Yes but actually no - MM should be fixed of course.
I see there are still conflicts with the ISU152, in that case why don’t they downgrade it to BR3 and give us the Jagdtiger in BR4 XD
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The thing is, we’ve already tried pushing for this. My poll has reached 67 votes, and 52% of people agree that BR3 is the proper placement.
From the discussions on the battle rating of the ISU series, to those about the German Panzer IV series, as well as Japanese tanks
For Germany, it would also make sense to give them the Sturmtiger with 100 mm sloped frontal armor at BR4 — it’s only fair they deserve that option. Otherwise, the Sturmtiger would get pushed out to Rank 4 entirely, and the Sturmtiger itself would get moved straight from BR4 all the way up to BR6.
The problem is, even though our community is evenly split and supportive, the Russian-speaking forum side is completely against us, and there’s no way to communicate or reconcile with them.
The staff finally rejected our push for BR3 simply because the Russian poll is overwhelmingly leaning toward BR4. They refuse to let it drop to BR3, claiming the 152 mm gun is still too overpowered. They completely ignore that the KV-2 1939/1940 has already been lowered from BR4 down to BR3.
Now we have two irreconcilable sides: our community supports BR3, while the Russian forum firmly opposes it. This deadlock has left the issue stuck forever with no progress.
On top of that, the Russian community comes off as really arrogant. As a Chinese player, I once tried to suggest reasonable changes, yet they immediately questioned my nationality right away. Some of my friends said this is a leftover mindset inherited from Soviet-era pride, acting like they want to look down and be the “big brother” over China.
Now that active Russian forum users are fewer than before, there’s basically no way left to negotiate or reach a compromise. It’s really such a shame.
I also noticed the Russian forum is now region-locked, forcing you to register a brand-new account just to access it. I can’t find any workaround to ask them directly, so the whole matter will just have to be dropped unresolved.
I wouldnt say 52% is overwhelming support when 48% is also against BR 3…
Yet in my ongoing poll, many people still want the Brummbär with 100 mm sloped frontal armor and 100 mm base hull armor to stay at BR3.
The two sides are completely at odds with each other.
It would be utterly pointless, even ridiculous, to send the 90mm flat-armor ISU-152 up to BR4.
It’s not exactly a landslide victory, but supporters of BR3 are at least slightly ahead of those voting for BR4.
With BR4 already set for now, the votes for BR5 can basically be put aside for the time being.
You’re right though, the result still isn’t stable enough. We need more people to vote to back this up.
It’d probably be better to wait until the German Brummbär comes out, then make a proper comparison.
It’s such a shame. I was hoping the grand prize would come with a nice skin, just like the ones they gave to the KV-ZIS-5 before.
But what we ended up getting is a ridiculously lazy, basic infant-themed skin. It’s not even as good as a simple decal.
Were there so many conflicts with the Russian forums? I wasn’t aware of that. The main issue is whether or not there will be an event that produces a vehicle equivalent to the ISU-152 for Germany. They also surely want that better-protected tank with that 152mm gun, and they certainly don’t want to lose the AP since Tiger 2 still is stronger than most Russian tanks in the game .
By the way, is this kind of friction between the Russian and Chinese communities common?
In fact, there is no fundamental conflict between Chinese and Russian netizens.
Back when Russian forums were still up, I interacted with quite a few Russian users. Some were rude, but others were friendly and willing to have a normal conversation. Generally speaking, when Chinese go overseas using VPNs to talk to Russian netizens, only those who still have genuine nostalgia for the Soviet Union and respect historical facts can communicate peacefully. Most of the rest already hold an innate biased and confrontational attitude.
First, we need to make one thing clear: the Soviet Union is the Soviet Union, and Russia is Russia. Modern Russia has long abandoned the original ideals of the Soviet Union; to put it plainly, it merely lives off the legacy and remnants of the Soviet era. Legally speaking, China has never recognized Russia as the legitimate successor to the Soviet Union.
The historical rift runs deep. To this day, parts of Russian public opinion still distort the facts of the Zhenbao Island Incident, twisting the narrative and portraying China as a land-grabbing side. Yet they can never explain why the T-62 tank ended up sinking into the lake on our side of the border. Real history cannot be rewritten. Tsarist Russia and its subsequent forces seized a total of 1.5 million square kilometers of Chinese territory, an undeniable fact that can never be erased.
What’s even more noteworthy is that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian society completely abandoned communist ideology. In the 1990s, they fully denounced the history of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. A hidden trend has long existed among the public: abandoning communism, sympathizing with Germany, and even idolizing the German Empire and Nazi ideology.
