The whole AEF commander update is pointless.
Pershing: The problem with it is not the repair part, sure REs repair it slowly but it's still useless with it's low armour/HP and an overnerfed main gun without any pintles to deal steady dmg. If it had it's old AI gun, then yeah, it would be useful, but the current one won't wipe anything, and it's armour won't be used as a breakthrough and it's agility is not really that high to drive it around like a deja-vu drift session.
Rifle nade nerf: One of, if not the weakest upgrade. Only situationally good in 1v1s. And that's a hell of a situation as well.
E8 changes: Sure you can add the 5 more range and if penetration scales linearly, you'd have slightly better penetration on close to mid range but it's still a useless tank. Not any faster than a Panther, not armoured, mediocre AI, mediocre AT. Sure, 1v1 it will brawl with P4s but nobody builds only P4s throughout the game and you'll be forced to go 2x Jackson and abandon the E8s once Panthers and heavier duty armour starts rolling out.
Combined Arms nerf: Never used it, don't think it has any utility besides looking good on paper. At least not in 3v3s. Haven't seen anyone use it so it's a quasi change, only for the sake of having a bigger change log.
240mm barrage: Could be useful, who knows
Cav Rifles: 5 muni buff is memeworthy. Because you know, those 5 muni really gives you the upper edge since you'll be calling it non-stop now and we all know that brick by brick and you get a palace
Fired up: Meh, it's still in a commander that is downright useless and costs a full ability point so don't think anyone will pick Rifle company to make their rifles run
Heavy Cav smoke: This is a super useful thing. Even though it's inferior to other smoke drops, it still has it's uses. 10 muni change won't make much of a difference. Again, change to make the log longer
IR Barrage: Stupid nerf. If you spend so much muni just to displace an MG, it must mean you're playing 1v1. Don't know why nerf it. Recon company is weak as it is.
Calliope: What is the point of it with the nerf? It comes super late and only takes 1 more shot to kill than a stuka which comes much earlier and is much cheaper. Not to mention it has a much higher chance of wiping, whereas Calliope is more of an area denier with large scatter. Armour nerf is justified, but the HP one is not
Ranger change: Non sensical, didn't need any buffs
RE flame package: another buff that is not really needed. Only there to give a sense of a longer change log
.....
All in all, the balance team proves once again that they are biased. Nothing new
Sturmpanther: http://www.companyofheroes.com/leaderboards#profile/steam/76561198046481660/standings
* Pretty much only plays Axis AT 4v4
JibberJabberJobber: http://www.companyofheroes.com/leaderboards#profile/steam/76561198090318538/standings
*Wehrmacht player
Aerafield ( http://www.companyofheroes.com/leaderboards#profile/steam/76561198062101687/standings )
*plays anything and from his post history you can see that he advocates for good axis/allies buffs/nerfs. Justified and unbiased (probably the only one in team)
Whorunbartertown: http://www.companyofheroes.com/leaderboards#profile/steam/76561198155221839/standings
* Everything except brits
Rest of the balance team plays everything.
Now I would never want to balance this game as it's toxic to balance and I'm biased towards USF, but not biased enough to know that USF has it's toxic traits, especially in 1v1 where it is quite strong.
Still, if these [https://coh2stats.com/stats/week/1616371200/4v4/wermacht] stats are true, why the hell would anyone do the changes they have done. It says it's top 200, and in top 200 the disparity between the win rates goes up to 10% (60/40) in team games, in favor of axis.
Even in 1v1 the brits lose hard. Everyone saying how IS are OP and everything but still having such a poor win rate and such a sh** pick rate.
In the end. Having a balance team that exclusively plays axis AT team games, paired with some of the loudest screechers on these forums, you get the balance patch we have now. Sure, some of the balance changes are welcome and needed, especially some of the OKW buffs and nerfs (flares) but the AEF is really nonsensical.
Some interesting conclusions you're drawing here but I think your reasoning is not sound.
At the end of the day, the unfortunate reality is the balance team balances for 1v1s and not 4v4s. Its very clear that Axis are struggling in 1v1s but are dominant in 4v4s. Its not hard to see why though. In team games there are less points to capture, the fronts are smaller so MGs are much more potent. Things like Soviet squad advantage with conscripts don't really matter as much in 4v4's but in 1v1s it puts them in a very dominant position when they can out-capture and out-trade their opponent.
