This adjustment was nothing. They come with a battery, the battery lasts for ages and can be manipulated to switch on and off thermal mode quickly for basically no drain, they are too cheap and so are the batteries.

These will be a massive problem again, mark my words. Expect to be spotted all the time in a week (or sooner)...

I believe in their current state the price needs a truly massive increase to balance them, I don't think they should be under $40k

How have you guys been finding flying in season 2?

The devs mentionned banning people and fixing a "logistics exploit" on day1 of wipe, but you can still do the driving backwards thing

Sooo, is it treated like tech akin to hammer swing cancelling, can we do it and not get peaced out?

TL;DR: The AH-6M caught strays because of the AH-6R and Havoc’s balance problems, despite already being difficult to break even with in Season 1. Season 2 has gutted its effectiveness through a 75% reduction in .308 FMJ damage instead of the intended 25%, a stealth nerf 50% health reduction, stealth-nerfed yaw handling, and a persistent windscreen dirt effect that severely obstructs visibility, especially in rain. Meanwhile, operating costs are now even higher due to the increased base cost, with additional flares costing $750 each and pilots receiving reduced income from kills. The AH-6M relies on accurate minigun tracking and pilot skill, unlike the splash-damage-heavy AH-6R or heavily armoured Havoc. Revert the excessive AH-6M nerfs, keep the 12k purchase price if necessary, and balance the AH-6R and Havoc separately rather than punishing every helicopter for their shortcomings. Bulkhead should also address undocumented stealth changes, which undermine community trust and leave players guessing about what has actually changed.

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Yes, this is a very long post, that’s because I wanted to provide an in-depth analysis of the AH-6M’s current state and explain all the changes that have affected it in Season 2. If you’re interested in the minigun heli, its balance, or understanding why so many pilots are frustrated with the current state of the vehicle, this post is for you.

First of all, I don’t believe every helicopter should be buffed indiscriminately, and I don’t think helicopters should be immune to counterplay. I’m trying to be objective here, and I think the AH-6M is a perfect example of how a balanced vehicle can be ruined by excessive nerfs.

Honestly, it feels like the AH-6M caught strays and got nerfed as a by-product of the AH-6R and Havoc being so hated by the community, and for fairly good reasons considering how unbalanced they are. Instead of addressing the specific problems with those two helicopters, it feels like the AH-6M got dragged down with them. The frustrating part is that the AH-6M was already difficult to break even with in Season 1, let alone consistently turn a profit. It was arguably the most skill-dependent helicopter in the game, relying on accurate minigun tracking rather than splash damage, and it was already punished heavily by operating costs. Now, after a whole series of additional nerfs, it’s significantly less effective and even more expensive to operate. I don’t see how gutting the AH-6M solves the balance problems caused by the AH-6R and Havoc. Those helicopters need to be balanced on their own merits, rather than having the AH-6M caught in the crossfire.

The Season 2 changes to the AH-6M have gone way too far. Its damage has been gutted, its health has been stealth nerfed and cut in half, its handling has been stealth nerfed, and its visibility has been made significantly worse. All of this comes alongside increased operating costs and an economy that already makes it difficult for helicopter pilots to turn a profit.

I believe these changes should be reverted, with the possible exception of the purchase price, which could remain at 12k rather than returning to 6k.

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Let me explain why.

1. The .308 damage nerf is far more severe than intended

The .308 damage nerf was supposed to be 25%. However, testing shows that the AH-6M has effectively received a 75% damage reduction to its FMJ ammunition compared with its previous performance.

To put that into perspective, a 25% reduction means retaining 75% of your original damage. A 75% reduction means retaining just 25%.

That is three times the intended damage reduction. The AH-6M is left dealing only one-third of the damage it should have after a 25% nerf.

The attached damage comparison also illustrates how weak the helicopter’s .308 has become compared with regular infantry weapons using the same calibre.

These are the damage figures from the testing chart, using FMJ ammunition and upper-chest hits.

The AH-6M’s .308 deals significantly less damage than other weapons using the same calibre. Against T4 armour, it deals just 11.18 damage per upper-chest hit. For comparison, the FAL/EVO deals 13.16 damage, or 17.7% more, while the BMR deals 18.02 damage, a staggering 61.2% more damage per hit than the AH-6M.

