Njord

That would be true, if total wipe was the current plan and we wanted to change admin's mind but as he confirmed several times, it is not. I can't quite follow here... the grind doesn't change ( at least I did not notice any dev comment suggesting that ) so how exactly does it help new players, if all who have been through it, would have to suffer it again? Also as mentioned countless times by me aswell as admin, there will always be new players, so we would always need repeating book and ship xp wipes. It just doesn't make sense. The contrary is actually the case, at least for books. The less people have them unlocked the lower the chance of new players being able to buy or get gifted the books from other players. The 24/7 power gamers would have all their books back within a month pushing any new players and casuals out of the market for the good books.

This would allow you to put a bounty ( maybe up to 10 at a time ) of your choosing on a target similar to a shop contract. To avoid abuse the target would not be the player but the ship, with two options available: "capture and return" or "destroy". The target ships' captain would be notified and some marker put next to his name. If someone took your ship you could then put a bounty on the ship he stole to be returned to you or a bounty to destroy his ship or even both. If there are multiple "capture and return" bounties on a ship, the bounty hunter can choose, which one he wants to fulfill ( highest bid, closest delivery port or even favour to a friend may play a role). If you put a "destroy" bounty on a ship, obviously the owner could simply have a mate or alt sink it for the bounty, so the value of the bounty should be considered. If someone gets sunk by a shop ship and feels the need to put whatever bounty on it, it is his choice. Renown PvP players are most likely sailing somewhat valuable ships and would be worth hunting with a valuable enough bounty. If they choose to sail shop ships instead they will most likely not accumulate big bounties and be easier to take down. Why did I suggest this as possible DLC? This could very well be a base game feature but it would also be an opportunity for a non pay2win DLC, rather than more DLC ships or other purchasable advantages that mess with balance. I think one way or another we really need bounties or a reputation system, better yet both. This is just one way it could be done.

I had my fair share of NA and could not be bothered to do exactly the same grind a second time, especially with so much PvE and RNG included, for no good reason at all. There may be people with too much time on their hands, who wouldn't mind grinding it all again ( even tho I strongly suspect some simply not being invested in books and slot xp as much and thus trying to push for complete wipe in some zero-sum thinking mindset... easy to cry for total wipe when you don't have much progress to lose ) but my time is fairly limited and instead of chasing bots to unlock books and slots I'd like to play NA for PvP and PvP alone. Even if I was unemployed or retired and had all this time on my hands, I wouldn't go through the same grind twice unless it was 100% PvP ( and thereby not really a grind but enjoyable ), because there is no good reason as to why I should have to. I completely understand the full asset wipe to reset the economy and remove the exploit and bug currency / ships, because it is EA and there is a good reason. It was broken - now it is fixed and the fallout has to be removed. Understandable. Not the case with ship xp and books however.

I think what's more important is, that there is no valid and good reason to wipe learned books, they are progress similar to rank and ship knowledge xp. They did not change significantly and neither did the means of acquiring them. If they removed them completely and made them a PvP specific feature ( on war server at least ) unlocked with ship knowledge and no more RNG, then this would make sense maybe... However if they stay as a RNG and PvE drop, there is no reason to wipe them, in my opinion.

That's not what admin said, however. There were no major exploits and it was not possible to gain knowledge books by using bugs = thus knowledge books can be kept. This is what his comment actually suggests.

I think admin was considering removing guns on basic cutter so it will only be able to do transport missions. I know it is not the main problem with this topic but it would certainly be an improvement.

"New Players" are the main scapegoat when it comes to this topic and as admin pointed out already, there will always be new players and thus by this logic we would always need new wipes. I don't know what it is that excites many about total wipe ( some of them surely simply did not make any effort to collect ship knowlegde or books and feel that this laziness should be rewarded after the release ) but many probably enjoy the idea of starting completely fresh and I do agree in that it is enjoyable for a month or so maximum but then we are back to the same old. So in this regard I agree with the OP. Simply withhold all saved progress for a while after release, so we get this fresh start and "everyone starts over" feeling that many want but make it available in redeemables after that period, so people can choose whether or not they want it back. Seems like the best compromise. Personally I think its a mere charade. The DLC's ( that I am a supporter of ) create more imbalance between new players without them and any other players owning them, than xp, ship knowledge or books. New players will mainly profit from veterans having time to tend to them and help them, instead of having to repeat the grind they have already been through. Does anyone think a new player in gold ship with all top knowledge books and 10 slots will have a more realistic chance against Ram Dinark, Captain Reverse or Banished even if they fight with 0 books and 0 xp against the new guy ? Don't be ridiculous, guys.

