Matchmaking is broken - balance doesn’t exist anymore

[Mr.Blitz 57]

Let’s be real for a second.. matchmaking in this game is broken. It’s not random, it’s not “just how it happens,” it’s obvious to anyone with eyes. Stronger pay-to-win accounts always end up stacked in one team, while the weaker/non-paying ones are thrown together on the other side. That’s not balance, that’s manipulation. No one should try to twist this fact because we all see it, every single day. Matches are lopsided on purpose. Paying players get their easy wins, and the rest of us are forced to play the role of target dummies. That’s not competition, it’s exploitation. What makes it worse is that this game already lost its balance a long time ago, the moment you introduced flying nonsense that has absolutely nothing to do with tanks. This is supposed to be Tanki Online, not some airshow.

If you want players to actually enjoy the game, then fix the matchmaking. Spread out the GS, mix strong and weak players and stop stacking one side just to make premium players feel powerful. Balance is the only thing that keeps a competitive game alive, and right now, there’s none.

What I am talking about is not a coincidence at all, this is an everyday occurrence 

Edited October 2 by Mr.Blitz
I've attached pictures as proof

[Wry 93]

On 9/30/2025 at 11:20 PM, Mr.Blitz said:

Spread out the GS, mix strong and weak players and stop stacking one side just to make premium players feel powerful. Balance is the only thing that keeps a competitive game alive, and right now, there’s none.

So in other competitive games the parameter to MM is a rank system. A player in gold won't be matched against or with a player in masters. But this does not mean that it is a 100% Balanced system, you can always play against or with players who got carried by others or simply not on the same level as the rank they are in. For Tanki there is no such parameter so how to balance MM teams? GS is a way but not a good one, since GS tells you how good of a garage an account has but not the actual skill rating of the player as the rank system does. Also you can cheat the system by removing protections and grenades and selecting a low MK turret and hull before you search for a match and then you can change to your real combo after you join a match. 

A way that could work for Tanki to balance MM is to distribute players based on win rate in MM. So the average win rate between the two teams should be close in order to have a balanced match. Now similar to the rank system you can always play with or against players who have high win rate because they got carried by others. But regardless it is still better than nothing.

Just to note that MM for players below the legend rank are in a better state than legend rank players, since you can't play with legend rank players if you are below legend.

[Mr.Blitz 57]

On 10/1/2025 at 9:35 AM, Wry said:

So in other competitive games the parameter to MM is a rank system. A player in gold won't be matched against or with a player in masters. But this does not mean that it is a 100% Balanced system, you can always play against or with players who got carried by others or simply not on the same level as the rank they are in. For Tanki there is no such parameter so how to balance MM teams? GS is a way but not a good one, since GS tells you how good of a garage an account has but not the actual skill rating of the player as the rank system does. Also you can cheat the system by removing protections and grenades and selecting a low MK turret and hull before you search for a match and then you can change to your real combo after you join a match. 

A way that could work for Tanki to balance MM is to distribute players based on win rate in MM. So the average win rate between the two teams should be close in order to have a balanced match. Now similar to the rank system you can always play with or against players who have high win rate because they got carried by others. But regardless it is still better than nothing.

Just to note that MM for players below the legend rank are in a better state than legend rank players, since you can't play with legend rank players if you are below legend.

You’re right that no matchmaking system in any competitive game is ever 100% perfect. The problem with Tanki is not imperfection.. it’s deliberate imbalance. Every day you see one team stacked with heavy pay-to-win accounts and the other filled with underpowered players who exist only as cannon fodder. That’s not “bad luck,” that’s a pattern. And it’s obvious enough that no one should try to twist it into anything else. Win rate balancing might sound like a solution on paper, but it still ignores the elephant in the room: the system chooses to put weaker teams against stronger ones, especially in Legend rank. That’s why the game feels like it has already lost its balance long before flying gadgets ever entered the scene.

So no, this isn’t about “how to balance MM in theory.” It’s about the fact that balance was thrown out the window on purpose my friend.

[Snafu 139]

On 9/30/2025 at 1:20 PM, Mr.Blitz said:

If you want players to actually enjoy the game, then fix the matchmaking. Spread out the GS, mix strong and weak players and stop stacking one side just to make premium players feel powerful. Balance is the only thing that keeps a competitive game alive, and right now, there’s none.

