Development plans prioritization - proposals and feedback

[poison]

Plz up the total number of player or unified the 2 pvp , and same when you will have more pve server because people like me who work a lot for living dont like trying to play your captain only to find the server always full for all the time you can play .

And plz people dont tell me to start a new one on the other server i got a life :-)

You're not the only one. A possible solution is to put yourself in queue and do stuff while you wait. Because you're such a busy man, I'm sure you can appreciate the time saved by queuing after you get home from work and waiting while you cook, clean, or do something else other responsible adults do.

[Kalthios]

The ability to research ship designs instead of gambling with RNG over and over again losing huge amounts of money just trying to learn how to craft a ship.

[Hystix]

Would be nice to see your ship being built piece by piece in the shipyard. If its done anything like the openworld it would be gorgeous to look at.

[Doria]

Hello to everybody,

 

I'm not sure if it's the right place to post this idea.

 

Regarding trading improvements.

 

Have you ever played the simple boardgame "Merchants and Marauders"? I think there's a nice interesting feature.

I think that in a sandbox like this, the successful trader should be rewarded with experience aswell, cause he takes his time to undertake a long voyage.

Moreover the trading would fluorish and it would not be seen as an annoying trip.

More fish in the sea and more happy shark I would say.

 

As last thought I could say that the loaded ship shouldn't have the fast travel option, (above 40 of cargo%) in order to stimulate the merchant convoy, routes and cooperation by player.

 

Doria

[FancyPirate]

Hi everyone, first of all, sorry for my english

i didn't played this game yet.. but i really love the idea "Officers and refined crew management " and that's how I see it.   

Where all ship is a lobby which supports different roles for each player.

1/2/3/9/10/11/12/4/5/6/7/8 Gunners

14. Ship's Captain

13. Quartermaster or Navigator

15. Doctor or Surgeon

I really love this, because its opens up new possibilities for each role.

If you guys like this idea, you can send me 1 key   

Edited January 31, 2016 by FancyPirate

[Callaghan]

I voted Exploration and Delivery missions, but feel that the option isn´t good enough. Filling out the missions to make them fun as opposed to crushingly mundane should be priority number 1 right now. it´s what all players use to learn the game and gain their initial ranks via XP- if this isn´t fleshed out ASAP people are going to get very burned out on the game because of this oversight. I have made a post on the suggestions page for mission options, it doesn´t simply have to be limited to delivery and exploration (yawn). Get creative guys!

[Ampen]

I went with the pirate mechanics, since I belive a truly unique pirate faction could really have a major impact on all players of this game, in a very good way. 

 

Furthermore:

 

 

This thread is a poll and NA posters have already massively voted in favor of Ganking : http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/6218-ganking-petition/page-1
They do cherish it, love it, can't live without it.

 

 

The poll has been answered by 200 or something like that, and how many players are now playing this game? Those who gave their opinion are a minority of the total amount of players.

I belive this is a problem, not only when it comes to ganking mechanics, but also minimap and the ability to see your own ship on it, open sea sailing time and so forth.

There seem to be a strong voice on the forums for what I would consider a romantic view on hardcore gameplay, that players will learn, and they will accept it and so on.

 

And it is true, some will. But my guess is it will be a pareto principle thing. This game will either have 80% of new players staying longer 3 months, or it will have 20% players staying longer 3 months, and as long as new features are added and the game continues to move towards completion, this might not present a problem, and there will be an influx of new players once the game goes fully live.

From that point though, if this game is of the type where 20% of new players are still around after 3 months, there will be a risk problems will arise, since then there's a clear risk that for every month that goes, the game will get closer to the point where more captains leave the game than joined it.

 

For that reason, I do think there need to be a balance in features to make sure the game is attractive enough to keep even the more casual players, since we otherwise will end up on empty seas. Those who played PotBS know what that's like.

You can adore hardcore how much you like, but if it result in a high drop out rate, this game will be nothing but an empty yard for the closest kin.

[LeBoiteux]

I went with the pirate mechanics, since I belive a truly unique pirate faction could really have a major impact on all players of this game, in a very good way. 

 

Furthermore:

 

 

The poll has been answered by 200 or something like that, and how many players are now playing this game? Those who gave their opinion are a minority of the total amount of players.

