Sorry we didn't include pictures for you. LOL

I just watched the new vlog yesterday and it seems to me that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's are still making the same mistakes. Even when they have a good idea they still do things to ruin it. Take for example the new proposed overdrives. I have come to like the idea of the overdrives. I see huge potential in them, but I think it is a huge mistake to have them tied to specific hulls. I think it would be more popular and better received if the new overdrives were introduced as new modules that could be interchangeable between hulls. This would be in harmony with the stated purpose of the Dev's to make our tanks fully configurable to our preferences. We saw the disaster that the original protection scheme was and how much better it is since they fixed it by giving us free choice of what protections we want to run. Why is it so much better now? Quite simply because we now have choice and can more easily configure our protections to handle the most pressing threats we face in battle. It should be the same with the overdrives. It would fall in line with every other aspect of tank building in the game... Choice of turrets, Choice of hulls, Choice of protections, Choice of paints, and Choice of drones. Why would you lock overdrives in? Especially tying what will be probably the most desired overdrive to the least popular hull. This is something that should seriously be considered, especially since the game is still hemorrhaging players. I'm not saying that the current proposal will kill the game, but the current proposal for overdrives is not ideal for helping retain or attract new players. If the overdrives were interchangeable between hulls it would make more current players happy with it, thus retaining them. Also it would add something to the game that, I think with all the other changes, would attract new players due to the added versatility and freedom of choice on tank builds. One of the things that causes players to quit playing certain games is frustration at not being able have the builds they want. I think forcing players to use certain hulls to be able to use a certain overdrive will add to that frustration. There are those who hate heavy hulls, but if they want shield or invulnerability they are forced to use them. There are those who love the current overdrive but most hate the Dictator. Speaking of which.... the current overdrive has become such an integral part of most team battles that it would be a serious frustration to many to lose that ability for one that they would have little use for. Lastly how is the overdrive going to work now. When triggered in close proximity to others on the same team will it trigger that person's overdrive even if different from the person who initiated the overdrive? Will neighboring team members have the same overdrive activated as the person who just activated theirs? These are questions that need to still be clarified and answered. I sincerely hope that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's fully explore these possibilities before the release these new overdrives instead of stubbornly and in a narrow-minded way push ahead with this unfinished idea. It may even mean delaying it to get it right, but it would be worth it in the long run. It's a good idea and it's an opportunity that could improve the game, help retain players and attract new players, so it shouldn't be wasted by bad implementation. Like I said the number of players continues to go down. To stop it, every addition to the game needs to count. There is no more room for mistakes. Hopefully Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's will listen. I hope that they will trust the Community. We know overdrives are coming. Some are looking forward to it, some aren't. I would hope that the Dev's would run a survey to see what we want for a change. Why not implement it in a way that will make the most players happy? It probably won't hurt and more than likely will improve your standing in the Community. Years of forcing changes down our throats has lead to people leaving the game in droves. If we feel like we're being listened too, even a little bit, then more people will probably stay. Save the game, allow player input.

