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Pirate Mechanics suggestions collection thread


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So you want to make Pirate a valid choice or a bad piece of dirt in the corner ?

 

Can I suggest that National captains be also ruled by the Navy Board and may lose their commission if they do not follow the rules of engagement established ?

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All the talk of changing pirates is great and i cant wait exept a few things. With the ease and abundance of quest or missions against the ai and the instant teleports now the game has basically become, make a toon join a group grind in fleet missions till top level get your 1st or 2nd rate and then teleport to port battles all day and night.

So what will pirates be doing ? As a player who only has ever played as a true raiding pirate there is really not much left in OW to do and on the rare chance you find something then after battle every player on has teleported around you and just teleports ahead of you anywhere you run to.

Why even have pirates after all is said and done ? If you wanted to be realistic take away teleports and limite the number of first and 2nd rates allowed in national factions as well as the limites everyone wants on pirates. At least this way ever port battle isnt all the biggesr sols amd the OW isnt full of 1 2 3rd rates teleporting to any word of pirates.

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Pirates do not have ports, they operate out of free towns only, with their home base being La Tortue.

As they do not have ports, they cannot capture ports.

 

And be camped to extinction from day one ? C'mon, we can think better than that :) ... way way better.

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Pirates do not have ports, they operate out of free towns only, with their home base being La Tortue.

No, let them operate out of free towns and out of pirate outposts which they can build at any coast, and which are not seen on the map and which national players can destroy by attacking them. They should not be able to capture ports, but they can build an outpost near them, so they can make surprise attacks on nearby national trader ships.

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I don't have a problem with people coming up with sound ideas, but sadly the majority of what I read from non pirates is nerf nerf nerf.

 

  • ​Pirates should not
  • Pirates should be restricted 
  • When a pirate is captured or sunk, his account is sunk. ((LOL))
  • No Port Battles
  • Crew number restrictions
  • Nerf
  • Nerf
  • Nerf

My favorite is restricting pirates to frigates, knowing full well that the majority of PVP clans sail in numbers with much larger and more powerful ships.

 

To note, as usual, 90% if the posters here are not pirates, have never played pirate and have zero empathy with people who are / do.  Basically when I read these ideas, I realise that most of you DO wan't pirates in the game, but you want to make them so weak you can swat them off like flies.

Edited by Long Beard
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No idea matters as long as nation players can freely teleport to and from anywhere and avoid the OW with just the slightest bit of planning ( hell ive figured out how to avoid w if i wanted so they can too) and when they do venture out its in fleets of 1st and 2nd rate that never existed or should be allowed in such numbers.

How abut you guys come up with a FIX for all the factions intead of just neutering one because youre mad. Ir better yet just say it, you want pirates gone or so nerfed they cant play.

Fix everything ir fix nothing.

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Long Beard said; "To note, as usual, 90% if the posters here are not pirates, have never played pirate and have zero empathy with people who are / do.  Basically when I read these ideas, I realize that most of you DO wan't pirates in the game, but you want to make them so weak you can swat them off like flies".

 

You are most probably wrong in this regard. Many of us have played the pirate role before in Naval Action. Some started the game as pirate thinking (hoping) that it would, indeed, be a unique role to play in the game. Realizing that it wasn't that unique, some pirate players switched Nations after the last major wipe. 

 

Also, before the last wipe, players were given the opportunity play three separate Nation characters. So those who weren't pirates before, could try that hat on, and those who were pirates could experience game play as members of other Nations.

 

This has been one of the longest running topics in the Forum. Most all proposed changes for pirates have come from a perspective of improving the role-playing of pirate not for making them weak.

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This has been one of the longest running topics in the Forum. Most all proposed changes for pirates have come from a perspective of improving the role-playing of pirate not for making them weak.

 

Sadly I don't see much evidence of that.  I do see the odd post that talks about bonuses to pirate, but most talk about restrictions.

 

Roleplay of pirate is something the individual does, not the game mechanics.  I chip in on these threads when ironically most of these nerfs would not have that much of an impact on me as I like many others in my clan roleplay pirate. Smaller ships, hunting merchants. Unfortunately though, when we do that, within 20 minutes we have a lot of players in 2nd, 3rd and 4th rates camping our battles, a situation exacerbated by instant teleport. Only a few nights ago, me and Pagan Pete attacked a merchant on the east coast and we had *13* players waiting outside the battle for us when we emerged.  My point is playing 'pirate' in the traditional sense is already challenging without restrictions and nerfs.

