Open Letter to the Devs

[Vernon Merrill]

17 minutes ago, Anolytic said:

A lot of people tell me when - and why - they leave, and no, that's never been it. Lineships being too restricted however is a frequently mentioned reason.

You're right....  nobody ever complained  about elitism in PB's....  I wonder if this guy is still playing?

 

 

[JDAM]

Simple as this.  At 9 PM there were 115 people online.  We had 15 people online actively sailing for RVR and patrol, we therefore comprised 13% of the server population as one clan during US primetime gaming.  Why is my clan 13% of the population on a global server?  We need to take a look at some things gents and make it better...

Edited December 4, 2018 by Hemp Amore

[Preechur Blackheart]

I play every day...since the last update (most of which I love, not even minding the doubloons) the game has become less and less enjoyable. 

1) the AI population seems to have plummetted.

2) the HUMAN population seems to have plummetted.

3) at least for the US coast, there is not even much PvP action - where are the hunter-killers that used to taunt us and at least give some of our mid-range players cause to group up and go after them? The game seems squeeky clean now...but tired somehow

4) most of the major US veterans are playing other games while they wait for definitive work about wipes and release. If we are now looking at 6 months more before release, I doubt that the US core will come back.

I am actually grieving...

 

[Angus MacDuff]

I see a trend on this and several other threads with US players being unhappy with the game.  Could it be that the US nation has such a crappy position on the map?  I too play in US prime time (kinda) and dislike the low population in my evening.  Maybe the US need a more central port (or two) with a reinforcement zone around it.  It's supposed to be an easy nation but cant seem to keep players. 

[William Death]

I'll throw in my two pennies:

In my opinion, quality of gameplay has, on the whole, gone down--slowly and steadily--with most of the changes since the big wipe of 2017 when we had the unity 5 update and new combat model. Granted, there have been some excellent additions during this time too. Some nice new ships, clan-controlled PBs, availability of some decent mods through the AI shop, introduction of PvE and PvP hunt missions, etc.

PvP:

On the whole, ROE changes tend to promote more and more uneven battles. Focusing on non-patrol battles for a moment: where can I find PvP? Outside any enemy nation's port? Not likely. Around the "front lines" where two enemy ports are near each other? Maybe...  At any rate, 2 minute join timers really make it hard for someone to luck up and find a battle to join.

Sadly, the surest way is to go into the reinforcement zone, since thats where most of the players are holed up, grinding AI and safely trading away to their heart's content. So the PvP player goes and hunts the reinforcement zones. New players get discouraged and leave because a good hunter will hunt their zones and almost never be caught. So the reinforcement zones really don't do their jobs. They protect the guys who know how to use them, while leaving the inexperienced players (the ones who NEED that protection)...mostly unprotected from being farmed.

What about PvP zones? 
RoE is still bad there. They are gank zones. Go gank and get ganked. Make sure you take a garbage ship (preferably a redeemed Hercules so you risk nothing) and play as dirtily as you can (if you're gonna get sunk in a gank, sail out of the circle so it removes all your HP, denying your enemy damage [don't forget to grab another cheap ship and some friends and come back and try to gank someone else in the same way you got ganked...]). Truly some ugly gameplay. Whatever you do, don't take a decent ship unless you have enough friends to fully fill the BR limit and all come in top-of-the-line gear so you roflstomp whatever comes to oppose you. 

 

RvR:

RvR suffers because of a number of reasons (pretty much already discussed in this thread). Mostly cost of lineships and time cost to grind up a port (which you need lineships to do) vs the low reward of port ownership and the high risk associated with getting a BR-limited fleet safely into the PB (because screening is a legit tactic hurr durr).

 

Overall:

Say what you want about looking back through rose colored glasses or whatever, but I know that 2 years ago quality of PvP and RvR for myself and many others was much better. Despite (basically) free first rates and little reward for sinking players besides the enjoyment of it, I saw more 3rd, 4th, and 5th rates out and about in OW looking for targets to sink. Despite not having a center structure bar in the ships, combat required much more tactical choices be made because you only had one repair. Despite some excellent players playing then (many of the same who play now), it wasn't common to see a 4v15 end in a win for the 4 players (now it is).

 

But once again I state that many changes made during these past patches have been good. But right now the game is once again going through a time where the bad changes far outweigh the good. 

I long for the days when I would eagerly log on at 8PM EST and sail out alone in a Trincomalee or Surprise. Almost any port I went to in a "good spot" I could find some targets to sink. Maybe I'd find a Constitution and teach him not to underestimate my guns. Or find a Bellona and discover if he knows how to avoid stern rakes. Then 2-4 Trincs or Renos or Surprises group up to chase me so I run away because I know I can't stretch them out in a line, spam a repair every 12 minutes, and post a screenshot on the forums showcasing my super skills. Assuming I escape with my ship, I have to disappear for a while and let the fleet disperse before maybe finding some more targets. That was NA OW PvP at its finest for me.

Now I log on and roll up the East Coast US (because every time I've sailed somewhere else in US timezone primetime besides patrol zone all I find are AI and empty seas) in a super-modded frigate or small SOL, hoping against the odds that I'll find someone outside the safezone or a battle I can join. Most likely I find a new/casual player who doesn't understand why the mean pirate can sail unhindered outside his capital.
Maybe if I'm lucky I get to have a nice-ish battle with someone in a similar sized ship. Usually the evening ends when the US get their coast guard fleet and chase me off, or I convince friends to log in and roll up in SOLs to save me and maybe crush the enemy fleet.  That kind of gameplay is fun the first few times...but gets old real quick because the majority of the battles I manage to find involve my side getting ganked, or my side ganking the other side. And ultimately both sides have less fun.

