Peiper

First, I dumped my live oak forest for a locust forest because it had thickness and speed, which I value over thickness and hit points (live oak). Now locust and live oak are the same, but you're buffing teak to make locust irrelevant. Please make locust thickness and speed again, and keep live oak thickness and hit points as it was before the latest changes.

Proposal: Asian ships We could use some NPC empires to threaten the rest of us with from time to time. They could come from a spawned island or take a generally unused port and begin expanding into the region with Turtle boats and a variety of junks, spitting rockets, cannons, and ramming players. The ships would not be for players to capture, build or purchase - they would be sort-of monsters of the game, and all players in both servers could work together to wipe them out. Once wiped out, they disappear for awhile until they respawn somewhere else on the map until exterminated. The loss of ports and good loot would be motivations to fight them. Current version of the game needs more variety of ships. There's plenty of historical unusual - my my Western eyes - Asian ships that could be created as an 'Eastern Menace' or they could come from another dimension - I don't care. I like sea monsters and stuff. This proposal would use historical references, ships and technology rather than fantasy sources, to help assuage the simulator/historical crowd. I think the players and designers would have fun picking and making ships. I would NOT like to see these ships be player owned, simply because even ships like La Requin break the realism of the game by having a different 'family' of ships mixed with all the square-sailors.

Proposal: Fishing boats and whalers. I would like to see fishing boats - rowboat size, local people and natives in canoes, fishing along shorelines. I'd like to see whalers way out at sea. Currently, the only ships we see are warships and trade ships. These would be sprites, static in nature, and could be client based graphics options like my animal suggestion above. They would be non-interactive, and exist simply to enrich the visuals at sea, lending more realism to the game.

Proposal: Animal life I would like to see whales, dolphins, flying fish, and albatross. These creatures are common in the ocean and deserve to be in the game. Current version is too lifeless. All of these creatures could criss-cross the open world map indefinitely, as they all tend to move in straight-ish lines. If you're worried about server load, make them client based sprites. No interaction is necessary and no need to worry about collisions. It's a quality of life - literally LIFE - suggestion.

My God, I'm sorry I asked. I've put in hundreds of hours into this game. I've lead a successful guild. I have earned just about everything in the game on two characters on two different servers. Do you really think I want to grind my way up AGAIN in PVE. No fuggin way. If I want to sit on my butt and sail around and kill mobs, I've earned that right. I'm not here to be cannon fodder for PVPers. Could I 'Git Good?' Sure I could, but I've already been there, done that. I don't want to do it again. Everyone plays the game for their own reasons. Some like to PVP, some like to trade, some like to craft, some like to blow up mobs. I blow up mobs and craft. I craft to help others and blow up mobs for pleasure. I do so in the ships I craft or earn by blowing up mobs. That's what I enjoy. Game Labs has removed my ability to replace my losses. Until they restore that ability, I will not play in PVP. Because I refuse to stress myself out taking out my one remaining Santi and Wasa, it means I don't play anymore. I don't play anymore means one less player in their game, and I log on less and less often to craft because if all I'm doing is logging on for 5 minutes to make cannons for my guild with no pleasure in it for me, then fug it. I don't care at all what you think I should do with myself. I'm not here to please you. I simply want what I've earned time and time again and I want to rest on my laurels. Game Labs hasn't learned the lesson that once a player has earned something, it's a mistake to take it away. They also seem to want to force players to behave in a certain way (play PVP) because they BELIEVE that's the heart of their game. Well, not everyone plays for that, and they're alienating people like me who play for different reasons. The result is less players when they could simply let everyone play for their own reasons. If they want to reward pvp, fine. Give out some paint jobs, sail colors, new mast heads or decorations - bragging rights stuff. But don't punish the rest of us because we don't play the way others do. Do not put some ships or gear behind PVP walls and expect us to do with less because you want us to play a certain way. Peiper at the Gates of Dawn