The discrepancy is even more apparent against unarmoured targets: the BMR deals 45.04 damage compared to the AH-6M’s 27.91, meaning the BMR deals approximately 61.4% more damage per shot.

Think about that for a moment. Two weapons firing the same calibre ammunition can deal substantially more damage per hit than the helicopter’s miniguns, despite the helicopter requiring the pilot to track moving targets from an aircraft while managing momentum, positioning, incoming fire etc.

Meanwhile, the infantry player can shoot back at you, and you’re an exposed target in the sky.

This is supposed to be the helicopter whose effectiveness comes from the pilot’s ability to aim and track targets with the miniguns. If you successfully line up a target and maintain accurate fire, there should be a meaningful reward for doing so.

Instead, the damage changes have made the AH-6M significantly less effective at its primary job, and it feels like shooting peas now.

2. The helicopter’s health has been reduced by 50

This is another change that appears to have gone under the radar since it was another undocumented stealth nerf.

Testing indicates that the AH-6M’s health has been reduced by approximately 50%. The practical effect is that incoming fire that was previously manageable is now far more dangerous.

Ordinary FMJ fire deals damage comparable to what AP ammunition did against the helicopter in Season 1, while other helicopters and the C-WIS can take it down much faster than in Season 1.

Combine this with the damage nerf and you have a helicopter that kills much more slowly while dying much faster.

That is not a small balance adjustment. It fundamentally changes the vehicle.

3. The stealth nerfs to handling are unacceptable

The AH-6M’s yaw handling has been stealth nerfed. This is not a subjective complaint about the flight model feeling different; it’s a change that pilots have noticed through actual gameplay.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term, a stealth nerf is when a developer changes a weapon, vehicle or mechanic without documenting that change in the official patch notes. Players are left to discover the changes themselves through testing and experience.

Sometimes these changes are intentional but undocumented. Sometimes they’re bugs or unintended consequences of other changes. Either way, when something as fundamental as helicopter handling changes, players deserve an explanation.

I’m genuinely not sure whether Bulkhead thinks us pilots are idiots who won’t notice these changes, or whether this was a mistake or a bug. Either possibility deserves clarification.

Yaw authority is a fundamental part of flying the AH-6M. The helicopter relies on direct-fire miniguns, meaning you have to control your momentum, position the aircraft correctly and keep your guns on a moving target. Reduce its yaw effectiveness and you directly affect the pilot’s ability to track targets.

This isn’t some insignificant detail that only a handful of people will notice. It affects the entire experience of flying the vehicle.

If the change was intentional, explain why it was necessary. If it was a bug, fix it. But don’t silently change the flight model and expect pilots not to notice.

4. The windscreen dirt is genuinely horrific

This is one change where I have a hard time believing it wasn’t intentional.

Season 2 introduced a persistent dirt film over the AH-6M’s windscreen that severely obstructs visibility in first-person view. It’s always there, regardless of the weather, but it’s especially bad in the rain.

The rain already reduces visibility naturally. That’s fine. Weather affecting visibility is understandable and can create interesting gameplay. But the additional dirt film makes an already difficult situation significantly worse, and it’s annoying and obstructive even in other weather conditions.

In first person, it genuinely looks like death and despair. You can switch to third person and see reasonably well, but the moment you return to the cockpit, you’re staring through this filthy, obstructed windscreen.

And the most ridiculous part? The rain doesn’t even wash the dirt away. It just stays there.

If I had fucking windshield wipers, I could maybe understand the mechanic. You could have a system where dirt accumulates and rain affects visibility, with wipers giving pilots some control over the situation. That could actually be an interesting feature.

But as it stands, there’s no meaningful interaction with the mechanic. You’re just stuck looking through a dirty screen that makes flying harder and more frustrating, regardless of the weather.

This isn’t a meaningful increase in skill difficulty. It doesn’t reward better flying or create interesting counterplay. It simply obstructs your vision.

The dirt should be removed or substantially toned down. If Bulkhead wants weather to affect cockpit visibility, there are much better ways to implement it.

5. The operating costs make the AH-6M even less viable

I see people arguing that the helicopter only costs 12k, while their infantry kit costs 20k.

