Profile of CadianGuardsman

And that is why they are so difficult to balance. The crew argument is absolutely valid.

I think the thing is the crew here is actually worth the cost of the vehicle. Like if I rush forward with a basic WC51 with Riflemen then immediately disembark even if the enemy tries to capture it I've got a good deal.

Personally I'd just make it cost 260 manpower or 200 manpower 10 fuel or remove the crew like how most artillery vehicles for the US work.

I don't think the artillery is useful because it's 180 muni and situational as hell, the mark target, step on it and 50 cal can be really frustrating though.

I would argue that the 51 is slightly OP but not as strong as a few people here have said.

I have felt almost physical pain when I've remembered those abominations you've mentioned.

Clown car snipers, anyone?

That was a memory too cruel to mention.

My personal favourite was the Priest on release. 1 barrage could lay waste to any OKW command buildings. It was a no questions asked auto purchase.

I'll preface this with the fact that unlike many on this site I'm a big proponent of balancing for the majority rather than balancing for the top 100 players. It's why I use #ESPORTSREADY as a tongue in cheek joke at Relic chasing the top 100 rather than say the top 500/1000 i.e. the vast majority of the player base, usually at the expense of flavour.

Now I'll admit that I'm a mid range player who got very bored of the 1v1 scene quickly infact I've only played 1v1 as Ostheer and USF. I casted a fair amount of mid tier games during the midlife of the game to help those coming into CoH 2 to get used to the game. Obviously I have a bias against balancing for 1v1 top 100.

That said onto my point, the past two balance patches, spearheaded by many contributors on CoH2.org as well as top players has seen a dramatic reduction in flavour for the game. From the abandonment of the dual soviet sniper. To Jackson's being buffed to insane levels to Riflemen losing smoke and their MG Suppression. All these changes dramatically shifted the factions towards one style of play. A very dull style of play at that.

I make a joke that "why would I play USF when I can play Assault Gren Ostheer" the only key difference is that Ostheer have a tier 0 MG to lock down territory and have an escape from MG's something the USF lost. Not to mention a better late game.

Honestly the biggest symptom of flavour loss is the mortar nerfs. Mortars needed to be nerfed. Relics #ESPORTSREADY balance method was to make them almost all identical. Balance achieved for the 1% of players in the top 100. Everybody else looses flavour and gets a free skin pack. Please choose between USF Mortar pack or Ostheer Mortar pack.

Is this a deal breaker or make the game worst on it's own? No but it's a symptom of two things, lazy balancing and further homogenisation of factions that upon release where very unique.

As I said earlier I don't expect this to be a too popular post but I felt it important to say as I see a lot of what made early CoH 2 fun disappear behind balancing for the top 1%.

TL;DR: Relics pandering to the top 1% of players harms the soul of the game and encourages homogenisation of factions. It's inability to accept slight advantages in certain areas has led to it completely ruining factional flavour and while the game is more balanced it comes at the expense of fun and flavour.

Mechanised used to be very strong vs OKW. Then Relic nerfed the WC51 into uselessness, raid tactics is still useless. The M3 is crewed by the engineers making it more useless mortar is better provided by Infantry and the 76 Sherman doesn't have HE so why bother?

Overall mechanised would be fixed by giving the M3 a crew. Giving the WC51 back it's 50 cal default (or making it respond better so it doesn't spaz out when you retreat it away from a racketen/volksblob replace Raid tactics with a Greyhound. That will upgrade it from useless to situational.

The main problem is the USF relies on closing the game early. This company is supposed to allow that at the expense of no late game abilities. However instead it was nerfed and now is an avoid at all costs.

Inf, Airborne and Heavy Cavalry are my go too Doctrines but you could swap AB out for Tactical if you really want to win hard.

A 1v1 on Kholodny Ferma between NoFear and PreparationH60. Not a top tier game but an interesting came to dissect none the less.

It has a few shifts in who is leading but is best game is used by newer players trying to figure out what basic mistakes they may be making. Anyway enjoy!