Attempt to make MM Fun for Players having a Low Rank and/or Low GS

[Venerable 2,968]

Hi forumerz!

 

This topic is a call to action: if you're interested and willing enough, let's try to change the overall gaming experience of low-rank and low-GS players in Tanki for the better. I'm not saying that everyone should do this for the game to improve, but even if 10-20 players actively keep trying to make the gaming experience better for others, it could have far-reaching benefits.

 

Question-1: Who should ideally participate in this effort?

Answer: Any player who has a decently strong garage (good equipment) for their rank and is willing to sacrifice their 

(a) Kill-Death ratio (K/D)

(b) time and mental energy that they dedicate specifically to Tanki

(c) peace of mind

(d) battle score

(e) other resources (real money is not necessary) like supplies

(f) battle victories 

 

Question-2: What is "the attempt" or "the effort"?

Answer: It's a set of actions aimed at improving the Tanki-experience of those players who 

(a) struggle to complete simple missions due to weak equipment

(b) get destroyed a bit too much (more than normal) thanks to chance-related factors like critical damage and spawn-locations.

(c) cannot play regularly and are casual players

(d) belong to any other category of players that feel frustrated in battles

 

Question-3: Okay, cool. But what is it?

Answer: These are just guidelines, so feel free to do anything else (or modify these) to help other players.

(a) CTF: Bring flags to your base and let another not-so-good player capture them. Let others return your team's flag.

(b) CP: While capturing points with a teammate, leave points a few milliseconds before you capture them so that your teammate can get a better score by completing the capture on their own. 
Staying with your low-rank/low-GS teammate while capturing a point is actually the best thing to do. It helps in capturing/releasing points faster, and everyone who participated in capturing/releasing the point gets the same amount of battle score for completing that objective. Thanks to @mjmj5558 and @TheCongoSpider !

(c) ASL: While attacking, stay alert — if you see a teammate carrying a flag, you should barge into the enemy base ASAP and destroy as many enemy tanks as possible before your flag-bearing teammate reaches the base. While defending, try to protect/heal your team or eliminate enemies that are targeting your base from far away.

(d) SGE: Use AP or Jamming augments to make enemy tanks weaker. Hunter, Wasp, Ares, and Titan are great hulls for this mode (due to their Overdrives), and perhaps even Mammoth with a drone like Trickster or Crisis.

(e) RGB: Similar to CTF and ASL-attack... Clear the enemy base for your ball-carrying teammate, and protect that teammate as much as possible. For this to work effectively, your tank needs to be strong.

(f) JGR: Healing your Juggernaut is neither easy nor productive, in most cases. Instead, keep an eye out for potential Juggernaut-hunters and eliminate them before they reach your Juggernaut - mostly annoying Vikings with fully charged Overdrives. I know it's difficult, but try to significantly weaken the enemy Juggernaut without destroying it so that other teammates can finish the task.
Point mentioned by @PirateSpider: "Ares ball can wipe an entire team in its line of sight (a game changer in the battle). A juggernaut might survive it, but it'll be at low health and unprotected for a period of time, and if it doesn't have OD ready afterwards, it'll be vulnerable. There's not many ways you can stop it, mainly kill the Ares before it gets the opportunity."

(g) Generic stuff: Appreciate your teammates in the chat whenever they perform well — they will surely remember your nice message amongst the hundreds of "trash team" or "noob" messages that adorn the chat. Make it easier for other players to get kills by weakening enemy tanks. Try to do whatever you can to just make at least one Tanker's day. 

 

Question-4: Oh, okay. But why??

Answer: Many reasons to be honest, but basically the MM (matchmaking) system works rather badly when there aren't enough players queuing up for battles. Low-rankers get matched with players having much stronger equipment because the system expands rank-brackets. Also, it's much easier to rank up nowadays, and many players end up with underpowered equipment as they keep ranking up without earning much (in the form of crystals, supplies, containers, etc.).

Quote

From the Wiki: "Matchmaking creates a battle with certain rank limits. If, upon reaching a certain waiting time, players are not enough to create a battle, matchmaking can expand the rank-limits of the created battle so that more players of different levels can take part in it. However, the teams remain equal among themselves in terms of the players' Gear Score: if a player who is too weak or too strong suddenly appears in one team, matchmaking will assign the second such player to another team."

