For veteran players, lower tiers have become a wasteland. I understand WG wanted to curb clubbing, but it has unintended consequences and has rendered many fun little tanks pointless.
For new players, the separate MM lends itself to poor play and thus very little opportunity to learn the game.
The solution appears to be both obvious and easy to implement. So here it is:
Rating battles as we know them will remain unchanged.
A new format will be introduced that I am calling The Seal Cup.
One tier per week (tiers 2-6) will be active and all rules from current rating battles will apply: top modules, no platoons, supremacy and encounter if the tier gets it in pub, map restrictions remain, only available in the evening.
Wrinkle: Newbie MM for the tier of the week will be shut down during the hours of The Seal Cup so new players can be exposed to veterans and experience tactics, map awareness, etc.
Just like current rating battles, there will be no stats kept other than a basic ranking system. This eliminates much of the incentive of the guys that used to drive the A-20 for 5K games, but it also gives new players a chance to play "for real" without worrying about getting pasted.
IMHO, prizes are not necessary, but perhaps nominal offerings could be fun.
As an example, lets say this coming Monday the first week of The Seal Cup begins. Tier 4 tanks against Tier 4 tanks each night until it wraps up on Sunday. You want to mess around in the Valentine II or revisit the M3 Lee - go crazy. A new player wants to Hetzer against people that know how to counter the tank - fantastic and will help as that player grinds to higher tiers.
The Seal Cup - a low effort solution that reinvigorates the game without compromising the basic mechanics of the Blitz we originally loved.