Ship slots and learned books is my concern aswell, I don't care if I won't have them for 14 days after the release or 3 months but I see no point in wiping them completely. There is nothing interesting in acquiring those to me, it is nothing but a tedious grind and waste of time to me and I don't see myself repeating it, nor any reason why I should ( as admin stated, there will always be differences in player skill and progression and thus the total wipe would serve no real purpose other than forcing those who progressed to grind again and delay the unavoidable imbalance ). Everyone who wants their character to be completely wiped is free to delete and recreate it, otherwise I agree with the OP in that all progress that was confirmed to not be subject to the wipe should be available in redeemables 15-30 days after the release ( or maybe later, I would even take a few months worth of a break ) but not wiped.

I don't know to be honest... epic events are barely about skill, they are fairly easy, if you are properly organized. High risk is only for teams that are poorly organized or don't communicate properly. In my opinion PvP events should give the highest rewards.

If we had the dev resources, giant squids attacking basic cutters only on 1st of April would be good.

Do PvP kills count towards this aswell?

I don't even know what your point is exactly... how does it matter whether or not you have to open the knowledge slots with xp?

I am not confusing it at all... it is part of the problem that LGVR not only does not have 5 knowledge slots but on top of that on average less permanent slots, they are not completely different in their bonuses after all. Speed can be gained from permanent aswell as from knowledge books for example. Redeem 10 LGVR and they will most likely all be 3/3 and if you are lucky some trim. Build 10 Frigates in a capturable port and you have pretty good chances to get something like 4/5/Fast. That is 9 slots total + trim compared to 6 + maybe a trim.

This is good and all and it makes sense but where are the mechanics to nerf zerging on the other hand? I remember not so long ago someone talking about no limitations in a sandbox game etc. when I suggested higher rewards for underdog nations... If you want small nations to actually fight zergs, then you better give them a good reason to do so. This is a game after all and I don't think people are willing to play RvR only to feed and entertain zerglings. We saw it with swedes before... the only thing that could stop their tryhard crusade rolling over all other nations was to simply not give them fights so they could moan about empty PBs, blaming people for not feeding them and losing interest.

Yes, the bonus of capturable port crafting is the higher chance. There are gold DLC and admiralty ships of course but the chances are so ridiculously low, that they are basically irreplaceable, while with the bonus chance you can fairly easily get purple and even gold ships consistently, if you are building enough.

It is fairly obvious, when you craft and redeem high quantities of ships but I think admin also confirmed it a while back but I don't feel like digging it up.

I asked several times for all traders to get 5 knowledge... didn't get any answer other than "LGVR is fineeeee....". I would love to play LGVR as a raider but I really can't be bothered when other frigates get stern chasers, more broadside weight and 5 slots. The slot issue is even bigger, if you consider that the admiralty redeem ships do not get the capturable port craft bonus, meaning usually you will end up sailing a 3/3 LGVR when you could be sailing or will likely be facing a 4/5/trim frigate. The ability to enter enemy ports is nice but with half the hold capacity of the regular LGV and so many "available to all" ports, it is more of a gimmick really.

I think it is more about this particular player in general to be honest. He is the most toxic player I have seen in NA so far.

Why they haven't banned him already is completely beyond me. I know he streams NA and it is advertisement ... but not exactly positive. I wouldn't watch this anger issue stricken mongoloid, if you paid me for it and honestly witnessing a player like that is more of a turn off than a buying incentive.

I like the "shore party" idea, as long as they add some visuals to it ( dudes rowing to shore in boats and maybe even have ships be able to fire upon and sink them? ... even a bunch of soldiers charging the tower / fort would be enough ). If they add permanent destruction of forts and towers and a building cost for them, "boarding" or capturing enemy fortifications to avoid the rebuilding cost would make a lot more sense. We even have models for destroyed forts and towers in game already. This could be yet another real/doubloon sink, add more realism and be easy to implement. @admin Please consider making towers and forts cost something to build ( after every destruction ) but make it optional - so clans can choose where they want / need forts and towers but have to pay for it. Maybe even add the possibility to build more than 2 forts at big / important ports. Ports should have higher maintenance cost with more fortifications or less without ( whatever you deem more balanced ).

It certainly would be grand.

Larger map definitely but no slower ships please... especially with a even larger map we will need the current speed and for obvious reasons we won't have 100% realistic speed anyways.

I like this idea but I assume the historical starter nations can not participate in RvR and have some uncapturable ports? Having only "easy" nations with uncapturable ports and safezones makes a lot more sense as trade-off for not being able to take part in RvR. But I would make only 3 PvE starter nations not 4-5 or they take up too much space on the map ( unless we get a bigger map ). Non RvR starter nations with safe ports / zones should be GB, Spain and France.