look, i hate people that whine... but despite the nerfs to penals, penal blobs are still shockingly potent against OKW. i think this is the case for a few reasons...
1 - OKW lacks a solid suppression platform. a flak halftrack would work, except that penals just upgrade to PTRS and blob at it. MG34 is a joke... penals just run straight at it and win. every time.
2 - penals vet very quickly (still). they are pretty durable by default, but the RA bonuses make them frustrating to fight against with volks. fusiliers are ok once they're vetted, but you still end up bleeding a lot.
3 - the PTRS upgrade gives the SU player options, but also limits the OKW player's ability to counter the penal blob. also, by the time a luchs comes out, a good soviet player is already moving towards a suchka, which REALLY limits the luchs' utility.
i'm not saying they need to be nerfed into oblivion, but i think the trend towards super-low RA infantry units (penals, brit IS, etc.) is making infantry play inconsistent and encouraging blobbing.
Yep.
The Flak truck seems better now but it still is crazy easy to destroy. In team games, by the time you get a Flak truck penals are getting PTRS rifles and USF is getting zooks.
The MG34 is hands down the worst HMG in the game. Some MG's can be taken head on if you do it with vetted infantry blobs, but the MG34 can be taken head on by unvetted infantry (penals, rifles, inf sections) and wiped out fairly quickly. It's only legitimate use is when garrisoned and then it's slightly better.
Personally if I'm playing OKW and I want MG suppression I will be tempted to go with the doctrine that allows bunker building because then at least you get an MG42.
Not that it matters, but historically speaking it makes more sense for Ostheer to have the MG34 and OKW to have the MG42. Isn't OKW more about the late-war tech? Why do they get an ancient machine gun?