Hotfix 7 for testbed patch 9.99

[Hethwill]

Server Time IS indeed GMT... UTC / GMT / Zulu time

Some countries locate in the UTC/GMT/Zulu zone are now GMT+1 due to summer. ( not GMT )

[balticsailor]

Looks like the port battle for Saint Johns just started.

[Jeheil]

Yeh but it wasn't scheduled until restart and thats wrong...it should schedule as soon as you hit 100% (unless aggro nation has 2 already)

 

[The Spud]

2 minutes ago, The Red Duke said:

Server Time IS indeed GMT... UTC / GMT / Zulu time

Some countries locate in the UTC/GMT/Zulu zone are now GMT+1 due to summer. ( not GMT )

I haven't checked the time difference between my time (GMT+1) and the server time for a while (cause no PB's), so it should be GMT+2 now with the summer time.

So basicaly RvR can happen for me (and most of europe) between 11h00 and 21h00 as it stands right now?

If the whole idea was to focus RvR inside the EU prime time and prevent PB's on hours that nobody could attend them, then this is a weird timer setting. You can set PB's in the middle of the day when everybody is at school or at work. And when they get home and had dinner, did dishes etc. at 20h00 (18h00 server time) they have 1 hour to do a PB (maybe)?

I would say 16h00 server time till 21h00 server time would probably be a much more EU prime time focused set up.

[Hethwill]

For Western Europe 22:00 is perfect. We can go like this all day long.

[Blackbrook]

7 minutes ago, The Spud said:

I haven't checked the time difference between my time (GMT+1) and the server time for a while (cause no PB's), so it should be GMT+2 now with the summer time.

So basicaly RvR can happen for me (and most of europe) between 11h00 and 21h00 as it stands right now?

If the whole idea was to focus RvR inside the EU prime time and prevent PB's on hours that nobody could attend them, then this is a weird timer setting. You can set PB's in the middle of the day when everybody is at school or at work. And when they get home and had dinner, did dishes etc. at 20h00 (18h00 server time) they have 1 hour to do a PB (maybe)?

I would say 16h00 server time till 21h00 server time would probably be a much more EU prime time focused set up.

Although the server is in UTC, I think these time limits should take into account local time (summer time vs normal time). For me, ideal time would be 1800-2300 local time, which is during the summer 1500-2000 UTC or during the winter 1600-2100 UTC. Even that is quite late if the PB starts at 2300 (my time) if I must sail home after the battle. I suppose people in the west may prefer one or two hours more in the end.

[The Spud]

I have to conclude, that if we take in account all the time zones, and what @rediii and @Blackbrook said, that the "perfect" PB time, where all can participate, and its not too early neither too late for any of the parties would be between 18h and 19h server time.

These timers are never going to work I think.

[sveno]

Well, i think for the Euro-server, CET (with daylight savings) should be the median.

Guys with families might have the first chance to play at 21:00, so open RvR to 22:00 would make sence.
This would translate into 20:00 servertime (again, talking about CET as euro median).

Now, i would agree with 17:00 local time open RvR, so that early birds and youngsters can enjoy the game fully.
This would translate into 15:00 servertime, for weekends, i would suggest to open RvR with the server restart.

---------------------------------------------

BTW, normally i wouldn't like to mix two themes in one post:
We just finished the Leewards Portbattle, no def, one guy got bored and shot at a tower (didnt kill it, 3 broadsides double charge) and he got 3 conquest marks!
I think heavy adjustments are needed there, i mean, 3 conquest marks are equal to 750 pve marks - thats kinda off for three broadsides, even with double charge.

Edited May 11, 2017 by sveno

[admin]

1 hour ago, Jeheil said:

Yeh but it wasn't scheduled until restart and thats wrong...it should schedule as soon as you hit 100% (unless aggro nation has 2 already)

 

Please try to ignore such problems on the testbed which might happen because of uneven or random maintenance times. A lot of things reset/or depend on the maintenance and doing it late or early will move PB times as well unfortunately.

[Pit Pinsel]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/820063965066988319/F3F14AF3CEA75BA0FEF5B1776A6995F3A5C531EA/ 

but the mortar brig player need marks too its ok , but not so much

Edited May 11, 2017 by kaayo

[sveno]

12 minutes ago, Intrepido said:

But you only get them if you damage enemy ships. So you found an exploit.

I don't think that this would an an exploit by function, except you think mortar brigs don't deserve anything for RvR that is.
The amount however, is a tad off.

