First impressions:
The new maps are fun! I’m guessing they are only available in air battle mode, which to me is motivation enough to play that mode whether I’m ground or air-based. It is very fun to play these maps on fast cars.
On console, air battles are 8v8, which means more bots. Also, not that many humans have started playing that mode (guessing that people haven’t built their copters yet, and don’t feel like playing ground vehicles in this mode). I really hope this mode becomes popular enough that we can get bot numbers down. I know it’s the middle of the day in the middle of the week, but I had a couple matches when I was the only human on my team. That’s weird.
No respawn makes this feel very different from last time, in a good way. It really doesn’t feel like ground vehicles are at a big disadvantage yet, as there is lots of cover.