I am currently on the PVP server. I do not PVP, but my favorite ships require me to PVP to replace. I like to support my guild through crafting and periodically go out in my Wasas or Santis and just wreck PVE targets or search out shipwrecks. I find it relaxing and I find it fun to do. I used to PVP, raid ports and stuff. I do not like the rat race, time sink, etc.... I used to craft 1st rates once a day for my guild. But the fun is gone. So I am considering transferring all my hard earned stuff from PVP to the PVE server. I will miss my friends, but having been reduced to crafting only because I find taking out my favorite ships too stressful. There is nothing fun left in the game for me. (If I can't replace my favorite ships via PVE, it stresses me out. One server connection loss or miscalculation and I lose a ship never to be able to craft a new one again.) I have two rear admirals, high level crafters (now one, because the server combined). I will NOT grind up another. How do I transfer my assets to the PVE server? Either that, or when will you remove the 1st rates and Wasa from the PVP wall? Peiper at the Gates of Dawn

Let me make this clear. If it were up to me, I'd make a 1st rate for every guy in my guild when he hits rear admiral. What's the point of grinding up to to top shelf if you have to go with 2nd rate goods? If they sunk that Ocean or Vic, I'd make them another one. Because it's fun. Because they didn't grind their way to the top to be commodores. Because THAT'S why I play the game. So sick of arguing with people who think PVP players are special players. Either we're all special or none of us are. We're all paying players. Get rid of the segregation of privileges! We all have fun in different ways, and together, we make up the community that keeps this game alive. It's not us vs. them. It's WE fighting for what is right vs. the devs and a few PVP prima donnas. Why can't we ALL enjoy the game fully in our own ways? We could before. We could for two friggin years, and we all had fun. Now some of us can't. That's total BS and everyone knows it, even the devs and even the prima donnas. Find some other way to reward conquests and PVP that doesn't take things away from those who have earned them.

You know the answer to that question. Having sailed them for a long time, I have my favorites. Two Wasa's is the best fleet to go PVE hunting with, and I just enjoy the gunwalls on my Santisima. I've played well over a thousand hours in the game, and I've earned my stripes. Game companies that take away stuff from their customers that they've already earned are destined to fail. I'd rather see the game succeed, and to do so, they need to make sure that everyone who plays can grind their way up to all the content. Some guys are terrible at PVP, others don't have the time. Some simply hate PVP and want to be left alone, helping their team/guild in other ways. Some guys genuinely like to trade, get rich, and not engage in team play. If you want to let people earn something special from PVP, make it cosmetic - don't take away content. Have paints, sail colors, figureheads - things like that. People will fight for them, but no one should be penalized or excluded from the best ships simply because they play for different reasons.

So I now log on to craft stuff for my guild, but haven't done anything fun. Still waiting for my favorite ships to be removed from the PVP wall. I could live with losing a ship every so often to PVP if I could replace it on my own. This sucks.

@Stepp636 I explained my problems and I offered a solution. Your response is to do what the devs want me to do, which I see as a slap in the face. How about responding to my alternative to PVP rewards instead? (I used to run a big guild back in the day. I've been there, done that. Did port battles, raiding parties, built a first rate every day for a month. I've done it all. I would like to simply play casual now. If I lose one of my ships, I want to be able to replace it. I leave other players alone and do my thing. I REALLY don't like PVP, but my friends are here, and there's other things for me to do. There's room in the ocean for all kinds of fish. Well, there was. Now there's less.)

PVP rewards shouldn't be the exclusivity of content that we all enjoy playing with. It should be non-game breaking. Example. Paint jobs, sail colors, gold trim on flags, alternative decorations on ships, etc.. Cosmetic stuff. That way everyone can have access to the best ships instead of just those who spend hours grinding PVP. Not all of us are PVP players. We enjoy other aspects of the game, but now we don't have access to all the ships - and old sailors like me are used to having access to them. Likewise, put exclusive cosmetic stuff in for other types of activities. Numbers of NPC's killed, tonnage transported/traded, gold accumulated, etc... Right now players like myself are afraid to bring out our first rates or Wasa's because we can't replace them. No one should be afraid to play. Your incentive model needs to be reworked. I'm already playing less because you've restricted access to some of my favorite ships. My guild is suffering because we used to be self-sufficient - but now players are wondering if they have to join a bigger guild to get access to victory marks and stuff. People like me enjoy the comradery of smaller guilds. You're taking that away, and if my guild merges into a bigger guild just because of this PVP/VM exclusivity crap, some of my friends and I will leave the game. I'm not kidding, Naval Action devs. You gotta consider that everyone has different reasons for playing. PVP turns off some of your people. Others simply don't have the hours to sink into that. They do a little trading, a mission or two, and they're happy. Or were happy until you took their incentive away....

