Air Combat Maneuvering Broken — Intended by DICE?

Many players may not yet realize how significant this change is.

Previously, jets had a vertical layer of counterplay in the air.

At around 1050m+, especially above 1200m:

There was stall risk

But it was possible to evade long-range AA missiles (1200m+) without flares

Air-to-air missiles also had counterplay at high altitude

This meant:

Even on smaller maps, pilots could create survivability through high-altitude maneuvering

Air combat had high, mid, and low layers — not just ground-hugging

After the change:

High altitude no longer weakens or breaks missile tracking

Maneuvering has little to no effect against lock-ons

The result:

Once flares are used, jets are forced into ultra-low flight

Otherwise, survival is nearly impossible

This leads to a fundamental shift:

Jets are no longer fighting in the air

They are surviving near the ground

Air combat shifts from 3D maneuvering → low-altitude survival

Skill-based interaction → flare cooldown management

If this is the intended design direction, then adjustments are necessary:

Either:

Significantly reduce lock-on ranges (AA, Stinger, AAM) — e.g. within 500m

Or:

Provide larger maps that allow real airspace maneuvering

Otherwise, the current result is clear:

Jets can no longer truly “fly” in the air.