Several nations send colonial fleets to West Indies.

[Hodo]

Just now, Jon Snow lets go said:

Why? You literally just had to login into global instead of EU and redeem your xp

You sir did not read any of the hoops you had to jump through to get to that point prior to that.

You had to first log into the US server weeks before the wipe, and sink or be sunk in a fight to "lock" your XP.   Then you had to do this for every account you may have had.  

This is a pain in the ass when all you want to do is play.

[Teutonic]

I don't want to get worse in derailing the thread with global vs eu and merge or not

But i do remember it was explicitly said that PvP1 would become the global server, pvp2 would be merged, and a NEW server was to be created for EU locked timers.

What happened in fact was the exact opposite.

Pvp1 just changed the name to eu and added locked timers.

Pvp2 just changed a name.

And no new server was made.

So the whole process which would have worked was entirely screwed up.

[George Washington]

3 hours ago, admin said:

Perhaps global timers are actually bad for the game and hard limits keep players better?
+ US buyers join US server and see no enemies as everyone joins US there. 

They are bad, if there was a better way out of this then server merge would be the best choice. There is not that many US players right now anyway. 160 active maybe 300 after game release. example. Potbs for some reason had no problem with timers, I wonder why. They had both time zones flipping ports and everything worked fine. Maybe we should look at their strategy? or make port battle size smaller with option to expand up to 25.

Edited October 12, 2017 by George Washington

[Christendom]

Just a personal anecdote.  I had several members in VCO that did not have their XP fully synced at the time global launched.  A couple simply came back when the wipe hit and didn't know they had to have characters on PVP2 prior, but the rest actually did do the sync and their XP was still screwed up.  Zero help from Admin or Ink in getting it restored.  The answer was...oh well.  Only 1 of them is still playing, the others quit.  This is a very common theme on global from clans that swapped over from EU.  It happened a lot more than you think.  This is unforgivable customer service.

Basically anything that was promised to have happened during the global launch....didn't.  We were hung out to dry.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Christendom

[George Washington]

4 minutes ago, Christendom said:

Just a personal anecdote.  I had several members in VCO that did not have their XP fully synced at the time global launched.  A couple simply came back when the wipe hit and didn't know they had to have characters on PVP2 prior, but the rest actually did do the sync and their XP was still screwed up.  Zero help from Admin or Ink in getting it restored.  The answer was...oh well.  Only 1 of them is still playing, the others quit.  This is a very common theme on global from clans that swapped over from EU.  It happened a lot more than you think.  This is unforgivable customer service.

Basically anything that was promised to have happened during the global launch....didn't.  We were hung out to dry.

Do you think they would return if Devs merged servers and restored their xp? I think the best move on Dev side would be to grant all early testers xp boost item to make sure all who returned no need to grind again. 

Starting over seems to be a big issue for many. 

 

Edited October 12, 2017 by George Washington

[Christendom]

1 minute ago, George Washington said:

Do you think they would return if Devs merged servers and restored their xp?

If a merge happened and they were able to return at the ranks they had previously?  Sure.  Most of the guys that quit didn't want to go play on EU, but they didn't want to have to re-grind all over again.  I know a few of the larger US based clans that made up some of the western alliance prior to the great wipe would return if the servers were merged.

[George Washington]

8 minutes ago, Christendom said:

If a merge happened and they were able to return at the ranks they had previously?  Sure.  Most of the guys that quit didn't want to go play on EU, but they didn't want to have to re-grind all over again.  I know a few of the larger US based clans that made up some of the western alliance prior to the great wipe would return if the servers were merged.

I think making port battle size smaller would work for both time zones. Let's say 10 vs 10 as default Port battle setup with option to pay marks + hostility grind in order to open up 15 vs 15 and 25 vs 25. 

10 vs 10 - default hostility requirement + 0 marks

15 vs 15 - 50% more hostility points + 100 PvE marks

25 vs 25 - 100% more hostility points + 150 PvE marks

I believe 10 vs 10 standard setup would have no problem in any time zone. 20 people would definitely be there to fill the spots. In addition we will have tow to port feature in place that will help this happen. 

Edited October 12, 2017 by George Washington

[Christendom]

1 hour ago, Grundgemunkey said:

facts are if the old pvp 1 had been the global server as they said it would ... instead of been made the eu server ... global server would be the most popular now

I wanted to play global but most of clan couldnt be bothered  so it was just easier to stay than move ....

This I think sums up the global launch.  

