Tanki devs are using the Pro Pass mechanism as a measurement of a player's output in crystals. If a player doesn't generate enough crystals to afford a pro pass, the player is defined to be a 'casual' gamer. This is why they claim they've separated 'casual' gamers from 'pro' players. But this assertion breaks down on many fronts, introduces hidden penalties and significantly reduces the game's playability - you know, fun. First and foremost, it's a tax. For a player to maintain their output, they now need to buy a Pro Pass - the tax. I'm sure there is a spreadsheet somewhere in Tanki's offices with a 'Pro' player's threshold monthly output per rank, a Pro Pass percentage (the tax) and the resulting Pro Pass crystal cost from multiplying those two together. Another way to look at a tax is as a devaluation - crystals are now worth less. To compensate for the devaluation, ideally the cost of in-game goods would be multiplied by the same percentage to yield the same effective cost as before the change. This obviously didn't happen. The result - crystals are now objectively worth less. It doesn't separate pros from casuals. It separates those with crystals from those without. Crystals can be derived from battles, a real pro, or they can be bought by a casual. This obviously does not help separate players based on skill so it doesn't solve the imbalance and "I hate casuals ruining my game" problems. It's too complicated. Players come to play and have fun, not make financial decisions. The Pro Pass decision is qualitatively different from deciding which turret, hull, MU or supply to get. It removes choice and increases grinding. Removing choice, aka fun, from a game is rarely a good idea. The daily missions introduced grinding to an extent but that was mitigated by the fact that you had a hope of completing them reasonably quickly. Now with the new battle constraints, grinding has been taken to a whole new level. You have grinding missions that you don't have a reasonable hope of being able to complete by the next cycle of missions. The Pro Pass mechanic doesn't resolve game imbalances for casual players - which is everyone new to the game - as there is nothing preventing 'Pro' players (with more resources by definition) from raiding regular games and making them lopsided. I've seen this happen in games already. The Pro Pass mechanic pre-supposes that players play uniformly at all times. If you play sporadically or not enough hours a day, you have no hope of being able to meet the 'Pro' threshold and thus the cost. It makes no difference how good a player you are. An alternative can be to directly measure a player's output per hour played and using that to separate casuals from pros - this is objectively a better measurement of pro vs. casual skill. Buyers (even the casuals) can still buy passes, potentially defeating the separation, because they are important, but it does not penalize everyone. It may be more subtle to explain to players but it doesn't sound impossible to package nicely and understandably in a progress bar. It yields better separation, no tax, more fun, a simpler mechanic and no financial decision penalty.

This is the list of battles I can join now. I can join a grand total of 11 battles. If we restrict the battles types to ones I actually enjoy playing, like CTF and CP, I'm down to 8 of which 3 are full. Leaving me with 5 battles. None of which are on any maps I care for. Admittedly, this is much better (250% better!) than the 2 battles I had available a few hours ago but this is crazy. I'd like to say I'm going to quit Tanki because this is insane but you've already fired me - I can't play, anyway. Well done!

How is it possible for this player - http://ratings.tankionline.com/en/user/SirmaisK/ - to have Smoky M2 and Titan M2 at a rank of Major when both require a rank of Colonel to obtain? I want some too :(

R.I.P Smoky My main weapon at M1+. The cumulative recent changes of reduced smoky impact force and damage and increased light hull protection and weight have robbed smoky of any fighting chance against other guns. If it can't kill outright and it can't knock opponents around anymore, what is left? R.I.P Shaft Putting a laser on shaft was a mistake. It reduced a more complex game to a simple melee mess. Original Shaft was like a game within a game, where Shafts would duke it out for sniper supremacy while keeping lesser creatures from scampering out in the open. And it was ok! Shaft wasn't OP, it was just different and more fun. Luckily, I did not upgrade Shaft before the silly change and dropped it right after. R.I.P Tanki The devs obviously love Rail, Ricochet and Thunder (in that order) because they are ridiculously OP. Given that rail has become the de facto standard for competitions, etc. rail will continue to get more improvements while the rest suffer and get reduced to nothing. These changes are getting old. Fast.

This is not what I said. You can (and do) have smoky, ricochet, railgun, shaft only matches and they are fun. I, personally, think that Vulcan only matches are not as fun because of how it works and I'm guessing you won't seen Vulcan only matches in the future because of this. Vulcan will add another dimension to the game by adding variety but I think it is not as versatile as previous weapons.

I'm not sure what you mean with strafe in this context. As long as you keep going in a straight line, yes it will strafe. The moment you turn, the turret continues pointing where it pointed before and that's not really a strafe anymore. If you look at the classic FPS strafe, the idea is to move sideways, circling the enemy, while keeping your weapon pointed at him. This gun can't do that at a meaningful speed. I'm not sure the linear strafe that it can do is useful.

After playing with it for a couple hours on the open beta servers I think it's a dull turret. The 'gyro' nerf makes it a chore to use in motion. Battles that consisted of Vulcans exclusively, were slow and dull. As an idea of how dull it is - unlike for most of the other turrets, if Vulcan were the only available Tanki turret, I think nobody would play Tanki. I'm guessing it will end up on big, slow hulls guarding flags or CPs or used as parkour launchers for smaller tanks. It will definitely be a headache in those settings for the fast moving tanks.

I think Hammer is a curse in team matches because of its ability to easily flip other tanks. The ease with which it flips other tanks brings out the worst in players who spend most of their match time flipping team members. It has gotten to the point that in nearly all team matches with Hammers, there will be at least one attempt to flip you. In many of the matches Hammers spend more time flipping friendly tanks - demanding flags or for 'revenge' of some perceived slight - than actually playing for the team. The Hammer turns players into the equivalent of YouTube commenters and it keeps getting worse.