Eh, the WC51 was never that good vs OKW or Wehrmacht. Like the M3, it's brutal vs lone squads and will often score easy kills. However, it's pretty effectively countered by keeping units together (especially since sturmpios will easily clear it at close range) and focusing it down. Then come 5 minutes in the game, the Puma or 222 can easily handle it. Now at 1 CP, it's basically useless.
America already struggles a lot vs OKW since kuebel counters everything for the first 6 min or so. |
I do feel T34s under perform somewhat. The reload change this patch makes a noticeable difference in their use - especially in their ability to face enemy tanks.
Should probably wait and see how the meta evolves this patch, though. |
I tend to agree though that USF struggle a lot against OKW. The lack of a hard counter for the kuebel for the first 6 minutes of the game makes it real hard for the USF player. And due to OKW's campy nature, breaking the lines without heavy tanks as USF can be even more difficult.
Is balance that bad? No. We all need to play more before we judge. |
Brave Tank Commanders. |
They're bad. While their damage can be impressive, they more often than not get models sniped off to simple rifle fire (meaing they usually get forced off before they can make use of their good mid-close range damage). And with the high manpower cost and upkeep, you're better off just using grens or MGs.
Buff their armor or something so they don't die so easily and they will be fine. |
Only if the AAHT is asleep at the wheel. Using incendiary rounds means the MG has to load the rounds in, retarget, and then fire. Additionally, if he's suppressed, he won't even fire half the time. It could be a nice play if you use it preemptively, but generally won't work.
If it does, consider it a lucky break, but your only counter as Ostheer are Pak Guns vs. it. |
In team games just about anything goes, but the most popular strategies relies on Tigers or Elefants.
In 1v1, you basically hit the nail on the head about Tigers. Ostheer t4 is complete trash at the moment and it's relatively hard to get out T3 tanks in time to make an impact. This makes Tigers the competitive choice for tanks since you don't need to tech for it, it's the best tank general purpose tank in the roster, and is really the only unit to add that late game punch where Germans generally do better than allies. |
Flak halftrack has the advantage of instant suppression and comes out at least 10 minutes earlier.
That being said, the Flak Halftrack is garbage since the shots almost always hit terrain instead of infantry and it's long set up and tear down times make it hard to quickly respond to threats. Additionally, OKW already has some good anti infantry options (MG34, Sturmpios, and even basic volks in defensive positions) that the flak halftrack doesn't really add anything important to round out your force.
So basically never build Flak HTs. |
"Balancing for pros" is the only correct way (in principle) to balance a game. Why would you want to balance in such a way as to dumb down the units so they work better with less skill? Shouldn't the game reward the extra effort you put into games and improvement. By not balancing for top level play, it encourages people to run to the balance devs every time you lose instead of working to improve yourself.
Blizzard took the same approach with WoW during Catacylsm (and even a bit before): they dumbed down their raids so basically "everyone" could do them. Instead of actually trying to form a fluid, dynamic, and hard working raid team all you had/have to do is que up and basically afk at the fight. Why? Because enough people complained that the content was too hard to beat. They basically rewarded laziness instead of work to enjoy the end-game content.
It's one way to balance, for sure, but not the way that is best for a game (especially one where they just partnered with an Esports group - ESL). |
Remove the Puma and OKW basically loses it's competitive ability. The Flak Halftrack, while on paper very powerful, tend to perform rather poorly (hitting terrain quite a bit, unable to clear buildings) and it's mobility is a big issue. The walking Stuka is more or less a mid-late game unit, so that leaves only the Puma to deal with early game pressure.
The Medic truck is nearly worthless for early game as only the support gun can be used (dependent on map and only if your opponent is static). The Puma is the only way to harass infantry and force of light vehicles effectively as OKW and I think it's fine at the moment. |