In the days I started playing Tanki, (back around 2013-2014) it was, I can safely say, one of the best browser games that I had played. Keep in mind, that these were the days before the game was saturated with buyers, before the server merge, before matchmaking, before overdrives, and before ares.The list I gave could go on, but the removal of the events given were, in my judgement, detrimental to the game overall.
The increase in buyers made playing effectively as a non-buyer very challenging in ranks above WO5. I have nearly stopped playing the game entirely with this account as a result of this: my activity is almost exclusively confined to the forum. What can I say about matchmaking? I have seen some players posting on the forum that it was a good update, and while this may be possible from their viewpoint, I find it hard to agree. Matchmaking battles are shorter than regular battles, and cannot be created by players. The main drawback(s) I see, however, are the following: Players have no choice what map or what team they are dropped into. My frustration with this is that a good portion of the time, I am placed in a map that I am either terrible or marginally OK at playing in, and on the losing team.
Overdrives, while not all bad, have, in my opinion, brought the skill of even the best Tanki players down to the lowest common denominator of the lowly noob. While I may sound extreme, consider that overdrives such as Hunter's (pulse) allow the most unskilled player to easily eliminate the best player in the other team. The same goes for wasp's OD. While my "unfair advantage" argument may be refuted by some, consider that this is a game, and not a real war. In games, the ability of a player should be determined by their skill and equipment that they have worked for to purchase, not an Overdrive.
The last point I want to discuss is Ares. Frankly, it is the most unmaneuverable, immobile, slow, and bulky lumbering behemoth of a "hull" that I have ever played. Not only does it break the definition of a true tank, but it is also hard to play with effectively. Attempting to drive up slopes is most telling of its ability, especially when there is another player in the way.
I'm not trying to say that all updates implemented into the game have been bad. I enjoy playing with the newer turrets magnum and gauss (in lower ranks at least). While striker is not my favorite, I don't believe it has negatively affected the game to the extent that I have seen some players claim. When containers were implemented, I was rather excited to be honest. While they are somewhat challenging to obtain, I think they are good for incentivising players to complete their daily and weekly missions (perhaps what the devs had in mind) and some of the rewards have been worth the effort for me. I also like the new HTML5 format. It loads faster than the old flash for me, and the overall layout is convenient. I have not had any of the bugs that I have seen other players complain about either (I'm not saying that they don't exist).
When fastforwarding 7 years from the time I first started playing Tanki, I can see that it is not the same game. What is very striking, is that nearly all of the friends (about 95% of them) that I played with regularly in earlier years have quit. I am not attributing this exclusively to frustration with the game, but I have no doubt that it was a contributor in some cases. Even I, in this account, have unofficially quit actively playing the game. My only active accounts are lower ranked ones, Suvurov and ETO_PYCCKNN. At my rank in this account, 2nd Lieutenant, playing the game has been made extremely challenging by the mass influx of buyers. At WO3 I was playing against fully upgraded m2 players, (before the new nomenclature system) while I still had M1 equipment. Earning crystals to buy m2 equipment was impossible at this point, especially as a high school student with other, more important priorities. Now, the devs have implemented a literal jump hacking hull into the game, which means I as a non buyer do not even have a good chance at taking gold boxes, or even boost boxes in many battles. With a price tag of around $153.00 this hull is clearly marketed to buyers. This update is yet another example of why I am frustrated with Tanki. While I am not advocating a complete removal of all updates that have been put in place over the last 6 or 7 years, over half of them could probably be eliminated without much complaint. To the devs, let me give you a little advice: listen to the wishes of your player base. If an update is unpopular, consider removing it. Poll ALL players before springing a new update that only a handful have requested. when you do that, I may consider playing regularly again.
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