As we all know, a few weeks back after the launch of the “Seek and Destroy” update, Gaijin pushed out an emergency BR change list due to the strain that Fox 3s were putting upon vehicles not built to face them. At surface level this sounded good in theory, but Gaijin approached these changes with a very flawed mindset, and after critique and criticism from the players, they revised the changes but somehow changed none of the things people were concerned with then proceeded to push the changes out half baked.
I am here, after giving the benefit of the doubt to talk about my experience with the changes.
For battle ratings 10.0-11.3 the changes vary from unchanged, to mostly positive, former 10.7s no longer need to cower in fear of the F-14 Tomcat and Mirage 2000, former 11.0s no longer need to fear Mig 29s and F-16s, and former 10.3s no longer have reason to fear the Tornado F3 or Mirage F1C.
However once you step foot to 11.7 is when cracks form. the former 11.3 battle rating was fragmented and split between 11.7, 12.0, and 12.3. However there seems to be no logic behind what got placed where. You have vehicles like the Mig 23MLD (Which pre-change was one of the more competitive 11.3s in the game) at 11.7, while the F-4J UK (the unanimously agreed upon 2nd worst 11.3 in the entire battle rating) sits at 12.0, and with vehicles like the Kurnass 2000 inexplicably seeing 12.3 despite superior aircraft sitting a BR below.
Things got even worse as you went to 12.3 which left the F-14A and Mirage 2000C’s (the best 11.7s pre change) at that BR where they run rampant with nothing but themselves to control each other. The situation continued to spiral downwards as you hit 13.0 quite possibly the single biggest mess of the change.
you had the F-16ADFs (any F-16 with Sparrows) being skyrocketed from 12.0 to 13.0 (note the Mig 29s all sit at 12.7 but I understand the F-16s are better since the FM changes), this is fine at surface level… except you also put them against the F-15A’s, Mirage 4000, JAS39A Gripen, and the AV-8B+ with its new Fox-3 loadout.
There is such a disgusting disparity of strength amongst the 13.0s that it’s jarring that this was agreed upon. The F-15s boast more weapons than the F-16s, better weapons, a better radar, 4x the counter measures of any F-16 at that BR, and their FM is still amazing… so why are these planes the same BR? Furthermore the Gripen is running rampant with 6 9Ms, 732 Countermeasures, and a better flight model than all the F-16s barring the AJ (As it’s an F-16A it has the improved FM). These planes CANNOT COMPETE. Then 13.3 is where the joke stops being funny, at 13.3 you have the Su-27s and F-16A (Belgium). The Su-27s were already inferior to the Gripen before these changes so why does the Gripen dodge 13.3 but these didn’t? Then you have the 16A which has the same weapon loadout as the gripen, no HMD, has 1/12th of the countermeasures, and a better FM… why is this 12.7 plane with 9Ms suddenly 13.3 worthy?
I cannot complain much about 13.7 as all the planes there have earned their place there, but they do strain the 12.7s in the game as the power gap is far too wide.
Overall half the 13.0 planes at that BR have no right being there and they not only hilariously overperform the other half of the planes at their own BR, but they torment the 12.0s that cannot do anything to fight them back outside of praying the pilot is inept. Then you have the 13.3s which are mostly worthless because they live in 13.7 and don’t have the weapons to fight back until they’re spaded.
The BR changes only helped 10.0-11.3 everything else in the game saw no change, or got compressed MORE. This needs to change