has DIESS made War Robots better?

No because they are not released for the benefit of the game but for increased revenue which in turn screws the game.

No again because the more new stuff is released the more the game changes in the wrong direction as the items are mainly released for the reasons of monetisation.

Pretty much the only people who will say “yes” are ones who have the DEISS stuff. And if they actually enjoy tactical gameplay, they’ll still say no; I personally found the test server Haechi to be overpoweringly boring, because it was so overpowered. Pretty much an idiot’s derp-gun. Little to no skill required to be dangerous. And if you have any skill at all, it’s the pinnacle of brain-free gameplay.

Same with Inquisitor, to a large degree. Bulg and Kumi somewhat less so, but still shouldn’t have two dashes.

The DEISS gear has effed up this game and future releases will only be worse.

Agreed.

Personally, as a non-DEISS player I find it enjoyably challenging to fight against Bulg and Kumi. 
Not with Haechi.
Inquisitor...I never encountered an opponent that can impress me with it. Usually just kamikaze with Descend.

I voted Yes.

I don't own any of the premium equipment, not even a Tempest, and I play Diamond 1 right now where I regularly encounter players with the premium stuff.

The thing is, I remember the pre-DEISS days when the top tiers were made up of nearly only Ancilots. If you didn't have one you didn't make it to top tier. What a boring and homogenous top-tier.

I remember the days Pixonic would try in vain to 'balance' weapons and 'bots' so that everyone would have a fair chance.

Well that didn't work, and even in the old days when we had some semblance of balance some bots were always left behind like the Gepard and Destrier.

But now Pixonic seems to have changed their philosophy. Their focus is on top-tier and those who pay. How do they make interesting for these players? Unfortunately in the previous system, the always Lancelots top-tier made the game pretty dry.

So for paying players, the game has now become a whole lot more interesting. We've got OP weapons and bots, but there's a lot more variability and configurations possible, and also new bots coming. Who's gonna benefit? the top-tier paying players. And rightly so, for these are the players giving Pixonic their bread and butter.

As for me, a free to play player, the game is also a lot more exciting. With my gear I can only go so far, and I keep hovering back and forth around D1.

But overall my game is a lot more interesting. Aside from tankers, dealing with powerful bots is a challenge in itself and it is quite satisfactory to take one down - as is evidenced by so many posts in this forum.

The introduction of new hangars means I feel less restricted and can specialize and try new and crazy things - for example a Molot only hangar. Best of all, all the DEISS gear still remains available should I decide to grind long and hard for them. But I'm in no hurry. Let the top tiers fill up with DEISS stuff and then get turned on its head again with new bots and weapons as they keep coming along.

IMO tankers, whales, clubbers are the only real problem in the game. But they've been a problem for a long time now, and I do believe that Pixonic is sincerely trying to solve it, but it is not as easy as it seems.

Couldn't agree more. It's definitely become a jungle out there and survival is key.

I think all are good for the game in their current versions except haechi, shocktrains and exorcist when it comes out. Not sure on strider. A lot of the negative views toward DIESS gear is a result of Pixo's imbecilic handling/pricing/timing/design/greed on releases. That and their MM.
All the new stuff sans those mentioned actually added to a better game experience for me. Both by playing with and against them.
That said, I hardly ever use the new bots except hover which I like and a kumiho which intend to play but currently grinding for. I have 2 haechis and a bulg (shelved) but still find the legacy bots much more fun to play. Im more interested in the new weapons and set ups that add more utility to these old bots. 

If you look at DIESS and the Quad Orkan uber bot...We have been transitioned to WarRobots 2. Every other bot before DIESS has been made sub par by design.

It's not a mistake, nor will they "fix" it.

Well... I voted no, but to be honest I find this a tough question to answer.

As someone who runs 3 Haechis and a shocktrain bulga, I firmly believe that the Haechi should be given a slight (yes, slight) nerf and that the shocktrain should simply be removed from game (converted into another medium weapon). The balance is obviously gone to heck and if the new 4-medium slot bot is introduced without nerfing shocktrains first, I'm probably gone.

That said, I do enjoy playing most matches a lot more now than during the ancilot-era.
As others have pointed out, the faster pace means you have to be on alert all the time, constantly scanning surroundings and being acutely aware of what and where every red is. Range management, timing, awareness, all of these components of "skill" are more important now than ever.
Dash bots have a much higher skill ceiling and the best matches now are far better than any matches from the Ancilot era.

