All things considered, there are a lot of changes and a lot of small things being added in this update.
On the aircraft side, we get a bunch of model fixes and updates alongside some new additions.
The F-16C Block 52, a couple F/A-18’s and the J-15T, though people are complaining about its countermeasure count, but it is accurate to the real aircraft. It’s based on the Su-33 airframe, so low countermeasures are to be expected.
It won’t fly like most jets at its BR, but it does get a solid to good missile loadout which should compensate. Though not to the 14.7 extreme, i would expect it would be somewhat similar to how the F-15GE was treated in a way.
The JAS-39D is coming as a squadron vehicle, and this is something I’m not on board with. Giving easy access to a near top-tier jet to very new players with little to no experience is not a good idea in my opinion, it just creates a worse experience for everyone in those lobbies. as seen previously with the JF-17
On the ground side we get the M1296 Dragoon, the Centauro II P, a new and really strong SPAA for the USSR (Pantsir SM-SV), and a couple of others worth checking out.
Some helicopters get a few damage model and cockpit updates, and naval gets a bunch of changes but not many people care about naval.
The research costs for air have been reworked and it’s now significantly cheaper to reach Rank VIII, which is a genuinely good change for newer players. This has been implemented before the update but i will take this as a win anyway.
The PL-12A and AIM-120D are both allright, one is a strong addition, the other is more of a marginal upgrade over what came before.
There’s also a handful of new air-to-ground ordnance added across various nations.
The Gripen E gets a QoL improvement for the stock grind, the AIM-120C-5’s are now belly-mounted by default instead of taking up wing pylons, which makes the early grind less painful for anyone working toward it. Though it is almost useless for the people who already have it.
Radar gets some awesome changes too, you can now filter what type of targets you’re tracking, zoom in on the radar display to focus on a specific area, and overall radar control has been improved. These are the kinds of UI changes that don’t get enough attention but actually matter in a fight. I personally am really excited just for this
Finally, White Rock Fortress is back with a graphical rework and some layout tweaks, so a semi-new map added back into rotation.
Overall I think there are a lot of good changes here, but this doesn’t feel like a proper major major update to me.
It feels more like a bunch of smaller updates compressed into one bigger one. The missiles are okay, the new vehicles are good but not groundbreaking, most of them could have been drip-fed in smaller updates. The flight model, damage model, and visual detail in xray are appreciated but again, nothing that couldn’t have been rolled out gradually. The new map is cool and does suit a major update well, but by itself it’s not crazy, and when everything else is also not crazy, nothing really makes a big bang.
The Gripen E QoL change is nice, but honestly it should have shipped with the vehicle when it was first added.
Russia now gets the Pantsir SM-SV on top of already having some of the best CAS in the game and two really strong SPAAs. Three top-tier SPAAs for one nation is getting a bit much.
New ground vehicles are nice to see, but once again, most of them could have come in smaller updates.
So to summarise it’s a good major update, but it doesn’t feel major because individually everything is minor. It’s only when you look at it all together that it starts to feel like a sizable update.
That said, the devs have clearly put in a lot of work here and seem to be pushing hard, I wouldn’t blame them too much. They could be doing better on the missile side of things, but considering the thousands of bug reports and suggestions they’re dealing with alongside all these other changes, they are doing a lot.
(Except for a bunch of things I know… but that’s a separate conversation.)
TLDR: Ninth Wave has a lot of changes but none of them are individually big enough to feel like a proper major update, it’s more like a pile of minor updates bundled together. some new jets or updated jets, radar improvements, and cheaper air research costs. JAS-39D being a squadron vehicle giving new players easy near top-tier access, Russia getting a third strong SPAA, and most additions feeling like they could’ve been smaller patches. Devs are working hard though, so good job to them.