That comparison ignores what it actually costs to operate the AH-6M effectively.

The helicopter comes with two flares and 300 rounds of .308 FMJ. That is your starting point, not a fully equipped loadout for surviving an entire match.

To have a reasonable chance of surviving and making money, you need to account for:

\* Decent armour, with T3 and T4 becoming increasingly common.
\* A small tactical vest.
\* A wrench or light drill for repairs.
\* Around 10 bandages.
\* Hundreds of additional rounds of ammunition.
\* Extra flares, costing $750 each.

That last point deserves attention. Flares are an essential defensive countermeasure, not some luxury upgrade. When each additional flare costs $750, replenishing your countermeasures becomes another expense on top of an already expensive loadout.

If you need several extra flares to have a reasonable chance of surviving against the available anti-air threats, those costs quickly add up. You’re effectively paying a premium just to replenish the defensive equipment you need to stay alive.

That’s especially frustrating when the helicopter has simultaneously become more fragile and the threats against it have become more accessible and effective. The more pressure there is from anti-air, the more important flares become, and the more money you have to spend just to keep operating.

Depending on your equipment and ammunition choices, the total investment can reach approximately 25k with a relatively standard loadout, and 30–40k with more expensive configurations.

And unlike infantry, helicopter pilots receive reduced income from kills. You need to secure considerably more kills to break even, while infantry players can generate money through other activities such as reviving teammates, spotting and participating in the hot zone.

The AH-6M was already difficult to profit from in Season 1. Now you’re paying more to field it, paying $750 for every additional flare, killing targets less efficiently and dying more quickly.

The economics simply don’t make sense.

I’m not suggesting that every helicopter should guarantee a profit. There should be financial risk involved in using expensive vehicles. But the risk needs to be proportionate to the vehicle’s effectiveness, and the AH-6M is now being punished on practically every front.

6. The other helicopter changes make the AH-6M’s situation even worse

Season 2 has also made the environment more hostile to helicopters.

The MAAWS unlocks earlier and is slightly cheaper, while the Gepard provides another dedicated counter. The C-WIS can now aim higher than before, making it more effective against aircraft.

Some of these changes affect all helicopters rather than just the AH-6M. That’s precisely the point: the AH-6M’s nerfs cannot be considered in isolation from the other changes made to the game.

If you reduce a helicopter’s damage and survivability while simultaneously making its counters more accessible and effective, the cumulative effect is much greater than any individual patch note suggests.

This is why I want to see the developers evaluate the combined effect of these changes rather than treating every adjustment as an independent balancing decision.

7. The AH-6M is not the same balance problem as the AH-6R or the Havoc

This is where I think a lot of the helicopter discussion goes wrong.

I believe the AH-6R and the Havoc have presented much more serious balance problems than the AH-6M.

The AH-6R’s rocket pods provide splash damage, allowing it to engage groups of infantry and attack vehicles or FOBs without requiring the same degree of direct target tracking as the minigun helicopter. Its ability to generate money can also be considerably more consistent when used against suitable targets.

The Havoc is a much heavier attack helicopter with substantial firepower and survivability. It can be extremely oppressive when the opposing team doesn’t have the appropriate counters available.

I believe both the AH-6R and the Havoc need serious balance attention, and I’d support temporarily vaulting them if necessary until their balance problems are properly addressed.

That doesn’t mean the AH-6M deserves to be gutted alongside them.

The AH-6M relies on direct-fire miniguns. Its effectiveness is much more dependent on the pilot’s ability to maintain accurate fire, control momentum and track targets. When a skilled pilot kills you with it, there’s a much clearer connection between that player’s mechanical ability and the outcome of the engagement.

That’s a fundamentally different gameplay experience from being hit by splash-damage rockets or fighting a heavily armoured attack helicopter that can absorb enormous amounts of punishment.

Helicopters should not be balanced as though every helicopter has the same strengths, weaknesses and skill requirements.

———————————————————————————————

What I want changed

I’m not asking for the AH-6M to become overpowered. I’m asking for it to return to a reasonable state where its strengths and weaknesses make sense.

