Patch 0.11 and what bugs with me it

I will first off start with some Tier 9 vehicles where i see a problem.

1) Leopard 2A6
The Leopard 2A6 Main Battle Tank is possibly the best widely used version of the Leopard 2. Its most distinctive upgrade over its predecessors is the replacement of the L/44 Rheinmetall smoothbore gun with the longer and better-performing L/55 variant. In Armored Warfare, it will be possible to upgrade the Leopard 2A6 with all the high tier MBT protection features, including smoke grenade launchers and an APS system, and with its powerful armament it will certainly find its place on the battlefield.


The Leopard 2A6 does not use any APS system as far as i know, though it might be offered by Rheinmetall or KMW, it is offered for there own variants (MBT Evolution as for example). However that said, those versions can fit a APS most likely.

Another thing is the tech-tree itself. What are your possible upgrades , how much difference will they have, are they different to the previous tank, in this case the Leopard 2A5 etc. .
Having every version of a vehicle ingame, might not be the right decision, though researching the same thing over and over again, should not be the way to go.

Leopard 2 -> DM43 -> DM53 -> DM63
Leopard 2A5 -> DM43 -> DM53 -> DM63
As for the Leopard 2A6, there won't be a difference, since it uses the DM63 and can be used with the DM53 .

My own thoughts :
 I don't like this move, because the fairly low amount of possible new upgrades and the same research tree for the most part again, just to have T9 instead of T8 .


2) M8 Thunderbolt
The 120mm-armed M8 Thunderbolt Light Tank was developed as a variant of the earlier XM8 program and the U.S. Army is currently considering its purchase and use. The main purpose of this vehicle is to provide airmobile units with highly-mobile air-transportable firepower, capable of being deployed by means of an air drop. The automatically loaded 120mm experimental gun ammunition can penetrate even modern heavy armored vehicles and while this light tank does not sport the extremely thick armor of its MBT counterparts, its mobility allows it to stay ahead of the enemy and to deliver killing blows from flanking maneuvers.


 You will get somewhat the same vehicle , with a 120mm smoothbore instead of the 105mm and maybe some other upgrades, yet i don't know what they will add to that. I know that people wanted them to be split into 2 vehicles instead of having 1 vehicle with 2 gun choices.
I would like to know if they really needed to uptier it as well as splitting it up to fullfil a techtree.

My own thoughts :
I'd rather have them either in 1 vehicle with 2 gun choices, while both have different approaches to the vehicle playstyle itself or if you really need to have a truckload of vehicles in the game, i would have had them split up into 2 different lines of LT tanks. One is the 105mm branch and the other a 120mm branch, while both end up at tier 8

3) Panhard CRAB
The French Panhard Combat Reconnaissance Armored Buggy, also known as the CRAB, was developed as a replacement for the aging VBL. It is an extremely light but well-armed AFV. Although its armour cannot generally withstand the fire of anything more powerful than a heavy machine gun, the CRAB’s blazing speed prevents it from being hit in the first place. The CRAB can be equipped with either an automatic cannon or a turreted MPCV missile launcher. The most interesting feature of the CRAB, however, is its ability to steer both forward and rear wheels, allowing the vehicle to “side-strafe”, which will be available in Armored Warfare.


This is a interesting choice for this tier as i think that it shouldn't be up there , despite it has options to fit bigger calibre auto cannons, such as 30mm, it will be buffed to fit the tier. Let's have a short look on what auto cannon calibre options the CRAB will have.
20x139mm (guess)
25x137mm
30x113mm

The length of the shell itself is pretty important when it goes down to performance, such as range, penetration power, speed or if we take it to ingame values only, damage and penetration power . A 30x113mm weapon system won't do anything to a MBT , unless you buff it to fit the tier . You might have a question on why they just put in a 30x113mm weapon system instead a 30x170/173mm weapon system ? The answer is short, the recoil, length of the shell and the amount ammo you can carry , plus the task doesn't change with a bigger calibre as you will use it only when needed .

My own thoughts :
So the CRAB is a case where they put a vehicle on a tier, just because it is a new product , while it is advanced for sure, it fits a tier 8 best, to complete the recon line with a decent vehicle, but you need to fill in a techtree, i guess .

4) T-90MS
One of the best variants of the T-90 is the T-90MS export variant. Featuring a modern Relikt ERA kit, a powerful 2A82 gun, capable of launching missiles and modern electronics and countermeasures, the T-90MS in Armored Warfare continues the Russian MBT tradition - a low silhouette, very powerful turret armor and good mobility are the hallmarks of this vehicle.


My own thoughts :
This is the newest T-90 version which is available for the export market. Compared to the previous criticism, this is different in the meaning that i would put it as a tier 8 , while the current tier 8 , the regular T-90 goes down to tier 7 . The reason why i would do it like that is :
 T-72 -> T-72A (for whatever reason) -> T-90 -> T-90MS
It would be in the same "tank family" of the same production plant / company for the russian MBTs. For example another line is the T-64, T-80  and T-84 .



So far my thoughts on the tier 9 stuff, not that i like to have them ingame in first place, but it seems like the russians want it to be like that .

Now some different stuff from the Patch Notes.

