Gnatty's Opinion on Tanki 2016

[KillerGnat 3,135]

2016 Review: highlights, Low-lights, and noteworthy occurrences

 

 

The year 2016 has come and gone -- seems like just yesterday I was taking down my 2015 cat calendar.... 2016 ushered in among other things, a new cat calendar and what proved to be an eventful year in Tanki history. Here I’ll be walking you through the ups and downs of the past 12 months -- according to me.

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The Highlights:

 

The start of the Debono era

 

When Cedric Debono took the reins of the community after the departure of his predecessor Semyon Kirov, heads were shaken. Most had never heard of him, and the usual doom-and-gloom wishers of the community came to grumble in the farewell topic of Semyon. The outlook in the chats was that this was more evidence that Tanki was dying, and that Semyon was a rat leaving the sinking ship. Rather than let the pessimism get him down, Debono put intense effort into his job winning over the community with his good humor and positive outlook.

 

Tanki 7th Birthday Celebrations

 

The first 50% sale of the year. The announcement of the 8 days of holiday fun sparked a wave of merriment throughout the community. Nearly all the feedback was positive, and the number of players online each day jumped up by a few thousand. Accompanying the celebrations was the yearly GAME, testing the intellectual abilities of tankers everywhere (unless, like me, you simply went on the forum and found the answers hours after the questions were released….).

 

Tanker’s Day

 

Highlighted by the Tanki client’s launch and another 50% sale, Tanker’s Day was greeted with enthusiasm by the Tanki player base. The usual naysayers couldn’t even find any major flaws in the celebrations. Additionally, as if a 50% sale wasn’t enough, the festivities fell on a weekend giving us all the chance to binge-play Tanki until our eyes melted out if we were so inclined.

 

Spring Showdown

 

I put this on the list for two reasons:

1. Because who doesn't like to see girls fight each other to the death?
2.  Because we get to keep that super smexy paint (there's the added benefit of being called a hacker every time you wear it too heh)

There’s nothing like a bit of community competition to get people going. People were swept away in the drama and intrigue -- the EN traitors, the DDOS during the first final, the official final being played one day prior to the day of the “live” stream, annnd the accusations that the entire game was rigged. Fun times.

Sarcasm aside, we did gain that paint and overall it was a great experience. (Although I still don’t talk to my friend who bought the Team RU paint -.-)

Observe how even my ugly Titan-Smoky is improved by the paint. Perfection. <3

 

The Low-lights:

 

The retirement of Semyon

 

This seems a bit contradictory after I gushed over Debono’s extraordinary work so far, but not mentioning it would mean leaving out a defining part of 2016. Semyon’s retirement after 3 years of steadfast service marked the end of an era in Tanki. The community exploded to life during his tenure and is still reaping the benefits of his strong leadership.

 

Reworking of the shop

 

2017 marked the first year that there were buyer-exclusive items. The introduction of Premium accounts in 2016 which were originally buyer-only were later given as rewards for missions and events, and the shiny XTs can be unlocked through rare super-missions, but the shop paints can’t be unlocked through anything but money. One can argue that they don’t affect the gameplay whatsoever, but it’s the principle of it that annoys me. Many people thought this was a death sentence for Tanki, but not as much as….

 

 

GoldRock and Night-Sisters' ascension to adminship

 

Rest in peace, Tanki. ‘Twas nice knowing you. Oh yes, forgot to mention. All the bad stuff was due to NS, ok.

 

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How about you? What were your fav parts of 2016? And if I missed something huge no kill, plz. I didn't actually do any research prior to this, so I was working off my memory  :ph34r:. Also, I swear I wrote this around new year, not nearly two weeks after. #PROcrastinating4Life

Edited January 11, 2017 by tweezers

[tweezers 1,034]

-Fixed the spacing.

-A few grammar and phrase corrections. 

-Underlined the topics.

[You.Have.to.die 519]

Debono era  :P

[railguniz4noobz 2,394]

Super smexy spring showdown souvenir.  :wub:   

 

I make sure to flip anyone with the RU paint and call them traitors. 

[Tofu 6,773]

<3

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

Yeah I love using the EN Spring Showdown paint.  :wub:

 

Fun article, good job covering the major events! Can't think of any big ones that you missed, but my memory might be patchy.

[NERF836 202]

I don't have the the super smexy spring showdown souvenir :(

[railguniz4noobz 2,394]

I don't have the the super smexy spring showdown souvenir :(

You are a noob. Stop playing tanki.

[Jwimmer 2,835]

Very quality article. Here is my two cents about the reworking of the shop. I honestly don't think premium accounts were that negative, as they were a way to get regular buyers to essentially subscribe, bringing in more money for the game. However, my 2 MAJOR gripes are about supply kits and product kits. Making all product kits available at once, and fewer available in the shop is super, super annoying. My alt is built up completely on my own blood, sweat, and tears, but there is a smaller kit selection, and oftentimes, it is the crappy kits in the garage. Also, the supply kits. I am now, finally, at the point in my Tanki career where it would make since to save up the 100k-ish crystals to buy the supplies 1500 kit. I feel like they were removed to try and counter drugs, but it did not work. Still, the only way to beat druggers is to join them- and even sometimes that does not work. Now, I can't even join them, without wasting crystals that could go to MUs.

 

Overall a good year for Tanki. Cedric is doing well as the CM. Events have been much better than in 2015. My hopes for 2017? Rebuild EN eSports. Steps are being made, but current tourneys are not available at times that fit a good deal of clan's time zones, including my own.