[Special Review] Updates: Patches #453 and #455

[Flexoo 6,980]

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How's life, tankers! The past two April weeks fetch in another batch of updates that struck our tanks in the tracks. Ranks, daily missions and a cool new gimmick in the lobby; that's just a little scoop of changes brought in. Let's cut to the chase!

 

 

Patch Update #453

 

Changes to Daily Missions

 

Back in Patch #451 (also reviewed by me, surprise surprise), Daily Mission rewards were increased by 10% across all types of missions (supply rewards, crystal rewards etc.). This was introduced to partially compensate for the fact that Daily Missions could no longer be completed in PRO Battles. Instead, every mission would have to be completed in Regular Battles (ones created by the server, all 15 minutes long).

 

After it was clear that the general Tanki public was clearly unsatisfied with the balance between mission difficulty and rewards received, the rewards for Daily Missions were boosted by another 10%. This means that there has been an overall increase of 27% from the original reward value - a massive difference.

 

Another change was dealt to Mission Reward Chains, which are the bonuses you receive for completing a week of Daily Missions. These were increased, meaning there is a bigger stimulation to keep completing missions. Many tankers have already made it clear that they would not continue to complete missions due to the difficulty, so Tanki is clearly attempting to make them change their minds with these little boosters.

 

 

Here are the differences between the new increased chain (left) and the old chain (right). Both rewards were/are for the rank of

 

There were however, two negative changes in this mission update. The chance of getting a crystal mission was reduced to a 37%, meaning that supply missions would be much more common. The other change has to do with the price for exchange of missions - it was increased in proportion to the mission chain reward increase.

 

Rank Limits

 

After #451, the automatic rank bracket for Regular Battles was changed and expanded. From that point onwards, Legends () would have to play Captains () in every single server-created battle. This seems to have been deemed a failure, probably because of the amount of M2 mults/gold hunters that would appear in high-rank battles.

 

In this patch, the default rank brackets for Legends and Generalissimos () were reduced. This means that Legends can only play Captains in PRO Battles, and will have to settle for Field Marshals () as the lowest rank in regular ones. Generalissimos, on the other hand, still have a large rank bracket, going down as far as Brigadier (). However, all other ranks had their brackets expanded, rather than reduced. This is an interesting decision as it will make Daily Missions easier for higher ranks, but more difficult for lower ranks (since there will be a much larger chance of playing someone with better equipment than yourself).

 

 

My alternate account () can now create down to lowly First Sergeant.

 

Prices of Product Kits

 

This update should have been introduced a long time ago, as it was previously still cheaper to buy Product Kits through the Garage, rather than through the Shop for real currency. Before, you also received free supplies when purchasing a garage kit, so many players preferred to simply wait for the kit rotation to bring around their desired kit.

 

Now, with the removal of supplies from garage kits and the fact that Shop kits are now lower in price, we could start to see more players making more purchases with real currency. Tanki appear to hope so anyway.

 

Server Optimization

 

Not much is known about what developers optimized or how they did so. We deem servers received some subtle tweaks that will help the network to work more properly.

 

 

Patch Update #455

 

New Lobby Chat

 

The upgraded configuration of the lobby chat is definitely the biggest innovation presented by the latest patch. As you might have noticed, the game lobby has three separated tabs on the left side of the screen as opposed to the previous version with only Chat tab. This new panel is now called "Communicator" and includes Server Chat, Clan Chat and newly installed News bulletin.

 

 

The Communicator panel allows you to switch between these tabs freely without the need to click other icons such as the Clan icon that would cover your whole screen following the opening. However, the most convenient part about the panel is the inbuilt News tab.

 

The News tab is currently set as the default tab which means that every time you open Tanki, the News tab will be the one that will be displayed. As the name clearly gives away, the purpose of this tab is to store and display all the News announcements. Before this update, news were announced as one-off notifications. If the player accidentally cancelled the notification, refreshed the page or just simply closed the announcement, he could not look it up again. The only possible way to view the news once again was to directly check out the News on Forum or Game home page.

 

With the new system in place, you no longer have to worry about closing the pop-up announcements. Not only will they be easily accessible now, you will be able to view them backwards. Announcements will also probably come in with more detail.

 

 

From this example of recent V-LOG announcement, it's apparent that announcements contain quite a number of useful clickable links. More space for description and links sure comes in handy when you want to deliver more information about the news and provide direct links to many different themes and subjects. This also saves the time you would otherwise spend on opening new tabs and manual searching. Moreover, the announcements are dispensed by the time they have been posted. You can easily access the time frame and track the accurate date of the news or updates that were introduced to the game.

 

Map Previews

 

Now to the less important news. Developers finally set their sight on eradicating the bugs with map previews. Map previews show the player a fraction of the map where the battle takes place. It's a well known fact that some of the previews showed outdated map pictures or previews that did not quite resemble the map. We do not know how many fixes developers implemented to the map previews, but they hopefully killed off all the bugs.

 

 

Additionally, with the introduction of «Space» mode, developers permanently added the Space mode preview picture that was available through the Cosmonauts Day celebrations. From now on, when you click the battle on the server and you see the picture like the one above, you'll instantly know that the battle was created with the low gravity setting on.

