The most important thing here is that I encourage you not to play this game. Don't waste your time on what inevitably becomes a second job.

I admittedly wrote my initial review in frustration. I tried to make edits but it really wasn't well written. The truth is I have put well over 2,000 hours into this game. You see the 1,400 here, and over a thousand on my alpha account. So I have been around with this game for a long time now.

The TL:DR is that the development team has consistently not listened to the community. The game development consistently is getting worse. The model of game play went from "realistic" dynamics, to faster games intended to cause anger and sell freemium content. The development team is willing to suppress and abuse the player base. A few Community Managers such as Stona_WT actively make this their mission. They are hostile and will ban people for questioning them. There is nothing left of this game that is worth starting as a new player.

Flash back to ten years ago. This game was very unique and had so much to offer. There were hundreds of hours of content to grind out. A few years in we had ground vehicles, which offered a whole new experience. Combined operations were cool at first as well. Over time however, the development team became focused on "balance", This equaled taking away anything unique or special. It resulted in a bland experience. The things you worked hard to unlock were just up-tiered into brackets they were weak at. Essentially everything was the same.

A year or two ago things really started to ramp up. The developers made progression nearly impossible. Losing aircraft cost you more than you could make as an average player. This meant if you wanted to progress, you were reliant on purchasing premium time. The aircraft also became necessary to realistically progress down a tech tree. You needed the boost in research they offered to get both SL and RP.

Ground was the first mode I abandoned. The maps were originally unique and offered a lot of dynamic environments. There were places to hide, places to snipe, and an overall very realistic battlescape. They began removing all vantage points, hiding spots, and the maps became less dynamic. They had at some point implemented "volumetric" rounds on weapons, which resulted in tank shells exploding from blades of grass *WHAT?*. The armor on tanks was also made less valuable. This again was with the intent of making rounds fast brawls without any skill. You may find this an exaggeration; however, it was confirmed in a thread on the forums by Pacifica, a community mod. Ironically my most up voted comment of all time, and one that made it onto YouTube videos. Pacifica found tanks taking the high ground boring and not fast enough. They then admitted maps were being reformed to remove these positions.

The aircraft is an entirely different ballgame, and the one that makes me the saddest. Ground really only has so much evolution in terms of technology. Once you get into things like the Abrams, there really isn't a whole lot to do left. Aircraft are only in the 4+ generation fighters currently. The fourth generation fighters recently made their appearance with the release of Fox 3 missiles. For a month, I finally though the game was the best it has ever been. That the developers were listening and making smart decisions. I took a few weeks off, and returned to find once again for the who knows how many Nth time the weapons were entirely nerfed. Fox 3 missiles went from lethal weapons to extremely lackluster jokes. It gets better though, because we look at the Russian R-27. This missile has not received nerfs and has consistently outperformed every other nation for a year. One we have documented evidence under performs in real life. That highlights another issue entirely.

While these two modes have their issues. Another issue is present in both. Russian & Chinese systems are over represented and overpowered. This is due to the company originally coming from Russia. Something that they try to cover up these days. They make the weapons and vehicles of these nations look better to sell within these nations (currently China leads the way for their sales). The game is also used as a honeypot for classified documents. It's un-provable, but I wouldn't be surprised if the FSB tells the developers how to present things in order to lure foolish people into releasing classified documents.

I as well as many other people have called out these bad practices. We have attempted to provide information (not classified) to make this game represent vehicles and weapons accurately. This information is often ignore, in place Russian documents showing weaker NATO systems are used. This just to make mother Russia and the CCP look better. I made a post about my deletion and leaving the community. Below is what the community managers responded to me with (hint: if you mention things they suppress, they ban you for discussing things they suppress).


"This user is suspended until Sep 30, 2024 1:00 am.
Reason:
3.1.2 insulting the Administration in person; 3.1.4 rudeness and vulgarity against them; 3.8. It is not allowed to discuss threads closed by the Administration or Website Managers or any Users’ posts deleted by them, challenge or discuss corresponding actions of Administration, Moderators (and/or Global Moderators), Community Managers, Coordinators, and Game Masters in any form.
Suspended by: Stona_WT"

I feel happy to finally be free from playing this game. I have spent hundreds of hours in discourse with the developers and community managers. Shout out to SMIM 1080P for being the best Gaijin has to offer. There is so much more I cannot fit into a review here. I would recommend investigating the issues before investing YOUR valuable time to a company that is greedy and represents a nation bent on evil.

