VonBarb

Hear hear !

Hire a bloody community manager to 'talk the talk' then, or deal with the consquences of your communication and advertisement being done through negative reviews (and those are really beginning to pile up) Your actions aren't exactly speaking for themselves either. Many have left, many of those who have stuck around are unhappy, and you can't spare anything better than google-translated one-liners ? You won't be able to count on the 'XX new captains a day' forever, half of them will have left after a couple of weeks anyway. Van Gogh died poor and alone you know...

With crumbling player numbers on PvP and no monetisation of the game in sight, wouldn't it be a sound business decision to prioritise making this game a viable offline/pve product to get better returns on sales ? Instead of endlessly tweaking mechanics to shut up Rat clans and the PB Elite who are leaving anyway, why not save what can be saved and turn this game into something that woks ? Most game devs nowadays seem to have forgotten, but not all games need to be MMOs. True story.

That's my point really. Either remove the AI friendlies plain and simple, or give us a way to tell them to bugger off. I didn't like AI fleets to begin with, for the same reasons I mentionned above - and because some people make a habit of using them all the time -but AI ships you can't even coordinate with are even worse. A 2nd Lt couldn't crew a Snow and a fleet at the same time anyway, so no risk of seeing an increase in crutch users.

Could we have control on these friendly AI ships that spawn in lowbie (up to 2nd Lt looks like) missions and that just do more harm than good right now ? The added firepower and distraction they provide ARE useful in some encounters, but not being able to give them orders often prevents players from capturing opponents in missions. (not to mention the collision hasard...) Capping ships is the quickest way to move out of the Basic Cutter without spending the gold you'll need for a decent 6th rate on marginally better Privateers and Pickles. It's also a great way to make some extra pocket money as you grind through the first few ranks. Those AI 'helpers', being AI with perfect aim, also often get the kill, reducing the income for starting players at a stage of the character progression where every bit of gold counts. So devs, how about making them behave like fleet ships, or at least give us the option to turn them away or order them to hold fire ?

Except in the case of a mission that never closes, the risk will outweigh the fun until it becomes a certainty. You may not get ganked during EACH mission (even though with a system like what's coming, I would bet on it being the case for at least the first couple of weeks) , but one out of three or four is enough to deter many players from keeping with this game, because having your instance invaded by 15 speed and boarding rigged renomees is not a challenge, and watching your ship get demasted and captured over and over again is no fun either. Not to mention the possibility of being attacked by a pack of 15 frigates, minutes off you national coast, in a game that claims to want to focus on realism just doesn't feel right.

It isn't about the ships. I won't stop playing if I lose one or even a few, but I might if that's all that ever happens when I play or if I can't even find the time to at least take some elementary precautions to avoid it. I don't find the idea of only being there to serve as fodder for the ganking squads particularly appealing or entertaining. Out of my 8 outposts, 1 is in the capital, 2 in home waters for crafting and defense purposes, the rest are spread out between the Gulf and the Antilles, and Haiti and Panama, and I can assure you in turn that those places are just as busy as the rest. Freetowns and other players also looking for quieter waters make sure of that. In my opinion options are getting more restricted : Sailing and hunting as a PvP group is becoming mandatory, at the expense of lone sailing becoming almost guaranteed death. I'd understand that in a combat flight simulator, not so much in an 18th century naval combat game...

I do accept it, and in many instances I am in fact looking for it. Well, a symetrical engagement preferably, but that is the exception unfortunately. What I am worried about here is that there will be groups just hunting for missions to invade to gank the player running them. It WILL get rid of the problem where players hide in missions to evade PvP, but at the same time it will completely destroy the ability to simply run a quick mission to relax for 30mn after a long day, which is all many of us have time for some days. I'm already finding it hard to do just that many evenings because when I account for the possibility of getting pulled into a large battle or ganked on the way to or from a hot zone, I simply don't have the time. Now if I KNOW for certain that I WILL run into serious trouble if I enter a mission instance, or that I will be helpless and on my own if jumped by a superior force, I might not play most nights. In fact I might stop playing at all. Playing in a group would help, because a group would deter smaller agressors, be able to fend off gankers more easily, or at least have a chance to have some fun while getting ripped to shreds, and all the usual benefits of fighting in groups, unfortunately that is inpractical for me, and I don't want a game that forces me to be in a clan just to be able to play it. THAT is what I meant by 'another patch to benefit the clans and take fun away from the little guys'. It essentially comes down to having not only to be in a group but also sail as one just to be able to not get mugged. Same goes for OW PvP, because with timers closing

Dead serious. Or perhaps I did misread some of those notes ? Missions staying open for the duration means the end of solo PvE, pure and simple. Why else would they create a noob zone ? With grinding gone, and the necessity to be sailing in large groups just not to get obliterated by marauding mobs, that doesn't leave much for the casual solo player to do in this game. This is no longer just about being 'successful', it is becoming about being able to enjoy the game at all.