 

Space Mode

 

And last thing on the list is the new-old «Space» mode. At first, «Space» mode was introduced as a special feature available in the long gone Moon Silence. Just recently, it got revived for the Cosmonauts Day celebrations and as it later turned out, it is here to stay even after the celebrations.

 

This mode is particularly hard to master in normal gameplay. Low gravity, the special feature of «Space» mode, makes moving, jumping and shooting really challenging. But, you will mostly enjoy all the relishes coming with it in Parkour. Low gravity makes tank jump higher and float further through the air. However, I won't repeat what has already been said. You can find more information about «Space» mode here. Stay tuned for detailed article on «Space» mode in upcoming issue.

 

 

That's all, fellow tankers! Leave your opinions about recent patch updates in the comments below. We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

 Flex   and     

Edited April 24, 2017 by Flexoo

[Flexoo 6,980]

The summary of both latest patch updates is hot off the press. Enjoy!

[lukey0 27,543]

Nice! :)

[3x3cube 288]

Thanks mates, that helps :)

[Raideri_PRO 6]

Noise

[M-J 123]

Good job :)

[r_sg971 163]

I don't really like the rank system I mean some first lieutenants are buyers and can buy tornado kit siberian kit and other M2 kits and the worse part is that they can MU it to M3 where the first sergeants with M0's ( or with M1`s) can't kill M2 (or fully MU'ed) tank.

I hope that doesn't happen too often now. You could just try to leave the battle and join another one, or try to join their side.

[Hatty1994 819]

These two along with #451 are the stupidest patch update ever except MU price decrease.

 

#RemoveMissionUpdate

[millionare_123 0]

Could You please make it so that you can sell upgrades or equipment?

[Soar 37]

"After it was clear that the general Tanki public was clearly unsatisfied with the balance between mission difficulty and rewards received, the rewards for Daily Missions were boosted by another 10%. This means that there has been an overall increase of 27% from the original reward value - a massive difference."

 

On behalf of XP/BP players,

 

No... we just want to do missions in PRO battles as well as NON-PRO for lower rankers who can't afford PRO pass.

You're just trying to get people to play NON-PRO more by increasing the reward. Something tells me that the "balance between mission difficulty and rewards received" is not actually true, but just an excuse to add another factor to get us to play NON-PRO more.

[realbigred 101]

"You could just try to leave the battle and join another one," - is one of the most stupid statements I have heard on here in a long time.

 

How can one join another one when there are only ever a handful of non pro (system generated) battles available at any time?  Bearing in mind that there may be a mission constraint on the type that must be played e.g gain 500 exp in a CTF battle which limits the number along with unsuitable rank ranges.

 

We are not playing on here just to be buyer or drugger cannon fodder.

 

Make it possible to generate customisable non pro battles but take out the easy cheat daily missions. 

 

Take off those rose tinted specs Flexoo, lay off the wacky baccy for a while and see whats really happening to this game.

Edited April 24, 2017 by realbigred

[Hatty1994 819]

Could You please make it so that you can sell upgrades or equipment?

They will never agree to your request and this question answered billion times before, from 2012, I saw lot of such questions.

 

"After it was clear that the general Tanki public was clearly unsatisfied with the balance between mission difficulty and rewards received, the rewards for Daily Missions were boosted by another 10%. This means that there has been an overall increase of 27% from the original reward value - a massive difference."

 

On behalf of XP/BP players,

 

No... we just want to do missions in PRO battles as well as NON-PRO for lower rankers who can't afford PRO pass.

You're just trying to get people to play NON-PRO more by increasing the reward. Something tells me that the "balance between mission difficulty and rewards received" is not actually true, but just an excuse to add another factor to get us to play NON-PRO more.

Super-Missions are a big concern as its quite tough to finish fighting against druggers with M4+alt+50% protection modules in Legend rank. Edited April 24, 2017 by Hatty1994

[rockstar3984 50]

So overall its clear that tanki is not going to change this most hated mission update. Its also clear that no tankers in this game has freedom to play what they like. Everything is by FORCE. Really Tanki? . It was tanki who FORCED everyone to play and get addicted to PRO battles by giving away free passes for a couple of days few months back when no one even knows what PRO pass is. That's OK, but why are WE getting FORCED to play NON PRO again. Is it a game for fun or Law to strictly follow. Where is the freedom that we had before? No matter what, Mission update was the saddest and sick move ever. Rest all is just perfect. And finally a very well written article as usual. I still hope tanki removes this mission update. 

[DESTROYER_GTX_R 77]

I like the new mission update, only thing I dislike about it is you can't complete missions in pro battles, tbh I think tanki should let players create a map with an option to make it a non pro battle (Without advanced settings)

[emrakul 7,801]

:ph34r:

 

 

Patches!

 

 

:D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Short and informative :) Good job

[Soar 37]

I like the new mission update, only thing I dislike about it is you can't complete missions in pro battles, tbh I think tanki should let players create a map with an option to make it a non pro battle (Without advanced settings)

Yes, give us the ability to create NON-PRO at least. Hear us out.

