They are introducing a new tier VIII HT with the AMX50B’s 120mm though, which is why I think it’s a valid point. That gun has 257mm pen or so. The L7 still has higher pen, but given some horrible AP rounds with 230mm pen or something, they could fit it in tier VIII.

105 mm L7 is too much for a T8 heavy, period.

Also, the tier 8 “Mule” was just a reversed and widened Centurion chassis with the turret mounted at the rear solely as a counterweight. So nothing was changed about the engine, and it most likely would have gone faster backwards because of this, much like the Archer. I could see it keeping this feature in-game, but I can also see Wargaming buffing it up to 30-35km/h in order to make it more mobile. So that being said, as a heavy with something like the 105mm L7, it becomes a nasty tank to face, even if the armor isn’t the greatest as it was only given enough armor to resemble the Merkava mockup. Although the ass of the tank would troll people quite well since the rear would have the same armor as the Centurion 7/1 has on the front. So yeah, it would function sort of like a rear-turreted Caernarvon that trades some of its gun depression and mobility for the use of the 105mm L7.

I knew the Merkava used off-the-shelf spare Centurion and Patton parts, but I didn’t realise the tier VIII prototype would be that slow. I thought it would have the mobility of a Centurion. If it’s reverse gear, its max speed would be in the 20kmph range, unless they really strain the gearbox. Do you know if they put the transmission backwards? i.e. whether it moves faster backwards than forward.

As for the 20pdr, I can see it being lacking, I like it though, it has great handling. I didn’t like it in the Centurion 7/1, it would need an alpha buff similar to how the T-54 gets an alpha buff while keeping the same calibre for me to like it. I do agree the Caernarvon would be more respected if it had the L7 though, it even mounts the Action X turret already!

As for giving the tier 8 Merkava variant the 105mm L7, on a tier 8 it would be perfectly fine. I don’t think anyone would complain about the Caernarvon getting the 105mm L7, as the tank is quite mediocre as it is with that same 20-pdr B-barrel. In addition, the vehicle used the reverse gear of the original Centurion engine, the 650hp Meteor, to move forward. Meaning the top speed, is going to be quite bad. So it’s going to be a big, slow, and heavy vehicle, that is going to need something like the 105mm L7 to make it work. And given the AMX 65t appears to be a tier 8 heavy with the same tier 10 120mm that the AMX 50B gets, there is precedent for such a thing too.

What do you think about the Merkava being a heavy though?
Do you think it’s better than it being a medium?

I personally think the Merkava would fit better as a medium than a heavy because retraining crews at tier VIII to a completely different class is a bit annoying. The French line is already annoying enough (which makes me wonder about the Swedish branch), and makes it not very friendly to new-ish players. Only reason I can get away with the French line is a couple of extra crews I accumulate over thousands of battles.

I believe it was mentioned that the tier VIII Merkava might mount the L7, which I am doubting: unless you completely ruin the L7 by giving it horrible stats and banning the use of high-pen APDS, it’d not fit. What’s wrong with the 20 pdr anyway? Give it the Type B, with high DPM and it would be another use for the Type B other than that gun everyone in the Centurion 7/1 has to grind through.