This is sort of where I'm at too. I love the faster pace, the Kbots are awesome. I'm indifferent to inquisitor and ember. Scourge has it's place. It's not too weak or too strong. Then we have the shocktrain, which is just obnoxious.
I voted no solely because of how stupid the shocktrain is. Otherwise I would really like all the other new stuff. The shocktrain alone is enough to make me forget all the good things though. I agree it should be removed from the game or reworked and nerfed into some sort of balance.

Yes and no.

Yes because the concept of dash if implemented correctly would be a good addition to abilities. Bulg's dash CD of 15 seconds combined with its slow speed is maybe the perfect balance. It's also vulnerable to splash damage and the dashes would need to be saved to evade splash.

The Inquisitor is also imo, balanced. The only reason it's as strong as it is currently is because the ember is so strong

No because Haechi is OP, Kumiho is too fast and displaces practically all light bots, Ember is too strong. The shocktrain is insanely OP. I would take away the splash damage and reduce the initial damage by maybe 15-20%.

I voted yes. I think I started playing War Robots between the introduction of Britbots and Tridents. I have grinded my way through lots of gear and got to a point where I had pretty much everything I needed. Every new release is a positive thing to me as there remains content I can grind for. It was boring to just hoard Ag and pile up WSP. I can play and spend my ingame currency on stuff. It piles up slowly, but there's some kind of constant flow of gear filling up my inventory. It keeps me interested. Also new bots require adaption. New tactics come into play and it's fun to learn and become a better pilot. Currently the game is awesome to me. It's fast paced and action-packed. Exactly my thing as a dedicated knifer.

If DIESS hadn't been released, we'd still get squeezed the bolts outta our shells by triple Trident Furies. Those were the days that sucked. It's not these days that suck.

I understand it's frustrating to new players when they realize the amount of grinding that is required. It takes time to collect just the basic stuff. And then there's all the expensive toys. It's all free for patient folks, though.

I'm at a point where I can keep up with the addition of new content and their upgrades. This has a big impact on how much I enjoy playing the game. That's why I voted yes.

Based on your response, it seems you are not in one of the top leagues. Shocktrain Haechi's are just about the same range as trident Fury, but deal more damage, can't miss, and also deal subsequent damage to any teammates nearby. Also, the bot housing these three super weapons is much more mobile, durable, and harder to kill or counter. Trident Furies were a cakewalk to deal with once people stopped whining and played counters. They were also (at least) two metas ago. Three if you count the brief RDB meta.

The game is currently still lots of fun in lower leagues. It is the lack of playability at the top tier without this new stuff that makes the new releases suck. I agree with most of your points about it being nice to have something to work towards. It's the fact of that new stuff being ridiculously overpowered that has ruined the game.

I agree with Shahmatt that DIESS has certainly spiced things up and away from a boring Ancilot meta world. Personally, though, I don't like the general direction of faster gameplay with even more focus on fast damage. And obviously the way it was released and is available today was/is far from ideal.

DIESS or not DIESS, what has really ruined the game IMO is Mk2.

I started playing around the same time, from what I remember a month or so before the Halloween event last year. I didn't have to grind too much since I was introduced to the game and given a starter account. My account was around level 7 or 8 at that time, so I was already playing in low gold which meant playing the best players and clans like VOX when I barely had a grasp of the game. Trident Fury was no skill meta at that time, insanely long range and 30m splash at the time (custom game tested splash at ~20m now). Open maps like Canyon were the worst and we would get locked down the entire match. 

They actually buffed the Ancile, but still no takers for the Ancilot. Then the infamous video was released on Jan 28 this year, which detailed the double dmg bug. Basically for those who weren't around at the time, the double dmg bug made the Ancile twice as strong once it was fixed, so not even the buff was as strong. Ancile got a nerf/fix/buff, whatever you want to call it. So overnight, the infamous Ancilot era started and ended the reign of the Trident Fury. 

I'm not sure when the Trident Fury era started, but that was a long time. A good 4+ months by my estimate. Ancilot era was even longer for me, and in a way, it's still pretty OP and I see it all the time outside of Champions to this day. So ~7 months at the top. Still a top3 bot.