Bubba Smith
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Posts posted by Bubba Smith
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16 minutes ago, Teutonic said:
no bitterness from my end, just someone really curious.
What do you players do on the PvE server? is it all just sailing, trading and missions?
I left a response here. Please have a look at it if you want.
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2 hours ago, Macjimm said:
Great news.
Proves that the Devs listen the input that players provide. The comments that were provided by the PvEers in other recent threads have kindled my interest in using my character on the PvE server. Seems like a welcoming community.
I usually play on the PvP servers and enjoy gameplay there. I seldom fight but enjoy trading. The risk of attack adds to the excitement. But it doesn't bother me knowing that others are using a different server.
- I don't really understand the full reasoning for hating a PvE server. Is it truly just the expenditure of development time that could be used for developing the PvP servers? Surely the critics can't dislike those players that want to have fun with a different style of gameplay in a separate location. I can't seem to understand how the actions on the PvE server affect the PvP server. Is it because the PvPers criticized the PvP players, when faced with the threat of having their server removed?
Surely players are not assuming that if the PvE server was closed that most of those players would have migrated to a PvP server. It seems highly improbable that closing the PvE server would have increased the population of PvP significantly.
Looking at the bigger picture this was a great decision.
- Shows that the Devs are responsive and care about the whole community.
- Encourages new players to try the game who may be attracted to the PvE charm.
- Allow new players a transition opportunity to get used to trading, crafting and game mechanics in safe environment.
Appears to be a big win. For the dedicated warriors that are seeking other players to battle with ... just pretend the PvEers don't exist. It will be a little easier if they are confined to a separate world rather than next door in the Gulf of Mexico.
Lt Macjim (Ret) CB
I couldn't agree more with you. I think the choices keeping PvE will pay big potential dividends down the road after, the dust falls from ship and asset wipe. I will continue to work on growing our clan under the new system as many of them already have expressed a strong desire to return to PvE when the server is fully running and when the new clan is set up. For today our clan is at 52 with many members active; I would even go so far as to say a high ratio of active vs inactive characters. After the resets I look forward to the new game on PvE and thank the staff/devs for hearing what your membership has asked. I see a bright future for this game!
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5 hours ago, admin said:
Regarding recent preliminary announcement.
Based on the community feedback and the analysis of player data and numbers.
PvE server will not be closed down.
We guarantee that it will exist for at least 18-24 months after official release. and will revisit this promise then.In addition to that we have not mentioned it before - but we are developing additional PVE content and new types of missions for PVE players.
AI will be worked on after release and will provide more challenge in the future.WOW, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I appreciate this so much. I'll pass this along to the clan.
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5 hours ago, Pad Seayew said:
I'm actually thinking of switching to the PvE area after the Wipening. I just don't have the time for PvP.
I love the game, it's just the most phenomenal time suck I've ever experienced.
We are restarting our clan hopefully under the same name of Flying Powder Monkeys on PvE great group of about 50-60 players, drop in and say hi.
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Back to square one at least with a few nice ships under our belts.
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On 3/16/2017 at 9:14 PM, Old_DAT said:
I know there may be players who have been around longer than me (May 2016) but I have just been informed of the pending new release that will wipe away my work of the last 10 months. I can live with that. What concerns me is that there is discussion that there will only be a PvP option after the release. Let me very clear and very blunt. If there is nolonger a PvE option then I am done with this beautiful game.
Let me explain why. I tried the PvP server and found that it was just teen-age insanity run amok. If I want that, I will continue to play World of Tanks and World of Warships. I come to this game to 'get away from it all'. I like being able to set a course on a long trading run and actually being able to 'leave the bridge' to get a shot of rum or kiss my pretty wife. I do not wish to worry that some kid is going to 'gank' (such a lovely term) my ship while I am not directly focused on it. In short, this game is my 'get away'. Take that away and I will have to use the uninstall button. A pity too since I now have level 50 craft and the rear admiral rank for the US. A lot of time and work and good friends to lose. But there it is. I can't wait to hear back from the developers on all of this.