I don't have time to PVP. I have time to maybe run a mission or two each day or hunt down a fleet. Other than that, I am a master crafter. I can no longer replace my favorite ships, nor can I build them for the clan. I won't beg or ask my guildies to go grind stuff for me. I am here to help, not take. So, tell me, oh wise Hethwill: what am I to do? Quit my job to play during the day when the Euro folks play and join them in activities that I find stressful (like getting into a big group of egotists and play in big port battles, or sail all over looking for players I don't want to sink and sink them in order to do what I used to do every day?). I don't PVP, but I play on the PVP server because my friends are here. There SHOULD be space for all of us. But the Devs have limited my ability to have fun in order to force a certain play style upon the whole server. I won't bend over for them. There are better things I can do with my time than play their game / jump through their hoops. I am not the only one who feels this way, but they just bitch on teamspeak and give up. I'm fighting here for them too.

Wonderful. Now my clan is talking about dissolving. We need victory marks to get the big ships. To get the big ships, we need to be in port battles. Of course, that leaves me hanging. I play to play with my friends, and previous to the VM/PVP patch, we could be a self-sufficient clan. Now, we have to suck hind tit to do what we could do just fine a couple weeks ago? Yeah, that's really great. This discussion is what I logged onto today. Thanks a lot, Devs. Thanks for taking the wind out of our sails.

Are my PVP friends and guild going to come with me? I just switched nations to stay with my friends. While I often play solo (partly because I play off-hours) I still like to help my guild out and play with friends from time to time. Some of those friends I've known for years. Why can't we have both? And I AM a good sailor. Maybe not the greatest, but as I said, I have nothing to prove. I've already proved it before the big wipe. I've already earned my stripes. But putting that aside. EVERYONE wants to at least try sailing the big ships. I enjoy blowing up AI in big ships. So what? Why take that away from me or other casuals. We're not hurting anyone. We're not doing anything that is a detriment to the game at all. We're just playing the game and enjoying ourselves. I remember building Santis back in the day because some guys would take them out and lose them to AI. They'd grind out the mats, I'd build them another one free of charge, because THAT is the pleasure for them. I'd go sail with them and hang my head as they sunk another of my masterpieces. But they were having fun! WE were having fun! I'm a live and let live kinda guy. There's room enough for every kind of player in a game like this. Except those who want to lord their prowess over the rest of us. Those kind of people are toxic. Don't be like them. Recognize that we are all here for different reasons, and there's room for all of us. Perhaps I'll even pvp you one day? But that day won't come if I can't enjoy the game my way, just as you wouldn't play if you couldn't enjoy it your way. Right?

Not unless they slipped it in the the last 24 hours. As far as getting good, I don't feel the need to prove myself to anyone. I've done it all, and I'm not a leaderboard climber. I'm a casual player. If I lose a fleet ship, okay. I can live with it. But if I can't REPLACE it, that's a problem. I've lost ships, like many of us have, and been down to basic cutters before and climbed my way back up. But now, I can't climb as high as I've already been, and that takes away my incentive to keep playing. And really, if you've played with fleets, they don't lessen your skills in combat. Really? lol. I mean, how often do you have to bust your hump to RESCUE your fleet ships because they did something stupid. 75% of the time, they help. 25% of the time they screw everything up. For example, today with my Wasas, I lost one, and had to take out three ships by myself, where I expected my fleet ship to do something to the frigates before it got itself sunk. It's a heavy fourth rate, for Pete's sake!