While the addition of a "night mode" is a very welcome and long overdue upgrade to the TankiOnline battle-experience, the changes made to the “Shaft” turret can at best be considered downgrades. This turret was already handicapped significantly in short- and medium-range combat—and, now, it is handicapped in its long-range strike capabilities. As anyone with even basic military experience will attest, the role of the sniper rests in his/her ability to deliver a kill-shot at a long distance without being seen. Now, thanks to the addition of the laser beam, that capability is completely removed. Worst of all, the so-called laser is nothing more than a giant red or blue neon sign advertising to everyone in the game, “Here I am! Kill me!” I realize that Tanki is merely a game, but changing a once effective long-range weapon because other players whine about its killing capabilities sets a very poor precedent. In warfare, there is no such thing as a level playing field, and “death” arrives without any advanced notice. Shaft-users might score a great number of kills in many maps/games; however, that high kill-ratio comes at a price for the Shaft-user: In a CTF battle, despite scoring 50+ kills in, for example, Dusseldorf, the Shaft-user is rewarded with significantly fewer points than players who have fewer kills, but who’ve captured a flag(s). Because effective Shaft-users rely on stealth and their sniping abilities, they generally rely on heavier slower hulls—thus, Shafts are statistically much less likely to be successful in obtaining crystals from any Gold Box drop. In “Sniping Mode,” Shaft-users were handicapped by tunnel-vision—a fact that makes Shafts easy prey to faster tanks with turrets that excel in close-range combat. The recent upgrade makes this problem even worse because not only are Shafts still handicapped by tunnel-vision, but Shafts are now also broadcasting a visual bee-line to their positions. No other long-range or short-range weapon in Tanki does this. Effective sniping requires stealth/camouflage and strategy. This “upgrade” eliminates any ability for the Shaft-user to effectively utilize cover, resources, and strategy. “Shaft” is clearly based on the long-barreled “tank destroyers” from the World War II-era, as well as the more modern self-propelled Howitzer designs of artillery used by both the US (M109A6 Paladin) and Soviet/Russian (SO-152 Акация) militaries. In the real world, these weapons fire 152.5-155 mm rounds that can easily destroy armored vehicles at close and long range. Although these modern, real-world weapons can be laser sighted/guided/illuminated, that laser is generally in the infrared spectrum and invisible to the target. If you insist on making Shaft easier to find and kill, you should give the Shaft-user the real-world capabilities of modern self-propelled artillery—ergo, give Shaft double the fire-power of its sniping capability at short- and medium-range so that it is the “tank destroyer” it was meant to be. No real-world Paladin or Акация fires a pea-shooter from its barrel at short-range, so why is Shaft penalized with a pea-shooter when up against faster tanks with Smoky, Twins, Isilda, Ricochet, Thunder, etc.? If you truly want to give Shaft a genuine, useful upgrade, then give Shaft-users a means to better defend themselves effectively at close- and medium-range now that you have knee-capped Shaft’s sniping abilities and are making every Shaft so very visible to all and sundry. Shaft is based on the tank destroyer—so, why not make it one?