As early as World War II, large numbers of Soviet civilians refused to support the Communist regime and defected to the German side. After the Soviet collapse, social unrest and economic collapse gave rise to massive neo-Nazi and ultranationalist circles. Among young people, subcultures glorifying German military forces, the Iron Cross, and German imperial militarism have remained popular. Many hold the mindset of “anti-Soviet means admiring German-style power”. Ideologically, they instinctively reject the Soviet legacy, and by extension, reject Chinese people who cherish Soviet history.
There are also very real-life examples. A couple of years ago, Russia introduced visa-free entry for Chinese tourists. Many Chinese traveled there with nostalgic fond memories of the old Soviet Union, only to have an awful experience. Quite a number of tourists were extorted, blackmailed, deliberately harassed, or even framed by local police right on their first day in Russia. Officers often demanded around 5,000 rubles, and many tourists were directly taken to police stations. These incidents were suppressed at the time for the sake of international image, but you can easily find countless real personal accounts online even now.
Looking at economic strength, Russia’s entire GDP is not even comparable to that of a single Chinese province. Many Russians still live in the old mindset of the Soviet Union’s peak era, reminiscing about the time when China was less developed and received Soviet aid. Today, China’s overall strength has far outpaced Russia by a huge margin. This massive psychological gap is hard for many Russians to accept. That’s why many of them, both in real life and online, constantly seek validation and try to save face with empty arguments.
Just look at this Victory Day discount event; Russian premium vehicle bundles sold out instantly. People obsess over how strong Russian vehicles are in the game, but when you step out of the virtual world and look at reality, everyone knows exactly what Russia’s current overall situation is really like.
What also saddens me about the ISU-152 controversy is that Russians have long since abandoned the very concept of the Soviet Union. From what I’ve researched online, groups that reject Soviet communism, hold hostility toward it, and instead embrace the culture of the Third Reich and fascism are extremely common in WWII-themed games. What’s more, Putin turns a blind eye to these groups. That’s why I think a part of their community even opposes their own nation’s historical vehicles — it’s heavily influenced by this mindset.
In a way, Chinese people cherish the Soviet Union far more than Russians do.
As for the ammunition of the ISU-152: its penetration is only around 125mm to 170mm at best. At the end of the day, it can barely penetrate Panthers and Tigers. It’s basically impossible for it to fight higher BR tanks.
It’s a shame Gaijin cut off access to Russian forums. If not, I would definitely go over there, even at the risk of being insulted, to debate and reason with them properly.
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What’s even the point of the AP round anyway?
If they give the KV-2 an AP shell with 170mm penetration just to take out Tigers and Panthers—targets HE could already handle perfectly fine—while still leaving it completely helpless against Tiger II and Ferdinand.
What’s the logic in that?
WT is where DF gets almost all its vehicle models from to begin with.
Over there, the ISU-152 almost never runs into Tiger I or Ferdinand. At most, out of ten matches, maybe four will even spawn Tigers and Panthers.
Looking at that matchup frequency, it clearly belongs at BR 3.
But just because it has an AA machine gun with 250 rounds of ammo, they threw this tank with only 90mm flat frontal armor—easily penned even at BR 2—into a brutal bracket it can’t survive at all. It’s totally unfair.
What’s even more unjust is DF’s own handling of it. They straight-up dumped it into BR 5, fully knowing the Soviet side has no vehicle that can reliably punch through its front armor
Yes, I understand that modern Russians aren’t exactly very nostalgic for the Soviet Union, although I’d never heard that about China’s perspective on Russia. I did know that even in the Soviet era, with Stalin’s death, conflicts of that nature began. I think that Russia and Germany have tried to get along for years, even before World War I, but the other Western empires prevented this attempt at rapprochement. I suppose that modern Russia might have been more inspired by the East German lifestyle too.
I didn’t expect the tourism thing, at least from what I’ve seen. Several Russian non-governmental media outlets portray Russians as quite indifferent to other cultures, but it’s hard to know the truth. After all, Russia was also an empire with a strong European racial ideology, so it’s not so strange at the same time.
considering what you say too, it seems odd to me that they haven’t yet requested the addition of a squad of Russian volunteers who fought alongside the Germans against the Soviets.
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Well, actually the balance varies depending on the BR and faction, which is why most people focus on those BRs/factions where you can at least play relatively peacefully. In a way, I don’t know if there’s a real purpose to the things they give out in limited events other than keeping you in the game for the sake of it. I, for example, put a lot of effort into getting the G43 DFR just to have it in my inventory and go back to BR3.
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In World War II, Vlasov’s Russian Liberation Army, also known as the ROA, was made up of captured Soviet soldiers and anti-Soviet Russian nationals. They defected to Germany and fought alongside the German army against regular Soviet troops.
Looking at it logically, this is blatant double standards. DF is willing to add all kinds of rare German units and affiliated factions, so by that same logic, they should have already added these Russian volunteer forces that sided with Germany in WWII. The fact that they haven’t is strange in itself.
