I came across this topic today and I think I have a suggestion that should be adopted to benefit players who select “join any team.” Make "join any team" rewarding:
Background on the Issue:
There are two main issues with the “Join Any Team” function that need to be addressed.
Almost everyone wants to play a specific nation so it goes unused.
You are stuck with the research for the nation you got queued into.
The first issue is mainly one of player preference and the German steamroller which incentivizes players to play nations that win games and the “Join Any Team” function is supposed to help balance some of these matches, but it doesn’t work because nobody selects it.
The second issue, which ultimately causes the first, is the new progression system. Under the campaigns, where progression was very linear and players didn’t necessarily need to care what nation they joined, as long as they got a quick game, this system was fine because you either advanced research for Nation A or Nation B. Now with the tech tree, there is a negative incentive to selecting “Join Any Team” because your research is sent only to the nation you played as. So, you’re not grinding nation A or B anymore, you’re grinding 4 trees simultaneously. But if you want to focus on your favorite nation there’s no incentive to pick it.
I used to always select “Join Any Team” under the campaign system, but with the tech tree and BR system, it needs to change because I want to grind the Allies, not the Japanese, Soviets, and - rarely - Axis.
Suggestion:
Two changes need to occur to incentivize players to pick this option again.
Players who select “Join Any Team” should get a form of “Global XP” instead of XP for the nation they played as.
If I want to grind out the Allied tech tree I would be more than happy to do so playing as Japan or helping the Soviets get a couple extra players against the Axis.
There should possibly be a small bonus to playing any nation, I would venture to suggest a 10-15% bonus to XP and silver or either individually.
This would offset losses due to joining random teams of nations you may not spend your time grinding.
Ultimately I think this would boost the Usage of “Join Any Team” and would help to balance out the game by getting more real player matches faster for people without punishing people for selecting what should be a very fun option.
The other problem I see players defecting to and sticking with the winning faction is that the game incentivize quick 20 min winning bot farm matches, the most time efficient way to grind silver and level up, not one hour sweaty games both side stuck in a stalemate or getting stomp and slowly loosing. Enlisted need to punish losing team less, Top four players that tried to carry a losing team(exceed 3000 points) should get similar amount of exp and silver as if they won. So they know at least if they do their best, they would get a fair share of reward instead of missing out for not playing the winning factions.
Germany is heavily favor by most players now because most grinded veteran plays them, we stomp new players and get more players defecting to our side in order to have an easier time and decent silver and exp gain. In br5, Armor and equipment difference make western allies hardcore mode compare to Germany, Soviet br5 is mostly dead with a two dude in a shed due to pre merge Berlin(recently re-balanced), Stalingrad and Moscow ticket and capture speed buff for the German while nerf ticket and cap speed for the soviet, no one want to play a faction or in a map that literally don’t favor them. It was dev’s fault for leaving berlin bot farm going way too long unaddressed thinking merge will fix everything. Germany currently in the easiest faction in both high br and low br, there is just isn’t much incentives to play allies, you either get shit on by German stacks or by your empty uptier team, getting out skill and out number while gaining dirt poor exp and silver, so the best option is to just defect to Germany for an average player.
The better idea here is to lock a player’s squad for at least 10 minutes if they leave a match early. If you have to wait 10-15 minutes to play then why would you leave, that 10 minutes will cost you more than if you stayed.
But agree with OP, i too used to join any side, when i was playing a certain Normanady/Tunisia/Pacific campaign.
but wont now, due to it being able to give me RU army,
i have never started it, and i haven’t played the maps, and i am not going to start lvling another army, or give them money to lvl them.