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Important news: First full asset wipe & Exclusive early access frigate.


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On 3/23/2017 at 9:50 AM, admin said:

Hello Captains. 
This is an important announcement on the asset wipe.  

Most importantly - your xp is safe. 

Bad news 
All assets (including money) will have to be removed from the game. We tried hard to find the way to keep the assets, but unfortunately due to the sheer volume of resources accumulated during experiments (which sometimes provided too much money or resources or both). In addition to that keeping resources will not allow us to properly test the economy changes, ship changes (including 1 durability), upgrade changes, npc resource distribution. All assets will be removed. We will provide 4 ships of various rank as redeemables to all players to give some head start. 

Good news
We mentioned some time ago (several times) that all participants of the early access will receive rewards for all the pains endured during this hazardous voyage. Today we can announce a first exclusive reward (there could be more) that all players who have owned the game during early access will receive. 

Pandora - beautiful, fast and agile light frigate famous for the search for the Bounty after her mutiny. 
veKKwIC.jpg

The ship will be delivered on release of the game or maybe earlier (for testing). It will be added to redeemables in one of two forms (we do not yet know which and will provide more information on this closer to release) un-tradeable permanent blueprint, or an eternal redeemable ship similar to the yacht. 

Timeline (timelines are not final)

  1. Series of patches will be applied to testbed by the 10th of April (last patch to testbed was applied on 27th Feb)
  2. Asset wipe by 19th of April
  3. Preparation of the server merges and reorganization by 19th of April
  4. Opening of servers 19th-20th April

 

We understand that the action we take could be painful but it is absolutely needed for proper testing of the game before the release. 
Thank you for your attention.

At the risk of being keelhauled, I would suggest you not stop there, I believe you should wipe everything including experience Rank but leave the crafting levels Alone.  Before I get tarred and feathered heres my reasoning.

I've stated earlier posts That the biggest problem with this game has always been lack of progression beyond the rank of Rear Adm. once this rank has been achieved by a player everything becomes boring and redundant. So I believe If you By necessity are going to go through the trouble of wiping everything else we should all just start over completely Anyway. and at least that way  we'll have A goal to work towards once again.  

Part of the charm of the game from the point of the PVE player at least has always been in my opinion the fact that During every single Day of gameplay You would see the Spontaneous formation of what I call Player experience fleets.. Players who would work together towards a common goal of increasing their sailing ranks By engaging in Large scale Fleet actions. It's what made the game interesting and forged a lot of friendships amongst the players By the very necessity of working towards a common goal. Definitely, One of the better Aspects of the game. But I would wager if everyone had to do it again the same result will occur we would once again work cooperatively as we did before. You could even structure the point system so that engaging other players Or other PVP activities are more valuable point wise Than engaging in NPC Fleet actions. 

The reason I would say not to zero out the Crafting levels, because that would at least keep existing players in the game by allowing crafters to supply ships and materials to the other players In their bid to regain their ranks.

And finally Admin's you Absolutely  must Provide a progression beyond the rank of rear admiral. players need a goal to work towards to maintain interest in the game. And sad to say creating trade routes between players is not the answer. All that accomplishes Is creating a grind and once again gets boring and redundant and Causes people to leave. 

I Would also suggest doing away with the designations PVE and PVP entirely and just Create one designation of PVW. For the sake of solidarity and Player camaraderie. Having players from two different groups Designations, on the same server is what creates that "us versus them" mentality that is detrimental to any game. The easiest way to fix it is to not have distinctive labels for players and have everyone play under the same label. Hence PVW "player versus world".

One last point with regards to smuggling flags. What's the point of smuggling if you're flying a flag that says your smuggling? This never made any sense to me whatsoever. No one should find out if Whether you're smuggling or not unless you are pulled Into an instance And inspected or your ship is inspected entering port. Players can Also determine who the smugglers are just by observing their movements. And that's the way it should be. It would become fairly obvious that a French player entering a British port Etc. must be a smuggler. It is certainly not necessary to fly a flag for all to see advertising that fact.

You could easily add a command Within Open world menu of Calling for inspection Of ships encountering each other. Doing so Would start An inspection timer Giving the Hailed vessel an opportunity to run or Forced to submit.  In the case of submission ships are dropped into an instance For inspection which starts another Timer in which No cannon may be loaded Unless the timer runs out before the inspection has taken place signifying the intention of the hailed vessel to avoid the inspection entirely.

