I watched the Open Qualifier I - Pro League Major II - Season 2026 stream, which was streamed yesterday, Monday 18 May 2026, and wanted to share some feedback from a viewer’s perspective.
To give some context, these are only my personal opinions as a War Thunder player and esports viewer. I have played War Thunder for around three years and have top-tier Russia, Italy, and Rank VIII Germany, so I am not completely unfamiliar with top-tier gameplay. That said, I would not describe myself as a highly proficient top-tier player or a competitive player. This feedback is mainly about how the event felt to watch as a viewer.
First, I want to say something positive: the stream itself was very professionally produced. The overlays, pacing, presentation, and overall production quality made it feel like a proper esports broadcast. The commentators, JODO and IMJEFFAFA, also did a great job keeping the matches engaging and easy to follow. Even when some of the matches started to feel repetitive, the casting helped keep the stream entertaining.
My main criticism is about the aircraft variety in the air battles.
War Thunder has a huge range of aircraft, and one of the things that makes the game interesting to watch is seeing different vehicles, strengths, weaknesses, and playstyles. However, in this stream, the air meta looked very narrow. Across the visible games I tracked, the overwhelming majority of aircraft picks were Rafale C F3, with only occasional use of Typhoon (AESA) and F-2000A (AESA) in the standard competitive-looking matches.
I made two infographics to support this point: one showing the aircraft pick distribution across the visible streamed games, and another showing how many matches were pure Rafale mirror matches compared with other matchups.
These numbers are my own count from the visible streamed games and may not represent the entire tournament.
From the visible streamed games I counted:
- 26 visible games
- 208 total aircraft picks
- Rafale C F3: 179 picks
- Typhoon (AESA): 14 picks
- F-2000A (AESA): 7 picks
- The remaining aircraft appeared only in two outlier / non-standard games
If the two outlier games are excluded, then only three aircraft appeared in the standard competitive-looking matches:
- Rafale C F3
- Typhoon (AESA)
- F-2000A (AESA)
From a viewer’s perspective, this made many of the air battles feel very similar. In several games, it felt less like watching the full variety of War Thunder aircraft and more like watching repeated Rafale mirrors, with only small lineup differences.
This is not intended as criticism of the teams or players. Competitive players will naturally use the strongest and most reliable options available under the rules. My concern is more about the viewing experience and whether the current ruleset encourages enough aircraft diversity for an esports broadcast.
To me, the issue is that when almost every team is pushed toward the same aircraft, the matches lose some of the variety that makes War Thunder interesting to watch. Different aircraft choices could create more recognizable team styles, more tactical variety, and more interesting commentary moments.
I would like to see future WTCS air events consider rules that encourage a wider vehicle pool. Possible examples could include:
- limiting repeated aircraft within a team lineup
- requiring a wider mix of aircraft
- adding a pick/ban system
- adjusting the allowed vehicle list
- limiting the number of top meta aircraft per team
I am not saying any of these is definitely the perfect solution. They are just examples of possible approaches. I understand that any ruleset needs to be fair, competitive, and practical for the players. However, as a viewer, I do think aircraft variety is important for making the broadcast more interesting.
I would also be interested to hear what other viewers thought of the stream. Did other people also find the aircraft selection repetitive, or is this just my personal reaction as a viewer? I am genuinely curious whether this is a common opinion or whether I am more of an outlier on this.
Overall, I thought the commentary and production quality were excellent, and the stream was well presented. My main feedback is simply that the aircraft meta felt repetitive, and I would like to see future War Thunder esports events show more of the vehicle variety that the game has available.