Forthcoming changes in the next testbed patch

[admin]

These notes contain some very emotional and explosive changes.  While we understand some players may be angry or upset by them, please remain respectful and constructive in your replies or your post will be hidden and a warning may be issued.  This is a feedback thread, please keep your responses to constructive feedback.  Thank you - H. Darby

Hello Captains

Here is the information on forthcoming testbed patch and future patches

The goal of next couple patches is to bring more players to the open world. At least 2 will be deployed before wipe. The rest will follow after. 
We will be gradually changing features that hide players from the open world. Most game mechanics from now on will have to motivate players to sail out and do something on the Open world map. We also will change some areas that were causing pains for players (and potentially introduce new pain areas accidentally - but this will be fixed if we made a mistake). 

First test bed patch (estimated time to deliver end of next week)

• Removal of current upgrade system and ship quality level
  • We were not satisfied with the fact that upgrades were worth more than ships themselves.
  • Most upgrades will be removed from the game and transferred to individual ship knowledge, with bonuses that will depend on individual ships and/or class.
  • Sailing a ship and getting kills will add to XP on that ship that will unlock knowledge slots over time (currently all ships have 5 slots). 
  • All crafted ships will only have wood type and trim (designed by crafter). Every ship will have 3 permanent upgrades which will allow installation of bow figures and regional refits (crafteable permanent upgrade)
• Repairs changes
  • Repair kits for fleets will be gone and replaced by another system.
  • Standard ship repairs will be removed and replaced by another system. 
  • Port repairs remain (and will remain the cheapest way to fix your ship)
  • Players will have to stock hull repairs (working title) and rig repairs (working title) to be able to repair. Every use of repair for hull will consume planks, every use of repair for sails/rig will consume rig repairs. 
  • Players will be able to decide which materials to stock for their gameplay style. Going to port battles you might need more hull repairs. For open world hunting more sail repairs might be necessary. 
  • OW and instance repair amounts will be equal. If you repair in the open world you can also use your fleet cargo to do so. 
  • You will be able to pick up repair materials from captured enemies. Or surrendered ships. 
• Hold management in instances added, hold management for fleets is revamped.
  • You will now be able to interact with the hold in instances between your fleet ships and your captured ships
    • as said before you will be able to pick up enemy repairs and hold without taking the ship, because of this feature
  • This is a complex feature but it can bring exciting new opportunities in battles especially if you are a good player
  • Ability to pick up enemy hold from captured ships opens up new opportunities to change the flow of the battle 
    • We are currently researching the ability to interact with the hold of sinking ships as well (if you are close and the ship is still above water)
• Preliminary crafting overhaul
  • Regional trims removed and transferred to permanent upgrades (crafteable)
    • you will be able to craft a ship anywhere and install a refit in any port (refit can only be crafted in the regional port that has that mastery). For example Nassau boarders refit only be produced in Nassau
  • RNG on blueprints removed. Most ships can now be received by 2 methods
    • Unlock automatically on level - majority of vessels
    • Admiralty rewards - freely available for pve/pvp or conquest marks (minority of vessels)
  • Regular upgrade slots turn into ship dependent knowledge levels (allowing access to skills)
  • Certain vessels blueprints will change and will require permits
    • For example Lineships will require a special permit to manufacture
    • Permits will be available from the admiralty for marks
• Admiralty store will be populated with more things to buy. Certain things will be removed from the admiralty 
• Technical issues
  • ship state system in instances overhauled to the release state, due to ability to change ship (and hold) multiple times within one instance. Old system was too rigid and partially used systems from the old sea trials and was holding us back

Regarding next patches

After this patch hits it will take some time to prepare the infrastructure for the wipe and map reset 
Next patch will focus on new missions revamp (+ some potential changes to hostility) and will be deployed during wipe. If not we will deploy it right after the asset reset. We still expect to be able to do the asset reset by end of April. 

more information will follow but those are main features that will be deployed to testbed next patch.

 

additional information on the patch

In the spirit of the goal - more people to the open world the following additional changes will be deployed.

1. Resources transport from FT to FT - will be disabled (might return for a battle related consumable e.g. 25 pve marks or 2 pvp marks)
2. Ship transport from FT to FT - will be disabled (might return for a battle related consumable eg. 25 pve marks or 2pvp marks)
3. Port missions will provide farming options only for the first 1-3 levels. 
4. Small battles and all other sorts of lobby events will be removed
5. PVE challenges will be temporarily disabled (will be a foundation for tutorials in the future)
6. NPCs will provide ships for players to buy in almost all ports (but unlike old system they will be 2-3x more expensive than crafted ones).
7. Captured NPC ships will be mostly useless and will not be a source of income (through ship or cannon sales)

Update 2 on communication with enemies

• global chat will be removed
• Communication with enemies will be removed as well (both in the OW and instances)
• Toxicity in national chats will be worked on as before (based on reports) 

 

[Remus]

All looks good.

A few questions:

1. Will you make available an ItemTemplates json file?
2. Will this patch have NPC spawn rates you expect to see go live?
3. Will this patch have shop seeding you expect to see go live?
4. Will this patch have NPC cargoes you expect to see go live?

