Just today, Tanki released an update that proved to be very unpopular. Thus far, it has over 170 downvotes. Why is everyone mad? Because a few of things that used to be normal battle creation options have shifted to PRO battles. Although this may seem like an isolated event, truthfully, it is one step of a long strategy in Tanki's changing direction. Long, long ago, Tanki changed the name of the "No Supplies" battles to "PRO" battles. The impact was practically nonexistent. Who cared if Tanki changed the name of the "No Supply" battles? Nobody played them, after all. But in truth, this opened up a realm of possibilities. No longer would this pay-to-play system be relegated to the small corner of people who didn't want to drug. Instead, the name "PRO" was ambiguous, and could apply to many things. And thus it came to be. When Smart Cooldowns came along, where did full drugging stay? PRO battles. When the friendly fire option left, where did it stay? PRO battles. When variable time limits left, where did they stay? PRO battles. When capture and kill limits left, where did they stay? PRO battles. And now, where have private battles gone? PRO battles. The decay has been slow and hidden. Many of the features disappeared without notice. Sometimes, like now, the PRO battle updates have been overshadowed by a larger positive update. What is the purpose of this obvious deception? To make PRO battles the only acceptable type of battle to tankers. Why? Because if tankers spend more crystals...they buy more crystals. You may shout at me by this point, but I have more evidence. Also in this update is two important clues. First, they removed the 500 crystal entry fee for PRO battles. Now, only a 5000 crystal battle pass will get you into PRO's "advanced" options. Second, they removed the option of creating PRO battles from the hands of normal players. No longer may a tanker get into a PRO battle free for creating it. Both of these things incite that a tanker spends the extra crystals on a PRO battle pass. The verdict is disturbing, but reasonable. Tanki Online is a company, after all, and they're in this to make money. NOT because they love making games. NOT because they want to see you happy as possible. They want to make tons of cash. And PRO battles are the easiest way to do that.

This is almost as bad as the crystal box increase a while back. I like having wacky titles. It's not like they hurt anything. And all the information of the battle is now right there in front of me, why do I need a title to spell it out? I don't use private battles much, but I do use it sometimes. But I'm not going to drop crystals on a PRO battle just to play every now and then (and no, my friends won't either). I really don't like how I lost the filters for battle mode. Those were really helpful. (If the filters could also sort for time, that'd be great.) Another update that was sneaked through was the removal of the cap limits for all modes. Those were really important for gameplay. "We'll add turret/hull locked battles for PRO mode." Nope. Not gonna play those. Not gonna spend the crystals So now you can't even get into a PRO battle without dropping 5000 crystals? Holy cats, that's five gold boxes or five really good games. If there wasn't a reason not to play PRO before, there is now. Enough with the PRO battles already. Nobody wants to play them. Stop trying to push them on us. If someone decides they PRO battle access all year, it would cost them 60,000 crystals. That's almost enough for an M2 Freeze. Ha ha ha, nope, not going to do it.

Have you read Tanki's EULA? It's probably boring as a dead rat to you, but I find it rather interesting. Most of it can be summed up by this statement: "Tanki doesn't owe you anything." Seriously, even if you buy crystals and for some reason you don't get them, Tanki does not necessarily have to help you.

Most of the time, I can only find one or two pro battles on the crowded EN 1 server. Nobody wants to play them, because it's really hard to earn back 500 crystals. The battle pass only becomes affordable if you play more than ten pro battles...yeah, right. Also, I hate how flag limits and kill limits are now pro battle only options. Jerk move, Tanki, you didn't even tell us.

This update is surprisingly mundane. I've asked my friends (who do use Shaft) about the update, and I was very surprised to hear they loved it. I suppose they were fine with trading off easy camping for no-shake scopes. Shaft has become a lot more mobile in recent months, thanks to the quick-charging change, and the laser scope simply reinforces that style of play. Also, I've learned a new type of fear: that little line coming to rest on my hiding place, boxing me in.

But he forgot his Mac.

I relieve the stress by murdering every one you love. (That escalated quickly.) You're locked in a coffin. I am burying you alive, shovel scoop by shovel scoop. Whatchya gonna do?

Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers created upon this continent, a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Who said it?

As I said in the post, I switched it back to NPAPI Flash. The graphics are the same as normal.

Wait, SpHryfBoss, you run Linux?

I've encountered something like this. It all started with my computer. It's old and slow, and its internet connection isn't that great. So, after following the instructions on the Tanki wiki on reducing lag, I turned off the PPAPI flash, and enabled NPAPI Flash. But recently, Google Chrome hasn't been happy with that. On every single web page, Chrome will inform me, "Flash Player is out of Date." (Apparently Google is trying to phase out NPAPI Flash, as its over a decade old.) So, I turned on the PPAPI Flash again, and disabled the NPAPI. This made all of the Tanki graphics grainy, just like in your picture. (I switched back to NPAPI Flash, and though the "Update Flash" message is annoying, it's also a good adblock; no ads will run unless I click "Run This Time."XD) Is your computer... Old? Think Windows XP. Slow? Running PPAPI Flash? If yes, you might need to switch back to NPAPI Flash in the Plugins menu of your browser (or maybe a menu Flash player). That should fix it, but I doubt your browser will be happy with that. On a side note...Who runs Opera when you already have Chrome downloaded?

