Yesterday something possessed me and on a whim I bought the IS-7, slapped a good crew (close to their fourth skill) on it, set it up and had about eleven matches. I only won three, MM clearly did not like me and I made some very clumsy mistakes, but overall I am impressed that a tank this old still manages to hold its own in the 2020 arena with so many controversial to downright broken tanks infesting the battlefield (despite the many defeats, I lost very few credits which in itself is an achievement considering how bad the game economy is).
That said, it was the quality of gameplay that left a very sour taste in my mouth.
The increased armor and healthpool is more or less irrelevant in the face of Tier 10 artillery (of which there's 3 per side in almost every match), getting pegged for 400-500+ damage plus 20+ seconds stun and at least one module broken and/or one crewman dead is normal if they click you.
Then there's the actual gameplay, which is, well, pathetic. Light tanks and medium tanks often fire nothing but premium ammo and there are few attempts at flanking (putting aside bad map designs, even when possible they just stare you down and pen center mass with HEAT). Heavy tanks and tank destroyers also often load premium or, in case of big caliber guns, go for HE which is the same as facing a Tier 8 artillery minus the stun – rolls vary from 100something to 300+ damage that cannot be mitigated in any way.
And let's not forget the very balanced "reward" premiums such as Object 279e and Chieftain, and the fact that sometimes their owners bought the tanks on eBay or other online services (and account sharing should result in a perma ban but WG apparently does not care).
This doesn't want to be a rant, things will not change just because someone posted on a subreddit. I just wanted to express my frustration and disappointment, especially considering that WG is doing everything they can to make people play Tier 10 more and more – clan war? requires Tier 10; ranked? requires Tier 10; farming bonds? requires Tier 10.
I can only prepare my ass for when daily missions will be made "harder but better", I expect the "for Tier 10 tanks only" requirement to pop up eventually.