My new observations for today - I just watched the new vlog yesterday and it seems to me that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's are still making the same mistakes. Even when they have a good idea they still do things to ruin it. Take for example the new proposed overdrives. I have come to like the idea of the overdrives. I see huge potential in them, but I think it is a huge mistake to have them tied to specific hulls. I think it would be more popular and better received if the new overdrives were introduced as new modules that could be interchangeable between hulls. This would be in harmony with the stated purpose of the Dev's to make our tanks fully configurable to our preferences. We saw the disaster that the original protection scheme was and how much better it is since they fixed it by giving us free choice of what protections we want to run. Why is it so much better now? Quite simply because we now have choice and can more easily configure our protections to handle the most pressing threats we face in battle. It should be the same with the overdrives. It would fall in line with every other aspect of tank building in the game... Choice of turrets, Choice of hulls, Choice of protections, Choice of paints, and Choice of drones. Why would you lock overdrives in? Especially tying what will be probably the most desired overdrive to the least popular hull. This is something that should seriously be considered, especially since the game is still hemorrhaging players. I'm not saying that the current proposal will kill the game, but the current proposal for overdrives is not ideal for helping retain or attract new players. If the overdrives were interchangeable between hulls it would make more current players happy with it, thus retaining them. Also it would add something to the game that, I think with all the other changes, would attract new players due to the added versatility and freedom of choice on tank builds. One of the things that causes players to quit playing certain games is frustration at not being able have the builds they want. I think forcing players to use certain hulls to be able to use a certain overdrive will add to that frustration. There are those who hate heavy hulls, but if they want shield or invulnerability they are forced to use them. There are those who love the current overdrive but most hate the Dictator. Speaking of which.... the current overdrive has become such an integral part of most team battles that it would be a serious frustration to many to lose that ability for one that they would have little use for. Lastly how is the overdrive going to work now. When triggered in close proximity to others on the same team will it trigger that person's overdrive even if different from the person who initiated the overdrive? Will neighboring team members have the same overdrive activated as the person who just activated theirs? These are questions that need to still be clarified and answered. I sincerely hope that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's fully explore these possibilities before the release these new overdrives instead of stubbornly and in a narrow-minded way push ahead with this unfinished idea. It may even mean delaying it to get it right, but it would be worth it in the long run. It's a good idea and it's an opportunity that could improve the game, help retain players and attract new players, so it shouldn't be wasted by bad implementation. Like I said the number of players continues to go down. To stop it, every addition to the game needs to count. There is no more room for mistakes. That's what I've observed for now. Hopefully Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's will listen. I hope that they will trust the Community. Why don't you run a survey to see what we want for a change? We know overdrives are coming, why not implement it in a way that will make the most players happy? It probably won't hurt and more than likely will improve your standing in the Community. Years of forcing changes down our throats has lead to people leaving the game in droves. If we feel like we're being listened too, even a little bit, then more people will probably stay. Save the game, allow player input.

I like the idea of the overdrives, but I think it is a huge mistake to have them tied to specific hulls. I think it would be more popular and better received if the new overdrives were introduced as new modules that could be interchangeable between hulls. This would be in harmony with the stated purpose of the Dev's to make our tanks fully configurable to our preferences. We saw the disaster that the original protection scheme was and how they fixed it to what we have now with free choice of what protections we want to run. It is so much better now. Why? Because we now have choice. It should be the same with the overdrives. It would fall in line with every other aspect of tank building in the game... Choice of turrets, Choice of hulls, Choice of protections, Choice of paints, and Choice of drones. Why would you lock overdrives in. Especially tying the most popular overdrive to the least popular hull. This is something that should seriously be considered, especially because the game is still losing players. Every addition to the game should be optimized to retain existing players and attract new players. I'm not saying that the current proposal will kill the game, but the current proposal for overdrives is not an idea that will help retain or attract new players. If the overdrives were interchangeable between hulls it would make more current players happy with it, thus retaining them. Also it would add something to the game that, I think with all the other changes, would attract new players due to the added versatility and freedom of choice on tank builds. One of the things that causes players to quit playing certain games is frustration at not being able have the builds they want. I think forcing players to use certain hulls to be able to use a certain overdrive will add to that frustration. There are those who hate heavy hulls, but if they want shield or invulnerability they are force to use them. There are those who love the current overdrive but most hate the Dictator. Speaking of which.... the current overdrive has become such an integral part of most team battles that it would be a serious frustration to many to lose that ability for one that they would have little use for. Lastly how is the overdrive going to work now. When triggered in close proximity to others on the same team will it trigger that person's overdrive even if different from the person who initiated the overdrive? These are questions that need to still be answered. I sincerely hope that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's fully explore these possibilities before the release instead of stubbornly and in a narrow-minded way push ahead with this unfinished idea. It's a good idea and opportunity that could improve the game, help retain players and attract new players so it shouldn't be wasted by bad implementation. Like I said the number of players continues to go down. To stop it every addition to the game needs to count. There is no more room for mistakes.

