The problems of TO [Part 2: Battles, MUs, and MM]

[Guest]

     In part one, I covered the Pay to win aspect of supplies and also briefly covered the flow of battle. Today, I will delve into what TO battles have become, another game balance issue, and some inherent issues with MM. Without further adieu, let's dive into the nitty gritty.

 

     Before we take a look at the flow of battles, let's go to the garage and talk about Micro Upgrades. At first glance, these appear to be helpful, upgrading your gear bit by bit so you can remain competitive. In reality... they are one of the absolute WORST thing in the low-mid ranks, with - being hit the hardest by these game-breaking upgrades. But what makes them bad and so game-breaking for low to mid ranks? My answer? Kits. These kits create a massive unbalance for mostly any rank, simply because someone can buy an m2 kit and Micro Upgrade it to m3 when that player hasn't even unlocked the m2 yet!

 

     However, there is a solution to this train wreck. I admit, this will be a hard pill to swallow for all the Road to Legend youtoubers out there, but nonetheless a solution. Here it goes: Micro upgrades can only be preformed when you have reached the unlock rank of the item! This solution makes players who don't have enough crystals to buy kits (like me) still competitive with those who bought one but at the same time makes a the kit purchaser still have an advantage. Essentially, I'm decreasing the OP-ness gap while buyers still have an advantage. For those that are purchasing m3 kits at Brigadier and want to upgrade to m4, let me tell you the hard truth: m4s only offer a 12% advantage for a ridiculous price! It’s not worth upgrading to m4 at that rank!

 

 

     Enough about kits, let's look at battles themselves. Most, if not all of them, are no-strategy drugfests as I explained in part one of this series. Even some of the maps are less tactical than they used to be, with Sollamisk being the most noticeable. In the old Solamisk, there were passages on both sides that encouraged sneak attacks by both sides. When the devs removed those, it became a drugging crapfest. High skill combos, like Smoky/Wasp have been ditched because that style of play simply isn't possible anymore because those places have been removed, making them weak prey to heaver hulls with more drugs at their expense. In addition, there's not Attacker/defender division anymore because the reason is simple: TO favors attacking more than being a defender. Without this division of attackers and defenders, battles just become one big nonstrategic fight with each tanker doing their own thing.

 

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

 

 

     Now to Matchmaking. We were promised with a system that would mostly evenly balance battles, but we got a mess that sends us to battles with less than two minutes remaining. Also, what balance were the devs talking about? The other day I got sent to an Industrial Zone ASL battle that was m1 versus high tier m2s. (there might might have been an m3 there as well but I wasn't too sure.) Is this "balanced"? Yes, I have had some good experiences with MM but it just feels like that the patch was simply a band-aid on top of a stack of band-aids. Do these "band-aids" help anything? Not really, they only cover up the problem when in reality you need to slip over all the other band-aids and fix the issue directly. For the record, there were some good ideas/initiatives by the devs/players out there that could have solved many of the game’s issues. (Like Kick 2, but the post has long been closed sadly. :() And 10 minute battle times aren't helping the situation either.

 

     Many of you in the crowd are agreeing and nodding their heads and saying “Yes, this is why is play Pro battles only.” Let me tell you guys why custom battles aren’t really that better. Why? There’s no variety! Sandbox, Island, Hill, Polygon CP and Parkour battles dominate the battle list! If you are lucky enough to play during peak times, you might see some packed Berlin drug battles or some Wave CTFs at the bottom of the list, but that’s about it. Do people LIKE only having the same, boring maps in the battle list? Clearly, these brainless morons do! The devs should, in fact, remove all the maps from the game except for the aforementioned ones. Let’s see how the playerbase would feel about that! Another con of Pro battles is that, you can’t complete all-important missions in there, which are the only lifeline for free players.

---

If you haven't read it, here is part one:

The problems of TO [Part 1: The gameplay]

Edited August 21, 2018 by Guest

[Total_SkiIl 1,983]

Just take all my answers from part 1

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

It's true that TO has little to no class distinctions, but I think this is more the fault of poor balancing than maps. TO seriously favors midfielders, or players who don't actually do anything useful in say, CTF matches. There is a reason why combos like Thunder Viking and Railgun Hornet are so popular.

[GorgoBlesk 831]

That part with MU is brilliant. Nobody should be able to MU equipment from kits before its real unlock rank. Buyers can simply buy a kit and buy all MU with speedups and they dominate the battle.

[1_135 9]

Game balance dead.

 

 

For example mag op gun, rail junk weak gun.

[Guest]

Game balance dead.

 

 

For example mag op gun, striker junk weak gun.

Corrected ;)

 

It's funny that they released the most UP turret right before the most OP one.

[Guest]

Got into another mismatch today in ASL, this time in Osa on red team:

 

I am sick and tired of Russian buyers dominating battles like this. How much you wanna bet that this stupid little account is for a Russian youtouber doing Road To Legend videos?

[GorgoBlesk 831]

Got into another mismatch today in ASL, this time in Osa on red team:

 

I am sick and tired of Russian buyers dominating battles like this. How much you wanna bet that this stupid little account is for a Russian youtouber doing Road To Legend videos?

