Review [Special] The Balance Update: Assessment of Views

[Quarks 2,255]

 

 

Just this past Friday, another highly anticipated V-LOG was released to the TO public, with big news in the works. The AWC Skype chat was shuddering with excitement and anticipation, the cumulation of a week's worth of development news. It was released to people ready to click that play button and say “ahh, another V-LOG, let’s give it a like”.

 

And at the beginning, we got exactly what we hoped for. And then it hit. At 1:35, the words “huge”, “game balance”, and “update” all came together in one sentence. Pound the dislike button, people got a look at a massive update that will be coming out later this month. With a low of 25 likes on the V-LOG, the community outcry was a resounding “NO”.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

All About Them Supplies (+ My Opinion)

 

So why do people dislike the update? The first problem is not even related to any Turrets or Hulls, but the relocation of the 1500 supply kit to the shop. Within the first page, it is already asked, “Why can’t you just raise the price?”. Supplies are a part of the game, and the 1500 kit was a huge way to gain supplies instead of just buying the 100-piece kit. The loss of mass-buying large supply kits is a bit of a blow to people who don’t want to buy, like me, to get the supplies we want to play the game. But regardless of the higher cost of buying multiple 100-supply kits, people can still buy them; moving the larger kit to the Shop will simply mean those people who spend may become even more powerful. While understandably controversial, this isn't inherently a bad thing, since Tanki does rely on those who spend real money on the game to keep going.

 

On the topic of supplies, smart cooldowns will also be getting an update so that it takes less time to cool down between uses. At this red flags shot up, “Tanki, you’re encouraging drugging, how could you?”. And yet supplies have always been a part of the game, from the very beginning. Smart cooldowns at this point are still better than the non-stop drugging of before smart cooldowns. Supply use is a strategy of what to use and when in itself, which arguably makes gameplay more skilled and exciting in many situations. Do some people take it to the extreme? Of course, but it is an integral part of the game that won’t be leaving anytime soon. Besides, you don’t have to worry about healing up if you just used a mine now.

 

 

Turrets and Hulls: The Big Kahuna

 

Then came the mass changes to literally everything. Hulls, turrets, and everything associated will never be the same again.

 

Marshal is the New Goal

 

With the upcoming update, all M3s will now be available at Marshal rank, and prices and parameters are to be updated so they are all on an even level. Now everyone below the rank of Marshal is realizing just how far they have to go before they reach M3s, thus extending the 'mid ranks'. Many people below Marshal may not enjoy this sudden jump. M3s become much harder to obtain, as one must fight with M2s against M3s for 4 extra ranks. Meanwhile, many have pointed out the consequences of people at or above Marshal now having access to every turret and hull, making their lives easier as they don’t have to wait for the unlock ranks going forward.

 

Hulls

 

With all the hulls having the same health in their respective classes, mixed reviews have been given across the board. The view of a majority is that makes the game “less dynamic”, and that everything is too similar to each other. Having a variety of health in different classes, in their eyes, is better than having equal health and having differences in performance. For example, a heavier Dictator that is slower and has a large hitbox is more appealing than having a slightly faster and heavier Dictator with less health. And indeed it does make sense to not want change, as it completely changes how a hull plays in the game.

 

On the other side of the spectrum, there are a few open to the change. It keeps the “classes” of hulls clear and that they are equals. Instead, it is the changes in the performance that become desirable. Now it isn’t a necessity to have a Hornet for the health that Wasp doesn’t have, for example. The split is skewed towards dislike, and while understandable, others have commented that it is still important to keep an open mind.

 

Turrets

 

Easily prompting the largest debate is the massive balancing of the turrets as they converge onto the rank of Marshal. Some got a major boost, others were “nerfed”, but all were affected nonetheless. I will not go into detail on how each changed - if you want that, check out GoldRock’s Analysis of this update.

 

The most polarizing by far is Isida, which is viewed to have been nerfed incredibly; having only 10% healing across the board, literally, which even less than 31% at M0. This is viewed to kill the turret by almost every Isida player in the comments. It will be unable to withstand damage as well, giving it a virtual death wish. Not only that, but it also deals less damage per second and has a lowered healing rate too. This is accompanied by a buff in turret rotation speed and energy consumption. “Unusable”, “this turret is dead”, and “Tanki ruined my M4 turret” accompanied the new parameters along with a cost up 100,000 crystals than before.

 

A similar reaction occurred with other many of the other turrets. The other notable ones being Smoky and Thunder, which both received nerfs in different parameters (Smoky got a critical damage reduction while Thunder got a max damage nerf). People now see Thunder as being nerfed to the ground, and Smoky as being not as good as before. While the outcry is not as extreme as Isida’s, searching through 20 or so pages of comments, it may be found liberally sprinkled through the comments.