It could increase your score based upon whether or not it viewed as a special paint. Try unequipping it and equip a plain paint to see if it changes your score. GS score is based purely on what is in your garage and what you have equipped. It has nothing to do with your skill, win/loss, or kill/death ratios. It's a totally useless measurement.

Let's just admit that the GS score is just another pile of horse manure that's been foisted upon us. What counts is the equipment level and the driver skill. Paint means nothing. Number of supplies means nothing, as long as you have enough for battle. It's just another gimmick to get you to buy more stuff. Concentrate on upgrading your equipment and, if you are so inclined, having enough supplies to be effective. If they're using this score for matchmaking, then you want as low a score as possible while having the highest rated equipment. Then you'll have plenty of low level targets. This has to be the most empty headed adjustment to the game ever. It is just another gimmick for Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's to point at to try and say that they're improving the game. It is, for the most part and fortunately, a totally meaningless measurement and should be ignored. By the way I have a GS of 9580. BIG WHOOP! Means absolutely nothing to me.

Let's just admit that the GS score is just another pile of horse manure that's been foisted upon us. What counts is the equipment level and the driver skill. Paint means nothing. Number of supplies means nothing, as long as you have enough for battle. It's just another gimmick to get you to buy more stuff. Concentrate on upgrading your equipment and, if you are so inclined, having enough supplies to be effective. If they're using this score for matchmaking, then you want as low a score as possible while having the highest rated equipment. Then you'll have plenty of low level targets. This has to be the most empty headed adjustment to the game ever. It is just another gimmick for Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's to point at to try and say that they're improving the game. It is, for the most part and fortunately, a totally meaningless measurement and should be ignored. By the way I have a GS of 9580. BIG WHOOP! Means absolutely nothing to me.

Okay, it's been a few weeks since my last post here, but I wanted to make it count and not just ramble. I'm starting to get frustrated again and I think it all started with the recent adjustment to the matchmaking system. Now let me make this clear I like the basic premise of the matchmaking system, but it just keeps getting worse and worse. Now as to the cause of my irritation, it's that I hate being constantly lied to and that is what the matchmaking system starts out doing from the get go. It always say that you have a short wait, say 20 seconds, then you wait 2 or 3 minutes. Before the adjustment it gave more accurate wait times. I'll tell you what Pony Tail Boy, you and your sycophantic followers piss off more people by lying about wait times than by being honest about it. I think you are seeing it as one of the causes for the continuing decline in players in spite of some halfway decent updates. When you lie you are showing a disrespectful attitude towards your customers. Please please please get that into your slow thinking heads and return to a more accurate formula for wait times. We're not idiots, we know what you are doing. This is my rule these days when it comes to the matchmaking system - When I have to wait 3 to 4 times the listed wait time more than 3 times I'm gone, I find other things to do. I have better things to do in my life. So there it is, my observation for this week. I'm still sticking around, for now, and when I finally do get into a game I still enjoy it. Remember Pony Tail Boy this is just a game for me, it's your livelihood.... try showing a little respect. It goes a long way to keep people ( ie. your customers) playing the game (ie. keeping the money coming in to put food on your table).

Kicking butt and taking names. :D

You must be going against some weak Vulcan drivers. Since the update I've been using Vulcan almost constantly and my K/D ratio has doubled per battle. Most of the time I can shut down one whole side of a map unless I'm rushed by 3 or 4. Yes, I'll concede this isn't a brawler for death-match, but when it comes to team play Vulcan is a power house again.

Can anyone tell me what this power level indicator is good for that just replaced the efficiency rating on our tool bar. I go by a persons efficiency and kill death ratio more than by what equipment they have. I've seen guys who are more deadly with just plain m3 equipment than many with fully m4'd equipment. Oh,well I guess a few totally useless updates are bound to slip in. All I've got to say is that since the update to Vulcan my K/D ratio has shot through the roof. Going from around 3 to 1 to over 6 to 1+.