Thanks for letting me vent.
v/R
What's your name on World of Warships, mine is the same. Hope to see you around WoWs sometime.
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The simple answer is to Try them out for future considerations the long answer is too long.......
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34 minutes ago, PaladinFX said:
Personally I'm in favour of the PVE server merge so that it brings our community together and gives a positive benefit for those on PVE who want to engage with the PVP community a way to be able to do that directly yet still retains pure PVE content for those that want that. Our player base is too small for us to be divided IMO.
PVE players will quickly find out that the long held view on PVE that all PVPers must be scumbags who just want to screw with the little guy all the time is far from the truth for most of us PVPers. That understanding in seeing the reality on alot of what happens on the PVP server might actually help bring our community together more. I would suggest most of us on PVP want a fun well-matched battle and blowing up some midshipman in his cutter with our much higher rated ship isnt that interesting to most of us, we'd much rather be in a more challenging battle!
There are many of us who started on PVE (me included, I ranked to Rear Admiral on PVE but have been PVP only for over a year now) to develop some skills and try out the game before migrating to the PVP server and there are probably some current PVE players doing the same right now. PVE is still a great way to get started in NA for those who have just purchased the game. The move from PVE player to PVP player will be a much easier and smooth transition if we are all on one server.
PVE players should have a dedicated PVE chat tab on the new merged server.
The map with the proposed zones for PVE that Admin have now posted shows that there will be a big area for PVE only although I personally would like the devs to find a workable solution for PVEers to have access to the whole map. A very difficult one I understand as you dont want all trading on the map to be PVE and hence no traders to attack in PVP.
With regards to the move to PVP-EU(with PB lockout times) + Global Server suggested by the devs:
Personally I am in agreement with Jeheil as he stated in this weeks Letter to the King Episode 52; I think the devs are overreacting to the recent "nigh flipping". This hasn't resulted in huge swathes of the map now being green in American hands and having an EU server with time in lockout when PB's cannot happen is overkill IMO. And lets face it the Danes or whoever can organise for their own "night flip" if they so choose!
Personally I think with player numbers as they are, it is time to do the long hinted at merge of PVP2 into PVP1-EU and have ONE Global Server ONLY. Bring the whole community together so that there are more active players online at the different prime times AND off times!
I tend to agree with you on a couple of points but from a completely different angle, I started on PvP and ranked up to Lt/Cmdr and then switched to PvE which I much prefer. I'm apprenhensive about this one server for both PvP and PvE but realize the economics just don't support a 3 server system. I think it is the
goodonly compromise and I appreciate the staffs efforts to keep both sides happy in a such wonderful sailing sim. There will be issues and both sides will have to roll with the punches. I can see concerns with PvErs getting surprised by attacked on their brand new St. Pavel wilst sailing it down to safer waters but there is a tow option after all. Another issue maybe one side building or buying ships and even resources from the PvE area and sailing them back to their own regions considering 3 of the total nations share the same flag. This will be interesting to see and as a L50 crafter I'm going to be watching this carefully and use direct sales instead of selling on the market if it becomes a problem. I think some of us in our clan will welcome the odd PvP battle in a challenge but most of our 52+ member clan aren't interested in PvP, I won't speak for them they will decide what's right for their game style. They may change their minds after all. I hope that sometime in the future when finances allow a seperate PvE server and map with AI Port battles and more ports to discover will return to NA. Until then captains, I wish you good winds and a star to guide your ship by. Regardless of which game-style fits you, PvP or PvE we are all Naval Action fans.-
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On 3/16/2017 at 5:01 PM, admin said:
Hello Captains.
This is a preliminary announcement - official statement will be provided later both on steam and here.
- PVE server will be closed down. All assets will be transferred to the redeemables on both PVP Global and PVP EU (new server names). Transferring players will be able to choose themselves and stay on the server of their liking. We understand that it is painful but with forthcoming wipe you are not losing anything.