I have a simple advise for you - if you no longer enjoying the fame - quit. Just like that. And when enough people leave, two things might happen:

- the game will shut down - good riddance

- the game will be fixed - awesome 

[POWER-OF-ONE 163]

On 10/1/2025 at 3:28 PM, Mr.Blitz said:

The problem with Tanki is not imperfection.. it’s deliberate imbalance.

So very true.

 

On 10/1/2025 at 3:28 PM, Mr.Blitz said:

It’s about the fact that balance was thrown out the window on purpose

Again very true.

 

On 10/1/2025 at 3:28 PM, Mr.Blitz said:

the system chooses to put weaker teams against stronger ones,

Can't really comment on that one as I have no idea if that's what actually happens.

 

On 10/1/2025 at 3:28 PM, Mr.Blitz said:

long before flying gadgets ever entered the scene.

Skips compound the issue enormously.

 

On 10/1/2025 at 8:35 AM, Wry said:

For Tanki there is no such parameter so how to balance MM teams?

I gave the best solution to this years ago and it got ignored.

My solution would have balanced out teams according to rank over a period of time and improved MM by orders of magnitude, but it got ignored.

On 10/1/2025 at 8:35 AM, Wry said:

since GS tells you how good of a garage an account has

GS can be a false indicator of a strong garage.

 A Legend can have "one" maxed out combo with 4 maxed protections and have 9999 GS  but no other combo's or protections to fall back on. 

On 10/1/2025 at 8:35 AM, Wry said:

Also you can cheat the system by removing protections and grenades and selecting a low MK turret and hull before you search for a match and then you can change to your real combo after you join a match.

Not sure if that actually works.

I think MM goes off ranks not GS.

On 10/1/2025 at 8:35 AM, Wry said:

A way that could work for Tanki to balance MM is to distribute players based on win rate in MM.

Bad idea and will never happen. 

 

[Wry 93]

On 10/3/2025 at 1:43 PM, POWER-OF-ONE said:

Bad idea and will never happen. 

Can you elaborate why is it a bad idea?

[PirateSpider 1,489]

Its good for you, though. Builds character.

[POWER-OF-ONE 163]

On 10/4/2025 at 12:43 AM, Wry said:

Can you elaborate why is it a bad idea?

Bots.

The other downside is that players will "eventually", probably over a period of a couple months, maybe a bit longer be back at square one facing much stronger players because of the way TO sets out the mechanics of the game.

There will ALWAYS be uneven teams in TO because of so many factors that can present themselves in the game. I will give a few examples.

1-Players from back in the day reactivating old accounts at lower ranks that have multiple protections. There are no prots until General rank, so those players already have a big advantage, and there are quite a few.

2-The buyers.

3-Did I mention the useless, pathetic, waste of space bots.

4-luck. The nerfed containers that once in a blue moon give out something that enhances your garage.

5-The biggest factor imo are the players themselves. Skill factor. Knowing what to do for the good of the team goes a long way in determining the outcome of a lot of battles.

There are just to many factors to contend with when putting players against each other based on "win rate" only.

One last example.

I camp. I do this because I refuse to be cannon fodder for the multitude of ways you can be taken out. I am very good at camping and usually get top 3, regardless if I'm on the winning team or not.

I would guess that my win rate is maybe between 40/50% with a small percentage of draws thrown in.

I regard myself as a smart player and I always target skips, "ALWAYS". 

If my win rate dropped (because of various factors beyond my control) then I would be placed in ever increasing weaker teams, even though my combo is strong, at my rank that is. 

In a near perfect TO world your idea is ok, but this is TO, and cash rules all decisions made regarding how the game will progress. Players in the main are just a platform to ensure the cash keeps rolling in, hence the mechanics of the game will always be unbalanced and ideas to improve the game will always be rejected, no matter how good they are, unless of course they coincide with their cash making scheming ways.

TCSOTO will only get worse, much worse.

  

[Positive 1,136]

On 10/4/2025 at 8:43 AM, Wry said:

Can you elaborate why is it a bad idea?

