The Big Issues

[Wang]

We all love Naval Action, this is with out a doubt.  Although what i have noticed are some very disconcerting issues this game is having.  We are losing player base massively, steam reviews are becoming negative and more and more players are becoming disillusioned with the game in general.

 

This thread i hope will bring attention to some of the big issues this game is having and potential solutions to them,  we want this game to thrive not die a slow death. So please add your main gripes about naval action to this thread and lets find a way to fix them.

 

-  Directed at the dev's themselves.  Play the game, as every nation.  Talk to the community,  sit down with the different national councils and discuss their issues.  These players are the one's keeping the game functioning and have the intimate day in day out knowledge of what works and what doesnt work in the game.  Having a handful of mods on a skype group is not enough.  There are plenty of people who play this game who can help massively with development that sit around all day playing this game.  Talk to them.

 

- Pirate mechanics need fixing.  This has been ignored for way to long and needs to be addressed asap.  The simple fact when people get upset with their nation for X reason, or a nation gets crushed in a war the pirate nation grows and grows.  This has been stated time and time again, and nothing has been done.  

 

-  Alt's and Changing nation with characters.  I understand that having alts is something that is very hard to stop and also the devs get more money towards development is good thing, but time and time again we have seen alt abuse on the forums interfering and basically stuffing up the game at key moments, wasting a lot of people's time/effort/fun simply due to one person having alt account.  Is the extra $40 worth ruining the gameplay for a fleet of 25+ people?  Also when it is said that people are allowed to re roll any nation without losing their rank  was implemented so people could 'test'  is simply wrong.  The fact that players can re roll any nation without losing xp has enabled people to change nation at will, inflating and deflating certain nations populations.  90% of re rolls are not for testing purposes but much more clandestine war purposes.  This has hurt the game much more than it has benefited the small amount of population who legitimately re rolled to a new nation for no reason but to be apart of the nation.

 

-  Diplomacy, this needs to be introduced asap.  The idea's the dev's have are great but im sure need some fine tuning, we just need these mechanics soon.

 

I wont list more now, as i will let others discuss this one's and add more themselves, if my others are not bought up by others i will add others.  

 

Thank for reading

 

[Rychu Karas]

PoTBS was nice and almost perfect game to patch 2.10(if i good remember) but dies cause of owners greediness. NA is nice, but so far strong below of potbs gameplay smoothness and content into game.

NA is not enough beautiful, to keep ppl to do nothing into it for a long period of time.

[Red Jack Walker]

We all love Naval Action, this is with out a doubt.  Although what i have noticed are some very disconcerting issues this game is having.  We are losing player base massively, steam reviews are becoming negative and more and more players are becoming disillusioned with the game in general.

 

This thread i hope will bring attention to some of the big issues this game is having and potential solutions to them,  we want this game to thrive not die a slow death. So please add your main gripes about naval action to this thread and lets find a way to fix them.

 

-  Directed at the dev's themselves.  Play the game, as every nation.  Talk to the community,  sit down with the different national councils and discuss their issues.  These players are the one's keeping the game functioning and have the intimate day in day out knowledge of what works and what doesnt work in the game.  Having a handful of mods on a skype group is not enough.  There are plenty of people who play this game who can help massively with development that sit around all day playing this game.  Talk to them.

 

- Pirate mechanics need fixing.  This has been ignored for way to long and needs to be addressed asap.  The simple fact when people get upset with their nation for X reason, or a nation gets crushed in a war the pirate nation grows and grows.  This has been stated time and time again, and nothing has been done.  

 

-  Alt's and Changing nation with characters.  I understand that having alts is something that is very hard to stop and also the devs get more money towards development is good thing, but time and time again we have seen alt abuse on the forums interfering and basically stuffing up the game at key moments, wasting a lot of people's time/effort/fun simply due to one person having alt account.  Is the extra $40 worth ruining the gameplay for a fleet of 25+ people?  Also when it is said that people are allowed to re roll any nation without losing their rank  was implemented so people could 'test'  is simply wrong.  The fact that players can re roll any nation without losing xp has enabled people to change nation at will, inflating and deflating certain nations populations.  90% of re rolls are not for testing purposes but much more clandestine war purposes.  This has hurt the game much more than it has benefited the small amount of population who legitimately re rolled to a new nation for no reason but to be apart of the nation.