My proposed changes are:

1. Revert the excessive AH-6M FMJ damage reduction to its Season 1 values, or at the very least restore the intended 25% reduction rather than the 75% effective reduction.
2. Revert the 50% health reduction and restore its previous survivability.
3. Remove or substantially reduce the additional windscreen dirt that obstructs visibility.
4. Revert the stealth nerf to yaw handling.
5. Keep the purchase price at 12k if necessary, rather than reverting it to 6k, but reassess ammunition costs, the $750 price of additional flares and the helicopter’s ability to make money.
6. Evaluate the cumulative effect of the MAAWS, Gepard and C-WIS changes on helicopter survivability.
7. Address the separate balance problems with the AH-6R and Havoc instead of treating all helicopters as one problem.

The AH-6M should be a viable vehicle for skilled pilots. It should reward accurate tracking, good positioning and effective flying. It should have counters, and it should be possible to lose it through mistakes or coordinated enemy action.

But it shouldn’t have its damage gutted, its health halved, its visibility obstructed and its handling stealth nerfed while its operating costs rise and its counters become more accessible.

That is excessive, and I don’t see how it benefits the game.

I want helicopters to be balanced. I want the AH-6R and Havoc to be balanced too. I want infantry to have meaningful counterplay, and I want vehicle pilots to have to make good decisions.

But balance means looking at the actual performance of each vehicle, not simply nerfing anything that generates complaints.

Revert the excessive AH-6M nerfs. Keep the price at 12k if necessary. Balance the rocket helicopter and the Havoc separately. Stop punishing the one helicopter whose effectiveness is most directly tied to the pilot’s skill.

——————————————————————————————

About stealth changes

Personally, I think stealth nerfs are one of the worst things developers can do, especially for community trust. They’re incredibly frustrating because they leave players arguing about changes that other people don’t even know exist, and which can be difficult to prove without extensive testing.

You end up telling people that something has changed, explaining why the game feels different, and getting told you’re imagining things or coping because there’s nothing in the patch notes to back up what you’re saying. Meanwhile, you’re left trying to prove that a mechanic has changed when the developers haven’t even acknowledged that they touched it.

It genuinely makes you feel like a fucking psychopath sometimes. You’re sitting there questioning your own experience, testing things repeatedly, comparing how the game used to feel with how it feels now, and arguing with people who have no idea what you’re talking about because they haven’t noticed the change themselves.

That’s why stealth nerfs are so damaging. They don’t just affect gameplay; they undermine trust between the developers and the people who play their game. If a change is intentional, document it and explain the reasoning. If it’s a bug, acknowledge it and fix it. Players shouldn’t have to become detectives just to figure out why their vehicles suddenly handle differently.

Hello, i don't understand it. In every other PvP game, it's accepted that if you invest more time into the game than others, you'll become stronger than players who invest less time. Whether it's through better items or simply gaining more experience and knowledge of the game by playing more.

Why is WARDOGS the only game where you're insulted and put down for investing more time into it than others?

I think the main thing you’re forgetting is that this is an all-out warfare game, where everyone can find the playstyle that suits them. I’ve always been better with vehicles than in infantry combat, and I loved that for a very long time in the Battlefield series too (specifically since BF1942).

Secondly, not everyone is Silk and company. 99% of pilots don’t get 100+ kills in a single round. Just yesterday, in the last third of the game, I was helping out around our base with the minigun Little Bird, got around 10 kills, and finished my heli session at minus 12 thousand.

And I’m not against nerfs. The Havoc was ridiculously strong and had to be adjusted. I don’t even mind if they scale back the minigun damage, but damage reduction, health reduction, and a completely dirty windshield all at once is a bit much. As if flying had been so easy until now, when you could only die to such a select few things as the CIWS/Talon/FMJ ammo/M2 nest/RPG/MAAWS/Verba/Gepard/Havoc/Sniper.

Everyone complained about tanks too, yet I’ve never died to a tank so far. Do you know why? Because I didn’t go in front of them and tried to avoid them in whatever area they were in, but yesterday I managed to take out 2 tanks because I was running an RPG. It’s pretty funny, by the way, when I’m flying a Little Bird and some guy in the middle of a field shoots at me, someone I wouldn’t have even seen, but the muzzle flash gives away his position, so it’s literally a free kill...

With all this complaining, all you’ll achieve is that vehicles in this game will be completely neutered too, just like Battlefield 6 has become by now.

