Other Covert Updates Uncovered

[kaisdf 3,320]

 

 

 

 

The Tanki Online Newspaper, announcing the things the devs won’t, bringing you original news since ’09. Welcome to my first specials piece, containing just a couple of the secret updates that you might’ve missed recently.

 

 

Secret update 1: “Wait, how does that Brigadier have Twins M4?”

 

As I’m sure many of you now know, kits in the shop have had the ranks at which they unlock lowered by at least two ranks. For those of you who didn’t know, this will explain why you have seen Brigadiers with M3s, or other things you thought they couldn’t have unlocked.

 

 

What does this mean for me?

If you happen to be a buyer, then congrats, you can now pwn n00bs harder.

If you aren’t a buyer, then enjoy playing against Warrant Officers with Firebird M3, or Hornet M3 far before even the stock Hornet M1 unlocks.

 

 

“Eh, I don’t really mind, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Well, given that I once saw a Lieutenant General with M4s whilst playing on my 3^rd Lieutenant alt account, simple extrapolation means you could now face M4s at Warrant Officer 4. Consider the proportion of Warrant Officers you see who don’t even realise they can buy M1s, and you might start to see why this might not be fair.

 

500 XP and a credit card can now get you Smoky/Titan M2 an astonishing nineteen ranks before the stock M2s unlock. So, in about 10 minutes of play, you have access to arguably the strongest M2 kit available.

 

The first M3 now unlocks at Master-Sergeant, which, if you consider that you only unlocked the ability to chat two ranks before that until recently, seems vaguely obscene.

 

 

“Why would they do this??”

I think it pretty clear that, as usual, they are making another cash grab. Especially in the case of the Keeper kit, which now unlocks at Gefreiter, I think they are trying to encourage people to start buying as soon as possible. The sooner you start buying, the cheaper it is, and the more likely you are to continue.

 

 

“So kaisdf, do you think this is this the death of Free-to-play?”

Admittedly it does skew the tables far, far further towards buyers. However, considering the combination of containers, increased mission rewards, and the relative rarity of extreme buyers? I think Free-to-play can still survive in many cases. Remembering that (in team battles,) there is a 47% chance that the buyer is on your team means that the effect may well even be beneficial in many cases.

 

 

What is your final opinion?

Personally, I don’t care that much that it has happened, it doesn’t particularly surprise me, and anyway I am better with M1s than half of these buyers are with their M3s. The thing I care about is that they thought they could sneak the update past us without us noticing - the only reference are some Russian patch notes, and a hushed edit to the Russian wiki. It makes one wonder what else they try to get past the community without them knowing.

Source: Russian wiki

 

 

Secret update 2: “Ooh, I got a higher score in TDM than usual. Cool.”

 

Speaking of secret updates, this is not the only one that you might have missed recently. There has been a change to the way that experience is split between teammates when an enemy is killed, though this is far less significant, and beneficial, if such a thing is possible.

 

 

“I don’t know much about game mechanics, what was it like previously?”

Previously, in team battles, if you kill someone on your own, you would get 10 XP. If someone else did damage to them, and then you killed them, you would split 15 XP between the two of you proportionally to how much damage was dealt.

 

For example, if I dealt 20% of the total damage to someone, I would get 20% of 15 XP, so 3 XP. My teammate, doing the remaining 80% would get 12 XP.

 

 

“Cool. So how does it work now?”

Now, the person who deals the finishing blow always gets 15 XP, and anyone else who does any damage to the enemy will get 5 XP. This is completely regardless of how much damage is dealt.

For example, if @Hippin_in_Hawaii and I both hit an enemy with our Railguns, and then @LOLKILLERTOTHEDEATH steals the kill, he gets 15 XP, while Hippin and myself both get 5 XP.

 

 

“Ok. Does this matter?”

Not really. On a small scale it might increase kill stealing, meaning players with turrets prone to kill stealing like Smoky might do marginally better - but when you consider that people try and kill steal for the sake of K/Ds anyway? Any difference will be marginal.

 

On another note, even if there are only two people who do damage, the total XP is greater - 20 as against the previous 15. More than two should, in theory, massively increase the net XP gained from killing an enemy.

