I know this has been brought up countless times, but are we ever going to see a change to tank smoke?
It is a skilless, get-out-of-jail-free ability that ignores bad play and is heavily RNG influenced. The only counter play is attack grounding which is extremely inaccurate and straight up broken on certain maps due to the geometry. Players need never be afraid of overextending into ATGs, Su-85s and Jacksons when they can get away scot-free.
It is neither an exciting ability nor is it being used as an aggressive tool which I'm sure Relic intended it to be used as.
I'd suggest making the vehicle only able to pop smoke if has no critical applied to it. This way we would see it more as an offensive tool than the phase plasma shield it is now.
This also applies to blitz (even though it was nerfed on heavies iirc). Blitz isn't as bad since the tank is still hittable, but the solution here is simple: Don't let the tank use blitz when reversing.
I think the cant have been crit'd thing is a bit much. Although I do agree its a bit too easy.
Having to manually aim it, like the Sherman has to would go a long way to making this ability more balanced. Using it offensively would mean a much larger level of micro, especially if being used by multiple vehicles simultaneously.
I'd be happy for it to be that way.