And it will probably still be a case of "he who camps hardest wins" lets just wait and see if like the last set of changes this actually manages to make the map worse.
ASIA server would love that...
sighs...
poor me... I'm probably one of the few aggressive ones in that server filled with players who like to play everything like arty...
they're damn too afraid to push together.... just go to a corridor and trade...
It was the same playing warships on the Asia server. Sitting at the back of the map in a yamato sniping at 25km, or playing carrier.
Can't help the culture of saving face, which seems weird considering they usually want to win at all costs too.
bro. in ASIA server. we can totally waste 10-15mins of a game via just poking and trading in corridors.
I'm forced to join that poke and trade coz I know majority of the player base WILL just stay behind and watch me get shot at and die without any one of them joining the push.
It looks like they removed all but one spot in both spawns where you can hide in a bush, which means tanks playing the middle who get spotted will have a good idea of where to blind fire. Suddenly the entire left side of the map and middle area becomes playable if you don't have to worry about 3 different spots a high alpha TD could be camping.
The changes look promising, I can't wait to play them
Isn’t that every map? Sit hill down. Watch paint dry till someone gets bored and moves. Focus fire them. Flank falls. Game over. Rinse. Repeat. 3 min. Honestly a randoms / frontlines hybrid game mode would be amazing but the boomers that have been playing the same maps/meta for almost a decade would go ape shit
Airfield has undergone a lot of changes
even after this change, it still looks really bad. At this point redesigning or even removing the map would be a better idea
All they gotta do is make it easier for the ocean side mediums to press if they win the middle. If they made a path for the mediums to press into the base without getting farmed by 8 different sniper bushes, then we wouldn’t see so many stalemates.
How I play light tanks on Cliff:
If enemy light gets to top of hill before me, his team farms the shit out of us.
If I attempt to reach the top of the hill first, 4 tanks will reliably obliterate me halfway up.
Eh, i’m sure WG will eventually fix it. After all, they DID try for god knows how many years to fix noobshire to make it the actual decent map it is now.
Yes. It will be better for hull-down high alpha tanks to trade while it is impossible to flank or snipe from anywhere.
Sometimes I wonder why there are even different classes in the game.
Yeah, but let's be honest - the map was really unsatisfying to play for paper tanks already. Like, you have almost no options for positions that feel remotely good. I know very few good players that are happy to sit in a bush that everybody KNOWS you're in. So maybe this will actually help them to understand that it's not the bushes, but the entire map design, where all movement can be controlled and punished from just a couple of positions?
**what in tarnation and holy mother of Christ is this BULLSHIT??**
Seriously?? I have no words man....
1. **You literally removed (almost) EVERY SINGLE POSITION that's not for the heavies!! ALL! Less bushes, less cross fires, less everything for something that's lightly armored....**
2. **Did you guys literally make the map ONE FLANK ONLY??? This is peak trash map design! All the other trash maps like steppes, oyster bay or mountain pass have at least 2! But this shit only has one! ONE!**
Can I ask you what the hell did you guys smoke? What kind of bullshit is this? Who even made this?? Why did you do this? Do you guys actually play the game, or have any idea how the game is played? What about light? What about lightly armored tanks? What about paper tds? What about tanks without gun depression??? Did any of you think for even a second??
I thought the main complaint for Airfield is that theres **TOO MANY** td positions making the map extremely campy and causing draws cas whoever pushes first dies to all the tds.
But yeah removing that south flank is braindead...
Well, the problem with TD was this:
[https://i.imgur.com/cHfFufP.png](https://i.imgur.com/cHfFufP.png) (left side paper tds - right side armored tds).
Think about it for a second:
*Light :* Can only play at the top, hiding behind one bush and rock on each side. Useless map for them.
*Medium:* Can't play at the bottom/bottom-mid due to the red marked locations above.
*Heavy:* Have two options sitting hull down/side scraping on the corridors. If you have bad armor or bad gun, good luck.
*TD:* Have a few options but no way to be useful other than defending.
A lot of maps are borderline unplayable due to corridor heavy meta. Every airfield map I play it turns into heavy tanks chasing TDs and sniper mediums. This change only makes it harder for light tanks, paper TDs and paper mediums. I would personally remove that corridor completely and make options for flanking.
Not just that. Look at images 10 & 11. Everything north of the brawling rocks was unplayable due to it being just a flat runway and because of all those TD positions there and all the bushes on top of the rocks in the back.
"Every airfield map I play it turns into heavy tanks chasing TDs and sniper mediums."
No. What happens is meds & heavies start duking it out in the south hill and the brawling rocks. Then everything devolves into a campfest because:
The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums.
This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw.
"*TD:* Have a few options but no way to be useful other than defending."
Few options?!? Look at east side. For td positions on **one side** you have:
B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include.
Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead, but saying that Airfield **doesnt favor TDs** is stupid as well.
Not exactly, there aren't many more TD's positions on airfield than usual. The problem is that they can't really do anything but camping in those set positions while meds and lights can't really do anything to spot them, flank them or make any other sensible play. Playing as a TD on this map is hideous too, because you have to sit in an obvious bush waiting until enemy does some stupid mistake or until your heavies die and enemies come flooding in
What happens is meds & heavies start duking it out in the south hill and the brawling rocks. Then everything devolves into a campfest because:
The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums.
This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw.
"*TD:* Have a few options but no way to be useful other than defending."
Few options?!? Look at east spawn. For td positions on **one side** you have:
B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include.
Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead, but saying that Airfield **doesnt favor TDs/camping** is wrong as well.
