Repair system, introduced not long ago, made both sections of forum think through not only it’s uselessness, but also other moments of gameplay like speeds, infantry vs vehicle balance, etc. I think i should represent some thoughts on these topics and suggest (here we go again) some obvious overhauls, asking to be for so long already.
First of all, this mechanics is not as bad, as things which prevent it from being useful or fun. Speeds of capturing and overall short battles make you act insanely fast, choosing only weapons with best DPM and accuracy, build mostly spawn points and rush A, rush A without a break. Tanks are overall slow because of few factors including unfinished physics, so they often can’t even go in time with infantry. Moreover, crappy shells and overwhelming game with infantry AT means which usually oneshot the steel grave, as well, as presence of enemy armor makes tanks push themselves into gray zone. Here comes mapdesign problem, as tanks often spawn face-to-face without invincibility OR spawn in places where they can shoot infantry but can’t go out of gray zone because of massive focusing and bad survivability. So new mechanics don’t help them at all and don’t help infantry against them.
Good example of better mapdesign, or maybe “zone design” is Stalingrad. Its maps and wide cap points allow infantry hide from tanks, it allows tanks maneuver, flank and support infantry walking out of gray zone and not get tonns of explosives into face. On the other hand there’s always chance that in Soviet Russia someone flanks YOU, especially when you are on repair, so stupid possibility of being onetapped is still saved. Anyway, as we see, gray zone camping and thinness of steel graves is bit lower, so only speeds of capturing and losing reinforcements are still annoy.
I ask devs another time (almost since freakin release of Berlin) to rework gray zones in all champaigns for few points:
-allowing soldiers to go far from cap point into enemy territory and flanking for tanks, especially low tier
-cap points should not be placed on freakin open air and contain at least 2 stages of big building or few barns with obstacles helping to cover from most of shells and bombs
-cap times should be way bigger, at least minute or 1.5 by minimum to allow soldiers not just make meat rushes but also use stationary buildings and different tactics
-there should be also landscape or obstacles preventing tanks from being wiped on spawns and on the other hand shoot cap points from the spawn. it will also help tanks to go to cover and repair while infantry will have some chance to kill tank while it’s on repair
what about infantry vs tanks balance:
-fix HE damage at the end plz (Gaijin.net // Issues)
-fix damage of ATGs as they often make crew become yellow after few shots, and decrease one of mines and packs to make tanks slightly more survivable but still letting finish it while repairing
-decrease number of grenade laucnings per soldier and reload speeds as every one such may oneshot tank while shooting almost like automatic cannon. along with increased skippins moving speeds and possibility of fast aiming&shooting makes firing quite easier than it was/should be. while tanks have bugged HE and nerfed MGs also being unable to smash obstacles
-remove new repair system for now and optionally decrease number of repair needed to make module 100% alive
those changes might help against too fast gameplay which breaks many “slower” mechanics and probably improve cooperation and balance between infantry and tanks. i also try to make my version of Berlin gray zones but it might take a while