open world has me about to call uncle on this game

[Captain Tylor]

If this how sailing was in NA, i wouldnt mind long sailing times, but lets be honest, its freaking boring and huge time sink. 

[Fastidius]

I half agree with this....I personally think there should be an AUTOPILOT function of some fashion.  Not necessarily for all OW stuff but for things lake Port battle stuff....

 

For instance we all know port battles are timer based......if we are planning a port battle then we should be able to nominate it the day before and anyone who wants to partake from our clan can hit a button which will allow us to spawn inat a designates spot in the sea near by.    The enemy also gets a warning the day before.    that way you get full battles and dont have to sail for 2 hours to join your mates in a 30 minute battle.

 

same with connected friendly ports...  you can teleport 1 time every 3 hours to a friendly port with your ship if it is connected.  this encourages nations to SPLIT enemy ports to make it hard for them to get to one side or the other but facilitates people playing to gather if they are in their own national territory.  

 

because there are AI trading fleets going back and forth the land will be populated but actually getting to PVP will be far less of a pain in the ass.

[Shunziji]

I am new to this game and this is my first post on this forum.

 

On the constructive side, i am confident that the developers will take this topic in consideration. I am pretty sure that even if they ''don't care about money'', they care a lot about keeping their company afloat and this game running, in other words, making money. They will probably address this issue as seriously as any other important major details.

 

I would vote for an approach adding things to the game such as a life on deck. Crew washing the deck, guys painting the hull, things like that. Things to see on OW too, dolphins racing with you, whale playing, birds around the ship... I know all these details would probably be very heavy on the computer, but i would prefer that to a quicker/shorter travel time. Some proposed or pointed future content that i would very much like to see during a long haul.

 

That being said, i just wanted to step in after reading pretty much every post in this topic. I played a lot of MMOs. The obvious WoW, Warhammer online, POTBS and a very long list that i will send in a private message if you really care about my experience.

 

My thoughts about this topic are quite simple. Travel takes time, time is money. If you play a game with an economical base and a possibility of aggression during transport, travel time is the core of the game. If you think of it, very little non-browser, non-mobile games skip travel times. The delay may be dampened, not shorten, by different activities to do while traveling.

 

I fully understand the issue brought up by some of us about what a waste of in real life time it is to travel across the map, but i think it is irrelevant. The travel time is the core of that game.

 

I chased a trader Lynx for 15 minutes in a battle yesterday, partly because my ship was barely faster than his, also because i tagged him wrong and because i made some dumb maneuvers that slowed me during my approach. I found myself facing a choice. Keep chasing or disengage. I chose to keep chasing and try to remind the bad choices i made to create this waste of time situation. I think this example is close to what has been related in this post according to how far from the action one can be.

 

To put it simply in two points, hoping i do not make anyone upset with this blunt opinion i would say :

 

1 - If one is too far from where it should be, one should position himself in a closer location/better wind/different angle of approach.

 

2 - Although ideas, propositions and opinions are obviously welcome in the development process of that game, suggesting to change or remove a core part of a game is out of line. I think the only ideas relevant for this process are ideas that will actually benefit to the game as a game. Not to player's comfort. I would have to cheat my way to a temple in Minecraft if i was not willing to invest in real life time in travel and find it.

 

So yeah, i don't mean to drive anyone away from this amazing game but ... If you don't like what you spend your time on ... Change what you spend your time on.

 

Keep up the good work devs, this is by far one of the best approach to a game i have seen in the last years.

[KrakkenSmacken]

What about that "worth a buy" video reiviewer who said that teleport makes the game 10x worse?

We believe that current size of the open world serves the purpose to show "the age of sail experience", but has its drawbacks. We hope we find the balance eventually. 

 

 

the speed will stay - it looks ugly with faster speed

 

I have no problem finding even fights in the open world. There are hotspots of activity which provide for non stop pvp from 1v1 to 20v20. On PvP 1 it is still Hispaniola channel and North coast of Jamaica. Perhaps there are other places as well. 

You can get from 2 to 5 battles per day in varied ships with varied types of enemies against you. Shorter timer solved the problem of enemies piling up on you. 

 

 

So I re-read most of this thread, and all the concerns, and after an experience last night with a team mate purchasing a Cutter just to shuttle to the front lines to pick up his real ship, I think I may have a suggestion that would appease most, if not all people.

 

What about a special ship that is designed specifically and only to facilitate faster travel?

 

Call it the Lynx Shuttle or something. 

 

How the ship behaves.  

 

Has no holds.

Has no guns.

Player craftable.

Can never carry a flag, or interact in a strategic way with the game. (other than observation which is already possible with free look camera)

Travels at well above the normal speeds of ships.  

When on the OW is ALWAYS invisible, and invulnerable so nobody has to see it looking weird while driving it, to cover off on the "it looks ugly with faster speed".

