16v16 is way too many players. We had this problem back before it was increased from 12v12 to 16v16.
High tier prop matches have been 6v6 for a while now, so this isn’t exactly unprecedented. And unlike props, Jets would actually benefit greatly from smaller matches.
Lots of WT players think jets need larger maps because they travel so much faster than props, but that’s not really the case. Sabers and Migs did fine on prop sized maps like Korea. The real reason is that the engagement range of high tier missile carrying jets is so much higher.
In top tier, you can easily be killed from 4-5km away with an IR missile that will give you no warning its coming, and from many more KMs away by a radar missile. Multiply this by 16, and the situation quickly becomes untenable. The problem with top tier is player density.
6v6 has been done before in WT, and I see no reason why it can’t work in Top Tier. 8v8 would work, 10v10 would be pushing it.
Perhaps in smaller maps, like City and Small Spain, its 6v6, then on super large maps like Rocky Canyon it’s 10v10, and the other maps that are more medium sized are 8v8.
Please change this soon Gaijin, Top tier is borderline unplayable at the moment.
8v8 would be good at any BR where enemies are a threat when they are within about 4-5 kms.
At lower tiers, like in a BR3 Spit, an enemy aircraft 3kms away is not necessarily a concern, I keep an eye on it, but I can ignore it for the most part. At mid tier, something within 5kms could be a threat very quickly. At top tier, something on the map is a threat.
So yeah, reducing the density would be great. Could be done other ways, like bigger maps and having multiple starting AFs. but without that, reducing team size would work well.
Single top tier games screenshot from good old days.
At that time, there were no missiles in the game, so almost all players kept up their speed, and while furballs were not completely absent, it was a bit unusual to see them compared to the current Jet RB games.
Whatever, 16v16 should gone from the game above 7.0BR and higher BR.