If people are so desperate for a change to pirate mechanics, then they need to start thinking of mechanics that will make the faction playable, fun, and balanced instead of coming up with all these nerfs that would effectively make playing a pirate far too difficult for anyone to enjoy.

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I'm sorry, but I played as pirate for a long time and it is not anymore challenging than playing as any other nation. Due to most of our ports being taken the last couple of weeks, playing the privateer/smuggler role for my nation has been way more pirate-like than anything I experienced while actually playing as pirate - and I actually enjoyed the heck out of it.

Edited by Captiva
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I'm sorry, but I played as pirate for a long time and it is not anymore challenging than playing as any other nation. Due to most of our ports being taken the last couple of weeks, playing the privateer/smuggler role for my nation has been way more pirate-like than anything I experienced while actually playing as pirate - and I actually enjoyed the heck out of it.

 

Head to the USA east coast, Sunbury, and go rob some traders for a couple of hours. Come back and tell me it wasn't challenging. 

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I don't have a problem with people coming up with sound ideas, but sadly the majority of what I read from non pirates is nerf nerf nerf.

 

  • ​Pirates should not
  • Pirates should be restricted 
  • When a pirate is captured or sunk, his account is sunk. ((LOL))
  • No Port Battles
  • Crew number restrictions
  • Nerf
  • Nerf
  • Nerf

My favorite is restricting pirates to frigates, knowing full well that the majority of PVP clans sail in numbers with much larger and more powerful ships.

 

To note, as usual, 90% if the posters here are not pirates, have never played pirate and have zero empathy with people who are / do.  Basically when I read these ideas, I realise that most of you DO wan't pirates in the game, but you want to make them so weak you can swat them off like flies.

 

That is exactly how Pirates should be! They should be a nuisance, not a threat and it should offer some unique game play to the players who really want to be a Pirate, yet make it really challenging for them.

 

The way Pirates are currently (As a nation) simply does not work, and it is game breaking. Anyone can join pirate without any penalty. And we have seen two big national clans move over to pirates and basically the pirates just started to steamroll the map! I am in one of the biggest and most active clans in the game, but lately I can barely find anyone online to do any operations. I mainly blame the "pirate-fest" and with diplomacy not working where allied nations would be able to support each other in port battles, missions and open world battles, it is basically free for all with the pirates having the majority of the population = steamroll the map and causing national players to leave the game.

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That is exactly how Pirates should be! They should be a nuisance, not a threat and it should offer some unique game play to the players who really want to be a Pirate, yet make it really challenging for them.

 

The way Pirates are currently (As a nation) simply does not work, and it is game breaking. Anyone can join pirate without any penalty. And we have seen two big national clans move over to pirates and basically the pirates just started to steamroll the map! I am in one of the biggest and most active clans in the game, but lately I can barely find anyone online to do any operations. I mainly blame the "pirate-fest" and with diplomacy not working where allied nations would be able to support each other in port battles, missions and open world battles, it is basically free for all with the pirates having the majority of the population = steamroll the map and causing national players to leave the game.

The ability to become a pirate without penalty is, I agree, a flawed mechanic and the root of many problems, however, your issue isn't with the fact pirates are another nation, it's the fact that this one mechanic has allowed our numbers to swell and dominate (which to be fair is speculation at best since we have no actual numbers).

 

Pirates were more than just a nuisance, they were a real threat, but I'm flogging a dead horse. History / realism has been thrashed around in these posts to exhaustion, and even though the counter argument to every Lord Nelson has been that all other nations are FAR from historically accurate, it still continues to be the backbone to most arguments levied against the pirates.

 

I repeat myself. I have no problems with people coming up with ideas about separate pirate mechanics to make pirates unique, fun, challenging and enjoyable, but the majority of what I read is people wanting restrictions on pirates that will ultimately make the role unplayable, unenjoyable, and completely unbalanced.

Edited by Long Beard
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Head to the USA east coast, Sunbury, and go rob some traders for a couple of hours. Come back and tell me it wasn't challenging. 

 

You do know that I could say the very same thing about robbing traders around, let's say, Mortimer Town, Atwood or La Tortue. No less challenging, not one bit.

