State of the game 250 online at 10pm cst

[Atomic Moose]

as of last nite at 10pm cst there was 250 people online on pvp1 and on pvp 2 there was 168 

where have all the people gone 

i am posting this to be constructive to give the dev and idea why there game is failing and what needs to be done to get more people playing cause at this point you might as well go back to sea trials

 

i feel for one the game is so unbalanced game needs to be fun and the recent patches the last few weeks have make this game take to long battles are like pong matched watching balls just bonce around if you angle any ship you get no pens at all

 

i have ove 700hrs in this game i feel this is the lowest point we have hit out of 50 clan members we have had 5 long in the last 2 days they have just quit, we have a very large ts and the players are stil there just playing other games 

most have said they are done with naval action unless the is great turn around in terms of having fun

 

now before all the fan bois come in here and say oh this game is so fun well if it so much fun why is there lest than 500 people playing on 2 pvp servers 

 

i dont see how you can test game mechanics with this few of people playing 

good luck but this game is  at the lowest point i feel since steam launch

[Pugwis]

Just after the dailly maintenance...

Later and every single day there are more than 1 000 players, your complain make no sense at all, but yeah in some aspect the game is laking balance, not for the time of the battle, but for the amount of ships, hope this will be adressed later, just be patient.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Pugwis

[Ledinis]

Although i do understand that some people like simplicity over skill based pvp and thus h8 the new system, that the developers are trying to to balance. The two reasons that made the majority of people i played with quit or take a break are : Lack of content at end game and the meaningless RvR pvp.  

 

Pugwis he means Central standart time i d believe not European prime time.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Ledinis

[Leviathan]

He was meaning Central standard time. I logged on roughly around this time and the population was hovering around 200.

[Galileus]

Peaks at close to 2k at weekends.

 

"250 online, gaem dead, hear me, hear me!"

 

Sigh

[admin]

Although i do understand that some people like simplicity over skill based pvp and thus h8 the new system, that the developers are trying to to balance. The two reasons that made the majority of people i played with quit or take a break are : Lack of content at end game and the meaningless RvR pvp.  

 

 

 

All wars are meaningless

 

People buy this game "because ships"

People stay because of many other reasons conquest included. If they find conquest interesting they stay if they get bored eventually they leave.

But they get what they wanted when they were buying the game - beautiful realistic age of sail ships and epic scale allowing players to feel the experience age of sail captains had. Most buyers don't even care about RVR when they make the purchase decision. Online numbers also do not influence the purchase decision. You can experience everything solo or with a couple of friends.

 

+ lets be honest with each other. people think they want realism, they talk about realistic guns and speeds, but reality shows they want motorboats and clicker heroes . The problem is that people won't buy if they see motorboats - they will understand it later that faster pace is more fun. 

[Guest]

+ lets be honest with each other. people think they want realism, they talk about realistic guns and speeds, but reality shows they want motorboats and clicker heroes

 

Quoted for epic truthness

[Skully]

Gasp, no exceptional outboard motor, ever!?

[Ronald Speirs]

1 day im hoping for a skirmish lobby where we can setup battles without loss or rewards, good for practice, testing any ships, bring that sea trials feel back when you dont wanna do OW at that point in time, the duel room just isnt right atm, the idea is there it just needs to be taken that step further to make it better, same with crafting and many other aspects, they just need time to make it all come together, that will come in time, some people just need breaks to get the love back for certain things.

[Ledinis]

All wars are meaningless

 

People buy this game "because ships"

People stay because of many other reasons conquest included. If they find conquest interesting they stay if they get bored eventually they leave.

But they get what they wanted when they were buying the game - beautiful realistic age of sail ships and epic scale allowing players to feel the experience age of sail captains had. Most buyers don't even care about RVR when they make the purchase decision. Experience is authentic and currently best on the market.

 

+ lets be honest with each other. people think they want realism, they talk about realistic guns and speeds, but reality shows they want motorboats and clicker heroes

"All wars are meaningless" - on a philosophical/spiritual level maybe . If it was meaningless it would not be happening. There's a reason why a Chinese generals book on war tactics is widely used in modern day business, at its core war can be viewed as a form of business. Ok enough philosophy, what i ment by meaningless in this regard is that we still don't have any reason to hold those ports other than for bragging rights. There is no economical gains from controling them, because regardless of a nations population we can get all essential limitless resources in the 4-5 closest ports. To launch and attack we dont need any preparation other than a laughable amount of gold (seriously fake flags from enemy and my own nations is what made me ignore any port battles that are not on my doorstep). And to top it all of Freeports allowing enemy ships to launch attacks deep in your territory, kind of makes even the territorial aspect non existent.