The ability to leave a battle whenever completely breaks the idea of a win rate based system.

[NikmanGT 4,362]

On 10/4/2025 at 4:23 PM, POWER-OF-ONE said:

TCSOTO 

What does this abbreviation mean?

[Maf 32,300]

On 10/4/2025 at 5:36 PM, NikmanGT said:

What does this abbreviation mean?

It's gotta be this random guy's Flickr account

Edited October 4 by Maf

[Jeers4U 665]

On 10/4/2025 at 9:36 AM, NikmanGT said:

What does this abbreviation mean?

 

The

Current

State

Of

Tanki

Online

[Mr.Blitz 57]

On 10/3/2025 at 12:43 PM, POWER-OF-ONE said:

Can't really comment on that one as I have no idea if that's what actually happens.

I can comment and confirm with certainty, because this problem is repeated every day

[Mr.Blitz 57]

For those who still think the matchmaking system is “fine”  take a closer look at this screenshot... Notice how one team is stacked with almost full 9999 GS players, while the other side (mine) has only a few of them, and guess which team lost? Exactly.

This kind of imbalance happens constantly. You don’t need a PhD in math to understand what happens when the system keeps grouping more maxed-out players on one side. It’s not even a match, it’s a slaughter... Their turrets hit like trucks while ours barely scratch. You can’t “outplay” raw stat disparity, no matter how good your aim or map awareness is... In 20 matches, maybe one or two end up balanced by accident, but the rest follow this same pattern.. stronger, premium-stacked players grouped together, while the rest of us are left to serve as target practice.

@NikmanGT @Positive If this isn’t broken balance, then I’d really like to hear what “balance” even means anymore.

[POWER-OF-ONE 163]

On 10/5/2025 at 1:40 PM, Mr.Blitz said:

I can comment and confirm with certainty, because this problem is repeated every day

This is due because not enough players are fitting the criteria for MM. This is down to players ranking far to quickly and not having the resources to improve their garage after each subsequent rank up. My solution would improve MM tenfold. 

This is why MM failed from the instance it was brought into the game.

This is why "MY" IDEA" was rejected because the devs want unbalance in battles in the hope some players will buy their way out of being canon fodder. 

I maintain that TO will get progressively worse with every update "they" bring out.

[Hypersomnia 1,695]

On 10/6/2025 at 4:58 AM, Mr.Blitz said:

For those who still think the matchmaking system is “fine”  take a closer look at this screenshot...

well the entire counter to these kind of people is literally finding random QnA from hazel from who knows what V-LOG where he was asked about why MM is so OBVIOUSLY unbalanced and his answer was something along the lines of 'its unbalanced on purpose because it creates chaos and unpredictability. If it was balanced the game would quickly get boring and it would be a way worse playing experience'. A big belly laugh basically. I get where he is going but the current disbalance is way too high to be enjoyable by anyone except masochists.

 

On 10/6/2025 at 4:58 AM, Mr.Blitz said:

otice how one team is stacked with almost full 9999 GS players

imma sound like a madman but do the research yourself and you'll notice this pattern instantly. Basically 90% success rate.

GS doesn't matter. Augments don't matter.

If the team has MORE 9999GS flying hull users than the others that team has like 99% chance of winning no matter what the enemies do. Yea it doesn't make any sense on paper (or it does if you know how absurdly OP flying hulls are) but this is basically a hack sheet. If your team has less 9999GS flying hull  you're basically toasted. 

 

like i said this is not some flying hull bad grrrrr but a pattern i accidentally noticed and that proven to be correct for maybe 2 months now with like 9/10 success rate. im so serious just pay attention to the tab and 9999GS flying hull count on the teams.

Edited October 6 by Hypersomnia

[Positive 1,136]

On 10/6/2025 at 10:58 AM, Mr.Blitz said:

 

@NikmanGT @Positive If this isn’t broken balance, then I’d really like to hear what “balance” even means anymore.

 

I mean I never denied any imbalance in some of the matches you enter. But just comparing GS between teams doesn’t really tell you a whole lot, plus it’s also often biased by pessimistic recall.
Mm balance is a multi-factor problem that’s not easy to fix. You’d have to consider more than just raw numbers.
That said, I’m curious what ideas you have for improving MM balance.

