Will "arena" mode return?

[Sunde]

Greetings captains, i'v not really kept up to speed with the game since "open world", largely because i quickly realized that i really dont enjoy it. However me and 5 of my friends were huge fans of the arena mode, those large scale battles were just epic!
 Will this return some day? And will we be able to "unlock" ships within this mode, so that we dont have to sail in the "open world" ? 
Thank you for any answers! 

[Tief N Tote]

you can currently partake in small and large battle from port but i think you need to level you character and get the ship you want to sail. so it's similar to the old arena and probably as lose as you will get . i doubt they will go back to old arena with unlocking ships through xp. as that is not their development strategy i think

Edited July 25, 2016 by Tief N Tote

[Arvenski]

I know how you feel, Sunde. I didn't have access to the game during the arena phase (I only got interested in it after they'd stopped sales), but it was watching videos of those arena battles that made me want to buy and play this game. At the time, the idea of an open world sounded really cool. Now that I've played the game for myself a bit, though, I've found that I just don't enjoy the open world. The only things that keep me playing are the ships and the combat.

[Ned Loe]

I don't think so. (They can improve Skirm training missions vs friendly players, but that is about it). We will get interactive world map with pvp zones displayed and they will be your arenas 24/7.

[karacho]

best part of the game will never come back... :-(

[Sunde]

I don't think so. (They can improve Skirm training missions vs friendly players, but that is about it). We will get interactive world map with pvp zones displayed and they will be your arenas 24/7.

Thats a shame, i really enjoyed the simple XP system, i think for me, the key feature was that it was easily accessible, i could quickly jump in and get in some TRULY epic fights, that i'v just not seen the likes of in other games, and that i really miss a lot. The whole "Open world" Really puts me off, as i think its too time consuming. Honestly i'd pay for them to make a standalone "arena" mode for this game lol. 

Edited July 25, 2016 by Sunde

[Guest]

As someone who wasn't around for the arena-styled days but had plenty of good SOL Port Battles (at least used to...), this is definitely something that is needed. For a long time port battles have been more about who can get what undefended port, often spending 2-3 evenings to maybe get a single real battle out of it, which is really fatiguing people when they realize that they could do anything else instead. The pacing of the game is fine as it is, but there has to be an alternative as well.

 

A simple arena for guaranteed SOL battles is needed, and I doubt that we will see that in the current 'Large Battles' because no one really wants to risk their SOL ships on achieving nothing tangible, so maybe just a battle with no rewards, but also no dura loss. 

Edited July 26, 2016 by Guest

[Sire Trinkof]

The main difference with sea trials is, back in those days, people wanted to fight. With open world and economy, they want to stay alive.

Some chase can be very fun in OW,... But yes, I like OW, but I miss days when people fought back.

That is why there must be a strong incitation to fight back, even if "ganked".

Still trying to see how to do it :

-maybe an honorable surrender : if you fight and deliver X% of damages to enemies, admiralty, in reward of your bravery, admiralty compensate X% of your losses.

[Arvenski]

The main difference with sea trials is, back in those days, people wanted to fight. With open world and economy, they want to stay alive

Well said. In an arena-style game, I want to fight, because I know I'm not going to lose anything truly important if I die. In this game, I don't lose my exceptional quality live oak ship. 

[Chimera]

I like open world.

Arena just doesn't fit the theme of the game anymore.

[Jean Ribault]

Open world and arcade are clearly two different styles, but why shouldn't one be able to go straight to arcade mode if they like?  (Interchanging arena mode with what I would call arcade mode.)  Perhaps the results shouldn't count then towards your OW character?  No XP or gold, or whatever.  There are "arcade"-like modes in other games that allow you to practice or just have instant fun, while the more in-depth play style is available.  Why not NA too?

Edited July 26, 2016 by Jean Ribault

[Cpt Blackthorne]

So as a recap, it seems there are a select few who want arena-style, 5 minute battles, no real loss, no risk, and with absolutely nothing to gain. Soooo ppl want this game to be world of tanks? or war thunder, or call of duty, or world of warships, or any of the million other fps arcade games.

I hope if they create this for this small group of arcaders, that they follow Jean's advice and make certain that it is absolutely separate xp and ships from the real game. Because I will be extremely pissed off if the entire game caters only to arena, or worse if i keep having to face higher ranked ppl in higher rate ships who got all that from playing arcade with no risk at all, while i spent my time trying to rank and rate up in the risk side of the game.

[BungeeLemming]

Well said. In an arena-style game, I want to fight, because I know I'm not going to lose anything truly important if I die. In this game, I don't lose my exceptional quality live oak ship. 

World of Tanks/Warships. Warthunder.

All are arena games which imhabit cowardice players who just want to stay alive as long as possible.

Your statement is not the best.

 

Ppl fought because there was no reward <> loss mechanic.

All you lost was a fight. And your statistics went down a bit.

But there was no economy involved.

