review Shards and MM 2.0 - Reviewing Patch #635

[Person_Random 4,991]

We’ve got ourselves a new turret skin, new currency, and completely revamped MM system in just one week - it’s a lot to go through, so let’s review!

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January brought a lot of large changes: Crusader’s mass release, new eSports tournament systems, and last week’s large release: which included the introduction of the currency “Shards” and tweaks to MM based on the experiments conducted towards the end of the year as well as the introduction of Smoky HD and the Rename feature. Let’s take a look at the changes here:
 

 Shards

Essentially, shards are known as part of containers. It’s a new currency that allows you to get some containers every so often. And the best part is: it’s free! You can earn them using these methods:

• 1 shard earned passively every 800 seconds, which translates into about 1 container a day (up to 100 shards; after 100 shards, you stop getting free shards)
• Watching ads on the mobile version of the game earns you 10 shards for a 30-second ad (refilled every 7 minutes/per MM match you play). The ad can sometimes be shorter if you're lucky! 
• Completing Daily Missions, which awards 30/50/70 shards, depending on the difficulty of the mission.
• Completing Special Missions.
• More ways to get shards may be announced soon.

Trade Rate: 100 shards = 1 container.

Impact: Personally, I don’t see much of an impact. I guess the positive side is that you can earn more containers than you usually could with the typical system. In the past, containers were so hard to obtain; now, it seems that they are much more commonplace. This is good for players, especially those who are ranking up way too fast to earn enough crystals to compensate for the experience that they are earning.

However, I feel that instead of using the “solve and justify” technique (adding a huge discrepancy between exp/crystal rate and selling extra containers as a solution) isn’t the best approach. While it will probably get me to 900 containers for my next article faster, it seems excessive. Instead of doing this, there could just be no experience and crystal multiplier (or a less skewed multiplier) in my opinion. However, players do love containers, so I suppose it’s not really all bad. For me, it’s not the greatest, but I think it’s a fair and pretty F2P update that keep more players interested.

 

 MM

During the past few weeks, Tanki ran a couple of experiments; the first one featured 6v6 modes on small maps (as well as doubled health, tweaks to melee turrets, and some other changes) while the second was a night-and-day change from the first one - 16v16 on larger maps.

The first one was not as well received, with many players frustrated at the transformation of MM into a 6v6 FWH format battle. On the other hand, the second experiment received more positive feedback; especially with the return of some snazzy new maps. Taking the feedback of both experiments into account, Tanki updated the MM system. Here are the changes:

• The number of players in a match now depends on the size of the map (with a minimum of 6 players and maximum of 12 players per team). Additionally, lower-ranked players will only have access to the smaller maps - but as they rank up, the map pool grows and they’ll be able to play on any map of their choice. Let’s take a look at the maps you can play on.
• Here’s some data I collected:
  • 6 players - Cross, Highland, Red Alert, Sandal, Sandbox
  • 8 players - Archipelago, Bridges, Iran, Molotov, Polygon, Silence, Tribute, Year 2042
  • 10 players - Aleksandrovosk, Chernobyl, Desert, Future, Industrial Zone, Osa, Serpuhov, Stadium, Wolfenstein, Barda
  • 12 players - Brest, Kungur, Magistral, Yorkshire
  Spoiler

  

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• More people can now be added to a group. It starts with a two-person group at a lower rank, but as you make your way to Legend, you can expand to up to 4 players in a group.

Opinion/Impact: It’s more of a mixed bag for me. I like the fact that there is a different number of players on various maps, but I don’t really like how 90% of the time, if you’re going solo, you’re going to be on a small map, especially Sandbox or Bridges. Conversely, if you’re in a group, you’re almost always on a larger map like Desert or Yorkshire. Besides that, it seems like some maps are always flooding the map pool as I’ve always landed on the same groups of maps when in groups or solo. Also, a lot of players really liked the reintroduction of some large maps, but then none have been added to the map pool.

 

  Smoky HD and New Augments

Smoky's back with a hot new HD skin; along with the revamped skin, the Tanki team introduced 5 new augments: Paralyzing Rounds, EMP Rounds, Rubberized Rounds, Explosive Rounds, and Sorted Ammunition.

Impact: There's not much to say here: the new augments are far harder to obtain (Exotic from Ultra Containers), which means they are quite powerful compared to other augments. Check out our other article to get the inside scoop on Smoky.

 

 Misc

Renaming

Rename methods are back!

Now, you can rename yourself by going to the “Account” section of the settings and choosing a snazzy new nickname: however, you'll need 2000 tankoins to seal the deal.

 

Small Visual Changes

Not much to be said here - the battle ends with the <Victory> and <Defeat> screens commonly seen on mobile now.
 

And that wraps it up for Patch 635. Overall, these are some great updates to end January with a bang. Shards provide a constant flow of containers to keep players interested, while the new MM maps ensure no map is overcrowded or seemingly empty. And there’s more - Patch 636 has just come in hot, so stay tuned for more action!

Patch 635 Post

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Yep, and that’s another patch update covered. We’ve got another Patch to take a look at - and this one includes tons of balance changes - so join us next week, won’t you?

[Person_Random 4,991]

Zooming out from Smoky's remodeling, let's take a look at this week's updates as a whole. If you're confused how this current Patch Update has affected the current state of Tanki, then we've got quite the article for you - check out our review right here!

[Alone.I.Conquer 30]

I like getting placed in smaller maps, and I hate those big maps with many players, where you as an individual have no influence on the match at all. Please reduce the number of players on all maps, becouse right now, especialy on the big maps, there are way to many people sniping and camping and its just no fun at all. 

[Tanker-Arthur 2,971]

Shards honestly solved everything that was wrong with Tanki......except for game balance between turrets, hulls, alterations, augments, and drones.


Gauss is still untouched for some reason, even after the most recent balance update 

[MadMatt9007 3]

I think our first name changes should be free as it is like this on many other games/platforms.

[Person_Random 4,991]

2 hours ago, MadMatt9007 said:

I think our first name changes should be free as it is like this on many other games/platforms.

Personally, I like that idea. It would be amazing to have it.