Source: @Flexoo

 

 

Secret update 3: “Huh. My PayPal doesn’t work anymore. Bother.”

 

Given the recent issues with PayPal and other payment methods, this may well be unintentional, and so it qualifies less as an update, more as an issue. Going back to the subject of buyers, many of them will now be aghast to realise that Tanki has finally cottoned on to the tactic of buying in another currency to reduce costs. This practice was, I believe, against the EULA anyway, but that didn’t stop many people.

 

 

“Waah, how do I buy my Brigadier M4s now??”

It seems that you have to go ‘legit’. It is unclear as yet whether this change was deliberate, given the numerous payment issues that seem to have arisen over the last few days. It is also unclear whether this will be permanent, but for both questions, I would assume so.

 

This also seems to have affected the Steam store, though this not working is hardly unusual. Over the years that TO has been on Steam, it has repeatedly flipped between functioning and being completely useless.

 

Sources: Myself, @Psychotic

 

 

 

Until we have a clear announcement on this, we will have no idea whether it was intentional or not. As for the other two secret updates, they are definitely intentional, regardless of how much you may strongly disagree with them, as many seem to.

 

But for now, this is @kaisdf signing off, with plans to return in the future to add to this series. (Assuming I don’t get sent to Gulag :^) ).

 

[loginci 877]

I have been seeing you talking about how tanki online is a p2w game for a few days, slow bro, you are about to lose your mod status :D

 

Overall, you mentioned true things. These had to go out, here they are. But tanki does good updates, too. For example, I really liked this challenges update.

Edited December 24, 2018 by loginci

[hi-its-mebachoo_3000 1,247]

tanki does good updates, too. For example, I really liked this challenges update.

And they even made that way easier for buyers :mellow:.

 

 

 

 

[Mr.Jugernaut 87]

Nice article!!

[AncientFire 1,894]

Idk where you get the time to type this but good work!

Edited April 14, 2019 by sarim2345_the_master

[Truthteller 4,204]

Good thing I have reached the rank where everyone is on even playing field 

[Person_Random 4,991]

Excellent work Kaisdf!  Although this is kind of a major problem.  90% of the money I have isn't even in US currency (which, incidentally, is the country that I live in).

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

#1 was in patch notes, #2 was in the vlogs..; what rubbish is this. you just making up stuff so you can get a cool title and theme for your article about boring stuff everyone has already been informed about and try and pass off as some kind of snowden reporter who dares reveal secrets of our government

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this sort of "clickbait" ways to get more views might work at first... but too much and no one will open your article again no matter what you make up Edited April 10, 2019 by ZloyDanuJI

[Lose 881]

#1 was in patch notes, #2 was in the vlogs..; what rubbish is this. you just making up stuff so you can get a cool title and theme for your article about boring stuff everyone has already been informed about and try and pass off as some kind of snowden reporter who dares reveal secrets of our government

 

---

this sort of "clickbait" ways to get more views might work at first... but too much and no one will open your article again no matter what you make up

Then how about YOU make an article about updates that nobody has talked about. Good luck.

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

#1 was in patch notes, #2 was in the vlogs..; what rubbish is this. you just making up stuff so you can get a cool title and theme for your article about boring stuff everyone has already been informed about and try and pass off as some kind of snowden reporter who dares reveal secrets of our government

 

---

this sort of "clickbait" ways to get more views might work at first... but too much and no one will open your article again no matter what you make up

Hey. If all the forum does for you is stir up negative emotions and feedback, I'd really suggest that you stay away. Negativity isn't healthy for anyone around.

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

Then how about YOU make an article about updates that nobody has talked about. Good luck.

if i don't know anything about something, i don't make an article about it. if stuff doesn't exist i do not clami that they do. simple as that, i simply do not fabricate stuff that's not true. 