Games as above (WoT) have economy involved. Hence the ppl beeing afraid to loose their pixels.

[Sunde]

So as a recap, it seems there are a select few who want arena-style, 5 minute battles, no real loss, no risk, and with absolutely nothing to gain. Soooo ppl want this game to be world of tanks? or war thunder, or call of duty, or world of warships, or any of the million other fps arcade games.

I hope if they create this for this small group of arcaders, that they follow Jean's advice and make certain that it is absolutely separate xp and ships from the real game. Because I will be extremely pissed off if the entire game caters only to arena, or worse if i keep having to face higher ranked ppl in higher rate ships who got all that from playing arcade with no risk at all, while i spent my time trying to rank and rate up in the risk side of the game.

So you feel like the arena mode was very "FPS - Arcade"... Did you actually play back then?

Anyhow, I know a lot of people miss this mode, and i think bringing it back, even if you dislike it, would be likely to introduce more players to the game, and for the devs to earn some extra cash that could be spent on developing OW. Its all there, its just no longer available to the public. 

 

Edited July 27, 2016 by Sunde

[Fuhajins of Autumn]

Less sailing (watching pixels moving) around doing nothing, more and direct PVP mod with actually people playing it?

Count me in ! Where i do enlist?!

 

Finally, some action.

[Sunde]

Less sailing (watching pixels moving) around doing nothing, more and direct PVP mod with actually people playing it?

Count me in ! Where i do enlist?!

 

Finally, some action.

There used to be huge battles, up to 100 ships, giant lines of SOLS, i miss those days... And i dont know if they will ever come back, even if arena mode was brought back, but man i hope they will. 

[Arvenski]

 5 minute battles

You know nothing, Jon Snow. 

[Jean LaPointe]

That was a time where the Devs were getting the physics and mechanics to line up. I remember a screen shot where one ship ran into another an then appeared to move right on to the deck of the ship it rimmed. It could not do at this as it was being carried by the ship it ran into. We have come a long way from the attached time. Having it as an arcade style allowed for the tweaking necessary for the game play mechanics we enjoy today.

A separate server, sand box or something to this effect with its own separate matrix for evaluation is the only way an arcade game version could exist.

[Balsafer]

Simply no... don't need another copy cat game..

[Foghorne]

I prefer Sea Trials over Open World.  It is so hard to get good fights in OW.

 

This:

 

Over this:

[OlavDeng2]

There used to be huge battles, up to 100 ships, giant lines of SOLS, i miss those days... And i dont know if they will ever come back, even if arena mode was brought back, but man i hope they will. 

il admit i kinda miss those days(tried recreating them with trafalgars, but community isnt a well oiled machine that can easily work together unlike then(this is not about the type of people BTW, but rather the number)). Also it was up to 50 Ships, 100 was never a possibility IIRC.

[Arvenski]

I think with 100 ships, people would've started experiencing magazine explosions inside their PCs... :lol

[jodgi]

...while i spent my time trying to rank and rate up in the risk side of the game.

Nice speech.

Go back to fighting bots to gain rank and cash while pondering the silliness of those who value fighting players above all else.

[Inigo Balboa aka Ronda]

Open world was a wrong move.  Simply - 'cause online is not high enough for such huge map (and it will not be higher after the official release, so don't be over-optimistic.  Everyone who loves age of sails already knows of this game, bought and tried it),  It's fun to go from side to side of the map once, maybe twice.  Then it's just empty and boring.  Crafting?  Well, I'm not playing now, but I am level 50 crafter. I've seen how much time and effort it takes to collect all resources, no wonder people don't want to fight and loose their precious ships, modules - and now also crew and officers.  Or - they simply don't have time for anything else but collecting resources, grinding ranks and money in missions etc.  

 

What I miss is the Arena with several different maps, with islands and starting scenarios (wind, positions of the ships), a simple "store" with all ships but no upgrades and other stuff, no officers, craft and such.   And don't compare it with World of Tanks - there was a great naval game years ago, called Age of Sail 2 (+Privateer's Bounty).  That's what many people remember and have in mind when they mention "arena".

[Sunde]

Nice speech.

Go back to fighting bots to gain rank and cash while pondering the silliness of those who value fighting players above all else.

So true, this game really shines in the pvp aspect, skill truly matters, and it makes fighting players so rewarding, however in the current OW i am yet to have a fight as good as those i had in the "arena" days. 

 

 

il admit i kinda miss those days(tried recreating them with trafalgars, but community isnt a well oiled machine that can easily work together unlike then(this is not about the type of people BTW, but rather the number)). Also it was up to 50 Ships, 100 was never a possibility IIRC.

Hm could have sworn we had 50 ish on each team in some of the matches, frames were a bit low, but was very playable. Maybe i was wrong at it was 25 on each? Anyhow it was greater than anything that i'v seen in OW, AND it was all players no AI! Arrh the sounds when all the broadsides started rolling. I truly miss those days. 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Sunde