But this is just false.
Con spam against original OH which later transitioned to only PPSH based strats. Maxim spam. Clowncar and double sniper strat. Penals saw a buff, because just like SU76, they were utter trash units for 3 years since release. They had to buff Penals because the whole tier was meme tier after nerfs to sniper and OKW rework. Why bother with a high risk low reward tier.
Want to test the old 280 Penal with flamers and Ourah vs the current ones?
Because after the number of nerfs they have received I doubt they are more cost efficient (in AI at least).
As you say the problem was the tier 1 (and with fact that maxims where OP) and imo not Penal themselves.
In my opinion the June 21 patch got too ambitious and thus the end result was bellow the standard. Unfortunately it was followed by other also ambitious patches like the "fall" patch which eventually was abandoned.
If you consider the only valid strat at that time to be maxim spam, it might be because OKW post rework basically shut down most strats for soviets saved from maxim spam after they got a snare and STGs. Top tier OH also trashed T1 soviet play.
The changes was done simultaneously in the 21 June patch, there was not time with 280 Penal and VG ST44. The patch basically redesign both Soviet and OKW while also buffing USF with the moratrs among other thing . (Let me not forget the buff in brumbar).
Maybe Soviet would have such a hard time if the VG did not not actually gotten their St44 in the first place and ended up losing their veterancy as result.
Or even the USF would be so weak at start that they would need a tech redesing, (soon to be followed be UKF redesign probably).
I never liked the decision for PTRS penals, but it's ill intention of you to say that Guards were buffed because Penals were buffed. In fact, the main issue Penal flamers were an issue is due to the strength at the time of Guards. I failed to see how this was a buff.
The is no ill intent, I have not blamed anyone. The fact is Guards clearly perform better compared to prerior to June 21 patch and have clearly moved away from prepatch role of "jack of all trades master of none". The main reason for it was the fixing of dancing around since Guards never showed their true potential before that fix.
Now when Penal become an 300 elite infantry with PTRS, Guards (also with PTRS) took the role an even more elite infantry, thus Guards where raised to their current level because of Penals, which in return made Shock look even worse by comparison to Guards (or even to the buffed PPsh conscripts).
Once more there is no ill intended against any one, I am simply following the footsteps of changes.
Shocktroops were already niche units after WFA, seeing only momentary light whenever KV8 was OP. Shocks were finally killed when their grenades shared cooldown and OKW rework. Saying Shocktroops are fine, is like saying OH 221 was fine when it was at 240 HP and require a munition based upgrade to unlock 222.
I have not claimed Shock are fine I simply pointed out that increasing their DPS is not a step in the right direction since their main issues is bleed and not lack of DPS. In addition turning PPSh into Thompson is also a step in the wrong direction when there are alternatives.
Another issue shock troops have is the high lethality of infantry as we have debated in the other thread which affects most QCQ infantry.
I have not written a single bad word against anyone who is involved in patching the game, on the contrary I have defended them and prized them in every occasion, even when I completely disagree with a change. I sure that people involved in the patches are trying to improve the game according to their own vision that might be different than mine.
Any and all comment I make about patch changes, are my personal feedback/opinion on how to improve the game. Nothing more.
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cblanco ★ 
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