In Support of the 40% Sale

[MandolinMarc 874]

As you've all undoubtedly seen by now, the Tanki community isn't all that happy about the 40% Tankers' Day sales, an unexpected drop from the typical 50% sale we're all so used to. Poor Semyon's Tanker's Day post is nearing 500 downvotes, and whiners are aplently both in the forum and on server chats. It's not at all hard to see why everyone is so angry -- smaller sales mean thinner wallets.

 

But blasphemous as it may sound, I'm in support of the administration's decision to cutback on sales.

 

And no, it's not beacuse I'm too poor to buy new equipment anyway, or because I enjoy watching nugs cry about less than satisfactory discounts. It's because at the present moment, sales in Tanki are too big and too frequent. Now you might ask, what's the problem with big sales occuring frequently? Sales make players happy, and besides, they encourage buying crystals which helps keep Semyon & co. on their feet.

 

Well, at the present moment, 50% sales are so frequent that the optimal strategy is never to buy any equipment off-sale. The displayed prices for equipment are really double their true price, but it is only possible to purchase equipment at its true price a few days every year. This is a huge problem, and the Tanki staff is fully aware of it.

 

And that's exactly why I'm in support of the recent cutback in sales -- these cutbacks are one of the steps the Tanki administration is taking to solve this problem.

 

Daily Missions are another major part of the solution to the problem -- these missions speed up players' accumlation of crystals, making it more affordable to buy equipment off-sale. This explains TO's decision to make 50% of missions reap crystals as a reward.

 

There you have it -- that's my analysis of the Tanki economy, and of the decision to cut back on sales. I know quite a few people will disagree with me... but go ahead let me know what you think!

Edited September 13, 2015 by MandolinMarc

[thunderousrailgunner 1,934]

Get ready to Welcome some Critics ....
You said that sale cutback was OK , But Even there was a no MU sale in this year of tanker's day .
What about that ?

[Phoenix.Rising 2,519]

I think it's a marketing ploy to fleece more money/crystals from its existing customer base and being greedy. <_<

[MandolinMarc 874]

Get ready to Welcome some Critics ....

You said that sale cutback was OK , But Even there was a no MU sale in this year of tanker's day .

What about that ?

Oh, I know I've set myself up for quite some criticism. I'll do my best to defend my position ;)

 

Frequent MU sales are a similar problem to frequent equipment sales; it's no fun when MU'ing is only worth the cost once every couple of months. I think Tanki ought to permanently reduce the prices of MUs by 10%-20%, and then have MU sales be much less frequent. So I guess the lack of MU sales this year is a step in the right direction.

 

I think it's a marketing ploy to fleece more money/crystals from its existing customer base and being greedy. <_<

Yeah, you could argue that the 40% sale is an attempt to reduce players' crystal balances so that they are more likely to spend in the next sale. But then how would you be able to explain the introduction of Daily Missions, which have greatly boosted players' crystal income, and TO's subsequent decision to make 50% of missions reap crystals as rewards? 

[Ordinary_Blood 66]

Oh, I know I've set myself up for quite some criticism. I'll do my best to defend my position ;)

 

Frequent MU sales are a similar problem to frequent equipment sales; it's no fun when MU'ing is only worth the cost once every couple of months. I think Tanki ought to permanently reduce the prices of MUs by 10%-20%, and then have MU sales be much less frequent. So I guess the lack of MU sales this year is a step in the right direction.

 

Yeah, you could argue that the 40% sale is an attempt to reduce players' crystal balances so that they are more likely to spend in the next sale. But then how would you be able to explain the introduction of Daily Missions, which have greatly boosted players' crystal income, and TO's subsequent decision to make 50% of missions reap crystals as rewards? 

Daily missions to boost players' crystal income are a joke. They have slashed the rewards down recently in a attempt to get people to buy. Daily gifts should come back.

 

Here, let me display me threads that show this:

Stop giving players noob missions by Lukey0

Objectional Campaign Against DEVs have reduced the Daily missions' crystals by SulfuricAcid

Edited September 13, 2015 by Ordinary_Blood

[MandolinMarc 874]

Daily missions to boost players' crystal income are a joke. They have slashed the rewards down recently in a attempt to get people to buy. Daily gifts should come back.

They did slash down the rewards -- but only because they realized that they had overcorrected, and now players were getting crystals too easily.

 

Even with lowered rewards, there's no doubt that players are getting more crystals than before with Missions. Before missions, you would only get crystals as a reward once a week or so. Now most players are getting crystal rewards from missions every day -- which means they'll have the freedom to buy equipment when they like, instead of having to wait for sales, as tankers historically have done.

[Ordinary_Blood 66]

They did slash down the rewards -- but only because they realized that they had overcorrected, and now players were getting crystals too easily.

 

Even with lowered rewards, there's no doubt that players are getting more crystals than before with Missions. Before missions, you would only get crystals as a reward once a week or so. Now most players are getting crystal rewards from missions every day -- which means they'll have the freedom to buy equipment when they like, instead of having to wait for sales, as tankers historically have done.

Missions are not free unless you have a pro battle pass to do them. You have to spend drugs to gain drugs. This is made worse by reducing rewards.

 

They could have also increased daily gift crystals reward frequency. But they choose not to.

 

Semyon's post is purely sentimental. There were no facts and figures to justify that claim.

 

Therefore I support Seraphina's stance.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Ordinary_Blood

[MandolinMarc 874]

Missions are not free unless you have a pro battle pass to do them. You have to spend drugs to gain drugs. This is made worse by reducing rewards.

 

They could have also increased daily gift crystals reward frequency. But they choose not to.

You don't need to drug to do missions... you just need to play. Whether you drug or not is up to you.

