Is Tanki Becoming Pay-To-Play?

[projectkronos 24]

With the newly-released Premium Accounts (and yes, I've been running into them left and right), players now get 50% more XP, so ranking up is less of a problem. Besides that, there are extra kits that allow you to buy the newer upgrades at lower ranks (a Staff Sergeant with enough crystals can by Freeze M1 and Viking M1. I'm not kidding).

50% more XP doesn't let you bring higher turrets into lower matches, you just gain ranks faster. The kits are a bit of an issue, but non-payers can still buy those too.

Yes. I have drugs, and I occasionally use them, but I use drugs exclusively to counter other druggers, because I believe in fair play and winning by skill rather than by money. Aside from that, I main as Isida/Wasp, so I obviously do gratuitous amounts of sniping.

Precisely, you use your own drugs, which can be bought without real money, to counter their drugs.

You are correct. Like I said before, I prefer to win by skill rather than by paying for the game, in addition to my current financial state which doesn't allow me doing that. Proving that I don't want to pay for the game is irrelevant and redundant -- obviously if I've got an issue with pay-to-players than I'm probably not one. The issue isn't me quitting Tanki, or a subscription fee that nobody would want to play, or the economics of the game. The issue is imbalance -- that people who do pay can easily trump those who don't.

 

I'm not saying that all P2Pers are crap (though a lot of them are), I'm saying that in general, despite what anybody else says, the winner is the one who pays money, and the loser is the player who got out-drugged.

It's not irrelevant. Without buyers, there would either be a pay-to-play game or no game at all. Buyers are still limited to the same stuff you are, they just have more resources. Yes, people who buy crystals are at an advantage. In almost every single game spending more money=more power. The question is whether or not that extra power is too great in comparison to the power of free players. Since guns are limited to ranks and smart cooldowns prevent drug spamming (and both of these you can get yourself for free), I don't think that the game is pay-to-win.

[crazymickie 18]

this game is now all about drugging it has no skills anymore its not worth upgrading your tank a drugger beats you every time remove the drugs now or limit them to only one working at a time so you cant use them all together it is becoming unplayable drugged tanks are unbeatable its stupid

[MusicJam19 737]

this game is now all about drugging it has no skills anymore its not worth upgrading your tank a drugger beats you every time remove the drugs now or limit them to only one working at a time so you cant use them all together it is becoming unplayable drugged tanks are unbeatable its stupid

Now it's about tactical drugging - knowing the right time to apply them

[ghost-guns 1,486]

Now it's about tactical drugging - knowing the right time to apply them

I wouldn't say so. There are many who use double damage on every point, in particular those with thunder M3.

[robbiealdo 373]

Very well written. I totally agree btw.

 

---

[r_xKillerPro0 1]

Tanki Online is a free-to-play MMO tank shooter game. The game revolves around fast-paced gameplay, critical thinking and decision making, and lots of teamwork. The game supports an open-chatting system that is patrolled 24/7 by trained and expert moderators. Tons of new content is rolled out constantly that makes the game dynamic and fun to play.

 

...At least it was, from what I take it. Yes, I have only been playing for a few short months (like nine or ten actually), but I've already started to notice a downward trend that I'm sure a lot of people have noticed. But I want to address the topic head-on:

 

Is a game like Tanki, a game which states itself that it is a free-to-play game, purposely putting down free-to-play tankers in favor of those who pay?

 

Let's look at some of the changes that have happened recently:

 

- Change in balance to make the non-popular turrets popular (which means more players spending money to get the good turrets, and the players spending no money get the crappy turrets.

 

- Change to PRO passes and private battles to make players pay more money for battles that don't include drugs (yes, you have to pay crystals to play in a battle without drugs).

 

- Removal of crystal drop boxes in matches to force players to finish a battle to (maybe) collect the crystals at the end of a battle.

 

- Removal of Daily Rewards to make players perform Daily Missions to earn tons of drugs and unfair advantages. The players who don't play Daily Missions ended up buying more crystals to get the drugs that they would have had if Daily Rewards hadn't been removed.

 

- Newly-announced Premium Accounts that give players unfair advantages. (And no matter what you say, you'll never convince me that a 20% DEF boost against ALL turrets and mines is not unfair).

 

- Players didn't like some of the updates and started downvoting them, so Tanki removed the downvote button! (it's not like they listen to the forum posts anyway).