As a long time Vulcan user I can see where you are coming from. I wouldn't, however, sell the alteration for quicker turret rotation short. I love it, and with the higher damage and slower burn effect it makes Vulcan a truly deadly weapon again. Yeah the wait to start firing sucks, but once it gets going you are a force to be reckoned with. The loss of angle isn't that big of a deal when using it at medium and long distance, and when you're in close quarter fighting that quickness in the turret rotation is a life saver. Plus you are usually on the same level when it's close in fighting so the loss of angle doesn't matter much. I'm just tickled pink that they gave it a little buff finally. So I'm not a fan of the firing rate mod. I think it just negates the gain that we got from the buff in damage. with very little benefit.

Now for my weekly observations. Number 1 - Still having fun. I have to say that the game has become more relaxing and fun for me as time goes by. So to everyone who are stressing about the changes, remember it's a game. You can always walk away. I really think that's why Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's have finally improved a bit in their decision making. I mean having a around 15,000 less players playing during peak times in year kind of sends up signals that you're making bad decisions. Too bad they didn't catch on earlier like when it dropped from 100000 to around 60000 to 80000 players. But enough of the negative thoughts. It's fun for me again and that's the main thing. Number 2 - For all those who were upset by the re-balance of supplies, well I have to say that the drones pretty much brings it back to the point that using supplies is fun and balanced again (for those that use them). I'm really hoping and praying that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's don't decide to nerf the drones. They've actually made the game fun again for me. No, they're not making me over-powered. I would find that too boring. What they've done is properly balanced the use of supplies again. That being said, and also knowing that the anti-supply guys are going to go absolutely bonkers at the statements I've just made, I also have to say that I've finally come to agree with the adjustment made to the repair kit when the supply re-balance took place. I did always hate it when you where about to take out a guy then he would fire up a repair kit, fully repair himself and then take you out. It was so frustrating, but I felt that it was balanced out by the fact that you could do the same to them and then it turned into a battle of timing and whits. With the new way repair kits work now, it compliments the game and makes you work smarter to gain every victory with a nice little reward of renewed health after you run or win. Instead of turning you into an overpowered dumb meathead, which it had a tendency to do for those with a lot of repair kits before the re-balance, they now force you to improve your skills. All pluses to me and makes the game more fun. Number 3 - I've finally gotten into the groove again and I've reversed the downward trend in my kill/death ratio. Granted I only fell a few 100ths but it's nice to be moving smoothly again and seeing those numbers come up. Like I said earlier, efficiency numbers and K/D ratios are important to me. It provides a yard stick that I can measure myself against others with. Add to what takes place in actual battles they help me better gauge my skills against those I face. Finally, I want to declare that I'm not an apologist for Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's. They almost ruined this game with stupid, and I mean stupid decisions and I've called them on it and always will. I, however, will give them pats on the back when they actually make things work better. Which they are currently doing and hopefully will continue doing. I really enjoy this game and don't want to see it die. Sorry if I've kind of meandered through my observations this time. It's late and I'm tired. But I think it's important for people to realize that this game is evolving. Enjoy it if you can and when you disagree be vocal. Lastly, if it's getting to the point that you are angry at the game and the Dev's, walk away for a bit. They might not listen sometimes, well most of the time, but when their money starts getting tight they do seem to discover things that we've said. Remember, Go outside, enjoy the sun. Hug someone you care about.

Yes Cedric was a huge apologist for Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's, but I don't understand how he ruined the game. All he was was a moderator. Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's plus the Owners of Tanki made the game decisions that have brought us to what we have today. The fault lies at their feet for how the game has declined. They are the ones who made the policy and changes to the game decisions.