I belive this is a problem, not only when it comes to ganking mechanics, but also minimap and the ability to see your own ship on it, open sea sailing time and so forth.

There seem to be a strong voice on the forums for what I would consider a romantic view on hardcore gameplay, that players will learn, and they will accept it and so on.

 

And it is true, some will. But my guess is it will be a pareto principle thing. This game will either have 80% of new players staying longer 3 months, or it will have 20% players staying longer 3 months, and as long as new features are added and the game continues to move towards completion, this might not present a problem, and there will be an influx of new players once the game goes fully live.

From that point though, if this game is of the type where 20% of new players are still around after 3 months, there will be a risk problems will arise, since then there's a clear risk that for every month that goes, the game will get closer to the point where more captains leave the game than joined it.

 

For that reason, I do think there need to be a balance in features to make sure the game is attractive enough to keep even the more casual players, since we otherwise will end up on empty seas. Those who played PotBS know what that's like.

You can adore hardcore how much you like, but if it result in a high drop out rate, this game will be nothing but an empty yard for the closest kin.

 

Some thoughts :

1) The quote from me was meant to be quite ironic : http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/7978-development-plans-prioritization-proposals-and-feedback/?p=154276

See the poll in question : I voted against Ganking.

2) About the poll on "Development plans prioritization", the results haven't changed much since EA (the first 4 are still the same one).

Yet, there's been more than 300 new votes out of 580 since it.

3) Admin wrote (if I ain't mistaken) that official polls would be implemented in game ASAP.

 

Btw, there is hardcore and there is learning curve. That's two different concepts. NA is (and I hope will remain) a skilled-based game. 

[Ampen]

Some thoughts :

1) The quote from me was meant to be quite ironic : http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/7978-development-plans-prioritization-proposals-and-feedback/?p=154276

See the poll in question : I voted against Ganking.

2) About the poll on "Development plans prioritization", the results haven't changed much since EA (the first 4 are still the same one).

Yet, there's been more than 300 new votes out of 580 since it.

3) Admin wrote (if I ain't mistaken) that official polls would be implemented in game ASAP.

 

Btw, there is hardcore and there is learning curve. That's two different concepts. NA is (and I hope will remain) a skilled-based game. 

 

Never really reflected about your opinion in that sense, and never meant to offend you either. My point was merely that polls have to be considered in respect of the amount of voters compared to the total amount of players. So it served as an example for the other issues I mentioned as well. On top of that I didn't realize the OP was as old as it is, this one was high up in the list of posts, so I figured it was new, and now I see the fellow before me probably was the reason why it was as high up. 

 

Anyway, I totally agree with you that there's a difference between hardcore and learning curve, and I as you hope for learning curve. One thing that could become a problem though would be OW sailing time, wich I think will have two major impairments, first I think there's a risk it will make people tire of the game as a whole, second I think there's a risk people that continue playing the game will resort to mainly "local" travel, wich will in that case severly reduce the dynamics. F.x, in that case players based in the antilles will have little or no clue what's going on outside the coast of Mexico and vice versa, so it'll be a divided game. Might not be a bad thing, still, the OW sailing itself could probably come out more as tedious than as something with a learning curve.

[kumisz]

I am really curious to see refined crew and officer management, but the most burning problem is the lack of diverse missions (trade, delivery, exploration for example) to possibly keep more players in the game. Still voted for the crew management, for that is my personal opinion.

[Kameradenschwein]

There are a lot of good points but i´ll go with "Exploration and Delivery missions" since the one mission we have gets rather fast boring. Especially exploration missions will enlarge the horizon of some players

 

but what I actually would love to see would be an overworked and more intuitive interface. It could also become more piratish in its style 

 

 

[soljah]

i vote  for Production buildings (mines, forges, shipyards)  because its frist priorety now but second what dont get enought voices  is Port Investments/National Projects

[Gatzweiler]

It would be nice if i can share  Mission with my friend.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Gatzweiler

[ragnar hairy trousers]

It would be nice if i can share  Mission with my friend

You already can sir, simply invite your friend to group and when you click to join mission it will ask you if you wish to join as a group.

[Gatzweiler]

You already can sir, simply invite your friend to group and when you click to join mission it will ask you if you wish to join as a group.