 

But the FINAL STRAW for me was reading a comment by one of the Tanki mods. I'm not going to name him as I don't want to be disrespectful, but you know who you are (and if you want to admit it, go for it):

 

"Ok, so make everyone pay $10 USD a month to play tanki and do away with drugs, and mu's, and paints, and anything else that gives players an advantage... and all the players who have never paid anything to tanki but who love to whine a lot...

 

-or-

 

Nobody pays anything and the game closes

 

-or-

 

Keep the game like it is. It is doing fine.

 

Mind you, this is a post from a businessman, not a player! And I realize that your rank might be all that high sir, but how often do you actually play? If your answer is 'often', I'd ask, how often do you play without drugging every second? And if your answer is 'yes', then I'd ask you if you think the game is still doing fine. I doubt your answer would be anything but negative.

 

Also notice what he said about free-to-play tankers? He speaks as though we've done nothing -- that we're a nuisance. We haven't payed anything, but we sure love to whine a lot! That makes us sound like immature brats and free riders who don't appreciate their work. And yet they never listen to WHY we're upset -- because the game is unfair to those who don't pay money. Skill is no longer needed, just shill out a few hundred bucks and become Godmode_ON!

 

As for the second-most-important part of that comment (the part so tastily colored in violet)... let me just say this. When I first started playing Tanki, it was uncommon for there to be any fewer than 200,000 players online at one time. Now I often see it dip down below 10,000. Is the game really doing well, or are all the free-to-play tankers leaving? If the latter is correct, there must be a reason, and the reason is that the pay-to-play tankers are dominating the free-to-play. Not only that, but the moderators and admins are ACTIVELY insulting the free-to-play tankers. Do you think that makes me want to play?

 

Here's my solution: Either change the battle to support free-to-play tankers, or drop free-to-play altogether. The game as it is is broken, and it desperately needs one of two fixes. (If you couldn't tell by how I highlighted them, I prefer the former)

 

You could:

 

- Nerf the effects of drugs (just look anywhere in the Ideas and Suggestions section and you'll find plenty of great suggestions for this)

 

- Nerf Premium Accounts (seriously, 20% defense to ALL, plus +50% XP, and +50% crystals? That's just cruel)

 

- Bring back Daily Rewards (and possibly keep Daily Missions as well for those players who want to go 'above and beyond')

 

- Make non-drug battles free (playing in battles without players with unfair advantages should be the norm, not a privilege)

 

- Bring back the down-vote button, and ACTUALLY LISTEN TO US!

 

or, you could:

 

Drop the free-to-play aspect altogether, lose tons of players (which, may I remind you, also means a lot of free advertising), and make winning a battle based off of who spent more money on the game. If you do choose this, then that's fine, but I for one won't be around afterwards.

 

But you can't leave the game as it is. Tanki is made of mostly players who play freely, and if you're getting a lot of flak for the updates, maybe you should listen to them, instead of listening to those who pay money.

 

(And just for the record, I work for a living and I crave every dollar that I make... I'm not compelled to spend money on a video game that's going downhill)

 

As for the tankers, pay-to-players and free-to-players, what do you think? Do you have any suggestions that could help better this game, or at least tip the scales to be somewhat even again? Feel free to leave a comment or two below -- the admin might not listen, but I assure you that if nobody else does, I will.

1) You are completely right.

2) Well, I don't remember... Not played for ages.

3) BRO! I AGREE!k gifduytg. The reason for this I got this was because many players didn't play only collected crystal boxes. Is that even possible to get 'crystals boxes' without playing?!

4) Well I am neutral

5) If I will ever play this game again, I would first blow up the Premiums

6) So damn right,

 

i) Smart Cooldowns have nerfed the Drugs.

ii) I disagree! Just removes this crap!

iii) Good Suggestion

iv) I don't remember, so nothing..

v) RIGHT

 

._. People who say that no advantage with Premium... 15% changes a lot. SO UNFAIR. 50% more XP and crystals in every mode without having XP multiplier. LOL Are you kidding the crap outta me? Just calling it 1.5 faster will have a slap on the face. DISCRIMINATION. Bonus crystals......... THE CRAP. FREE PRO PASSES. EWW

 

----------RESULT------------

 

Tanki may be living only because of the buyers, but they shouldn't exactly just give all advantages to them. Well, I am not generalissimo, but If I was a generalissimo. I would have simply felt holy discrimination as the XT were only available after having so damn hard time like defeating 9999 tankers but for premium and without problem. 

