XP for travel

[Tryaz]

At the moment , travel time is dead time. I propose that you should gain experience for travelling across the map. However, you should not get experience for sailing through the same areas over and over.

If the map were discreetly divided into grid squares, then you could gain experience for travelling through a new grid square but not for one you've already visited (this could be reset perhaps once a week). This means that if you're just running missions in an area (e.g. Jamaica) you're not gaining much travel xp. I think we need to reward players for striking out and exploring new seas. It also seems unfair that traders, who sail vast distances to source goods, are not rewarded with xp for their time.

[Joe Spivey]

I believe that exploring, and presumably associated XP, is on the cards. My concern is the lack of any XP for trading.

[admin]

At the moment , travel time is dead time. I propose that you should gain experience for travelling across the map. However, you should not get experience for sailing through the same areas over and over.

If the map were discreetly divided into grid squares, then you could gain experience for travelling through a new grid square but not for one you've already visited (this could be reset perhaps once a week). This means that if you're just running missions in an area (e.g. Jamaica) you're not gaining much travel xp. I think we need to reward players for striking out and exploring new seas. It also seems unfair that traders, who sail vast distances to source goods, are not rewarded with xp for their time.

 

XP for travel will promote botting. 

There are basically two routes in this matter

 

1) we provide comfortable and exciting motivations by giving xp for various activities for everyone - making the game better for a normal user - but this will allow bots or xp farmers/exploiters to gain advantage 

2) or we limit the botting potential also affecting a normal player.

 

If everyone agrees to ignore farmers/exploiters then we can go wild with many exciting features for a normal player. But experience shown that for some reason average player does not ignore farmers and fills the tribunal with cases of someone getting more XP or better ships faster. 

[Joe Spivey]

XP for travel will promote botting. 

There are basically two routes in this matter

 

1) we provide comfortable and exciting motivations by giving xp for various activities for everyone - making the game better for a normal user - but this will allow bots or xp farmers/exploiters to gain advantage 

2) or we limit the botting potential also affecting a normal player.

 

If everyone agrees to ignore farmers/exploiters then we can go wild with many exciting features for a normal player. But experience shown that for some reason average player does not ignore farmers and fills the tribunal with cases of someone getting more XP or better ships faster. 

What about XP for trading? Or am I missing a thread somewhere?

[Tryaz]

I think it would be easier to implement if you just gain some XP by just discovering new ports

Sounds easier. Less immersive and also makes less sense to me. Surely it's the voyage that you'd learn from, not rocking up to a new port.

 

XP for travel will promote botting. 

There are basically two routes in this matter

 

1) we provide comfortable and exciting motivations by giving xp for various activities for everyone - making the game better for a normal user - but this will allow bots or xp farmers/exploiters to gain advantage 

2) or we limit the botting potential also affecting a normal player.

 

If everyone agrees to ignore farmers/exploiters then we can go wild with many exciting features for a normal player. But experience shown that for some reason average player does not ignore farmers and fills the tribunal with cases of someone getting more XP or better ships faster. 

I see where you're coming from and that's quite a hurdle to overcome.

 

I've played 150+ hours so far on NA and the problem I have with the current xp system is that it encourages players to stay in one place. If my goal is to advance in rank then my best bet is to pick two or three close ports and pull missions from only those. As all ports give the same missions and rewards I'm discouraged from going further afield. It also seems unfair that if I want to explore, trade or do OW pvp I have to surrender progression almost entirely.

What if successive missions from the same ports had declining rewards? That would at least encourage players to move around. Perhaps the first mission each month from a new port could have a MUCH higher reward.

[LeBoiteux]

There shouldn't be XP for AFK sailing. 

 

XP should be given to a captain when he gains experience through an activity that requires skills (sinking an enemy...).

 

I'm all for Exploration XP (if Explo is implemented) but Exploring is discovering something, finding something... not just AFK sailing in the OW (that's tourism as there's no skill needed atm).

 

Exploration must be a skill-based activity or at least give XP only when the aim of the mission is achieved (as the current "search and destroy" missions work).

[Tryaz]

There shouldn't be XP for AFK sailing. 

 

XP should be given to a captain when he gains experience through an activity that requires skills (sinking an enemy...).

 

I'm all for Exploration XP (if Explo is implemented) but Exploring is discovering something, finding something... not just AFK sailing in the OW (that's tourism as there's no skill needed atm).