 

Hey. If all the forum does for you is stir up negative emotions and feedback, I'd really suggest that you stay away. Negativity isn't healthy for anyone around.

i don't know about health but it makes me happy. getting scammed does not. he doesn't like people calling him out for clickbaiting then don't do it

---

also, you seem to always be so negative about negativity. if you're really that positive surely you can be positive about negative comments

Edited April 11, 2019 by ZloyDanuJI

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

i don't know about health but it makes me happy. getting scammed does not. he doesn't like people calling him out for clickbaiting then don't do it

also, you seem to always be so negative about negativity. if you're really that positive surely you can be positive about negative comments

Willingly stirring up negative emotions inside yourself makes you happy?  :blink: that's something new

 

And hey, I wasn't being negative at all. A negative comment on your post would look something like this..

 

"zloydanuji? lmao zloydanoob more like, get off the forum all you do is complain go away"

 

Nah, that's not what I wrote. I calmly suggested that you stay away from the source of your annoyance. There's no negativity there. Quite a positive comment actually ;)

 

By the way, I haven't written a post that wasn't a question or a joke in ages. So "always be so negative" doesn't quite apply.

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

Willingly stirring up negative emotions inside yourself makes you happy?  :blink: that's something new

no it's about expressing my anger at being victim to clickbait. 

 

 

And hey, I wasn't being negative at all. A negative comment on your post would look something like this..

 

"zloydanuji? lmao zloydanoob more like, get off the forum all you do is complain go away"

 

Nah, that's not what I wrote. I calmly suggested that you stay away from the source of your annoyance. There's no negativity there. Quite a positive comment actually ;)

different way of phrasing your negativity. 

 

are you sayingthat you accept my negavity? then why ask me to stay away? 

 

---

 

 

maybe first we gotta understand teh definition first. positive attitude is a state of the mind that envisions and expects favorable results. 

 

you do not see the favorable result in my comment, but instead think it does no good. therefore you are being negative to my comment. 

By the way, I haven't written a post that wasn't a question or a joke in ages. So "always be so negative" doesn't quite apply.

well you always have something to say about people complaining. 

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

no it's about expressing my anger at being victim to clickbait. 

 

 

different way of phrasing your negativity. 

 

are you sayingthat you accept my negavity? then why ask me to stay away? 

 

---

 

 

maybe first we gotta understand teh definition first. positive attitude is a state of the mind that envisions and expects favorable results. 

 

you do not see the favorable result in my comment, but instead think it does no good. therefore you are being negative to my comment. 

well you always have something to say about people complaining. 

Yeah, well, if you know you're going to be disappointed in everything related to Tanki, you could always ignore the game entirely lol

 

I accept it, but that doesn't make it healthy for you, the people around you in real life, and the people in the forum.

 

You're jumping to conclusions. Feedback and criticism should always be welcome. If the helper team rejected that feedback, that's a different story. But I've never seen them shut someone's feedback down, regardless of the attitude of the person supplying criticism. However, the criticism can be much more effective if you put it out there in a helpful and positive attitude.

 

"Hey, the title of this article threw me off a bit, do you guys think you could try coming up with more accurate titles? Regardless though, kudos to the article writer for getting this info out there so fast!  ^_^"

Edited April 11, 2019 by C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

 

instead of critising the way i talk.. maybe be more positive towards it? like maybe talk to me like this: "hey man, well said! it's good that you said it, how else would these clickbaiters learn? you're my hero!"

[kaisdf 3,320]

I am all for constructive criticism. If you believe I can improve my writing style/content, I am 100% happy for you to say so in comments/in PM, ideally with an alternative example so I can learn and try and improve.

 

I am not for what seems to be an unfounded and personal attack. I am sorry you feel my bland title promised too much, I don't really know what I can do about that. But preferably, in future, try not to just insult everything and claim that it is all wrong/bad. 

 

I don't think I can phrase it any better than Conqueror did:

 

 

The criticism can be much more effective if you put it out there in a helpful and positive attitude.

 

Full defence of my piece:

Full quote for context:

 

 

#1 was in patch notes, #2 was in the vlogs..; what rubbish is this. you just making up stuff so you can get a cool title and theme for your article about boring stuff everyone has already been informed about and try and pass off as some kind of snowden reporter who dares reveal secrets of our government

---

this sort of "clickbait" ways to get more views might work at first... but too much and no one will open your article again no matter what you make up

 

 

 

#1 was in patch notes, #2 was in the vlogs..; what rubbish is this. you just making up stuff

Umm... If it exists, did I make it up?

