4Game

So on the RU server, it looks like they are introducing Flamethrowers as low profile, armoured things like a T95 but with a Flamethrower that has a fair range, does stunning and seeps away at the enemies HP. This is a cool idea, but I reckon they’d be a one trick pony and tedious to play after a while when the excitement of having a flame thrower wears off. I also feel like they’d be struggle to find real world tanks that fit this description. Maybe the Stug III Flam?

Instead to make the experience more enjoyable, Wargaming could do several things. First suggestion would be to have Flamethrowers as a ‘secondary armament’ So a Flamethrower that can be used for maybe 4/5 times a battle like a rocket booster but also the tank plays like any conventional tank would with a gun.. The way this would be balanced is that the gun would be underwhelming and low calibre for its tier, to force the player to make the best use of the Flamethrower. The flamethrower mechanic would be the same, just be limited perhaps reflecting the fuel you have on board.

To give a real world example of this, something like the KV-8 which was a KV-1s with a Flame Thrower attached, however equipped a smaller 45mm gun disguised as a 76mm which would in game balance it against existing tier 5 heavies. This way you could have vehicles such as the TO-34-85, HT-134 Chemical tank, TO-55, TO-62, all perhaps featuring the stock guns of their conventional counterparts. They could also have slight nerfs to their mobility and traverse speeds taking into account the additional weight of carrying a flamethrower, as well as the increased likelihood of being set on fire. (First tank you might consider taking two fire extinguishers??) I reckon with this concept you could easily have a line of Russian and US flamethrower tanks, with a Brit or German premium chucked in for good measure.

Second suggestion, keep Flamethrowers as the primary armament as they are now, but incorporate a secondary armament using the upcoming low calibre gun concept that is coming to light tanks. The flame thrower player would have to think about the cool down mechanic of the low calibre gun and the fuel mechanic of the flamethrower, deciding whether to combine both for deadly effect or to save the flamethrower for frontal engagements and use the low calibre machine gun on the enemies side or rear. I feel like this would give the player a bit more to think about when playing the class and it could open the door for more varied and interesting flamethrower tanks than the current proposal.

I think both the suggestions would work better with the MM, because rather than having a new class or having flame throwers that are matched with SPG’s, you would have mediums with flamethrowers or heavies with flamethrowers instead. Rather like having Chinese heavies with rocket boosters instead of being their own class.

If you got this far thanks for reading.

TLDR: Current system one trick pony, Flamethrowers with machine guns or stock guns instead?