I look forward to trying this out and reporting back.

[Guest sruPL]

It's all confusing and hard to comment, not even sure what kind of questions I should ask. Anyway, I got a feeling that such big plans will cause a delay on wipe and main patch.

[Pada]

6 minutes ago, admin said:

The goal of next couple patches is to bring more players to the open world. At least 2 will be deployed before wipe. The rest will follow after. 
We will be gradually changing features that hide players from the open world. Most game mechanics from now on will have to motivate players to sail out and do something on the Open world map.

I was waiting 6 month for this announcement. Let's make this game playable again, great stuff admin. Thank you!

[Anne Wildcat]

Sounds very interesting, especially the repairs. I love love love that you are trying to bring more into the open world! What I would like to see, and I am being greedy here, is regional bonuses can be bought at those ports, even under smuggler flag.  Once bought they are learned and can be used anywhere. That way I can still be un-piratey and craft ships but not have to have pirates pushed into conquest to get bonuses.  

[Liq]

13 minutes ago, admin said:

• Most upgrades will be removed from the game and transferred to individual ship knowledge, with bonuses that will depend on individual ships and/or class.
• Sailing a ship and getting kills will add to XP on that ship that will unlock knowledge slots over time (currently all ships have 5 slots). 

So a player will be able to unlock those slots over time and use them for specific skills, such as a crew boost (basically extra hammocks)? Will we be able to reset those slots?

[admin]

2 minutes ago, Liquicity said:

So a player will be able to unlock those slots over time and use them for specific skills, such as a crew boost (basically extra hammocks)? Will we be able to reset those slots?

yes that was the point... once you learned how to trim the ship you don't need to lose that knowledge.. and can change that trim any time in port (as it is a skill now)

[Anolytic]

Wow. I'm going to have to log in to the testbed now. This looks very interesting.

[Powderhorn]

Very exciting changes in the works.  You mention 3 permanent slots, but only regional bonuses and hull figures.  Is there to be a 3rd permanent upgrade, or can you have more than one of each?

[Kloothommel]

Do you need to be in the owning nation to install a regional refit?

[Corona Lisa]

23 minutes ago, admin said:

• Technical issues
  • ship state system in instances overhauled to the release state, due to ability to change ship (and hold) multiple times within one instance. Old system was too rigid and partially used systems from the old sea trials and was holding us back

Not sure what this means. Is anything changing for us players or is it just something in the background?

23 minutes ago, admin said:

• Repairs changes
  • Standard ship repairs will be removed and replaced by another system. 
  • Players will have to stock hull repairs (working title) and rig repairs (working title) to be able to repair. Every use of repair for hull will consume planks, every use of repair for sails/rig will consume rig repairs. 

Can I repair more than once in a battle if I have a lot of repair maerial in my hold?

Edited April 5, 2017 by NeeRo

[Anne Wildcat]

Just now, Kloothommel said:

Do you need to be in the owning nation to install a regional refit?

Sounds like it, but may be wrong.  

[Powderhorn]

2 minutes ago, Kloothommel said:

Do you need to be in the owning nation to install a regional refit?

I didn't come away with that impression.  Just that you'd somehow need to get your hands on it, as they could only be crafted in the region.

[OlavDeng2]

Just now, Powderhorn said:

I didn't come away with that impression.  Just that you'd somehow need to get your hands on it, as they could only be crafted in the region.

thats my impression as well, otherwise i dont think it would make sense making regional refits a craftable thing TBH

[Ahoy H.R. Matey]

This is all very interesting. Since the Admin is in a talkative mood, let me ask this question:

Suppose Player A has crafting rank 50 and has unlocked a blueprint of SuperDuperLineship from repeatedly crafting SlightlyLessAwsomeShips.

Post-wipe, Player A can regain his rank 50 by redeeming the redeemable XP.

Post-wipe, SuperDuperLineship blueprint is now considered an unlockable through Admiralty. Will Player A still be able to craft the SuperDuperLineship or will he have to work for the admiralty to re-unlock the blueprint?

ADDITIONALLY:

- I absolutely LOVE the idea of ship upgrades turning into unlockable and easily reconfigurable skills (so long as it doesn't take egregiously long to unlock them). Never found thrill in hounding around for rare upgrades, I'd rather have the guaranteed ability to earn them through normal game activities.

Also, customizable figureheads? nice.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Ahoy H.R. Matey

[OlavDeng2]

1 minute ago, Ahoy H.R. Matey said:

This is all very interesting. Since the Admin is in a talkative mood, let me ask this question:

Suppose Player A has crafting rank 50 and has unlocked a blueprint of SuperDuperLineship from repeatedly crafting SlightlyLessAwsomeShips.

Post-wipe, Player A can regain his rank 50 by redeeming the redeemable XP.

Post-wipe, SuperDuperLineship blueprint is now considered an unlockable through Admiralty. Will Player A still be able to craft the SuperDuperLineship or will he have to work for the admiralty to re-unlock the blueprint?

he will have to work for the admiralty to get this blue print.

