Hey there yall!
Top tier balancing has become one of the main reasons why I’m enjoying War Thunder less and less these days.
I’ve been playing top tier for a very long time now, and over the past few updates I’ve gotten more and more frustrated with the overall balance decisions. This isn’t meant to be just another “nation X suffers” post or blind rage. It’s simply my personal opinion after spending hundreds of matches across different BRs, seeing how things are developing. The main issue for me right now is balancing—specifically how certain vehicles get introduced with mechanics that completely stand out from everything else around their BR, while older vehicles are just left behind.
Top tier helicopters like the Mi-28NM and Z-10ME are a prime example of this. The biggest problem from my experience in Ground RB is DIRCM. It honestly acts like a magical shield against IR-guided SAMs. Even when you get a perfect launch, the chance of your missile actually hitting is tiny, and most of the time it gets defeated almost instantly. That alone makes these helis almost unkillable unless you’re sitting in a jet. But then Gaijin also added Man-in-the-Loop missiles, meaning these helis don’t even have to expose themselves anymore. They can literally stay hidden behind hills or terrain, pop up for a second, guide their missile, and stay in complete cover while you have zero realistic chance of engaging them. Combine that with the recent nerfs to western SPAA systems like the IRIS-T SLM, and you end up with some of the most frustrating gameplay in the entire game.
Moving down to 9.0, the power creep gets just as ridiculous. Take the Yak-130 for example. A lot of people immediately say “yeah but it has no flares.” Okay, true, but look at what it actually gets instead. At 9.0 it has access to TV-guided bombs, HMS, a ballistic computer with CCIP, SPI, and a laser designator. Performance-wise you’re looking at a ~20.6 second sustained turn time, ~60.6 m/s climb rate, and two engines pushing around 2210 kgf of thrust. Now compare that to something like the German Alpha Jet A, which sits at the exact same 9.0 BR. The Alpha Jet gets CCIP and flares, sure, but zero guided ordnance, a roughly 30-second turn time, 50 m/s climb rate, and much weaker 1230 kgf engines. The Alpha Jet feels completely inferior as a platform. And honestly, lacking flares at 9.0 is way overvalued by the community anyway, because almost every missile at that BR can easily be dodged if you have decent situational awareness and basic maneuvering skills.
Then you have the premium J-22M1A at 9.0 as well. Again, no flares, but it gets Korsava-3TM missiles that let it completely dominate Ground RB matches. It’s faster than the Alpha Jet, has an afterburner, turns in ~27 seconds, and climbs at an impressive ~65 m/s, which is even faster than the Yak-130.
If someone tries to defend this by saying the Alpha Jet is just weak, just look at the rest of the 9.0 aircraft that get completely outclassed by these additions:
-
F3H-2 (only really competitive in Air RB)
-
Alpha Jet A (Germany) & Alpha Jet A (Japan)
-
Shenyang F-5 (premium)
-
G.91 Y
-
Étendard IVM
-
Alpha Jet E (France, without flares)
-
A32A
-
Vautour IIA & Vautour IIN
The list could go on forever. Placing aircraft with modern flight performance or high-tier standoff weapons at 9.0 completely destroys the balance for classic subsonic jets.
Higher up at 11.3, we see similar issues with things like the Tornado IDS ASSTA1. At 11.3 you expect a strike jet to perform reliable CAS. But what do you actually get? Mostly guided bombs relying on laser, GNSS, or IOG guidance. In actual matches against modern SPAA like the Roland, Osa, 2S6, or Tor-M1, trying to drop these bombs forces you into dangerous altitudes and lines of sight where you get shot down long before your weapons reach the target. On paper it sounds fine, in reality it’s just frustrating to play.
It’s hard not to feel like this reflects a broader trend that a lot of people in the community are complaining about right now. It feels like development resources are focused more and more on quick premium additions, copy-paste models, and low-effort filler content, while core mechanics, broken hitreg, terrible map design, and long-standing BR compression get ignored. At the same time, there’s a widespread impression that Western vehicles get quick nerfs or detailed internal modeling changes based on minimal sources, while similar feedback for Russian vehicles—like the BMP-T or these unkillable helicopter mechanics—is met with claims of “not enough source data.”
Whether every single stat comparison is perfect or not, the overall feeling as a player is that balancing priorities are completely out of line. We don’t need endless power creep, unkillable helis behind hills, or modern jet trainers stomping 9.0 subsonics just to push new premiums. We need proper BR decompression, consistent modeling rules for all nations, and actual fixes to existing vehicles.
I’d really like to hear what other players think about this, especially those playing top tier SPAA or trying to fly 9.0 right now.