[George Washington]

2 hours ago, admin said:

In indeed did. My mistake (tow was in game not for the full year but for 6 months).  But yet the ratings were in the positive territory until 24th may until the "Everyone to sea", "No Pray No Pay" and No money patch. 

I am glad you realized the cause of this landslide. Don't worry about ratings right now.

-Add new UI

-Add ships customization back and flags.

-Add tutorial system similar to Albion Online.

-Add event/mission group finder, clan search tool. This is a must to help new guys get into social gaming faster. In fact I quit Potbs right after I purchased it, but then tried it again and got clan invite at the same time, played that game for over 5 years and couldn't leave my clan. Reward those who join clans. 

-Add treasure chests and keys. Treasure maps. This will keep casuals busy. 

-Have weekly/monthly events. Kill 25 super strong NPC ships and get drops. Collect drops and exchange them for ships and other cool unique things. Event's must be announced ahead of time so all players prepare. Events must spawn in all corners of the world at the same time to make sure all people have a chance. Events spawn every 2 hours daily, weekly , monthly. Events must be available to all who want to participate. In fact no one does Epic events you have in the game right now. They are useless. Such events must be displayed on map with clear reward and gold info. ex. Open world map check event spawn locations. Check their requirements and reward. Register. Must be in required ship and Rank. Send out public epic event request to chat. 10/25 Epic Event near Port Royal. Captains wanted. Once full any member can start it. 

These features will get your ratings back no problem. 

Good luck .

 

Edited October 12, 2017 by George Washington

[Hodo]

26 minutes ago, George Washington said:

I am glad you realized the cause of this landslide. Don't worry about ratings right now.

-Add new UI

-Add ships customization back and flags.

-Add tutorial system similar to Albion Online.

-Add event/mission group finder, clan search tool. This is a must to help new guys get into social gaming faster. In fact I quit Potbs right after I purchased it, but then tried it again and got clan invite at the same time, played that game for over 5 years and couldn't leave my clan. Reward those who join clans. 

-Add treasure chests and keys. Treasure maps. This will keep casuals busy. 

-Have weekly/monthly events. Kill 25 super strong NPC ships and get drops. Collect drops and exchange them for ships and other cool unique things. Event's must be announced ahead of time so all players prepare. Events must spawn in all corners of the world at the same time to make sure all people have a chance. Events spawn every 2 hours daily, weekly , monthly. Events must be available to all who want to participate. In fact no one does Epic events you have in the game right now. They are useless. Such events must be displayed on map with clear reward and gold info. ex. Open world map check event spawn locations. Check their requirements and reward. Register. Must be in required ship and Rank. Send out public epic event request to chat. 10/25 Epic Event near Port Royal. Captains wanted. Once full any member can start it. 

These features will get your ratings back no problem. 

Good luck .

 

How about just add decent loot to epic events already in the game world.

[IndianaGeoff]

How about the moving of ships in tow is announced by the clerk in the news section.  Use Tow, it is announced.  If you want to sneak attack, then sail the darn thing yourself.

[IndianaGeoff]

You also have to remember when tow was in earlier, you could send ships any where almost instantly by capping an enemy and using the fleet screen coming out of battle.

Tow was the slow, lazy, expensive way to afk sail.  It was also a way to park a ship overnight if you were maxxed out.

Edited October 12, 2017 by IndianaGeoff

[NethrosDefectus]

Already started phasing out ship crafting and now phasing out any actual need to sail anywhere. What are the odds that this promised coming UI update is actually just switching it over to a match making lobby?

[Guest]

16 hours ago, George Washington said:

I think making port battle size smaller would work for both time zones. Let's say 10 vs 10 as default Port battle setup with option to pay marks + hostility grind in order to open up 15 vs 15 and 25 vs 25. 

10 vs 10 - default hostility requirement + 0 marks

15 vs 15 - 50% more hostility points + 100 PvE marks

25 vs 25 - 100% more hostility points + 150 PvE marks

I believe 10 vs 10 standard setup would have no problem in any time zone. 20 people would definitely be there to fill the spots. In addition we will have tow to port feature in place that will help this happen. 

How does that fix anything? If the side that has primetime is able to field 25 players and the other team 10, then the guys with 25 can simply set up 2 PBs at the same time. Same thing as before.

A hostility requirement increase does very little when hostility build-up is unopposed (thanks to timezones), as well as 150 PvE marks being an extremely small cost for a group of 25 players.

[Ink]

Captains, some clarifications prior to the patch - it will be possible to take a hostility mission from a free town thus outpost owners in Shroud Cay won't lose anything - Shroud Cay will stay as free town.