This really destroys the gaming experience for low-rankers. After all, what motivates players to play? What makes them happy? That sweet red damage-indicator with the turret flying off an enemy tank... a first-place finish in an exhilarating battle... a successful flag delivery after an exciting narrow escape from the enemy base... 

So, if you are willing to participate in this initiative, your help would be greatly appreciated! If players start enjoying battles more, they won't leave early. The MM system would also work better, resulting in fair battles. More players will start playing frequently thereby improving the MM system's performance further!

 

Question-5: What can we expect?

Answer: Frustration. And lots of it. There will always be that one player who will stumble and flip when you drop the enemy flag for them. You'll always find an ungrateful player who will respond rudely and/or mock you when you post a nice message for them in the chat. You'll most probably find a player who goes back to the enemy base with the enemy flag (and with lots of confidence). 

BUT - please don't give up. This experience will still be enriching for you, and I guarantee that. 

 

I really hope that a lot of the forumers here who have good accounts will actively contribute to this collective effort!  *fingers crossed*

Edited January 13, 2023 by Venerable
Updated the topic based on inputs by forumers <3

[PirateSpider 1,489]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:11 AM, Venerable said:

(a) CTF: Bring flags to your base and let another not-so-good player capture them. Let others return your team's flag.

I've done that countless times. I'll first try to give it to the previous carrier because it was theirs first. If they don't want it, then its pretty much fair game for the rest of the teammates. If no one takes it in the next 5 seconds, then I cap it so the team can score possibly the only flag it can get.

On 1/10/2023 at 9:11 AM, Venerable said:

(f) JGR: Healing your Juggernaut is neither easy nor productive, in most cases. Instead, keep an eye out for potential Juggernaut-hunters and eliminate them before they reach your Juggernaut - mostly annoying Vikings with fully charged Overdrives. I know it's difficult, but try to significantly weaken the enemy Juggernaut without destroying it so that other teammates can finish the task.

Be sure to also watch out for Ares users, which I think are more dangerous to the team in general.

[mjmj5558 2,346]

On 1/10/2023 at 6:11 PM, Venerable said:

CP: While capturing points with a teammate, leave points a few milliseconds before you capture them so that your teammate can get a better score by completing the capture on their own.

They won't get a better score. They get 10 points for capturing and 5 points for neutralizing the point in any ways. Staying there actually helps them, as battle fund increases more with more points.

[Venerable 2,968]

On 1/11/2023 at 6:45 AM, PirateSpider said:

I've done that countless times. I'll first try to give it to the previous carrier because it was theirs first. If they don't want it, then its pretty much fair game for the rest of the teammates. If no one takes it in the next 5 seconds, then I cap it so the team can score possibly the only flag it can get.

Oooh that's great!

On 1/11/2023 at 6:45 AM, PirateSpider said:

Be sure to also watch out for Ares users, which I think are more dangerous to the team in general.

Do elaborate - I'll add it to the main post.

On 1/11/2023 at 10:12 PM, mjmj5558 said:

They won't get a better score. They get 10 points for capturing and 5 points for neutralizing the point in any ways. Staying there actually helps them, as battle fund increases more with more points.

Hmm, that's true. I'll edit that point. Do you have any other suggestions for CP?

[PirateSpider 1,489]

On 1/11/2023 at 8:58 AM, Venerable said:

Do elaborate - I'll add it to the main post.

Ares ball can wipe an entire team in its line of sight (a game changer in the battle). A jug might survive it, but it'll be at low health and unprotected for a period of time, and if it doesn't have OD ready afterwards, it'll be vulnerable. There's not many ways you can stop it, mainly kill the Ares before it gets the opportunity.

[PirateSpider 1,489]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:11 AM, Venerable said:

This topic is a call to action: if you're interested and willing enough, let's try to change the overall gaming experience of low-rank and low-GS players in Tanki for the better. I'm not saying that everyone should do this for the game to improve, but even if 10-20 players actively keep trying to make the gaming experience better for others, it could have far-reaching benefits.