Once the inspection command has been invoked And ships enter the instance the timer begins And Players would then have The choice of either sailing away to avoid the inspection or to Sail in close to each other and engage in a special inspection option of the boarding menu Call it "Cargo inspection". The opposite of that command from the defenders point of view should be a "avoid inspection command" Which would Decrease the % of being detected as a smuggler. Failure to invoke that command would result in a 100% detection rate. Additional percentage modifiers could be stacked based on ship type and proficiency of the captain at avoiding detection. During this phase All other Combat and boarding commands would be greyed out. And combat should Not be possible until the Either the inspection timer runs out Without a submission, or upon completion of the "inspection" and Then only upon the revelation or discovery of a smuggler by way of finding the contraband in which case the players can be given a choice to surrender the contraband either all or in part as "payments" Or to disengage from the boarding inspection and take one's chances attempting to run. However if the choice of payment is made and Upon completion of said payment the instant ends And all ships are returned to open world The ship which incurred the inspection would have another timer set so that it could not be "Inspected" for an arbitrary amount of time I would say two hours real-time should be good. or if In the case of a smuggler that refuses the inspection both ships can choose to disengage, running, or fighting As per usual combat rules And timers. 

 

Anyway this is how I would do it.

 

 

 

Edited by JazAero
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Waits for important update on things folks really care about.  I think the PvE server thing is a big mistake, waist of resources to be honest and now I bet it means they are going to change there mind about the server mergers and every thing.

 

Well lets see if we get any updates to this too.

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I've just made Curse lol

I've also a quick question ( I'm not checking every post for the last 14 pages) If Outlaw Pirates are not a nation and shipyards are in ports, how do we build ships?.

Also (jeez, i can hear the groans) If a pirate who is not an Outlaw attacks a pirate Outlaw, do they then become an Outlaw pirate?

Safe Sailing People...............unless I see you muhahahahahaha.

Stand by for tank action :-)

 

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On 3/26/2017 at 7:15 PM, Sir Texas Sir said:

Have you been on test?  Ports don't produce mats any more so you can just buy them.  They do have trading goods but it's nothing like the ports right now.  I don't think it would be that easy to get that much unless that is all that trader did during that day.

No I haven't, I find the normal servers enough of a test lol.

So can you buy everything in each port or is it limited?

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2 hours ago, hiclipucli said:

After the wipe , we get the raid system as new content also ?

Really no one knows what the hell is going to be on this patch and raids haven't showed up on testbed so I'm going to bet it's not in the ship crafting wipe/patch.  THough would be nice if they did get it in, but I won't hold my breath about it.

44 minutes ago, BusterGut said:

No I haven't, I find the normal servers enough of a test lol.

So can you buy everything in each port or is it limited?

Than you haven't tested the new ship structure, seen Pirate vs Pirate and no there is no resources or mats in the stores so you can't buy those.  Econ is ment to be player driven instead of I provided so this patch is going to be a big eye opener for folks as we have to actually gasp.....BUY STUFF FROM EACH OTHER.

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1 hour ago, Sir Texas Sir said:

Econ is ment to be player driven instead of I provided so this patch is going to be a big eye opener for folks as we have to actually gasp.....BUY STUFF FROM EACH OTHER.

I see that absolutely KILLING new players... seeing things like labor contracts going for north of a million gold, it won't take long for the big guys to simply buy n00bs out of any ability to craft.

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18 minutes ago, Lord Reginald said:

Can I assume that with the retention of the PVE server, all assets, ships etc. used on the PVE server will be gone and all PVE types will start with one ship as in the other servers?

4 ships is what the devs said (not counting the basic cutter I assume).   Prob will be the same wipe on all servers.  Though with no ship sink on PvE not even sure how you test econ there as there isn't the need for ships as you don't have the ship lost with PvP and RvR.  Prob why so many folks on there have tons of resources.

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I happen to be one of those on the PVE with tons of resources.  Will be interesting to see if any of the work on preserving them is for nil.  Sounds as you say, we will get the 4 ships and all be starting on equal footing. Thanks for the response. 

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6 hours ago, TXSailor said:

I see that absolutely KILLING new players... seeing things like labor contracts going for north of a million gold, it won't take long for the big guys to simply buy n00bs out of any ability to craft.

Being able to craft labour contracts with your hours (50 hours + 50 fishmeat to craft a 300 hour labour contract for example) and then sell them on the market would be a pretty nice way to trickle some of that wealth down to newer players. It would be a decent first step on the crafting path and it would be a decent way of making some starting funds (to buy a ship, crew, and equipment ), it helps the whole crafting system and it encourages players to recruit new people into the game in order to get more labour hours into the market. 

I'm pretty content with a total wipe (the XP remaining is nice though) as I understand in the etch-a-sketch of alpha/beta testing you need to have as close to release conditions as possible. With the way so many things affect each other econ/political/gameplay wise I think the more changes you can throw in during the wipe the better. I don't think we're close enough to the fine-tuning stage to be doing little tweaks here and there. 

