Let's not throw the blame on 1v1 alone. People were crying how strong they were on teamgames as well (we had some 2v2 tournaments as well).
The sad reality is that the last patch didn't have the permissions to go full deep on UKF and without a real rework out of Bolster to spread out it's powerspike towards other units and helping the faction have the right tools for teamgames (USF is in a similar spot) you won't see also any amount of commander diversity.
Had they gone deeper, I doubt anyone would be playing UKF at all, in any game mode. The win rates were balanced across all game modes about 3-4 years ago before the current balance team took over. However, there were a lot of things that people hated about the game. The balance team has done a good job of eliminating a lot of the frustrating things about the game, but they haven't been good for balance in 3's or 4's. There has been a lot of things that they've done which can't be blamed on Relic.
Sherman Firefly
To preserve the Firefly's role as a long range, accurate tank destroyer while making the vehicle less potent at hunting down and killing enemy tanks on the move, the following changes have been made:
- Accuracy from 0.08/0.07/0.05 to 0.06/0.05/0.04
- Moving accuracy from 0.75 to 0.55
Much too large of a accuracy nerf, often misses that last shot it needed on a Panther. Nobody really dives Firefly's so this didn't make sense.
We believe that Comet’s higher-than-average armour and mobility will still allow it to overcome the reduced range. At the same time, this will make standoffs with the more-specialist Panther more balanced.
Main gun range from 50 to 45
Population cost increased from 16 to 18
Moving accuracy from 0.75 to 0.5
Badly overnerfed. It's main gun misses way to much. The nerf's to this and the Firefly made it almost impossible to finish off Panthers if someone is playing conservatively. Conversely, Panthers are really good at diving and finishing damaged tanks.
All of the nerfs to population took 1-2 extra units away from UKF, which badly hurt them in 4v4's. It also made the Brummbar into a problem.
Brummbar
The Brummbar is having its AOE adjusted to reduce its ability to wipe out full health units on the first shot, but still able to deal significant damage on misses.
• AOE distance changed from 1.25/2.5/3.75 to 0.625/1.25/6; applies to both auto-attack and bunker-buster
• AOE damage changed from 1/0.3/0.05 to 1/0.35/0.2; applies to both auto-attack and bunker-buster
It wasn't that bad before, it maybe could have used a little buff, but the balance team went nuts with this. Even when it overshoots it does huge damage and forces retreats. It's really easy to strip away UKF's screening infantry with this. Its AOE is much better than a ML20.
Taking pyrotechnics away from Tank Hunters badly nerfed their ability to deal with the Brumbar. That nerf didn't make any sense either, as nobody was blobbing Tank Hunter sections.
Lastly, they haven't done anything to help UKF deal with howitzers. There is only one cost efficient ability for them (the one in Advanced Emplacements). The others are expensive and have really long cooldowns (except for the Royal Arty offmap, which doesn't usually kill howitzers).
This "commander" patch feels like it will be more of the same. Taking out the mobile mortar and putting in a Raid Section at 1cp feels like a nerf. In a 4v4, I usually have all the sections I need by 1 cp so the ability feels useless, unlike the mortar which was okay. All-in-all, it feels like several minor buffs to OKW and Ost with minor nerfs to UKF and USF, so the balance will get a bit worse.