[Serious] Server Health

[admin]

2 minutes ago, springby said:

 

so many chefs and not even half of them were hired

 

lol

We don't even try to deny this. We probably added too much to the soup.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, King of Crowns said:

server merge is  the only solution to the problem.

Yeah I agree.... It will kill the patient entirely and the problem will be solved..

[Duncan McFail]

50 minutes ago, admin said:

We don't even try to deny this. We probably added too much to the soup.

The current state of the game isn't that bad. Much better than the end of pvp1 and pvp2 era. Only things I really dislike currently is unlocking ship slots(I'm just too lazy and it's such a grind) and super speed when exiting to OW(too much power to the hunters). I'm looking forward to Unity 5 and I like the idea of war companies. 

[Simon Cadete]

Server merge is nothing but a temporary fix. Numbers will go down after. The problem is that the map is too big, people spend at least 60% of their time sailing with nothing to do. PVP is for the most part a gank or be ganked situation where if a ganking squad gets intercepted by a slightly larger ganking squad, they run using a serious of broken mechanics.

The only balanced fights you can find are planned fights such as port battles and that's pretty dead as well. 

I say, merge the servers, make the map smaller and create a lot of pve content such as quests, bounty hunting, treasure fleets and other things I can't think of right now. 

You need to give players stuff to do and make it easier to encounter   other players in OW.

 

[C R E W]

map is WAY TOO DAMN BIG...reduce the map by HALF or more...MERGE SERVERS ...problem fixed...OH and FREE PORT TP...4 hr cool down..GG game is awsome again

[mikawa]

The problem is that varying player numbers is a thing to deal with even if we have 10k players after release - player numbers will drop again or maybe rise sometimes, who knows. The game needs a kind of mechanic to deal with changing numbers .... difficult

[Molecularbioguy]

I think the main reason I'm still playing Naval Action at all is because I found some fun guys to sail with. Honestly, the sheer amount of time it takes to play NA is insane. Hours and hours merely moving from point A to point B. Hundreds of hours of PvE grind. Scores of hours trading to get yourself the funds and crafting to get a nice ship (and I'm even with a group that gives out ships like candy. How are you supposed to do it solo??). And then, one mistake, boom, investment gone. You learn to fight against AI, but humans are nothing like that. The actual amount of time spent in RvR or PvP, compared to other things in the game, is fairly minuscule. I'm not surprised people quit.

I hate to say it, but if Naval Action Legends is good, I'll probably just play that. Especially if they do historical set pieces of big battles like Trafalgar or the historical 1v1's. Who wouldn't like ranked play? Heck, save up some doubloons doing regular matches, and then bid on who gets the big ships in the historical battles. I'd love a game of matches, rather than the OW stuff. The battles are what I like about this game. It's just hard when the cost of losing is so incredibly high.

For comparison, what is the time cost of losing a battle in Naval action, and what is the cost of losing a match in PUBG?

Is winning a battle in Naval Action significantly more fun than winning a match in PUBG, or doing well in one?

^-- Among many reasons why I find myself playing more and more PUBG and less and less NA.

Edited August 10, 2017 by Molecularbioguy

[Teutonic]

@admin it is great to here what is coming, but until it does I wish to find a player solution to our precieved problem.

In reality it may not be a problem at all, maybe we are all just whiners...but many of us do not like the situation of the game and it has caused a numbet of my friends to take an extended break from the game.

I know eventually i will move on and find another game, heck I have done it with a lot of games...but there are always games I cling in to and mever truly leave behind. Eve Online is game that I make take breaks, but I will never stop playing.

 

As for what we can do as Global citizens, is there any possibility to get some of us to find a short term solution until next patch?

[mikawa]

18 minutes ago, Molecularbioguy said:

I hate to say it, but if Naval Action Legends is good, I'll probably just play that. Especially if they do historical set pieces of big battles like Trafalgar or the historical 1v1's.

Yeah, historical scenarios would be nice! Would love to see a ranking system like CS GO, ahhh finally I am global elite Also great to remove all modules and just sail the ship as it is. With all advantages and disadvantages. Maybe add "skins" to earn which are awesome to look at but don't make the ship any better. Tournaments, yes! Live Streams, yes! Back to the good old times of weekly Trafalgar battles ... I long for that very much.