 

 

Turrets and Hulls: My Opinion

 

Overall, I like it. Sure, it isn’t perfect, but the game never has been and this is an attempt to make things better. It is greatly disliked because it goes against everything we’re used to, which I covered way back in the days of AWC. A part of everyone doesn’t want change and it hard to open ourselves up to it. Yet we always find a way.

I actually really like what they did with Smoky, as it will now be much more tactical, relying on damage and skill in placing hits to knock off aim. I like the buff in critical hit chance to a solid 20% chance, even if its damage was reduced. Even my primary turret Railgun, while losing some of its damage output (only 30 M2-M4), gains a much better reload time: 4 seconds at “M4”. To put it in perspective, right now Railgun does a max of 2170.9 Hp per minute, while the new update would have it doing 2400 per minute. While it might be an immediate problem in dealing damage per shot, when you think about it, it doesn’t overall. Not only that but now the light hulls are slower, making it harder to simply dodge these weapons.

Firebird got some nice buffs in some places which I like, considering it is my tertiary turret of choice. It gets nice buffs in damage M2 and up, a greater range, and it has a faster reload time, which will make it an almighty pain head-to-head. However, the time it takes to fully burn a hull is doubled, making that residual damage less effective. What happened with Firebird exemplifies the essence of the update: buffs are countered with nerfs. Every stays similar, but completely different, a “real life” oxymoron if you will. Yes, even Isida; even though it got a nerf in damage, every hull got an HP nerf too. Not only that, but it can fire for longer, making the loss in self-healing is compensated. Besides, with the decrease in self-healing, it will be easier to counter in close-quarters combat, considering before it was nigh unstoppable in reach of its beam. Now it’ll actually be a battle, not a hopeless loss.

For all the Turret modifications, Hull modifications are a different story. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of them all getting the same amount of HP in their respective classes, I will be interested to see how it is handled. 

 

Probably my greatest dislike of the update is moving every M3 to the rank of Marshal. Sure, it makes it uniform, and everything is unlocked at that point. This lengthens the mid ranks a lot, making my life harder. Considering I have no M3s at the time, I will either have to micro-upgrade my equipment or work with M2s till Marshal, neither of which is going to be fun. When I get to Marshal, will it be rewarding, oh yeah; but the journey will be long and tedious. Equally, I think it'll mean better gameplay once I hit Marshal, since there'll be a greater variety of effective M3 equipment at later ranks.

 

The main thing though is kits. The constant question of what will happen to them and what impact will it have. Will there be M3 kits available before Marshal, or will there be M2 kits leading up? The future is uncertain, but kits have the possibility of making or breaking the update. The ability to access kits with M3s before Marshal would be huge, but would cause a balance divide in battles where people only have M2s. It would make the people who have been saving up more powerful than their opponents, but if that doesn’t happen it could create unhappiness about not accessing M3s early like other kits (i.e. Ant kit) did pre-update.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Views on the update announcement differ greatly from person to person. Some want to keep things the same, and others are optimistic. Whatever you think about the update, your opinion is your own. I invite you to discuss your thoughts, views and ideas below. Above all, make sure to keep an open mind when discussing each others' opinions.

 

With that, let's keep enjoying Tanki, and wait to see what happens despite our doubts. You never know - you might just like what you find!

 

 

Edited June 20, 2017 by Hexed

[Zenyth 6,494]

"alterations will begin to differentiate how each hull performs, making alterations necessary to promote a Hull’s strength"

 

I'm starting to increasingly believe that this will be true

[Spote 1,067]

:)

[Homs 1,287]

Nice )

[Magenta 5,165]

"alterations will begin to differentiate how each hull performs, making alterations necessary to promote a Hull’s strength"

 

I'm starting to increasingly believe that this will be true

meaning we will have to spend another extra 50k, plus 1 USD, since its a real gamble to put 50k into something u have no idea about what it will turn out to be. nice strategizing, devs  <_< . BTW, check my garage to know my mood now.

click after checking it:

 

 

THIS IS IT!

 

 

---

btw, marshal rank is gonna be OP..... and then, no incentive to rank. i mean, whats the advantage of ranking further now????

Edited October 3, 2016 by Magenta

[ihatepasswordisback 152]

meaning we will have to spend another extra 50k, plus 1 USD, since its a real gamble to put 50k into something u have no idea about what it will turn out to be. nice strategizing, devs  <_< . BTW, check my garage to know my mood now.

click after checking it:

 

 

THIS IS IT!