 

We're getting off topic. The point that I am trying to get across is that many long term players have wanted the role of playing pirate to be really unique and different than playing any of the other nations. There have been many suggestions on the forum regarding this. You may interpret the intent of these suggestions as wanting to nerf pirates so that they are irrelevant to the game. I for one don't believe the majority of players want this at all. As some have said before, if they made them truly unique and challenging, they'd swap sides in a second.

 

Anyway, I just hope that you might change your mind as to the motivations behind those who would like to see the pirate nation become more like pirates. Good discussion, Long Beard.

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You do know that I could say the very same thing about robbing traders around, let's say, Mortimer Town, Atwood or La Tortue. No less challenging, not one bit.

 

We're getting off topic. The point that I am trying to get across is that many long term players have wanted the role of playing pirate to be really unique and different than playing any of the other nations. There have been many suggestions on the forum regarding this. You may interpret the intent of these suggestions as wanting to nerf pirates so that they are irrelevant to the game. I for one don't believe the majority of players want this at all. As some have said before, if they made them truly unique and challenging, they'd swap sides in a second.

 

Anyway, I just hope that you might change your mind as to the motivations behind those who would like to see the pirate nation become more like pirates. Good discussion, Long Beard.

 

Captiva, I do appreciate there are some folks, like you who genuinely want something 'good' for pirate gameplay. You've argued your point well, and I accept it. Problem is there's so many others who just want to see pirates become weak because they don't like how strong pirates have become.  It's very hard to separate the you's, from the them's.  Just take the 'suggestion' from the guy in this thread who thinks pirate assests and gold should be wiped upon sinking or capture as an example!

 

I am on your side. Whilst I may seem defensive regarding changes to pirates, I'm only defensive towards those who seek to nerf pirates into a weak faction they can faceroll in single combat, and grin with glee when one of them *dares* attack them in their underpowered, rate restricted vessel. I too would like to see pirates become unique and more 'piratey'. I don't want bonuses that make us over powered, but equally, I don't want restrictions that make us under powered and easily defeated simply because enemy is able to field larger more powerful ships against our 'frigates'. 

In a PVP game, no one likes to PVP against players with 'better gear', and I worry that by restricting pirates, we'll effectively be reduced to 'green gear' vs 'pvp geared' opponents.  Whilst robbing ships is my main pursuit in this game, I also like to PVP mano a mano, or fleet vs fleet. If some people had their way, we'd be sailing privateers against santis. NA is after all a PVP game. That's why I play it.

Edit: In so many MMO's I've played, winning in PVP has come down to gear. The MAIN thing I like about NA, is that mostly it comes down to skill.

Edited by Long Beard
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It was said several times:

Pirates should be different to nations.

There is simply no need for another nation with just a black flag.

Pirates still have several advantages that just kill the balance as long as they are playable as the (OP-) nation.

 

Pirates should have certain restrictions and advantages.

I also can understand that they should not be cut of important game content like 1st rates.

 

Why not just let them have 1st and 2nd rates for PVP Events like Trafalgar, duells etc. but just not for OW/PB.

 

Let's face it. Becoming a pirate should never be the first joice of a player, it should be way more challenging than belonging to a nation.

 

That's what I think:

 

They are not supposed to go somewhere with a strong fleet and  fight the main battlefleet of a nation.

IMO they are supposed to hit and run. To be a danger to trading-routes. To snack players that sail alone or in very small groups. To raid ports, that lag a proper defense fleet.

They should have more opportunities to modify ships with special upgrades.

For example: They don't need and can't have marines, because they have their boarding- bonus allready.

 

They should have their own "scoreboards" for their clans and individual players.

If pirate xyz is one of the most feared pirates he gets additional bonuses on his crew-skills/ or for recruting.

Maybe if he joins a battle the enemy crew is scared what has a negative impact on their skills. 

They should have kind of individualized flags, more opportunities to individualize their ships.

They should have the ability to look like traders or fishers in OW and you have get close to them to uncover them... but then you might be screwed.

 

Maybe they should be able to create hidden S-W-harbours (hideouts) which have to be discovered before they can be attacked.

 

Pirates should have content, that nations do not have. On the other hand pirates should not have the abilities to behave like a nation.