 

-  Diplomacy, this needs to be introduced asap.  The idea's the dev's have are great but im sure need some fine tuning, we just need these mechanics soon.

 

I wont list more now, as i will let others discuss this one's and add more themselves, if my others are not bought up by others i will add others.  

 

Thank for reading

+1 about all you suggested here, Wang.

[McFatts]

I think we can all agree we love this game which is why we can all get so fired up and ridiculous over it sometimes.  

 

I think adjusting how one can change nations would be a great start to also addressing the pirate mechanics.

 

A reputation system or a way to buy a pardon (come back from being pirate) would be some ideas towards fixing this.

 

Currently as it stands now the pirate nation will continue to grow/snowball in size as it is the only nation you can easily switch to.

[mouse of war]

I fear the devs have left the reform of the pirate mechanic too late

[McFatts]

I fear the devs have left the reform of the pirate mechanic too late

The game is in alpha and extremely playable.  I imagine when pirate mechanics are addressed or at some time in the near future we can expect a wipe of everything except XP (including nationality).  This would allow people to "reroll" and have a clean slate on the map.

 

All the problems listed above seem solvable.  

[Lytse Pier]

Although I agree there are more people taking a break lately sporting various reasons, of which most are about an unfair playing field, I still see a good amount of ingame rivalry backed up with constructive suggestions to the developers on these forums. Design is important, but trial and error also. We are just a bit more on the error side of trial and error, but we will get there!

 

Heads up, cheeks powdered, wig on and go! 

Edited May 24, 2016 by Lytse Pier

[Hyperion74]

I shall add to the above two posters. This game is still alpha. There are some gameplay issues. These forums exist to point these issues out. So far the Adonis like devs have been addressing them. I haven't sailed much in the last few weeks but the reason for that has nothing to do with game play, I just didn't feel like it. I don't ever intend to give up on Naval Action. This game is REALLY good so far and keeps getting better. Have some faith lads, keep posting your thoughts and suggestions. This is a good thing, however, please stop talking doom and gloom. ALPHA...remember that. 

 

Sooo...cheeks up and powdered and pointed up and prepare for boarding with a wig on and stuff.

Sorry Lytse, couldn't resist. Ye left a lot of room for a warped mind to play.

[The Spud]

What would even out the playing field more is just slowing down the capping of ports, the 3 day cool down is probably a good start but not sufficient. Especialy the smaller nations can't afford themselves a "night off", because they are thinking at X o clock port X is open, better get online and be ready to defend. There is no need to do that, but you just do it anyway, because if big part of your clans is offline you can easily lose a ton of ports. Especialy when you are fighting a bigger nation who always have enough people online to pitch a defence, you'll have a hard time taking those back, so you're better off not losing them in the first place. Exhausting for allot of people. So they either quit or join the black.

 

This game should be fun and not feel like work, You can be dedicated to this game, but there is a limit. This is not some life or death war where people will fight until the very last man, the pubbies will leave or join pirate, the majority of the active players will leave or join pirate whenever the situation gets so bad they can no longer do mission or some fair PvP.

 

A slower paced game will allow for more tactics, and will allow a smaller nation to stand a reasonable chance of at least pitching in all its got instead of being taken by surprise on an "off day".

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

I fear the devs have left the reform of the pirate mechanic too late

 

As a force mechanic yes I agree there must be some "shiny different things", but many pirates welcome the open mechanics to do their own appropriate gameplay and do their solo, couple ships, raiding on trade and live of booty without any concerns about politics.

 

It is the same with nationals. Easy to put a war fleet out without the horrendous age of sail logistics being simulated.

 

We will get there

[Wang]

I shall add to the above two posters. This game is still alpha. There are some gameplay issues. These forums exist to point these issues out. So far the Adonis like devs have been addressing them. I haven't sailed much in the last few weeks but the reason for that has nothing to do with game play, I just didn't feel like it. I don't ever intend to give up on Naval Action. This game is REALLY good so far and keeps getting better. Have some faith lads, keep posting your thoughts and suggestions. This is a good thing, however, please stop talking doom and gloom. ALPHA...remember that. 