Classic example of crazy hardcore drugger. Did he use Viking Twins or Viking Thunder? xD

[Guest]

Classic example of crazy hardcore drugger. Did he use Viking Twins or Viking Thunder? xD

M2 viking twins. If I had a good team (and didn't only have 5 repairs xD) I'd have a good chance against him. That said, I don't know if he/she was m3 because of the new update.

[GorgoBlesk 831]

M2 viking twins. If I had a good team (and didn't only have 5 repairs xD) I'd have a good chance against him. That said, I don't know if he/she was m3 because of the new update.

Buyers like Twins because that turret requires no skill and its disadvantages can be solved by alt (splash), by Viking+SB (low range) and by using brain (hide when Thunder or Rail uses peek-a-boo against you).

[Strikechard123 241]

p2p game. Can't even play when you get 1 shot by overleveled enemies and supplies

[austen_pierce 1,948]

Buy an M2 kit and MU it to M3 strength without ranking?

 

I’ve done this on three alts, without buying with real money.

 

It takes a lot of patience. Like 6 months of real time waiting for the MU sales in order to afford the 10 steps.

 

I don’t think this is as common as you depict.

 

On the other hand, the reward is as you describe. At First Lieutenant (and one at Captain), M3 power just decimates M1 tanks.

 

And it doesn’t last. As soon as you reach Major and Colonel, most players are using M2+ tanks and your advantage is over.

[Guest]

Buy an M2 kit and MU it to M3 strength without ranking?

 

I’ve done this on three alts, without buying with real money.

 

It takes a lot of patience. Like 6 months of real time waiting for the MU sales in order to afford the 10 steps.

 

I don’t think this is as common as you depict.

 

On the other hand, the reward is as you describe. At First Lieutenant (and one at Captain), M3 power just decimates M1 tanks.

 

And it doesn’t last. As soon as you reach Major and Colonel, most players are using M2+ tanks and your advantage is over.

Actually, it's VERY common in the lower ranks. It's a wonder how I managed not to quit in the WO ranks even though I was using Rico/wasp most of the time. 

[Tanker-Arthur 2,971]

Corrected ;)

 

It's funny that they released the most UP turret right before the most OP one.

So WRONG MAN!!!!

STRIKER IS MUCH BETTER THAN MAGNUM

[Guest]

This article is just selfish IMO I have an account 1 rank higher than u - 5 m2 kits + 3 random m2s... I don't buy.

If people saved and bought the right thing they would be equal. Its honestly not hard to earn crystals.

And this game is russian so watch what you say.

Only low ranks would agree with you.

Anyway just my opinion. And to your question in lobby. You should quit if u don't enjoy it.

-eSport 

Only because you crushed hundreds of genuine newbes to get those kits. And how am I selfish? This is the truth here.

[GorgoBlesk 831]

So WRONG MAN!!!!

STRIKER IS MUCH BETTER THAN MAGNUM

Magnum is the most OP turret in Tanki thanks to its huge damage and ability to lob shots. Striker is just a trash version of Thunder with lower damage, stupid laser, bigger splash and slow projectiles which can be dodged even by Titan.

[wolverine848 13,097]

So WRONG MAN!!!!

STRIKER IS MUCH BETTER THAN MAGNUM

Wait a minute... oh... I get it... you're just trolling us.    Well Played!   :)

[Guest]

So WRONG MAN!!!!

STRIKER IS MUCH BETTER THAN MAGNUM

#buffstriker  :ph34r:

[GorgoBlesk 831]

#buffstriker :ph34r:

Striker should get the ability to shoot 2-rocket salvos with 2* shorter lock on.

[tere4 25]

For anyone who says this game is a p2w game: on my lower ranked account tere5, I participated in many turns during the war and was able to collect a huge stream of crystals. Now I have a m1 thunder at material sergeant. All this was done without buying. Tere7 is another one on my non bought accounts which has been successful thanks to mission chains.

[GorgoBlesk 831]

For anyone who says this game is a p2w game: on my lower ranked account tere5, I participated in many turns during the war and was able to collect a huge stream of crystals. Now I have a m1 thunder at material sergeant. All this was done without buying. Tere7 is another one on my non bought accounts which has been successful thanks to mission chains.

It is easy to get M1 but hard to get M2 and M3.

[tere4 25]

True, but I got siberian kit without buying. I think tankers need to use events and giveaways to their fullest and they will see the supplies and crystals stream in very quickly :)

[austen_pierce 1,948]

Striker should get the ability to shoot 2-rocket salvos with 2* shorter lock on.

I agree with this. At half charge, the player should have an option to release two rockets. This would give a player a chance to do at least some damage if he sees his target is nearing cover. It would also make Striker somewhat useful.

[Guest]

True, but I got siberian kit without buying. I think tankers need to use events and giveaways to their fullest and they will see the supplies and crystals stream in very quickly :)

But what if people (like me) don't have time for these events? TO isn't for casual players anymore.

[austen_pierce 1,948]

I think all M2 equipment should unlock at the same rank, similar to what they did with M3.

 

Not sure if I feel that way about M1, but if done right, then sure.

 

Done right would mean that players with M1 can no longer play with M0 players.

 

Maybe this is where they are going with the GS mechanic, yet including paints in GS is silly, so maybe not.