Finding each other in OW

[vazco]

Dear devs, 

Recently its very problematic to find anyone in OW. Yesterday we spent 1.5h sailing around Haiti and some open harbors when 650 people were online. I bet we were not the only ones.  We need some tools to indicate where other players can be found.

They don't need to be precise. Knowing eg. how many players were in a given region 15 minutes ago would be a good help already. It could help even to get a message when someone starts a hostility mission in the area. 

Combat log is helpful only after people sink, which doesn't happen often, as people can't find each other in the first place. 

Without such tools, small pvp is dead... 

[admin]

combat news give a good indication where hunters are. 

[z4ys]

13 minutes ago, vazco said:

Dear devs, 

Recently its very problematic to find anyone in OW. Yesterday we spent 1.5h sailing around Haiti and some open harbors when 650 people were online. I bet we were not the only ones.  We need some tools to indicate where other players can be found.

They don't need to be precise. Knowing eg. how many players were in a given region 15 minutes ago would be a good help already. It could help even to get a message when someone starts a hostility mission in the area. 

Combat log is helpful only after people sink, which doesn't happen often, as people can't find each other in the first place. 

Without such tools, small pvp is dead... 

taxes help as well but they only indicate the last day. Sometimes portbattles that happened there can fool you because someone was smart selling repairs and rum at the pb day.

[qw569😳]

5 minutes ago, admin said:

combat news give a good indication where hunters are. 

How many lines of Combat News you see when enter to the game?

I sure only 3

Are 3 records enough to take decision where find anyone?

[vazco]

I wasted a few days, a few hours every day, searching based on taxes. If someone sold something in the morning, it's not certain he will be online around same location in the afternoon. 

[Hodo]

Just now, qw569 said:

How many lines of Combat News you see when enter to the game?

I sure only 3

Are 3 records enough to take decision where find anyone?

And god help you if a PB happened in the last 3 hours... you will only see those reports.

Last night I think I was the last combat news report for 3 hours on the Global server.

[z4ys]

Just now, vazco said:

I wasted a few days, a few hours every day, searching based on taxes. If someone sold something in the morning, it's not certain he will be online around same location in the afternoon. 

Taxes shown on map are from the last day (last server cycle). So always be careful by juding them. They just tell you: "Yesterday there was traffic". But yeah would be nice if they would refresh every hour so finding people would be easier.

[vazco]

There are maybe 5 combat news per hour, out of which maybe 2 in areas that you can reach, and probably 50 - 100 players unsuccessfully searching for each other in OW not generating combat news. Additionally there are probably 1000 other players that gave up searching for pvp after they unsuccessfully lost a few hours searching for fights. 

You introduced PvP marks to improve pvp. Is adding region population counter really so hard? A tool that would simplify finding others is a feature requested by many. 

[admin]

1 hour ago, qw569 said:

How many lines of Combat News you see when enter to the game?

I sure only 3

Are 3 records enough to take decision where find anyone?

Of course not.. but people are on the map.. and concentrations of players can be found with hunting experience. 
One could argue that adding player markers on the map will increase pvp for one day - but we doubt it is a good idea. 

[z4ys]

1 minute ago, admin said:

Of course not.. but people are on the map.. and concentrations of players can be found with hunting experience. 
One could argue that adding player markers on the map will increase pvp for one day - but we doubt it is a good idea. 

everyone would stay in port and wait for a marker to pop up and if its close ambush that guy

[Macjimm]

Just throwing this out there.    I don't know alot about MMOs.  (learned everything here in NA).  But perhaps players can create their own content.

Players who like PvP can work with other players using the forums, chat, TS3, discord to get an idea of where the conflict density is highest and at what time.  Having variety with part of the OW rather quiet and other areas like the battle front is appealing.  It allows for different tones in the game.  Perhaps the Devs could build an ingame indicator that provides a magic radar showing where PvP is happening but it is better without it.   Without a PvP indicator players have to work together to find battles.  It can be fun to gather intel and co-ordinate actions.  Trust becomes important and the chance of using information for an ambush becomes possible.

The idea of information and location reports is interesting and somewhat appealing.  I'd be careful of how much detail we put in the reports.  If we make a workaround that makes sharing intel between players redundant we may make the shallower and isolate ourselves.