Peace!

These nerfs are brutal, this gun sucks now.

This guys are the same in all the three clips, outplayed 3 times in 1 minutes or so still alive.

They killed me soon after XD

This is what a low level 3 days wipe looser see XDXD

Like seriously, all I see around here are people complaining about those vehicles but there seem to be absolutely zero strategic thinking. I want to start by saying that I do have a job, every day, for 8 hours a day. I currently have 150 hours into the game (I had a one week holiday at some point during season 1). I'm currently around level 40 Wardogs.

I think I could count on one hand the amount of times I was killed by a HAVOC. First you can hear them, pretty distinctively. Their rotors don't make the same sound, and you often hear them shoot too. You know you don't have to shoot them while standing in open field? You can just hide in a bush for like 20sec until the HAVOC changes target and flies away. Also, most things in this game are hard covers. You can just run around a container, getting out of the field of view of the helicopter and every time it reposition to get you, you can reposition faster. They usually get tired really quick. Valid for minigun helis, rocket helis, and HAVOCs!

You want to destroy it? Fine, there's like 50 differents tools to do it. But guess what, nobody buys shit in this game. People love to complain but every time I loot a body, I see the same stuff. Green meds, maybe a grenade. Asked a guy yesterday to fill a Kodiak with Verbas, we drove to the CZ, shot 3 times and took down the HAVOC that was harrassing our FOBs for the past 15min. Nobody before decided to do anything, guess why? nobody buys shit in this game.

As for tanks, the amount of times I destroyed tanks with just C4 is crazy. It unlocks fast, it's cheap as fuck (my usual loadout has minimum 6 C4 in it and costs me 7k). Same as helis, they make a lot of sound and are usually driven by idiots with terrible positioning. But guess what, people don't buy shit in this game. You can throw the C4 on the road the tank is going to take, you can approach it with a smart angle, you can ask some dudes to make a distraction while you get close. So many ways to fuck them. Just yesterday I got two T-72 with C4. One by flanking him and coming from the top of a hill next to him. The other was standing on top of a hill and didn't have enough depression to shoot me, so I just ran to him.

Even better would be RPGs. Oh! But they're too weak you say? It takes like 3 rockets to take down a HUMVEE? Yeah obviously it's weak since nobody buys shit in this game. You're not supposed to be the only guy shooting at the target with it. My guess is they expected at least another guy close-by to also have one.

It's my single biggest frustration with this game, people don't buy shit and then complain. Nothing like the having the HZ go to an enemy FOB. You have 20 teammates around it but not a single soul has anything to break a door on him.

TL;DR: People don't buy shit and stand in open field shooting at HAVOCs and T72s with their 9mm HP ammo.

Title, I love the game and everything else about it but my entire friend group really hates mortars and we'd love to play somewhere that's just got them removed. Anything mortars counter has others that are actually fun!

I'm just not understanding how a guy sitting 3km away from the CZ and using a website to accurately mortar fob and hz for 90 minutes straight is fun for anyone.

Devs said because of the XP and leveling/gear issues they have decided to move s3 earlier so s2 will be shorter than planned

A week ago they said s2 was going to be longer than s1...

So now what we talking? A month? 2?

I started this game the last day of the free test. I do have a life I just chose this as my hobby. Solo player as in I'm not in a group when I join the game. I strictly play official. What I have learned so far.

1. The devs should 100% stop listening to anyone and just build the game they want.

2. Literally and very literally anything they do (devs) is gonna be hated on and criticized and cried about by someone.

3. Constant resetting or changing things to appeal to people who cry and whine will kill the game faster than bugs and cheaters. I've encountered a total of 2 cheaters in my entire experience 1 game after another and they were both dealt with immediately Upon wiping the map of players.

   1. Tanks and helicopters can be dealt with as quickly as a respawn. 33 people on a team if your team sucks and can't do anything about it that is not a game mechanic problem that is a people problem.

5.fobs/HZ I've seen teams chase the HZ entire game to lose at 90 points because one kid was building a super fob getting screamed at by our whole team to do something else and then we win Because they can't get in and he's built 5 drills. The very next game Green rolls every fob on the map stays in HZ and wins 3-6-100 this is a team game. A whole lot of people either seem to not know what they're playing or they're trying to play Battlefield /Call of Duty like it's a new map.