 

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7 hours ago, Sir Texas Sir said:

Than you haven't tested the new ship structure, seen Pirate vs Pirate and no there is no resources or mats in the stores so you can't buy those.  Econ is ment to be player driven instead of I provided so this patch is going to be a big eye opener for folks as we have to actually gasp.....BUY STUFF FROM EACH OTHER.

 

6 hours ago, TXSailor said:

I see that absolutely KILLING new players... seeing things like labor contracts going for north of a million gold, it won't take long for the big guys to simply buy n00bs out of any ability to craft.

Nope, new players will do okay out of it as they should be able to farm resources and make simple parts and sell them at a profit. New players aren't the ones needing labour contracts. And you don't need many materials to make simple ships for craft levelling.

Established econ players will spend a lot of time running around, gathering new material stockpiles, working out what they need to harvest in this new world, what to buy and what to capture from trade ships (NPCs, and other players too I don't doubt, for some of them), spending a small fortune on new outposts and buildings and generally getting on doing things they probably enjoy (thought I dare say some will complain).

Right now the losers look like being established players with little interest in crafting, for the way things currently look it will take so long to make ships there'll be fierce competition to buy the few that are made.

But there's no need to panic. The wipe is still a few weeks away, plenty of time to make some small tweaks that could make all the difference. Sir Texas Sir is actively testing on Testbed; I'll be there myself in the next couple of days trying out econ, we and several others will provide feedback and the devs have been quite good at listening to feedback of late, so I have high hopes of something pretty good on 20th April.

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33 minutes ago, Remus said:

Established econ players will spend a lot of time running around, gathering new material stockpiles, working out what they need to harvest in this new world, what to buy and what to capture from trade ships (NPCs, and other players too I don't doubt, for some of them), spending a small fortune on new outposts and buildings and generally getting on doing things they probably enjoy (thought I dare say some will complain).

And I'll promise guys like me and other clan mates will help the new guys.  Hell I help new guys of other nations by letting them know what the best ways to get certain things done.   Though I might be a bit more tight lip on that part in global as it's going to be a dog eat dog race that first few weeks as every one gathers stuff up.  Once we get clan mates in decent ships we will prob be making them for others in our nation.   I all ways been a big fan of hand me down ships too.  If i out grow something as I craft one ship to the next that I don't plan to stay in I'll pass it down to some one of lower level that can use it more than me.  I'm going to bet a lot of folks will be doing this as they craft bigger and bigger ships and get there fleets back.

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Players that come fresh come without any "habits" will have no issues with the new economy. So it is imperative we also let it go and woe naught about "good old times".

Handing out stuff is nice but adds a lot of shortcuts to learning.

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Devs You need to stop posting stuff in forms.  Got on and saw 17 people online, logged off went to play something else. Its not going to get better until after patch if at all now.   Your announcements are insane, info wise I can live with, but way to soon, but when there is not enough info this gives people way to much time to bitch, a week tops, but 3 days would work and your answers to 99% of questions should be "you will see", and stick to your guns, no reason to tell them so far in advance. Then changing your minds because someone cried to much.


    What you are doing and have done so far, makes you look weak, in turn it makes the game look weak.  Talk about ideas all you want to, but we don't need to know what you have decided until patch day.  After the patch don't defend your self.  If you realize you screwed up fix it in the next patch, the bla bla didn't result in what we wanted, so we adjust bla bla and be done with it.
     The care-bears are by far the most Vocal group, and for good reason they get what they want.  But are you sure you want to keep going down that road when you had 2500 server population and now its in the 30 most of the day.  This is what has happened, the 2400 people that make a suggestion are slammed by the 30 vocal players left in game.  "Its for the health of the server", "That will turn the game into a Gank fest",  "I need my safe zone",  "Takes to much time", "Not all play styles are like yours", The two used the most "Clearly you care not about the game and only about yourself." , "It's this type of selfish attitude that has landed the servers in the situation we are in now."  Do i really need to keep going.....  So what you got is less than 40-50 care-bear players controlling what you do, and they KNOW IT.  Example: Lets give them Star trek tech at the end of every battle screen so the care-bears don't have to risk anything and also make the battle close after they get in so no one can stop them from running up hostility. Yea that a good plan.

Because if you don't agree with them you are wrong.  and the other 2400 get nothing, so they have left. Just saying. 
 

Now watch and see who reply's "I am wrong" here, versus the one that agree with me.

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There are decisions of late made not by vocal groups in the forum but by RL statistics that prove RL probabilities. That's the business part I guess.

We do not have the data. We cannot pretend we know all.

Devs were pretty intelligent slapping the Game nations %% population in our faces and show... you think you might know and damn...sometimes you don't.