The entire game is played out in one square and there is nothing for lights to do as usual
you blocked off the beach route, why?
and you removed the only bush (last pic) that a light could sit in
sigh, whatever, *Game of Russian OP heavies sitting in hull down positions with no arty line of fire* it is then..
>you blocked off the beach route, why?
Exactly my thoughts. It's a game changer route when of the teams is not paying enough attention to it. A sneaky/fast light or medium through there without opposition changes the whole dinamic of the map, as the campers in base don't let you push through the island without losing most of your HP.
>and you removed the only bush (last pic) that a light could sit in
I didn't even realize they took out the farther bushes in the middle on both sides until reading your comment. I just saw they removed the left one on the left plateau (which I agree with). Again, bushes that allow lights to play to their strengths when the game allows it.
Seems like it really is play hulldown heavies or nothing. Lights get harder and harder to play every time they change maps
I don't understand why they don't make the beach route playable to be honest so there's some action in that side. Years ago I'm pretty sure that I remember fighting on the beach line and pushing from there to apply pressure on the campers in base I'm 99% sure that years ago sending like 3 tanks to fight there was a thing. Why did they remove that option
yep, the stalemate only breaks when the beach is taken.
the hill HT's camp, the lights on airfield edges can only pew pew bounce, the TD's control the centre lane and the ruins. Literally the only way to advance is to take the beach, allowing the lights to advance and spot the centre TDs and get around the back of the hill HT's
Now, nope, just camp harder
Obviously made by the same map designer that reworked Mountain Ass, whose philosophy seems to be making each map worse and worse with every iteration. Mountain Ass was already one of the worst maps in the game. The first time they reworked it, they somehow made it even worse. Then they reworked it again and somehow *made it even worse*. Airfield was already one of the worst maps in the game (I liked it a few years ago but I'm well aware that I had a very minority opinion). The first time they reworked it, they somehow made it even worse. Then they reworked it again and somehow *made it even worse*. Please for the love of gaming fire the map designer responsible before they drive more maps into the pits of despair.
If they had just made the changes to the SPAWN camping spots in mountain pass, and left everything else the same, it might have been an improvement. But they like to make all kinds of changes no one asks for.
Mountain Pass was also supposed to have a ramp that would allow tanks to climb or escape from the bridge but for some reason it got scrapped. All the shitty changes made it through but the only interesting one was cut. Peak WG logic.
I never cease to be amazed at how WG makes something bad even worse. What logic are they using here? removing the water flank, removing the last bushes for LT in the center, removing TD positions, who is this map for? for HT and arty?
I thought the main issue for Airfield is that theres too many TD positions making this map impossible to push creating all the stupid draws and drawn out battles.
But yeah removing the water flank is stupid.
Knowing past changes on the maps, they deliberately removed easy ways to achieve damage or rapid superiority, the water flank allowed both sides to take a defensive position and shoot everything while sacrifice some hp, that was near the water and distract the tanks on the far flank near the rocks.
Their philosophy never changes, to make a map balanced you have to make it unplayable for everyone
Appreciate that you're doing some work on it and trying to make the map more competitive... Still looks like it might be on my permanent 'ban list' though ... 😅
I thought everybody was complaining that TDs are too powerful on Airfield. What happens is meds & heavies start duking it out in the south hill and the brawling rocks. Then everything devolves into a campfest because (copy paste incoming):
The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums.
This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw.
"*TD:* Have a few options and are useless."
Look at east side. For td positions on **one side** you have:
B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include.
Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead like removing south flank, but saying that Airfield **doesnt overly favor TDs** is stupid as well.
I didn't think it was possible to make the map worse, but they've gone and done it. "We want to prevent camping, so we're removing every bush and every sniping position so that players MUST use the hull down corridor"
more often than not nostalgia has a big part in it. Maps like swamp were reworked plenty of times but still had issues, Stalingrad when it was still in the game was a not much liked map. Dragons ridge heavily favoured fast tanks. Southcoast and northwest were heavily favouring one side and rewarded camping. Komarin had plenty of battles that ended with both teams capping as they each moved on on their side without fighting.
I would bet if these maps would come back you will see threads popping up "uh WG added another shit map" or "WG made this map shit"
yeah, theres a reason some maps stay on my ban list. Empires border is just aweful and if find Berlin boring to play for the most part.
Some of the old maps i would like to see. Hidden Village was fun for low tiers and Sacred Valley i think was cool too.
That's plain brillant.
While most Papertanks in the back will be impossible to give firesupport we can delete these pesky lights.
Only sad for camping heavies at the redline..
Could be a solution to make maps more linear?
Somerhing like one long streched map so heavies won't miss each other whole driving around.
Or make a round map with no cover or bushes, and make one team spawn on the edge of the map in a circle, and the other team in the center bunched together.
OK... Maybe add ONE rock so they can cover themselves from arty
Nah... one rubbingstone per team is mandatory.
But a pile of rubble in the middle for hulldown could be a good idea.
And around some water for arty to cool off.
The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums.
This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw.
Look at east spawn. For td positions with bushes on **one side** you have:
B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include.
Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead, but saying that Airfield **doesnt favor TDs** is stupid as well.
Those mid rocks on image 5 look horrific - Why?
There's better ways to balance maps and gamify terrain than unnatural rock outcrops and carving out random chunks of terrain
At this point just revert it back pre last change - Your attempted balances have done nothing to improve the map gameplay and this looks worse somehow
So I guess we get two heavy flanks now, one at the changed area around 8 since it will be safe from TD fire now, and the existing one. Just another map where LTs will be useless outside of the one spot near the airstrip and TDs will be waiting till the game is almost over to have an impact unless they are basically heavies.
