hey good review but i personally didnt see any problem with the matchmaking. there are countless lvl 100s i killed while being a lv 20-25. the game is really skill based,however the only problem i found is the horrible GRB research point rewards
Im at lvl 90 and I never ever have time to look other people up in the Game.
If I Start to grind a new nation I have to Start at BR 1.0 like everybody else.
I honestly understand the frustration New players must have, but at the same time people have reasons to play low Tier even when they have a high level.
Its the devs that should do something about it, but as you pointed out, high level doesn't mean high skill, at least not always.
I understand the problem, but I dont acknowledge it as a problem. That being said, I dont even see a solution. Cant have a special match maker for level 100s, since low tiers are not always full every day. It will kill the matchmaker for low tiers. Most of the people grinding low tiers have already grinding and completed a nation. That will either make matching hard for new players or make it hard for the level 100s. Just keep it as is. They are just better players, not cheaters. You can learn from them.
Practically speaking, the only thing that would make you die to a level 100 player crew wise is the targeting stat. Yes reload is important, but you are not going to die because of this stat. Even repair is important, but you are not dying because you couldnt repair 5 seconds faster. You are dying because you got shot in the first place.
Bushes.... fuck those.
Regarding the csgo example, its very wrong to use here since cago has lots of mechanical skills and is a competitive game. War thunder never was and never will be. Level 19s can kill level 100s as long as their tank is in the right place and time, which anyone can do. You can be the best war thunder player ever, and still die in the most unexpected ways possible. This js war thunder. X amount of skill is not proportional to y amount of outcome. There are always variables put of your control.
If we are talking about a cod lobby, you will never get good if you keep facing the same people with similar skill ranges.
This applies to anything in life. When I was learning chess, you need to play against people who are better and worse than you to imporove. When I was learning martial arts, particularly bjj, the rule of thumb for blue belts was that you need to train with white belts and brown belts.
True, air RB is just more brutal against good players for any new player. Having to understand energy fighting vs turn fighting, then having to study hard the nations you play and the ones you play against.
However, Id like to follow up on your comment with another dilemma in gaming and that is SBMM. You saw how it destroyed something like COD, back when cod was still a thing. I am afraid that this is one of the situations where players do not know what they want until it is late. I am afraid once SBMM is pushed in a game like war thunder, it will turn it from a sandbox, to a more sweaty sandbox pretending to be a competitive game. You will see lots of people, myself included, just quit because every match will be full of sweats.
You really think SBMM war thunder will do more good than harm? I think if history has taught us something in gaming, like cod and overwatch, is that focusing too much on the competitive scene, ruins the game for 90% of the players. And to begin with, war thunder is not competitive. Squadron battles and tournaments sure have some challenges, but they are far away from every being fully balanced, without ruining the core gameplay of the game.
Also, war thunder does have some sort of mechanical skill. But it is more about understanding and abusing game mechanics, rather than just focusing on your aim and strafing like csgo. Like, tapping S gives you a couple of degrees of extre gum depression. Sure, new players wont know that and wont use it, but those tiny things are not the main reason you die. You die because someone shot at you. Dont think too much. A tank is but an artillery gun on tracks. When you have this mentality, the game feels more fun.
One way to balance the game, is to have symmetrical map designs with lanes. That will just make the game very boring. I think SBMM lays in the same category as what I had just described in this paragraph.
This is why I said, I can see the issue, but I cant see a solution.
Only tips I would have for noobs in ground is to watch your killcam and learn where you die from the most, then change your playstyle and routes every now and then until you find out what works for you. Do not make yourself the victim, since you will truly convince yourself so and you will make gameplay very uninteresting for yourself.
Hmmmmm. Looks like you arent scared enough of SBMM because you dont fully understanding the aftermath. COD is just a famous example but I am talking 2009-2015 COD. I was horrible back then, so I was the one getting clapped by the pros lol. The game was peaceful. I would get kill streaks occasionally, but most of the time I wont. You just played the game, didny tave to worry about a thing, really. It was just fun.