[Jester Jake Jackson]

When your game fails what should you do? 

When reasoned arguments are through,

When discontent is at it's peak,

What sort of wisdom should you seek? 

 

You blame your foes! 

Who says that grinding slots ain't fun? 

Just blame your foes! 

The fledgling newbies we'll outgun! 

We blame your foes! 

Our toxic chat is filled with hate? 

Lets blame your foes! 

The broken tag meta is great! 

Must blame your foes! 

Why should you fix long sailing bore?

I blame your foes! 

Each play should feel just like a chore! 

He blames your foes! 

When you let hardcore fakes have sway,

All blame their foes? 

The winning move is not to play! 

 

[Hodo]

5 hours ago, admin said:

First of all thank you all - you don't stop to amaze us with your dedication and support. We said long time ago we won't let you down and we won't. Promises will be fulfilled. Thank you for being critics and supporters. It helps us learn to make better games.

One thing what we want you to understand is this. Games are art/games are entertainment. Humans can get bored and humans can't read one book every day or watch the same movie every day. It is possible for some amazing entertainment product to deliver content every day but its very hard for indie teams to keep that pace. People move on to new entertainment and come back when you created something new and exciting. 

So try to be very honest about everything here.

Our current plan is to move to unity 5 (to add new ships) this is almost done. 
Then we will fix UI and add localization that will bring a lot of new players.
Current planned fixes will delay player loss on mid levels
On release we will get more visibility and new players will join the fray as well. 
NA Legends will probably launch to open beta (as a free game) and some players from there will also go try open world. 

But here is the thing. They will move on again. Online will go down again. In entertainment industry the success is determined by highest chart position not on lowest. 

So eventually everyone will leave to new games (ours included). And its ok. 

For us the key is to learn and use this learning to make better games going forward. Very rarely games are perfect from the first attempt. 
Even Battlegrounds (many of you probably tried it) is actually a 4th iteration of the idea. (first dayz mod, then arma mod, then H1Z1 KOK, only then PUBG (which is done by developers of TERA with years and years of mmo experience).

its a journey. 

I cant help but feel at this point you are being more patronizing than honest.  But this is the cynic  in me.  

To be quite frank with you.   Most of the problems is the lack of information.   You say more ships and UI improvements will bring people into the game, and they will but they wont keep them.  What will keep them is more and better information on what is happening IN game.  Instead of being in the dark 99% of the time a player should know before they even create a character if it is a dead nation or not.  Any new player that joins Spain, Sweden or France in Global right now is in for a hell of a time.   The US isnt much better right now either.   But how would anyone know if they dont see the active population in that nation on creation. 

Then we have the issues everyone else mentioned.   

 

But this is my take on the situation, I am not part of any clan or guild, I play the game as a solo player, and I do find the game challenging but not impossible.  

[Captain Lust]

9 hours ago, King of Crowns said:

server merge is  the only solution to the problem.

I find it rather amusing that some people are still too thick and self-centered to realise this...

[Vllad]

6 hours ago, Duncan McFail said:

It will mostly be players using forged papers to get into a nation that has territory because dots do matter. So instead of a plea to the server for an agreement when your getting crapped on try to contact the guys you've wronged and try some diplomacy. Just fair warning though. You guys have burnt a lot of bridges and have little to offer.

You clearly don't understand the French at all regardless of how many times you are told.

While I agree camping capitols is certainly not the healthiest thing for a server where does a nation go that just wants open water PVP? France wants OW pvp and if that means burning every bridge on the server to get it that is what they will do. They punched the Pirates in the face because that was the one place they thought they would get OW pvp. France was wrong. The Pirates want to play another game that France doesn't want to play. France may lose players but it will be over a lack of PVP not dots. I know you have trouble with this concept but just maybe you should start taking what we say at face value then maybe we can get somewhere.

This brings us back to the issue at hand that Teutonic raises.

You have players in France that just want to OW pvp, you have the Pirates that only want to take dots, then you have the Brits and US who are stuck in the middle somewhere. The game has failed to bring all players together that want different kinds of PVP. In the end no one is satisfied including the guys that want 1v1 solo fights. I honestly don't know how you bring everyone together that all want different kinds of PVP. This game has managed to separate all of them. Unlike WWII on-line and other products who seem to build an RVR component that incorporated everything.  