 

Exploration must be a skill-based activity or at least give XP only when the aim of the mission is achieved (as the current "search and destroy" missions work).

I agree with you mostly: except I don't think that sinking an AI enemy in a mission takes skill. I'd also like to see OW sailing made less afk and have made several suggestions along those lines -

Make OW wind more interesting!

Ship’s Log & other OW Navigational Tools

What do you think to this suggestion of mine as a way to reward players who branch out from their regional capital?

 (see below)

What if successive missions from the same ports had declining rewards? That would at least encourage players to move around. Perhaps the first mission each month from a new port could have a MUCH higher reward.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Tryaz

[LeBoiteux]

I agree with you mostly: except I don't think that sinking an AI enemy in a mission takes skill. 

​I wasn't talking specifically about AI missions, but about naval combat in general (PvP, PvE). However, sinking a bot takes more skill than AFK sailing

I'd also like to see OW sailing made less afk and have made several suggestions along those lines -

Make OW wind more interesting!

Ship’s Log & other OW Navigational Tools

 Maybe someday... 

What do you think to this suggestion of mine as a way to reward players who branch out from their regional capital?

 (see below)

I'd rather have the choice in ports between long-distance missions and short distance ones. The former would give more XP/gold.

Think of the casual gamers...

[Lyric]

I would suggest discovering a new port gives xp rather than simply sailing. You wouldn't even have to not you could simple dead reckon and go watch TV for a while

[Mirones]

I agree with you mostly: except I don't think that sinking an AI enemy in a mission takes skill. I'd also like to see OW sailing made less afk and have made several suggestions along those lines -

Make OW wind more interesting!

Ship’s Log & other OW Navigational Tools

What do you think to this suggestion of mine as a way to reward players who branch out from their regional capital?

 (see below)

if people would start beeing smarter than AI then i would agree with you.

[LeBoiteux]

I would suggest discovering a new port gives xp rather than simply sailing. You wouldn't even have to not you could simple dead reckon and go watch TV for a while

Problem is there's no "new port" to discover. All are recorded on the in-game map (and on players' maps).

Sail AFK during x minutes northeasterly and you will hit that given port or a very nearby spot.

In the latter case, search along the coastline during 10 minutes and you'll find the port. 

No skill, no discovery, no achievement.

Moreover, the experience can hardly be repeated.

[JJWolf]

XP for travel will promote botting. 

There are basically two routes in this matter

 

1) we provide comfortable and exciting motivations by giving xp for various activities for everyone - making the game better for a normal user - but this will allow bots or xp farmers/exploiters to gain advantage 

2) or we limit the botting potential also affecting a normal player.

 

If everyone agrees to ignore farmers/exploiters then we can go wild with many exciting features for a normal player. But experience shown that for some reason average player does not ignore farmers and fills the tribunal with cases of someone getting more XP or better ships faster. 

 

I could write a script to 'auto-craft' ships by simply using AutoIT v3 that is installed on my PC if I really felt motivated to make something slightly less painful that is relatively slow paced and repetitive, I don't see how botting is an issue in a game like this, there is simply no real advantage aside from me having a bit more time to make coffee and scratch an itch. A simple fix to limit this bot/farming problem - XP is awarded for going between ports, the further apart they are, the more XP is awarded. This will give at least a basic start to rewarding explorers AND traders in one fell swoop...

 

EDIT: Added extra wording

Edited February 12, 2016 by JJWolf

[nescria]

XP for travel will promote botting. 

There are basically two routes in this matter

 

1) we provide comfortable and exciting motivations by giving xp for various activities for everyone - making the game better for a normal user - but this will allow bots or xp farmers/exploiters to gain advantage 

2) or we limit the botting potential also affecting a normal player.

 

If everyone agrees to ignore farmers/exploiters then we can go wild with many exciting features for a normal player. But experience shown that for some reason average player does not ignore farmers and fills the tribunal with cases of someone getting more XP or better ships faster. 

Ok so that makes a lot of sense but i think i have a great idea for this, now mr/ms admin have you guys consiered perhaps creating a system that changes the base reward of a mission via distance required to travel to it. 

IE i have a mission far south 2 towns over and instead of rewarding the base 180xp it rewards 200 xp for the travel time. and then from there the missions can display a distance before you take them. then if you guys expand on missions for trading aka transport (as in delivering a certain good to a port that is in demand) you can have that apply to it as well.