Well another week gone by and still playing. Still having fun too. So I think I'll add a few things that I've observed. I'm still finding new things in the game. It seems that they finally fixed the efficiency rating system in the game. One of the frustrating things for me when I left was when I was doing well in games my rating would slide down. Now I know that this may be a minor thing for many but I'm a guy who looks at such things. I look at my kill death ratio, and my efficiency rating. It gives me a way to see how I'm doing against other players. It's just one of those minor rewards that makes the game enjoyable to me. Plus I would like to see all those top rated guys who abandoned their accounts because they have a top rating pushed out of their spots too. So seeing it fixed gives me some encouragement that things may be getting better in the game. I'm finding that those silly drones are starting to grow on me. I mainly use the assault drone and I'm really liking it. I call it Bob because it bobs around beside me. You get it don't you? It bobs around so I call it Bob (LOL), well anyways, he's doing a very nice job for me. I've got Bob upgraded a little over half way and I very pleased with how it works in the game. I've tried out the others too, but Bob is my favorite and most versatile drone so far. I've found that the others, while useful in certain circumstances, are limited in versatility. So kudos to the Dev's for making a silly idea work. I've found the update to the Matchmaking system to be very limited in it's benefits. While fixing some of the glitches and seemingly lowering some of the wait times, they still have it dropping you into games with less than 2 minutes to go. I've just gotten into the habit of instantly bailing in those situations. Most of the time when it does that, your team is losing badly and they've overrun your spawn points and are on a spawn killing rampage. Sorry not going to happen to me. Maybe if enough bail when it does that to people, they will add a time limit to matchmaking that will no longer add players at a certain point. I mean really, I've had it add me to a game that ended as soon as I spawned the first time and that makes no sense. So that's what I observed this week. Numbers are up (probably due to the war). ( I've still got to give that a try.) But it's encouraging. One of the things that has always annoyed me tremendously is the lame excuse that many have used ( especially the moderators) that Tanki is an old and tired game and that's the reason for the decline in players. I think it is becoming clear that if updates to the game are good and intelligent then even an older game can still thrive. So please, will everyone stop using that lame, weak and pathetic excuse. Let's just acknowledge that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's have made some terrible decisions in the past that have seriously damaged the game. Now that it seems that they are making some decent decisions, let's pat them on the back. But that doesn't mean accepting everything blindly. Be vocal but constructive in your comments. Hopefully they will listen. If they don't vote with you feet. It's terribly important that they continue with good and intelligent updates if this game is to survive. They've pissed away 10's of thousands of regular players through not listening to community and arrogance, hopefully they will continue on this new direction that they've taken and the game will grow again. So bye for now. Remember this is just a game. Go outside, have fun and hug someone.

And that is why, even though I may disagree with you from time to time, you are one of my favorite moderators. ;)

Just had to throw the wet towel in Maf , Oh great Pony Tail Boy and Dev apologist. LOL Yes you are right Maf in a very small way. Sometimes and I mean very very rarely they have overturned bad updates by modifying it. The one and only example that stands out to me is the new protection scheme. (Balance changes, such as nerfs and buffs, fall into a different category so don't go there and don't count them) They did finally listen to the players, in this case, and put in a smart simplified system that actually makes sense. Also it behooves any intelligent Development Team to listen to the people who actually play the game because their input can aid them to make the game so much better and Pony Tail Boy and most of the Dev's are notorious for not doing so. So the statement is true that I came across in the Ideas and Suggestions Topic in the Forums : 2. We do NOT accept suggestion topics about the following ideas : ♦ Changes to the actual Tanki Online to its previous versions, or ideas regarding the removal of updates. They never pull an update back , but they may modify it and in the rare cases where they do it's great. They did this in the case of the new Protection scheme. I'm so glad that someone on the Dev team finally had the ability to make a good idea stick for a change and was one of the reasons I did come back. Hopefully there is a changing of the guard on that team where someone is actually listening and implementing good ideas for a change. So please don't turn a basically positive post that tries to promote the game into an opportunity to apologize again for Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's past bad decisions.