 

 

---

btw, marshal rank is gonna be OP..... and then, no incentive to rank. i mean, whats the advantage of ranking further now????

ur isida hornet looks cute :D :D :D 

[Magenta 5,165]

ur isida hornet looks cute :D :D :D

ikr? i dont wanna wake up from this dream....#hatethebalance. all i cared about was isida T.T and its gone..... 

 

 

 

 

[ihatepasswordisback 152]

ikr? i dont wanna wake up from this dream....#hatethebalance. all i cared about was isida T.T and its gone..... 

 

 

 

 

well.. lots of isida hornet m3s would be more depressed becuz isida is nerfed :P stay positive

[FracTureD 58]

So all the crystals we spent on making our turrents stronger and hulls faster will be impacted by this update... Basically we wasted our crystals with micro upgrades... Sad... Don't know why micro-upgrades get introduced and then a few months down the line they're nullified by another update... Waste of crystals!

[slycleaversmart_2.0 25]

THIS IS MISNAMED!!!! IT SHOULD BE THE GREAT MESSED-UP!

[K4N4M135 2]

Every turret i like (example: railgun, thunder, smoky, firebird and isida) are nerfed a lot. Why change them to the same tier? The better turrets are more expensive and at a higher tier, it isn't unequal! The better turrets are harder to get! It wouldn't make sense if every turret was equal at the same tier and as expensive as each other. That makes this game even less equal because the turrets are nerfed/buffed too much. Just keep it the way it is!

[RIDDLER_8 5,553]

My greatest fear of this update is that my M4 Isida will be weaker. I like to have a strong M4 Isida. In my opinion, M4 Isida should get a 10% extra healing and damage power, whilst reducing rotation speed by 10%. Isida is the ultimate turret for earning experience points by healing and killing enemies.

 

Also, M4 Mammoth is also weaker that makes it unfair for players like me because I will have greater chances of getting killed. This update is a bad and unfair experience for Isida and Mammoth players like me. Mammoth should get slightly more HP as well. Mammoth is the strongest hull in the game at the moment. This update will kill off the benefit of Mammoth to remain strong on the battlefield against heavy war battles.

Edited October 3, 2016 by RIDDLER_8

[RIDDLER_8 5,553]

Please do not weaken M4 Isida and M4 Mammoth.

[Magenta 5,165]

Please do not weaken M4 Isida and M4 Mammoth.

:D

[FracTureD 58]

Please do not weaken M4 Isida and M4 Mammoth.

Once they've made up their mind about an update... They won't change it...

[Phoenix.Raised 5,992]

Please do not weaken M4 Isida and M4 Mammoth.

You should try Mammoth / Twins or Smoky, it's much better.

[RIDDLER_8 5,553]

M4 Isida is the healing hero in big battles.

 

Now, M4 Isida is too weak to heal and kill enemies. That's not fair! Why make Isida weaker?

Edited October 3, 2016 by RIDDLER_8

[Phoenix.Raised 5,992]

M4 Isida is the healing hero in big battles.

 

Now, M4 Isida is too weak to heal and kill enemies. That's not fair! Why make Isida weaker?

M3+ not "M4". But, I know how you feel, it's not easy to say "farewell" to your favorite turret...

 

PS: It would be better that you share your opinion in this topics:

 

Episode 108 of the V-LOG is here

 

Do you think that turrets/hulls will become balanced with this update?

[TTK_229 1,080]

Nice article.

 

According to the wiki page on alterations, there will be no alterations for hulls. Too bad, I was hoping to give my viking more armour. Giving hulls the same armour MAKES NO SENSE. Effectively, there will be 3 hulls: wasp, hunter, and titan.

 

They appear to want to make my Thunder more like the old thunder, shooting faster and dealing less damage. Hopefully alterations will fix this.

 

As far as I can see, this update sucks.

[sre123 595]

Nice article to open your career! :) Very good. :D 

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

I swear, no one is going to play in battles with Marshal as the top rank now. Anyone who does would be totally screwed over. I really just want to know when kits will be unlocked for M3s and how it will work out.

 

Also, grats on first official article  :P

[superdupersaiyangoku 0]

i personal am very disappointed at the fact that the havy tank hulls hp level is being decreased. and that some of the gun turrets strength are being decrease. and they already went throw a strength decrease in april 23, 2014

[prw23 0]

:angry: I HATE IT 

 

[eefschietscheef 246]

I still think the new update is absolute rubbish, especially the hulls part

[Quarks 2,255]

:angry: I HATE IT 

If you have a comment on the article, please make it constructive instead of above quote. Thank you.