You know, your good intentions got me thinking of another way to help free players out a little bit. Some of us buyers who are willing to can spend a little bit of money to help out another player.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

On 1/11/2023 at 12:42 PM, mjmj5558 said:

They won't get a better score. They get 10 points for capturing and 5 points for neutralizing the point in any ways. Staying there actually helps them, as battle fund increases more with more points.

 

On 1/10/2023 at 1:11 PM, Venerable said:

(b) CP: While capturing points with a teammate, leave points a few milliseconds before you capture them so that your teammate can get a better score by completing the capture on their own.

It's 10 score for neutralising a point and 15 for capturing it. 

 

It doesn't matter how many players are on the CP point. The score for fully neutralising/capturing a point and assisting in those actions is the same. So what someone can do is if they're neutralising a point with an ally, they can wait until it is fully neutralised then drive away to go to the next point. The player driving away will get the 15 score after it is captured even if they didn't do the action for the full 5 seconds. 

[soviet.reunion 76]

Doing a lot of these things costs extra time and would reduce the chances of your team winning... I think that players would be better off having you slaughtering the enemy so they can stay alive more. 

[Venerable 2,968]

On 1/12/2023 at 1:58 AM, PirateSpider said:

You know, your good intentions got me thinking of another way to help free players out a little bit. Some of us buyers who are willing to can spend a little bit of money to help out another player.

In what way, exactly? There are some ways but they're against the Game Rules (and EULA), so I hope you aren't referring to them.

 

On 1/13/2023 at 2:23 AM, soviet.reunion said:

Doing a lot of these things costs extra time and would reduce the chances of your team winning... I think that players would be better off having you slaughtering the enemy so they can stay alive more. 

As I mentioned in the topic, these are just guidelines. You can modify them however you see fit. The main aim is to make the gaming experience better for players having a low rank and/or low Gear Score in a battle full of strong tanks. Personally, while I agree that "slaughtering the enemy" is a good way to reduce the frustration of other players, it still doesn't contribute towards the "fun factor" for them. They don't get to destroy tanks. But yes, it does improve the gaming experience for them.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Venerable
Typo

[PirateSpider 1,489]

On 1/13/2023 at 9:52 AM, Venerable said:

In what way, exactly? There are some ways but they're against the Game Rules (and EULA), so I hope you aren't referring to them.

Would buying a gift card and then giving them the pin code to said gift card be one of the forbidden ways?

[TargetXAcquired 277]

@Venerable Here is a good idea. Why don't the devs listen to player feedback and act on the sensible ones that make sense to the game.

Sounds like a plan to me.

[TargetXAcquired 277]

On 1/13/2023 at 5:52 PM, Venerable said:

The main aim is to make the gaming experience better for players having a low rank and/or low Gear Score in a battle full of strong tanks.

I addressed this problem with a sound and valid idea on how to make MM more even amongst the low to mid ranks. 

[Venerable 2,968]

On 1/14/2023 at 12:23 AM, PirateSpider said:

Would buying a gift card and then giving them the pin code to said gift card be one of the forbidden ways?

I think that's allowed, as long as no sensitive information is shared.

 

On 1/14/2023 at 12:28 AM, TargetXAcquired said:

@Venerable Here is a good idea. Why don't the devs listen to player feedback and act on the sensible ones that make sense to the game.

Sounds like a plan to me.

Oh hello there! Welcome back!

As I've said multiple times before, the Developers do listen to players, but it takes time (naturally) to process the feedback, analyze the feasibility, and then implement any change if necessary. I don't really understand why so many players consider them celestial devils or something, but I guess I have an idea.

[TargetXAcquired 277]

On 1/16/2023 at 6:52 AM, Venerable said:

I think that's allowed, as long as no sensitive information is shared.

 

Oh hello there! Welcome back!

As I've said multiple times before, the Developers do listen to players, but it takes time (naturally) to process the feedback, analyze the feasibility, and then implement any change if necessary. I don't really understand why so many players consider them celestial devils or something, but I guess I have an idea.

I addressed the problem months ago and this change is very necessary as it would solve the rank spread in battles to a large degree.

Also as I have said multiple times before, the devs have never acted on genuine player feedback when they have pointed out a major flaw/update that affects gameplay.

Magnum's ridiculous aiming system is not wanted, it hinders the players ability to hit the target. If mobile players want it then they can keep it, but give PC players the option to get rid of it. This should not be a problem to implement.