 

As for the realism aspect, a lot of people actually like the new system, they just aren't as vocal in the forums, heck even one poll that was made by a "99.9% of my shots at 2 meters bounce" guy, was edited to remove the poll since its showed that like 15-20 percent both like and disliked the new system and the rest just wanted the new system with a bit of tweaking. And all the crying i hear from people, in regards to the new system i go test myself and find it to be bullshit 9 out of 10 times.

 

So yeah hopefully you dont get forced into rushed content by these few whining players and make an awesome game in the end.

[Anne Wildcat]

It did seem quiet last night. Maybe bc a holiday weekend is coming up in the US?

[akd]

+ lets be honest with each other. people think they want realism, they talk about realistic guns and speeds, but reality shows they want motorboats and clicker heroes . The problem is that people won't buy if they see motorboats - they will understand it later that faster pace is more fun.

Only reason I am still here is because of not motor boats. Nothing else in the game currently (RvR, Econ) is keeping me playing. But sure, make it arcade and see how things go.

IMO, decline in players has nothing to with sailing or damage model, or changes to that. It has been declining steadily over time, with bumps upward around major patches followed by pretty quick resumption of downward slope. Probably normal. You listen and react too much to high volume, emotional, threat-laden posts.

Re: current damage model. It is a better system at its core but is not currently producing realistic outcomes, so I'm not sure realism vs. game balance is the real conversation we should be having. I think we are overestimating protection wood offers against cannon fire, especially in terms of frequency of zero damage hits (especially relatively high angle bounces). Furthermore, even without changes, reintroduction of double-shot will change dynamic (may even unbalance system due to double-shot + carronades).

[RA6E]

All wars are meaningless

 

People buy this game "because ships"

People stay because of many other reasons conquest included. If they find conquest interesting they stay if they get bored eventually they leave.

But they get what they wanted when they were buying the game - beautiful realistic age of sail ships and epic scale allowing players to feel the experience age of sail captains had. Most buyers don't even care about RVR when they make the purchase decision. Online numbers also do not influence the purchase decision. You can experience everything solo or with a couple of friends.

 

+ lets be honest with each other. people think they want realism, they talk about realistic guns and speeds, but reality shows they want motorboats and clicker heroes . The problem is that people won't buy if they see motorboats - they will understand it later that faster pace is more fun. 

 

This right here.... Is true honesty.  +1   You have to find some sort of happy balance.  I think this has the foundations set.  Unfortunately it has fallen to a true simulator which will only entertain very small niche crowd in its present state.  I think the recent teleport change really helped. , but I think a lot didn't even bother to log back on to try.    Also hasn't helped that a good deal of the very experienced player-base has found much entertainment in seal clubbing.  Intent on making their enemies "not want to log on"  Clearly it has made a dent in the player base as as well.  Lets be honest...   Servers and updating requires money.. That requires paying players.. this appear to not have either presently and is rapidly disappointing the ones that did.       Some eggs have to be broken to make an omelette... lets hope its not too late.  Because frankly there is so much I like about this.   

[admin]

"All wars are meaningless" - on a philosophical/spiritual level maybe . If it was meaningless it would not be happening. There's a reason why a Chinese generals book on war tactics is widely used in modern day business, at its core war can be viewed as a form of business. Ok enough philosophy, what i ment by meaningless in this regard is that we still don't have any reason to hold those ports other than for bragging rights. There is no economical gains from controling them, because regardless of a nations population we can get all essential limitless resources in the 4-5 closest ports. To launch and attack we dont need any preparation other than a laughable amount of gold (seriously fake flags from enemy and my own nations is what made me ignore any port battles that are not on my doorstep). And to top it all of Freeports allowing enemy ships to launch attacks deep in your territory, kind of makes even the territorial aspect non existent.

