There is no fixing Tanki Online

[DeathIsImminent 153]

As I eagerly await the death of this game watching from the side lines I feel like it is important to bring to attention two important points to people still playing the game or hoping for it to improve. I'm gonna try my best to explain what I'm trying to say, but it may very well be misunderstood.

First is that I have realised that the gacha model just isn't sustainable beyond a certain point. And as more people and even authorities become aware of how predatory this model is, player numbers will drop as people leave out of frustration or boredom, and laws are passed to make sure these practices are discontinued. Given what happened to Tanki X, and presumably the skin model being unsustainable for Alternativa specifically, or at the very least profits dropping as the heads of the company are not satisfied with them, a skin economy doesn't appear to be something they are willing to do. And that's really why this game is unfixable. The monetary model is stuck in a loop of squeezing out as much cash from players that are left and is losing them more and more as players get dissatisfied with being forced to do things a certain way as opposed to being given variety and fun things to do without a pay wall. There are games that take TO's approach and have found success like the infamous Raid Shadow Legends or even Genshin Impact, but TO has survived for over a decade, and chances are, if these games don't change, they will see a similar fate.

The second is, there are games which only primarily rely on skins and content comes in the form of new and exciting maps or content that the player base would really like, while not removing much of the old unless it's something the player base wants or would benefit the game overall. Many more popular games rely on this model. Think Among Us, Fortnite or even Fall Guys, though the last one has not had any news in a while due to lack of variety when the game actively asks for it presumably. The same goes for this game, as the matchmaking system with the experiments shifts the game in different directions, but you never get to experience both old and new based on your preference. For whatever reason AG has decided one way for you to play the game and that can get boring for many pretty quickly, it doesn't matter if your concept is fun and unique on paper. The typical modes to select from are not enough variety unless you are going into Pro battle games, which are discouraged and end up not playing as well beyond all the parkour. Imagine having many more unique maps with new assets with a variety of settings like disabling drones, or having a match with drones only. But you can't do any of that within matchmaking.

If I were to attempt to "fix" the game, I would make changes to facilitate diverse set of fun gameplay and not fixate to one specific type. Removing small maps isn't a good idea, you really need more maps, as well as give the option for players to choose what map to play in during matchmaking. Another very good approach is the module system, which was used in Tanki X. If each module was a single purchase and you could hold a certain amount of modules while having many different options to choose from, more strategy would be involved in choosing a combination of modules to help you for a given map or game mode with certain settings.

But that can't be done with a game stuck in a loop of extorting money from you. It is too late to even try unless you are taking a huge risk. AG doesn't even develop any other games from what I can see, so this being their only source of income greatly increases that risk. But to me it seems like eventually they will probably need to file for bankruptcy unless they take that risk by changing the monetary model of the game, advertising it again, making sure it is fun to play long term and purchases not trying to extort you. It is very clear they don't want to take that risk, so, because of that I only have to conclude that this game won't last many more years. And given the game's track record, I will be glad. There is also the model of selling the game with a single purchase and having solid reason to buy it, rather than it being free to play at all, but given the type of game play it provides, I can't even begin to see how the transition would occur. And if you are to somehow stay in the industry, make other games AG, preferably ones you can actually pay once for a copy of, you are digging yourselves a grave without this! I don't know any other developer who have stayed in the business having only made one game they have to maintain.

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

The "Tanki is dying" posts strike back.

[EmeraldCat 562]

Well, it was fun while it lasted. A game I've been playing for 10 years, is finally meeting its end.

[Mirza7 235]

The Old tanki died a long time go.  They should make some changes and advertise this as new version of game to new people.

W8 this can not be the only project for AG... 

[Son_Goku 514]

12 hours ago, Mirza7 said:

The Old tanki died a long time go.  They should make some changes and advertise this as new version of game to new people.

W8 this can not be the only project for AG... 

They should advertise their game in general, I haven't seen any ad about Tanki for more than 8 years!

[Snafu 139]

On 12/11/2020 at 4:05 PM, DeathIsImminent said:

As I eagerly await the death of this game watching from the side lines

You too?  

[wolverine848 13,097]

On 12/11/2020 at 7:05 PM, DeathIsImminent said:

Another very good approach is the module system, which was used in Tanki X.

In order to save TO, you want to adopt a system from a game that failed in under 2 years?   

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

On 12/13/2020 at 1:09 PM, wolverine848 said:

In order to save TO, you want to adopt a system from a game that failed in under 2 years?   

TX failed for many reasons, and I would say the module system was not one of them. Perhaps the way in which modules were upgraded - via random container drops - was not good, but the system itself was not bad.

[wolverine848 13,097]

3 minutes ago, ThirdOnion said:

TX failed for many reasons, and I would say the module system was not one of them. Perhaps the way in which modules were upgraded - via random container drops - was not good, but the system itself was not bad.

Well, that was part of the system...

And also part of that system was the fact that only modules upgraded your tank.  It did away with the ability to upgrade your tank... was just... weird.

And yes, TX had many faults... not enough maps, the ridiculous deserter flags, awarding advancement based on accumulation of wins, ... etc, etc....  Also hated the League system... it reset casual players backwards - just dumb.

 

[Son_Goku 514]

2 hours ago, ThirdOnion said:

TX failed for many reasons, and I would say the module system was not one of them. Perhaps the way in which modules were upgraded - via random container drops - was not good, but the system itself was not bad.

TX failed because it's just not an interesting concept for nowadays (imo), same goes to Tanki. I'm sure that Tanki is still alive because of its older playerbase and not because of newer players, since it's like I said already, not interesting enough for the newer generation.

But yes, TX had many flaws. Sad to see that Tanki is adding so much from TX...

Edited December 15, 2020 by Son_Goku

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

8 minutes ago, Son_Goku said:

Sad to see that Tanki is adding so much from TX...

Why is this sad?

[Son_Goku 514]

1 hour ago, ThirdOnion said:

Why is this sad?

Because TX is a dead project. Copying from something that failed isn't the smartest thing

[Son_Goku 514]

14 minutes ago, Adriel.RB said:

That sentence makes more sense if you compare it to 2.0

Honestly, I think that 2.0 would have been way more successful than TX, maybe even more than TO

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

35 minutes ago, Son_Goku said:

Because TX is a dead project. Copying from something that failed isn't the smartest thing

Just because TX failed does not mean it didn't have good ideas or interesting mechanics. I think the core gameplay of TX was better than that of TO.

[Tokamak 1,021]

3 hours ago, Son_Goku said:

Because TX is a dead project. Copying from something that failed isn't the smartest thing

Let's say that part of TX survived (or are reborned) in TO: drones, augments, overdrives....
TO today is actually a mix of both, and Tanki X was also based on Tanki in the first place - so we can't really tell who really influenced who...

[wolverine848 13,097]

5 hours ago, Tokamak said:

Let's say that part of TX survived (or are reborned) in TO: drones, augments, overdrives....
TO today is actually a mix of both, and Tanki X was also based on Tanki in the first place - so we can't really tell who really influenced who...

Didn't like TX (stopped playing it after a year) and I'm liking TO less and less (as more and more tx is added) so...

[EmeraldCat 562]

6 hours ago, wolverine848 said:

Didn't like TX (stopped playing it after a year) and I'm liking TO less and less (as more and more tx is added) so...

It's all coming together.