Not really the case because there’s a lot of RNG in the game.
In general the “issue” with APHE was always how it exploded in sphere, making it much more effective than solid AP, APCR, APDS, or HESH which all deal damage in a cone from the impact zone, which should be the same with APHE, just that the cone would be delayed due to fuze delay.
This resultet in APHE with the by far the highest chance to knock out vehicle in a single shot, with overpressure making it even easier.
Vehicles are balanced by their performance and APHE was far the most effective shell, even when it lacks armor penetration, simply because the prefered way to shoot a tank, is the sides, as it has the least amount of armor there.
So the same vehicle firing APHE would see a significant increase in BR compared to vehicles that fired solid shot.
Now, why is that bad? Because APHE wouldn’t be that effective, if it behaved physically correct.
Thus more advanced rounds like APCR would be preferable, instead of being only useful for niche situations.
The issue is, that every round in general has its application, rarely will a shell make the whole vehicle vulnerable and when it does, it might not work for another.
HESH is limited by armor thickness, and will explode hitting tracks and sidesskirts and has generally low velocity compared to APDS.
Similiar, APCR can penetrate thick armor but will also struggle going through the angled side of a tank, particular with tracks and roadwheels in the way.
Pz IV: Pzgr. 39 and Super APCR vs T-34
Note that protection analysis doesn’t work for APCR, at least for me but as you can see, even Super APCR for the 75mm doesn’t penetrate the sloped upper side or the lower sides through the roadwheels and tracks.
However out of all the rounds, APHE would often just kill a vehicle in one shot, which is a huge tactical advantage. Not only is a threat eliminated but you are rewarded with more SP, while the enemy team loses tickets. At the end of the day, kills are also going to pay your bill, so it’s frustrating to penetrate tanks and not get rewarded.
The main issue is the issue with the behavour of APHE is that it leads to discrepancies in killing power, that simply shouldn’t exist.
And the main way to fix that, is to change the kill requirements, so that after APHE behaves physically correct the lethality of all rounds is increased.
No one likes playing the FV4005, shoot a 72kg HESH round at a target, only to knock out the loader and breech, with a reload so long that tanks might be almost repaired by the time you fire again.
There must be limits to how much damage is acceptable for the vehicle to continue to fight, or how effective it’s going to be.
In WT it takes at most 10sec for a crew member to take over the position.
Now imagine your whole screen turning black, or being forced to driver view because you just got shot and your commander is dead.
Without commander your tank is practically blind, and one guy is going to have a lot of trouble seeing whats happening outside the tank, loading and operating the gun at the same time.
Damage from all shells is for the most part artifically increased, to even somewhat compete with APHE. But reducing the damage and changing shell behavour to reality, while making internal components not repairable, would not only decrese the TTK but also rewarding good aim.
Vehicles with modern ammuniton would also see a rise in BR and become much more competetive.
If we finally got dynamic BRs based on ammunition module, you could effectively play your M36 with HEAT-FS post-war and fight T-54s in a M41 Bulldog, instead of putting post-war vehicles, at the same or lower BR as their WW2 counterpart, simply because they lack the reliability of firing APHE rounds.
Imagine a JPz 4-5 that doesn’t share the same BR as a WW2 Jagdpanther.