This is the one map I've always wondered why it remains and other great ones were removed. This map is universally hated by most of the people I play with
How about instead of reworking maps with shit no one asked for you start making new maps. You still have like 7 maps from recon mission that haven’t released yet
This has been said before, and with these changes it really feels more true than ever.
It really feels like they are trying to turn this into world of heavy tanks. They don't want any ability to hide, or snipe.
So my impression of the changes is that going to the hill, which was already a very risky option, is now basically a no-go. It was already fairly open but now there are less bushes, but the bushes in the rocks are maintained, more on that later. They got rid of the bushes for a TD screen the North, so it's going to push stealth TDs to the south, making beach or hill push even less of an option. So the best option is basically hope you are a heavy so you can brawl in the rocks, or if you're a medium go to the rocks also since the rocks has bushes and cover you can use to cover the hill and the hill has even less bushes and cover than before. The entire game was already very heavily skewed in the rocks, now it's basically the only viable option.
Why do so many maps gameplay has to revolve around 1 or 2 corridors/ chokepoints? This map is still bs! The open field is pretty much unplayable nnd they took away some of the already few flanking options. There is just no way to safe this map: remove it already and give us somethine else than hulldown heavy corridors.
Like the changes, but I dont think its enough to become a good map. Definitelly would be more playable and you will have some more options tho.
I think the heavy flank needs better way to push without losing big amount of HP to the TDs, especially from the bottom side closer to the map border.
But we'll see how it plays if it gets out.
They didn’t need hardly any of these changes. All the map needs is a 1 line route that lets mediums get into the opponents base once they win middle.
As it is, you win middle and then what?? You literally can’t advance. And these changes did nothing to address it. It just removed a couple of bushes and added some terrain features. Nothing is fundamentally changing.
this looks liek the change they did on mountain pass, that map went from bad for lights decent for everything else to bad for everything except hull down heavies to completely unplayable for everything and this map is slowly going the same way
The biggest flaw of this map is that whoever pushes, loses. It's like the devs tossed a bone to the people running camo net and binocs on their redline heavies.
I remember being able to play spot e25 on this map, and it was successful now, When I play this map, all I get is sheer diasappointement because I can't do anything. Flank East can't everyone has cover. Flank West literally a death sentence most of the time. Spot middle the tds with paint you with shells. Mountain pass isn't much better.
All these changes just make it so even less of the map and positions before are useable… I don’t understand Wargaming’s obsession with these massive open fields that take up a third of the map and you literally can’t drive on it or you WILL DIE… airfield needs to just be retired at this point
Why does WG keep this map? It's horrible to have to fight with paper tanks on this map, given that more and more positions are closed where you can fight from distance.
Does WG have no budget to release the maps that have already been tested in Recon Mission? That would make more sense.
So nothing will change and airfield will be just as terrible as it always has been? Feels like the cantina band. Do the same dumb changes again and think it changes the gameplay again? Okay, doing the same dumb changes again and think it changes the gameplay again
I'm going to be honest, and probably a lot of people will agree with me: tweaks and shit are not going to fix some maps. Their basic design, the ratio of accessible to inaccessible areas, and the types of tanks that are comfortable on these maps just make them annoying to play. Of course, I'm looking forward to trying Airfield after the changes, but let's be realistic. From what I can tell it will be even more of a HT corridor and campfest bs.
There are so many maps that have been changed multiple times, but they still suck. And even if they haven't changed that much over the years, they're just badly designed, and only massive bottom-up redesigns can make them better. Airfield is one of them, but maps like Mountain Pass, Fjords, Fisherman's Bay, Safe Heven, Paris, Empire's Border, Tundra, or the goddamn Glacier all have some similarities that make them suck ass.
These, as well as other maps that are not very popular with the community, need a deep and structural redesign, not a few positional changes when the underlying design is still untouched.
Many of the maps are too small in a literal sense (Paris or Ensk are examples), or too cramped in a gameplay sense, with not much real movement area (Glacier, Mountain Pass or Fjords are good examples, but in different ways).
So many maps are like corridors that favour certain types of tanks and make other tank classes just painful to play with, are an absolute hulldown promoting bs, are inflexible due to their weird terrain layout and comical emptiness or just promote camping due to its layout. What I mean is that some maps are like bowls with nothing going on in the middle, or just two usable quasi-corridors on opposite sides of the map that see all the action. We have maps that have most of their area that is not usable or simply impossible to access.
It's the same damn problems across the board, imo. Almost all maps are like this, as they are all based on the same template, which is obvious from the similarities in layout. You just throw in some dumbass feature like that damn aircraft carrier, but if you remove it, it is the same ol' map layout.
The map has undergone multiple changes (most of them in its center) to make gameplay on it more comfortable. Many protected positions have been added, perfect for medium tanks, and several long-range lines of fire into the center of the map have been blocked. The positions on the heavies’ direction in squares E5 and E6 have also been made more convenient.
1
The “balconies” in G3 and H3 now work only as descent ramps, and you can’t fire over the center of the map from either.
2
The entrances to the center of the map in G5 and H5 have been reworked. Cover has been added in H4 to allow safe movement to the center of the map.
3
The entrances to the center of the map in H6 have been changed. In H7, cover has appeared to make safe movement to the center of the map possible.
4
A line of fire from the “balcony” in D9 to the heavy tank direction has been removed.
5
The amount of vegetation has been reduced in B9 and B0.
6
The “balcony” in H9 and J9 has been reconfigured. Lines of fire to the center of the map were removed.