This also means if your driving it your team mates would not be able to follow, if you needed to lead new players around by the nose.

 

 

When crafted has the following characteristics. (Subject to tweaking)

 

Basic 2X Lynx speed.

Common 2.5 Lynx Speed

Fine 3X 

Master craft 4X

Exceptional 5X

 

 

This would mean that players would have to manage this ship type, use slots in ports, pay crafting hours, and generally elect to have this tool available to them.

They would not escape OW travel completely, and the said management of the ship would be part of the strategy, and you would still need to have local vessels traveling at current speeds once you got there to do any real work.

 

I took a quick look at http://burningsail.com/to see how this would impact large world travel, and with the best version of the ship,(5X) from Santo Tome de Guayan to SwansBorough would turn from Est 3 hrs and 11 minutes. down to 38 minutes.

 

I think that is a compromise worth considering.

[Bert Beard]

Krakken is just full of good ideas..........sounds interesting.

 

I'm starting to like him.

[Captain Red]

Nice.

But you don't want invisible ships

[KrakkenSmacken]

Nice.

But you don't want invisible ships

Why?

 

You already have invisible free cam mode, that moves faster than your ship.  Any advantage vision like that can give you, you already have access to.

[Captain Red]

Why?

 

You already have invisible free cam mode, that moves faster than your ship.  Any advantage vision like that can give you, you already have access to.

 

Tools that allow to spy distant lands are going to be exploited, as usual...

 

Why not travelling on the map, only from outpost to outpost, in a special passenger ship that has no cargo and for a fee, like for the free towns deliveries?

Like on Sea Dogs: a faster travel but without the ability to see what's going on on OW. That would be a perfect money sink

[Nash]

Why?

 

You already have invisible free cam mode, that moves faster than your ship.  Any advantage vision like that can give you, you already have access to.

 

the home camera is not here to stay...

[KrakkenSmacken]

Tools that allow to spy distant lands are going to be exploited, as usual...

 

Why not travelling on the map, only from outpost to outpost, in a special passenger ship that has no cargo and for a fee, like for the free towns deliveries?

Like on Sea Dogs: a faster travel but without the ability to see what's going on on OW. That would be a perfect money sink

 

How exactly?

Spotting the enemy? 

Targeting fleets?  

Acting as a "spy" ship?

 

Is tying up a player 100% as a spy during an engagement really an "exploit" if both teams can do it? 

Are players not already doing the same thing with spy ALT accounts anyway? I know we have leaks in our national chat rooms, how about yours? Hell, we even have planted nationals joining port battles on the wrong side, disrupting lines, or just leaving and taking away valuable combat slots and BR.

 

This type of spy would do neither.

 

So the question would be, is this type of "exploit" (though I don't think it is an exploit just a unrealistic mechanic given the time period, like a Victory that takes less than 10 minutes to set sails), worth reaching part of the audience that is currently fed up and leaving due to the current model?

 

If it was my call, I would say it's a reasonable compromise in a game.

 

Your solution, if it's on a ship, then it doesn't solve the real problem people have.  Needing to use (too much)  game time to travel.

 

If it's not on a ship, and doesn't use game time, then we are talking about teleport again, with a different model of cool down timers and possibly purchase of cool down reduction. (Another thing I suggested but with Labor hours not gold)

Edited March 27, 2016 by KrakkenSmacken

[KrakkenSmacken]

the home camera is not here to stay...

 

Citation please.  I really don't see why they would want to do that.  Besides, this could replace the camera.  

 

You could physically scout ahead with a player, but that player would not be part of the action. It would actually create a new role in the game.  Put another piece on the chess board.

[Ignatius Magnus]

Give XP for each nautical mile. Maybe put a limit, or reduce exponentially along time to prevent exploit.

[Ignatius Magnus]

Removed doble post (blame age of sail mobile phone)

Edited March 27, 2016 by Ignatius Magnus

[Admiral 8Q]

Nice.

But you don't want invisible ships

But but but.... why not?  

Edited March 28, 2016 by Admiral 8Q

[Captain Red]

Your solution, if it's on a ship, then it doesn't solve the real problem people have.  Needing to use (too much)  game time to travel.

 

If it's not on a ship, and doesn't use game time, then we are talking about teleport again, with a different model of cool down timers and possibly purchase of cool down reduction. (Another thing I suggested but with Labor hours not gold)

 

I'm not talking about exploits, or national chat, or teleports. My solution is a "ship", or call it a marker that sails the world map, using game time and money. Or labour, or all of them together, why not. But with no interaction with the OW whatsoever.

[Mrdoomed]

I'm not talking about exploits, or national chat, or teleports. My solution is a "ship", or call it a marker that sails the world map, using game time and money. Or labour, or all of them together, why not. But with no interaction with the OW whatsoever.

Why is everyones solution to do away with the most strategic part of this game ?

