Driver progression has a weird gap between light vehicles and heavy armor.

To preface, I'm sure BULKHEAD is already brainstorming and has plenty of ideas. And for a first draft into early access, I think it's fine.

With that being said.

I don't really have an issue with the MBT being a long-term Driver unlock. I actually like the idea that heavy armor is something you have to work toward. My issue is that the progression leading up to it doesn't really prepare you for it or deliver much of a "Driver fantasy."

Right now there is a huge gap between driving "car" and suddenly being handed an MBT. Most of your progression is spent transporting supplies and if youre lucky, players, in vehicles like the Kodiak, Ural and Humvee. Then at Driver 35 you suddenly jump into a tracked heavy armored vehicle with completely different gameplay.

There's very little opportunity along the way to learn the skills that should naturally lead into an MBT like tracked vehicle handling, hull positioning, armor angles, choosing armored approaches through maps, driver/gunner coordination, learning where you can safely support an objective from, and generally figuring out how armored vehicles interact with infantry and AT threats.

The firing range can teach you the controls, but it can't teach you where and how to use armor on the actual maps. That knowledge comes from playing armored vehicles in real matches, and currently you basically don't get that experience until you've already reached the end of the Driver progression.

So to me, the problem isn't "give us the tank earlier." It's that Driver progression needs something between delivery driver/light vehicle driver and heavy armor. The MBT should feel like the culmination of skills and vehicles you've been progressing through, rather than an entirely different style of gameplay that suddenly appears at level 35.

What I'd personally like to see is something like this.

Driver 10: armored car You learn that armor lets you survive things a Kodiak can't.

Driver 18: tracked APC Now you're learning tracks, hull positioning, infantry support and armored routes.

Driver 25: IFV Now you're learning driver/gunner coordination, turret positioning, engaging from range, fighting light vehicles and avoiding dedicated AT.

Driver 35: MBT Same fundamental gameplay you've spent the previous 15-20 levels practicing, except now you have the armor and firepower to fight other heavy vehicles.

Then Driver 35 would feel like graduating into heavy armor .

The current progression feels like you've completed your commercial trucking license, so here's a Leopard 2.