Captains affected by this might ask: How can you PVE ignoring player vs player on the pvp server?
The answer is simple and elegant.
- PVE Zones will be added to the main servers.
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We deliberated very long about this as initially we wanted to have full loot pvp everywhere with no protection. But looking back it was not optimal. Some might say it was awesome, but in reality most hardcore games we know have pve zones, safe zones, high security space or some other form of buffer area. Such zone allows pve players to see the more alive world around them and try pvp from time to time maybe converting to pvp players.
- Players who will want to engage in PVE activities without any interaction with the outside world will have to choose one of 3 nations. Spain (Sisal spawn), France (French Louisiana spawn), Britain (around Mosquito coast). These three nations will have 2 spawns - main pvp and secondary pve.
- This will basically turn Gulf of mexico into large PvE zone.
- All free-towns inside the PVE zone will be removed to avoid safe transport of resources from inside the zone.
- Some resource locations will be re-balanced.
- The only way to fight in the PVE zones will be to attack smugglers - which will from the patch create outlaw battle (FFA) - the mechanic that you can test on the testbed.
Approximate map of PVE zones
Admin:
I'm going to give this new map a try... with an open mind. I have read some of your posts and I understand that PvE is a -money sink- so if you don't mind I would like to ask you a few questions;
1) Is this PvE zone temporary, permanent or, you don't know until after the full game release and will decide then?
2) So I assume any ships built in the PvE zone can be sailed,
attackedand potentially sold in PvP areas like KPR for example?3) Will PvE areas still have regional bonuses like British refit and strength designs, I hope so!? Looking at your PvE map those areas already have the regional bonuses under the present system.
4) Will resources within the PvE zones be balanced allowing building of ships and upgrades? Will we get our earned blue prints back?
5) Will there be any McDonald restaurants at locations near ports? wink wink.
Once I get direction, I will pass the info along to the clan. We do have players interested in returning under the new system to check it out.
Thanks again for your time.
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Lets do some simple math: make 3 servers into 2. PvP 1 and PvE 2. Given the numbers I see in other games (I can name them if you PM me), Naval Action should be able to support a 2 server system with present players online for both games sytles. Example one -
Game Name withheld for security reasons,Server 1 North Amercia- 3600+ online, Server 2 EU - 6800+ online, second gameGame name withheld for security reasons, Server 1 - 6100 approx, Server 2 - 11,000 approx . I'm not making this up, and they are all supported with little to no lag or server downtime whatsoever. I don't see an issue here just a little retuning and server re-adjustment. -
Listening is an important part of communication.
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I totally understand the value cost aspect of this game and also numbers on PvE have been comparatively low to PvP. I would like you to consider this: a good rule of thumb in business is create attractive product with options for those whom wish to consume your ideas; that is done by creating the widest variety of choices possible, build on those choices to bring the customers in the door - in this case you want them to try your product and stay. To keep those customers in the store give them product that they will buy into, both now and in the future. Closing a door drastically cuts profit and potential sales for your company. I suggest leave the door open to future customers by creating products of attraction in that specific market (PvE). Build attraction to that side of the market by using your present resources and implementing your good ideas. It may take awhile BUT your potential payoff, I honestly believe, will be worth it and will pay off big. Don't judge the market by today's numbers only think of your potential market months down the road when you start to implement new ideas into that server; I really believe you have a terrific product (the best I have seen in this category- really I mean that), your future business model needs consideration - very careful consideration and more pro-active marketing. If you find the costs over-run on PvE is too high I suggest a small fee to maintain it for now (we can discuss how this will work if you want), or mirror your resources management from your PvP staff. You have a really good foundation , don't limit your potential now please. I think you can move ahead with both PvP and PvE and market both more effectively. Numbers on PvE are up slightly, and yes I would like to see more but, build it and they will come. Have faith in your work so far and be confident in where it may go, it probably won't take long before you see better numbers given the new ship, crafting improvements and upgrade reset coming. Word of mouth can exponentially increase player numbers very fast.
