After investing more than 2000 hours into this game, I can confidently state that it's not worth approaching it seriously as a newcomer. Why, you may ask? Well, the progression, reward, and repair systems become incredibly challenging after reaching a certain rank with vehicles. Roughly 2-3 years ago, when I dedicated myself to War Thunder, it took me around 1000 hours solely to grind through all the ground vehicles (with some low-tier airplanes as well). I didn't have a premium account or premium vehicles at that time, and even now, with a premium account, the situation remains frustrating.

To clarify, it's disheartening that you can't earn enough Silver Lions (the in-game currency) to break even with the repair costs of "top-tier" vehicles unless you consistently perform exceptionally well in every match. Furthermore, aside from these issues, there's an overabundance of premium vehicles and apparent biases that impact gameplay. Gaijin, the game's developer, encourages new players to learn the in-game mechanics and understand how everything works before progressing further. However, they paradoxically entice these new players to purchase premium vehicles, some of which are top-tier and cost around $40-70. It's a contradictory approach that undermines the learning process. On one hand, they recommend learning the game first, but on the other hand, they tempt players with the best and most powerful vehicles right from the start. Essentially, they suggest, "Trust us, this vehicle is outstanding. Buy it for $60-70, but make sure to learn the game first." This practice creates an unbalanced playing field and disrupts matches. The prevalence of premium spams and players leaving after a single death, due to acquiring a top-tier vehicle, greatly hampers the experience for those players who have invested significant time and effort into progressing their vehicle line-up. And even for these dedicated players, there's no incentive to stay in a match where the majority of their team has already left, considering the irrational repair costs and flawed "reward" system.

I do acknowledge that the company needs to generate revenue to sustain the game. Without income, the company would face closure, and the game would cease to exist. However, the manner in which they pursue monetization is severely hypocritical. Additionally, when it comes to addressing problems, suggesting improvements, or sharing opinions about the game, Gaijin directs players to use their forum. Regrettably, the forum exhibits heavy censorship, akin to a communistic country suppressing free speech. They only want to hear what aligns with their views. Although Gaijin occasionally listens to the community, it has become increasingly rare, as they seem to have adopted an "we don't take any nonsense" ideology when confronted with issues. Essentially, they claim to value community feedback and promise prompt changes, but in reality, they rarely revert changes made without community input. Some changes are put up for vote, but the options provided often result in a lose-lose situation. Ultimately, Gaijin seems to hold the belief that the community is ignorant, incessantly complaining, immature, and nonsensical. Consequently, they attempt to gaslight us into accepting their idea of what a fair free-to-play game should be.

After investing more than 2000 hours into this game, I can confidently state that it's not worth approaching it seriously as a newcomer. Why, you may ask? Well, the progression, reward, and repair systems become incredibly challenging after reaching a certain rank with vehicles. Roughly 2-3 years ago, when I dedicated myself to War Thunder, it took me around 1000 hours solely to grind through all the ground vehicles (with some low-tier airplanes as well). I didn't have a premium account or premium vehicles at that time, and even now, with a premium account, the situation remains frustrating. To clarify, it's disheartening that you can't earn enough Silver Lions (the in-game currency) to break even with the repair costs of "top-tier" vehicles unless you consistently perform exceptionally well in every match. Furthermore, aside from these issues, there's an overabundance of premium vehicles and apparent biases that impact gameplay. Gaijin, the game's developer, encourages new players to learn the in-game mechanics and understand how everything works before progressing further. However, they paradoxically entice these new players to purchase premium vehicles, some of which are top-tier and cost around $40-70. It's a contradictory approach that undermines the learning process. On one hand, they recommend learning the game first, but on the other hand, they tempt players with the best and most powerful vehicles right from the start. Essentially, they suggest, "Trust us, this vehicle is outstanding. Buy it for $60-70, but make sure to learn the game first." This practice creates an unbalanced playing field and disrupts matches. The prevalence of premium spams and players leaving after a single death, due to acquiring a top-tier vehicle, greatly hampers the experience for those players who have invested significant time and effort into progressing their vehicle line-up. And even for these dedicated players, there's no incentive to stay in a match where the majority of their team has already left, considering the irrational repair costs and flawed "reward" system. I do acknowledge that the company needs to generate revenue to sustain the game. Without income, the company would face closure, and the game would cease to exist. However, the manner in which they pursue monetization is severely hypocritical. Additionally, when it comes to addressing problems, suggesting improvements, or sharing opinions about the game, Gaijin directs players to use their forum. Regrettably, the forum exhibits heavy censorship, akin to a communistic country suppressing free speech. They only want to hear what aligns with their views. Although Gaijin occasionally listens to the community, it has become increasingly rare, as they seem to have adopted an "we don't take any nonsense" ideology when confronted with issues. Essentially, they claim to value community feedback and promise prompt changes, but in reality, they rarely revert changes made without community input. Some changes are put up for vote, but the options provided often result in a lose-lose situation. Ultimately, Gaijin seems to hold the belief that the community is ignorant, incessantly complaining, immature, and nonsensical. Consequently, they attempt to gaslight us into accepting their idea of what a fair free-to-play game should be.