 

but it is not the same when my friend would "share" the missionen with me, so i become the same missionsbonus like him. When i go together with my friend in the mission "as groupe" i become only the xp and gold for damage the ships but NOT the Missionbonus. Thats why i would it found very nice when i can completly share the missionorder with my friends to get the full missionbonus.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Gatzweiler

[Neith]

I gave vote to "Port Investments/National Projects", but all the other options should be improved and are necessary to let this game became much more playable than in this moment.

 

Now this is not even alpha, in My opinion this game is more like pre-alpha for your workers not for the players.

 

Cheers and Goold Luck!

[FearMe]

Hey guys, just 1 short little thing. Could it not be possible to capture more than 1 ship? when i take out 2 ships it seems not to be possible to capture both, if i switch back to my original boat the captured one is lost Could this be fixxed or is this on purpose?

[Butterballs]

I would love to see some diplomacy mechanic put in. Would make it interesting to see how it would work.

[nakorbc]

From a trade point of view we need diplomacy to be able to realize the luxury goods, aka the national specific produced goods.

[Pigafetta]

I like everything about this game. Combat is just pure fun, but I am also really interested in exploration and trade. After a good combat session I love just to sail around and check goods prices in ports, or discovering new ports. In other words, combat is fantastic, but I get tired after a while. This is why I voted the esplorer options, just to diversify as much as possible the game...more options more fun.

[Captain Boneboys]

I'm very pleased that  Exploration and Delivery missions are doing well in the poll.

 

I just believe that players should be rewarded for exploring and to go where no man has gone before.

There is also a certain risk when infiltrating enemy waters, which in itself, merits some reward.

 

I'm really interested to see what proposals or what is planned for Delivery missions, sounds risky, sounds dangerous...

 

I was interested in the exploration aspect the moment I first played the game, lets hope it will be pushed to the foreground in development.

 

Thanks.

[PL_Harpoon]

Yeah, exploration would be nice but to make it fun they'd have to improve sailing mechanics in OW a bit, like dynamic (and possibly dangerous) weather, manual sailing, more crew management etc. It may be boring without that IMHO.

[LeBoiteux]

Yeah, exploration would be nice but to make it fun they'd have to improve sailing mechanics in OW a bit, like dynamic (and possibly dangerous) weather, manual sailing, more crew management etc. It may be boring without that IMHO.

 

I do agree about the fun of exploration and the need of dangerous weather, crew management (that is currently developed)...

It would also be great to have an improved sailing experience in OW.

 

However, as land in instances is a feature in development, one can imagine Exploration gameplay on the same model as Combats : instanced.

That is you'd have to cross the OW map (as you currently do) to the spot to be explored and then enter an Exploration instance, that may remain open to AI/player enemies and allies, and where e. g. you'd have to explore a coastline at realtime speed and with manual sailing in order to find something. 

[Juttland]

To start out I would like to say that the game built by this company is absolutely amazing. I can tell how much work has gone into this and appreciate the fact that this company has put the time and effort into this that is so apparent. I would also like to say that these suggestions are strictly from my experience playing another game like this as well as what I have seen of this one so far. The suggestions I offer are strictly due to the fact that I don't want to see the same thing happen here. 

 

I think three things need to be looked at.

 

1. Some kind of tutorial missions if this is not currently in the works it might need to be added. Mainly to make it easy for new players to get into the game and stay into it. I realize this is still alpha and something like this may be in the works but currently the only way to learn how to play is by using a combo of YouTube the forum and just figuring it out on your own.

 

2. I High level frigates and ships of the line should be priced and stay priced in a way to keep people interested in pvp and port battles even if they lose them. I say this because I used to play Pirates of the burning sea which is now all but dead due to the sheer grind for new players to be able to participate in them was insane. This is not to say a 1st or 2nd rate should be cheep but certain 3rd rates, 4th rates  and decent frigates that are competitive enough for these activities in game should be at a price point where going out and losing a dura or a ship is not so costly that it is prohibitive. 

 

3. An increase of low level npc/ai ships around starting ports to help facilitate new player leveling this way new people don't get frustrated when they first start. Also slight increase overall in order to help captains raise funds so they can be involved in the pvp and Port battle which I hope to be the best parts of this game.

