Opinions of a Newcomer

[znôrt]

1 minute ago, admin said:

Typo))) 

60 man days for integration part   of course not months. 2 man months

that's way more reasonable. you scared me!

[admin]

Just now, Rickard said:

the thing that I always ask myself is: why don't you hire more programmers?

because we can't afford more programmers for 2 reasons
1) more programmers some times is worse than 2 good programmers  
2) having less programmers allows us to focus on whats important (sometimes incorrectly)

2 programmers are currently enough to finish tutorial and user interface and localization and these are most important things now.

[George Washington]

3 minutes ago, admin said:

because we can't afford more programmers for 2 reasons
1) more programmers some times is worse than 2 good programmers  
2) having less programmers allows us to focus on whats important (sometimes incorrectly)

2 programmers are currently enough to finish tutorial and user interface and localization and these are most important things now.

01/01/2018 still on track for release?

[George Washington]

4 minutes ago, Intrepido said:

Impressive, 2 months for one ship.

That explain a lot of things.

Sad part is no one cares about ships as content, players want real MMO content. SO, we are doomed. 

Edited November 15, 2017 by George Washington

[LeBoiteux]

17 minutes ago, jodgi said:

You can throw PVE stuff at them and it's only a rather short matter of time before they've exhausted it and are gaping for more.

I don't think Pve-ers would be soon bored by AI aggressiveness (bots tagging) or a smarter AI . 

[TheHaney]

3 minutes ago, admin said:

2 programmers are currently enough to finish tutorial and user interface and localization and these are most important things now.

I'm actually really pleased that the tutorial/UI is a focus at the moment. As a new player those are far and away the two most jarring things for me.

 

In regards to hiring more programmers (perhaps 2 for ships and 1 for other systems), is there any plan to put purchasable content into the main game? I've only had it for less than a week and I guarantee you if there was a cool Cerberus skin for $4.99 or a 6-hour gold booster for $2.99 I would have bought them already. I know a lot of <cough> older players aren't fond of that type of thing, but it really is a great way forward (as I'm sure you've seen from games like World-of-Whatever and Warframe). Especially in Early Access it could really help boost the coffers.

[George Washington]

2 minutes ago, Intrepido said:

I care. And all the guys that have voted in the last polls for new ships.

I know pvp crowd cares, but after few weeks ships are nothing more than pixels and yet again boring empty oceans. PvE content with mind put into it will keep players in game for a long time. Pixel ships won't Devs never realized it. 

Edited November 15, 2017 by George Washington

[admin]

2 minutes ago, George Washington said:

I know pvp crowd cares, but after few weeks ships are nothing more than pixels and yet again boring empty oceans. 

unless you join a pvp clan and hunt enemies or run from them. I suggest you take a look at @Liq or @Moscalb streams. its real hunting experience - long waits and then boom exciting battles

epic event is first start of testing waters with hard pve content with awesome rewards.

[TheHaney]

Just now, George Washington said:

I know pvp crowd cares, but after few weeks ships are nothing more than pixels and yet again boring empty oceans. 

On one hand I'm really pleasantly surprised at the level of attentionon the individual ships, but I'd agree it's a dangerous thing to be hyper-focused on. With the sheer *time* involved in the game, there needs to be more than just pretty, intricate models floating for hours through water.

[George Washington]

2 minutes ago, admin said:

unless you join a pvp clan and hunt enemies or they will hunt you
epic event is first start of testing waters with hard pvp content with awesome rewards.

Are server merge happening any time soon? I mean with 150 players(half PvE) on US there is nothing to hunt. 

Edited November 15, 2017 by George Washington

[Landsman]

24 minutes ago, admin said:

thats why most other sailing games ships look like shit, they just don't care. I hope you do.

I do bro... i do.    

The only other thing i'd like you to improve on visually is the towns in OW. The OW looks sooo nice and while some towns / ports look nice too ( like being on a cliffside or something with tiny huts hidden in palm forests etc. ) they look rather boring overall. There are no people and the buildings seem a bit oversized, if you move a ship next to them... also there is rather little variation in buildings and architecture style... I saw this old WIP render here on the forums and wonder what happened to it? It looks so awesome... compared to the marker type cookie cutter towns we have now... I know it probably won't change any time soon but a man can dream, right?

[jodgi]

2 minutes ago, George Washington said:

Are server merge happening any time soon? I mean with 150 players on US there is nothing to hunt. 

If they can find a way of doing it without pissing everyone off; it'll happen. You won't get a time frame.

[George Washington]

4 minutes ago, Intrepido said:

I confess that sometimes I find myself spending minutes looking at the beauty of my favorite ships.

They are beautiful and we can admit that there is no game on the market that can beat NA ship quality. Unfortunately they can beat NA in everything else. So, yeah we rock with 20% of epic content and fail with the rest?

Edited November 15, 2017 by George Washington

[Niels Terkildsen]

30 minutes ago, jodgi said:

YES!

You can throw PVE stuff at them and it's only a rather short matter of time before they've exhausted it and are gaping for more.

"The Fight" gives and never stops giving.

"The Fight giveth and the Fight taketh away".

[TheHaney]

1 minute ago, George Washington said:

They are beautiful and we can admit that there is no game on the market that can beat NA ship quality. Unfortunately they can beat NA in everything else. 

This is uncomfortably close to the situation I see.

I know it's in a strange spot when I'm tabbing out to play Sid Meyer's Pirates! while sailing in Naval Action.