Dat name. I've heard dat name somewhere before...;) There are sooo many Monty Python references I could make here. Like, the Pythonese skit, "How Not to be Seen". Good article. Concealment is important. Many a times I have been Shafted from the bushes. One thing I would suggest: Dirty paint offers decent desert camouflage OR decent camouflage against the tan sides of grassy maps. It also has great Shaft protection (with a little Railgun protection on the side).

They made the TDM destroy limit only an option for PRO battles... REALLY, Tanki?

One of the largest attractions to Minecraft is multiplayer. AKA, real people.

I hate that all of the facebook events are directly over lunch time...unless they're not on a weekend, in which case they're in the middle of school.

YUS YUS YUS. NEW TURRET! I wonder how long it will be until it's balanced with the rest of them... Also, the other new turret, a machine gun. Eh...probably going to be like twins with a clip. I really wanted another long-range gun, but oh well, I'll take this.

This thread is hilarious. 'MURICA! I live in Minnesota, by the way. In the country. Forever alone here. ;-; The school tries to stop me from playing Tanki, but I log into computers using my mom's work account, so I'm good.

I have some points to bring up. Although, yes, full drugging is back with predictable drops, it is now slightly cheaper because you can generally pick up several of the drugs instead of using three boxes of drugs at once. (No, I don't drug, or buy drugs. This is just an opinion. Correct me if I'm wrong.) The truly saddening thing is that all of the options I want are in a game mode no one plays. Seriously, it's hard to earn back 500 crystals in a single match (and even harder now that the max time is 30 minutes). And the battle pass is only worth it if you play more than 10 games. Yeah, not gonna happen. I can find maybe one or two pro battles on a full server. Prices for pro battles needs to go down. As I mentioned before, the time limit is frustrating. 30 minutes is not a lot of time to complete a good battle. I need an hour or more to get a good amount of crystals. There are times when I want to do a short session of Tanki, and times I want to not budge from my computer for two hours. Thirty minutes is not enough. What is this discussion on 15 seconds? I'm confused. Also, :]

Don't hurt me for suggesting this: Tanki's EULA No, I'm serious. There's a lot of info in there that no one knows. Tanki is wielding an awful lot of power with that thing. I'd love to see an article on it. Maybe "The Myths of Tanki's EULA" or something like that. Sigh...I wish I had gotten to be a reporter.

Holy cats, where do you get all your crystals? I never spend until I'm broke. The biggest advantage of M2 Railgun that I've found is rotation speed. At high ranks, it takes the same amount of shots to kill people, but the gun is so much more maneuverable. The disadvantages are the same as always.

So...It's just a recolored and rebalanced Rico? I would like to see artillery. Maybe a howitzer or a mortar. Lob dem shells. The hard part? You can't see where you're aiming. You just have to know. I wonder how you would set up range. Normally, Tanki automatically handles turret elevation, but with the mortar, you'd have to do something else... Look at this list: Close Range: Freeze, Firebird, Isida Medium Range: Smokey, Thunder, Twins(?) Long Range: Rail, Shaft "Long Range" is one short of the others. This may indicate that at least one of the weapons is intended for this category.

I drive a hornet/rail. It's not exactly a CP setup, and definitely not a great one for DM. CTF is possible, but often heartbreaking, as the defenders will get so entrenched that no one can get a flag (and of course, the only limit on the battle is the flag limit). I love TDM. It's so simple and fun. I, too, am disappointed to see a distinct lack of TDM battles.

How about...the new physics update? How about...the balance update? How about...the isida/railgun visual effects update?

Oddly enough, I've found this update strangely neutral; pleasant, even. I almost never go for crystal boxes, so I'm not losing any funds. My funds from my wins are higher, which is naturally a pleasing effect. My only complaint is the gold boxes. As said before by others, dropping immediately is not a good thing. I would suggest that it go to a system where it drops delayed (as it was before), but not up to 90 seconds, as that is a very long time, and drugs activated near the beginning of the drop will not last that long.

I have no idea who suggested this, but I never saw it anywhere. This idea is as bad as the first one. Crystals are a big part of Tanki, including the box ones. Gold boxes, as well, did not need changing. The spontaneity of it actually boosted gameplay, not hurt it. I'm not sure what philosophy Tanki is even operating under anymore. Are they trying to make Tanki more tactical? Are they trying to encourage drugs? Are they trying to reinvent the gameplay? I'm not sure.