 

You see, what Tanki's trying to do is make it so that you have the freedom buy equipment when you want it, not only when there's a sale. To do so, they're making it easier to get equipment off-sale (by increasing players' income), while making it more difficult to get equipment on-sale (by making sales less frequent and smaller). Nobody seems to understand this, which is why I've created this topic.

[TriNitroToIuene 4,765]

I, for one, agree with you, Mandolin. You did well creating this topic.

[MandolinMarc 874]

I, for one, agree with you, Mandolin. You did well creating this topic.

Why thank you!

 

I think TO knows that making sales smaller and less frequent is going to cause a lot of unhappiness among players in the short-term, but the long-term benefit of being able to buy equipment whenever you want will be well worth it.

[Extant 154]

I actually agree because of the Star Series sales, we didn't need another 50% sale after we JUST had a 50% sale on the two most popular things in the garage, and other discounts as well. 40% makes sense, and although I hated it cause I couldn't get M2 Wasp in addition... 

[Phoenix.Rising 2,519]

I actually agree because of the Star Series sales, we didn't need another 50% sale after we JUST had a 50% sale on the two most popular things in the garage, and other discounts as well. 40% makes sense, and although I hated it cause I couldn't get M2 Wasp in addition...

 

Not everyone is interested in XP/BP. Tanker's day is for everyone.

[Ordinary_Blood 66]

You don't need to drug to do missions... you just need to play. Whether you drug or not is up to you.

 

You see, what Tanki's trying to do is make it so that you have the freedom buy equipment when you want it, not only when there's a sale. To do so, they're making it easier to get equipment off-sale (by increasing players' income), while making it more difficult to get equipment on-sale (by making sales less frequent and smaller). Nobody seems to understand this, which is why I've created this topic.

True, you can still do them but it's much harder; especially in later ranks. You also require more effort and time when you could have gotten something for free.

 

Daily missions aren't good enough resource when the prices of M3 are quite high. MU prices are worse.

 

Of course unless you meant the upcoming update of just getting a m3 when reaching a required rank without getting m1 and m2.

 

I doubt the whole uproar is about sales only. It's the manner of which the message is being conveyed to us.

 

(P.S. Interesting debate here that shook up the forum. However, I'm also interested in seeing how the rest would respond, especially many who do not share this view. I'm going to rest my case here.)

Edited September 13, 2015 by Ordinary_Blood

[dilsharox 2,395]

-1

[PowerStrike1.1 270]

If you think developers are using bad updates to get buyers and you hate them, explain how you haven't left the game.

[Loadingpleasewait 16]

I do get you, but the announcement was so sudden and unexpected that as the sales were coming soon I began saving and I had a specific amount to buy what I wanted (in my case M2 Hornet and M1 Hammer). If I had known earlier I could have done something about it and saved more crys. I think what Tanki need to get right is telling us sale details more in advance. That's probably the cause of all the fuss.

 

[MandolinMarc 874]

It seems like the community is just about split on this debate! I expected a lot more critics than supporters... but instead I'm getting a lot of both!
 

I actually agree because of the Star Series sales, we didn't need another 50% sale after we JUST had a 50% sale on the two most popular things in the garage, and other discounts as well. 40% makes sense, and although I hated it cause I couldn't get M2 Wasp in addition...

Good point -- I didn't think of that. I read somewhere else on the forum that there have been 40 events so far this year, compared to 100 last year, showing that TO is cutting back on events. Most people seemed to agree with this decision; 100 events is just ridiculous. So, the recent Star Series sale was an added incentive to cut back on Tankers' Day sales.
 

I do get you, but the announcement was so sudden and unexpected that as the sales were coming soon I began saving and I had a specific amount to buy what I wanted (in my case M2 Hornet and M1 Hammer). If I had known earlier I could have done something about it and saved more crys. I think what Tanki need to get right is telling us sale details more in advance. That's probably the cause of all the fuss.

That's a good point -- some Facebook mods were even saying that Tankers' Day sales would be 50%, a couple weeks before they happened, which led lots of players' plans to be foiled However, the point of the smaller and less frequent sales is to make it a reasonable idea to buy equipment off-sale, while the daily missions feature made players' wallets thicker so they could more easily afford equipment off-sale. So, if they started giving us the details of sales too early in advance, that would work against this mission.

 

There really isn't any way to fix the problem of tankers having to wait until sales to buy equipment that won't incur lots of player unhappiness in the short term, and TO definitely knows that, but the temporary discontentment is definitely worth fixing one of the major flaws in the Tanki economy.

[rothro3 50]

I think your opinion about the devs making equipment more affordable of sales is correct.  If any of you noticed the updates mentioned in the V-log about cumulative rates and only having to buy the most upgraded item possible, I think you will agree that the community should expect far smaller discounts.  I also think that the devs have made the product kits far better and more affordable to most tankers.  I think I might stop relying on sales and think about getting a M3 kit.  That was why I only got fracture and a pro pass this sale.

[MandolinMarc 874]

I think your opinion about the devs making equipment more affordable of sales is correct.  If any of you noticed the updates mentioned in the V-log about cumulative rates and only having to buy the most upgraded item possible, I think you will agree that the community should expect far smaller discounts.  I also think that the devs have made the product kits far better and more affordable to most tankers.  I think I might stop relying on sales and think about getting a M3 kit.  That was why I only got fracture and a pro pass this sale.

Exactly! Daily missions, cumulative rates, the new modification system, and enhanced product kits are all making it more affordable and reasonable to buy equipment off-sale -- and smaller, less frequent sales go hand-in-hand with these changes. At the end of the day, you're not going to lose any crystals, because smaller sales are being balanced out by more affordable off-sale prices. But you are going to gain the freedom to buy new equipment when you like, instead of waiting for months for a sale. It's a tough but necessary step in the evolution of the Tanki economy.