I never had any problem with them back in 2017, until I stopped playing in summer 2018 due to shift of interest and after all this time I came back to try the Russian heavy tier and the panther. And occasionally I play my 45.03, but I cannot play this tank anymore, I always get pinned down by three artillery pieces constantly peppering me, rendering me unable to advance. This has nothing to do with me not moving enough, I know when to move and when to stay in cover, But I just cannot have fun anymore and I always know what will happen, for example this game, I get spotted while sidescraping fighting against the other teams heavies and I am using my tanks geometry to its advantage, I am bouncing shells fired by those who do not take time to aim at my weakspot, the front of the turret which I only expose when firing. The moment I leave my cover knowing that the enemy is too weak to repel my attack, BOOM, tracked, stunned, BOOM, down to 40% health, BOOM, down to 10-15% health. Knowing I have to retreat, I try to reach cover, almost impossible due to my tracks being damaged just like my engine, driver etc, knowing I am dead, I still try to get to cover and stay shooting back at the enemy tanks, when I almost reached the cover I get hit again, unable to use my small repair kit (yes, I use normal consumables because I think the premium are not 100% fair compared to other players, I also only use 1 premium shell per 8 normal shells and I rarely use them since the normal 88 is strong enough) and this is where I died.
This got me thinking, why are SPGs in the game? I found my answer on a forum, "to prevent tanks from camping", but my experience tells me different, as a heavy tank I cannot leave the safety of my house/rock, if I do so, I immediately get blasted away by three self-propelled guns.
TL;DR, SPGs force me to camp behind buildings or even away from the enemy, in a bush, even when my team wants to push, we cannot, causing the game to stall in boring shot trades until one team just gives up and charges/leaves the game or if one team ends up with 1/2 tanks that have really low HP and the enemy arty that just drowns themselves commit seppuku. IMO SPGs do the complete opposite of what they are supposed to do, they promote camping instead of discouraging it.