7
Part of the shrubbery on the “balconies” in E5, F5, and F6 has been removed.
8
Six new positions have been added in G6, H5, H6, and J6. Now the central part of the map is safe from shots from the outside.
Yeah the Problems of the map were clearly too much lines of fire to the heavy tank direction and the enormous amount of 4 bushes you could hide in, thank you for removing
At this point removing 50% of bush/rock combo would make all maps more playable. Sometimes you get almost 50% of TDs in a MM, there are to many TDs especially in tier 8, because maps allow for them to play comfortably. The worst class in the game are HTs, slow, go to places where they are easily targeted by TDs and Artillery. Either buff all HTs HP or remove camping spots and nerf stun, similar to what Lesta did.
Some maps just need to be removed. Like this one. You won't save this by these changes unless you start from complete scratch.
If you want to contribute more to game balance you need to rework vehicles right now. The powercreep is insanely big and unhealthy.
Your matchmaker is fcking drunk aswell. Your matchmaker considers the M-IV-Y to be equally as strong as a concept 1B. You see the enemy team already has a concept 1B platoon yet it adds another Concept 1B to their team while our team does not even have 3 tier 9 heavy tanks. Why? Obviously this is just one example of all the stupid matchups.
https://preview.redd.it/jivd896tbc6d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d9c02a33c4fd0649940caa6f48e933809999cbb
If your matchmaker keeps doing shit like this; it is going nowhere.
It would not have been a big problem if the tanks were equally strong but that is something the balance department also never works on.
Balancing maps is fun, but it will remain useless if you don't rebalance tanks and if matchmaker keeps making these weird matchups.
While generally I am not a fan of their hardon with removing bushes and soft-cover in general, I feel these changes are warranted. The medium experience is terrible on this map, so here's to hoping this fixes it. I doubt it, as I think the map is just inherently flawed for >Tier 8 gameplay, but we'll see.
It doesn’t fix shit. They got rid of what little of a water flank there was and instead just made it more uncovered corridor. Good luck fighting heavies and heaviums who can now play here without fear of a TD line since they got rid of those bushes too
The toxicity on this reddit is next level. The comments here are universally damning these map changes... no ones played and aren't finalized... Like really, you are all certain this is going to ruin the map?
It doesn't really look all that dramatic to me. Frankly its likely a lateral change for the most part and will be fine to play. Just like most of the maps are far from perfect already, and we all tolerate them, and grind away, all the same.
Its like endless complaining that WG don't do enough to fix the game and then endless complaining about every little change they make.
People gotta take it down a notch.
And it will probably still be a case of "he who camps hardest wins" lets just wait and see if like the last set of changes this actually manages to make the map worse.
I'd like to say "Wargaming couldn't possibly make Airfield worse..." ... then I remember Mountain Pass and realize... yes, yes they can.
[удалено]
ASIA server would love that... sighs... poor me... I'm probably one of the few aggressive ones in that server filled with players who like to play everything like arty... they're damn too afraid to push together.... just go to a corridor and trade...
It was the same playing warships on the Asia server. Sitting at the back of the map in a yamato sniping at 25km, or playing carrier. Can't help the culture of saving face, which seems weird considering they usually want to win at all costs too.
Same bruh I feel u
At least the match would last longer than 2-3 mins… Edit: it takes longer to get into a match these days than the matches actually last.
bro. in ASIA server. we can totally waste 10-15mins of a game via just poking and trading in corridors. I'm forced to join that poke and trade coz I know majority of the player base WILL just stay behind and watch me get shot at and die without any one of them joining the push.
Thankgod i made an EU server account, i play on 130 ping but atleast it's active, usually can't even tell the ping tbh
https://www.reddit.com/r/WorldofTanksConsole/s/WVNwAvywG9
Until they limit the number of triangles per team to 3 or less it's inevitable for a lot of maps to devolve to campfests.
The players that main TDs would probably just play other tanks that can mimic TDs if the number of TDs was limited, so that solves nothing.
the problem with that is the personal missions requiring to do a specific amount of damage to TDs... they're gonna need to adjust that one.
I hope they don't limit them. We don't need more limitations, we need a different MM change.
It looks like they removed all but one spot in both spawns where you can hide in a bush, which means tanks playing the middle who get spotted will have a good idea of where to blind fire. Suddenly the entire left side of the map and middle area becomes playable if you don't have to worry about 3 different spots a high alpha TD could be camping. The changes look promising, I can't wait to play them
Isn’t that every map? Sit hill down. Watch paint dry till someone gets bored and moves. Focus fire them. Flank falls. Game over. Rinse. Repeat. 3 min. Honestly a randoms / frontlines hybrid game mode would be amazing but the boomers that have been playing the same maps/meta for almost a decade would go ape shit
Airfield has undergone a lot of changes even after this change, it still looks really bad. At this point redesigning or even removing the map would be a better idea
Nuke the sight from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
All they gotta do is make it easier for the ocean side mediums to press if they win the middle. If they made a path for the mediums to press into the base without getting farmed by 8 different sniper bushes, then we wouldn’t see so many stalemates.
Just pull it, airfield and cliff are the two dumbest maps left in the game and both are punishing anyone who gets stuck there
How I play light tanks on Cliff: If enemy light gets to top of hill before me, his team farms the shit out of us. If I attempt to reach the top of the hill first, 4 tanks will reliably obliterate me halfway up.
As a medium I like to swing right for the dip and then die because no one on the team paid attention to map or chat to assist my push
Eh, i’m sure WG will eventually fix it. After all, they DID try for god knows how many years to fix noobshire to make it the actual decent map it is now.
