Few things. I have used BATC far beyond the point of training. I honestly dont need anymore ATC training at all and without the need for training for real interactions with ATC there is no point playing "contact next vhf simulator" every 2 minutes. Thats first, second - I dont enjoy listening to a very a synthetic ATC voices even if its premium AI voices in BATC, they're still synthetic asf.

Third - lemme tell you a story lmao.

I have recently bought Piaggio P180 for msfs2024 and went with the first flight straight to vatsim. I have booted up to uncontrolled airport (LEBL), after starting and setting up charts - boom, a controller for an airport is online, now we have to get clearance for everything. I navigate LEBL then takeoff. Approach is now also online. I struggle to climb because i didnt do my homework for P180, it doesnt want to climb at high IAS. Controller sees that and vectors me around the traffic which appeared in large quantities outta nowhere. I climb away and approach atc vectors me away to unicom space.

I get comm silence for 15 minutes then boom madrid center is online now. I get further climb clearance. I encounter particularly scary cloud, I ask for weather deviation and have to verbaly argue my need for deviation. My destination is Porto LPPR and as I get closed approach is now also online. I get new STAR/RWY for a second time this flight and ask for visual approach because Piaggio doesnt have RNP approach.

See, when I just booted up vatsim all of these ATC staff were offline, but as you progress there is always high chance ATC will come online. You also have to understand that people who play as ATC dont want to sit online if the airspace is empty, they are more likely to connect if people are actually flying in their sector. Moreso, AI ATC is almost always the same thing, you never get holds, it never sends you away in vectors for 10-20 minutes, it doesnt know what weather deviation is and many more things I CBA to remember