Regarding the upcoming features ( and even past features ) to be introduced I rather be surprised and discover myself. Blind delivery, exanima style, dark souls. Explore and find out, etc, that kind of game.

In this case of the wipe I will have to agree with the developers decision.

1. It is a major change, and many players do not play everyday, so giving them advanced warning is a plus. Actually a warning in the login screen would be beneficial at this point.

2. a couple of weeks to take a break from one or more years of non stop Naval Action. Maybe even doing just a bit of Testbed.

 

I agree with all playstyles. The combination of all gives life to the OW and the map.

The only thing I really disagree is the players always trying to bend the rulebook - at the wargame club we call them beardies.

 

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5 minutes ago, Hethwill said:

There are decisions of late made not by vocal groups in the forum but by RL statistics that prove RL probabilities. That's the business part I guess.

We do not have the data. We cannot pretend we know all.

Devs were pretty intelligent slapping the Game nations %% population in our faces and show... you think you might know and damn...sometimes you don't.

Regarding the upcoming features ( and even past features ) to be introduced I rather be surprised and discover myself. Blind delivery, exanima style, dark souls. Explore and find out, etc, that kind of game.

In this case of the wipe I will have to agree with the developers decision.

1. It is a major change, and many players do not play everyday, so giving them advanced warning is a plus. Actually a warning in the login screen would be beneficial at this point.

2. a couple of weeks to take a break from one or more years of non stop Naval Action. Maybe even doing just a bit of Testbed.

 

I agree with all playstyles. The combination of all gives life to the OW and the map.

The only thing I really disagree is the players always trying to bend the rulebook - at the wargame club we call them beardies.

 

Hethwill,
You messed up my post, That is about as close to middle ground as you can get.  Its not the play styles that get me shacking my fist. Care-bear, Hard core PVP, even the middle ground a little of both. Its the vocal few that if you don't agree with them you are scum.

I catch you and kill then steal all your stuff, I get it, I am scum we all know this. That is in the game. I fall on the Hard core, open everything, no timers, everyone should die in battle, The only good circle in this game was the one that got smaller in port battles  and That should be in all battles - Side -  Adapt, or Die. on the forums. That puts me in a class that makes up less than 1% of the people on here(forums). But that is not true in game, but as numbers drop, mainly from hard core players leaving (well they think they are hard core).

  • Main reason - PVP is getting worse, can't find it, and if you do, you got to jump threw to many hoops, because the care-bears have everything to benefit and help them.

 Yesterday I could not think of a single patch that did not cater to the Care-bears, But was informed,  and admit,  I was wrong the removal of the fine wood crap was a benefit to everyone and I agree.

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I get what you mean. OW became void for a while now, but was due to natural progression of many mechanics, many of them seen their use distorted by the players themselves. It is not that the ideas were bad, it was that the use given by players messed up a lot of the rest.

One of the strengths of NA is the web of mechanics relying a lot on each other but also to touch a string means changing odds and ends in other areas as well :)

Hence how I reason the many changes. To bring life to the OW.

 

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14 minutes ago, Borch said:

Can you please post more examples of care-bear game changes?

You need to understand that I'm tired of using carebears as an excuse to every argument on this forum. Every person posting here means something different when calling someone carebear and mostly it's directed at no one in particular and everyone at the same time. This means, that they dont know it, as nobody got really a clue if its about him or not. 

Now, I'm not saying that youre wrong here only that i really don't know.

Definition - What does Carebear mean?

Carebear is a slang term that is used to refer to a video gamer who avoids violence and competition, or a video came that has very few violent elements. In the context of game design, a carebear is usually aimed at a younger audience. Carebear games tend to be exploratory in nature and rarely have play mechanics that can result in a character’s death. A carebear gamer, on the other hand, is someone who is not concerned with progressing through levels in an online game and instead chooses to inhabit safe zones and undertake non-competitive activities. In other words, only interacts with players when there is little chance of getting beat by another player.

 

Bla Hold on that was not really what you asked let me go threw all the patch notes give me a few mins

Edited by JobaSet
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1 minute ago, Borch said:

What if someone is interested in progressing through levels but interacts with players only when there is little chance of getting beat by them?

I see what you did, and yes they are care-bears.  You are talking about gank Squads, Every single gank start out with a few real pvper.(lets say 3)  Then grows as more join,(less add 2 more now at 5) Care-bears join since very little chance of losing a Ship.(say 5 cb up to 10 now) Once you get more numbers of non-care-bears you will see them(Care-bears) run disappear.( so all you need it 6 or 7 to beat 10)  Now that orginal pvpers ARE OUT NUMBERED they will move to A DIFFRENT AREA.  That is how you beat a Gank squad. Simple

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