There are a bit of research points and SLs earned in these battles, but they are quite minuscule compared to the standard PvP modes.
Another thing - free repairs for new vehicles are not used, just the SLs to bring another vehicle.
So, they kind of are a expanded test drive of sorts, but obviously, for high tiers, it’s a bit too difficult and thus usually not worth it.
As a long time Assault player I can confirm that AI planes in ground assault seem to have been buffed considerably since last update. Before that, the occurence of being molested and bombed by them was random and sometimes you could stay a whole battle without being targetted at all. Now it is 100% in all battles and with increased aggresiveness. By round 3 there is already a plane giving you hell and one-shotting you.
Their accuracy seems to have been buffed too. I remember planes doing strafings with rockets and most of the time causing slight damage without scoring a direct hit unless you were open top. Now it is almost always a direct hit and death and since a lot of the rockets they use are SUPER HEAVIES, like the Tiny Tim or that Japanese monstrosity, you are screwed.
I am sick of this. Every update or two there are stealth changes that make this mode worse one step at a time and none to make it better. Some updates ago it was the AI SPAA added in 6.7-8.0 and the ticket loss per player death. Several updates ago there was the absolutely horrendous buffing of tank machine gunners that made rocket helicopters as useful as BR 1.0 tanks (yes, there was a time when helicopters could be more useful). Now, it is planes behaving like maniacs. Stop this! fix this!
Strangely enough the failure is free now. You don’t lose any money, they’re sort of paid back under Expenses Compensation entry in final sheet. Is this temporary or permanent, unknown.
But the overall quality of this mode with no improvements whatsoever, and staged for infinite loss, sort of tips that developers want everyone to stop playing it 😆.
Could be real great mode though.
Would be nice if at the very least the issue of rendering aircraft (friend and foe) were not sporadic… you can be 1 km away, see the marker of aircraft, the trail behind it yet it wont actually be rendered. I have noticed that upon ‘zooming’ view can help slightly but idk why this has been since last major update without any fix…
Another update… another lack of any work done on these game modes…
Only thing I have noticed thus far is on Maginot Line for Tanks, it seems due to Maginot line map changes, you no longer can utilize a North area as the other side of the hillside has been smoothed out so no area to hide in like there was before…
As per usual, it seems that there is nobody working on these assault arcade game modes… still…
I dont get letting players control the planes. Did they leave the battlefield, catch an Uber to the airport, fly out to the battlefield, bomb my unsuspecting tank, and then back to the airport and catch that Uber back to the battlefield. Why not make it like the arty and let AI control it.
Oh yeah, they worked something on ground assault this update.
They increased the damage and acuracy of tank roof machine guns against planes and helicopters, once again. It was painful before, it was increased proggresively in several previous updates, now it is disgusting and unbearable. You get caught in the 1,5 km range by 7,62mm roof machine guns and you are either pilot sniped, burning, your tail chopped off, your engine destroyed or your fuselage entirely black in 2 seconds. Let alone 12,7 mm machine guns, half the time those IS-3s pilot snipe your jet bomber before dropping, or those Japanese tanks shower your helicopter with 12,7 (ALL of them have 12,7), while you are at the helipad, it’s a joke by this point.
And the cherry on top, spawning jet fighters to defend against the hideous hyper aggresive planes is now disabled, or bugged. Who knows anymore.
Yea, seems like any fighter is not allowed to spawn now… and it seems like a win is nearly impossible at 5.7+ for ground assault.
@Smin1080p Honestly is there anyone even working on these game modes?
They did it again this time. I was on the Maginot Line at bottom-tier BR, firing at French M4A4s with my M4A3(105), using the big armor piercing round. The crosshair was green, indicating that I should penetrate the armor. I fire.
…Nothing. No damage. Not even any hit marker. Enemy tank keeps rolling. I keep shooting. Eventually it stops. It’s inside the base perimeter. I keep firing, shooting that same green spot. Nothing. Eventually… We lose. On round 2.
