This is a great game but it desperately needs some fixing. In summary: War Thunder needs to be fixed in matchmaking/maps, the vehicles, gameplay, making the game more fun, and experimenting, but if you want me to get into it, here it is:
I have been playing War Thunder for a little less than a year, but the game really needs a touchup and this can be heard from many famous players like PhlyDaily. From gameplay to vehicles themselves this includes:
- Matchmaking (randomization of maps and high bimodal range of BR spread in battles)
- Certain maps that suck need removal, Some maps that should be added to make the game more fun
- Randomization of teams (Germany and the Soviet Union/Russia should not be together anywhere near often if this is based off realism because they do not have a very good history)
- Naval battles should be redone or made so it is actually fun
- The game modes should be somewhat intertwined and planes/CAS should not be so OP, BR changes should be done off of a new system
- Damage models/penetration and other stats should really be updated as well as volumetric
- Eras of vehicles like WWII and Cold War should be added or separated where they cannot be together at their BRs and past eras should be equally appreciated
- Keeping updated with accurate statistics on specifics found on vehicles without nerfing them
- Finally events and updates should be more interesting as well as incorporating experimental and more realistic features.
Maps, Matchmaking, and Gameplay
Firstly, there are the maps and matches. It should be seen from statistics that some people get maps non-stop (ex: only desert maps or only just one map like Sands of Sinai) and also the incredible bimodal range of getting almost only uptiers and almost only downtiers at certain BRs making it unfair or too OP.
Several maps also need to be removed from ground RB or changed from its BR range (to go up higher). Some of these are: Second Battle of El Alamein, Sands of Sinai, Aral Sea, Campania, Fire Arc, Port Novorossiysk, and Mozdok. Many of these are seen at too low of a BR, allow for too much camping, or unfairness of one spawn almost always because of the size or bareness of the maps. Again stated is countries being put together which are certainly not random because the US almost always faces Germany and Russia leading to the US losing (a good amount) because of two of the strongest nations being together.
Finally is Naval battles. Do I really need to say anything? They are just not as fun but I feel they could be changed and possibly could be added to ground + air and make the battle rely on all three parts coming together to win like a real war.
Vehicles:
Next is the vehicles themselves in battles and their functions. The BR system works somewhat but is still pretty unfair and should be regulated not off stats or a bias towards a specific country (you know who) but with something like a court or board of players elected possibly from some of the more experienced players who have been at this game for ex. more than 6 months or higher than level 30 and have had experience with a country or BR range. Planes should also be incorporated while still being fair by having higher or lower SP for what they have like slow big bombers and having lower payloads can be at a much lower SP cost than fast, nimble fighters and large loads of ordinance per each plane.
The penetration models of guns and the different armor statistics of vehicles is not very accurate all the time and while decent, it should be used from a real physics simulation then implemented but also the penetration regarding volumetric with it being so 50/50 like with the IS-2 or T-34 randomly absorbing shots in low armor spots. Repairing and healing in vehicles should be changed a little bit as well as the damage that certain things do like bombs, HE, and HESH should do a lot more damage in terms of shockwave and damage in the tank. Tracks should be a little easier to be damaged from things like artillery, but should also be the fastest to be repaired. I won’t get too into that stuff, but it all needs to be changed.
Last is Eras of vehicles being together. Why should I be facing an IS-3 in a full uptier with my T26e5? WWII and Cold war vehicles or Cold War and modern vehicles should not be together realistically or statistically. The armor, penetration, and mobility of newer vehicles shadows that of the older tech.
Realism
In addition, continuing on some of the stuff from the last paragraph, it is not as fun to have things like heavy tanks just be put in and kind of be nothing special and having tons of light, fast, and “no armor best armor” vehicles dominating the battlefield. They make it less fun and in real life, I doubt there were many m18s zooming around Tiger I’s positions and taking them out without the tiger even noticing. Teams should be encouraged to work together with armor and guns in unison and also tactics other than just rushing the capture points or sniping.
The roles of vehicles are also not as appreciated in war thunder like heavy tanks holding back lines and medium tanks advancing behind them with supporting fire. I will get into it later, but the whole point of tanks in war is protecting infantry, advancing, taking out enemy armor and fortifications, and defending offensive lines. Things like artillery should be used by all vehicles but should not be able to be spammed everywhere and should be seen as a collective use by each team, again like real war. All statistics should be kept true-to-life and placement of vehicles should rather just change.
Appreciation of WWII and New Stuff
Finally, War Thunder really needs to keep WWII and older vehicles to still feel important by adding new and cool ones (although there are a limited amount of tanks, there are many different versions of them that are not all represented and should be, maybe being specially unlocked for a specific quest or goal) while still keeping modern vehicles up-to-date with their variants.
I also think that Gaijin should add some cool events. It would really be nice for something like the April Fools event, but one a month (and they can be in a cycle or random so as to not have to constantly keep up with making new ones or renewing old April fools events for new players such as I). New features should also be incorporated, like seeing how infantry would work (possibly combining the amazing tank and plane gameplay of War Thunder and the realism and engagement of Enlisted which is highly controversial) or the ability to have another part of the game using its physics and gameplay for things like people being able to design their own tanks or modern tank concepts which would allow custom missions and the community to be more involved with the game.
I could go on and on about what could be better but this is my main summary. Please point out any suggestions and thank you if you read this whole thing.