I've been away and now I'm back. I thought that that would never happen when I left. I was really pissed at the Dev's and Pony Tail Boy. They were ruining the game....It was no longer fun to play......and it was getting boring. So I took a year and a half off. Don't get me wrong, I poked my nose in with every change to see how they affected the game play and evaluated those changes. Then I would post my analyses. Looking back at all the posts that I made to this forum I still basically agree with all of them. But with some of the latest updates I decided to give it a go again and surprisingly I'm having fun again. I've been playing everyday for 6 weeks now and I find that I'm enjoying the game again. Don't get me wrong, matchmaking is a train wreck, but has potential if smarter heads than Pony Tail Boy can figure it out. I mean, really, dropping someone in the pot with less than 2 or 3 minutes to go is just plain stupid. I'd rather wait for a full game than getting dropped into the pot with less than 5 minutes to go. Also 10 minutes is just to short for a game ( my preference is the old 15 minutes), but I will admit, when you want a quicky it is OK as long as you get dropped in at the beginning. Once again being dropped in with less than 2 or 3 minutes to go is just STUPID. One thing I am glad about with matchmaking, though, is that you do get to pick the mode you want to play. Some of the other games I've played don't give you that choice and that really sucks. Along those lines, some of the benefits I've notice are these : With matchmaking it seems to have reduced the number of campers and forces a more active game play. There are seemingly less Shafts just waiting to nail you when you spawn in and the Magnum guys are also moving around a lot more too. ( I just have to tip my hat to the magnum drivers right now. The way a lot of you guys shoot and scoot is something I both admire and hate you for. I have to admit that takes some skill. I hope they nerf your big gun. LOL ) Also another benefit is that there seems to be a lot less guys tanking. I know some will disagree after reading some posts. But that's what I've noticed. Also anther benefit and something that has made it more fun for me is that matchmaking requires you to think quickly to make adjustments to your setup when you are dropped into a different map each time. With that statement, I can now segue into a brief side point. Since each game is now only 10 minutes long I really think the cool down for changing equipment needs to be shortened. Not by much. Say from 5 minutes down to 3. That would allow 2 effective adjustments and I feel will allow better balance in the game play since each drop almost always requires some adjustment to your setup. This will also allow adjustments to those who may be added latter in the game. Sorry couldn't help myself. It's just a thought. Now onto my next point. I have to admit, I was very skeptical of the drones when I started playing again. I also think that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's missed a huge opportunity to mend a lot fences with the community with the way they rolled it out. They took a basically decent idea that has improved some aspects of game play and turned it into another reason to leave the game or it basically confirmed in the minds of many that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's can mess up even a good idea even when handed to him on a golden platter. That being said, I have to say that I kind of like drones now. They actually do have some utility and restore some of the nerfs to supplies that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's have made in the past and in some ways they have even enhanced supplies. Which makes me laugh because of all the crying the anti-supply crowd has done in the past. I find the drones actually encourage supply usage while stretching out the useful times that they are effective. Sorry anti-supply crowd I guess the Dev's and Pony Tail Boy just flipped you the bird on that one. Which is one of the few things that they've done that I can fully get behind. But I will say this, you do need to be selective with which ones you get if you want the most bang for your buck. I recommend Assault, Engineer and in special cases Trooper. But , hey, feel free to experiment, I can see how each of them could be useful in certain circumstances. Lastly I want to say thank you to whoever pushed the new protection scheme through. It is probably one of the smartest decisions that have been implemented in the game. It is simple, intuitive and easy to use. So thank you. If it was you Pony Tail Boy I take a lot of things I've said about you back. Not everything, but a lot of things. Because I still strongly believe that the decline of the game is still largely to be laid at your feet. Now for my conclusion.( About time eh?) What I just wrote about isn't why I came back to play or why it is now fun for me to play again. It was just background material leading up to this thought. You see, I began playing this game back in 2012 and I finally came to realize that this is totally a different game now. (hey I didn't claim to be the brightest bulb on the marquee) This epiphany hit me when I was thinking about posting some suggestions for improvements to the game. Then I came across this line in the Ideas and Suggestions Topic in the Forums : 2. We do NOT accept suggestion topics about the following ideas : ♦ Changes to the actual Tanki Online to its previous versions, or ideas regarding the removal of updates. What it means is that there is no going back. Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's have decided every change is permanent. They don't care if it was a good decision or a bad one. They've decided that they are all wise and have a take it or leave it attitude. No one is going to change that. So I thought about it and came to this conclusion. The Tanki I knew and loved is dead. Now we have a new game with the same name. So I started playing it as a new game. This has allowed me to have fun again playing this game. I will say this though. If Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's decide to keep ruining this game instead of building on the reasonably smart decisions that they have made of late, then I will have no problem walking away again. I'm getting to old for that kind of DOO DOO. So I'm just going to have fun. Lastly, I'm not posting this for people to dissect. Feel free if you want to, but it means that you entirely missed the point of this post. All it is simply is the reason I came back. I'm enjoying the game. Hooray! Sure I took some shots at some people. But that is the point too. It shows that I'm going to have fun no matter what those around me do. If it's not fun I will simply walk away and you can meditate on your belly button. For people to really enjoy something you have to know why you enjoy it. And right now I know that I'm enjoying this game again and why. I hope you can find reasons to enjoy it too. If you can't, my advice is to just walk away. Find something else. Hug a family member or friend. Enjoy life. I know I am! :D