[Marquis de la Fayette]

Bonjour Messieurs,

A part certains, vous ne me connaissez pas. Je ne suis pas le meilleur joueur, mais souhaite exprimer quelques idées.

Bien. Que voulons-nous ?  Un bon jeu, et des batailles à la fois réalistes  et pleines d'adrénaline. Je précise que, pour moi, ce jeu est magnifique et promis un très grand avenir avec quelques aménagements. Par ailleurs, j'ai approuvé les idées programmées pour 2019.

JEU DE JEU: 

1) le CONTRÔLE des zones devrait plus être axé sur les clans que sur les nations. Ainsi, le classement s'est fait d'abord par clan, et ensuite par nation. Un clan qui gagne une ville marque pour son clan ET pour une nation avec une minoration pour la nation. Idem en cas de perte, perte de points pour le clan, perte moins importante pour la nation.

2) les événements. Processus météorologique: tempête, brouillard, radeau avec équipage ou officier pouvant être mis à niveau, navire de détresse à aider, navire postal à attaquer avec des courriers secrets, par exemple au commerce ...). Bref j'ai encore mille idées.

3) COMMERCE: + longes, + de gain. Fini les petits commerces rentables et court qui avantagent les grosses écuries. 

4) INDUSTRIE. Que les joueurs fassent des efforts dans ce domaine seront récompensés

 

BATAILLE

1) Les rangs 1 à 3 Ainsi,  les combats de rangs 4 à 7 seront beaucoup plus présents pour la grande joie des nouveaux, des tacticiens, et mettra en valeur le joueur plus que le bateau.

2) conserver cette notion de doublons, multiplier les paroles mais en limitant les rangs (exemple patrouille courte que pour rang 1 et rang 2) avec gain substantiels vu la prise de risque.

3) Enfin, pour terminer, par pitié: sur ARRETE DÉFINITIVEMENT le gank d'un rang 1 par 2 rang 4 avec ces navires manœuvrables: Donc, mitraille (grappe) LIMITÉS, comme certains joueurs ont été.

J'espère ne pas avoir été trop longtemps. Amicalement. Marquis de La Fayette.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Marquis de la Fayette

[greybuscat]

6 hours ago, Hethwill the Red Duke said:

Okay. Start gifting copies to your buddies then. Start bringing them back. Whatever. You know, exposing with enthusiasm what you love about the game. Not "meh...meh...meh". That drives away everyone. Understand that not everyone lives in the same timezone. 

Snappy salute.

It's is unreasonable to demand that players buy copies of the game and give them out to their friends and acquaintances who may or may not even want to play a game like this. This should be obvious to you.

And I've never met a single player who left the game because of people on the forums offering criticism and suggestions, and plenty of people talk about why they take breaks or won't come back. You can see it in discords for larger clans, you can see it on the Steam forums/reviews, you can see it in YouTube comments on NA videos, and you can see it on the subreddit. Not a single person.

Can't you just disagree by, you know, discussing the actual points of criticism being made in this thread?

[Barbancourt]

7 hours ago, Aster said:

In my opinion doubloons are not that big of an issue for RVR you can easily make 2-4k a day of the patrol.

Only skilled players in large active clans that roll the patrol zone for hours frequently are going to make that kind of doubloons.  

 

[z4ys]

8 hours ago, Hemp Amore said:

 

2). RVR is hurt because of ...

RvR is hurt because everyone of the leading RvR interested players has alts everywhere. Why capture and fight when infiltrating with alts is so easy. RvR is only done to prove a point. Doubloons are there. Loss was always a thing.

Just an example: Prussian RvR ships are build by 20+ British alts. Same guy even builds British RvR ships.

That is the real issue of rvr

Edited December 4, 2018 by z4ys

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

2 hours ago, greybuscat said:

It's is unreasonable to demand that players buy copies of the game and give them out to their friends and acquaintances who may or may not even want to play a game like this. This should be obvious to you.

And I've never met a single player who left the game because of people on the forums offering criticism and suggestions, and plenty of people talk about why they take breaks or won't come back. You can see it in discords for larger clans, you can see it on the Steam forums/reviews, you can see it in YouTube comments on NA videos, and you can see it on the subreddit. Not a single person.

Can't you just disagree by, you know, discussing the actual points of criticism being made in this thread?

Indeed. I apologize for the outburst.

[Vernon Merrill]

1 hour ago, z4ys said:

RvR is hurt because everyone of the leading RvR interested players has alts everywhere. Why capture and fight when infiltrating with alts is so easy. RvR is only done to prove a point. Doubloons are there. Loss was always a thing.

Just an example: Prussian RvR ships are build by 20+ British alts. Same guy even builds British RvR ships.

That is the real issue of rvr

You’re saying it’s bad RvR when Prussians tell other Prussians not to attack a British port because the British player with 20 crafting alts in every nation, and also who just happens to craft Prussian PB ships, might get upset?!  

Color me shocked.   

[Sparkydog]

Hemp- I couldn't agree more with your open letter- well done sir.  Devs - time to do something.  Get rid of doubloon charge to TP, it's annoying and only affects new players.  Increase enemy NPC In our national waters, maybe put them just outside the green zone? Reduce slightly the doubloon cost to build 3rd and 4th rates, these are some of the most fun ships to sail.  

Small changes Devs- small.