A nation may be able to cooperate with pirates, giving them acces to their harbors and having them raiding the enemy nations traderoutes.  

 

And maybe a pirate-mechanic like this can even be used to balance nations.

So a strong/winning nation can't cooperate with pirates, but the "underdogs" can do that.  

 

Just my thoughts on the point.

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Well, about the nerfing, right now the pirate faction is basicaly something between a nation and a real pirate faction. So either way you'll go, there will be some form of nerfing. I feel we should cater to the needs of the players who realy want to play the pirate role and are not interested in Ports and any diplomacy related stuff. If this would have been a pirate only game, we would probably be wondering why we can sail 1st rates and cap ports right?

 

What the pirate faction needs is a end goal, something that keeps them motivated to play even after reaching max rank. My sugestion was to make it purely based on gold/wealth, it be sort of "prestige" ranks after the top rank, it be a ranking system, an option to decorate your ship in gold, possibilitys enough in my opinion. The details over what types of ships can be sailed and what types not can be experimented with.  But port capping should not be part of a pirate factions activity.

We have plenty of nations, and I'm sure the pirates who do want to do port battles and fight nations can probably find a nation they'll be happy to join.

 

Most importantly the pirate factions should still be FUN to play, they should have plenty of PvP options and some exclusive content. They shouldn't be nerfed and beaten so bad its no longer fun to play. This faction could be perfect for players who want some fast PvP action, solo or as a clan or group. I think it might even be nice for national players bored of port and diplomacy stuff, to take a little break and be a pirate for a while.

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Let's play the psychological card:

 

- Nation players expect too much of their own Nation and from the other Nations

 

- Pirate players expect just fat loot ( can be bragging rights, gold and jewels, whatever )

 

It is a fact that whatever changes come to Pirates, the social aspect will always be more important.

Interesting fact is that all the Pirate players seem to be having good fun both lone-wolf raider and when they band together.

Nation loudmouths just seem to fill Global of negativity, like last night, was pretty hillarious :) ((( we have a strong contender for a rap battle with Lord Vicious hehehe )))

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The ability to become a pirate without penalty is, I agree, a flawed mechanic and the root of many problems, however, your issue isn't with the fact pirates are another nation, it's the fact that this one mechanic has allowed our numbers to swell and dominate (which to be fair is speculation at best since we have no actual numbers).

 

Pirates were more than just a nuisance, they were a real threat, but I'm flogging a dead horse. History / realism has been thrashed around in these posts to exhaustion, and even though the counter argument to every Lord Nelson has been that all other nations are FAR from historically accurate, it still continues to be the backbone to most arguments levied against the pirates.

 

I repeat myself. I have no problems with people coming up with ideas about separate pirate mechanics to make pirates unique, fun, challenging and enjoyable, but the majority of what I read is people wanting restrictions on pirates that will ultimately make the role unplayable, unenjoyable, and completely unbalanced.

 

I think it should not be JUST the pirates that get changed. I think every Nation should offer the player a unique game play experience. British should have access to certain strengths and weaknesses that the Spanish, French, Pirates does not have access to, and visa versa. The Player should be able to choose his nation, based on his own personal game play, and maybe even his own personality and the experience that he wants to get out of the game. If Pirates alone get changed, I  can guarantee that everyone will flock to the pirates because it is unique.

 

I also do not want to see the map to change from black to red, to yellow, to blue the whole time as nations are getting nerfed. It needs to be balanced yet unique for each nation.

 

Another option is to make all nations AI, and AI controlled. War and Peace are declared by the AI, and the players need to fall in with the AI's decision, yet be able to change their allegiance should they want to. Port battles are also controlled by AI. Only AI can decide which ports will be attacked, when and why (add a story) players can then decide if they want to join the port battle or not. If they do join, it will still be as it is now. Should no players join the battle, the AI Spawns in AI ships who fights the battle and determine the outcome. This way, the game could be kept balanced even for nations with low population.

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When a player surrenders to another one:

 

  • Window pops up asking the other player if he accepts his surrender (5min cool down timer)
  • As long as surrender is accepted. The winner can access the loser's cargo
  • As long as the winner is in a group and his mates are inside the battle. Everyone can access cargo.
  • If the winner so desires he can either seize the ship with cargo inside or not (keep upcoming crew management feature in mind which requires you to sail captured ship back to port)
  • A group has to decide which member will get the ship if they so desire. I'm thinking about a modified result screen where a group member can click seize ship. 
  • Loser immediately teleports back to port with 1 less dura regardless if winner takes ship or not. 