On a different note.   I think that finding conflict areas may be very difficult because of the high speed in OW and ability to teleport.  It will never be practical to get a snapshot of the theater and where fleets are because the situation is dynamic.   Players can move quickly and instantly with and without ships across huge distances.   Players can hide ships in port and teleport to another one in a heartbeat.

[Hodo]

3 minutes ago, Macjimm said:

Just throwing this out there.    I don't know alot about MMOs.  (learned everything here in NA).  But perhaps players can create their own content.

Players who like PvP can work with other players using the forums, chat, TS3, discord to get an idea of where the conflict density is highest and at what time.  Having variety with part of the OW rather quiet and other areas like the battle front is appealing.  It allows for different tones in the game.  Perhaps the Devs could build an ingame indicator that provides a magic radar showing where PvP is happening but it is better without it.   Without a PvP indicator players have to work together to find battles.  It can be fun to gather intel and co-ordinate actions.  Trust becomes important and the chance of using information for an ambush becomes possible.

The idea of information and location reports is interesting and somewhat appealing.  I'd be careful of how much detail we put in the reports.  If we make a workaround that makes sharing intel between players redundant we may make the shallower and isolate ourselves.

On a different note.   I think that finding conflict areas may be very difficult because of the high speed in OW and ability to teleport.  It will never be practical to get a snapshot of the theater and where fleets are because the situation is dynamic.   Players can move quickly and instantly with and without ships across huge distances.   Players can hide ships in port and teleport to another one in a heartbeat.

The one problem is, it kind of kills the other gameplay style.

The Privateer/Pirate.

I dont want a fair fight with a warship,  I am looking for the fat heavy slow trader that is unescorted for easy loot.

 

[jodgi]

6 minutes ago, admin said:

Of course not.. but people are on the map.. and concentrations of players can be found with hunting experience. 
One could argue that adding player markers on the map will increase pvp for one day - but we doubt it is a good idea. 

I'm not sure either.

In Aces High they've done it like this:

NA would ofcourse not have radar blips, but the bars might work? How large should the sectors in NA be for this to conceivably work?

AH is very similar to NA with large persistent (open)world but an important difference is AH has no eco or loss. That might be the pivot point as the OW population is schizophrenic (sorry) or extremely ambivalent to fighting. They want to fight but then they don't want to fight.

Maybe player presence indicators only work in games where everyone always agrees that fighting is a good thing?

[Hodo]

Just now, jodgi said:

I'm not sure either.

In Aces High they've done it like this:

NA would ofcourse not have radar blips, but the bars might work? How large should the sectors in NA be for this to conceivably work?

AH is very similar to NA with large persistent (open)world but an important difference is AH has no eco or loss. That might be the pivot point as the OW population is schizophrenic (sorry) or extremely ambivalent to fighting. They want to fight but then they don't want to fight.

Maybe player presence indicators only work in games where everyone always agrees that fighting is a good thing?

I havent seen that in a LONG LONG time... I almost forgot that game existed.

[George Washington]

58 minutes ago, admin said:

Of course not.. but people are on the map.. and concentrations of players can be found with hunting experience. 
One could argue that adding player markers on the map will increase pvp for one day - but we doubt it is a good idea. 

Please guys, this game is a blind boring hunt. Add Flashing green and red dots to world map.

This Means,

Player vs NPC Battle (Green, 10 minutes before dot spawn on map, expires after 1 hour),

Player vs Player Battle (Red, instant spawn on map, expires after 1 hour). 

Have them vanish after 1 hour. 

ex. I go on OS and hit an NPC, Green flashing dot appears on the map after 10 minutes into the battle. This gives me time to lock the battle, but bring pvp closer to me when I am done. This will promote repair use and awareness when I jump out. 

In addition, when I hit player vs player Red dot instantly spawns on the world map alerting all players battle takes place. This can result in some epic pvp fights with reinforcements. 

Please consider this addition, it's not that difficult to bring word 'Action' to life. It's been dead for quite a bit. 

Benefits:

-Increased pvp activity everywhere around the world. 

-Huge demand for pvp ships, repair, rum etc..

-Increased mod (drops fro battle) supply to stores around the world

-Interesting scenarios requiring group sailing and fights. 

-Easy to find action tool will add numbers to pvp community. People will be hunting if they know where to hunt. 

-PvE people still protected by 10 minute dot spawn timer. 