Yet another patch benefiting only the no-lifing clans and taking (yet again...) fun away from the little guys. This is probably the end of solo sailing... Missions staying open, PvP engagements closing instantly, NPC fleets becoming truly useless... The gankers must be laughing so hard. Definitely not the kind of environment where a solo player will want to risk the 1 dura ship they spent so much of their limited time and resources on in roflstomp ganking style battles. Region-specific crafting bonuses, and no regional capital bonuses, because crafters are so going to go set up lvl3 shipyards and supply systems across the map in ports that can be taken anytime by anyone

I'm still forced to look at them when I'm doing battle with or against them. Wish we'd stick to historical paintschemes and skip the fantasy 'xoxo pirates' ones.

Can I just say those 'Rouge & Noir' and 'Brest Harbour' paintschemes are true eyesores and border on being fantasy paints, which I thought many people had spoken against ? The former wouldn't look out of place in a POTC movie, while the latter looks like 'lipstick on a corpse'. Really not impressed by those. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind the 'Sicily' livery replacing the defaults for Constitution and Essex...

Thank you for not showing the results of the initiaI battle, the one before the l'Ocean came out to play. I have to admit you Gentlemen are almost half decent... for Rats edit : you did show them you filthy rascals, but at least had the courtesy not to brag about it too much. Compliment half-withdrawn Awesome battle outside Morant yesterday, the first for me in much too long. Lost a Pavel dura but got to exact revenge on the captain who got the kill for it, and pay for my lost crew. Shame about Pugtm's Ocean, but we'll avenge him yet

She's got my vote as well ! We need more 4ths, and I'm growing a little tired of the Constitution owning the seas.

It's all in the title. Get rid of them. Making blueprints for long awaited ships available only through time-specific 'special events' is excluding a lot of people from ever being able to get them, let alone experiencing the events themselves. Get rid of them.

He does have a point though. Those are real issues for some of us.

Removing "send to outpost" would undermine the very existence of this game. Replace it by a system similar to deliveries, yes Force said system to use crew that will be unavailable during transfer time, why not Make it so ferrying a ship via deliveries will cost you a dura, 10% of the ship's price or tons of food, fair game Make it harder, longer, more expensive, yes, but forcing players to sit at the keyboard sailing long boring hours just to reach a distant port EVERYTIME they need a ship there is not a good idea IMO. That's all the high ranking players involved in strategic campaigns would ever do, until they get bored of it and decide to play something else. Bring the Action back into Naval Action !

That sounds awesome ! Will polling results be known in real time or will it be a final surprise each time ? You just know some people will abuse the voting system and use it to prevent alliances.

6pd chasers !! This one will be the fore-and-aft pendant to the Rattle. Can't wait !

She's a beaut, with or without the poopdeck cabin.With Golden sides she might even challenge the Belle Poule Hope this one makes it into the game !

256Mb, now THAT's a patch

I'm feeling for you, today was my day off, and that takes away a big chunk of playtime for me as well, but every time slot was going to hurt someone one way or another Really looking forward to this, and hoping l'Ocean will make it into this one

That's precisely why I'm all for an all or nothing policy. Right now we always see the same ships in PvP, and it's mostly those with chasers. Frigates are everywhere, while Belle Poules are almost only used for PvE. Rattlesnakes have taken over the shallow water engagements, with few Brigs to be seen. If not added as a permanent feature, I think chasers should be available as a temporary battle modification, on a setup timer as mentionned by someone, that would be affected by Officers or some Upgrades. As for wind strength on a several days forecast, while I like the concept, I don't like the idea of being restricted to certain ship types based on long-term forecast. It is fine when you have all day to watch the weather and switch between ships waiting for conditions to improve, but it could keep you from playing completely when all you have is a couple of hours daily or don't have a ship for that weather.

Sounding mostly good. I was very annoyed when ship capture was removed, and now that it's being brought back I'm not sure I like the idea anymore (typical whining gamer, I know). Won't that finish killing the crafted ships market that is already saturated for some ship types ? Speaking of, is there a plan for new ships releases ? 4th rate and up need more variety, lest this game become a 90s style "Connies vs Pavels" study sim

That would be an interesting idea. Having to purchase customisation options from the game shop is something I had hoped would not happen, but in this day and age it does make sense, especially if moey to support development becomes an issue.