Profile of Mirdarion

Also, almost every axis opponent I play against does not place vehicle mines, so criticals don't happen often.

Because their mines are either useless (because they don't work due to bugs, or because your opponent can simply repair the critical in a matter of milliseconds) or too expensive in comparison to what else you could do with all that ammo (like almost getting another MG 42).

Mines simply don't pay off anymore, be it either through their cost relative to their effect, or because they rely on exotic methods (both the Riegelmine and the M20 mine can be considered exotic at this point).
There would be an easy way to fix that (stun the vehicle/vehicle crew when hitting a mine, to further the effect without completely fucking up medium tanks, while also preventing super glue), but getting Relic to acknowledge that problem in the first place isn't going to happen - they have successfully ignored the Tellermine bug against British and American vehicles for quite some time now...

222
The 222 has a very wonky role. It is supposed to be an anti infantry scout car. But it is currently being used as a deterrent to the light vehicle meta. Getting multiple 222s out is almost a given as Ostheer, since you have no such other reliable way of dealing with the current light vehicle meta. The 222 in pairs are very effective and can defeat a T70, an AEC and a STUART. Although good stuart play, with the free vet 0 stun ability, can deal quite effectively with 2 222s, the 222 is still too potent for its current cost. Yet we can't deny that the 222 seems to have an identity crisis when it comes to its role.

Its cost needs to be increased and it needs to get a definite role in the game. If this means Anti infantry, so be it, but then give Ostheer a decent light vehicle that has a definite role as to deal with light vehicles as the STUART and the AEC. If the 222 needs to be more anti light vehicle orientated, give it the features that this role requires: more armor and more damage vs vehicles such as the STUART and the AEC.

The PZ II LUCHS
The Luchs has a definite anti-infantry role whilst being a scout unit at the same time. It functions very well in its role. It can't effectively deal with other light vehicles such as the STUART and the AEC and it shouldn't. It can go toe to toe with a T70, but this is reasonable. It is vulnerable to bazookas, which is also reasonable.

The Luchs is in a good spot.

The Luchs is basically what the 222 should have been. Meanwhile, the FlaK-HT should have taken over the anti-infantry role for OKW. Meanwhile Ostheer would need to get some way of dealing with light vehicles, although that part could be forgone if we switched the PzGren upgrade to two singular Schreck upgrades (i.e. one upgrade for one Panzerschreck which can be researched two times for 90 ammo the first time and 30 ammo the second time for a remaining total of 120 ammo). That would allow for early enough AT on the field to make a dedicated light anti-vehicle vehicle unnecessary, while also fixing the other problems.

TL;DR:
- make the 222 perform similar to the Luchs and raise its cost accordingly - perhaps even make it worse against vehicles compared to the Luchs
- make the Luchs OKW's mostly anti-vehicle oriented light vehicle, cost adjustment as needed
- make the FlaK-HT actually work as an anti-infantry unit
- break up the PzSchreck upgrade on PzGrens into two separate upgrades for the same amount of ammo for both Schrecks as it is now.
- Do whatever you want with OKW's Puma

Double 222 is an answer to this, but it still doesn't yield the same result as a stuart and you need to micro two units. Trade off is that you can have those 222s at multiple places at once. Still I would take a stuart over 444 any day)

444, heh...

Sorry, I tried it, and for the most part it didn't work. Sure, it works in some ways (Soviets work surprisingly well, despite me at first being sure that you killed them), but the one truly fucked faction here is again Ostheer. I will comment on the other factions once I've played them to a degree that I feel comfortable with, so my remarks to the other factions should be taken with a grain of salt.

Ostheer teching costs are still beyond ludicrous, their infantry has even less impact now that they have to pay extra (on top of their more expensive AND more time consuming teching), and the changes made to them don't fit their roles. Now, Grens have to move up close to throw their grenade - a long range unit having to close in to do their job. It just doesn't work. Not to mention that Panzergrens now can't even profit from superior micromanagement, because them flanking doesn't mean jackshit without their grenade.

The changes the 222 are mostly fine, even though it doesn't fit its role. It is supposed to be a scout car, similar to a beefed up M20, not a vehicle killer. This could have been handled significantly better by making it into the infantry killer needed to support Grenadiers.
The changes to the 251 are similarly hard to understand: What was your goal with them? Because right now, there simply is no reason to build one anymore, because it is even worse off than before. Even the Universal Carrier has a better place, because it is actually clear what it's supposed to do. Not to mention that the UC is now capable of straight up running up to the 251 and killing it.

The change to the PaK 40's TWP are good, this is where it's clear what the goal was and why this change was necessary.

But then we come to the tanks, and everything falls flat on its face again. The Panzer IV without a timed speed boost simply falls behind anything a British player can throw at it. It still comes out later than its equivalents in the other armies and it still is more expensive, and it still doesn't trade well. There is simply no reason to ever get that unit, everything it can do is done better by other units in the Ostheer arsenal and significantly better by the equivalents in other armies.
Now, more than ever, StuG-Life will still be going stroooooooooooooooong, baby.

The Ostwind on the other hand was fine in terms of armour, it was meant to be scared off easily by other vehicles, instead using its mobility to circle around the map and harass elsewhere (not to mention that the "was built on the Panzer IV-chassis"-argument is total bollocks, because the turret was basically a simple steel sheet to protect against small-arms and shrapnel). What the Ostwind truly lacked was ability to kill. That thing was a fucking RNG machine, in 90% of the time it did nothing, while once in a blue moon it managed to get something done. What was necessary was a damage nerf, while significantly boosting its accuracy (reminder: The Centaur kills infantry so well despite doing less damage, because it has over ten times the accuracy of the Ostwind).
Now it lost the ability to do those pushes (no more Blitzkrieg), and still hasn't got the ability to fight infantry. But hey, it can now kill T-70s even better, right?

Since I haven't used the Panther, Tiger, PaK 43, and leFH 18 enough (too situational for me, StuG is where it's at) I will not comment on them right now, but from what I gathered, the Elefant is even more punishing now, despite costing less. It was meant to require some effort to attack an Elefant, instead of driving to its front and parking there. Good Elefant play is a bitch to pull off, not having enemy tank destroyers (with higher mobility) simply take it out at range from the front was the only way to pull it off. That's now gone, and the Elefant is not viable this way.

Facit: Pulling off a good game as Ostheer feels more complicated than ever. The tools to success were taken away (and I'm not talking about the sniper changes, those were long overdue) and replaced with more complications. Playing Ostheer simply isn't fun this way, every single step of the way is a battle with the faction's design instead of a battle with the enemy. And because you're not only fighting the enemy, but the game on top of that, you are always behind, always trying to catch up, always trying to turn this thing around. I wrote a lengthy post about initiative in military games and strategy before in this forum, the same words still apply: Ostheer feels like a faction that is meant to play the losing side (which from a historical perspective may be called accurate, but doesn't make much sense in a competitive game). Neither Relic's balance ideas nor these ones here would make me play this faction again.

- Aura units that focus on BS raw buffs (e.g., UKF officer, P4) rather than utility (e.g., OST officer)

Ironically, the Artillerieoffizier is the worst out of all officer units. After the buff, even the Major has more purpose (on top of being free, instead of costing as much as a whole frontline infantry unit).

Soviet command tanks or officiers required! 2 Axis command tanks, 2 Axis command officiers - 0 for USSR. Hail to the great balance!

Yeah, because Soviets feel like they need even more buffs right now...
And since you apparently didn't realise that there are two different Axis factions, I will apply the same ignorance to show the stupidity of your post: Allies have 4 officers right now (LT, Captain, Major, Airlanding Officer).