 

your article about boring stuff everyone has already been informed about

Except, at the time, they hadn't. Yes, people knew about the Paypal because they tried to use it, but I suspect few knew about the shop kits thing - which I know from the various, "Wait what?!"s and, "Wow!"s in the topic I made about it in the Game discussion section.

 

some kind of snowden reporter who dares reveal secrets of our government

If something that is a detriment to the player base is kept secret, then I feel I hurt no one by exposing it. Take the US government's foray into Vietnam, and the Pentagon Papers leaked to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Were they accused of making things up or harming anyone? No. In fact, as shown by the creation of the film The Post, they are lauded as heroes.

 

this sort of "clickbait" ways to get more views might work at first... but too much and no one will open your article again no matter what you make up

As is, the title of the piece is quite bland; people read this because its a newspaper specials piece; not because I have a flashy thumbnail like a Youtube video.

 

---

 

if i don't know anything about something, i don't make an article about it. if stuff doesn't exist i do not clami that they do. simple as that, i simply do not fabricate stuff that's not true. 

#1 was in patch notes, #2 was in the vlogs

 

 

I hope that I have made my position clear. Can we please end any kind of argument here. If you have any further comment, I strongly encourage you to PM me.

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

I strongly encourage you to PM me

ehh, i don't feel encouraged enough to do that

 

 

 

 

you are not making the content up. rather, you are making up the fact that they did the updates without informing us so that you can look like snowden

 

#1 was announced before the update in russian... and you knew it. you can try and deny it but i know you knew it, because i remember you creating a topic about it after reading a comment about someone talking about it with the posted link to that patch note. don't test my memory here, because it is scientifically proven to be.. well.. 

 

this was what happened, someone talked about it in complaint book, someone else quoted that reply and posted the link to that patch note. you then logged in and viewed the complaint book, and then you went to game discussion to create a topic about it. now, you're clamining that they didn't announce it before they implemented it, when in reality, you know perfectly well that they did in fact do that. the only reason most of the people here, in EN , didn't know about it was because of the delay in the relay of that info to our community. and now, you also claim that they hadn't been announced at the time you wrote this? 

 

in reality, a delay in relaying info to another community, but here you make it seem like some sort of shady secret stuff got carried out. you knew exactly what it was but you knowingly made it seem different. 

 

---

 

maybe you can quoet the part where i did the... "personal attack"? because i never attacked you as a person, i only attacked your actions

Edited April 11, 2019 by ZloyDanuJI

[Truthteller 4,204]

 

Dude, get over it if you didn't like the article move on.

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

Dude, get over it if you didn't like the article move on.

man, it might seem to you as if i'm dedicating my entire life force into making such comments but really... i'm not. my mind doesn't work like most other's... I really just think up all this instantly without any effort at all. 

[Initiate 1,306]

 

He was being constructive - to improve the accuracy of the title because it is extremely misgiving. And, it is.

 

Full refutation of your defense in the parts in which the argument is lacking:

 

 

 

He was saying that you made up that the updates were covert. Because they weren't. Anyone who wanted to find out had the means to find out, quite easily. In fact, most people would have watched the V-LOG I presume, so especially that one.

 

Also, no offense, but the PayPal is not an update. As you stated, it is an issue. Would you qualify that as a covert update that just needs to be uncovered by someone like you?

 

 

No one wants a flashy title. BUT, you need to have an accurate title. If I made an article entitled "Who Hacked Tanki's Servers" then wrote about how Tanki's servers were hacked, I would be on the general topic, but it would be clickbait because I'm not giving new information about the topic, and I'm not actually addressing my title - I didn't write about WHO hacked Tanki.

 

 

 

That is not a personal attack. It is personal defense of Zloy, because he had a valid point. I put it in spoilers so that you are not forced to read it, but please do. I do not want to PM you, I have no space :D

 

Anyways, I probably wouldn't reply to your comment if you replied to mine. I don't want to have an argument, just wanted to point out inaccuracies. 

 

Anyways, pretty nice read. Keep it up!

