As a matter of fact, with the current matchmaking rules, there appears to be no actual point in keeping BR IV and V equipment separated.
BR I is starter gear, fine, everyone starts with that and quickly progresses forward.
BR II is the BR of choice to play early war maps and gear, while still having more weapons choice than BR I only.
BR III is currently “play any map” choice (not going into how this affects balance right now).
But BR IV and V are currently set to be matched together no matter what.
So, what’s even the point of having a distinction between IV and V?
Anyone having access to BR V gear will equip their squads with it, only bringing BR IV stuff for personal preference or as “second line” choice (tankers/pilots weapons).
Moreover, as a side effect, all BR IV stuff that’s really good itself but is beaten by superior alternatives at BR V (just think of a wide range of SMGs like most Thompsons, drum PPDs, Beretta 38 etc) is doomed to quick obsolescence and redundancy.
I admit that I haven’t played everything yet since the merge.
Setting up proper lineups for Soviets alone was such an exhausting feat, that I’m still playing mostly fixed premium / event squads lineups with US and Germans, and haven’t tried anything different from my previous lineup with Japan.
I think it would be way better if the matchmaker actually cared about average per-player BR (so, one br5 rifle in full br4 lineup gives you like 4.01 rating) and actually tried to balance BRs of both sides, so both teams get even-ish gear. Currently it feels that tons of matches its almost exclusively 100% BR5 on one side and almost exclusively BR3-BR4 on the other
Yes, current BR system is too primitive, merge has added certain possibilities, but in this state BR system it’s not balanced and not even close to the semi-historical concept of this game.
There should be 5 historical BRs without BS and an additional BR 6 which never plays with any other BRs where we’d have fantasy BS weapons like ASs-44, RPD, STG-45, MG-45.
They have a BR 4 so they can have somewhere to put equipment that is clearly not strong enough to compare to BR 5 premium squads…yet is too powerful for BR 3 (which can rarely fight BR 1-2)
Honestly though they just need to rebrand the BRs to something like “Standard” and “Elite.” Or maybe “early war” and “late war” although that would make historical accuracy fans complain about a bunch of placements.
They then need to redistribute the equipment in BR 3 into either of the two, because BR 3 is not working the way it is now.
My problem is more with how wide Tier 3 is. Anyone who played Normandy for a few days before the Merge had the Garand unlocked and having even ONE of them in ant squad automatically puts them Tier 3.
Having these split queues makes matches extremely volatile and not in a good way. You either steamroll the enemy or the enemy steamrolls you. Destruction defenses are even worse than they were before. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether you get matched up or down as a Tier 3. Being the top of the bottom usually leaves you with a bunch of people who have a Garand but don’t know the maps or how to assault positions. Being the bottom of the top matches you with people who have much more effective equipment.
I think the only people who benefit from these matchmaking changes are Tier 1s who don’t want to do the early (easy) grind up and out of BR1.
A lot of the BR IV weapons aren’t even good enough to be IV. I’m hoping the devs are gonna make some noticeable alterations in the coming days and weeks.
SVT-40 is an example. There isn’t that much of a difference between the SVT-38 and SVT-40, yet the SVT-40 is BR IV? The fuck.
Yes, that’s a perfect example of my point as well.
SVT-38 lets you build a full BR III semiauto lineup. Yet, a SVT-40 with very little difference throws you into top BR battles. Why even using any? If I’m willingly going at BR V, I’ll rather bring AVT-40 or at least AVS-36.
So, there now lays a pile of unused SVT-40, rusty and dusty.
Reminds me of World of Warships
Tier IX ships are usually not very fun to play, the reason developers add them is to make you suffer, you want something better? Don’t you want to suffer?
Pay to skip it!
As I start dipping my toes into sorting out the mess of squads and equipment in other nations than soviets, I find more and more victims of the BR IV pit of doom.
The G43, that used to be a perfectly fine counterpart for the Garand, is now IV, while the latter is (rightfully) III.
So there go all my poor G43 onto the pile of oblivion, since in BR IV-V matches there’s no reason to pick them over FGs, of which I’ve got plenty, while if I want to make a BR III lineup I need to resupply whole squads with G41.