or:
How to Enjoy War Thunder Again
1. Remember What This Is
This is a game.
Not a job.
Not a duty.
Not a second career with unpaid overtime.
Games are supposed to be fun.
The moment you notice you are angry more often than entertained, something has gone wrong — and it is perfectly acceptable to stop playing for the evening.
You are not “wasting progress” by logging off.
You are protecting the reason you started playing in the first place.
2. The Match Is Not Entirely In Your Hands
War Thunder is made by humans.
Humans create BR compression.
Humans create strange balancing decisions.
Humans create maps where one side starts with an advantage.
Humans create aircraft that simply hard-counter yours in some situations.
Me, I mostly fly British props. I love the Spitfire dearly.
And yes — there are situations you simply do not win.
Sometimes the enemy aircraft has the advantage.
Sometimes your team evaporates in four minutes.
Sometimes you get uptiered into a flying horror show.
Accepting this is oddly liberating.
Not every defeat is a personal failure.
3. Some Players Just Need the Easy Wins
You will encounter them. Players flying whatever currently gives the easiest rewards, strongest matchmaking, or safest gameplay.
That is fine.
Apparently they need those advantages more than you do.
Maybe losing hurts them so much more than it hurts you.
Poor lads.
Meanwhile, you are flying the aircraft you actually love.
Many players never reach that point at all.
4. Protect Yourself From Emotional Traps
The worst any other player can usually do to you is waste one match.
That is all.
Especially with premium, the actual material loss is tiny.
A teamkiller cannot destroy your evening unless you allow them to.
A bad team composition cannot ruin your real life.
A toxic player in chat is just somebody voluntarily embarrassing themselves in public.
At worst:
- you lose a match,
- maybe 20–30 minutes,
- and gain a story to laugh about later.
If a BR feels miserable:
- change BR,
- switch nation,
- fly something silly,
- take bombers out,
- go low tier,
- or log off.
You are not chained to the queue.
5. The Grind Is a Trap if the Journey Is Miserable
No vehicle is worth hating the game for.
None.
Battle passes, events, and tasks can actually become enjoyable if treated as:
- challenges,
- excuses to leave your comfort zone,
- or opportunities to learn aircraft you normally ignore.
I rarely touched strike aircraft before certain battle pass tasks forced me to.
Oddly enough, that made the game feel fresh again.
The moment progression becomes compulsory rather than enjoyable, it stops being progression and starts becoming a chore.
6. The Booster Heresy
I recycle boosters.
All of them.
Yes, really.
Because boosters changed my mindset from:
“Let’s enjoy a match”
into:
“I have a booster on. This match MUST go well.”
And in War Thunder, performance is often outside your control:
- teamkillers,
- uptiers,
- matchmaking,
- bad teams,
- disconnects,
- impossible map situations.
Boosters turned every match into pressure.
And pressure turns mistakes into anger, and a loss into frustration.
Removing the boosters removed the pressure.
That single change made the game dramatically more enjoyable for me.
7. End on a Victory
If possible, stop playing after a truly memorable battle.
Not necessarily a victory screen.
A real victory.
The match where:
- you beat terrible odds,
- saved teammates,
- carried a collapsing flank,
- fought brilliantly even in defeat,
- or gave the enemy a battle they will remember.
Then log off with a smile and a sense of achievement.
Turn toward real life with that feeling still intact.
Do not immediately queue again until exhaustion turns triumph into frustration.
Leave the airfield while the engine still sounds beautiful, and you still have that grin on your face.
Because this is supposed to be fun.
Your mileage may vary, as the rogue colonists say.
— Etaski over and out.