Interesting question. In a round of non-supplies recently in CTF I came out in first - but that's due to the score healing (I had 1700 overall - the next highest score on either team was 1200). I had a terrible ratio but still came in first overall. I think you might face the same situation if you play team battles, but, if you are own your own in a DM you might have a hard time cracking the top spots. In a non-supply battle Firebird becomes really OP.

Using the logo in the first place is rather pointless - using the paint just makes you a huge target on the game. There is no real benefit to using Premium at all - you can buy the 50% SMP in the garage, and, if you spend the money you would use to buy Premium and just buy crystals in the first place you'll get a better deal overall. What they should have done instead of a 15% paint across the board is given you 15% protection to your existing paint for the items you aren't protected against - therefore giving your own choice of paint a 15% boost for things you lack while allowing you to blend in as normal - this one change would actually make Premium worthwhile without having to use the "OH LOOK! I'M A PREMIE!1!!! SHOOT ME FIRST!!11" hunter's yellow paint.

Yes, if you have good paint and drug the heck out of it.

With the 2x card - it's fairly common. I'm sure you get more than one every 30 days. :D Plus if you buy crystals you get some Premium too (which sort of makes buying even better).

Oh I agree. When I heard about Premium I was expecting some "Premium-only" content. There is none of that. No exclusive items that can't be already had in the game. Tanki just took some existing stuff and bundled it into something that really gives no advantage for spending the money. So what is the point of it? I can't figure out why I should consider paying for Premium at all. It's actually worse than just buying crystals (in fact just buying crystals is a much better deal overall for the same money) - to me that makes little sense, and, I wonder who decided to go this route.

The choice to pay $10 and buy crystals outright is still better than Premium. You'll get a guaranteed 38,000 crystals by doing so.

The better deal as I pointed out is to IGNORE Premium and simply buy crystals outright. No waiting, no shame, and you get almost twice as much as you could with Premium.

Maybe due to shame?

That graph was after the Valentine's Day events - it should have dropped off, but, did not - this is because the number of players was higher at that time. It actually could have been higher (I used to see as many as 150,000 at times). Here is the current one: no real increase due to the free day of Premium: Surprising since it was a day when people could get 50% more crystals for free.

During the 24 hours period of Premium I was getting 25 points per kill. 10 for a normal kill + 10 due to having 100% SMP + 5 for the additional 50% SMP due to Premium.

Trust me - the game is more fun at the lower ranks. I don't drug much because I already have the crystals I need for my next upgrade - also earning 72,500 XP is quite boring - it's the equivalent of ranking to Colonel with no SMP. That's about when the game starts getting really tedious, battles are fewer, and due to rank grouping you no longer can play against lower ranked opponents - it's also when fully drugged MU M3+ start becoming enemies in the game. The cost of 10 months of Premium = the same as just buying $100 in crystals today. But when buying right away you will get more crystals, and, no pressure to earn them in the game. That's why it is a bad deal. If you're going to spend money on this game just buy the crystals outright when you get a 2x bonus card, then, just wait for a sale.

I don't think it really matters much - it's a choice of having those bonus crystals right now, today, versus waiting months and months and months to get them. Also the earnings at low ranks are pitiful - for those players buying crystals outright makes even more sense. Also keep in mind that for $10 you can get 38,000 crystals with a 2x card so in reality someone paying for Premium will need to exceed that bonus amount for it to be a better deal. When you reach high ranks it takes as much as 145,000 XP to rank - 50% SMP means you have to earn 108,750, and, with 100% SMP means you have to score 72,500. It's a big difference in time and effort. I never considered the SMP until the Daily Missions came out - by using one it allows me to grind through them quicker, and, the earnings in crystals each month from the Daily Missions more than paid for the 15,000 cost. Lucky for me my 100% SMP will expire after I reach Gismo.

But you can only count what Premium adds to figure out if it is worth it or not - the others you would have earned regardless of Premium. This is the best round I had while using Premium - 30 minutes in Polygon CP:

Your math is wrong. If you are getting 500 extra per hour, 2 hours per day = 1,000 more per day - not 3000 per day.

Let me point out some more logic: 10 months of Premium costs $100. IF you come in first or second every time and play a few hours per day you MIGHT earn 300,000 crystals extra over that time on top of what you normally earn. OR You could just buy $100 worth of crystals + Double Bonus card = 716,000 crystals the moment you pay for it (and you still earn the same crystals in battles over the same time period) - 5,000x10 (cost of 50% SMP) = net of 666,000 crystals. Which makes more sense? When you think about the economics of Premium it certainly doesn't pay to use it.

Well they took away the 100% SMP that was available for 15,000 crystals, so, now to get the same 100% score bonus requires paying $10 per month + 5,000 more crystals.

In order for Premium to make sense you need to earn about 30,000 or more crystals per month from it. During my 24 hour pass I made an additional 1,600 from it over about 5-6 hours of playing - because of the funds being higher at higher ranks (this is also assuming you win and come in first every time as I did). Do you think you can do that at your rank?

Yeah, you have to pay $10 per month to get that 50% XP boost. Or you could just use 5,000 in crystals to get the same boost without paying. Which one makes more sense?

Last year when the number of daily players was almost double what it is now there was almost no lag - no weird brown screen/crashing issues - fatal errors were rare. Now the performance is worse and the number of players is half of what it used to be.

Good. Someone else who figured out the real reason for Premium.

All they had to do was limit Premium users to only 50% SMP in their garages. Non-Premium players would get access to the 100% SMP by paying 15,000 as before, and, if someone changed to Premium during the time their 100% SMP was valid they would receive a 50% SMP for the remaining time of validity + a partial refund based on 250 crystals per day for the remainder of the validity of the original 100% SMP.

I guess it was too difficult to figure out a simple function such as: IF USER_PREMIUM(SMP) + USER_GARAGE(SMP) > 100 THEN USER(SMPtotal) = 100. :rolleyes:

More lag, more brown screens, and more fatal errors! Way to go!

Plenty of hackers, cheaters, and laggers today. Ridiculous update. Thank God I'm almost done with this game.