I’ve been a War Thunder player since 2017. Over the years, I’ve taken a few breaks, but I’ve spent around two full years playing the game consistently—drawn by its modern, strategic combat, especially at the top of the tech tree. Today, however, I’d like to express my dissatisfaction with the current state of Top Tier Ground Realistic Battles (GRB).
Since mid-2024, high-tier matches have become excessively repetitive, unbalanced, and increasingly frustrating. What once was a rewarding and tactical experience now feels tedious and demotivating.
Main Issues Observed
Frequent early quitting by players after just one death (often involving premium vehicles).
Lack of tactical variety; matches follow an almost identical pattern.
Consistent dominance of the Russian faction across all areas: ground, air, and anti-air.
Russian Vehicle Supremacy
Russia currently holds a significant advantage in Top Tier, both offensively and defensively. Some key examples:
2S38: Capable of rapidly eliminating multiple ground units, quickly earning enough points to call in air support.
Ka-50/Ka-52: Often eliminate several tanks within the first few minutes of battle.
Su-30/Su-34: Equipped with powerful munitions such as KH-38 missiles that can wipe out multiple targets with no real counterplay.
Pantsir-S1: Long-range precision anti-air system that effectively neutralizes nearly any incoming aircraft.
In many matches, Russian vehicles quickly build score, call in air units, and dominate the battlefield with little resistance. Spawn camping—both ground and air—is increasingly common, with little chance for the opposing team to recover.
NATO System Weaknesses
In contrast, Western vehicles face serious limitations:
ADATS: Struggles to acquire and track targets reliably, especially against modern bombs and guided missiles.
FlaRakRad: Limited to only two missiles, making it ineffective against multiple threats.
Lack of automated air defenses at bases, allowing unchecked airstrikes on friendly spawns.
Allied aircraft struggle to operate due to constant Pantsir coverage and airspawn camping by Russian jets.
Suggested Measures for Balance Restoration
Separate Russia from Western nations (e.g., U.S., Germany, U.K.) in team compositions to ensure better balance between tech blocks.
Limit the number of active aircraft per team in GRB matches to prevent overwhelming air dominance.
Reposition air spawn points beyond the reach of long-range SAM systems like the Pantsir.
Add modern, automated base air defense systems capable of intercepting aircraft and guided munitions.
Improve Western anti-air systems to match the capabilities of their Russian counterparts.
Final Remarks
The current state of Top Tier significantly undermines the experience and enjoyment of competitive players. The lack of balance between nations is pushing skilled players away from GRB entirely.
I urge the development and balancing teams to urgently reassess the current configuration in order to preserve the competitive integrity of War Thunder. The game has immense potential, but it is currently being hindered by a noticeable bias in favor of one nation.
the easiest change gaijin could make to improve the situation would be to remove the kh38
it shouldnt have been added in the first place with how much of a leap forward it is compared to all similar systems in game
I dissagree with the idea of limiting the number of active aircraft in a match though because I feel like that would make certain aircraft inheritly better than others to a further extent than they already are
its worse at low tier for everyone going into the air. like ill spawn a fighter to clean out a strike aircraft and suddenly my whole team sees a friendly plane racking up frags in the kill log and think they can get a slice.
We then lose all points and throw a guaranteed win because I J out and become the only guy in a tank
KH38 needs to be removed from the game, it was a mistake from Gaijin and also Pantsir showing how they only favor a single nation in this game and letting other nations suffer and rot in years of unsolved bug reports.
Time to be the first post in this topic defending NATO against slander.
Your post has the right base idea; fixed wing CAS is OP in the game that needs to be addressed.
There’s a number of issues I want to address.
2S38 isn’t a top BR vehicle. Bringing it in your 12.0 lineup is harming your team’s chances of winning.
Ka-50/52 are just as bad as Apache due to not being F&F, any SPAA deals with them.
F-15E, F-15I, Su-30, Su-34, Rafale, Mirage 2000DRMV, etc aren’t just Soviet.
Pantsir being OP means Su-30 isn’t OP, and everyone knows Pantsir is trash against semi-correctly played top CAS.
Pantsir has a range of ~16km vs non-maneuvering reheating jets at high altitude.
Nah…
2- Not possible, anti-realism, and anti-player choice. If a team wants to intentionally lose by bringing more aircraft, more power to them.
3- Top CAS is already more expensive to spawn per frag than MBTs 0.7 BR lower.
4- They’re already working on this.
5- NO! NO! NO!
SPAA is needed that exceeds Pantsir, not matches it. I AM SICK OF CAS BEING OP.
And this suggestion would retain CAS being OP; the game needs Python 5 SPYDER, not more Pantsir.
I acknowledge your feelings and perspective, and believe us on at least the same side of balance.
Let’s focus on supporting SPAA powercreep.
@Alpharius11348@_Ladies_Man_217
There’s no reason to remove the AGM-65, Kh-38, Hammer, and PGM_3.
And Pantsir is garbage. Saying Pantsir is competent against current CAS is peddling Russian myth.
We need SPAA superior to that of Pantsir, not equal.
Or just remove the KH38 until there is SPAA that is capable of dealing with them. Release the KH38 and new SPAAs at the same time. It’s not that hard to use common sense.
@T4T plays Italy and Soviets, they are not a Russian main.
That is no reason to remove all IR AGMs in the game, and I say all because singling out Kh-38 is defending Russia.
@ileaveuptiers
Anti-player corporate greed suggestion, no surprise…
The SPAA is in development.
On top of that, you’d have to remove all IR AGMs, not just Kh-38, which would be excessive work as well as anti-player ruining presets and realism, all cause you refuse to be close to buildings, tanks, and trees.
Or god forbid… not play 12.7.
Play 12.0 instead and get more downtiers.
Or play 11.7 where there’s a maximum of 4 12.7 players on either team.
This lineup, haven’t died to a single Kh-38 due to it being 11.7.
Hahah, USA suffer said. I haven’t played with Russian tanks for half a year. Just because your US team loses more than it wins doesn’t mean the Russian T80BVM/T90m are the best.
There were 2 - 4 Kh-38 spawners in the last month that I remember doing literally anything, and the only one I remember doing more than 2 frags was on Sinai.
They’re 12.7, and stupidly expensive to spawn, so they’re rare.
Outside Sinai, there was Normandy which was notable cause the CAS did nothing and there were over 5+ CAS in the air.