1. My critique so far, Quick join game. 10 minutes waiting for 60 people to click red or blue because no one wants to / Joining a server with one spot open on a random team sucks 😕 Let me pick my team and throw me in a match

It feels like getting antiair up is so incredibly hard whilst getting railed by havoc, meanwhile tanks are just 2 shot by maaws, 10? shot by havoc, 4 c4's, its just so incredibly easy to lose a 20k vehicle so fast.

See title. Playing with my group today across multiple servers we encountered griefer after griefer targeting our group because it contained women.

This community should be embarrassed.

People quit the game today because of the treatment they received. The in-game report system does absolutely nothing and is toothless. Someone crashing into your helicopter inside of spawn on repeat while screaming hard r's and targeted sexist langauge shouldn't be something that is allowed in any community. It shouldn't be something I can then watch that player continue to play that entire hour long match despite being mass reported. They shouldn't be able to then continue to scream sexist slurs at people while the match continued. Again, mass reports did nothing. Squad of 7 reporting someone for griefing toxic behavior should result in some sort of action being taken.

We need to go outside and touch grass, and remember that if you want to see more women in your hobbies you have to treat them like fucking human beings. /rant.

I'd refund this game now if I could, congrats incels. You win.

I learned to pilot in S1 and got pretty decent at it. 72 kills being my best game. S2 has absolutely nuked the minibird, it does horrible damage, the counters can smite it from across the map. So my buddy leveled driver and unlocked the T72. It’s INSANE how much value you money you can get in that thing compared to the little bird. You get to destroy vehicles so you can stack money on that, it takes exponentially less skill to kill infantry than the little bird, and positioning is extremely forgiving. It really breaks my heart when I make $180k profit in a tank just pressing the shoot button, when I spent 15 hours in the firing range learning how to fly just to make zero money because the minibird is just not effective anymore.

Just tested this in the firing range, scout sniper does 119 damage to the head at T0, and 79 damage at T1?

I.e. if they are wearing ANY helmet, you CANT kill on headshot.

How tf am I supposed to get a rifle that can kill anything if you cant kill people DAY 3 OF THE NEW SEASON with the entry level gear.

Is there any way to avoid the Rain Condition? can or will they add a filter to avoid it?
is it a certain map?

Sick of joining games and having to instantly leave due it raining

would providing a bonus xp boost for the purpose of those who don’t have several hours per day to level up be acceptable? This bonus would expire after several let’s say 2 hours. Then reset every 20 hours. that way your not beholden to playing at the same exact time every day.
Given that every game is going to have players grind it out, I figure this would help those that don’t have the time but still enjoy the progression.

Hit it with the drone on the back near the weak point and it does absolutely nothing. Whats the point of spending all this on a stringray for it to do basically nothing?

The biggest reason the endgame sucks is because one is being forced to exist. This is more true about season 1 now that just about every weapon is dogshit lol, but look at an older game like OG MW2.

That games balance came from everything being cracked. It didn't matter what you chose to use, because everthing was good. Of course there were fan favorites, but every gun had the potential to run the lobby.

Season 1's progression was such a pain because well, it was slow, but the guns you got vs what everyone else was running already made it such an uphill battle. Once you unlocked the Galil, progression sped up exponentially, and the same thing happened again with the M4. Sure it's possible to run HP ammo and grab another kit, but the majority of players don't want to constantly trade kits.

I think the way guns were balanced was backwards. Aside from a couple notable exceptions, I think everything else should have had a buff. Now the FAL is just not as viable a gun as the rest due to ammo constraints. Why run something with 20 round mags and 40 count ammo stacks when the M4 will have just about the same performance in most situations?

But all other high end vehicles have to wait for 20 tickets?

Half the games I played today as blue began with immediate raids on us while we were setting up a FOB with tanks.

Edit: since people seem to think I'm complaining about tanks, I'm not. Heck I even think they should be buffed a little seeing as you almost never see them mid-late game once rocket helos are out. Literally just what the title says, was wondering why they were allowed right off the bat instead of the 20 tickets delay like usual for advanced vehicles.

Anyway, the main consensus seems to be that they take a long time to drive to the fight.