OK OK, most everyone, except the apologists for Pony Tail Boy and the Devs, pretty much agree that matchmaking is a mess and possibly even a failure at this point. ( I'm really trying to be nice about it and keep things constructive) So instead of ranting and raving about how bad it is and saying it needs to go, why don't we try to suggest some fixes for it under one topic instead of having those ideas scattered throughout the forum. I say this because all of us know that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's never pull back one of their so called Great Ideas ( Imagine the heavens opening and angels singing and trumpets blaring). We also know that they rarely if ever listen to the community. (Sorry slipped there) But I thought it might be interesting if those in the community had a chance to give their ideas on how to make a very bad idea work all in one place so that they wouldn't have to go looking too far. Hey, stranger things have happened and who knows maybe Pony Tail Boy and the Devs might get desperate enough to listen. 1) My first suggestion is for the matchmaking system not throw anyone into a game with less than 5 mins remaining. All of us know the frustration of be thrown into a match and having it end before we fully get into the match. Sorry if people are leaving after 5 mins then it was probably a lopsided match anyways. I know for myself that I don't want to be thrown into that kind of match. I don't want to waste my time, my supplies and my effort in such a match. It's just pure frustration and that leads people to loosing the desire to play. 2) My second idea is go back to 15 minute matches. 10 minutes is proving too short. That would give the system extra time to balance the matches and fill the holes if people leave. 3) Thirdly, shorten the cool down for changing out equipment. Before, when we could choose what map to play, you could have a setup ready to go for that map and you were good to go, with maybe one tweak or two to change to a more suited weapon or protection. You pretty much knew what everyone was bringing to the match also. Now it's hit or miss and if you make changes to tweak your set up you're locked down for 1/2 the match. Which I think leads to many leaving a match early due to frustration. I say shorten it to 1 minute or at most 2 minutes. I think this would lead to less frustration and less people leaving matches early. That gets the ball rolling. Please try to be constructive. I know many are frustrated with the matchmaking system as it stands.( Me included ) Like I said you all know it's not going away. So let's give some constructive ideas that will make the system better and easier to live with. Then hopefully a miracle will happen and Pony Tail Boy and the Devs will listen for a change. (The angels sing and the trumpets blare)

More lame excuses, more gimmicks to hide the problems and less players to play the game. The slide continues.....

In all the games I've been playing with the matchmaking system I think the bail out rate is actually worse now than before. Reasons for this are I believe - 1. We're made to play maps that we don't like. ( In other words no choice. Players prefer certain maps because of their styles of play. If they can't have that then those players will bail quicker.) 2. The Matchmaking system is as buggy as a hen house that hasn't been cleaned out in a year . ( I know this is controversial but ...The human mind works so much better. We use to be able to see who were in the matches and their ranks, thus we could choose better matches. Hence when it goes bad because of the matchmaking system putting a player on a bad team they will bail quicker. When a player gets to choose they are more likely to tough it out.) You could go to a more punitive system for those who bail, but all that would do is tick off more people. As it is , after the initial surge in players trying out the new matchmaking system and drones, the game is once again going into a downhill slide. So I don't think aggravating the player base more is a good idea. So in closing, this update has it's good and bad points. The Good - New streamlined protection system The Bad - Buggy Matchmaking system Underwhelming and silly Drones

