The title is no joke. It’s one of the BIGGEST concerns I have about the game right now going forward. And for some reason, nobody is talking about it…
In (most) of the campaigns, anything even remotely close to a 4v4 or higher with very competent players results in a completely unfun, toxic mess of a game. It’s literally no fun. If both sides just used guns, it would be more than fine. But more and more players are realising that 2 squads of long range 32m flamethrowers, complete with a 9-man rifleman with rifle grenade squad and 3x white phosphorous grenades per soldier spam, then just rotating between the 3, is the meta of the game. And this doesn’t even mention the constant explosions everywhere, just ask any Normandy player (and this is still WITH AI squads…). If 1 player is doing this, the match instantly becomes less fun than it was. When 4+ people are doing it… The game is literally no fun at all.
But the question is then – why would you NOT do this? It’s so unbelievably overpowered, ESPECIALLY the flametroopers, that there is literally no reason to not do this if people want to win games/level up quickly. Yes sure, many of you responding to this forum post will say “oh no it’s not me, I like playing with just Fedorovs/StGs and gunplay” or “nah, I like using cool and unique weapons rather than the meta!” which is more than fine. But you’re not going to want to do that when you face what I face on a regular basis. It’s just unplayable, literally. It doesn’t matter how “good” you are at the game, you just literally can’t do anything against this. There’s no counterplay, either.
If you’re up against a 4-stack doing the most toxic stuff in the game, you already don’t have fun. So what happens when all 10 players on the enemy team are doing it? That is what is about to happen in MOST of the BRs and matches when the future matchmaking system comes in. You may be thinking “no lol, not many players do this” – I wonder why? Maybe because it’s not prevalent enough in your current games to notice? But when EVERY SINGLE GAME has a 4-stack doing this, VERY VERY QUICKLY will other players do the same. As remember, you’re not against bots anymore, you’re against players.
Nerfing flamethrowers heavily will go a long way to helping this. Then reducing grenade spam and explosion spam. Though perhaps most importantly, finally fixing many of the bugs that have existed for YEARS with your own player-controlled soldier (and AI) reacting to fire. This will very quickly do a lot to help the situation, but it won’t completely do it.
Many of the maps are unbelievably unbalanced and biased in favour of defenders, that I can almost bet defenders will have a 80%+ win rate on every map post new matchmaking system. Remember once again, you’re against players who have brains and are experienced at this game, you’re not farming bots or new players any longer. Now, paratroopers in theory help make it more balanced, but in reality, they won’t AT ALL. The non-grey zone map areas are too small to land somewhere useful against 10 actual human players and you’re too easy to see and kill before you hit the ground because there’s 6 huge parachutes in the sky. A nice idea in theory, but likely needs even more help to be useful when the matchmaking is changed.
And before you comment “well then you can just play low BR games with bolt action rifles” – well, none of you know what “BR” a 32m flamethrower or white phosphorous will be. The defender bias will also still be in play, no matter if it’s noob vs noob or pro vs pro full teams. If “high-end gear matches” are as I fully expect them to be, I don’t think I’ll touch them. I love a sweaty Berlin game as much as the next guy, but I don’t expect to ever have one of those without being interrupted by the pure toxic things you can do in the game right now. And it will then be in all campaigns, with no escape. My favourite campaigns are already where this stuff is the least likely to occur (Moscow, Berlin, Stalingrad).
I am extremely concerned about the future matchmaking system because of this. I completely agree that campaigns need to be merged for the sake of the playerbase and every single other benefit that comes along with it, but what people seem to forget is what will happen to gameplay.
I really hope I am wrong or misinformed about something. But with the Q&A dev blog likely delayed further, these worries have only got larger. And I can guarantee you, after playing with countless different people in my community (and playing countless “vs” battles, meaning 4v4 or higher) that I am very far from being alone in sharing these concerns.
Forlorn (@Forlorn_Squad) addressed a similar issue before on the forums here (New MM. Some concerns and necessary balances changes) but nothing seemed to come of it. Hopefully, something will this time. Or at the very least, I hope I am addressed as to why I am wrong.