I can only say they haven’t completely abandoned all bottom lines yet. There are still many people who hold patriotic values and remember the sufferings of history. If they really add these traitorous forces into the game and essentially whitewash them, it would be extremely disappointing.
As for World War I, it was essentially a war among European nobles. The royal families of different countries were all related by blood. They fought for their own interests while sacrificing the lives of ordinary civilians. No wonder common people deeply resented this privileged class, which eventually led to the extreme and reckless act of executing the entire Tsar’s family.
There was really no need to go that far. They could have handled it the way we did with the last emperor: through labor reform, letting him live as an ordinary person without royal status, and announcing the result publicly. It would have kept a humanitarian bottom line and given history a more dignified ending.
What you’re saying is:
There’s no real overall balance in the game at all. Everything depends on BR matchmaking and faction favoritism. It’s not that players don’t want to play new vehicles; they’re just tired of arbitrary BR hikes and being forced into overpowered meta brackets. In the end, most people just stick to a few comfortable BRs and factions where they can play casually without hassle.
All those event vehicles and premium bundles from the devs are never meant to adjust balance properly. They just dump overpowered or niche vehicles into the game on purpose, forcing players into higher, sweatier brackets just to keep them grinding matches.
Take the ISU-152 as a perfect example. Its overall performance, penetration and armor clearly only belong at BR 3, yet they arbitrarily pushed it into a higher bracket for no real reason—just because it has an extra machine gun. They ignore actual matchups and faction counterplay entirely, only caring about inflaming player activity with no regard for regular players’ gaming experience.
No wonder so many people get strong event vehicles and just leave them in the garage. They’d rather stay in their familiar, stable lower brackets than deal with the devs’ messy balancing decisions.
That said, the G43 is genuinely overpowered. Its BR placement for Germany is totally reasonable. But for Soviets at BR 4, one single decent vehicle can’t fix their entire lineup. You can never buff the Soviet side properly without moving the T-44 down to BR 4. On top of that, the gap between BR 4 and BR 5 is night and day. No one is foolish enough to subject themselves to that kind of miserable gameplay.
If you look back at the game’s history, there’s only one case where a new unit completely turned the meta around: the Italian Tunisian flamethrower squad. It single-handedly flipped the balance of the North African campaign all the way until the campaign merged into a combined front
I recall someone mentioning something like that in the past when the suggestion was made to add a Cossack squadron. I wouldn’t know if it was simply ideological resentment or if the Russians genuinely view those who fought with the Germans with disdain. History is full of strange things, especially in areas where extreme crises have struck or extreme rebellions have arisen.
Technically… yes, currently the Soviet infantry has received the most weapon upgrades, so they either plan to rebalance that with more weapons for the other factions (Japan especially needs something new) or they’re going to introduce something new in the major updates, theres already a lot of gaps in the BRs guns so it’s hard to say
I still remember there were multiple discussions on the Enlisted forums about adding Cossack squads — the ones that fought alongside German forces back in WWII. Every time this topic came up, the argument was always the same: is it just ideological resentment, or do Russians truly look down on and reject those who once fought side by side with Germany? History is full of complicated stories, especially during times of national crisis and regime collapse, where people’s positions were never black-and-white.
Back around 2024 to 2025, quite a few threads suggested adding German-aligned Cossack volunteer units.
Many players made a fair point: DF has added all kinds of rare German vehicles and minor Axis allies, so historically authentic Cossack units should logically be included too.
But opposition came right away. Many labeled them traitors and collaborators, saying adding them would be politically sensitive and upset Russian players.
In January 2025, there was a popular post suggesting a premium or event Cossack guerrilla squad, complete with traditional attire, sabers, and shortened Mosin rifles.
The comment section immediately split into two sides. Supporters said they were historically accurate and would fit well at BR 3–4 for balance. Opponents insisted this wasn’t historical accuracy — it would just glorify traitors, something the Russian community would never accept.
Later in October 2025, someone tried a compromise: add Red Army Cossack units instead, avoiding the collaborationist ones to skip the controversy.
Even that didn’t settle things. Any mention of Cossacks immediately reminded people of those who sided with Germany, and the ideological arguments started all over again.
In reality, Russian opposition isn’t only about ideology — it’s mostly rooted in deep historical and national sentiment.
During WWII, along with Vlasov’s ROA, large groups of Cossacks, due to long-standing grievances against the Soviet government, defected to Germany and fought against the Red Army. After the war, the Soviet Union treated them with zero tolerance, branding them traitors, putting many on trial, exiling others, and permanently marking them as a national disgrace. To this day, mainstream Russian historical narrative never justifies or whitewashes groups that fought against their own people alongside a foreign invader; it’s seen as an unhealed historical wound.