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by sveno

[Fenris]

10 hours ago, sveno said:

We (Swedes) reached 100% hostility on Leeward Islands at 19:30 server time.
As I understand it there is a RvR block between 19:00 and 09:00 server time.

Is now that port-battle 10 minutes after server restart 09:00 server time?

If so, two requests:

- First, please adjust the Euro-Blocktime from 19:00 - 09:00 to 20:00 (or even 21:00) - 09:00, weekends 22:00 - 09:00. Some Euros (esp. Brits) would like RvR after 20:00/21:00 local time - right now its to limited - many thanks!

- Second, please give in-game a clear indication when and at what time the port-battle is set and lock the hostility up to the port-battle (dont know if you could counter it, didnt test that).

Great work so far on the test server - we are looking forward to test more changes.

In Summertime, considering the adjusting times, 21 00 server time is 23 00 OUR time. For each player which lives in the east, its getting later and later.........

[sveno]

5 minutes ago, Fenris said:

In Summertime, considering the adjusting times, 21 00 server time is 23 00 OUR time. For each player which lives in the east, its getting later and later.........

I understand your reservation, but please also read my latest post on the PB times.
In my time in NA, i've played a lot against/with Russians (good guys btw), and they were always up for action up to 24:00 my local time - being 22:00 servertime ATM.
Does not get much more east if you consider we talk about an Euro server.

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by sveno

[Fenris]

8 minutes ago, sveno said:

I understand your reservation, but please also read my latest post on the PB times.
In my time in NA, i've played a lot against/with Russians (good guys btw), and they were always up for action up to 24:00 my local time - being 22:00 servertime ATM.
Does not get much more east if you consider we talk about an Euro server.

 

Thats exactly why EU server.

No PB after midnight. Start at 23 00 local time, which is 21 00 server time, when PB is finished its 00 30, or later, and in east even more later

 

[Blackbrook]

15 minutes ago, The Spud said:

I have to conclude, that if we take in account all the time zones, and what @rediii and @Blackbrook said, that the "perfect" PB time, where all can participate, and its not too early neither too late for any of the parties would be between 18h and 19h server time.

These timers are never going to work I think.

True. But then I prefer only one pvp server without any port battle timers. I want to be able to play when I have time. Usually I have time from 1800 to 2300 (EET), but sometimes I can play in the morning or during the day and it would be nice to be able to take part in action when I can play. Sometimes I have to travel and I think I would rather play than watch tv, read or walk around city after 10 hour meeting.

How much time we need for a complete port battle from staging to the after battle fights. I suppose you need at least 1 hour for preparations and sailing. Then 1-2 hours for the actual battle and maybe 1-3 hourse for the pvp and sailing home. That's 3 - 6 hours. I suppose most of us who have family and other commitments have that kind of time 1-2 times per week (weekends included).

You don't need that much time if you are a screener. You can protect the port battle fleet before the battle and then leave or you can arrive late stay longer. Only those players who are in the actual port battle need to prepare for a long session.

The old flag system was good in this. You didn't have to know who can and will play two days later, you just asked who are available right now and then plan who will be screening and who will be in the PB. Of course there was long term planning, but you could change the plan when you knew how many players want to take part. In the current system you need much more planning and changes are more difficult. 

I think the current system is too inflexible. The port battle starts at predefined time and there is no surprise element. I think there should be more space for last minute adjustments when you know who can take part in the battle. What if the hostility generation (including raids) is used to open the port battle window maybe 22-24 hours or 46-48 later.  Perhaps the attack window could be even longer. Then the attacker can use some kind of modified flag system to start the actual port battle. To reduce problems I would limit the flag buying right to those 5-10 players who have created most of the hostility points. Perhaps the game should create a warning which tells when and where the port battle fleet is created. Something like "Port battle fleet created in Port Morant".

 

[Guest]

Test with minimal restrictions and see how well it works before implementing any further restrictions, that's what it's for. Given how many of those who are moving to the EU server are doing so as a result of people weaponizing timezones, it seems unlikely that people will resort to doing just that.

18 minutes ago, Blackbrook said:

True. But then I prefer only one pvp server without any port battle timers. I want to be able to play when I have time. Usually I have time from 1800 to 2300 (EET), but sometimes I can play in the morning or during the day and it would be nice to be able to take part in action when I can play. 

Sure it would be nice if it worked. But would you be willing to sacrifice having good RvR at your 'usual' playtime for the sake of having good RvR at your 'sometimes' playtime?

[The Spud]

I guess first the patch needs to be deployed and we need to see what happens then to see what works and what doesn't.