The most important thing here is that I encourage you not to play this game. Don't waste your time on what inevitably becomes a second job. I admittedly wrote my initial review in frustration. I tried to make edits but it really wasn't well written. The truth is I have put well over 2,000 hours into this game. You see the 1,400 here, and over a thousand on my alpha account. So I have been around with this game for a long time now. The TL:DR is that the development team has consistently not listened to the community. The game development consistently is getting worse. The model of game play went from "realistic" dynamics, to faster games intended to cause anger and sell freemium content. The development team is willing to suppress and abuse the player base. A few Community Managers such as Stona_WT actively make this their mission. They are hostile and will ban people for questioning them. There is nothing left of this game that is worth starting as a new player. Flash back to ten years ago. This game was very unique and had so much to offer. There were hundreds of hours of content to grind out. A few years in we had ground vehicles, which offered a whole new experience. Combined operations were cool at first as well. Over time however, the development team became focused on "balance", This equaled taking away anything unique or special. It resulted in a bland experience. The things you worked hard to unlock were just up-tiered into brackets they were weak at. Essentially everything was the same. A year or two ago things really started to ramp up. The developers made progression nearly impossible. Losing aircraft cost you more than you could make as an average player. This meant if you wanted to progress, you were reliant on purchasing premium time. The aircraft also became necessary to realistically progress down a tech tree. You needed the boost in research they offered to get both SL and RP. Ground was the first mode I abandoned. The maps were originally unique and offered a lot of dynamic environments. There were places to hide, places to snipe, and an overall very realistic battlescape. They began removing all vantage points, hiding spots, and the maps became less dynamic. They had at some point implemented "volumetric" rounds on weapons, which resulted in tank shells exploding from blades of grass *WHAT?*. The armor on tanks was also made less valuable. This again was with the intent of making rounds fast brawls without any skill. You may find this an exaggeration; however, it was confirmed in a thread on the forums by Pacifica, a community mod. Ironically my most up voted comment of all time, and one that made it onto YouTube videos. Pacifica found tanks taking the high ground boring and not fast enough. They then admitted maps were being reformed to remove these positions. The aircraft is an entirely different ballgame, and the one that makes me the saddest. Ground really only has so much evolution in terms of technology. Once you get into things like the Abrams, there really isn't a whole lot to do left. Aircraft are only in the 4+ generation fighters currently. The fourth generation fighters recently made their appearance with the release of Fox 3 missiles. For a month, I finally though the game was the best it has ever been. That the developers were listening and making smart decisions. I took a few weeks off, and returned to find once again for the who knows how many Nth time the weapons were entirely nerfed. Fox 3 missiles went from lethal weapons to extremely lackluster jokes. It gets better though, because we look at the Russian R-27. This missile has not received nerfs and has consistently outperformed every other nation for a year. One we have documented evidence under performs in real life. That highlights another issue entirely. While these two modes have their issues. Another issue is present in both. Russian & Chinese systems are over represented and overpowered. This is due to the company originally coming from Russia. Something that they try to cover up these days. They make the weapons and vehicles of these nations look better to sell within these nations (currently China leads the way for their sales). The game is also used as a honeypot for classified documents. It's un-provable, but I wouldn't be surprised if the FSB tells the developers how to present things in order to lure foolish people into releasing classified documents. I as well as many other people have called out these bad practices. We have attempted to provide information (not classified) to make this game represent vehicles and weapons accurately. This information is often ignore, in place Russian documents showing weaker NATO systems are used. This just to make mother Russia and the CCP look better. I made a post about my deletion and leaving the community. Below is what the community managers responded to me with (hint: if you mention things they suppress, they ban you for discussing things they suppress). "This user is suspended until Sep 30, 2024 1:00 am. Reason: 3.1.2 insulting the Administration in person; 3.1.4 rudeness and vulgarity against them; 3.8. It is not allowed to discuss threads closed by the Administration or Website Managers or any Users’ posts deleted by them, challenge or discuss corresponding actions of Administration, Moderators (and/or Global Moderators), Community Managers, Coordinators, and Game Masters in any form. Suspended by: Stona_WT" I feel happy to finally be free from playing this game. I have spent hundreds of hours in discourse with the developers and community managers. Shout out to SMIM 1080P for being the best Gaijin has to offer. There is so much more I cannot fit into a review here. I would recommend investigating the issues before investing YOUR valuable time to a company that is greedy and represents a nation bent on evil.