 

Officer perks could be %  change to hide/ find hidden cargo.

 

Oh and i also think that the core game for rats should be PvP (capping) and for nats RvR (sinking).. If a player wants to become pirate coz jack sparrow he has to deal with the fact that he won't see his color on the map and that everyone can attack him.. The only thing that currently bothers me is that nats will all mob up in SOLs like a herd of elephants as soon as the first pirate shows up somewhere.. I'm talking about the good ol' 6v6 group fights which would be hard to achieve then but hey, being a pyrate has its disadvantages after all, arrr..

Edited by BACk ALLEY ShENANiGANS
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I don't have a problem with people coming up with sound ideas, but sadly the majority of what I read from non pirates is nerf nerf nerf.

  • ​Pirates should not
  • Pirates should be restricted
  • When a pirate is captured or sunk, his account is sunk. ((LOL))
  • No Port Battles
  • Crew number restrictions
  • Nerf
  • Nerf
  • Nerf
My favorite is restricting pirates to frigates, knowing full well that the majority of PVP clans sail in numbers with much larger and more powerful ships.

To note, as usual, 90% if the posters here are not pirates, have never played pirate and have zero empathy with people who are / do. Basically when I read these ideas, I realise that most of you DO wan't pirates in the game, but you want to make them so weak you can swat them off like flies.

I am sorry but what you are saying simply isn't true at all. If you go through the thread properly you will see that nobody is asking for the pirates to be nerfed to hell.

A lot of people have posted here (including myself at the very beginning) suggesting various changes to Pirate mechanics with the goal of giving the Pirates a unique appeal. That does mean giving them certain disadvantages but we have all been proposing advantages too, to balance things out.

Amongst others, ideas have included giving Pirates the ability to create hideouts, specific boarding bonuses and specific ships - all of which would be unique to the Pirates.

Most people are not suggesting limiting Pirates to frigates only (I certainly am not). What is being suggested is things like stopping pirates building them (but allowing them to capture) and giving boarding bonuses to compensate.

Like most others, I HAVE played as a Pirate but quickly gave up after finding it no different to any other faction (apart from being a bit easier).

I would be far more likely in fact to play as a Pirate again if it provided a completely different, exciting type of game play to any other faction. Basically, I would be more likely to 'take the black' if it actually felt more 'piratey.'

The vast majority of us seem to think that the Pirates need to be changed - rather than accusing us of wanting them nerfed, please contribute by suggesting some more positive and cool features the Pirates could enjoy.

Edited by Captain Underpants
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Longbeard is simply trying to protect his unnaturally easy pirate perks, nothing he has said so far is productive, simply putting down any suggestion & the players that bring them up.

 

In what universe did pirates hold the majority of carribean ports?

 

To defend the current broken mechanic simply states that you are inconsiderate of other players & possibly should refrain from posting unless you can add something useful to the argument.

As stated above, this thread is a working discussion on how to fix the gameplay so EVERYONE can enjoy it not to simply NERF the pirate faction as you so poorly put it.

 

I've noticed since the big factions moved to piracey there are very few players on the server - either fix this sensibly or risk losing the game before it even goes public.

 

Slow & no response send no message at all.

WAKE UP devs game is slipping ........

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jeez, calm down guys.. Admin said a 1000 times by now that pirates will be reworked.. Long Beard was simply pointing out that you nats are all mighty pissed over the fact that pirates kick your butts for sometimes fair and, admittedly, sometimes unfair reasons which drive you to go here and express your anger in form of unreasonable suggestions.. 

 

Are pirates a historically accurate or balanced faction? NO! Will they be reworked? YES!  :D

Edited by BACk ALLEY ShENANiGANS
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I still love that 100% of the I hate pirates cuz they own the world threads amd complaints come from pvp1 and not pvp2 where its a completely different story.

Tht proves without a doubt that other than the going pirate for free exoit there is no big advantage to being a pirate otherwise both servers would see the same on both servers.

It could just as easily be a brit problem or dutch problem . Anyone who plays a pirate and is honest knows this.

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