John Hood

Those AI fleet are next to the Loki rune the dummest idea the devs ever had IMHO. Example me in 3 india chased by an enemy player... I made it like an inch behind the AI fleet and apparently if its behind them they dont react... they did simply nothing. At the same time they disturb trading and they dont seem to follow thier range. I got sank by an AI fleet from the danish behind the settlement. This whole system is just stupid, the old system where you could actually call for help if you where attacked within the zone was simply better and more helpfull.

So overall I actually like the new features... but: Who had this brilliant idea with the Loki Rune? Did you all came up together to figure out how to make leveling for new players even harder because no random people can come into the battle? Did you watch to many disney movies and got an aladin komplex? How about fixing the annoying stuff like you load charge, you run low of it and half of your crew loads nothing... That would be an actual improvement... Or show on the clock when a battle is locked... compared to open.... show the general region on the compas again... you know helpfull shit... but no we got loki runes LOL

Here is the thing about le req... and I am guilty of that too... you shadow a new player wait until he is somewhat bad in the wind you rage board and voila a kill. So easy even I can do it The thing is and I know its now just me if I am in any other ship but le req and somebody calls for help because he got attacked by one, I honestly ignore... like you can outrun a le req by using the wind, you also never catch one that knows how to work the wind in any other ship but a le req. And even nicer if you bring a le req to catch another one he can chain you while you chaise him... you got your awesome front guns that do nothing basically while you chase. And this is a common thing about le req... I was hunting the wind was in my advantage and I sailed by 3 enemy 5th rates... nobody even bothered trying to chase me because its useless. This ship is like purpose build to annoy new players that prolly even get shocked if they know what do to if they get into pvp...

Oh and I forgot something WHY OH WHY... on the sale did you put Le Req the greatest pain for new players because its a newbie hunter on sale... There are to many of them already... you could used Le Herm, or Ratt... Ships that are balanced... I really looks like you actually want to get rid of new players really!

Make the game more interesting for more casual players... I know two people that actually quit after the release because of the wipe and regrinding all stuff, and because the leveling against the cheating ai is a pain. Also after the front lines settled it was almost impossible to do mission for combat marks for them... you moved the areas where ai spawns to for the missions right on the front line... I can deal with it, casual players not... new players will be frustrated as well. For me I got all the DLC ships I got ganked, fine move to the next one and wait a bit until the ship I like is available again. New players that just try it out with ships they actually work for do not have the luxory and they feel frustration I bet. I mean for example if you play the UK you need to travel for ages to do the 5th rate missions and end up mostly in areas between two nations that just wait for you. One goal of a game design should be that its fun, and does not turn into frustration central. Bring back protected zones so that people can skill up thier ships and gain so level and get pvp ready instead of just being pray for your oh so beloved hard core pvp players. Those few that you seem to cater to the most will not pay your bills and development, the mass of people you get slaughtered are the ones that pay and can cause growth. Also protected zones are actually more realistic, or do you really think pirates would have come to a real strong navy base like KPR to raid? of cause not there would be (like it was with protected zones) a strong response by the royal navy. They would have not sat in thier ships and joke "oh look one of ours is getting ganked!" Especially how you set the whole thing up most big clans leave kpr alone, and kpr is where all the new people start... A lot of fun if you just start and are the victim!

Actually I personally know two people that simply stopped playing since the release and dont bother anymore... One was really pissed of about the wipe, and the other said the AI became insane and he did not want to level against to quote "shit" again. And both where players for a while. I wonder how new players handle the awesome AI battles while leveling. Personally I just joke and say the AI is magic... After all it can turn on a time, shoots radar guided cannon balls and hit like they are from a different world. Only thing missing is that the magic AI gets a warlock on its deck that also shoots fireball... after all what does one cheat more matter LOL

So my point that the wipe has nothing changed unliked the developers hoped right ? and it actually made it harder to recover

And actually what is a safe place since the wipe... so here is how my day went after the final exam.... and I regret spend money on the le herm actually because geeze I really think hard about playing how it went today... so figured I take the le herm to sail to belize and make an outpost, want to get to port morant to get cannons because none at kpr... and got sunk on the way to kpr by two french, I of cause no updates no captain skill nothing... ok dlc lost fine, finally made it to another area ages away... 2nd try went hunting in a herc, well some people apparently where faster in leveling and I bumped into a ratt and another herc and I had to battle the ai ship... of cause got sunk again... well still dlcs left... again complete different area... pandora in a battle with an ai ship and a herc jumped in... guess how that ended... I rarely gut sunk before the wipe but now its hello kittying insane... sooo now i am in a port at the edge of the world with no repairs there because well they wiped the infrastructure... awesome... and I dont want to know how people without dlcs feel... you made a few realms bought a ship and boom... They really should have protected zones again where people can actually level up and gain ship skills... This wipe turned it into complete bullshit!

My point is about new players I lost a DLC because I tried to actually do something on the way... I lost a DLC that I can redeem in a couple of hours so what... My issue is there was an ensign in it that was not in a clan, and had prolly his first decent ship. Again I dont really care, a DLC, not a good roll to begin with no updates etc I would have wrecked her tomorrow anyhow to see if I get a better one... But for the new players thrown at kpr... and sunk, thats a great experience! And about the guns again I know there are other ports I got mine from port morant the thing is you sail an undergunned ship to the port to get them... while other lurk arround to kill you... awesome

Oh and what makes this whole thing even better... thanks to complete wipe of production try to find some kinds of guns in KPR ... medium 9pd ? nah... medium 6pd? nah... maybe if you wipe out all production capacity in a senseless wipe maybe the admirality should jump in and kick up production of some basic stuff?!

So we wiped to give ne players a fair start right? yeah that helped... KPR where we all start as Brits now is a slaughter fest... I had a Le Herm... yes even when I complain I support this game... and like any smart player I wanted to bring her out of kpr... she lasted a whooping 20 min before 2 players jumped her... this was an awesome idea really. Because before the brilliant wipe there was at least something like a KPR defence force... now its a kill new players area...

Rage boarding for the win... after two tries using boarding it was done...

Yeah right now its pretty much get one move into the wind and get stuck for rage boarding... if they go both with the wind I just surrender and try again until one does the "right" stupid thing. Like I said for really new players it must be more frustrating then anything else...

The boarding seems to work... I had one down within 5 min... so I guess picking an actual fight was the mistake... the 2nd one shot down my surprise and I just changed ships to the 2nd cerb and transfered crew and repairs after all she was undamaged... now comes the fun part did all that, did change ships... and even when I moved the slider to transfer all crew I ended up on a cerb with 2 crew LOL oh well a glitch I guess but thats how to do it in 10 min

yeah thats why I still see so many basic cutters... just everybody did it on first try... glad for your really insightful comment