[Positive 1,136]

On 10/6/2025 at 7:48 PM, Hypersomnia said:

imma sound like a madman but do the research yourself and you'll notice this pattern instantly. Basically 90% success rate.

GS doesn't matter. Augments don't matter.

If the team has MORE 9999GS flying hull users than the others that team has like 99% chance of winning no matter what the enemies do. Yea it doesn't make any sense on paper (or it does if you know how absurdly OP flying hulls are) but this is basically a hack sheet. If your team has less 9999GS flying hull  you're basically toasted. 

Is it that the floating hulls makes players good, or that better players just understand it's a stronger option and chooses to use it more often?

[Hypersomnia 1,695]

On 10/6/2025 at 2:21 PM, Positive said:

Is it that the floating hulls makes players good

its been half a decade we all know the answer brah...

 

On 10/6/2025 at 2:21 PM, Positive said:

or that better players just understand

the better players in question get very very angry after i kill them in festive mode a couple times in like a minute. not a sign of actually good player.

 

On 10/6/2025 at 2:21 PM, Positive said:

it's a stronger option and chooses to use it more often?

why should a couple hulls of all things be way stronger and overpowered with features that were never intended to be in this game which clearly break the design of the game?

i thought the reason someone would choose crusader over viking or wasp over hopper is their ODs. that's why they've been changed and not that one hull is basically 'vanilla game' and the other one is 'legal cheat engine 2025'?

and shush shush shush my friendly friend i abuse flying hulls too so dont get naughty and tell me to just play with them.

[Positive 1,136]

On 10/6/2025 at 8:48 PM, Hypersomnia said:

its been half a decade we all know the answer brah...

 

the better players in question get very very angry after i kill them in festive mode a couple times in like a minute. not a sign of actually good player.

 

why should a couple hulls of all things be way stronger and overpowered with features that were never intended to be in this game which clearly break the design of the game?

i thought the reason someone would choose crusader over viking or wasp over hopper is their ODs. that's why they've been changed and not that one hull is basically 'vanilla game' and the other one is 'legal cheat engine 2025'?

and shush shush shush my friendly friend i abuse flying hulls too so dont get naughty and tell me to just play with them.

No I didn't ask for your definition of a good player or what makes hovering hulls stronger. I also never denied that they are. I just asked a simple question so I can understand your vision better.
So again, in your opinion, why do you think the team with the most hovering hulls wins most of the matches as you said.
Is it that the floating hulls makes players good, or that better players just understand it's a stronger option and chooses to use it more often?

[krokorok 836]

On 10/6/2025 at 2:09 PM, Positive said:

No I didn't ask for your definition of a good player or what makes hovering hulls stronger. I also never denied that they are. I just asked a simple question so I can understand your vision better.
So again, in your opinion, why do you think the team with the most hovering hulls wins most of the matches as you said.
Is it that the floating hulls makes players good, or that better players just understand it's a stronger option and chooses to use it more often?

These two are not mutually exclusive options. You can be a good player who performs quite alright regardless of equipment, but you will switch to whatever is meta and performs on top for better experience (more points, crystals, Top 3 spot, more fun, etc.)

You can as well be a bad player who switches his playstyle and get much better when equiping hovering hull. 

From my personal experience, I used to be a track hull main. This was my bread and butter way back to first tracked hull game on old Silence OG map to first Titan kit, to Dictator main when Gold catching was actually interesting, to then turning to Hunter main cause I liked its OD when hovering hulls started appearing. I just did not find the hovering hulls comfortable at first, but then after years of basically having Hunter equipped nonstop (1 mil exp towards Phoenix), I switched to hovers. Gotta say, I did not find the playstyle comfortable coming from years of playing on tracked hulls, but after a couple of battles, the experience was uncomparable.

The range of motion on hovering hulls is just massive, especially the side motion, or strafing as it is reffered to, does change the playing experience and quality of gameplay for many people. These days I dont pick tracked hulls as often, the only one I have been using lately is Wasp, because I like the different experience of its OD bomb and because I prefer it for certain turrets (mainly for Railgun and the ability of rocking your hull for altering the trajectory down or up).

