i have an issue with a format that is basically a pay to win. If the premium wasn’t there then this is simply a discussion around designing an OP vehicle into the tech tree. There’s no PTW there.
The root of it is the Premium OP of course, without it, there’s no pay-to-win.
Edit: I should add that the current format of Premium OP builds has the added effect of blowing out entire high BR ranges of the game, which as a player is not terribly desirable.er, unless you’re buying the premium
Everything from 9.7 upwards being pulled into the 10.7 black hole and unplayable, in matches with half the players bc there is too many people playing/grinding ONE vehicle is just hilarious game design that just exacerbates how bad the BR system has become over the years and how much we need more and smaller br brackets.
If ONE popular vehicle can break multiple br brackets that have nothing to do with each other gameplay-wise (9.7 to 11.7), there is a big design flaw that has been overlooked for years and its now, again, cracking like the walls of a ruined house.
I don’t think its a design flaw per se. Rather it’s a design RULE that was broken, and it was broken by Gaijin in order to drive more profits at the cost of gameplay.
What I mean by that is Premiums used to be copies of existing vehicles, added with new art, paint, etc. The intent was something the player could use to earn more money, boost crews, etc. It’s a very good format that worked, especially at the low/mid tiers, because it used balanced machines in BR’s with which they fit, and offered the player a nice bonus that didn’t directly distort the match.
Then in the not so distant past Gaijin started to bend that rule by adding in equipment that was entirely unique. With the lack of a balanced tech tree copy to build off, this had the risk of something unbalanced working into the BR.
Ultimately Gaijin realized the opportunity in front of them as sales of many of these unique vehicles rose. So instead of just bending the rule, they started breaking it outright by adding in tanks that were entirely unique AND very OP for their respective BR’s. 114, Turm III, T58 are good recent examples of this “breaking of the rule” at work.
The last iteration with the Eliminator was the pinnacle of that process, and they made it much much worse by trying to tie themselves back to the old model of Premium coming from a Tech Tree…but since they still were bound to that primary need to build and extremely OP Premium for sale, they created the perfect storm by injecting an entirely OP tech tree version as well.
It’s pretty obvious imo what went wrong with the Eliminator. It’s just basic greed (OP Premium) being led by some pretty monumental stupidity with the intro of the OP tech tree variant.
I guess if there’s a positive to it all it’s that it’s a really easy fix to make sure it doesn’t happen again. After all, we have a ton of examples of how premiums done well can work to not drive entire BR ranges into the abyss. But, yeah, unlikely we get back to that with Gaijin’s greed driving this particular bus.
This hasn’t been the case for quite some time lol. Literally years at this point.