Because the French Shermans have immunity shields while our gun breeches get destroyed before we even have a chance to fire our first shots.
Also, there’s one area that the tanks can go into and be shielded from view and gunfire, making them immune. While there, they can only be seen on the minimap. They beeline for that area and then sit there, stealing tickets until you lose.
Yet more updates, and nothing changed or fixed…
@Smin1080p Sir, Please… It has been Multiple updates now without any notes suggesting even anyone looking into this game mode… it is even worse now than it has been in the past, is there anyone planning on doing anything with this mode? We have made many suggestions and ideas, nobody even responds, it really pains us that nobody can shed light on this and other arcade assault game modes.
Edit:
@Stona_WT
Perhaps you could give us an update or info regarding this, please.
This game format is so broken. 5 seconds after spawn the AI has you zeroed in and your dead. if the first one didnt get you the 5 others who are aiming at you will. its so frustrating and reminds me why i never play this mode
Agree with everything said here. This mode needs tweaking badly. I’m usually top on the team Rank III & IV) and my results screen shows 2 wins in 20 games. It’s not like this game mode is dead, I don’t have to wait for more than a min or two on the NA server
Agreed.
Two things they need to fix IMO…
tone down the air attacks. They kill waaaay too many players - I die more from air attacks than I do from tank hits.
1b) Is it conincidence? Or does the bot AI know which players are in the air and purposely bomb the players tank? EVERY SINGLE time I use air attack my tank is in flames when I return - 99% from bomber.
CHANGE THE SPAWN POINTS. On many maps (like Japan and Ardennes) players are spawned right in front of a wave of tanks. Impossible to move or shoot before you are pegged by one or more of those OP enemies. There are times I’m tempted to just wait until the waves are thinned out before respawning because I know when I press battle I will be dead (again) in 2 seconds.
After Vehicles like Bredley, warrior, RaketenJagdePanzer HOT, m113… Being nerfed for 8.3, I never saw them in PvE again, like Missei HOT 1 against composite armor with explosive reactive armor, it’s surreal.
In my opinion, the PvE Arcade classification should change and be isolated from the rest of the modes
Because someone isn’t spawning a SPAA and/or isn’t good at it.
I do think that they do come after players who attack them, either from a plane or SPAA. But it could just be coincidence.
As it’s hard for SPAA to earn score in Assault mode there often are not many of them.
And because of the map designs, they die so often - maps like Sinai and Maginot line they are easy targets and do not last long. As they typically end up at bottom of scoring many players do not play them. And the air attacks seem to often outmatch them.
Dying from air attacks significantly more than tank hits in a Tank game seems silly.
As for the getting bombed while using air attack - forgot to mention the rate is about 100%. Almost every single time I go to the air my tank gets hit (by a bomber, not a tank)
Last game I had fulda with 8.3+ There was 14-16 planes wrecking havocks tiny tims killing tanks going 70 + KM/h and even with with a Spaag and Auto cannon APC’s it was nightmare trying to get a decent game. Sinai itself needs immense rework due map layout is absolutely horrible for Assault Ground Arcade. You die once, its hard to get back in game.
Also number of the AI bots per wave should scale based on initial player number to have some changes regardless of player number.
Another update with no changes made to help this game mode out, and now it is even worse in air assault arcade, we desperately need a BR bracket split as 6.7+ is vastly outdated at this point, and the previous posts regarding issues are still rampant and in fact even worse now than they were before…
The current gameplay in both these game modes is so pathetic that I really do believe there is absolutely no member of the dev team working on this, and by watching other forum posts, it seems this is the new norm to just ignore the community… even though they ‘claim’ to be working with the community.
It would be really great to see some sort of open communication by the mod team at the very least in regards to moving forward in fixing/improving the game modes, but it just feels like nobody cares at all at this point.
Current state of 6.7+ air asasult is 10/10 on the cringemeter. But yeah,why should the devs care…