New Meta

I was very excited for the March patch because of the core gameplay changes, but every game I play leads me more and more to think it might have actually been a bad move. The meta feels unbelievably stale right now and promotes extremely boring "safe" tactics.

On Soviet side you are almost 100% guaranteed to see gren spam into scout cars or agren spam.

On Ostheer side you are almost 100% guaranteed to see M3 + guards into T34/85s or snipers into SU85.

Even watching pro players stream I see the same thing.

To be specific I'm not talking about balance, just fun and being interesting with different options. Well micro'd M3s are boring because you can't really fight them, just stall them. G43 attack move spam is boring because you need abusive things like M3 or sniper spam to counter because cons and penals just melt in front of them.

Teching is irrelevant because holding out for callins is better in almost every case which again, boring. The guards+t34/85 commander is simply a must have, or SI works okay if you have that commander.

I realize a new patch is coming to address some armor and mid/late game things, but lately I've just been playing less and less because every game is exactly the same (1v1) and full of not fun or engaging strategies.

Is anyone having luck doing or finding strategies outside of these? Am I just disillusioned and need a break? I tried watching some of the mtw guys to get some ideas on alternative strats but they're doing exactly what everyone else is doing.

I'd try defensive doctrine or urban defense with T1 as soviets since armor was delayed, but I'm afraid to play soviets. Grens into 221 is addicting.

To be frank the only thing about this patch that is bothering me is the agreen/pio spam *shudder* If relic fix that then I'm ok with it.

Theres a lot of things to iron.

you need abusive things

These 4 words sum up how playing soviets feels this patch.

I personally like to go for the soviet defensive doctrine.

My build order is roughly:
> T1 right of the bat
> con-penal-con-penal
> Medics
> 2nd engineer

At this point you are probably losing a lot of ground to the German super soldiers. However, all of this will change once you hit 2cp, which you should be closing in at this moment. Once you hit 2cp, use your engineers to spam tiny mines EVERYWHERE. Spend all your ammo on tiny AI mines, leaving only a small reserve for AT nades. Build some regular AT mines too later on.

> DHSK machine gun
> AT nades + tiny AT gun if needed
> Mortar if needed

> T3/T4 depending on map. If you go for T4 add in some SU76 for free barrage.

> Enjoy germans rage when he loses unit after unit to cheap mines. Prepare for hurtful comments like "NICE P2W!", "ABUSER!", "F*CK THIS" etc.

Remember! Don't try to win by shooting the germans with bullets! The soviet guns only fire blanks, and half the grenadiers are armed with sniper rifles. Use things that go boom instead.

It's very DoW2-esque. It was fairly predictable knowing what builds players would go once you found out what heroes they were playing.