 

Sooo...cheeks up and powdered and pointed up and prepare for boarding with a wig on and stuff.

Sorry Lytse, couldn't resist. Ye left a lot of room for a warped mind to play.

 

 

I'm sorry but the Alpha excuse to justify certain lack of mechanics and functions is not sufficient.  This game will be in Alpha for at least another year and a half to 2 years, at the current rate of development i believe the 2 year mark from now is more accurate.  Now with that, the excuse for certain mechanics can last as long as its in alpha, which does not do the game any good at all.

 

Second i do believe as soon as you ask for money for a product it is open to criticism, its a product like any other.  

 

 

Here are some other issues this game has since others are not bringing them up...

 

- UI, this is a obvious one and i know the devs have stated that its low on their priority list which i do believe is a shame.  The UI is important in attracting and keeping new players,  also it is not something that takes up to much development time.  The amount of steam refunds that got given due to people's initial distaste and disgust at the UI, games lab could of hired a freelance UI programmer to come in for a couple of weeks to redo the UI. Spend money to make money..  Why the UI is continuing to be ignored is beyond me.

 

-  Xp lowering,  now im sure not everyone will agree with me on this one but i believe the lowering of ranks to xp ratio was a mistake.  Everyone is basically max rank now, not causing much distinction between the player base at all.  The devs listened too a vocal minority of players who complained the grind was to hard and they wanted to be able to sail the big ships.  Well then create a sea trial setting where everyone can sail everything and it doesnt effect the open world.  Lowering the xp required for ranks will just cause the player base to reach max rank, realize their is no more content and leave the game quicker.  Having that carrot on a stick (no matter how false) keeps players in the game trying to get the carrot.  When the false carrot is caught and the illusion is up, people move on, play other games, less players in the game meaning less pvp content which creates more boredem in the game which then leads to more people to leave.  Its a self fulfilling spiral of people quitting.  Just to please minority of people wanting to be able to sail big ships while only playing the game for a couple of hours a week.  

 

Again a couple of more i have in mind, but please guys add your own gripes.  

[Ronald Speirs]

Wang you wouldnt happen to be a carpenter by any chance because you have hit the nail on the head, everyone knows the elephant in the game, some dont wanna admit it while others have just been plain sick of it and left till its rectified, i dont think i need to go on about that subject because everyones already posted all over the forum about it.

On another note Sea trials was great fun, first access to OW and the battles that followed in that test period were awesome, for me after the port battles were implemented which I've never been a fan of that whole system i feel the mentallity changed, national news and posting screenshots and talking crap on the forums with so called light PvP started blowing things up and the fail mechanics and many other rushed and not properly thought out systems started to show through the cracks and it has been far to slow to fix, most want to make the game better while there are those select few that want to break the game and try and win a far from finished game.

I came to NA during the first ever Sea trials key release moving over from POTBS, i played that game for years and years in between its issues and changing of hands, the thing that kept me there for aslong as it did was the amazing and in depth crafting and economy system, by far the best ive found in any game ive played, it also had a great community all helping each other to try and keep the player base healthy, Wang has touched on some valid points that do need to be considered for the benefit of the game.

Now ive been through multiple wipes and that desire to do it again after EA was a challenge i must say, i pretty much got myself to Post Captain and back into my Trincomalee so i could enjoy sailing around again, after that i started testing crafting and I for 1 hate it, RnG and the way ships are being built is just wrong, i would suggest they look into POTBS crafting, i left before the last economy update which pretty much drove players from the game so i suggest the system before that. I might Wang you wouldnt happen to be a carpenter by any chance because you have hit the nail on the head, everyone knows the elephant in the game, some dont wanna admit it while others have just been plain sick of it and left till its rectified, i dont think i need to go on about that subject because everyones already posted all over the forum about it.

On another note Sea trials was great fun, first access to OW and the battles that followed in that test period were awesome, for me after the port battles were implemented which I've never been a fan of that whole system i feel the mentallity changed, national news and posting screenshots and talking crap on the forums with so called light PvP started blowing things up and the fail mechanics and many other rushed and not properly thought out systems started to show through the cracks and it has been far to slow to fix, most want to make the game better while there are those select few that want to break the game and try and win a far from finished game.

