I'm making this post give a glimpse about how we (the balance team) feel teamgame dominant meta could be changed to be more fun and more diverse.
Part of the reason I'm making this post is to openly declare our intentions to the community and get some feedback. Preface Show Spoiler
For a large number of reasons we will never be able to guarantee a fully-balanced state for teamgames. However, we carry out changes to suit 1v1 meta, we always keep an eye out so that stuff does not become too ridiculous for teamgames.
Teamgames are very commander-oriented, and combining the right set of commanders should remain a staple of teamgames (i.e., there's no harm).
However, at the same time, we keep seeing certain commanders appear time and time again regardless of the map being played, or the playstyle of the opponent. The same commanders also require a very specific playstyle to be countered, further removing diversity from viable strategies.
Similar to how we want to reign in 1v1 Call-in meta, to give people better flexibility in commander choices, we also want to limit the dominance of specific 4v4 commanders to give everyone better flexibility in what to choose.
Unfortunately, we may not be able to address the dominant meta in one go. Therefore I'm presenting our list of priorities and how we hope to address it. There at many layers of cheese and we plan on removing it from top to bottom.
Highest priority changes Show Spoiler
This one goes to difficult-to-counter veterancy wipes. The moment these units enter the field it doesn't matter how you got there; they just reset the game hard.Stuka Dive Bomb
- Needs no introductions
- Dirt cheap ability
- In addition to being OP vs infantry, it also completely nullifies half of the available Soviet doctrines
- If you want an easy-click ability to counter howitzers, pick Railway artillery, insteadElefant/Jagdtiger
2-shots -> medium tank/TD dead
Damage needs to go down from 320 to 280 to:
- Prevent these tanks from wiping veterancy left and right
- Keep them relevant vs advanced mediums/heavies
- Reworked to keep remotely relevant for smaller modes (e.g., cheaper, barrage at vet0, etc)Sturmtiger
Is an over-the-top infantry killer. Has no business killing medium tanks too:
- Damage from 640 to 560
- Removed vehicle criticals
- Mutually-exclusive with KT (Abandon removed to avoid abuse)
(Sure, fuel price should go up, but that's lower priority than the stuff that makes Sturmtiger completely broken)Calliope
- Impossible to counter using Axis armour
- Rework barrage to Katyusha levels
- HP/Armour to Priest levels
High priority cheese Show Spoiler Priest
- Ban decrewing (to avoid popcap abuse)
- Adjust popcapJU-87 loiter
The ability deals higher than artillery-cover grade criticals, on top of murdering everything on its wake
- At the very least remove criticals from the ability
1v1-affecting cheese Show Spoiler Crocodile
This is, again, an issue with super-specialized hardware. Even if you make them OK for 1v1, they become a menace in anything bigger than that.
- Simply too good for its cost at killing infantry
- Remember that range-affecting nerf some year ago? Well, it never properly made it in
Solution:
- Fix flamethrower damage and range (downwards)
- Upgrade cannon damage from 80 to 100 so that it can threaten tanks
- Allow players to control cannon directly
This allows Crocodile to be an AI-mostly generalist, which means it no longer has to absolutely murder infantry by staring at them.Firefly
Fireflies are mostly OK for 1v1. However:
- They have too good accuracy and moving accuracy making vehicle-play impossible against them
- This is, unless, OST/OKW use heavy-TDs (which will be getting nerfed, btw)
Solution:
- Reduce accuracy/moving accuracy to SU-85 levels
- Remove movement-stun from Tulips
- Remove damage bonus from Vet3 (too good vs mediums; might require cost decrease though)
- Maybe add Tulip use to a GLOBAL cooldownJP4
- Good luck countering this unit with Soviets/USF if it's vetted
- Just nerf its Vet2 stats (HP/sight)Stugs
- For the time being, just nerf its OP TWP ability to Puma/Stug-E levels
- Popcap to 10Address repair-speed inconsistencies
Self-explanatory
Good-to-have stuff Show Spoiler Howitzers
Howitzers could use an MP discount for a fuel cost. This will allow Howitzers to be used more in the late-game by OST/Soviets (which are MP-constrained), and a bit less by OKW (which is fuel-bottlenecked)
- Cost changed from 600MP to 400MP/50FU?Pak43
Same as above. However, before doing this, it would be wise to create non-doc counters to them for USF/Brits:
- Cost changed from 500MP to 350MP/50FU?Emplacement/ISG rework
- Mortar pit/ISG auto-attack range needs to go down (to at most 80)
- Barrage recharge could happen faster for Mortar Pits
- ISGs need anti-garrison upgrade for sure
- Brace needs rework (at the very least, it should disable repairs while active)Demo charge rework
Trial-and-error.Aura effects
We should remove/reduce the effect of the following auras on teammates:
- Soviet forward HQ
- P4 command tank
Mark Target potency could also get nerfed to, at least, avoid pulverising medium tanks (similar to why Command Panther Mark Target was nerfed). There is no way to limit the effects of Mark Target to the player that triggered it.