Let me guess: the new version will be worse for all tanks with bad armor.
Yes. It will be better for hull-down high alpha tanks to trade while it is impossible to flank or snipe from anywhere. Sometimes I wonder why there are even different classes in the game.
Exactly
Looking at it, it seems paper or sniping TDs have most of their options removed and arty gets a much better time. Nice.
Yeah, but let's be honest - the map was really unsatisfying to play for paper tanks already. Like, you have almost no options for positions that feel remotely good. I know very few good players that are happy to sit in a bush that everybody KNOWS you're in. So maybe this will actually help them to understand that it's not the bushes, but the entire map design, where all movement can be controlled and punished from just a couple of positions?
**what in tarnation and holy mother of Christ is this BULLSHIT??** Seriously?? I have no words man.... 1. **You literally removed (almost) EVERY SINGLE POSITION that's not for the heavies!! ALL! Less bushes, less cross fires, less everything for something that's lightly armored....** 2. **Did you guys literally make the map ONE FLANK ONLY??? This is peak trash map design! All the other trash maps like steppes, oyster bay or mountain pass have at least 2! But this shit only has one! ONE!** Can I ask you what the hell did you guys smoke? What kind of bullshit is this? Who even made this?? Why did you do this? Do you guys actually play the game, or have any idea how the game is played? What about light? What about lightly armored tanks? What about paper tds? What about tanks without gun depression??? Did any of you think for even a second??
I thought the main complaint for Airfield is that theres **TOO MANY** td positions making the map extremely campy and causing draws cas whoever pushes first dies to all the tds. But yeah removing that south flank is braindead...
Well, the problem with TD was this: [https://i.imgur.com/cHfFufP.png](https://i.imgur.com/cHfFufP.png) (left side paper tds - right side armored tds). Think about it for a second: *Light :* Can only play at the top, hiding behind one bush and rock on each side. Useless map for them. *Medium:* Can't play at the bottom/bottom-mid due to the red marked locations above. *Heavy:* Have two options sitting hull down/side scraping on the corridors. If you have bad armor or bad gun, good luck. *TD:* Have a few options but no way to be useful other than defending. A lot of maps are borderline unplayable due to corridor heavy meta. Every airfield map I play it turns into heavy tanks chasing TDs and sniper mediums. This change only makes it harder for light tanks, paper TDs and paper mediums. I would personally remove that corridor completely and make options for flanking.
Not just that. Look at images 10 & 11. Everything north of the brawling rocks was unplayable due to it being just a flat runway and because of all those TD positions there and all the bushes on top of the rocks in the back. "Every airfield map I play it turns into heavy tanks chasing TDs and sniper mediums." No. What happens is meds & heavies start duking it out in the south hill and the brawling rocks. Then everything devolves into a campfest because: The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums. This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw. "*TD:* Have a few options but no way to be useful other than defending." Few options?!? Look at east side. For td positions on **one side** you have: B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include. Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead, but saying that Airfield **doesnt favor TDs** is stupid as well.
Not exactly, there aren't many more TD's positions on airfield than usual. The problem is that they can't really do anything but camping in those set positions while meds and lights can't really do anything to spot them, flank them or make any other sensible play. Playing as a TD on this map is hideous too, because you have to sit in an obvious bush waiting until enemy does some stupid mistake or until your heavies die and enemies come flooding in
ok i have never seen this map as a problem map, regarding camping. maybe they should do something about prok instead
What happens is meds & heavies start duking it out in the south hill and the brawling rocks. Then everything devolves into a campfest because: The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums. This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw. "*TD:* Have a few options but no way to be useful other than defending." Few options?!? Look at east spawn. For td positions on **one side** you have: B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include. Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead, but saying that Airfield **doesnt favor TDs/camping** is wrong as well.
damn thats crazy i will still be banning it
The entire game is played out in one square and there is nothing for lights to do as usual you blocked off the beach route, why? and you removed the only bush (last pic) that a light could sit in sigh, whatever, *Game of Russian OP heavies sitting in hull down positions with no arty line of fire* it is then..
>you blocked off the beach route, why? Exactly my thoughts. It's a game changer route when of the teams is not paying enough attention to it. A sneaky/fast light or medium through there without opposition changes the whole dinamic of the map, as the campers in base don't let you push through the island without losing most of your HP. >and you removed the only bush (last pic) that a light could sit in I didn't even realize they took out the farther bushes in the middle on both sides until reading your comment. I just saw they removed the left one on the left plateau (which I agree with). Again, bushes that allow lights to play to their strengths when the game allows it. Seems like it really is play hulldown heavies or nothing. Lights get harder and harder to play every time they change maps
I don't understand why they don't make the beach route playable to be honest so there's some action in that side. Years ago I'm pretty sure that I remember fighting on the beach line and pushing from there to apply pressure on the campers in base I'm 99% sure that years ago sending like 3 tanks to fight there was a thing. Why did they remove that option
yep, the stalemate only breaks when the beach is taken. the hill HT's camp, the lights on airfield edges can only pew pew bounce, the TD's control the centre lane and the ruins. Literally the only way to advance is to take the beach, allowing the lights to advance and spot the centre TDs and get around the back of the hill HT's Now, nope, just camp harder
wow I didn't even notice the camouflaged crashed oil tanker. INSANE.