Imagine sailing, you open the map check the dots and boom you see red dot not far from you, you quickly change course and sail there. Battle is still open and you join victim side and help him win. I only would get assist reward even if I sing the player in such battles. You can make new friends or you can trail them,attack and kill them.

Historically passing ships could see smoke clouds from battles in the distance and report accordingly. That smoke cloud = dot on the map. 

Edited November 2, 2017 by George Washington

[George Washington]

43 minutes ago, jodgi said:

I'm not sure either.

In Aces High they've done it like this:

NA would ofcourse not have radar blips, but the bars might work? How large should the sectors in NA be for this to conceivably work?

AH is very similar to NA with large persistent (open)world but an important difference is AH has no eco or loss. That might be the pivot point as the OW population is schizophrenic (sorry) or extremely ambivalent to fighting. They want to fight but then they don't want to fight.

Maybe player presence indicators only work in games where everyone always agrees that fighting is a good thing?

Read my suggestion. Much simpler. Acts similar to battle chat , but is more precise and informative. Risk of doing activities on OS is now pure adrenaline rush. 

Edited November 2, 2017 by George Washington

[Anne Wildcat]

55 minutes ago, George Washington said:

Please guys, this game is a blind boring hunt. Add Flashing green and red dots to world map.

This Means,

Player vs NPC Battle (Green, 10 minutes before dot spawn on map, expires after 1 hour),

Player vs Player Battle (Red, instant spawn on map, expires after 1 hour). 

Have them vanish after 1 hour. 

ex. I go on OS and hit an NPC, Green flashing dot appears on the map after 10 minutes into the battle. This gives me time to lock the battle, but bring pvp closer to me when I am done. This will promote repair use and awareness when I jump out. 

In addition, when I hit player vs player Red dot instantly spawns on the world map alerting all players battle takes place. This can result in some epic pvp fights with reinforcements. 

Please consider this addition, it's not that difficult to bring word 'Action' to life. It's been dead for quite a bit. 

Benefits:

-Increased pvp activity everywhere around the world. 

-Huge demand for pvp ships, repair, rum etc..

-Increased mod (drops fro battle) supply to stores around the world

-Interesting scenarios requiring group sailing and fights. 

-Easy to find action tool will add numbers to pvp community. People will be hunting if they know where to hunt. 

-PvE people still protected by 10 minute dot spawn timer. 

Imagine sailing, you open the map check the dots and boom you see red dot not far from you, you quickly change course and sail there. Battle is still open and you join victim side and help him win. I only would get assist reward even if I sing the player in such battles. You can make new friends or you can trail them,attack and kill them.

Historically passing ships could see smoke clouds from battles in the distance and report accordingly. That smoke cloud = dot on the map. 

Please no precise spots, imagine the revenge squads. Someone suggested earlier a heat map type thing that shows the amount of players in the general area. 

[seanjo]

2 hours ago, z4ys said:

taxes help as well but they only indicate the last day. Sometimes portbattles that happened there can fool you because someone was smart selling repairs and rum at the pb day.

How do taxes help?

 

[Anne Wildcat]

2 hours ago, z4ys said:

Taxes shown on map are from the last day (last server cycle). So always be careful by juding them. They just tell you: "Yesterday there was traffic". But yeah would be nice if they would refresh every hour so finding people would be easier.

I use the trader tool and see where fish meat has a sell price of $1

[z4ys]

12 minutes ago, seanjo said:

How do taxes help?

 

taxes indicate that it is a used port. That means player are around. Depending on what you are looking for it can help you.

[Cabral]

1 minute ago, Otto Kohl said:

Welcome to my world , sailing in OW is 90% waste of time .

 That's why devs made Legends for you and others that don't  want to waste time.

[Rigs]

16 minutes ago, Anne Wildcat said:

I use the trader tool and see where fish meat has a sell price of $1

Best if you find salt in the same place too, you know they'll be provisions there. 

[Rigs]

2 minutes ago, Cabral said:

 That's why devs made Legends for you and others that don't  want to waste time.

Can I have a tow to my enemy please? 

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

3 minutes ago, Rigs said:

Can I have a tow to my enemy please? 

Pay 1000 marks to control an AI ship in any random mission for the duration of that mission ?

[seanjo]

30 minutes ago, z4ys said:

taxes indicate that it is a used port. That means player are around. Depending on what you are looking for it can help you.

OK, but how do they indicate player usage?