Pierre de la Rocha

Perhaps this could be corrected with something similar to a battle rating for combat. I.e. if you are in a cutter, and have a battle rating of 30, you can only attack ships in groups of BR 60 or less. Basically you could tag 2 ships for every 1. That is still a 2 to 1 advantage. On the other hand, the nation that is receiving the griefing could include low level players by having them counter-grief. That could even be included as a form of low level PvP or a PvP intro where you receive a low level fast ship, at say Junior Lieutenant, and participate outside the port battle by having a bunch of small scale skirmish battles. One cool take on this would just to be to make it historically accurate. Two fleets would meet in the OW and form up, then sail into the designated PvP zone around a certain port. Once inside the zone the two opposing fleets would vie for wind/tactical advantage, and then engage in an instanced PvP battle. So a port battle would begin by both fleets having a designated spawn point they would teleport to, and then sail into the OW together for the PB. Only a grouped fleet of equal size would be able to engage them due to BR rating and real world time saving. Once that instanced battle was decided the two fleets, or what was left, would scramble out of the area possibly under a truce timer of some form. Of course Pirates would sit there wait for the battle to end to gank any survivors, but historically the two fleets would reach some sort of surrender/prisoner exchange. The BR for fleets may be easier, but this could be a fun grief free concept also.

I wrote this entire post to try to bring some of the ideas over from another similar game that faced similar issues. Granted PotBS had many flaws, mainly issues between the 5 separate classes, 3 for Nations, 2 for Pirates, that made the game constantly change and turn into a nerf war. I want to see a game that has a good player base and can attract a lot of new players (the game is new and still in alpha). I know a lot of the opinion just seems to be either take it or leave it, but I think some subtle changes can greatly help the game. I love PvP, I want to see PvP as the real "end game" because I feel like PvP has the most room for improvement/teamwork/tactics/practice ect. I brought up ganking because I noticed quite a few high level players sailing around the Bahamas in Privateers ganking low level players. I for one don't care if I get ganked in a pickle or cutter or whatever. I know those are not end game ships and losing them is irrelevant. But players that are not familiar with this style of game will see it as being too hard or having far too sharp of a learning curve. I was by no means a noob to this type of game. Once I saw high level pirates in privateers sailing around the Bahamas I knew to get my ass out of dodge. But I don't only want this game geared toward people who have years of experience playing ship based MMO's because I know those players are few. I want to see this game have a smoother learning curve so that new players to the game can avoid being taken advantage of until they are a high enough level to know what is going on. I watched Pirates of the Burning Sea go down the drain and was sad to see it go. I loved the PvP in that game. The 6v6 PvP battles over there were some of the most fun I have ever had in a game. But if high level players cannot find meaningful PvP battles to engage in then they will default to the only things they can do. That is why I think adding corrective suggestions from what we learn in game is key. I could see this game being very fun. If the UI was better, it cost $20 instead of $40, and it had a good tutorial built into the game. I think the ship versus ship combat is great. I also think going to 3-4 nations would be a good idea. While I enjoy having small nations in the game, it just requires such a high level of coordination for a small nation to compete with larger ones. Also having any kind of Pirate class, or national class perks, will inadvertently break the game in the long run. That ends up in an endless spiral of whining about class advantage. And the screening system for port battles seems to be pretty bad right now. A cutter can tag 5 ships to stop them from entering a port battle which just seems silly. Hopefully we can find more ways to make this game realistic and fun. I love a challenging game with a high learning curve. But I also want to see the game be fairly welcoming to new players that are getting used to the game.

PotBS was a really fun game, but my character is gone and I can't see myself going back (lost my wenden 3rd rate). But I can see the potential that Naval Action has for core players. No one wants to grind PvE for hours and hours. Good PvP needs to be the core of the end game. Having no classes and equal access to ship upgrades and ships will make the game focus on practice and tactics. I dont want to see NA follow PotBS by allowing classes with huge perks, items that grant OP status, and gank squads slaughtering low level players. The game must focus on high level players in PvP. PvE needs to be good too, but more emphasis on PvP is vital. One of the best things about PotBS was getting a good squad together (NO's) and practicing ship tactics (turns, blocking, concentrated fire, and wind management), that made the game fun and rewarding in PvP. The bad side were changes to classes and the implementation of the "resistance" system for armor. Everyone needs the same "class" of character with very small combat differences. They also need access to the same items for ship upgrades. Battles should be about teamwork, communication, and proper tactics. Not over powered items or skills. And a ganking penalty has to be implemented. As a former PotBS player I can tell you one thing: PotBS players are the best testers because that game had the most exploitation, hacks, ganks, flaw finding... PotBS players can exploit or find the flaw in any system. The key is to manage those things. Don't make Naval Action about getting all the "super" items or impossibly hard ships to get. The reward is in great teamwork and 1v1 PvP skill. Leave PvE for the "carebears", but make the PvP as good as it can be.

I am new to Naval Action, but I have already noticed the prevalence of gank squads. I played Pirates of the Burning Sea and ganking basically killed that game. Ganking kills low level players and encourages them to quit. The emphasis must be on implementing good battle tactics and strategy, not sheer numbers. Members from small nations will quit the game. There must be some way or some system to mitigate gank squads. Perhaps penalize ganking, make the rewards low. Or limit ganks to a force multiplier of say 150% of the person being ganked (3v1). Or ganking couple be limited to 1 gank per 24 hours. Perhaps a system could be put in place where the person being ganked could choose how many ships can enter the battle against them, or give ganked players massive AI fleets if numbers exceed 2v1. The purpose is not to prevent ganking, but to mitigate it because it is a sheer game killing mechanic. I loved ganking in pirates of the burning sea, don't get me wrong, but something has to be done to make it more fair for small nations and low level players. Giving players that were getting ganked the option to include AI ships would make battles more fair and more fun. I dont want to see this game fail, but I see some of the same issues in this game that existed in pirates of the burning sea. Remember that players will always take advantage of a system as much as possible, that is why I want to help create a game that can be more fun for more people. Maybe if players that get ganked, and choose an AI fleet to protect them, will receive a tax penalty or limit on the number of times they can use an AI fleet within 24hrs. I am am sure there are better ideas out there than mine, but I only write this because I see this following the same path as PotBS. Hopefully some good system can be put in place to make this game playable for new players, small nations, and low level players. Cheers! (P.S. I have never been ganked in this game, I just see the chat rage and forum posts about it)