[Hawkwood]

I really do not know if adding more ships is what this development needs...

Under "game content" i understand something completely different.

[Captain Lust]

6 hours ago, admin said:

6 hours ago, Skully said:

Have we identified the end-game?

imagine being a frigate captain during peace time

This is gold.

[Lordicious]

6 hours ago, admin said:

First of all thank you all - you don't stop to amaze us with your dedication and support. We said long time ago we won't let you down and we won't. Promises will be fulfilled. Thank you for being critics and supporters. It helps us learn to make better games.

One thing what we want you to understand is this. Games are art/games are entertainment. Humans can get bored and humans can't read one book every day or watch the same movie every day. It is possible for some amazing entertainment product to deliver content every day but its very hard for indie teams to keep that pace. People move on to new entertainment and come back when you created something new and exciting. 

So try to be very honest about everything here.

Our current plan is to move to unity 5 (to add new ships) this is almost done. 
Then we will fix UI and add localization that will bring a lot of new players.
Current planned fixes will delay player loss on mid levels
On release we will get more visibility and new players will join the fray as well. 
NA Legends will probably launch to open beta (as a free game) and some players from there will also go try open world. 

But here is the thing. They will move on again. Online will go down again. In entertainment industry the success is determined by highest chart position not on lowest. 

So eventually everyone will leave to new games (ours included). And its ok. 

For us the key is to learn and use this learning to make better games going forward. Very rarely games are perfect from the first attempt. 
Even Battlegrounds (many of you probably tried it) is actually a 4th iteration of the idea. (first dayz mod, then arma mod, then H1Z1 KOK, only then PUBG (which is done by developers of TERA with years and years of mmo experience).

its a journey. 

Moving to Unity 5 or adding Ui won't make much of a difference here. Naval Action does not have a solid progress foundation and it is not new player friendly. Time sink here is too big with no tools to help players enjoy this big world. Learn from Albion Online, rocking with 300 000+ active players and growing rapidly. Simple yet ingenious system that was suggested here many times and was ignored. 

In the end, you are admitting you could not create the product you wished for and already predicting short life span right after game release. Once again all this was predicted 1.5 years ago , but back then no one payed attention. 

It's nice to see you guys still working on this game even though there is no future ahead at this point. I myself learned one lesson  - do not invest in Indie games/devs, instead give money to known game developers who know what players need. 

I wish you all good luck and fair seas. 

So eventually everyone will leave to new games (ours included). And its ok. 

P.S. I am still waiting for World of Warcraft people to leave the game with no end to it.  

 

Edited August 10, 2017 by Lordicious

[Vernon Merrill]

6 hours ago, admin said:

imagine being a frigate captain during peace time

 

7 minutes ago, Captain Lust said:

This is gold.

Half-pay and no ship...  egads!

Time to work on Ashgrove....

[Christendom]

@admin   The game needs more stuff to do.  Raids, bounties, random world events.....anything.  You keep trying to come up with different ways to cook chicken, we're tired of chicken.   Give us something different to eat.

you need to either let this game become a true sandbox, one server no restrictions OR start proving developer generated content.  You try to do a little of both and it ain't working.

 

Edited August 10, 2017 by Christendom

[Taranis]

Love the game.  That said, the biggest thing it has going against it IMHO: time requirement.  While I really enjoy pvp - the time requirement to move around the board and get oneself setup and then the time of the pvp battles themselves (which can still occur in series) is very high.  I rarely have 2 hour+ blocks of time to dedicate to the game.  As an aside, I would keep in mind that we are in the summer and a number of players are presently away (at least I want to think so).

[Timjim2]

Either there will be an end game state or not.  If there is no end game state then the game will, as all other fighting games have done, slowly loose player base and then fade.  Naval action has brought together both the FPS game AND the strategic game play of a 4x game.  Brilliant!  It does however need an end game, or failing that, a way to slow down conquest so that the end game is ever near but very hard to get to.

Most games have a mechanic integral to them that slows expansion down either by making that next step increasingly more and more expensive ( requiring some cost of in-game resources not just money ) or is level / achievement gated ( you have to have x things before you can add one more y ).  This can be simulating the ever increasing cost of managing a wide flung empire across a vast area.  Spain, of course, had the new world wealth to pay for its expansion until Charles V blew most of it on fighting the reformation, and even they didn't get the whole enchilada.