[BSG-62 512]

Tanki is a business. It has always been, at least partly, pay-to-play and it always will be.

[felinee1 48]

Players that don't pay are forced to stick with the turret/hull combo they decided upon early in their career - choices which may not have been the best, or were good choices at the time but game rebalances mean are now not strong choices. 

[felinee1 48]

Players that don't pay are forced to stick with the turret/hull combo they decided upon early in their career - choices which may not have been the best, or were good choices at the time but game rebalances mean are now not strong choices. 

... meaning that those who pay not only get more powerful armaments, but better ones with the balances of the day.  Those who don't pay are very disadvantaged.

[i200000 717]

No, there's no problem with the game. The problem is with the no-lifer lone wolves, who doesn't have even one friend to play with.

 

Please note, I still DEMAND to decrease the PRO battle pass' prize at the lower ranks.

[SunnyQueen 609]

Players that don't pay are forced to stick with the turret/hull combo they decided upon early in their career - choices which may not have been the best, or were good choices at the time but game rebalances mean are now not strong choices. 

Totally disagree

 

Devs made non-buyers easier way to play NOW

 

I was playing at begining with smoky m0, m1

Then i bought shaft m2

Now i play with isida m3

 

I payed only for smoky m1, shaft m2 and isida m3

 

BEFORE UPDATES

 

i had to pay for smoky m1 shaft m0 m1 and m2 and isida m0 m1 m2 m3 

 

DON'T SEE DIFFERENCE?

[ghost-guns 1,486]

Players that don't pay are forced to stick with the turret/hull combo they decided upon early in their career - choices which may not have been the best, or were good choices at the time but game rebalances mean are now not strong choices. 

Yes this is the case.

 

My tank was hornet M0, then M1 and now M2 but I get destroyed in one shot by druggers.

 

I was going to get hornet M3 but perhaps I should switch to viking so I won't get killed in one shot. I like hornet, but what can you do?

[Maf 32,300]

what can you do?

Buy a good protective paint and upgrade it a bit.

[ghost-guns 1,486]

Buy a good protective paint and upgrade it a bit.

I can get sandstone at my rank (to protect against rail AND thunder), but it's kind of weak.

Edited November 2, 2015 by ghost-guns

[U.N.E.X.P.E.C.T.E.D 118]

The only thing I see happening in TO right now are top players trying to become the best by throwing money at each other. It's sad that money is a more effective weapon in this game than for example a Smoky. 

 

Breaking news: Tanki is about to release a new OP weapon, when using this weapon it's impossible to die since it gives you 100% protection against all other weapons!

 

[Erty1235_tanki 44]

I have to agree and disagree with you Kristen. Although many of the points were valid some were not, like when you said bring back daily gifts. The reason why the developers added daily missions is to keep players from doing nothing and logging in every day to get their reward. Anyways the old system gave you crystals very infrequently. And the second point is balancing turrets is really hard because of the game constantly changing do naturally the turrets would too. :)

[asifmehmood 1,576]

Yes it is

[projectkronos 24]

The only thing I see happening in TO right now are top players trying to become the best by throwing money at each other. It's sad that money is a more effective weapon in this game than for example a Smoky. 

So you've bought a Smoky M3 with real money and fully MUed it. Someone else worked hard and got a Smoky M3 fully MUed without paying a dime. Who wins?

[QueenSeraphina 407]

So you've bought a Smoky M3 with real money and fully MUed it. Someone else worked hard and got a Smoky M3 fully MUed without paying a dime. Who wins?

The answer is both wins.

 

The buyer saves time by getting  it M4 using $, while the Non-buyer works hard to his/hers without spending real money. It depends on individuals' patience and wealth level. 

[U.N.E.X.P.E.C.T.E.D 118]

So you've bought a Smoky M3 with real money and fully MUed it. Someone else worked hard and got a Smoky M3 fully MUed without paying a dime. Who wins?

It is simply impossible to use M4 equipment + supplies without spending real money on crystals. And anyone who says it is possible is either lying or never experienced it at the top ranks himself.

