And before anyone jumps down my throat sprouting "but 279(e)" let me explain myself (and note the ellipses).
Gold ammo as it is in the game right now is a problem. Since I've started playing in closed beta gold ammo has caused the same problem: how can a tank be balanced when firing standard and then when firing gold? How can a tank like the object 416 be balanced with both , and ? Simple: it can't. Gold ammo has long introduced a level of inherent unbalance in the game. The changes on the test server introduced a realistic downside that was formerly absent (though ultimately I think reducing gold damage would have kept the numbers more familiar to everyone). With them, besides having another parameter to balance the gold shell with, there was now a player choice in which is a better shell to be using.
So the standard and gold ammo changes on the sandbox were good for the game…
But just like elsewhere, fixing one problem often is the cause of another and its there the bulk of the problems arise. Absence of weak-spots, overpowered and overarmoured tanks, playing in the bottom tier of a match, playing with stock or near-stock modules, even map design, and so on and so for. To a limited degree (very much in some cases) gold rounds help fix these imbalances or problems, but they are just as responsible for some of the problems to begin with. Wargamming needs to balance gold rounds in order to better fix some of these problems. However, if they do not try to fix those problems once balancing gold rounds, things are going to get worse before they get better. It's not an easy fix, but I think it would move the game forward a lot if they made the changes and were proactive with some of the concerns. As an example, would people find the changes so inoffensive if tanks such as the 279(e) received nerfs, a couple of tanks which so heavily rely on their gold rounds saw marginal buffs, and matchmaker changed +1/-1 instead of the +2/-2 it is now? In the long run the ammo changes are going to beneficial to the game, but critically its the short term that's the serious concern.
