I believe that it is time for Gaijin to re-evaluate the fundamentals of this vehicle, now that it has been present in the game for more than 6 years. Originally, this vehicle came as a sort of two-in-one package. Stock, it represented a T-72B3, a minor upgrade over a T-72B obr. 1989 that offers better optics and turret drive, without any changes to the mobility or armor of the vehicle save for a Kontakt-5 plate added in place of the IR searchlight. Spaded, you get access to the “UBH” upgrade, which resembles the real-life T-72B3M obr. 2016. This is a deep modernization of the T-72B platform, with Relikt side skirts added and additional ERA bags added on those. It also massively increases the horsepower of the engine which gives it far better mobility. Both of these vehicles are current wrapped into one vehicle at battle rating 11.3. Due to this, the stock T-72B3 in game performs poorly, on par with the stock 10.3 T-72B3 (1989). It is an incredibly painful grind. However, once spaded the T-72B3 becomes a mobile machine with much-improved protection, making it incredibly strong for 11.3. It’s performance is on par with the T-72B3A at 12.0, with slightly better protection as that vehicle still lacks the additional ERA bags on the side.
I believe that in the current environment of top tier this vehicle needs to be re-worked in order to stay balanced and enjoyable. I propose splitting it into two vehicles at different battle ratings. These vehicles would be as follows:
T-72B3
This would be a 11.0, a sidegrade to T-90A and a second tech tree 11.0 MBT at that battle rating to use in lineups with the T-90A. Essentially, it would be similar to the T-72B3 “Arena” event vehicle, but without the Arena-E APS.
T-72B3M
This could fit at 11.7-12.0. It would have an appearance similar to a spaded current-day T-72B3, but the Relikt ERA side bags would likely be a researchable modification, leaving just the Relikt side skirts until that modification is researched (think T-90M).
Implementing this change would solve the issue of the stock T-72B3 being incredibly poor to play. It would give the T-90A another alternate MBT without uptiering a 10.7 or 10.3 vehicle. It would also make the spaded T-72B3 more balanced, because as it stands it has a great power to weight ratio and very reliable protection for an 11.3. I take this tank into top tier often, and even then it’s still reliable. In fact, the T-72B3 was even the same battle rating as the T-80BVM at one time!