Video Q&A with War Thunder Game Director Viacheslav Bulannikov!

[Scärlett]

really really disappointed from some answers !

1-about the maps
iv been playing war thunder for years from 2016 and ground RB it’s still cap the point and defend the point nothing new on ground rp !
2- pushing more small maps to the game and close range fight’s
i fully disagree with this it’s awful change and kill the point of armor in some tanks and it’s awful for top tier tanks !

improvements that can be done for maps:
for map add this as extra option in game modes to able to choose big maps or small maps from a filter
here image example !

2- add something new maybe ai targets to kill or protect a factory from enemy raids ton of ideas i can think but i know gajin wont something that players will enjoy !

3- about the 0.7 BR answer this very very disappointing !
so the game will end up from 1.0 br to 20.0 br at one point which will lead to kill some other brs and br have less players than others which will lead to high Q times which will not fix anything :/

again please gajin rethinking the splitting of WWI /WWII and cold war and modern war from each other it’s only fix i could think !

why you have so many tanks / planes suffer from up tier from other vehicles that outclass them in everything !

some examples
pancake 5.3 facing ta 152 air which outclass it in everything !

and object 279 at 9.0 the gun is very great good but the armor mean nothing facing 9.0+ tanks which have laser range finder dm33 and other 10.0 which is way way stronger and when the object 279 was
at 8.3 and 8.7 it was deleting everything at max down tier which is not fair !

or 5.7 tanks against 6.7 not all tanks can encounter them.

maybe limit the amount of up tiers or limit the amount of people who have 1+ higher tank in battles

i was hoping for better answers and no updates about game engines or when ray tracing will be improved and updates about VR its forgotten :( no hand tracking

[stangbro01]

So basically we have ZERO hope of ever getting larger top tier matches?? We have all these long range systems in place and most the maps are smaller than br 1.0 matches!!!

So who is going to spend years grinding to top tier for a WORSE EXPERIENCE??

[Bajtárs]

He just play the test drive. lmao

[Foe_Hammer]

“We believe it already offers enough variety”

The variety in question:

Spoiler

[Maldrokk]

So the game devs are so out of touch with the community that they drop a whole video saying “we see your feedback, and actually you don’t want any of the things you’re asking for.”

This just gives me more anticipation for the competition of war thunder to finally shine. Waiting for good news from actual game devs instead of premium peddlers.

[Creastroy]

I can still remember the community’s reaction when the add M44 before wasp for low tier germany

[_Poul]

@Foe_Hammer

“We believe it already offers enough variety”

The variety in question:

Spoiler

The only explanation for this is that the devs don’t play Helicopter PvE mode. I’m sure that if we could somehow force them to spade a single 9.7 BR helicopter, they would immediately realize that Helicopter PvE is still in an early alpha state, full of bugs and problems.

The worst part is that it wouldn’t even take much development effort to improve the situation. Many issues could be resolved quickly - but we would need devs who actually care.

[gfdsa_killer]

venezuelan su30 being more competitive than other TT planes top tier

[gfdsa_killer]

Ah-1 9.7 heli vs apache and ka52. Pretty fair.

[Omaneko_JASDF]

[NajmiCreative]

They need to look up Heli PvE again, plus it could have resurgence in players thanks to fellas like Bob Dickinson (love your videos btw) and right now mainstream FnF missile slingers ruining it even more for grinding purposes, and damaging everyone elses gameplay for ones below 10.3 Sim/Arcade BR and with the current BR for helis on said battle modes they just grouping up every single 9.7-11.0 helis in one lobby without BR separation.

People keep saying Heli PvE is boring because they’re slow pace but actually it could even done within 3 Useful Actions/30 minutes with helis above 9.7 and enough players from what I observed. It does valid for Rank 5/9.0 and below helis if there is less players around and tend to quit after 3 Useful Actions aka when the large single use booster expires. 9.0 Heli in other hand actually needs cooperation between players as some of the helis didn’t have guided missiles and had rely to teammates to get rid of SPAA or not having basic rockets and guns to wipe out enemy assault/defence battlefield.