Dream on Issimo, Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's never pull back an update no matter how bad it is. Plus they've invested too much in telling us how great these drones are so I don't see any pull back of them. The closest thing you may have to a pull back is what has recently taken place with modifying the protection / paint split update. They have disguised that modification by introducing the new protection module scheme telling us that they've had an epiphany and so are introducing a better system of protections. They fail to admit, however, that a number of players suggested pretty much the same system when the protection / paint split took place. So I'm happy to see that change finally take place, even though Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's take credit for other people's ideas. It is a much better system of protections for the game. So hopefully they'll someday read your posts on drones and take credit for your ideas too when they modify them.

I can feel the good in you Maf. Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's haven't turned you completely to the dark-side. LOL ;)

Well, the theft has been done.They've taken everything you built up and given you batteries. Though, I have to admit the new module protection scheme is a good idea that should have been done a long time ago. Say, when the paint and protection split took place in July of 2016. In fact This was my post on July 20, 2016 when I wrote this in the forum discussion about the Paint Separation Update : If you really want to do what you said you were trying to do, that is give us freedom of choice, first of all do what you did when you re-balanced the game awhile back. Refund all the crystals spent on paint (not including speedup costs) and start from zero and let everyone rebuild with the new system. Then sell empty modules and let us fill them with what we want. Let us upgrade each protection separately then place them in the module. Set a limit on the maximum that each protection in the module can have. For example maximum protection in the single slot module 60% (Anyone willing to run around basically naked to everything else should be rewarded). Double and triple slot modules 50%. Then you could even add a 4 slot module at 35% or 40% maximum, or even more modules with lower protection levels. Of course all dependent on maintaining game balance. Then individual protections could be micro upgraded to 60% (the proposed maximum of single slot module) then when placed in a module it would automatically be adjusted to the max of that module if it's protection level is over that amount. Otherwise, if it is below that max then it would just stay at that level. So then each person would have the freedom to customize their protections to exactly what they feel they need for each battle by removing or adding specific protections that fit what they are facing. If you had put in such a simple system (even without the refund) I think people would have been more open to it. All you had to do was do what you said you were going to do instead of putting in the complicated monstrosity that you did. What people hate is being forced to buy certain protections over and over again with other protections that just don't make sense. To see all their hard work and effort be devalued tremendously. If you really want to make us happy and have us stay then do updates that make sense. Make it simple, make sure it allows real choice and is affordable. Now they might not have gone with the complete suggestion but the update with modules follows the basic premise I and others put forth back then. To bad they had to wait til now to do it. More people may have stuck around. Also too bad they had to mess it up with the way they implemented the drone roll out too. I'm still undecided about drones. I see potential, but the anti-supply guys have to be fuming over this one. Also the way they ripped us off by giving us batteries instead of crystals. This basically forces you to buy drones (and probably spend money) if you want to see any benefit from those batteries. Why didn't they just reimburse us with crystals so we could spend them the way we want? Why not? Because it's just the same as it was back when the paint separation took place in 2016. They don't want you to have a choice. It's the only way that they, in their minds, can be assured that the drones have any possibility of success. In order to do that they have to force us to buy drones if we want to benefit from all those wonderful batteries. So once again we see bad decision making on the part of Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's. This one might have been a total success but they had to ruin it by getting greedy.

I began playing this game in 2012 because, even though it is a niche game, it was fun and dynamic. If the game had existed as it does today back then, I would never even have started playing this now boring, gimmick laden, full of bugs piece of human muck software that claims it is a game. I would have quickly dismissed it as a little kids game and moved on. It's no wonder that Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's can't attract and keep any new players and are losing those they have.