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I and I speak for many players within our clan are not happy with the shut down of the PvE server. Most of us switched from PvP and didn't enjoy the more intense competitive environment it offered. I started on PvP and left for PvE; since then I have really enjoyed the ship exploration, big map, trade and missions PvE offered. We had so much fun within our clan taking on NPC fleet epics and joining together for ranked missions. We collaborated building ships and upgrades as a large group, many of those players have become friends. I will say this; I'm not going into the new PvE/PvP map closed minded but honestly very doubtful that the new map system will offer the same breadth of experience and enjoyment the full PvE map now has. Present ships are gone or at first glance changed and more build directed items (a good improvement), upgrades are gone (to bad but - meh), now the PvE maps will be section(s) of the large PvP map with PvE areas, I could be wrong about this but this can only be a huge step back and in many of our clan members opinions and a potential deal breaker. Considering we have had access to the entire Caribbean and soon a section (Quote: This will basically turn Gulf of Mexico into large PvE zone) in the future sounds restrictive for those of us whom appreciated access to a wonderful well designed and thought out full PvE-map. I do realize that the PvE server doesn't have the numbers and may not be economically viable anymore so my suggestion is join PvE to a PvP server but have the menu choices offer a NPC/Bot type PvE side similar to World of Warships (sorry about the competitor reference) with the same map PvE has now.
Or another thought is have a second box similar tot he Smuggler box allowing or disallowing attacks - both ways.
I am apprehensive about some of the changes I see described but will stay long enough to check it out; after that - no promises.
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13 hours ago, TaranisPrime said:
I have mentioned this before, but think it merits a separate thread and attention: I think that players should be allowed a fewer number of ships. The ability of having up to 45 ships is much too high (8 outposts x 5 slots + 5 fleet slots) - actually, there is a way to have even more ships (indeed: if you send ships to an outpost that is full, the ships just remained in an undelivered queue)...
The ability to craft/have many ships gets in the way of pvp activity as we then keep crafting/buying ships to cater to all eventualities - which gets in the way of pvp. Yes, we should have a number of ships (because we are allowed to have a number of outposts) - but this should be kept within reason (particularly now that we can tow ships around).
Suggestion:
- No limit of ships at the outpost level
- An aggregate limit on the total number of ships per player of 3 x # of outpost slots that player has.
- Allow clans to have clan docks, with say a capacity of up to 10 concurrent ships
Clan docks would be a great idea, our clan has asked me about it numerous times.
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10 hours ago, admin said:
Dear Captains.
It is an important announcement. As promised last Autumn - we are bringing significant changes to your vessels that will streamline and improve the experience removing a lot of pain points from ship fitting and crafting. It will also solve the problem of ships being less expensive than some upgrades.
Here is what will happen.
Ships
- Ships lose their quality levels - as it was deemed redundant
- All Ships become have 1 durabilty as it should have been from the start
- All captured/crafted ships are grey
- You accumulate experience level sailing that particular vessel
- By sailing that vessel you unlock better options for that vessel class. If you lose that vessel in battle you still have that experience and can use those unlocked better options in the future.
- Example - after a lot of months at sea in the surprise your surprise will surprise any fresh leda captain, if you lose that surprise you still know how to sail it well.
- You don't need to search or worry for rare upgrades anymore (if you have them)
Upgrades
- Upgrades/refits are no longer craftable.
- Upgrades/refits lose the quality level and no longer can be lost.
- Upgrades/refits finally have size requirements. (large pumps can only be installed on large ships)
- Upgrades/refits can be received in the admiralty and/or as loot items
- Upgrades/refits are basically turned into ship skills
- Example: If you have Spanish Silk Sail and a Naked angel figurehead - you won't ever lose them if you lost your ship
Crafting
- Regional bonuses turn into refit items/blueprints
- Shipyards will be brought back
- Example: You can buy bermuda refit in bermuda, bring it to shipyards in Port Royal and refit your ship there
These changes will make all existing ships obsolete and impossible to use due to database structure changes. As a result all ships and upgrades will be removed/deleted from the game
ETA - Estimated time - within 30 days but not less than 2 weeks from this announcement.