Myself even memorized how Heli PvE conditions work as well, for example:

• if convoy is destroyed before reaching a tile adjacent to frontline border, it will trigger Enemy Defence objective afterwards on corresponding tile horizontally/vertically next to border
• If convoy arrives at the tile adjacent to frontline border, it will despawn and trigger Enemy Assault objective on your side of the border
• Enemy Defence objective could also be triggered if Enemy Assault objective has been completed on adjacent tile to it
• Enemy attackers will attack your recently captured frontline or ongoing Enemy Assault/Defence objective asset and your own convoys (yes it exists)
• Enemy bombers, obviously, will bomb bases. Most of the time or sometimes if they unable to find a base it will circle on the middle row (or column for Southeastern City and Canyon) of the map. In rare cases it could even circle above moving convoys (yes I’ve experienced that once or twice on Vietnam map)

[PlayedStatue626-live]

The M109s weren’t even as bad as they at least came in multiple variants, now it’s 5 of the exact same thing

[Nick_Cloud]

i saw the interview…
I disagree with 98% what’s been said…
The fact that they don’t even consider that 1DL comes INTENTIONALLY , because of the game’s flaws that are so many that i can right a book 800 pages and win nobel prize analyzing them…
The fact that they didn’t even understand that helicopter PvP failed specifically because Ka-50 coming way before it’s time (while severely nerfing EVERYTHING else that could retaliate by not giving them all their ordinance) …
The fact that they don’t understand that the game has enough diversity in any case …the balance is utterly garbage. They don’t even try to make some balance with ordinance power… Ex. F-16A Netz 12,7 can surely have a chance against a 16C block 50 or 40 if they all play AIM-9L, but once the 16C gets the AMRAAMs and 9Ms is another kind of beast altogether both in 1v1 or many VS many or 1 VS many .
And here the compression kicks in … you could have 20 BR levels , and a mixture of BRs per plane , by weapons it carry (make it change by equipping the mod via tick like the performance ones, or you could integrate the rating in the ordinance profiles ) and there you have diversion and balance (i solved it with quantum mechanics… no , it’s obvious …and it will always work ) .

The fact that we even applaud them for getting game modes (SEAD, gunfights) … and they don’t perma them or even long term them or even rotate them since they are in demand…

I don’t know , his answers make me think that they just…not care as long as they get money and they will minimize ANY COST and any advancement that costs and they just don’t care about the game as a game…

I will tell it again, and take it as a feedback . If another game comes , with half the diversity …but with some not even good maps/missions etc. just mediocre , but with balance and at least the intention to be balanced… WT is done for.
At this point the saving grace is that there is no competition. And while i get that the market for this genre isn’t huge and many industries don’t really care to make this kind of games…
What if a shift comes? Would you want to be melt even if you try last minute because your own playerbase doesn’t trust you (at all) first and foremost, or have established playerbase that won’t switch games that easily .See warcraft… it passed a phase that it was trash, it’s 20 years old , the graphics don’t say much comparing with newer games -ok it’s cartoon-ish that saves a lot but still… But it had establish a playerbase and never really fell off…in its worse day it was king of MMO-RPGs with nearly double the second’s numbers…oh and add a sub to play model. And yes those guys started from a small company and now is colossal …

WT is 12 years old and still operates in beta. WoW in 12 years was destroying the markets and still is.

[Cpt_Bel_V]

@Nick_Cloud

WT is 12 years old and still operates in Alpha

Fixed

[Chickbecombo]

The scariest part of all this is that they genuinely play their own game, look at the current state of it, and still think this is acceptable, especially when it comes to maps.

I’ve been on these forums for years, watching people ask, and beg for bigger maps in Ground and Air RB. Players have suggested everything.
spreading out bases to fix the fearball, adding more airfields and spawn points so we actually use the whole map, making matches last longer than five minutes, giving Ground RB enough space so you don’t get nuked by top-tier CAS two minutes in, and maybe, just maybe, not losing both spawn points before the match even starts to breathe.

And after all that? They give us this. It’s honestly terrifying how out of touch it feels at this point. It doesn’t even look like they’re trying anymore.

Air Sim hasn’t had a meaningful update in years, and yet they still push these tiny maps that last under five minutes and leave you mentally drained when you’re done, and they seriously think this is an acceptable mode and map ?

[Cpt_Bel_V]

@Chickbecombo

they genuinely play their own game,

do you still believe that?
[DEV] (a squadron especially for Devs) - 2 guys in there made 1 game within the last 15 days,… and all others are absent from the game.

let alone the way Bulannikov presents us all the new stuff each Devstreams,… like if it was the first time he’s ever done that.

[efetenekeci]

It is cool to have some footage of a human being answering some questions, even though they are mostly bending or hiding some of reality.

WWM will not ever come. Just like the PvE missions. The last time it came it broke the servers twice (maybe triple idk), was a turkey hunt for whoever had the Leopard 2A4 or T-80B, and confusing if you were managing sessions instead of just playing the mode. Now add 6 more years of game development and a community with less average will to learn any game mechanic.

People like Air RB EC and actively want it to come. Period.

People hated Heli PvP but you should admit the reason was a certain vehicle that had its own update in October 2019. Not the PvP aspect itself, nobody hated the mode before Ka-50. The Heli PvE still lacks the static map based enemy targets up to this date btw.