Edited October 6 by krokorok

[Mr.Blitz 57]

On 10/6/2025 at 11:35 AM, POWER-OF-ONE said:

This is due because not enough players are fitting the criteria for MM. This is down to players ranking far to quickly and not having the resources to improve their garage after each subsequent rank up. My solution would improve MM tenfold. 

This is why MM failed from the instance it was brought into the game.

This is why "MY" IDEA" was rejected because the devs want unbalance in battles in the hope some players will buy their way out of being canon fodder. 

I maintain that TO will get progressively worse with every update "they" bring out.

@POWER-OF-ONE You’re absolutely right. Players are ranking up way too fast without having time to adapt or upgrade their garage properly. Instead of matchmaking focusing on balance, it feels intentionally designed to create frustration.. pushing some to “buy” their way out of being cannon fodder. That’s exactly where the fun disappears.. It’s no longer about skill or team coordination, it’s about surviving an algorithm that already decided who wins before the battle even starts.

[Mr.Blitz 57]

On 10/6/2025 at 12:48 PM, Hypersomnia said:

well the entire counter to these kind of people is literally finding random QnA from hazel from who knows what V-LOG where he was asked about why MM is so OBVIOUSLY unbalanced and his answer was something along the lines of 'its unbalanced on purpose because it creates chaos and unpredictability. If it was balanced the game would quickly get boring and it would be a way worse playing experience'. A big belly laugh basically. I get where he is going but the current disbalance is way too high to be enjoyable by anyone except masochists.

@Hypersomnia Yeah, I remember that statement - “chaos makes it fun.” The problem is, what they call chaos has become total destruction of any sense of fairness or progression. Chaos can be fun when everyone plays on equal footing.. But when one team has half the players using flying hulls and the other team has none, that’s not chaos.. that’s a mismatch disguised as “unpredictability.” And when predictability is replaced by frustration, that’s when the game stops being enjoyable.

[Positive 1,136]

On 10/6/2025 at 9:33 PM, krokorok said:

These two are not mutually exclusive options. You can be a good player who performs quite alright regardless of equipment, but you will switch to whatever is meta and performs on top for better experience (more points, crystals, Top 3 spot, more fun, etc.)

You can as well be a bad player who switches his playstyle and get much better when equiping hovering hull. 

Exactly. This is the correct view imo.
It just creates a feedback loop, good players amplify the hull’s strength, the hull amplifies their performance. It’s not a conspiracy or placebo, it’s just meta clustering and imbalance combining.

[Mr.Blitz 57]

On 10/6/2025 at 12:48 PM, Hypersomnia said:

well the entire counter to these kind of people is literally finding random QnA from hazel from who knows what V-LOG where he was asked about why MM is so OBVIOUSLY unbalanced and his answer was something along the lines of 'its unbalanced on purpose because it creates chaos and unpredictability. If it was balanced the game would quickly get boring and it would be a way worse playing experience'. A big belly laugh basically. I get where he is going but the current disbalance is way too high to be enjoyable by anyone except masochists.

 

imma sound like a madman but do the research yourself and you'll notice this pattern instantly. Basically 90% success rate.

GS doesn't matter. Augments don't matter.

If the team has MORE 9999GS flying hull users than the others that team has like 99% chance of winning no matter what the enemies do. Yea it doesn't make any sense on paper (or it does if you know how absurdly OP flying hulls are) but this is basically a hack sheet. If your team has less 9999GS flying hull  you're basically toasted. 

 

like i said this is not some flying hull bad grrrrr but a pattern i accidentally noticed and that proven to be correct for maybe 2 months now with like 9/10 success rate. im so serious just pay attention to the tab and 9999GS flying hull count on the teams.

@Hypersomnia You nailed it completely.. Flying hulls have absolutely broken the core logic of this game. This isn’t a tank game anymore.. it’s tanks vs. air units, and that’s absurd. The speed, agility and attack angles of flying hulls give them overwhelming superiority, turning ground hulls into moving targets. The entire gameplay dynamic collapses because the design itself favors one category beyond any realistic balance point.

Mixing those two.. inferior ground hulls with superior flying ones, on the same battlefield isn’t “variety.” It’s mechanical nonsense.