That's why there are no-drug games. If you don't like drugs then join one of them. If you can't find one, and I'm sorry but you have no choice, then purchase a pro pass and form one yourself.

Why can't the choice for forming drug or non-drug games be available to all. It's simpler and druggers and non-druggers can then just argue over who has more skill. And you're right, there are plenty of other games out there.......hmmmmmm..........You know if the Dev's keep ticking people off with stuff like this experiment people may start looking harder at those games. You know, I went through a lot of those massive changes. Some I agreed with and others I didn't, but I adapted and kept playing. This experiment is just plain bad and it's ticking a lot of people off. And this time it's mostly the people who support this game with their money. The Dev's had just turned things around and the number of players has been growing, this experiment will I fear, reverse that positive growth if it is made into something permanent.

That is what Tanki is hoping. But there are alternatives out there to get your fix. Good ones too.

True, but you forget that you have to pay for that privileged. It's not available to everyone.

I play non-drug games every time I'm on. I like both. With drug games I drug and have fun. With non-drug games I play with no drugs and I have fun. The thing I don't do is whine in non-drug games that I can't use drugs. Unlike the supposed non-drug users who whine about drugs when playing drug allowed games.

Wouldn't giving people the choice of Drug or Non-Drug games without having to pay for the privileged be a better solution? Everyone wants to stick it to the buyers, but remember it's the buyers money that makes this game possible. No money no game. So why not just give people the choice of Drug or Non-Drug games, then everyone can play the game the way they want and then argue about who is the most skilled. :D

All I've got to say is if they do this not only will it ruin a revenue stream for this game but I think it will chase away a lot of players too. I've already started looking and already found another game that I like. That game has no drugs, is very well balanced, and they give you free reign on the maps to use any place you can get too to fight from. Not like Tanki where they try to take away any ambush spots that might be found. I still play both games right now but with stuff like this that may change. Which of course means that my money will go away too. So all you guys that don't want drugs and don't want to pay, just think about this, what will happen when more guys that do spend their money on the game leave. Yes, that's right, Bye Bye game. The developers need to get payed, office space needs to be rented, servers have to be bought or leased, and bandwidth needs to be payed for. If the money goes away so does everything that makes the game possible. So I say again...... The simple solution that will make everyone happy is let people CHOOSE!!!!!! Let them choose drug or non-drug games without having to pay for it. That way everyone is happy and the money that pays for all this stays.

I just want to know where these games are. In every game I've been in that allows drugging, most everyone is using.

That is exactly my point, I say make it easier for people to be in non-drug games. Don't just have it as an option for buyers. Give people the choice....Drug or Non-Drug games. Just as a side point I've found a lot of non-drug battles on the Russian servers that you might find enjoyable. They include all maps and are not just BP/XP games.

Don't play dumb LittleWillie. Yes spawn killing has been around as long as the game has, but with this change it makes it so much easier and the people spawning literally have no chance. Read the posts man. Post after post is complaining about this point.

Mafioso I couldn't say it better. It shows how blind you are to the problems with this experiment and that you are clearly in the pockets of the developers. So of coarse in your posts your going to put the best spin possible on this farce. In post after you post you always criticize and poo-poo anyone who points out something bad in what the developers have done, and praise anyone who think the developers walk on water. You talk about having to change strategy because of this so called experiment, you're absolutely right. But you don't address the fact that this change takes the fun out of the game and just makes it frustrating. It's back to the old drug war days but worse. The developers say they are listening to the players. Then why don't they experiment with the simplest solution that has been made for years. Let people choose whether they want to be in a game with drugs or no drugs. Oh, that's right, you have to PAY for that option. Give the option back to everyone, not just the buyers. Have the non-drug games be with no drugs at all, including drops. Now that is a balanced game. Then have the drug games be as they are, that is also balanced. Then people can truly play the way they want and have fun to boot. This farce of an experiment is the worse unbalancing of the game that I have ever seen or experienced and is sure to drive people away from the game if it stays in effect. I was having renewed hope that the game was going to get better with a lot of the recent changes and adjustments. You've seen a large uptick in the number of players, game play has become more balanced, and people seemed to be having more fun. Then this abortion comes along. If the developers are reading these posts all I've got to say is this...... Instead of claiming to listen to the players, why don't you actually listen to the players. This experiment has never in my reading of the posts even been remotely suggested.