This is why I advocate for a different balance patches for team games in my CoH3/DoW4 wish list here: https://www.coh2.org/topic/107980/my-coh3-dow4-wishlist/page/1#post_id857982
Plug aside though. The balance team does consider 4v4s when it comes to balance seeing as the last patch nerfed some very powerful 4v4 strategies such as the pack howie nerf you mentioned, ISU-152 commander nerf and some other commander changes.
Its very difficult to balance for both 1v1 and 4v4s. I do hope that the balance team notice that their changes is skewing the 4v4 win rate heavily in Axis favour while doing not much to improve their 1v1 win rates. We can help them balance by bringing up unfavourable match ups in a reasonable manner with evidence supporting the claim so it can be discussed, debated and eventually considered for change in an measured and paced way. This game will probably never be fully balanced but an evolving meta keeps the game fresh and I enjoy that.
Also as a side note: I do think other balance team members playing a single faction needs to start playing other factions or be removed from the balance team. Someone who is only focused on one faction does not belong on the balance team. A voice in the community is okay but not a voice on the balance team. They are not demonstrating that they are an unbiased person on the balance team and therefore does not belong on it.
Edit: I had Sturmpanther mixed up with another community member. My apologies to Sturmpanther. |
I think Early Warning ability should be nerefed or removed like the OKW artillery flare, it gives a huge amount of vision so easily without any risks.
Yeah this ability is too powerful in team games.
Move early warning flares onto valentine and replace the ability with counter battery maybe? It is artillery commander after-all. |
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Crazy idea here:
What if Rifle Commander had an ability that allowed smoke grenades back onto Riflemen like when the army first came out. |
105mm Artillery Barrage
Since off-map abilities cannot be targeted in the base sector, the amount of munitions needed to escalate the ability is being reduced by a significant margin - previously the increase was due to the fact it could destroy the entire USF base. The number of shells will be lower than the old values, but it will be easier to max out the artillery barrage.
Oh man, what a blast from the past. I remember making a post calling it out on how overpowered it was.
https://www.coh2.org/topic/21421/okw-tactical-nuke-needs-to-be-fixed |
The E8 main gun will need additional buffs to make it more in-line with the comet. The comet has some seriously good AI potential on the main gun in exchange for poorer pen.
I'm not of a fan of making the E8 more expensive than it already is seeing as most times for AI, a Sherman is cheaper and better and for AT, a Jackson is now cheaper and better.
I wrote a more indepth suggestion on how to tune the E8 to give it a role in the current meta which can be found here: https://www.coh2.org/topic/107798/usf-commander-revamp-2021/post/857743
tl;dr is move it to CP8 and give it the ability to switch shells just like the default sherman so it can act as a direct upgrade to the normal Sherman. |
M10 isn't a flanking tank although "Flanking" Speed tries to make you believe in that.
Its a versatile tank that has the option of acting as a flanking tank or deep diver to take out enemy rocket artillery. Even if you don't use it as such, the option is there. I don't recall how much the M10 was (85 fuel maybe?) for 85 fuel, good speed and one shot killing rocket artillery is very powerful.
The core design of the tank is supposed to cheap and fast. It has the ability to supplement its speed.
The fact that you can get 2 M10s out for the price of 1 M36 +some odd fuel (?35) fuel is a testament to its strength.
The original post I responded to wanted to change the M10 drastically but I argue that it is already very powerful. |
Armor Company
General:
A decent commander that simply outshined by other commanders. If one want a stronger versions of the Sherman one can go dozer upgrade that has good AI and AT, if one need CQB units one can use ranges/paras/Cav riflemen, if one want off map TOT is better.
Suggestions:
Assault Engineers
A good unit combining fighting capabilities and utility.
As many CQB units lose combat capability after a while an issue that could fix by lowering reinforcement cost (even offered as vet bonus) and/or adding a ability similar to "diversion" (ostheer officer).
As a CP 0 unit should become builabe from HQ instead of call-in since CP 0 call-in units timing is greatly depended on maps.
The unit could get an ability that allows to dismantle tank traps/trenches.