[DarkVengeance 31]

Daily Missions in Standard Battles

 

The perks IMHO   Tanki consists in 75 maps at present. Tankers mostly play Island, Hill, Serpuhov, Kangur, Rio, Sandbox,  

                             Noise, Silence and Island, making 66 go to waste most of the time. Daily missions on less played maps may                                   stimulate activity there. 

 

Downside IMHO   Small choice of maps when playing Daily Missions in standard battles. Have to play some of the time each                                      day with High Rankers and Druggers

 

Also, Strizhak was pretty insulting with his commentary on players 'farming crystals,' 'using Daily Missions in Pro-Battles against the intentions of the developers' 'compensating 'honest players'' (with the implication that those that farm crystals, are not). tossing in the word 'mult,' which, kinda like using the expression 'funding terrorism,' seems to be sufficient on Tanki to color any activity with illegitimacy, followed by an allegation that the rules are being violated.They are not, this is simply gaming the system without breaking the Rules, and does not always entail the use of Mults. This is like a casino saying that players are cheating simply due to said players playing efficiently and optimally. On the topic of honesty, we have to question how Developers made changes to Tanks and Turrets, then sold high priced alterations that take said equipment back to what it was. 

 

Take it back to what it was, players evidently hate the change

 

 

Dark Vengeance

Edited April 24, 2017 by DarkVengeance

[Xtroardinary 0]

SO WE GET 30000 CRY? OR ITS FOR HIGHER RANKS ONLY

[Shadowmaster2.o 125]

NNOOB savage This is so confusing I'd rather figure it out myself.

[wolverine848 13,097]

I hope that doesn't happen too often now. You could just try to leave the battle and join another one, or try to join their side.

There is no legitimate reason for having such wide rank brackets. The lower ranks have hardly any chance to complete their missions.

 

The cons far out-weigh any pros someone might try to justify it with.

[A.r.k 2]

#REMOVEMISSIONUPDATE

[r_sg971 163]

There is no legitimate reason for having such wide rank brackets. The lower ranks have hardly any chance to complete their missions.

 

The cons far out-weigh any pros someone might try to justify it with.

I think they want wider rank brackets so that low ranks buy crystals from shop to full MU their equipment and buy modules to compete against high rankers.

They want to provide more and more incentives to buy, and want to make the game less fun for those who don't buy.

[ByeByeBye 1,747]

Quote:

In this patch, the default rank brackets for Legends and Generalissimos () were reduced. This means that Legends can only play Captains in PRO Battles, and will have to settle for Field Marshals () as the lowest rank in regular ones. Generalissimos, on the other hand, still have a large rank bracket, going down as far as Brigadier ().

 

This is not true.  Generalissamos still go down to Captain (rank 19).  I know because they are still slaughtering me with their M4 stuff against my newbie M2 and even M1 equipment.  It isn't fair and they shouldn't be able to dip so far down into the lower ranks, but the last update did not completely fix the issue...it only got rid of the Legends.  So now I only have to battle with players 11 ranks above me and still M4 vs M2.  As a Captain (rank 19)

 

A Generalissamo (30) playing against me (19) is like me (19) playing against a Master Sergeant (8)...M4 vs M2 and M2 vs M0 respectively.  Slaughter no skill.  Not fair in any universe.  

 

As you have reported, is as it should be, but sadly it is not...

Edited April 25, 2017 by ByeByeBye

[Tanki_Kindly 35]

ByeByeBye and Golfinray's posts sum up this update. It's great for high ranks and premium buyers, and bad for everyone else. The update which follows this makes the difference even more stark - Premium buyers are given 2500 crystals and bags of supplies every day, just by logging in.

 

The vast majority of tankers have been here for years, supporting the game and the community, and building up their skills and their tanks through honest competition. They now have to engage with players who can obtain powerful equipment in a few short weeks by doing nothing more than sitting on their backsides.

 

So, does this encourage them to go out and buy premium passes? Well, the game owners think so.  I suspect different. It's stabbed the community in the back, and they will feel aggrieved. They will most likely leave and find something equally enjoyable - Tanki's not the only online battle game, and now it's not the fairest.

 

I've worked in online comunities, and seen them fail and die. Sometimes the reasons are unavoidable - technology changes, loss of key technicians, etc. In this case, it'll be the game owner's own actions which caused it.

[DYNAMITE_007 34]

Tanki just ruined the game from this daily mission update. IF YOU KNOW EVERYONE IS AGAINST IT THEN WHY YOU DONT CHANGE IT BACK TO WAY IT WAS. people aren't disagreeing because they used to cheat while doing missions but the problem was that THEY DONT WANT TO FACE DRUGGERS. druggers are a real problem of game and missions are hard to do with them. People even cheat with this new update in empty servers. The biggest problem with this update is that when you get a big mission or super mission which has like 250 or 9999 kills and you are PRO battle player. You have to spend your time playing in the battle you don't like. Before this update missions were way to easy. You could do your missions side by side with game mode and map. You just keep enjoying in your favourite map and your missions gets done easily and you don;t have to go to separate battle for missions. #RemoveDailyMissionUpdate