Peiper

First, I dumped my live oak forest for a locust forest because it had thickness and speed, which I value over thickness and hit points (live oak). Now locust and live oak are the same, but you're buffing teak to make locust irrelevant. Please make locust thickness and speed again, and keep live oak thickness and hit points as it was before the latest changes.

Proposal: Asian ships We could use some NPC empires to threaten the rest of us with from time to time. They could come from a spawned island or take a generally unused port and begin expanding into the region with Turtle boats and a variety of junks, spitting rockets, cannons, and ramming players. The ships would not be for players to capture, build or purchase - they would be sort-of monsters of the game, and all players in both servers could work together to wipe them out. Once wiped out, they disappear for awhile until they respawn somewhere else on the map until exterminated. The loss of ports and good loot would be motivations to fight them. Current version of the game needs more variety of ships. There's plenty of historical unusual - my my Western eyes - Asian ships that could be created as an 'Eastern Menace' or they could come from another dimension - I don't care. I like sea monsters and stuff. This proposal would use historical references, ships and technology rather than fantasy sources, to help assuage the simulator/historical crowd. I think the players and designers would have fun picking and making ships. I would NOT like to see these ships be player owned, simply because even ships like La Requin break the realism of the game by having a different 'family' of ships mixed with all the square-sailors.

Proposal: Fishing boats and whalers. I would like to see fishing boats - rowboat size, local people and natives in canoes, fishing along shorelines. I'd like to see whalers way out at sea. Currently, the only ships we see are warships and trade ships. These would be sprites, static in nature, and could be client based graphics options like my animal suggestion above. They would be non-interactive, and exist simply to enrich the visuals at sea, lending more realism to the game.

Proposal: Animal life I would like to see whales, dolphins, flying fish, and albatross. These creatures are common in the ocean and deserve to be in the game. Current version is too lifeless. All of these creatures could criss-cross the open world map indefinitely, as they all tend to move in straight-ish lines. If you're worried about server load, make them client based sprites. No interaction is necessary and no need to worry about collisions. It's a quality of life - literally LIFE - suggestion.

My God, I'm sorry I asked. I've put in hundreds of hours into this game. I've lead a successful guild. I have earned just about everything in the game on two characters on two different servers. Do you really think I want to grind my way up AGAIN in PVE. No fuggin way. If I want to sit on my butt and sail around and kill mobs, I've earned that right. I'm not here to be cannon fodder for PVPers. Could I 'Git Good?' Sure I could, but I've already been there, done that. I don't want to do it again. Everyone plays the game for their own reasons. Some like to PVP, some like to trade, some like to craft, some like to blow up mobs. I blow up mobs and craft. I craft to help others and blow up mobs for pleasure. I do so in the ships I craft or earn by blowing up mobs. That's what I enjoy. Game Labs has removed my ability to replace my losses. Until they restore that ability, I will not play in PVP. Because I refuse to stress myself out taking out my one remaining Santi and Wasa, it means I don't play anymore. I don't play anymore means one less player in their game, and I log on less and less often to craft because if all I'm doing is logging on for 5 minutes to make cannons for my guild with no pleasure in it for me, then fug it. I don't care at all what you think I should do with myself. I'm not here to please you. I simply want what I've earned time and time again and I want to rest on my laurels. Game Labs hasn't learned the lesson that once a player has earned something, it's a mistake to take it away. They also seem to want to force players to behave in a certain way (play PVP) because they BELIEVE that's the heart of their game. Well, not everyone plays for that, and they're alienating people like me who play for different reasons. The result is less players when they could simply let everyone play for their own reasons. If they want to reward pvp, fine. Give out some paint jobs, sail colors, new mast heads or decorations - bragging rights stuff. But don't punish the rest of us because we don't play the way others do. Do not put some ships or gear behind PVP walls and expect us to do with less because you want us to play a certain way. Peiper at the Gates of Dawn

I am currently on the PVP server. I do not PVP, but my favorite ships require me to PVP to replace. I like to support my guild through crafting and periodically go out in my Wasas or Santis and just wreck PVE targets or search out shipwrecks. I find it relaxing and I find it fun to do. I used to PVP, raid ports and stuff. I do not like the rat race, time sink, etc.... I used to craft 1st rates once a day for my guild. But the fun is gone. So I am considering transferring all my hard earned stuff from PVP to the PVE server. I will miss my friends, but having been reduced to crafting only because I find taking out my favorite ships too stressful. There is nothing fun left in the game for me. (If I can't replace my favorite ships via PVE, it stresses me out. One server connection loss or miscalculation and I lose a ship never to be able to craft a new one again.) I have two rear admirals, high level crafters (now one, because the server combined). I will NOT grind up another. How do I transfer my assets to the PVE server? Either that, or when will you remove the 1st rates and Wasa from the PVP wall? Peiper at the Gates of Dawn

@Stepp636 I explained my problems and I offered a solution. Your response is to do what the devs want me to do, which I see as a slap in the face. How about responding to my alternative to PVP rewards instead? (I used to run a big guild back in the day. I've been there, done that. Did port battles, raiding parties, built a first rate every day for a month. I've done it all. I would like to simply play casual now. If I lose one of my ships, I want to be able to replace it. I leave other players alone and do my thing. I REALLY don't like PVP, but my friends are here, and there's other things for me to do. There's room in the ocean for all kinds of fish. Well, there was. Now there's less.)