~HBTY

[kaisdf 3,320]

#1 was announced before the update in russian... and you knew it. you can try and deny it but i know you knew it, because i remember you creating a topic about it after reading a comment about someone talking about it with the posted link to that patch note. don't test my memory here, because it is scientifically proven to be.. well.. 

this was what happened, someone talked about it in complaint book, someone else quoted that reply and posted the link to that patch note. you then logged in and viewed the complaint book, and then you went to game discussion to create a topic about it. now, you're clamining that they didn't announce it before they implemented it, when in reality, you know perfectly well that they did in fact do that. the only reason most of the people here, in EN , didn't know about it was because of the delay in the relay of that info to our community. and now, you also claim that they hadn't been announced at the time you wrote this? 

 

in reality, a delay in relaying info to another community, but here you make it seem like some sort of shady secret stuff got carried out. you knew exactly what it was but you knowingly made it seem different. 

I speak no Russian, I don't read the Complaint Book topic, and had no idea it was announced in Russia. What actually happened was that I saw a Brigadier with M3s in a game, asked some people what had happened, and of the people I asked, only one knew what it was. I then posted the topic in Game Discussion. After posting it, someone gave me the link to the Russian patch notes, which I edited into the original post.

 

Anyway, compared to the normal method of posting announcement topics, tucking something away in other language patch notes is pretty covert, I would say.

 

Actually, going back to my original posting, I don't even know if it was posted in the patch notes. I just have a link to the Russian wiki.

 

---

 

You say that the second point was announced in a v-log, but I can't say I remember that; do you think you could send me a link?

 

---

 

Also, if you really wish to continue this, PM me. Further posts here will be hidden.

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

Also, if you really wish to continue this, PM me. Further posts here will be hidden.

alright, PM it is. if anyone wants screenshots about how this guy tries to defend himself ask me.

 

just curious tho, do you even have the right to hide my post if they don't violate any of the rules? like, you're gonna just make use of your position as a reporter to do that? just like how you did to spread misinformation?

Edited April 12, 2019 by ZloyDanuJI

[r_Given6 859]

Nice one, Kaisdf! I don't usually read each and every patch update and this made things quite clear! Great presentation.

 

Probably make an article next time to reveal the secrets of TO Mobile? There are plenty. You can legally lag/move through tanks to take a Gold!

[Michael828 816]

I've only known about that kit unlock update from people in the forum, I was completely unaware of it before. Same thing with the score distribution in TDM, I've forgotten which V-Log talked about that, and they probably didn't elaborate much on it anyway. Third point is new to me.

 

Great job on the article, I do believe the first and third points fit the definition of covert, however, the second update was mentioned in a V-Log so it wasn't really as stealthy as the other updates.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Michael828

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

I've only known about that kit unlock update from people in the forum, I was completely unaware of it before. Same thing with the score distribution in TDM, I've forgotten which V-Log talked about that, and they probably didn't elaborate much on it anyway. Third point is new to me.

 

Great job on the article, I do believe the first and third points fit the definition of covert, however, the second update was mentioned in a V-Log so it wasn't really as stealthy as the other updates.

thank you very much. also, i believe someone owes me a thank you too, because most of the people who come here commenting clearly came because of my critisims based on the refferences towards my comments in theirs. :rolleyes: 

 

just wondering, would you consider changes done by paypal a tanki update that the devs should announce to us? because from my point f view, paypal isn't a part of the game, it is simply a medium that helps us transfer money to tanki and if paypal decides to make changes to stop people from using other country's systems when buying through tanki it is not up to the tanki devs to announce it to us because it wasn't them who made the changes. on top of that, tanki already stated that using other countries systems was forbdden so they really didn't have any buisness to inform us that paypal (not them) made an update tp prevent us from doing it, because after all, they had already prevented it themselves. so it reality this whole "update" was really just paypal, not tanki, implementing what tanki had already told us about. and while it might be considered as an "update" it is certaintly not a tanki update because as far as tanki is concerned nothing has changed; it was never allowed to use other countrie's system in the beiginning. as such, the devs had no reason to announce this because as far as they're concerned, we never should have been able to do this in the first place

Edited April 14, 2019 by ZloyDanuJI