So first I will start this off for the people that don’t know what I am talking about.
Back in 2018 a while after the T-2 (and the German Sea Hawk) were added matches were set to axis v axis and allies v allies, due to well the T-2 destroying F-100s on 1 specific map where Japan had an air spawn, this also the old F-100 flight model that could somewhat turn so it was just that map that was the issue, anyway enough complaints were made so that it was set to axis v axis and allies v allies (with a brief period of time where allies v axis happened only on Dover Strait the full size one) and later set to a temporary mixed matchmaking which we have had since.
The Old matchmaker took into account what nation you were playing and what theater of war it took part in, which made for really fun gameplay, for example fighting zeros over small pacific island (naval air maps have also since been removed for the most part, because people complained about needing to land on carriers with non carrier planes), also I say what theater it took part it, it is more so was it a naval plane or an air force plane, an example that I recall is Denmark where the Allies had a carrier and could take an airfield if they protected landing ships, which would capture the airfield in the middle of the map, while german planes had a airfield further back.
I miss the semi-hsitorical battles, even the exercise ones were pretty good (often US vs UK)
This matchmaker just feels hollow with no real effort put into it, I miss making a mad dash for a carrier with a plane that is slowly falling out of the sky, I miss the somewhat based in reality battles compared to the mixed nightmare we have now.
If someone can explain the old matchmaker better than me please do I am not good with words
I played with my old account those days - and it was at least for props (i fly nothing else) boring like hell.
Just to make this clear: The wt meta favors fast climbing props and US/GB teams got slaughtered by fast climbing 109s, J2Ms or Ki-84s. Airspawn fighters were rarer than today and it was always the same. Pure JP vs USSR matches were more balanced as a hell of A6Ms died to Be-6 return fire, but the JP pilots had usually the upper hand.
All in all the gameplay got much faster - easy wins after 6-10 minutes like today were the exception, the average air rb prop pilot was far better than today.
This map is called Norway and i played in February 2 times on it…
Most of the time - boring like hell. US teams got killed by much more experienced JP players.
You can still play there - flying with 1940 A6M2s at BR 3.7 against XP-50s or 1953 Wyverns, just stay around 3.7 to 4.3…
So for smaller teams the semi-historical MM still exist on Pacific maps - and ofc, in the 6vs6/7vs7 Ju 288 “black hole”.
The change to mixed teams increased the win rates of US players significantly as at the beginning they were mostly teamed up with JP players and fought vs GER/IT/RU teams…
This whole nation set-up died with (no offense) totally WW2 irrelevant countries like SWE, CHN or Israel and due to the spam of captured / c+p vehicles since 2018. I mean you can fly 109s for 7 nations in 5 TTs…
7? GER/ROM/HUN/IT/JP/US/FIN…so with this nation mess semi -historical MM makes no sense…
I just want them to make the mode less same thing different background, sure balance has always been an issue in WT but if they actually put some though into it. Yeah we are past the WW2 era of nations and such, but that does not mean older scenarios cannot be modified to an alt history.
My issue is simply that every match nowadays is the same thing over and over, only exception for jets being city which is bad because of the increased player count.
They made every mission play the same and that is not fun that is just being lazy. I remember the old matches from way back but I recall barely anything of the current matchmaker, since it has slowly become just tedious and boring with the same mixed and same european/african maps, the gamemode feels hollow to me.
God, I hope. Current matchmaker is boring asf. Jet battles are a mess at all BRs with mixed matchmaking, supersonics at 9.3, all aspects at 10.0, and prop matches are just a huge furball in 16v16 with not even semi-historical matchups and always someone who dives to af. I just want to play a matchup that makes sense on a cool map that also makes sense, instead of this ahistorical mess that exists in a game marketed as if that wasn’t the case.
I haven’t seen a pacific match in years. I would LOVE a fairly balanced 12v12 US vs Japan and Allies vs Axis in a theatre that makes sense without stupid airfield AA interfering. 2017 matchups in old videos look so fun compared to now.