Changes will be rolled out to testbed firstAll current crafted or captured ships will be removed from the game
All Upgrades will be removed from the game
All Permanent upgrades will be removed from the gameShip blueprints will not change significantly so you can and are encouraged to stockpile resources and materials for ship crafting after the wipe.
Apologies for all the inconvenience caused.
I see allot of good improvements here. I do have a few questions, pardon me if it was answered somewhere within this catagory I haven't read it all.
If ships are down to 1 dura (good thing) will crafters/builder have access to the resources needed to make new ships? For example now on PvE silver is extremely hard to get cutting new builds back significantly. With ships back to 1 dura players will need access to resources and materials more often for more builds.
Will upgrades follow the Captain and thus can be applied to like vessels and what about unlike vessels? A Captain with lots time on a Bellona with experience will he have access to the upgrades and retro fits on a different Bellona for example?
What about blue prints we own now. Will those transfer to the new mechanics?
I really like the changes here >
- Regional bonuses turn into refit items/blueprints.
- Shipyards will be brought back.
- Example: You can buy bermuda refit in bermuda, bring it to shipyards in Port Royal and refit your ship there.
Can we stack regional improvements? How many max/min. Just wondering. What about crafting powder monkeys for example how will that work?
Finally what about the wonderful Bps from the L'Ocean, Agememnon, St Cecil, H Rattler, etc. Will those be available in the blue print tree or remain specials?
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On 10/31/2016 at 9:50 AM, admin said:
Hello Captains
Steam reviews system gives players the opportunity to express their good feelings or frustration towards the games they played. Based on steam review policies if the review provides wrong information and misleads other users the developer can and should respond.
This is a reply to the following steam review
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197991377081/recommended/311310/
Having found enough early access content for 760+ hours the reviewer decided to focus his review on developers instead of the game. In his review he posted multiple claims that are not true. We would like to address those statements in the reply.
Statement 1: “constructive criticism is not welcome”.
Just a quick glance on game labs private forums and on steam forums shows that this statement is not true.
Game-labs constantly engage users in conversation and our developers are extremely active on the forums. We collect criticism and welcome it.
Here are some examples
Annoyances collection: http://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/1/458607699622162261/
Criticism collection: http://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/1/348292787748103360/
A lot of other similar topics exist both on steam and game-labs forums.
Multiple feedback collections topics are active and are constantly reviewed by developers. Just check any of the sections on our forums. We actively seek opinions on every game feature and try to improve them based on user feedback. The forums are full of critics and critical comments are the foundation of our open development methods.
Even more – we often ask our users to help us prioritize the work and help us focus the most important features for them.
Voting on the priorities: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/12471-development-priorities-2
Voting on ships we should make for players: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8340-player-ship-selection-1st-half-2016-final-poll
The statement of blocking criticism is simply untrue.
Statement 2. Exclusive special ships for moderators and testers
The author claimed that there are some mystical premium ships planned for testers and moderators.
This is not true.
There are no special ships for moderators. Everyone who plays the early access edition is a tester. Every tester (every player who bought the game in the early access game) will receive the reward for helping us find and fix bugs and fine tune content.
The reviewer himself (his name is Captain Seven) is dishonest with review readers about availability of exclusive rare ships. For example he complained several times on forums that he hates the fact that he cannot get the unique ship (pre-order yacht) and it makes the game bad for him.
http://forum.game-la...e-3#entry285462
But based on his ship transactions he actually acquired the pre-order yacht from Captain Atreides this summer for in game currency.
Yet he claims in public that exclusive ships cannot be acquired by in game means.
Statement 3: False steam reviews and developer bribery
Author twists our words and takes them out of context.