[George Washington]

3 minutes ago, TheHaney said:

This is uncomfortably close to the situation I see.

I know it's in a strange spot when I'm tabbing out to play Sid Meyer's Pirates! while sailing in Naval Action.

Like I said it before Devs! hire a script writer and implement Jack Aubrey like character into NA main story line and build quests around him, you will have everything you ever wanted in life.  

Same story different characters for each faction, rewards, ships etc.. but forget it let's keep adding more ships. 

Edited November 15, 2017 by George Washington

[TheHaney]

4 minutes ago, George Washington said:

Like I said it before Devs! hire a script writer and implement Jack Aubrey like character into NA main story line and build quests around him, you will have everything you ever wanted in life. 

Aye, I think people often underestimate the power of theming and story in even a PvP-focused game. World-building is the #1 early player retention tool.

 

A great example of this is Warframe. At it's core it is an extremely basic gameplay loop: Go into a mission with a party of 4, kill crappy AI, get loot. Repeat. It also has really bad tutorials and a lackluster new player experience.

That would wear out really, really fast. The game is insanely successful, however, because they have dozens of different missions, several extremely well-built quest arcs, automated special events, several incredibly deep crafting systems layered into each other, an insanely robust F2P store, and a HUGE amount of world building. Backstory, information, flavor text... everything one needs to be immersed.

Edited November 15, 2017 by TheHaney

[Guest]

2 hours ago, TheHaney said:

- There seems to be a schism in the community between people that want absolute realism (and use it as a defense against / argument for any change), and people that understand that realism at the expense of gameplay, especially in an MMO, is a great way to kill a game. Ya gotta have quality-of-life systems in place, even if you feel like it should really take weeks to sail from A to B.

People keep saying this, but I have yet to see them point out where, as well as the supposed 'realistic mechanics that are ruining the game' (another thread).

Edited November 15, 2017 by Guest

[jodgi]

12 minutes ago, LeBoiteux said:

I don't think Pve-ers would be soon bored by AI aggressiveness (bots tagging) or a smarter AI . 

Hehe, Oh, I'm sure they think they'd love it. Maybe they would love it long time, baby?

You would have to barter with the pvp'ers to get that horrible nuisance back into the game. How about <shivers> ai aggro for no safe zones, no fleets and insta or 90 secs close ROE?

[Preechur Blackheart]

I have to say thanks for the admin update, and huzzah for the revelation that tutorials and UI are top of list for dev time! I have played every naval sim out there, and enjoy this one the most - for sheer beauty, freedom to choose PvP or PvE within the same world (we can FIND PvP and the risk of PvP produces an adrenaline rush even when in mostly safe areas). The current state of the game is the best it has been, IMHO. I am excited to see what happens when the UI is shown and new player tutorials arrive.

[Landsman]

22 minutes ago, LeBoiteux said:

I don't think Pve-ers would be soon bored by AI aggressiveness (bots tagging) or a smarter AI

Honestly no matter how good AI is, it will always end up being fairly predictable and thus fighting it rather boring and one-dimensional. I wouldn't ever touch the game again, if stupid NPCs would attack me in the OW on the PvP server and i will never understand the people enjoying PvE. I can only assume, they'd rather stay in their comfort zone, avoiding competition and real challenges.

[TheHaney]

8 minutes ago, Landsman said:

...i will never understand the people enjoying PvE. I can only assume, they'd rather stay in their comfort zone, avoiding competition and real challenges.

 

This is the kind of nasty shit I was talking about. Essentially useless chest-beating. Bravo to you.

 

Personally as a new player, the AI combat is fairly critical for me. I make mistakes, I don't pay attention and get stuck in irons, I do low damage because I have a bad angle (gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers). Now, could we benefit from better AI? Yes. Could we benefit from more mission types? Yes. Will that ever be as challenging as PvP? Conceivably, with the right mindset. Lopsided fights, special NPC ships (famous captains with boosted numbers? Heaven forbid they have special lines they shout out during combat!). Imagine if I attacked a trading ship in OW and there was a slight chance to get a message during combat:  "A frigate fleet has seen the embattled trader and will arrive to assist them in 8 minutes!"

 

The point is that while this is and will always clearly be a PvP-focused game, there is still plenty of room for PvE content. The two are not mutually exclusive, nor is one necessarily "harder" than the other, nor does one excuse the absence of the other.

Edited November 15, 2017 by TheHaney

[jodgi]

13 minutes ago, George Washington said:

They are beautiful and we can admit that there is no game on the market that can beat NA ship quality. Unfortunately they can beat NA in everything else. So, yeah we rock with 20% of epic content and fail with the rest?

The fighting mechanics in this game puts it among the best PvP fighting games ever made. On my list it's among the top three.

[Jarlath Morrow]

1 minute ago, jodgi said:

The fighting mechanics in this game puts it among the best PvP fighting games ever made. On my list it's among the top three.

Yes, the ships are absolutely gorgeous and I love them. But the damage model in this game is fantastic - it's what really keeps my mind turning when it comes to Naval Action.

[TheHaney]

3 minutes ago, jodgi said:

The fighting mechanics in this game puts it among the best PvP fighting games ever made. On my list it's among the top three.

I think it would be fair to say that it's among the best naval sailing combat systems ever made. The TLC that went into the models and their interactions is extremely evident. Saying it's among the best PVP fighting games as a whole is just silly.

Edited November 15, 2017 by TheHaney