Slowing down expansion will also solve the bandwagon effect where players move en mass from one or more "losing" nations to the perceived winner.  Naval Action works best when the pot is simmering gently and  hostilities are gradually increasing as is the player tension. 

How about a maintenance mechanic whereby the nation that has captured a county must kill some amount of BR of enemy in that county's zone of influence ( not its own and no Pirate Shenanigans ) each period and that this cost diminish over time to allow the nation to move on to other conquests?  Perhaps these could be missions and allow newer players to contribute in lower rated ships ( humm lower rated ships higher number..bah! )   This would force captains out of the ale houses (internet cafes)  and back into their ships in the ow and play to Naval Actions biggest strength the OW combat mini-game.  The more counties the nation hold the higher initial maintenance cost of the newest county.

 

 

 

[JobaSet]

Here is what really happened to the server.

Black had a plan for the wipe why didn't you.
WHY? Every single time there has been a wipe the Nations gang up, and as a group have slammed us to one port and kick us while we were down.  We were going to try and stop it this time.  We as a group combined and mass produced 1st rates as fast as we could, While also slowly taken ports for marks.  The main goal of to build even more 1st rates and then we lvled them all of them.   While many Nations wanted to RVR and PVP we put a self imposed limit on our selves for the long term Future of the pirates.  We defended all ports when needed until got pushed to far.

And so it began! 

The US would not leave it be, constantly beating their bird chest, attacking ports attempting to Duel flip .  So we punched them in the Nose and took Sav.  The US caved for Brit support and Shot them selves in the foot and Still to this Day have not even stopped the bleeding.
They Lost every port in Gulf for support that never amounted to anything. As the Brit Nation Grew to big.  It is, Was, and Will never Change its all about numbers.  And they Had them.
The whole Time Pirates Steadily pushing out more and more 1st rates and getting slots(I expect a nerf and any time now, now that most have all five slots in most 1st rates and the Nations do not).  

Welcome to the other problem once we(Pirate) established that we are the Dominate Nation(Yes we are a Nation) in organization skills.  And the nations/Devs plan to stifle the Pirates Failed after completely changing how slots xp worked, removal of pvp marks, how getting Permits worked, Etc more or less everything we did was removed, So the other Nations would stop crying.  But we kept Adapting.  

The worse thing you can ever do to a well skilled and organized group... you wish to hamper, is give that organization a goal.  They gave it to pirates. Up until this point in Game there was no clear cut who was winning, who was not.  Enter the bullshit of Victory marks, I get it it should have been easy who every has the most people should get most reward.  But Once the Pirates had a goal it was over for the nations.  It was over before the 1st week was out and everyone knew it.  Then they Nerf how many VM you get,  We still on top.  Then they made it were VM didn't mean crap, and everyone and the Dog could have a 1st rate.....  None of that maters we are still on top.  

With that all said

We have and are still taken a hit with the French in PVP at the moment.  Not because we can't do it, we just didn't/don't have the Ships and Slots on many of the Ships to Fight head to head at that moment.  So we had to take a beating for a week or So near mort.  We listen to bird chest getting pounded we don't need Dots bla bla. From a Nation almost 2 hours away from home.  Then they(French) slipped, falling into a hype induced entitlement coma. hello kittyed up and  Flipped a port on us(Pirate) for some unknown reason.  This one act has changed the server as we know it!!!  The ramifications wont be seen for weeks to come.

Every Single Post in last two or three weeks has been to nerf Pirates in some way.  Or being accused of Hacks, exploits, Alt abuse, Let us not forget the Cheaters. With nothing from the Mods to quail this, outright , other than me getting ban for saying DRINK to much. Nations are given a free pass to spew off the chain bullshit to get your side excited...  But in realty, As my not so Subtle friend once pointed out GETGOOD get organized.  The French are doing it and Brits are following suit with the US well we will have to see.  They may have an edge on right NOW, but I am not to worried, but it appears most are that we will adapt again.  Just look at post over last 2 weeks.

 

[Hethwill]

Way to crash the party Enough chest pounding sir, you might get out of breath.

Interesting that without a "win the map" wipe/restart rule such a objective was set, but kudos for it happening.