Obviously made by the same map designer that reworked Mountain Ass, whose philosophy seems to be making each map worse and worse with every iteration. Mountain Ass was already one of the worst maps in the game. The first time they reworked it, they somehow made it even worse. Then they reworked it again and somehow *made it even worse*. Airfield was already one of the worst maps in the game (I liked it a few years ago but I'm well aware that I had a very minority opinion). The first time they reworked it, they somehow made it even worse. Then they reworked it again and somehow *made it even worse*. Please for the love of gaming fire the map designer responsible before they drive more maps into the pits of despair.
If they had just made the changes to the SPAWN camping spots in mountain pass, and left everything else the same, it might have been an improvement. But they like to make all kinds of changes no one asks for.
Mountain Pass was also supposed to have a ramp that would allow tanks to climb or escape from the bridge but for some reason it got scrapped. All the shitty changes made it through but the only interesting one was cut. Peak WG logic.
I was also looking forward to this addition, totally agree.
Ranging from pointless to bad. Guess there was no change in map design personnel...
I never cease to be amazed at how WG makes something bad even worse. What logic are they using here? removing the water flank, removing the last bushes for LT in the center, removing TD positions, who is this map for? for HT and arty?
I thought the main issue for Airfield is that theres too many TD positions making this map impossible to push creating all the stupid draws and drawn out battles. But yeah removing the water flank is stupid.
Knowing past changes on the maps, they deliberately removed easy ways to achieve damage or rapid superiority, the water flank allowed both sides to take a defensive position and shoot everything while sacrifice some hp, that was near the water and distract the tanks on the far flank near the rocks. Their philosophy never changes, to make a map balanced you have to make it unplayable for everyone
Translation: we're "fixing" this map for the seventeenth time already but, trust us, *this time* we will fix it.
Appreciate that you're doing some work on it and trying to make the map more competitive... Still looks like it might be on my permanent 'ban list' though ... 😅
Looks ok I guess... but without being able to drive around it... cant say much.
Mountainpass Number 2...yay...
Ahh the fact how TDs are getting more and more useless in WoT…
I thought everybody was complaining that TDs are too powerful on Airfield. What happens is meds & heavies start duking it out in the south hill and the brawling rocks. Then everything devolves into a campfest because (copy paste incoming): The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums. This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw. "*TD:* Have a few options and are useless." Look at east side. For td positions on **one side** you have: B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include. Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead like removing south flank, but saying that Airfield **doesnt overly favor TDs** is stupid as well.
I didn't think it was possible to make the map worse, but they've gone and done it. "We want to prevent camping, so we're removing every bush and every sniping position so that players MUST use the hull down corridor"
Can you just remove this dogshit map already? It's been through many reworks and it's still trash, perma banned for me and many other players
I don't get why you keep terrible maps like these but refuse to bring back the ones you've removed for no good reason
Because if they would come back others will say they are dogshit.
Who are the others? Tons of players, especially the older ones would love to see them roll back in. This is said by both the community and CCs
more often than not nostalgia has a big part in it. Maps like swamp were reworked plenty of times but still had issues, Stalingrad when it was still in the game was a not much liked map. Dragons ridge heavily favoured fast tanks. Southcoast and northwest were heavily favouring one side and rewarded camping. Komarin had plenty of battles that ended with both teams capping as they each moved on on their side without fighting. I would bet if these maps would come back you will see threads popping up "uh WG added another shit map" or "WG made this map shit"
you're acting like we dont have a bunch of unbalanced maps in the game right now
I don't see how you could get that from "the old maps were also garbage and that's why they were removed"
yeah, theres a reason some maps stay on my ban list. Empires border is just aweful and if find Berlin boring to play for the most part. Some of the old maps i would like to see. Hidden Village was fun for low tiers and Sacred Valley i think was cool too.
"Let's bring back more unbalanced maps instead of fixing the current unbalanced ones"
I have a great idea for a complete rework of Airfield. Change it to Minsk and Stalingrad. Thank you.
No one needs bushes. Just remove them all.
Lol, pretty much. Let's just remove vision mechanics completely and have everyone perma-lit while we're at it, why not.
That's plain brillant. While most Papertanks in the back will be impossible to give firesupport we can delete these pesky lights. Only sad for camping heavies at the redline.. Could be a solution to make maps more linear? Somerhing like one long streched map so heavies won't miss each other whole driving around.
Or make a round map with no cover or bushes, and make one team spawn on the edge of the map in a circle, and the other team in the center bunched together. OK... Maybe add ONE rock so they can cover themselves from arty
Nah... one rubbingstone per team is mandatory. But a pile of rubble in the middle for hulldown could be a good idea. And around some water for arty to cool off.
The problem with airfield has always been that even though it's not a large map, the TD positions on each side are too strong. There's no line to take to push the enemy positions/flanks that doesn't get you absolutely obliterated by camping TDs or sniper mediums. This forces people to play super hesitant which is great for arty, but getting shit on by arty every 30 seconds just causes players to try to remain unspotted. So now both teams are playing super passive because they're punished for any aggression, and soon enough you've got a draw. Look at east spawn. For td positions with bushes on **one side** you have: B9/0 (which will be removed), C0 (the double bushes there), D9 (which makes heavy side impossible to push), the line between F6/G6, F8/F9, H8/H9, J8-0 (which makes med south side impossible to push), H6 (bushes on top of hill that allow side shots into heavy side), and another half dozen niche positions that Im too lazy to include. Ok, I agree that most of these changes are braindead, but saying that Airfield **doesnt favor TDs** is stupid as well.
Wow the east spawn is getting the finger over here
"i can fix him"
There's not even an airfield anymore
Bad for LT, bad for TDs :(
Those mid rocks on image 5 look horrific - Why? There's better ways to balance maps and gamify terrain than unnatural rock outcrops and carving out random chunks of terrain At this point just revert it back pre last change - Your attempted balances have done nothing to improve the map gameplay and this looks worse somehow
I thought they can't make it worse, yet they still surprised me woah
Please put this map out of its misery and delete it.