Destroy cover should be removed from the unit. The ability might be ok for UKF in order to have an easier time placing emplacements but it allow (early) map manipulation and destroys map design. At the very least it should get MU cost and much longer CD (similar to Ro.R) so that is not spamable. The unit does need 2 vet 1 (pls two vet bonuses at vet 1) abilities.
Plant demolition could have their cost reduce to 30 and become always visible to make them affordable to use but not cheesy.
One could consider adding sandbag to unit.
Elite Vehicle Crews Upgrade
The ability should change name since it not an upgrade.
The Thompson it provides for crew can only be used in a cheesy way and if they where to be removed no one would missed them.
The lower XP value for vehicles is impact even at early game and one imo not sure if it the best design as passive ability. Personally I would rather see the ability changed to allow vehicles an extra level of veterancy or some other bonus.
M10 'Wolverine' Tank Destroyer
Although the unit is good one has little reason to use now that it comes from the same build as M36. It also does not feel in anyway "elite".
Unit could be designed more for a "flaking" role. Changes could include, faster base turret rotation (lower the vet 2 bonus) some resilience to snare with share causing a "weapon disable/blind" at 25% threshold and actual engine damage at lower threshold.
HAVP shells could be replaced by "radio net bonus".
105mm Bulldozer Sherman
The unit has little reason to be a call-in could become build able from HQ with a CP restriction similar to super heavies. The unit suffer mostly because the dozer upgrade is far better.
There are some changes that I would like to see. One could try the following. Tone down the AOE and increase the speed projectile/range so that it now work similar to HE Sherman making a superior option vs heavily armored target due to deflection damage/durability.
Add an ability allowing indirect fire support. That could be either a 3 shot barrage or an ability allowing user to fire a manualy aim a shot at longer range.
One could even experiment with turning the unit into infatry support vehicle by providing aura bonuses similar to KV-8.
Or
even go further following the croc design and making the unit limited to (1-2) as durable (for USF standards tank)
M10 'Wolverine' Tank Destroyer
105mm Bulldozer Sherman
This combination made some sense when it allowed the commander to skip Major. Since that is no longer the case imo it would be better if both units where moved to other commander.
M10 could easily fit a "mechanized" commander that focuses in early vehicle while Dozer fit the Rifle company as an infantry support tank.
One can easily bring Easy8 to this commander as the unit feel more "elite"
240mm Howitzer Barrage
The ability does not fit the commander theme, best choice would probably be to swap the ability with TOT from infatry where it fits better while increasing the viability of this commander with adding an ability suited in taking out enemy strong points.
Important notice:
The ability need to have much higher friendly fire damage.
Elite vehicle crews allows the vehicle crew to repair faster which can further be improved by vet. Its one of the stronger doctrines on Armour Commander. Thompsons are just a symbol that differentiates them from normal vehicle crews.
The M10 is more of a cheaper version of the M36. With less range and pen but also at a significantly cheaper fuel cost. I think its in a good spot right now as an expendable flanking tank.
240mm Howitzer however, I agree needs to be changed in some way. Its really mediocre for its cost. Easily avoidable and ineffective overall. |
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Max 1 rocket artillery and max 1 static artillery per player in team games. Artillery is great for dislodging an enemy player but not so great when it's spammed in team games.
Stay in cover button. When toggled, units will stay in cover even when right click attacking a unit. Three fast right click moves out should untoggle the stay in cover button. Helps MGs and squads stay in cover but also focus firing enemy squads.
Most desired: Separate balance for team games and 1v1 games. Ideally 1v1/2v2 balance then 3v3/4v4 balance.
Separate map vetos for each bracket (1v1/2v2/3v3/4v4) when searching more than 1 type of team game.
Reconnect feature.