[Cythraul98]

I haven’t been as involved in War Thunder recently, as I have focused on school, but the reaction to this Q&A is unsettling to me.

I have plenty of major issues with Gaijin and how they manage their game and I have expressed those opinions, sometimes less tactfully than I probably should have. This Q&A is ultimately an attempt at reaching out to the players though “extending an olive branch” if you will, and the most common response from the players has been to scorn at the attempt.

I get it. You (we) feel burned by Gaijin in the past and some of the responses in this Q&A seemed disingenuous at best but this is not the type of thing to release your pent up frustration at. This type of (attempted) outreach to their players is a GOOD thing overall but if the devs see an overall negative response, why would they even try something like this again in the future?? It would be better to acknowledge the openness the devs gave about some of the issues we brought up and give some constructive criticism on some decisions or takes that you disagree with.

I get the idea that for the longest time, the devs turned a blind eye to player’s concern which was unwise and unfair. They had to do a double take when the majority of the player base revolted and since then have made steps to try and work closer with their players but if (we) just keep on slapping away their hand blindly then no progress will be made. That’s all we want after all; progress towards a better WarThunder.

[_Poul]

@NajmiCreative

Myself even memorized how Heli PvE conditions work as well (…)

You’re correct, but unfortunately every objective in Helicopter PvE can become bugged.

About 1-2 minutes after the battle starts, the first sector attack or defense objective should appear, but sometimes it simply doesn’t. When this happens, the battle ends up with fewer active objectives than it should have. Especially since strike aircraft are also tied to sector attack/defense objectives. In such battles, you have to wait for the first convoy, which can take quite some time. Additionally, not every helicopter can destroy convoys, which is another problem.

Convoys can get bugged too. When this happens, they start driving in circles and never reach your sectors, so they never trigger new sector defense objectives. This is a huge problem, especially at lower BRs, where you sometimes don’t have helicopters capable of destroying convoys. At higher BRs it’s not as big of a deal, because you can still destroy the convoy and trigger the sector attack objective. Unless that part gets bugged as well, of course - when that happens, the sector attack won’t trigger even after the convoy is destroyed.

Convoys on some maps love to go inside the terrain, where you can’t hit them. Some maps also have very weird terrain deformations, and sector attacks/defences can spawn in large depressions. This problem seems to be related to the maps themselves, which look unfinished.

There’s also a constant problem with unexpected SPAA spawns. Often you don’t even see any enemy markers or warnings, they just appear and instantly kill you, which is never fun:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItgKhcO9864

Landing objectives rarely get bugged, but it is possible. When this happens, it’s impossible to complete the objective, and it will never fail. It doesn’t matter if you J-out or even leave the battle, the bug won’t fix itself. You can see how this bug works here:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np11Jr9LeR8

Bases are the objectives that get bugged most often. In some battles, they can glitch even after destroying just a few of them. I’m still not sure what causes this problem. It’s definitely not map-dependent, because I’ve had battles on every single map where bases were bugged, but also battles where bases worked fine from start to finish.

Strike aircraft rely on sector attack and defense objectives, so when these objectives get bugged, you won’t see these planes anymore. By the way, strike aircraft should be toned down in the lowest bracket. They are way too strong against early helicopters that only have machine guns to fight them.

Bombers usually respawn properly, but I’ve seen a few battles where they stopped appearing, so it’s also possible. However, many helicopters can’t destroy planes, so when every other objective is bugged, this one definitely won’t save the players.

Here’s an example of a battle with no objectives - not even planes!:

Spoiler

Technically, you can see one active objective on the list, but even if I check outside the map, there are no attackers there. So there’s literally nothing more to do in this battle. Is this how a finished game mode is supposed to look?

In my opinion, they should put all objectives on a constant, separate loops. For example, if you complete a sector attack, another one should immediately appear. I would untie the current connections, because it’s very likely that they are causing at least some of the issues mentioned.

That should also solve the issue of there not being enough objectives for every player. If we always had at least one sector attack, one sector defense, and so on, players would constantly have something to do.

I understand this wouldn’t fix all the issues. Helicopters with fire-and-forget missiles would still dominate battles, but at least other players would have more opportunities to earn score.

I would still prefer personal objectives, as they would instantly resolve most balance issues. If every player had their own personal objectives, in addition to the global ones, we wouldn’t even need additional brackets or overly detailed helicopter PvE balancing.
https://forum.warthunder.com/t/adding-personal-objectives-to-helicopter-pve-mode/249367
But that would require a fair amount of additional coding, so it’s almost certain it won’t happen.

[Cpt_Bel_V]

@efetenekeci

People like Air RB EC and actively want it to come. Period.

apart that point i agree.
a recent poll on the forum showed a 50-50 split with Air-RB EC