Profile of Esxile

The whole idea behind the flame nade change is to hurt OKW early game because they're obviously too strong in the opening 3-5 minutes. The problem is and its one I tried to put across in the balance team but people disagreed with me, it doesn't really hurt their early game in any meaningful way. All it does is lead to more frustrating gameplay like you see with USF and Brits to a lesser extent, not having access to an actual building counter because you dont have access to flames.

Curious if people would agree that putting some of sturms vet 0 damage to vet 1 or increasing Volk build time by 8-10 seconds are better ways to nerf the opening 5 minutes without leading to the "oh theres a building on that side of the map, i have to ignore it for 5 minutes". Because the flame nade changes really doesnt actually do anything to solve OKW's snowball vs USF and now Brits.

This is a really good post!

Honestly I know how Sturm is already an overloaded unit but they should be the one having the flamnade. Flamnade that early (no truck requirement) would not be an issue if you know from where it is coming, if you know you can counter it by forcing Sturm to retreat (same as for any other flamer in fact). A big part of the issue at the moment is OKW having 3 early units that can potencially use it against you.

Reducing Sturm vet0 damage or increasing volks building time are good ideas to reduce OKW early dominance, I think all of that should be tested.

Last but not least, what scare me the most from your post is people from the balance team disagreeing with you about this problem. Like what, the situation was fine for them?

I have read Cruzz's thread and he says that the nade is not tied to the first truck being set up which is consistent with the final notes. No idea why he mentioned that as a ninja change, unless he meant that it is tied to the truck setup? I'm really confused.

I never said it was tied to the truck being setup, but tied to the first truck. Final patch note said nothing about it but before the patch, flamnade was tied to nothing, as soon as you had the muni, you could use them.

OKW without nades would be a massive joke in team games. Flame nades do not kill anyone they force them to move which creates a scramble allowing OKW to have a chance against MGs. If anything, get rid of the nades that wipe a whole squad since there is a 4 second lag some games.

If a squad is in a building, they are not taking territory in a 1v1. That seems crucial. Squad in building = more resources for you. Comes down to map making so buildings are not on top of important points.

Actually USF is a massive joke vs OKW flamnade. USF pickup an important building before you, just throw a flamnade, USF pick a cover before them, just throw a flamnade and rush with your SP.

I personally like the idea of swapping the 50 cal and the AT gun. Then each tier can handle blobs and AT, the choice being if which you want to be mobile and which you want as an mp only fallback and weapon racks can fill in the blanks. It's unintrusive and really makes sence

It doesn't work:
You need the Atgun because nothing else does its job actually.
HMG and AATH are suppressing thus everyone is going to unlock the tier giving the ATgun with whatever suppression tool is associated with.

If you swap ATgun and HMG, you need to make sure both tier have real AT and AI capabilities which or the same problem will occur as today, one tier will never be picked because of lack of AT in one of them. ATM Stuart is a joke, it badly counter lv for 70 fuel and put you far behind in the T3 race.

Again if you swap Atgun, the only scenario in which I see it working is swapping Stuart and M10 at the same time. Then you have Atgun + AATH and HMG and M10.

My idea is (imo) easier to balance:

- Remove free LT, Cpt and Mjr: No more freebe, it is actually a substantial nerf for the faction.
- Move HMG and M1 in T0 with tier 1 or 2 unlock: To compensate the nerf, USF is giving more flexibility
- Lt, Cpt are now purchasable as they are when killed (manpower price): To keep some uniqueness in the faction, those could be rewamp to make them more unique in their respective utility.
- Reduce T3 price by half: unlock Scott and Major: In the actual meta, I don't see any reason for the Scott to hit the field only 1 minute or 2 before Pz4s, Scott should require Axis factions to react with an appropriate counter or get hurt, not just wait a minute and get pz4 rush on it.
- Mjr cost the other half of T3 price, when purchased: sherman and Jackson are unlocked: Then Major arty, FRP and reco are still coming at the same time and Sherman/Jackson are still coming later, even more if USF invest in Scott.

• Remove free LT, Cpt and Mjr
  
• Move HMG and M1 in T0 with tier 1 or 2 unlock
  
• Lt, Cpt are now purchasable as they are when killed (manpower price)
  
• Reduce T3 price by half: unlock Scott and Major
  
• Mjr cost the other half of T3 price, when purchased: sherman and Jackson are unlocked
  

There is also a need to redesign Airborn with that.