Allow all factions access to non-doctrinal heavy tanks. Some factions having no default heavy tank makes them less fun in team games. Make this team games only if necessary. Heavy tanks currently act as a 'hero' unit for players however not all factions have access to them. The heavy tank comes out late game and is microed a lot compared to other units which is similar to a hero unit in MOBAs. Don't get me wrong or anything, abilities are not needed on the tank at all. The heavy tank for each faction should act as a goal for the player, a symbol of their army, it should be impactful on the battlefield to the point where the opponent should be concerned of it and most of all, it should hard to obtain or be devastating when you lose it. Tiger and King Tiger achieve this very well as a feared tank on the battlefield. It can easily swing the tide of battle with the resource requirement. ISU-152 also achieves this very well as a different archetype of tank. Jagdtiger and Elefant are annoying to deal with but they are good goals for a player that doesn't like enemy tanks. IS-2 is not really impactful right now at least in team games so it fails. Pershing fits the USF army very well as a symbol of their army. It is sad that most of the tanks listed are not non-doctrinal.
A pledge for 5 year full support and 10 year balance support. I know DoW3 was a flop. CoH2 felt abandoned really early despite it being very popular.
Different default viewpoints option for maps so we can ‘reset’ it to our preferred view point (enemy above, team below). Enemy above and your team below helps seeing further slightly because of how the camera angle is. Makes the game much more playable but makes maps harder to learn which is why the default option of how it is now should be included.
Allow to save camera positions like in Starcraft 2. Saving camera positions of home base, forward retreat point, choke etc.
Not necessary but can units be part of more than 1 control group?
Keep the amazing soundtrack. Coh1 and Coh2 had seriously the best soundtrack. Sometimes the OST can make or break a game. Take WoW classic for example. A great game made exponentially greater by the amazing OST. The main theme of coh1 used to give me chills. Also keep the amazing voice acting. Lets be real, the coh2 voice acting with filters is amazing and one of a kind. It makes this one of the best WW2 games of all time. The zealous soviet commander, the accented professional german commander, the cheeky british commander, the sombre OKW commander and the pragmatic USF commanders. All are great, represent their army well and make this game great.
Bigger maps for 3v3 and even more so for 4v4.
Side armour. Right now it's just a 50/50 split between front and rear. Would be nice to see projectiles calculated from start to finish to determine what armour it pierces. Extra nice if it calculates penetration angle too. Front/side/rear.
Snipers completely removed from the game. At least from team games. They are very not-fun. All snipers can be replaced with long-range specialty units with minimal or no abilities compared to generalist/mainline infantry units that have access to a ‘toolbox’. Like Jaeger Light Recon or any G41 unit.
Units and vehicles automatically reload when in friendly territory and out of combat for 10 seconds.
Leave penalty for leavers leaving pre-surrender. Too many people leave before 10 minutes in team games. It really ruins the game.
Better tactical minimap. It should be first and foremost: Fast. Other than that, it would be nicer if it had a better skin, binded to a different key (like M) and additional features.
Feel free to add to this!
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My goal for this suggested change is to make this commander more fun to play without ruining the balance of the game.
Vanguard Operations Regiment
I'm not a fan of the 3CP Forward Logistics Glider ability. Its too big on the map and blocks sight very easily. The unique way that it comes (drops) in makes it feel weird to use and is sometimes limited as there are space requirements and map limiting positions on where the glider can be placed.
I think these requirements make the ability bad to use and not fun. Clunky. As a change, I suggest that this ability be replaced with a special structure (Forward Operations HQ) that can be built by Royal Engineers that acts the same way as the glider. Allowing training of team weapons, medics and acting as a retreat point. Similar to the ones that can be built by the Soviet Urban Defence Commander. The new building can even be a bunker because that is what you would expect at the front. |
USF
Rifle company rework:
0cp - M4A3E8 Sherman
1cp - Enhanced combat training
~ Riflemen can sprint and be upgraded with camouflage
2cp - Advanced infantry equipment
~ flares, Riflemen upgrades: x4 M1 carbine or x2 scoped Garand, Rear echelons can be upgraded with flamethrowers
8cp - 105mm bulldozer Sherman
10cp - White phosphorus barrage
M4A3E8 Sherman
Name changed to M4A3E8 (W)
Description changed to:
The ultimate incarnation of the Sherman, the M4A3E8 included wet ammunition racks, the 76mm high velocity gun, and HVSS suspension, improving survivability, firepower and mobility.
Changes-
HP increased to 880
Reload decreased from 6.6s-6s to 6s
880 hp is a big number given that the tank is already very mobile and has a cheap fuel cost. I like the reload change though. Anything to make the maingun more effective vs infantry. |
Relic Entertainment