Nothing in this game forces anyone to ever travel more than a few feet outside of port. In fact once you set up a few decent freeports around you dont ever have to get in a ship again if you dont want, but these same people want to take away a huge part of this game that many of us enjoy.

Please dont ruin what most like just because you want the best of both worlds.

[Justme]

Graphics only go so far when all you have to look at is water and trees on the coastlines.

[KrakkenSmacken]

I'm not talking about exploits, or national chat, or teleports. My solution is a "ship", or call it a marker that sails the world map, using game time and money. Or labour, or all of them together, why not. But with no interaction with the OW whatsoever.

The main reason I picked the "ship" model and not just roll around the world using the current camera, which is already much faster and invisible, is that all the mechanics are already in place and (I suspect) it would take the least amount of time to develop.

 

We already have ships with different open world profile speeds.

We already have ships with no guns.

I am certain that zero holds is possible. (if division by zero errors are a possible problem, 1 weight should be fine).

We already have invisible ships when they leave port/battle instances.

We already have invulnerable ships that can not target or get sucked into a fight.

We already have crafting.

We already have a Lynx.

 

To use the camera to travel, or something that doesn't even exist in the OW, at lease a few mechanics that are not tied to it currently would have to be.

 

Leave port.

Enter port.

 

I also know the Camera is aware of your ships activity, as one mode will have it mirror your ships movement, so that may also have to be unhinged.

 

Additionally, as a ship it becomes an asset, and a liability. It would eat port dock space, and require logistical management.  If you TP away from it, you can't use it for example.

 

But if the Dev's made camera travel a thing, or faster/purchasable TP cool downs, I certainly would not cry about it.

 

I was just looking for more of a middle road compromise.

Edited March 28, 2016 by KrakkenSmacken

[KrakkenSmacken]

Why is everyones solution to do away with the most strategic part of this game ?

Nothing in this game forces anyone to ever travel more than a few feet outside of port. In fact once you set up a few decent freeports around you dont ever have to get in a ship again if you dont want, but these same people want to take away a huge part of this game that many of us enjoy.

Please dont ruin what most like just because you want the best of both worlds.

 

I'm not sure how my suggestion removes the need for these things.  You still need a port to hold your other ships.

 

If people have ports set up with ships, and TP is not on cool down, that is already a greater positional strategic advantage than the shuttle option would allow for.

 

I also don't see how having invisible ships you can't even interact with or even be aware of in any way ruins your experience.  

 

Please explain, because I simply don't get how one person playing one way that you don't even have to be aware of, ruins how you play or experience the game.

Edited March 28, 2016 by KrakkenSmacken

[Atomic Moose]

i think mrdoom just likes to argue, all his posts are about not agreeing with anything that is posted 

i think you idea is good krak and something needs to be done with travel in this game as the people playing are quitting in droves and dev attitude of its is just fine isnt going to cut it much more

 

my playtime has decreased about 1/3 in the last week as i am simply just plain and tired of having to sail for an hr just do so something period, things need to be added so we can do other things maybe this game wasnt ready for early access till more things can be done in the open ocean as i think that is the #1 reason people are quitting it takes to long to do anything

[Captain Red]

Why is everyones solution to do away with the most strategic part of this game ?

Nothing in this game forces anyone to ever travel more than a few feet outside of port. In fact once you set up a few decent freeports around you dont ever have to get in a ship again if you dont want, but these same people want to take away a huge part of this game that many of us enjoy.

Please dont ruin what most like just because you want the best of both worlds.

 

- trading does

- it's only to travel from outpost to outpost without any cargo

- you wouldn't be forced to use it, either

- "what most like" sounds like your point of view, but okay!

- I am not ruining anything

 

I'm decreasing my play time also for now, the OW sailing is no playing anyway

[Nash]

Citation please.  I really don't see why they would want to do that.  Besides, this could replace the camera.  

 

You could physically scout ahead with a player, but that player would not be part of the action. It would actually create a new role in the game.  Put another piece on the chess board.

 

 

admin's post awhile ago and I dont really want to dig.

 

A lot of function we have atm will not stay, like damage ctrl + L or K. Or even the penetration of hull and sail  ( I like it tho)

 

oh and classic F11 to find your current location as well

Edited March 29, 2016 by Nash

[Mrdoomed]

- trading does

- it's only to travel from outpost to outpost without any cargo

- you wouldn't be forced to use it, either

- "what most like" sounds like your point of view, but okay!

- I am not ruining anything

I'm decreasing my play time also for now, the OW sailing is no playing anyway

Well speaking for myslef my 5 friends who play and that in chat ive never once since EA started seen a complaint that we need to teleport and shrink the world.

We all enjoy the strategy that comes with the world. Im tired of trying to explain what we see in it.

Its to each thier own but the devs have said several times the world isnt going to be shrunken or sped up.

[Captain Red]

Which is fine.