PVP rewards shouldn't be the exclusivity of content that we all enjoy playing with. It should be non-game breaking. Example. Paint jobs, sail colors, gold trim on flags, alternative decorations on ships, etc.. Cosmetic stuff. That way everyone can have access to the best ships instead of just those who spend hours grinding PVP. Not all of us are PVP players. We enjoy other aspects of the game, but now we don't have access to all the ships - and old sailors like me are used to having access to them. Likewise, put exclusive cosmetic stuff in for other types of activities. Numbers of NPC's killed, tonnage transported/traded, gold accumulated, etc... Right now players like myself are afraid to bring out our first rates or Wasa's because we can't replace them. No one should be afraid to play. Your incentive model needs to be reworked. I'm already playing less because you've restricted access to some of my favorite ships. My guild is suffering because we used to be self-sufficient - but now players are wondering if they have to join a bigger guild to get access to victory marks and stuff. People like me enjoy the comradery of smaller guilds. You're taking that away, and if my guild merges into a bigger guild just because of this PVP/VM exclusivity crap, some of my friends and I will leave the game. I'm not kidding, Naval Action devs. You gotta consider that everyone has different reasons for playing. PVP turns off some of your people. Others simply don't have the hours to sink into that. They do a little trading, a mission or two, and they're happy. Or were happy until you took their incentive away....

How about when you enter into a fight with a friend, he loses internet connection, and all of a sudden what was a challenging fight becomes an impossible one?

Safe zones allow players like me to play and support my PVP friends as a casual player. I do not like PVP anymore. I don't have time to spend a half our of a fight just running away from a ganker. I just want to tool around and kill ai stuff, do some trading, and run some missions with my friends. Take those safe zones away and you'll lose me and half my friends with me who feel the same. Those safe zones allow for both PVP and non PVPer's to coexist on one server.

Yeah, and if you don't dismiss the brig, you won't have space in your fleet to pick up your old/more valuable ship. And if there is an end screen option to redistribute stuff - whether your crew is on the brig or not - there has to be a lock so no one takes your valuable ship real quick, like a stamp on the ship that says: hey, this is ____'s ship. He gets first dips on it after the battle. Just to prevent griefing. It could be YOUR ship is the one capped, but your fleet guy recaps it or something to that effect. Ownership needs to be attached to the ships at battle start.

Twice now, I hit the wrong buttons on my fleet ships and instead of having them demast, they went free mode, captured smaller ships, and sailed around in those forcing me to dismiss them, go way back upwind to pick up the original fleet ships. (Like I'd trade my fatties for navy brigs and mercs! WTF, AI? Why so stupid??) This sometimes adds 15-30 minutes onto battles while I tack back and forth trying to get my ship back because the AI is stupid. Other issues are regarding going to grab loot from ships after the battle is over. Both of these activities are unnecessary and annoying, and I have one of two reactions. 1. "Okay, this was bullshit. I was going to play awhile, but if it's gonna be like this, forget it. I'm out for tonight." 2. The memory of bullshit. "I want to play, but last couple times I played I had to spend half the play-session travelling upwind to retrieve my fleet ships, or trying, but failing, to loot ships I'd sunk." Solution: When the battle is over, have an end-game screen that allows you to distribute remaining loot and crew ships left adrift. Boom, many minutes saved, and people can get back to playing the game and enjoying themselves.

Repeating this for great justice. I have not returned to the game because I'm not sure I'll be able to be a casual player. I enjoy the occasional PVP, but mostly, I just like to sail around, do some trading, crafting, and missions. With the one durability patch, even those free ships to entice me to return don't turn me on. I just don't have the time to invest in simply staying alive when I play. I want to keep making progress. There must be some sort of balance to where solo and casual players can enjoy playing and contributing to their faction and friends without endless fear of gank squads taking away what little progress or wealth/ships he's accumulated.

Here's what I believe should happen. Around every national port, there should be a 'national waters' zone where AI ships reinforce a like-national being attacked. Any port next to another port of the same nation will create a zone along the shore, or a corridor between near ports over water where ships can safely sail and do their business. All missions above rank 3 should be outside of this zone, along with all shipwrecks, and events. There are some players who come on to relax or just do their little trading and crafting stuff. They hop on for 15 minutes during lunch or whenever. Battles take a LONG time, and if you don't want to take the time to fight or run from a battle, then you just don't log on. Also, the safe zone will be friendly toward newer players. There also then becomes a reason to take ports. Those ports create 'safe zones' for which your nations can move ships and goods. Only ports near to each other would have such corridors or safe zones, and freeports or other nation's ports block those safe zones from connecting to each other, also making the holding of a chain of ports very important. Most MMO's I've played have safe zones like this. This game does not, and it detracts from play for some people. Some days guys want to fight, other days they just want to sail around and do trading stuff and the like. When trading missions get activated, higher level trading missions could force you to deliver or pick up from ports that take you through no-man's land, to free ports (where you might find ANYONE) and so on. So, I did not vote in this pole because the solution is not the best solution. It is putting a band-aid on a bigger problem to which I have just presented a better solution.

Added several new ones to the list, and incorporated suggestions from the thread where I agreed. Thanks for the feedback!