 

 

 

 

politics alliances and pirates will be addressed and they will improve conquest

but it will still be somewhat meaningless - unless gear treadmills are added to the game - for example you cannot sail victory until you get reputation level which you get if you capture 10 ports etc.. 

or you nation cannot own victories unless you own 20 ports.. 

But current design - you can sail anything without any limitations if you have money - contradicts with gear treadmills. 

[icceman]

Any info when politics alliances and pirates will be implemented? planned date?

 

Any details  about planned  changes in pirates nations  ?

[admin]

Only reason I am still here is because of not motor boats. Nothing else in the game currently (RvR, Econ) is keeping me playing. But sure, make it arcade and see how things go.

 

 

if we wanted motorboats we would make them from the start

lobby based no hassle wind of luck tried it - the result its obvious

[HarryButpain]

All wars are meaningless

 

People buy this game "because ships"

People stay because of many other reasons conquest included. If they find conquest interesting they stay if they get bored eventually they leave.

But they get what they wanted when they were buying the game - beautiful realistic age of sail ships and epic scale allowing players to feel the experience age of sail captains had. Most buyers don't even care about RVR when they make the purchase decision. Online numbers also do not influence the purchase decision. You can experience everything solo or with a couple of friends.

 

+ lets be honest with each other. people think they want realism, they talk about realistic guns and speeds, but reality shows they want motorboats and clicker heroes . The problem is that people won't buy if they see motorboats - they will understand it later that faster pace is more fun. 

 

Personally, I play online pvp games since 2004 regularly and let me tell you that there's way more to RvR than just changing possession of a port. It's really more about getting to it and making it possible. Using your wits and skill to take a port away from another nation. RvR adds context to PvP. The factor of interacting with other people/ clans to achieve a common goal is also very interesting and important. Diplomacy, backstabbing and drama on the forums is all part of RvR   .. All those aspects add 'depth' to RvR and make it more exciting than playing dust in counter strike for 6 hours straight or world of tanks, battlefield and alike.. If you don't like port battles you can still do group PvP which in turns supports RvR  or 1v1s which is precisely why I love NA and POTBS. 

 

All of that being said, I have no idea why ppl think RvR is pointless but do agree that taking/losing ports should have some sort of an impact like stated in the hegemony thread.

 

I think, however, there's maybe a misunderstanding of how ships of the line are supposed to be played? Since I'm not interested in sailing SOLs I won't know but is the way players approach SOLs maybe not what way the developers have envisioned? Especially when we consider the recent changes to the game?

Edited May 27, 2016 by BACk ALLEY ShENANiGANS

[Ronald Speirs]

politics alliances and pirates will be addressed and they will improve conquest

but it will still be somewhat meaningless - unless gear treadmills are added to the game - for example you cannot sail victory until you get reputation level which you get if you capture 10 ports etc.. 

or you nation cannot own victories unless you own 20 ports.. 

But current design - you can sail anything without any limitations if you have money - contradicts with gear treadmills.

Also an idea to look into might be Admiralty points from ship captures, pvp, pb's and so forth, these points can be cashed in at the capital for rewards.

1.) Ship deeds to craft SoL's

2.) Items needed to craft the SoL's

3.) Ship BP's

4.) Ship Naval refits's increase little aspects to make them better

5.) Modules

6.) Crafting books

7.) Materials

8.) Trained Crew

9.) Officers

The possibilities are endless that could add an extra grind factor to help players achieve items they are after.

[GrapeShot]

The problem is that the fall-off in players will not be linear. When numbers get low enough finding PVP becomes near impossible so the PVPers leave. When they leave nobody is around to buy boats so the crafters then leave.

I've been on this server, prior to EA, when there were less than 20 players on. My time dwindled as well.

A bit less twidling with a game mechanic 8% of the player base participates in and a bit more attention to other areas of the game might be wiser.

Even something as simple as more varied missions might pay off more than you think.

[Ledinis]

politics alliances and pirates will be addressed and they will improve conquest

but it will still be somewhat meaningless - unless gear treadmills are added to the game - for example you cannot sail victory until you get reputation level which you get if you capture 10 ports etc.. 

or you nation cannot own victories unless you own 20 ports.. 

But current design - you can sail anything without any limitations if you have money - contradicts with gear treadmills. 

