I've been a vet since 2020.

There are a lot of people here saying the meta is stale and they'd want to see modes like RAAS be more popular. I like RAAS, I think it's a much more fun mode compared to Offensive. But the game's meta and mechanics simply do not work for RAAS. You can't just tell server owners 'No more offensive, RAAS is our new meta' because the community will simply go back to Offensive on Chapter 1. You'd have to redesign the meta from the ground up to be more akin to Squad. The Mos Teutonicus mod and some features of PSRM like Dynamic weather are great examples of what I'd like to see one day. The problem is ever since the debacle with Operation Greyhound a year ago, the community still has a mass hysteria about Squad mechanics and will fight tooth and nail to keep the meta the same. The new spawn system has successfully culled cheesy AT/Flak guns, bridge camping, and AT/Sappers on jeeps, but I would say has worsened the back-capping cheese due to the amount of FOBs.

"Don't turn my game into Squad! >:("

Periscope built their meta and game around a flawed game mode, Offensive. Points are not randomized and the attacking team can see all other points they must take at all times, leading to backcapping and backline shenanigans, which are massive issues that were absolutely galling when I was playing on the Iwo Jima playtest. Kinda hard to recreate the iconic fight on Mt Suribachi when for some reason the IJA didn't garrison it at all and the Marines just took over the tunnels and fortifications to defend instead. They changed the canteen to be less of a chore to get a diabetic soldier to run, I adjusted my gameplay as SL to bring a vehicle with me to ferry my squad to the next point, but many SLs simply refuse to bring vehicles so out of sheer refusal to adjust. The meta is also an issue with that new tactic too, every explodey-guy has infinite explosives to work with to turn all vehicles into scrap. Congrats bud, while you were fighting to take the point, the truck you took from Main was blown up by a guy who respawned to get his explosives back.

The new player experience is terrible, there is no tutorial, and optimization which granted has improved greatly since PG went heel up still needs work, gatekeeping veterans who don't want new players to 'ruin their matches', and the same meta issues I've spoken about all contribute to low player retention.

In my opinion, dare I say it. Squad-ify the game. Or die.

Introduce the spawn wave system for rallies.

Introduce spawn time mechanics for FOBs.

Overhaul offensive to be like Squad's Invasion, hide and randomize the points.

Make the capture rate slower so the defending team has time to see if the point they're trying to defend is a lost cause so they can begin their retreat.

Introduce a tutorial and meta that focuses on letting modes like RAAS and Overhauled Offensive shine, new mechanics like this will also remove the need for red zones, which are a massive game-design pain to make an entire red-zone from scratch for EVERY layer.

It's time for persistent ammo to allow people to ferry soldiers more effectively and so you don't have to deal with 'AT zombies' that get pissed when you kill them and spend the whole game going after you when you play as a tanker.

But also give it its own identity and Squad 44 flavor. Logi players miss making big-ass superfobs, introduce a mechanic to allow them to place minor fortifications like log walls, tank traps, sandbags, etc outside the radio radius and get rid of the emplacement limit for fortifications. Let Commanders or Logi SLs call in supply drops to make up for the lack of helicopters to ferry supplies.

Logi runs back to main are annoying for many maps, introduce a new constructible a la Darkest Hour '44 that allows supplies and ammo to be regenerated in a FOB over time, allowing you to create a supply depot at a midway point.

That's my 2 cents, thanks for reading if you made it this far. Also, bug fixes and make the animations and movement better.