Challenger 1
The Challenger 1 has been performing below expectations. While it does have strong armor, its weak points, low penetration, and lower HP than the Abrams, coupled with lower speed, have made it perform below par. To help bring it up to par, we've bumped its penetration up to levels more comparable to other MBTs of the same tier and increased its hit points, which we feel will give the Challenger 1 the necessary resilience needed to be an excellent brawler. Additionally, we've significantly buffed the frontal sides of the turret and hull enough to bounce some MBT shells, along with strengthening the driver's sight weak point and removing the gunner's sight weak point.

• Stock AP penetration increased from 342 to 377
• First AP upgrade penetration increased from 360 to 396
• Second gun stock AP penetration increased from 360 to 405
• Second gun upgraded AP penetration increased from 368 to 423
• Increased frontal hull sides from 80 to 275
• Increased frontal turret sides from 176 to 330

Who would have thought that the Challenger 1 has problems in penetrating something , when it has by far the lowest amount of penetration power for its tier and counterparts. The thing about the Challenger 1 is, that this tank is all about the armour and not about the big damage numbers , at least in this game. A penetration buff was needed a long time ago, but what made the Challenger 1 as bad as it is right now, is more that you have a giant weak spot in form of the "gunner sights".
The buff or change of that is right, the penetration power increase is good as well, but from my point of view, you should have done it like this . Fix the armour (gunner sights) / general amount of armour, buff the pen power slightly, and see if it is working out.
Buffing in big steps shouldn't be done, you rather want to fix the issue and buff favourable things afterwards, like the pen power .


C1 Ariete
When evaluating the Ariete we found its side armor to be performing below what players should expect from a tier 8 MBT. As a result, the appliqué armor package on the Ariete has had its effectiveness more than doubled and we've buffed the sides of the turret, allowing the vehicle to better resist shells against the tank's hull and turret sides with the armor package on. The front of the turret also received a small armor buff, which included removing the gunner's sight weak point, allowing the vehicle to be more effective in hull down positions against other Tier 8 vehicles. The goal is to allow it to be a mobile scrapper, but still allow players to find opportunities where it won’t be as easily penetrated.

• Increased both appliqué packages’ armor from 100/80 to 250/250 for the turret and hull
• Upgraded vehicle side armor from 120 to 200
• Upgraded frontal spaced armor from 300 to 400

The main issue with the Ariete is that it is bugged most of the time you play it. It was first the magnetic aiming, now the turret joins the hull one level lower than it should be etc. . When i played the Ariete i do liked it , because the fairly low aiming time, good accuracy, so you can somewhat snapshot with it.
You might want to fix the bugged Ariete in first place and give it a niche where it can be played at, compared to the current MBTs.
I would like to see it more as a good snapshot MBT, then you don't need the sidearmor buff, but that is me .


Leopard 1A5
The Leopard 1A5 is performing below standards for the tier. We've given it significant buffs to targeting time and accuracy on the move to make it superior to the earlier vehicles in the same line in those regards, as well as a boost to damage.

• Targeting Time decreased from 2.9 seconds to 2.5 seconds
• Hull traverse accuracy bloom rate halved
• Turret yaw bloom decreased from 0.15 to 0.1
• Stock AP damage increased from 294 to 317
• First AP upgrade damage increased from 309 to 332
• Second AP upgrade damage increase from 340 to 348
• Stock HE damage increased from 177 to 190
• Upgraded SC damage increased from 406 to 435

• As a first thing, you might want to correct the tank model and add ffs SIDESKIRTS .
• The aim time buff is okay, but not needed as you can tweak it down to almost 2 seconds, though 0.4 seconds buff is a lot .
• The bloom changes are probably the best changes in this patch for the 1A5, as it boosts your overall accuracy and time that you need to re aim by a lot.
• Last but not least the damage changes. They are not that much, though not needed , compared to the bloom changes. 

Personally the 1A5 is in a good state compared to the other tier 5 MBTs that i have, but i can see on why you buff it.


T-72 / T-72A / T-80
To bring the vehicle's weak points in line with the T-72A, the armor in the upper left portions of the cupola, the flat area of the sight and the roof of the vehicle have been increased to better resist high penetration shots. Given the easily penetrated lower glacis, the player should be rewarded more for protecting it with a strong turret, although the T-72 will still have several locations that can be breached with careful aim.

• Remodeled cannon mantle section to more accurately deflect shots.

 I guess a good change, so i need to aim for the turret ring now most of the time . Just thinking if the T-series now gets even better at hulldown play, you might want to think of some "nerfs" in the weapon system section, due having only advantages shouldn't be the goal right .


Missing fixes

1. Akatsiya is bugged, as I can't select any consumables / nothing in the patch notes and this is nothing small
2. Fox smokescreen is bugged as well, as it fires the smoke 90° to the right and in a small area only

 Conclusion

I don't know what there plan is with the game, but to be honest, having tier 9 already when you didn't even balance tier 6+ is not the right move here. The gap in between some tiers is already huge, and what you are doing right now, is add another tier, to make it even harder for yourself to balance already existing tiers with each other.

Not to mention that the MatchMaking is punishing for players with decent skill in this game, by giving them 10 players+ who are doing nothing. Sorry but you have so much work and balancing to do in the current game, while you focus on adding stuff (T9/10) which is not needed. You should get your base stable and sorted , before stepping up and add another tier.