Gotta love spawn killing, That's all this experiment does. The other team that gets to the spawn area first wins. They just sit there with their Isada's and drugs activated and spawn kill all day. It does reduce drugging but not allowing immediate drugging makes it too easy for the other team to just sit on the spawn point and rack up kills. Where's the skill in that? I've been on both ends and it totally removes the skill from the game. The developers need to stop this farce right now. That's right, it's not an experiment now, it's turned into a farce.

Just going to put my 2 cents worth in here. My name is Dliver and I am a drugger. I also enjoy non-drug battles too. They really do help you hone your skills, thus making me even more deadly in drug allowed games. So here is an update for the purists here. I've been roving about on the Russian servers as of late and you can find all kinds of non-drug battles there. So if you really are sick of druggers, why don't you go give those servers a try. The no drug with no micro-upgrade battles are especially good. Another update for all the purists here too. If you join a battle that allows drugs, more than likely people are going to use drugs in those battles. So don't get mad. They're really not bad people, they're just playing by the rules. It's sort of like poker. There's a million ways to play, some games have "Wild Cards" and some don't. As long as you play by the rules you're cool. It's the same with Tanki Online. There's a million ways to play. Some battles allow drugs and some don't. So as long as the players are playing by the rules and the rules of that battle allow drugs, just think of that battle like you would a poker game that has wild cards. And just like in a poker game with "Wild Cards", if people got 'em people will use them. :D :D :D :D

Yes it sucks big time if you get hit with a full barrage of missiles. But from playing the Striker it is hard to get those lockups. It's very easy to break lock when the other guy simply goes behind something or someone, or by simply moving around a lot. I easily break lock just by keeping on the move even with my Titan. On the other hand once everyone knows that there is a Striker around, it just becomes a sitting target every time it tries to lock-up someone. Plus with that wide launcher it makes it very hard to just pop out for single launches. If you don't fully clear what you were hiding behind you just hit that obstacle and give yourself some splatter damage. Also it is very laggy switching from lock up to single launch mode. I think it should do a single launch at the target if you fire before full lock up. That would really mitigate it's one major bug and flaw while not making it over powered. I say if a guy wants to take the chance for full launch by sitting out in the open, more power to him. But if you really want to make it an effective weapon, make it easier and more accurate in single launch mode.

I see the Striker as no more than a nuisance weapon to take out those who are too busy fighting to pay attention or just get unlucky by being caught out in the open. It's full of bugs right now, hard to aim in single launch mode (the missile is liable to go anywhere) , has to expose itself for very long periods of time to use full missile launch, and is easily knocked off aiming lock. So as of right now it's a "OMG! I can't believe I got hit by that piece of CRAP Striker" weapon, because it is almost worthless right now.

I have no problem with that view, and I'm happy that you can find the type of games you like finally. That is probably one of the few upsides to this update. But look at what you admitted. To get those games it all depends on those who pay for the pro pass. People who play this game for hours are naturally going to spend money on the game. The argument has always been just provide a drug free option to everyone when forming games before this whole pay to have choice option came up and that would have solved the problem. But did they do that.....NO! You have to pay to have drug free games, and you have to be dependent on those who do pay for pro passes to form those games.

I just got done giving it a try. Hit the "Battle" button numerous times, guess what , empty battles every-time on maps I don't like. Am I supposed to wait around for the battle to fill up on unpopular maps? Seems like a waste of time to me. Oh, that's right the update was supposed to save time.....NOT! What's the difference when the free pro passes are done? Yep you probably guessed it... If you want the FREEDOM to play the maps you want and not waste time then YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. Plus the number of choices for battles is way way down and usually full so you can't even join those. Sorry Cedric please tell your bosses this was a very bad idea. If they are smart they will pull this one back and maybe earn a little good will by admitting they were wrong on this one.

You kind of contradict yourself. After awhile of people trying those maps, and they found that they like it, they will then tell their friends. Then those friends would try it and then they would tell more friends (and so on and so forth) til lots of people would be playing those maps. But that's not happening. So your premise isn't totally accurate. Personally I do like Osa a lot and have tried to get people to play it, but it never catches on. Maybe, when you rank up high enough we can meet there and try again to promote it. However, I do totally agree with you on Noise, Polygon, and Rio. Personally for me, it's a waste of time to spin the wheel of chance with the battle button. I say "Don't fix something that wasn't broken". Keep it the way it was. Give people the FREEDOM to form the battles they want , or if they choose, to use the "Battle" button. That was the best of both worlds. Everyone was happy with it. But this is an obvious move to reach into peoples pockets even deeper and force people to cough up money for something that will do more harm to the game than benefit, and that most players do not like or want. If the developers were smart they would take this opportunity to garner good will for themselves by saying that they have heard the complaints and that they will get rid of this change and go back to what they had before. It would create good will and over all, I think, people would spend more money on the game because they would then feel that they were being listened to.