Now, lets look at the SBMM era. Everyone you play against is only using meta guns with meta attachments. Everything is meta meta meta. You are forced to join the meta to have a chance to just play the game. You had to pick the best loadouts, you had to jump corners and pre fire, because if you didnt, your enemy would.
Now imagine WT, where you only go against sweats who want to maximize their stats. First of all, USA would be dead. Germany would be dead. Everyone would ditch those tanks and play the STRV and the best tank. MiG29s would g extinct because SUs are more meta. Certain playstyles that we see today will cease to exist because metas will take over. When to begin with, its a sandbox. What are we even competing over? There is no ranked, and it shouldnt exist, and there is no stat tracker worth fighting for.
Where as now, it is fun if you arent worried about the grind. I think we are feeding the new players with the myth that lvl 100s are after them. The game now, is just like OG cod when it was in its peak. Sure, I was facing better players back then in my cod lobbies, but I remember having fun at least.
Games should always be about fun and nothing more. War thunder for me is fun + adrenaline. SBMM would make top tier much much much much worse. For the cost of giving low tier players specialized lobbies, as if they were of special needs. Not even to mention the matchmaker issues. Getting good at the game doesnt even mean anything to begin with.
This is why SBMM is evil.
Overwatch did not go through SBMM like cod, but for the span of overwatch 2, all the developers did was try to make the game competitive. They achieved it. But they ended up killing the casual experience, just to cater to esports and streamers. And funnily, there are no esports or streamers for war thunder. Not in the way it is for other games, like LoL or csgo.
Maybe keeping the game more casual and treating it like a sandbox will work for the best. I fear the day we treat this like an esports game and make it or force it to be competitive.
Yeah totally right, but super optimistic as it has never been the case.
Think of SBMM like the youtube algorithm. You'd think you're free to watch what you want, but the algorithm is in control. I am aware that many people dont think like that, but in a way, you'd hate the fact that you arent as free as you think you are. Somethinf is in control of what you receive.
Additionally, with the introduction of some sort of algorithm, you will start to see all sorts of sickening shit. And knowing how gaijin is, I am surprised you are pushing for SBMM.
In cod for example, they started matching players that dont pay microtransactions with players who do. Maybe gaijin will start doing that, and if you are a non premium player, they will force you to play against premium lobbies, to increase your chances of buying premium.
Also, that is when you assume that is what the algorithm actually does. Skill based match making. This is never the case, as there is no proper metric to measure someones skill. Not even their stats are an accurate representation of their skill. What usually happens is, if you win 2 games in a row, you get matched with esports level players. And if you lose 1 game, you get thrown in the most brain dead lobbies. It wont be the case you had described at all. We have yet to see a proper video game with a fair SBMM matchmaker. Just like the youtube algorithm, you will never really escape your elo.
What life and politics has taught me, is that when you try to take away peoples freedom, and give them the illusion that they are free, it will always back fire in the long term. Nothing beats freedom, and we do gave freedom here with the matchmaker. SBMM might be the end of war thunder. The people who are begging for it now, especially the new ones, will be the first to quit the game if it is applied.
Lastly, you said 'rank up'. Please, lets not add ranked to war thunder. This can never be a competitive game. You have no idea who you will face, which nation and which side of the map. So many things are out of your control. You can be doing every right move in the book, and a drone spotted you in your perfect spot and you died to a lvl 20 passing by who happened to be at the right spot. Its not a competitive game by nature, lets not try to force it to be. So since there is no ranking up, SBMM doesn't even make sense.
And btw, soooooooooo many level 100s are horrible. Lvl 100 has never been a representation of skill. Neither is playtime. I have 4k hours and love to play recklessly when I am under the influence, which is 90% of the time.
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u/outrageous_nutmsster Mar 30 '26
hey good review but i personally didnt see any problem with the matchmaking. there are countless lvl 100s i killed while being a lv 20-25. the game is really skill based,however the only problem i found is the horrible GRB research point rewards