 

Later on perhaps a battle mode where players can go practice and not lose their dura or ships so they can practice against other players and factions and not have to pay for the experience.I would like to add I don't want this to become a care bear game where the only thing catered to are the new players who get mad that they can't win at the expense of those players who took the time to learn the game, merely to make it easy enough for new players to get into that it doesn't die out. I also realize as a company you have probably made certain decisions about implementation and how you want the economy to work. My suggestions are merely that suggestions in the hopes that what happened to a game I loved does not happen to one I am starting to like.

[AdmiralPounce]

I would like to propose a new poll on prioritizing server stability, performance & range in many differing regions around the world that are currently not available to Naval action such as: South America, Africa, Middle east, Japan, Korea, North Asia, South East Asia & Oceania.

 

Essentially once this game gets bigger in popularity and player numbers, the devs in naval action are going to have to start thinking about accommodating more stable servers that can handle high loads to prevent unstable packet loss & lag from happening. Ofcourse you can't fully stop lag from occuring. It is inevitable and will happen regardless of what measures the devs takes. Then there's also the consideration of providing the best of both worlds to all players playing Naval action across 1000 miles around the world. Currently the 2 regions accessible are NA & EU. This is acceptable in the current testing phase. But it will be quickly frowned upon once the game goes live. Because ship enthusiasts around the world want to experience a lagless gameplay with low latency. They don't want to waste their time having to deal with 200+ ms latencies playing in a region thats thousands of miles away from them. Most would'nt even bother. Having to play in a PvP oriented game with high latency is no fun. Thinking in a bigger picture this has a direct effect on what customers you can lure to buy your product which would influence the profits to be made by the buying customers . With limiting accessible regions to the 2 most popular and trendy areas today that is EU & NA, it doesn't bode well for naval actions bright future. Sure it's only at its early stage but that excuse is used way too often with these early access games.

 

I presented a thread in the suggestions section of this forums about this subject but it didn't gain much traction with little to no interest from the community or the naval action devs. Which is fine. At this stage other more important core aspects of the game should be prioritized first before thinking about upgrading the servers so it's more stable for the player's enjoyment. And unfortunately I only know too well how much resources and money it costs for publishers & dev companies to maintain multiple server locations around the world. Nothing comes without a price as they say.

 

One last concern I have about lag and high latency with Naval action is, since at the moment there are only 2 regions playable and there are no IP block restrictions in effect. Literally anyone around the world could play outside the specified region at a cost of having a high laggy latency. Which to most's opinion here wouldn't count for much in affecting the gameplay of ship battles, sailing, gun firing response times etc. And add to that there's a bit of lag experienced in the main menu as well - switching between tabs, moving items around, surfing the lists etc. It's roughly around 1.5-2 sec delay with my latency. When I started playing naval action I thought "wow what a beautiful world this game has to offer" and immediately I knew that sailing with these historic yet awesome ships was going to be tonnes of fun. Then came the realization of my latency, then the delayed response times started to take affect - delays in sailing response, guns firing, skill action responses (crew, gunnery, sails, repairs etc). And this right there ended the enjoyment for me. Nobody likes to play a laggy game. Although in Naval Action it is almost negligable yet still noticeable and I am willing to play 100s of hours to test everything but that ever persistent lag will just limit my fun factor for this game. I play from Oceania (aus) and for many years now most MMOs/online games that I choose to take part with are all conveniently accessible in NA as is the closest location in terms of latency from Aus. Sometimes I get lucky and find servers in West Coast in places like los angeles, san francisco, or even texas. Latencies around these areas are a little better but still present minor lag. Still a better experience than having to deal with East Coast NA latencies which I believe is the current location for Naval Action NA.

 

So to end it all: I just hope the devs in naval action consider the quality of their servers & how many regions will be accessible well before this game goes live. Deciding to do this afterwards is just a rookie mistake and will cost you alot of players & customers. I trust you guys will make the right decisions and I have faith this game will become successful as I envision it to be. I mean how many 18th century ship MMOs out there can you mention that has this amazing graphics at an alpha stage with this much content? I sure can't find any. Seems to be a niche genre. But I still love it.

Edited March 8, 2016 by AdmiralPounce