I can relay news about this game faster than whats happening in the outside world, so trust me im on the forums often enough to know that you are already working on politics and pirate rework

As for the meaning for controlling ports, after the diplomacy and pirate mechanics it still needs an economy and crafting rework before it can be addressed. But there are multiple ways to encourage players to control more ports once all of the more important parts of the game are developed. On the top of my mind once you get rid of the European traders, you could make it so productions buildings get a % based malus depending on how many players have production set up in the given city, witch would make an expansion a desirable thing resource wise.

Another thing would be conquerable nations. Yeah i know this seems like a total taboo, but there's nothing more  disappointing than winning a war and having to step down at the last stretch because of game mechanics, witch makes it into an endless tug-of-war witch gets tedious after some time. You could make a nation totally conquerable, and absorbed into the conquering nation, witch would also have a huge part on an over expanding nations stability I.E having conquered 2 nations that have negative perception towards you would make quite an instability amongst the said nations players. Also you could use the game mechanic you discussed about implementing a while ago where a clan could proclaim independence, only in this case it could proclaim independence from the conquering nation, to restore his own.

And ofc though i abuse this myself make Free Towns not accept warships of any nation in them. this would make it so that a nation would at least have territorial integrity. the war zone would be at the borders and pubbies and new players would have a relative safe zone.

 

These are just a few ideas of the top of my head, that im sure have a lot of illogical parts to it and need a lot of discussion. But no ideas are born without brainstorming and you should really consider on how to encourage more players going on the forums to express their ideas, concerns and give you inspiration  

[Ojibwa_Wind]

I like some parts of the game and do other parts. But in all I find the game very much fun. I just get use to the changes. About the number of players on, I think that maybe they expected a much faster game. These are sailing ship's so it will be a slower battle as it should be. Tactic and skill are learned and developed each time you play.

 

Also we are approaching summer. Warm weather make the wife's and girlfriend's wanting us gamer's outside more. Happens in all of the game's I have played. Number's go down in the warmer weather. Remember this is still in it's testing phase. So we have to test, come up with idea's and help out.

 

 

Just my 2 cent's

Edited May 27, 2016 by Ojibwa_Wind

[Reorx Redbeard]

I really love this game. I love the fact that i can log in and take part in large scale RvR port battles or going pvp hunting or do fleet missions with a couple of My clan mates, or do single missions, trade runs og take on the role as smugler and visit enemy ports. Add to this the beutifull grafic that make OW travel really nice. I really dont understand why so many players want to make this a game of instant pvp with leaderbords so player can show of. Why not just enjoy this game as it is. A game with a place for everyone.

See you all in open world.

[Ned Loe]

politics alliances and pirates will be addressed and they will improve conquest

but it will still be somewhat meaningless - unless gear treadmills are added to the game - for example you cannot sail victory until you get reputation level which you get if you capture 10 ports etc.. 

or you nation cannot own victories unless you own 20 ports.. 

But current design - you can sail anything without any limitations if you have money - contradicts with gear treadmills. 

Don't forget about loot items.

[surfimp]

As a fellow US-based player, I feel OP's pain.

 

Few months ago there were > 1,000 people online when I'd log on in the evening on PVP1, now it got down to ~170 last night around 10pm Pacific (California) time.

 

With that said, the people who are still there, are generally pretty cool and positive people, so that's good. I'd rather have less, but better sport/fun players, than more ****heads.

 

But I think back to the early days of the Spanish reconquista and the hundreds of player ships I saw all at one time, and it makes me a little sad.

 

I specialize in unrated and (recently) 6th rate vessels, so the recent changes to the damage model haven't really affected me. There are some new challenges but it's cool, my battles still take around the same amount of time and are still fun.

 

I feel like there is still so much opportunity and potential in this game engine. I've got 400hrs invested now, since Sea Trials, and I'm motivated to keep helping test things.

 

I do believe that my 3 friends who own NA will come back if they hear there are new things to do. The grind wall was just too steep for them, sailing took a long time, and they just didn't have the amount of time they realized would be needed to really progress in the game. It's fair feedback and they're hardly the first to share it.

[admin]

 

 

I do believe that my 3 friends who own NA will come back if they hear there are new things to do. The grind wall was just too steep for them, sailing took a long time, and they just didn't have the amount of time they realized would be needed to really progress in the game. It's fair feedback and they're hardly the first to share it.

 

 

grind wall?