammo, and if all else fails they can always track and barrel you.
Panthers have an exceptional UFP but people who know what they’re doing will never bother to shoot it. They’ll either barrel you, knowing that you don’t have the reverse to get away, or they’ll go for the gun mantlet and unless volumetric stops them, you’re dead then, every time.
That’s before you get into IS-2s, or the 17pdrs you encounter, or the high calibre HEs of some tank destroyers, or… etc etc.
So think about those times where M-51s did hit you, and replace them with any other tank you can meet at that BR, and you’ll quickly see that in many of those instances you would have died anyway.
There is a reason that the metaphor of the security onion is used so often.
Don’t be seen, don’t be shot at, don’t be hit. Survive the hit is only item #4 on this list, the one that takes place when all else has failed.