We never said we give rewards for the reviews. Like all artists we just asked to rate our game and we did not specify if we want reviews to be positive or negative. It is your Steam user right to leave a negative review if you don't like the game. We just said that positive reviews will make us work even harder, because it is how motivation works.
Statement 4: Bans for trolling new players in help chat.
Author of the review also spoke about our chat bans warnings for players speculating about something on forums.
This is an incorrect statement.
He forgot to mention in his review that those warnings were only targeting veteran players who decided to troll new players in help chat in game (a special chat channel for help questions for new players). For example telling a rookie captain that clicking a certain button will make their ship safe from another player attack.
Imagine buying the age of sail game, joining the help chat to ask a question, and then losing a hard earned ship with cargo because an experienced veteran decided that it is funny to lie to a new player in the help chat.
He completely omitted this information and twisted the facts presenting it in a completely different way. Age of sail was a time of honorable behavior. We would like our help chat to be really helpful and we feel the need to protect the new player at least in help chat.
Statement 5: On the removal of the feature based on comments
In all his statements the reviewer uses private individual comments made on private forums. Game-labs as a company is very neutral on official steam community hub. On private forums our employees are active in conversations and can say things that could differ from the official company position. Developers play the game and are players just like you. You should not always take their comments as the company's official position. For example the passionate private comment on the removal of trading XP from priorities eventually became not true, because trading XP was added to one of the recent patches in form of delivery missions.
Speech control, double standards and deletion of positive comments on his review.
Many steam users tried to comment on some of the misrepresentations in the review, the reviewer deleted their comments. That is why you only see comments that praise his review and don't see comments that say he could be wrong. Steam is a street – its harsh, but fair. If statements he posted were true, such developer should not have the right to be on Steam and the game would not have a positive rating.
Hope this helps.
Good luck at seas Captains.
To the community: we will not take action on that review and will let community decide on what to do with it. You can be our guides as you always did before.
I saw his post awhile ago and merely thought it was spam slamming. I think most of his statements are NOT accurate and for some reason he has developed his posts and turned misguided linked info into a crusade so; please disregard the negative part of it and draw from positive support from those whom are still happy with the game. I for one can see a good future. Wwith what I see, having toyed with the test bed a very small bit, I can see you will soon have a worth-while finish product which will be the best period sailing game around. To be honest I haven't found better yet... I think the sailing dynamics, port management and many other aspects are trend setting, just keep up the momentum and the player base will increase. Don't get hung up on crap like this but rather look to those whom appreciate your efforts.
Buba
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On 1/19/2017 at 2:26 AM, admin said:
Officers
- Officers will be removed and will perks will moved to the Captain him/herself. Officers might return in the future in a more traditional role and implementation.
- We are also considering a reset/retire option for veterans who will be able to retire, and start a-fresh continuing a dynasty.
I like the idea of moving perks to Captain abilities; what about in port building/construction. I hope a second logistic officer or manager will be able to help with crafting such as the foreman (increase labour hour production) and other crafting perks.
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Great idea, nicely done.
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3 minutes ago, Anne Wildcat said:
I checked a few minutes ago, steam store would not load. So it's probably not completely back.
Ok, thanks. Steam is working with my other games?
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Steam is online now but the connection to NA is still not working; authentication issue?
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Nice looking ship, 35 guns wow.
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And a Agamemnon blue print.
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6 hours ago, Powderhorn said:
Nope! This is something a fellow historian wrote. For my own writing, you would want to look at the link below, which I wrote for funsies.
Sure I like history, thanks for the information. I have concentrated most of my time on Canadian history though. I have read a few books, journals and accounts of explorations and travels in northern Canada regions circa 1700-1890. However the US civil war has always peaked my interest too.
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Wow, very interesting. I suppose this is a research paper you did for class? Just a guess. Anyway nicely written, footnoted and researched.
These stories give testimony to the brave that passed before us and inspiration to those whom wish to serve.
PVE server announcement - final decision
in News Announcements & Important discussions
Posted
If I want to play PvP - World of Warships is where I'll go. The PvE game is best here.