There are so many things that are unclear atm, patch day will be a big questionmark. How many people came back, what server has the highest pop, who plays in what nation and on what server. That is probably going to be more important then PB timers. If we only got 500 players combined on PvP EU and PvP global, theres going to be hardly any RvR.

[Blackbrook]

1 hour ago, Aegir said:

Test with minimal restrictions and see how well it works before implementing any further restrictions, that's what it's for. Given how many of those who are moving to the EU server are doing so as a result of people weaponizing timezones, it seems unlikely that people will resort to doing just that.

Sure it would be nice if it worked. But would you be willing to sacrifice having good RvR at your 'usual' playtime for the sake of having good RvR at your 'sometimes' playtime?

The problem is that there are only limited number of spots in the port battles. If there are 1000 or 2000 players, you must be a good player and have a good ship before you are "accepted" in the port battle. But if there are only 500 players and we have two servers, there won't be that many port battles. It would be best to have more port battle like battles (e.g. raids) which do not flip the ownership of the port. That would allow more players to take part in exciting big battles.

I think it would be better to test the new system in one server to see how it works. When there are more players we can ask more servers. This game needs many players in the same server for the economy and pvp that is relatively easy to find.

[NavalActionPlayer]

All this talk about PB times being restricted and not finding a time. Serves you right for wanting to restrict it at all

 

Join Global!

Edited May 11, 2017 by NavalActionPlayer

[Teutonic]

16 minutes ago, NavalActionPlayer said:

All this talk about PB times being restricted and not finding a time. Serves you right for wanting to restrict it at all

 

Join Global!

From my perspective, most of the current EU community actually still prefers the restricted time so this rhetoric is old and just not needed.

Then again, this is what happens when you try to restrict timezones and timers, there is always a better "restricted" timer for everyone and in the end you never get to the perfect one.

Edited May 11, 2017 by Teutonic

[Atreides]

On 5/9/2017 at 1:39 PM, Buba Smith said:

It seems with this latest update the resources and materials section in the OP shop aren't registering. If I exit the game and come back they re-appear including everything in the hold. A small bug, I will F11 it for more information.

 

This is a constant issue for me, playing the game in 4 hours the game will crash going into battle at least twice, and I have to shut game down and restart it 2 or 3 times to see resources in the shop.  I chalk it up to a relatively stable build with glitches.  (Gets annoying though)

[Bach]

54 minutes ago, Teutonic said:

From my perspective, most of the current EU community actually still prefers the restricted time so this rhetoric is old and just not needed.

Then again, this is what happens when you try to restrict timezones and timers, there is always a better "restricted" timer for everyone and in the end you never get to the perfect one.

Port battles in NA are now a collection of points per player ship over time till 10000 for the win.  If there were three separate PB's run 8 hours a part, each player can attend only one and the most player points collected won the port you could have 24hr representation. So in European battle the British attain 10,000 points with 25 players so only their points are recorded. No Dutch showed up for the battle. Then during the American time zone Battle the Dutch beat the British with 25 players attending. However the British sunk 10 Dutch ships. Those points are subtracted from the Dutch score.  During the Asian time zone battle The Dutch win the battle as x6 Dutch players show up while zero British.  Since the 24 hour point total still slightly favors the British they win the port.

Anyway, that's just a really rough idea off the top of my head. The point is that there are probably fair ways to do this with everyone on the same server. But you have to let go of the one big battle idea.

Edited May 11, 2017 by Bach

[NavalActionPlayer]

1 hour ago, Teutonic said:

From my perspective, most of the current EU community actually still prefers the restricted time so this rhetoric is old and just not needed.

Then again, this is what happens when you try to restrict timezones and timers, there is always a better "restricted" timer for everyone and in the end you never get to the perfect one.

I was just gently joshing folks. No meanness intended. o7

[sveno]

This thread is about the newest hotfix, i think the last two pages went a little off-topic (not that this discussion is interesting).

Lets make it easy for the devs to screen this hotfix feedback thread.


 

[OneEyedSnake]

7 minutes ago, sveno said:

This thread is about the newest hotfix, i think the last two pages went a little off-topic (not that this discussion is interesting).

Lets make it easy for the devs to screen this hotfix feedback thread.


 

I think the current conversation about work to rewards is incredibly relevant. These hotfixes are part of this discussion since they are trying to balance this aspect. Which seems to a lot of people including myself, to be very all over the place and certainly would thus indicate the devs don't know what that balance is in terms of this game, which thus makes this conversation relevant. 0/10 points for trying to b a forum warrior