I came to NA during the first ever Sea trials key release moving over from POTBS, i played that game for years and years in between its issues and changing of hands, the thing that kept me there for aslong as it did was the amazing and in depth crafting and economy system, by far the best ive found in any game ive played, it also had a great community all helping each other to try and keep the player base healthy, Wang has touched on some valid points that do need to be considered for the benefit of the game.

Now ive been through multiple wipes and that desire to do it again after EA was a challenge i must say, i pretty much got myself to Post Captain and back into my Trincomalee so i could enjoy sailing around again, after that i started testing crafting and I for 1 hate it, RnG and the way ships are being built is just wrong, might even start a thread about it when i get home.

Im going to state 3 things that are stopping me from enjoying this game further

1.) Elephant

2.) Crafting

3.) Port Battle flags and timers, but thats now changed, so will need to test again, still hate the whole flag system.

Might be another thread, state 3 things that you hatemright now in game.

[Jean Ribault]

...

 

-  Xp lowering,  now im sure not everyone will agree with me on this one but i believe the lowering of ranks to xp ratio was a mistake.  Everyone is basically max rank now, not causing much distinction between the player base at all.  The devs listened too a vocal minority of players who complained the grind was to hard and they wanted to be able to sail the big ships.  ...

 

 

You are right about one thing there, that not everyone will agree with you.  I recommended in another thread to limit the amount of high ranking officers by having a limited pool of them available at any one time in the game, since not everyone should be top rank, that makes no sense.  In real life officers compete for the ranks.  However, it was immediately shot down because of what you said, everyone wants be at the top.  That's ridiculous IMO.  If everyone is number 1, then no one is number 1.

 

I do agree with you on your point BTW.

[Babble]

Ill just go ahead and leave all of this here

 

> http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/13796-resource-distribution-the-economy-and-giving-players-a-reason-to-sail/

 

 

• New map port resource distribution
• Increased OS speed
• Economic changes/ Banking
• Rep system / Diplomacy
• Admiralty
• New production buildings
• new resources
• player built port upgrades
• new PB mechanics
• fishing
• Unrest system
• Player port upgrades
• Actually useful National resources
• And on and on

 

Really all of the linked content and content it links to are just scratching the surface. I have so many more ideas but unless anything i have spent hours working on is mentioned or considered there is much use in continuing to attempt to explain them and their benefits.  There is immense potential here with this awesome game.  Time to at least offer a voluntary subscription model and hire some more staff so this game can reach its potential.

[Ronald Speirs]

For the love of God please shrink the messages about who is attacking who particularly in battle, by all means have them but an appropriate size in an appropriate place not across the middle of my battle screen 

You can add that post to your previous one, if you are not sure how u may edit your posts next to the multiquote button it says edit and it will take you back to the post page where you can fix or add stuff.

[Horror]

Keep in mind that the hard stuff, graphics/sailing/combat/physics, are pretty darn good at this stage.

I do agree the game has yet to be made.

Resource models, crafting, balancing, rules of engagement, and giving players a reason to trade/fight and care are all vital to making this work.

But these are all relatively easy to build/change/revamp compared to the former.

My point is we may be closer to realization of a 'game' that it might currently appear.

[GrapeShot]

Port battles. The number of artificial rules bolted on to the game to try to get them to work should be a huge honking clue that they are a horrible game mechanic.

I'll say what I always say -- the game was much better before their introduction. Forget the clan wars focus of port flipping, which apparently only appeals to to less than 10% of the player base, and switch to econonics - exploration and discovery of resources with the exploitation and shipping of them and then raiding the ports they go to - will create an organic reason for combat.

Improve diplomacy and above all quit dragging your heels and fix piracy. It is an occupation not a nation.

Edited May 24, 2016 by GrapeShot

[Benass]

Pirates,  If u change nation u start from, ZERO. no exp no money, notin.

UI ,

Trading crafting and economy overall.  

 

MAP size. to big.  (maybe)

Port numbers.  to many.  

 

 

 

Things devs got right,  Teleport to outposts.