That’s why whenever someone brings up German-aligned Cossacks or ROA units, Russian players almost always stand united in opposition. They say there’s no need to add content centered on traitors, and that adding them would be disrespectful to Russian history and its victims. It’s not just a difference of opinion — it’s a mix of collective memory, national pride, and zero tolerance toward treason.
You can also see clear double standards here.
DF has no problem adding Italian, Hungarian, Romanian, and Finnish Axis allies without hesitation.
Yet they completely avoid touching Russian collaborationist troops or Cossack volunteers who fought for Germany.
The reason is simple: those others are foreign allies and cause little emotional backlash. But ROA and Cossacks are seen as internal traitors — adding them would cross Russia’s emotional red line, something the devs dare not risk.
Overall, the forums really did have many proposals to add Cossack and ROA units over the years, but every time the idea died out because it touched Russian national feelings and was seen as glorifying treason. It’s never just a simple ideological debate; underneath it lies deep historical division and uncrossable national boundaries.
You’re right, most things in the tech tree are pretty well done, aside from the awkward placement of the ZiS-5 and the completely useless A20.
Soviet BR 5 has finally gotten its 20-round magazine after all this time. Still, I’ll never forget those three long years we had to suffer with only 15 rounds.
It’s entirely DF’s fault that Soviet players were forced to fall back and camp mostly at BR 3.
Now some people only complain about how the Soviets dominated Germany on the Moscow map back then, yet they never mention how badly the Soviet side got crushed on the Berlin map in return.
Only the arrival of the IS-2 (1944) brought a small number of players back, yet it still couldn’t turn the overall losing trend around.
Honestly, in recent years, the new premium and event squads DF gave the Soviet side have been poorly handled, with ridiculously inflated battle ratings.
Just look at the XA-38 and Il-8. I even made a thread pointing out the obvious issues with the Sichuan submachine gun:
fake fire rate and magazine capacity stats, intentionally crippled reload speed, straight-up fabricated balancing values. It’s such a blatant problem, and it really frustrates me.
People keep saying the Soviet tech tree is overpowered.
Even so, they refuse to give us reasonably balanced premium or event squads that are slightly weaker but still usable. Where can you even reason with this kind of logic?
Should I argue with the same crowd that wants to split the SVT’s reload into single-round feeding exactly like the G41?
That’s why besides overly biased Russian fans, the so-called “German fanatics” on the forums are even more harmful.
Why should other weapons be punished and forced to suffer just because of certain designers’ past mistakes?
Is it really that hard to admit the SVT was genuinely ahead of its time in design philosophy?
Well, after all, some people only play this game casually and have no idea what the ISU is actually like.
I guess we’ll just have to wait until more players get to use it themselves, realize it’s basically no different from the KV-2, then maybe people can talk about this rationally.
It just reminds me again of that ridiculous excuse — that a single machine gun is worth an entire BR tier upgrade.
Yes, the closest thing to such a squad would be a German saboteur speaking Russian after collecting enemy uniforms
I’d say the problem with German weapons is that they’re mostly effective at short range, so technically they’re terrible for open maps. Berlin is primarily an urban map, so that benefits weapons like the MG42 even more. Berettas have good capacity but a low rate of fire. The FNAB43 is really accurate but only useful at medium ranges due to its low rate of fire. Germany doesn’t really have any SMGs worth anything in BRs lower than BR4, and that’s only if you know how to master the VG1-5 and the Kiraly. The MP40 remains the mainstay of German SMGs in BR2 and 3.
In contrast, for BR5, the rest of their arsenal is more decent, and the Soviet arsenal wasn’t as strong back then until they introduced the Fedorov and others.
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I find the two day event unlock system a bit stiff the style saboteur event unlock felt a lot better, no filler, and no time constraints outside of the event. I would prefer a slightly higher score if it meant less time constraints and empty stages preferably being able to do one task and move onto the next once finished like the saboteur event. I am grateful for the event, though but the structure and rifle could be better.
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Alright, let me put it plainly. I know exactly how rough Germany is at BR2.
The German MP series for four-man squads has an abysmally slow rate of fire, even though it’s super stable. The Elma series I’ve unlocked—aside from the Gebirgsjäger and higher-tier Elma 3, Elma 4 squads—all sit at around 660 RPM at best. That’s nowhere close to the Soviet PPS-43.
When German BR2 runs into Soviet BR2 or BR3, it’s an absolute massacre. I poured so much effort into holding my ground in one match, yet I got routed completely, and ended up losing anyway. Their firepower simply outclasses mine in every gunfight.
It’s not even unfair to say the Soviets dominate here—even their BR2 PPSh-42 is a prime example of high firepower. Meanwhile, I can’t find a single high-rate-of-fire submachine gun for Germany that could properly fill the gap at BR2.
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