[monk33y]

Just now, Grundgemunkey said:

im not normally into spelling police because my own spelling is  poor   ... but pandering or to pander has nothing to do with the black and white furry animals

id like to know how you know that the  brits complaining about ganking and the swede/ french/ spain/ dane  complaints were not russian players playing in those nations

are you just laying the groundwork for when you join the russian navy next week ??

I'm dyslexic so sue me!!

[monk33y]

Just now, Batman said:

monk33y complains about players..

monk33y complains even more about player..

 

Wonder what the devs will introduce to make monk33y stop complaining??

Im not complaining jackarse! I'm just stating fact.

I'm really looking forward to the new changes. I can't wait. For the first time in months I'm excited about naval action and the direction it's going ...

 

[admin]

5 minutes ago, monk33y said:

I'm really looking forward to the new changes. I can't wait. For the first time in months I'm excited about naval action and the direction it's going ...

 

We are also very excited about the patch and even about tow (it will definitely increase the ability to jump to action if you know where it is happening). We reduced the tow permits per day from 3 to 1 though - lets start testing the tow effects with 1 tow permit 

The only thing we are unsure about is spawning new nations in one shallow water freetown (we mean new players). We want them to start fighting each other right from the start in shallow water ships, but there is a risk of them allying with each other. 
 

[Celtiberofrog]

3 minutes ago, rediii said:

Im not too sure about it to give players the possibility to even join one of the new nations right from the start. They have no clue how the game works and they will have heavy problems connected with new player experience.

For example they will have no chance to get repairs aswell as no chance to get bigger ships and if they do they have to go to a maybe not even exietent capital of this new nation. Experience could realy suck there for new players i fear

Maybe, some added info (when starting the game & about to choose faction) such as:

France = EASY

GB = EASY

Pirates = AVERAGE

Sweeden = HARD

Prussia = VERY HARD

Russia = VERY HARD

could help new comers to choose EASY faction for a start.

[Sella]

The only thing that concerns me is that there will be so much traffic at Shroud Cay (either because of people looking for PvP, or to move resources etc) that we wont be able to move..

[Landsman]

13 minutes ago, admin said:

We reduced the tow permits per day from 3 to 1 though - lets start testing the tow effects with 1 tow permit 

Nice.

[LeBoiteux]

On 11/10/2017 at 2:35 PM, Anolytic said:

In basic cutter, kill LGV instead. Easily 100k per battle. And it only takes 10 minutes.

Just correcting your mistake, not looking for an advice. Thx anyway.

[George Washington]

23 minutes ago, admin said:

We are also very excited about the patch and even about tow (it will definitely increase the ability to jump to action if you know where it is happening). We reduced the tow permits per day from 3 to 1 though - lets start testing the tow effects with 1 tow permit 

The only thing we are unsure about is spawning new nations in one shallow water freetown (we mean new players). We want them to start fighting each other right from the start in shallow water ships, but there is a risk of them allying with each other. 
 

Change some shallow ports to deep. Don't do it in shallow. You will cut hands and legs from anyone who will try to play those nations. Simply do this and make few ports around them capture from the start with ability to craft some ships. 

'Engineers started work on deep port near Shroud Cay'. Change Shroud Cay name to something else?

Edited October 13, 2017 by George Washington

[Landsman]

3 minutes ago, Celtiberofrog said:

Pirates = AVERAGE

Sweeden = HARD

I don't know what you are smoking but sharing is caring.

[z4ys]

8 minutes ago, admin said:

We are also very excited about the patch and even about tow (it will definitely increase the ability to jump to action if you know where it is happening). We reduced the tow permits per day from 3 to 1 though - lets start testing the tow effects with 1 tow permit 

The only thing we are unsure about is spawning new nations in one shallow water freetown (we mean new players). We want them to start fighting each other right from the start in shallow water ships, but there is a risk of them allying with each other. 
 

I like that  we now get a soft start regarding tow.

But I agree with @rediii that players that are completely new to this game shouldn't be get the option to join the hardcore nations right away. That are the kind of player who really need protection by game design. Only experienced players should be allowed to switch. If you have game lore issues than look at John Paul Jones or Joshua Barney.

But allying through player made alliance can become a major annoyance. I mean these are nations to fight not to life in peace and harmony. Maybe they need a kind of tension mechanic. When tension sinks under a certain lvl this nation retreats from the Caribbean. Then captain which are part of this hardcore nation switch back to their former nation.(which makes sense when people can't join right away)