Im tired of trying to play it, it is virtually unplayable. Sure, the M2 howitzer is great at donking 4 or 5 guys on a cap point, but lets just lay it out
-open topped lets it get OHKO’d by german cannon planes
-abysmal turret rotation makes it impossible to use as a support vehicle without being as far away as possible
-the HEAT has less pen than the 37mm, and is extremely unpredictable. I’ve OHKO’d a panzer iv only to have my next 4-5 shots not pen the flat side of a puma.
-The commander is exposed, with no way to shield himself, making him a free kill. The loader also instantly swaps into his seat, making this a 2 crew vehicle 99% of the time
-The overpressure codes from WT were very very VERY clearly copied onto this vehicle, because it can literally destroy itself with its own HE, and you can lose the entire turret at once from a stray M24 grenade on the ground.
-Let alone the fact that det packs, 7.5cm HE and 50kg bombs can do the same thing from MUCH further away
-no coaxial, leaving the gunner unable to save those measly HEAT shells for armor
-its on the M5 chassis, giving it very little armor and thus, survivability
Pros?
-the M2 is equally or more often less effective than any of its counterparts (the M3 cannons, the short barreled 7.5cm, the KwK42) whilst also having significantly less anti armor ability, so the “firepower” argument is void
-sure, it has speed. But it cant use this because of all the trenches that the light tank M5 can easily be stuck in, and the aforementioned extreme vulnerability to splash damage and unprotected turret means using it to flank and push is a death sentence
-.50 is nice, but it can only be operated by a commander, so see above why this is far from a pro over a coaxial MG-34 on a panzer
I want to like this vehicle, but its so darn bad. the HEAT definitely has some registry issues that remind me an awful lot of how HEAT used to perform in WT around the 2019 mark, and the overpressure codes as well as times when your gunner/loader will just randomly die with while the commander is fine, and the fact that this vehicle is FAR from a match to either the puma or the panzer III N makes it an absolute drag to play.
I’d be much happier seeing the M24 being added as a standard vehicle, or at the very least giving us something that can hold its own against the panzer iii N and panzer IV, i mean the M4A1 is a pretty soft target for the sherman line, the M10 would at least be much better against vehicles while still having a decent HE shell, and the M8A1 would be a great choice to solve the lack of AT abnility without shaking the tree too much provided they fix the splash damage issue, and theres always the option of reorganizing the tank trees entirely with a horizontal progression as well as a vertical, IE being able to choose the jumbo or the A3 76 instead of grinding 10 levels for a worse or functionally identical vehicle
Edit, I should note a large reason why this is such a heavy issue is the fact the germans have simply much better options. The puma is far from an equal to the M5, and the Pz. III N is a world apart from the M8. This could honestly be solved by shifting the germans to a lower level to meet the USA tree on equal terms, IE providing the stubby puma instead of the III N, and a panzer III L to match the M5.