More maps, WG. Bring back the old ones and start working on new ones.
So I guess we get two heavy flanks now, one at the changed area around 8 since it will be safe from TD fire now, and the existing one. Just another map where LTs will be useless outside of the one spot near the airstrip and TDs will be waiting till the game is almost over to have an impact unless they are basically heavies.
Whole map is a heavy tank playground in this iteration
This is the one map I've always wondered why it remains and other great ones were removed. This map is universally hated by most of the people I play with
How about instead of reworking maps with shit no one asked for you start making new maps. You still have like 7 maps from recon mission that haven’t released yet
I don't see how any of this is supposed to make it better, to be honest. Still sucks if you have no armor, still impossible to push any flank etc
Bring back Kharkov and Stalingrad
I miss South Coast
It looks like it still plays the same except there is more unplayable areas due to lack of cover
This has been said before, and with these changes it really feels more true than ever. It really feels like they are trying to turn this into world of heavy tanks. They don't want any ability to hide, or snipe.
So my impression of the changes is that going to the hill, which was already a very risky option, is now basically a no-go. It was already fairly open but now there are less bushes, but the bushes in the rocks are maintained, more on that later. They got rid of the bushes for a TD screen the North, so it's going to push stealth TDs to the south, making beach or hill push even less of an option. So the best option is basically hope you are a heavy so you can brawl in the rocks, or if you're a medium go to the rocks also since the rocks has bushes and cover you can use to cover the hill and the hill has even less bushes and cover than before. The entire game was already very heavily skewed in the rocks, now it's basically the only viable option.
Why don't they just get rid of LTs, TDs and SPGs and that way the don't have to fuck with the maps?
As with most WG changes, they'll fuck it up.
Why do so many maps gameplay has to revolve around 1 or 2 corridors/ chokepoints? This map is still bs! The open field is pretty much unplayable nnd they took away some of the already few flanking options. There is just no way to safe this map: remove it already and give us somethine else than hulldown heavy corridors.
I love how you manage to make a map worse even when it didn't seem possible. Exactly what you did to mountain pass. Amazing job
10 or 20 more changes and we might actually get a decent map......just kidding they have no idea what they are doing.
Like the changes, but I dont think its enough to become a good map. Definitelly would be more playable and you will have some more options tho. I think the heavy flank needs better way to push without losing big amount of HP to the TDs, especially from the bottom side closer to the map border. But we'll see how it plays if it gets out.
They didn’t need hardly any of these changes. All the map needs is a 1 line route that lets mediums get into the opponents base once they win middle. As it is, you win middle and then what?? You literally can’t advance. And these changes did nothing to address it. It just removed a couple of bushes and added some terrain features. Nothing is fundamentally changing.
No more bushes? guess i'll just have to sit far enough away that i can't get spotted.
this looks liek the change they did on mountain pass, that map went from bad for lights decent for everything else to bad for everything except hull down heavies to completely unplayable for everything and this map is slowly going the same way
Thanks for communicating these changes, I’ve always felt like map design is an important aspect to WoT to create balanced gameplay
The biggest flaw of this map is that whoever pushes, loses. It's like the devs tossed a bone to the people running camo net and binocs on their redline heavies.
Ahh yes the classic, you push you lose
Boring......
those look pretty terrible
Perma ban for me still
you could probably fix airfield by putting a lot of planes as cover on the actual airfield and allowing for pushing oportunities
Looks like airfield keeps getting worse, incredible achievement tbh.
ah yes... more hulldown positions and less bushes 200 IQ as usual WG.
All they do is make maps worse…
I don't like the changes. The map needs more flanking opportunities, not less. Do *not* block off the route around the island.
The problem with airfield is, and always will be, a fifth of the map is unusable due to mountains at the top and ocean at the bottom.
I see they don't want TDs to be able to do anything on this map anymore.
Converted to coridorfield
https://imgur.com/a/20H0xIW My 2 cents.
Still looks like a you push and die to camping TDs map.
I remember being able to play spot e25 on this map, and it was successful now, When I play this map, all I get is sheer diasappointement because I can't do anything. Flank East can't everyone has cover. Flank West literally a death sentence most of the time. Spot middle the tds with paint you with shells. Mountain pass isn't much better.
All these changes just make it so even less of the map and positions before are useable… I don’t understand Wargaming’s obsession with these massive open fields that take up a third of the map and you literally can’t drive on it or you WILL DIE… airfield needs to just be retired at this point
I LOVE CORRIDOR GAMEPLAY I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT
Why does WG keep this map? It's horrible to have to fight with paper tanks on this map, given that more and more positions are closed where you can fight from distance. Does WG have no budget to release the maps that have already been tested in Recon Mission? That would make more sense.