In truth it changes nothing to what is being discussed, a quagmire of mud of what is or what isn't important. We all get whatever we need by different means and no one can claim victory. You get unimportant dots, the enemy gets unimportant victories. It goes on and on and on.

There's no end unless players shuffle, clans shuffle and we start it all over again Hence, unless we want, it is... dormant. Almost looks dead wouldn't be for a couple hundred faithful captains and their obedient alt slaves to give life to the chat and a battle here or there...

This, sir, you cannot deny even if you put the spyglass to your pirate blind eyepatch.

If you cannot see it, sorry. You are very very into your own "world" that you lost contact with the game as a whole.

[Timjim2]

8 minutes ago, JobaSet said:

Here is what really happened to the server.

Black had a plan for the wipe why didn't you.
WHY? Every single time there has been a wipe the Nations gang up, and as a group have slammed us to one port and kick us while we were down.  We were going to try and stop it this time.  We as a group combined and mass produced 1st rates as fast as we could, While also slowly taken ports for marks.  The main goal of to build even more 1st rates and then we lvled them all of them.   While many Nations wanted to RVR and PVP we put a self imposed limit on our selves for the long term Future of the pirates.  We defended all ports when needed until got pushed to far.

And so it began! 

The US would not leave it be, constantly beating their bird chest, attacking ports attempting to Duel flip .  So we punched them in the Nose and took Sav.  The US caved for Brit support and Shot them selves in the foot and Still to this Day have not even stopped the bleeding.
They Lost every port in Gulf for support that never amounted to anything. As the Brit Nation Grew to big.  It is, Was, and Will never Change its all about numbers.  And they Had them.
The whole Time Pirates Steadily pushing out more and more 1st rates and getting slots(I expect a nerf and any time now, now that most have all five slots in most 1st rates and the Nations do not).  

Welcome to the other problem once we(Pirate) established that we are the Dominate Nation(Yes we are a Nation) in organization skills.  And the nations/Devs plan to stifle the Pirates Failed after completely changing how slots xp worked, removal of pvp marks, how getting Permits worked, Etc more or less everything we did was removed, So the other Nations would stop crying.  But we kept Adapting.  

The worse thing you can ever do to a well skilled and organized group... you wish to hamper, is give that organization a goal.  They gave it to pirates. Up until this point in Game there was no clear cut who was winning, who was not.  Enter the bullshit of Victory marks, I get it it should have been easy who every has the most people should get most reward.  But Once the Pirates had a goal it was over for the nations.  It was over before the 1st week was out and everyone knew it.  Then they Nerf how many VM you get,  We still on top.  Then they made it were VM didn't mean crap, and everyone and the Dog could have a 1st rate.....  None of that maters we are still on top.  

With that all said

We have and are still taken a hit with the French in PVP at the moment.  Not because we can't do it, we just didn't/don't have the Ships and Slots on many of the Ships to Fight head to head at that moment.  So we had to take a beating for a week or So near mort.  We listen to bird chest getting pounded we don't need Dots bla bla. From a Nation almost 2 hours away from home.  Then they(French) slipped, falling into a hype induced entitlement coma. hello kittyed up and  Flipped a port on us(Pirate) for some unknown reason.  This one act has changed the server as we know it!!!  The ramifications wont be seen for weeks to come.

Every Single Post in last two or three weeks has been to nerf Pirates in some way.  Or being accused of Hacks, exploits, Alt abuse, Let us not forget the Cheaters. With nothing from the Mods to quail this, outright , other than me getting ban for saying DRINK to much. Nations are given a free pass to spew off the chain bullshit to get your side excited...  But in realty, As my not so Subtle friend once pointed out GETGOOD get organized.  The French are doing it and Brits are following suit with the US well we will have to see.  They may have an edge on right NOW, but I am not to worried, but it appears most are that we will adapt again.  Just look at post over last 2 weeks.

 

Five dollars to the person that can make any kind of sense out the above..

[Hethwill]

1 minute ago, Timjim2 said:

Five dollars to the person that can make any kind of sense out the above..

Gimme.

[JobaSet]

1 minute ago, Timjim2 said:

Five dollars to the person that can make any kind of sense out the above..

The pirates are better than us. So we cry. pay up you can just hit donate @ https://www.twitch.tv/jobaset