[Powderhorn]

Just now, Ahoy H.R. Matey said:

This is all very interesting. Since the Admin is in a talkative mood, let me ask this question:

Suppose Player A has crafting rank 50 and has unlocked a blueprint of SuperDuperLineship from repeatedly crafting SlightlyLessAwsomeShips.

Post-wipe, Player A can regain his rank 50 by redeeming the redeemable XP.

Post-wipe, SuperDuperLineship blueprint is now considered an unlockable through Admiralty. Will Player A still be able to craft the SuperDuperLineship or will he have to work for the admiralty to re-unlock the blueprint?

Pretty sure I can field this one.  Since everything is being wiped, the answer is, in short, you'll have to work for the admiralty to re-unlock it.  In long form - everything is being wiped, blueprints included.  You won't have access to any of your previous blueprints until you redeem your crafting XP, at which point  you'll get the blueprints that come at certain crafting levels.

[Ned Loe]

"Fresh Planks and Rig Kits" Wholesale store is opening soon in Charlestown. Come visit our massive inventory for all your sailing needs. We buy wood in bulk. 

Awesome work Devs. 

Quick suggestions:

We are currently researching the ability to interact with the hold of sinking ships as well (if you are close and the ship is still above water)

-Interacting with sinking ships is not a smart move. Instead add this. If ship sinks add the ability to pick up floating debris. (Floating Planks and Crates animation on water). Much less cargo spawn compared to captured ships. Let ship model sink and spawn debris under it. (Once ship is dead spawn crates+planks right under it, so when it slowly sinks debris will slowly appear from the ship bottom.)

-Add ability to expand cargo holds. This demand will only grow with time. More cargo hold = less guns. This feature will allow players to convert battle ships into Fake Battle/Trader ships. You never know what you will find if you are hunting. Let's call it 'Stripped ships'.

-Make Marks Trad-able. Brings business to PvP world, let's everyone enjoy rewards for cash if they don't feel like fighting players. Reward hunters and let them sell their marks for $$$, this will keep em on OS hunting for more. 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Ned Loe

[Ahoy H.R. Matey]

2 minutes ago, OlavDeng2 said:

he will have to work for the admiralty to get this blue print.

Fair enough, I guess I won't obsess over unlocks prior to the wipe then (if I ever get around to leveling my crafting, that is).

[Liq]

4 minutes ago, Ahoy H.R. Matey said:

Also, customizable figureheads? nice.

On the testbed those are non-optical, jsut give you some stats bonus

[Havelock]

This looks very promosing! Eager to test it.

 

27 minutes ago, admin said:

• Repairs changes
  • Repair kits for fleets will be gone and replaced by another system.
  • Standard ship repairs will be removed and replaced by another system. 
  • Port repairs remain (and will remain the cheapest way to fix your ship)
  • Players will have to stock hull repairs (working title) and rig repairs (working title) to be able to repair. Every use of repair for hull will consume planks, every use of repair for sails/rig will consume rig repairs. 
  • Players will be able to decide which materials to stock for their gameplay style. Going to port battles you might need more hull repairs. For open world hunting more sail repairs might be necessary. 
  • OW and instance repair amounts will be equal. If you repair in the open world you can also use your fleet cargo to do so. 
  • You will be able to pick up repair materials from captured enemies. Or surrendered ships. 

 

 

I dont really understand this one yet. Some questions:

Will the instance repair be a passive repair over time that we have to load crew into or a one time repair like we have it now?
How much can i repair in battle? Is it dependant on how much planks and rigs i have in my hold? Is there a cap?
If i capture an enemy, will i be able to repair more than before?

[Sir Texas Sir]

31 minutes ago, admin said:

First test bed patch (estimated time to deliver end of next week)

Regarding next patches

 We still expect to be able to do the asset reset by end of April. 

Thanks for the update, but well this just proves it's going to be at the end of the month.  Well guess I better go find something else to do while the servers are dead and US/GB/DUTCH finish rolling every one to one port on PvP2 cause the numbers are so down.

But hay we will prob have the patch by next month so that is a good thing.

Once again thanks for the update.

[Ahoy H.R. Matey]

Just now, Liquicity said:

On the testbed those are non-optical, jsut give you some stats bonus

Well maybe someday. Though it will impact the historical fidelity somewhat. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to name our ships too? heh. A man can dream.

(I currently dream of deleting the Bucentaure's deck shed).

[Bart Smith]

31 minutes ago, sruPL said:

It's all confusing and hard to comment, not even sure what kind of questions I should ask. Anyway, I got a feeling that such big plans will cause a delay on wipe and main patch.

Maybe not. Maybe they were so quiet recently on forums but worked on this same time? Lets hope. Overall most of changes looks promising - some quite unexpected but hey lets test it:)

Admin: can we get wee sample of UI? or you guys never started yet?

Edited April 5, 2017 by Bart Smith

[Sir Texas Sir]

@admin Ok now that I got my salty out with that last post about the time table. So we get the current info listed on test bed hopefully by the 14th (end of next week) and get the patch put live by the end of the month (not the 19&20th as before) and the wipe some time in the new future to be determined?   And I"m understanding this right?  This end of the month patch won't have the wipe, just the new ship crafting content?