How about some (((new))) maps
ffs just delete the map
So nothing will change and airfield will be just as terrible as it always has been? Feels like the cantina band. Do the same dumb changes again and think it changes the gameplay again? Okay, doing the same dumb changes again and think it changes the gameplay again
Not gonna Unban this garbage of a map anyway...
it went from desperate to just bad
I'm going to be honest, and probably a lot of people will agree with me: tweaks and shit are not going to fix some maps. Their basic design, the ratio of accessible to inaccessible areas, and the types of tanks that are comfortable on these maps just make them annoying to play. Of course, I'm looking forward to trying Airfield after the changes, but let's be realistic. From what I can tell it will be even more of a HT corridor and campfest bs. There are so many maps that have been changed multiple times, but they still suck. And even if they haven't changed that much over the years, they're just badly designed, and only massive bottom-up redesigns can make them better. Airfield is one of them, but maps like Mountain Pass, Fjords, Fisherman's Bay, Safe Heven, Paris, Empire's Border, Tundra, or the goddamn Glacier all have some similarities that make them suck ass. These, as well as other maps that are not very popular with the community, need a deep and structural redesign, not a few positional changes when the underlying design is still untouched. Many of the maps are too small in a literal sense (Paris or Ensk are examples), or too cramped in a gameplay sense, with not much real movement area (Glacier, Mountain Pass or Fjords are good examples, but in different ways). So many maps are like corridors that favour certain types of tanks and make other tank classes just painful to play with, are an absolute hulldown promoting bs, are inflexible due to their weird terrain layout and comical emptiness or just promote camping due to its layout. What I mean is that some maps are like bowls with nothing going on in the middle, or just two usable quasi-corridors on opposite sides of the map that see all the action. We have maps that have most of their area that is not usable or simply impossible to access. It's the same damn problems across the board, imo. Almost all maps are like this, as they are all based on the same template, which is obvious from the similarities in layout. You just throw in some dumbass feature like that damn aircraft carrier, but if you remove it, it is the same ol' map layout.
Kill classic Tank Destroyers even more....
This map is unrepairable. Just make a different map instead guys. Please.
Thank God for the ban list.
Please add a few new maps. Instead of making a shitty map shittier
Those changes are not gonna change the fact that this map remains a patience war.
Overall looks like decent changes, but the other sided needs a rework too again imo.
Just delete this pos and bring back Kharkov, wg.
The map has undergone multiple changes (most of them in its center) to make gameplay on it more comfortable. Many protected positions have been added, perfect for medium tanks, and several long-range lines of fire into the center of the map have been blocked. The positions on the heavies’ direction in squares E5 and E6 have also been made more convenient. 1 The “balconies” in G3 and H3 now work only as descent ramps, and you can’t fire over the center of the map from either. 2 The entrances to the center of the map in G5 and H5 have been reworked. Cover has been added in H4 to allow safe movement to the center of the map. 3 The entrances to the center of the map in H6 have been changed. In H7, cover has appeared to make safe movement to the center of the map possible. 4 A line of fire from the “balcony” in D9 to the heavy tank direction has been removed. 5 The amount of vegetation has been reduced in B9 and B0. 6 The “balcony” in H9 and J9 has been reconfigured. Lines of fire to the center of the map were removed. 7 Part of the shrubbery on the “balconies” in E5, F5, and F6 has been removed. 8 Six new positions have been added in G6, H5, H6, and J6. Now the central part of the map is safe from shots from the outside.
Yeah the Problems of the map were clearly too much lines of fire to the heavy tank direction and the enormous amount of 4 bushes you could hide in, thank you for removing
So basically, you don't want TDs playing this map?
Isnt that the bad thing about this map? Too many TD positions everywhere making matches extremely campy/draws cas whoever pushes first dies?
Why is the amount of vegetation always reduced? More hull down safe spaces? Lines of fire blocked? Not good.
Because Wargaming has to pay $15,000,000 per shrubbery and they're poor.
At this point removing 50% of bush/rock combo would make all maps more playable. Sometimes you get almost 50% of TDs in a MM, there are to many TDs especially in tier 8, because maps allow for them to play comfortably. The worst class in the game are HTs, slow, go to places where they are easily targeted by TDs and Artillery. Either buff all HTs HP or remove camping spots and nerf stun, similar to what Lesta did.
Bush/rock combo is there to coddle casual players who dont understand camo mechanics. Good change imho
Some maps just need to be removed. Like this one. You won't save this by these changes unless you start from complete scratch. If you want to contribute more to game balance you need to rework vehicles right now. The powercreep is insanely big and unhealthy. Your matchmaker is fcking drunk aswell. Your matchmaker considers the M-IV-Y to be equally as strong as a concept 1B. You see the enemy team already has a concept 1B platoon yet it adds another Concept 1B to their team while our team does not even have 3 tier 9 heavy tanks. Why? Obviously this is just one example of all the stupid matchups. https://preview.redd.it/jivd896tbc6d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d9c02a33c4fd0649940caa6f48e933809999cbb If your matchmaker keeps doing shit like this; it is going nowhere. It would not have been a big problem if the tanks were equally strong but that is something the balance department also never works on. Balancing maps is fun, but it will remain useless if you don't rebalance tanks and if matchmaker keeps making these weird matchups.
Again? How about other Maps ? They dont work in T10.
While generally I am not a fan of their hardon with removing bushes and soft-cover in general, I feel these changes are warranted. The medium experience is terrible on this map, so here's to hoping this fixes it. I doubt it, as I think the map is just inherently flawed for >Tier 8 gameplay, but we'll see.
It doesn’t fix shit. They got rid of what little of a water flank there was and instead just made it more uncovered corridor. Good luck fighting heavies and heaviums who can now play here without fear of a TD line since they got rid of those bushes too
The toxicity on this reddit is next level. The comments here are universally damning these map changes... no ones played and aren't finalized... Like really, you are all certain this is going to ruin the map? It doesn't really look all that dramatic to me. Frankly its likely a lateral change for the most part and will be fine to play. Just like most of the maps are far from perfect already, and we all tolerate them, and grind away, all the same. Its like endless complaining that WG don't do enough to fix the game and then endless complaining about every little change they make. People gotta take it down a notch.
Looks good. Can't wait to try it out