Like I said earlier, " Sorry, Tough Luck, if you want to play the maps you like, pay for a pro pass". Plus who wants to play on the less popular maps. There is a reason they are less popular, players don't like them. I've actually liked for the most part the recent changes in the game, but with this one they went too far. Re-balance needed to be done, the protection system actually does allow for more freedom of choice in-spite of the ridiculous prices, but this latest upgrade reduces FREEDOM of choice and is much more complicated (in-spite of the big BATTLE button), reduces the fun factor and causes more frustration. They have truly separated the casual users ( who don't spend much money ) from the big money spenders creating 2 classes of players. The beggars ( casual players ) and as they call them in Vegas the Whales ( big spenders ). Just face it - IT'S NOW PAY TO PLAY BABY.......The transformation is complete.

Casual players want to play the maps they like, not thrown into a battle on a map they don't like. I form battles and never have had a problem having players show up. I also invite players from my friend list too. So getting players in a game is really no problem. Once again smoke and mirrors to get players to pay.

But what if there is no Barda map already created. Then it's " Sorry, Tough Luck, go buy a pro pass then you can play the maps you want." First you guys took away our choices as to options for battles unless we pay, now you've taken our choice for maps away from us unless we pay.

My opinion of this update is it's CRAP. The developers keep taking away choices from us, keep forcing us to accept stuff that takes away from our fun, and keep trying to reach into our pockets and just smile and say it's for our own good. I get enough of that crap from politicians. The fun is going out of the game and it's not for or benefit. At least people get to vote on the politicians that lie to us, whereas the developers just ignore our input. Maybe they should invite some of us to those "Hackathons" if they truly want to make the game better and more fun.

If you think stock Hammer is bad, try it with the alteration that narrows the shot pattern. This alteration turns the Hammer into a truly deadly medium / short range fighter, not just short range. I absolutely love it. It kills everything in sight. I know people think the slower turret rotation seriously negates the upside of the more compact shot, but I'm also a Vulcan driver and I'm used to using hull turns to compensate for slow turret movement, and in death matches and tight maps it rocks. In fact I'm having success with it on every map. It's also awesome on the long shots taking out fleeing light hulls that think they are safe. Single shot kills on light hulls at maximum distance are not unusual. I'm having great fun with it. The key to getting the most out of it though, is learning to use hull turns along with rotating the turret to quickly come around to shoot quickly. If you do that then your Hammer will truly hammer everything on the map.

I agree totally with most of your post Cedric except for this particular point. Yes you can play without paying if you want to be just the poor guy who is always getting killed in every fight and beaten like your momma's rug on a clothes line. The problem is this, and the prime example is the issue with taking the large supply kits out of the garage that can be payed for with crystals, slowly but surely the developers are taking away every avenue of advancement that a player with very little money can take to become competitive in the game. It's no wonder that buyers are hated so much. As of right now you pretty much have to pay if you want to have a chance in a game. At least supplies could overcome, to an extent, the slow progress of developing your equipment due to the overblown prices for upgrades and the ridiculously slow wait times for upgrades to take effect. What should have been done is have it both ways with supplies, just like with almost every other item in the game, pay with crystals earned in the game or pay cash. It's what you do with upgrades and speed-ups. So then you would have the option to pay for it now or be patient, earn it in the game and wait. That should be the same for supplies. Be patient and earn it in the game or for the less patient pay cash right now. Then people could at least have an avenue to progress in the game even if they don't have money. Because like you said it is a dynamic game with great replay value. Another thing that has made this change so unpalatable is that it has become quite obvious in the last couple vlogs that the attitude with tanki management is the attitude of take it or leave it, we're going to do what we want no matter how the tanki community feels. Instead of making the game more fair it seriously skews the game balance in favor of buyers. Lastly it should be your business what our time is worth. Because if it gets to a point that we think it is worthless to play the game then we will leave, even buyers like me. Plus it shows that you really care about your customers who play this game.