[QueenSeraphina 407]

The old Right-wing Capitalist bull right there! Neither benefit tbh. Unless the buyer is a rich mf (because then he or she wouldn't give a crap about spending a hundred or a thousand bucks even on some crappy old garbage). The buyers who are not so wealthy will need to work even harder to get the money for purchasing a bunch of crystals or will have less money to spend on other things, whilst the non-buyer wastes more time on trying to get things by playing game modes he or she normally would rebuke to play in.

 

Might seem KIND of fair if you take out the rich people, however effort is wasted and that is NOT a good thing, be it time spent on games which you later on regret about yet still do it in order to have some better stuff to entertain you much MUCH later (at which point you might as well give up on the game and get bored) OR you waste effort in getting money which could have been used for other benefits of yours, but instead was wasted on a useless virtual garbage that isn't even that much more entertaining at all.

 

 

You're asking the wrong question here. The question you should be asking is whether that is fair and/or good and the answer is no, it is neither fair nor good. Perhaps more fair than good, but still not fair.

That "rich person" would have been a working class citizen, so spending wouldn't be an issue if she/he is serious about it. Same reason people buy expensive property/items/entertainment items. "Garbage" is highly subjective. Not everyone shares the same view. And sales would have made crystals purchases even cheaper.

 

Entertainment value would be hmmm.....

Smashing the other team into bits with your M4 combo + drugs. Lol.

[applications 993]

That "rich person" would have been a working class citizen, so spending wouldn't be an issue if she/he is serious about it. Same reason people buy expensive property/items/entertainment items. "Garbage" is highly subjective. Not everyone shares the same view. And sales would have made crystals purchases even cheaper.

 

Entertainment value would be hmmm.....

Smashing the other team into bits with your M4 combo + drugs. Lol.

Good point

[kostas604 106]

Have you ever played games like drakensang online or contact wars? There the gap between buyers and non-buyers is EXTREMELY HUGE.

[QueenSeraphina 407]

Since when is the working class the rich people? They're completely opposite classes! And I already explained how spending a lot of money on this game for working class is an issue. Perpahs if you actually have a job to get money with which you can do what you desire with (well... technically) you can get decent stuff. If you're a kid who's parents are in pretty poor conditions, you're at a disadvantage. And if you're about to say "Well, that's kids, so what" or whatever, then you most certainly are discriminatory towards the young. People of all ages play this game, yet people with better wealth and/or who are older have an advantage. How is this in any way fair let me ask you?

 

Garbage isn't subjective. A lot of the stuff that you THINK is good, is in fact made to LOOK good, but in fact is total garbage. That is how Capitalism functions; the eutrepeneurs buy the cheapest available resources to make their product and then make the product look good for having an excuse to sell the product for an extremely high price. In other words; business as usual. In this scenario, you spend hundreds of bucks/quids/euros (or whatever other currency you use) on this one game (which exceeds the amount of money you might spend on games that you buy and then play for free) and so you could potentially spend more money on Tanki Online than you've spent on all of CoD or Halo or whatever other shooter game series that there are combined! And these games are much better in graphics and coding and provide easier entertainment (a LOT less frustration, because losing doesn't really matter in those games as much as it does in TO, because if you lose crystals, but gain experience you're ought to have a disadvantage like not being able to buy certain items, which then either makes you be stay weaker or makes you purchase crystals in order to get at an equal level with others that are your rank or higher) than Tanki Online, and this is NOT subjective, this is how Free-toPlay, but Pay-to-Win or Pay-to-get-an-Advantage function; it's all just a farm of cash for the developers of such games.

 

Entertainment value bases on whether you get the experience you were hoping to get from what you've paid for a certain amount of money (or whether you're satisfied with the exchange). The amount of entertainment you get in comparison to how much rage you get from this game is certainly not worth the hundreds of bucks, quids or whatever that you're very likely to pay.

Huh, that made a lot of sense. Hats off to you,sir.

 

However, since nothing in life is fair, people are still going dump money into this game to get more crystals, power and bulldoze people over. What about people that don't play those games other than TO? They won't care how much better are other games. They just want to play TO and that's it.

 

TO is actually a frustrating game to play since mults, saboteurs and cheaters exist. Money makes it easier but that doesn't guarantee a victory 100% of the time. It only gives you a bigger fighting chance.

 

Maybe I should make a noob article about it. When I'm free.

Edited November 5, 2015 by QueenSeraphina

[Phoenix.Raised 5,992]

Maybe I should make a noob article about it. When I'm free.

:) you late [issue 37] The Word "Noob" and its Karma