Patch 27 - Port Interface, New missions, Streamlined economy, Insurance, New currencies.

[Felix Victor]

44 minutes ago, admin said:

• Shooting skill book changed from % of muskets to musket accuracy 
• All upgrades in the fire arms upgrades category slightly rebalanced (accuracy slightly lowered) % of muskets for crew decreased.

You can access current data with the 'list modules' tool (check 'permanent – boarding' and 'ship knowledge – boarding') here: https://na-map.netlify.com/

 

[Darak]

Muskets still seems too powerful.

240 crew with single musket mod vs 280 crew killed 70 and causes enemy moral to go to zero (and this was not vs defence).

Previously this would have caused 10 crew loss max and some moral loss. So if you have muskets and the enemy does not, you win. All other tactics seem redundant.

[Rouleur]

Building Productivity

Using Labour Contracts was not really the point I was making as I know I could buy Labour Contracts. But its now pointless; the productivity is so high you can make 25 or so per day without a labour contract - the point I was making was that the productivity should be rebalanced so you need much more cotton per sail or the amount of cotton produced per day is much reduced. Being able to make 4 to 6 per day without Labour Contracts would be more balanced.

 

 

 

[Tomasso il Fortunato]

Why I can't fit more than 39 Cuban tobacco in my indiaman ? I think it should fit more than 39 because it is tobacco in smaller size ..

[tipsypo]

9 hours ago, Captan Thomas Fremantle said:

Why I can't fit more than 39 Cuban tobacco in my indiaman ? I think it should fit more than 39 because it is tobacco in smaller size ..

Which weighs more 100lb of rocks of 100lb of feathers?

I do believe that the holds "size" in game go on weight rather than physical size of items. All the trading goods now have the same weight. They are all just 100 ton packages of whatever the good is. The prices for those goods are where the differences like "tobacco being smaller in size" and etc ought to be reflected.

Edited November 10, 2018 by tipsypo

[Cmdr RideZ]

A server goes full, 2000 players. There is going to be enough bots in OW for all?

Before instanced battles took care from this but today?

How much slower/faster we get XP in the new model? Not ok if even slower than before.

It can be that you have to invent new kind of instance based missions.

If nations would be in war lore wise, there could be war related missions.

Some kind of events or roaming targets. Informed in mid screen. Can there be nation/player specific events? Like an AI pirate that has been seen in area X. Has better reward etc.

Can there be fleets that are only visible for player who owns the mission?

 

Overall hunting roaming bots does not feel engaging. Not saying there cannot be missions like this but these alone keep me "disconnected".

 

Example:

There is a pirate hunting GB traders near port X. Go sink her.

Sailing there and found the pirate. Marked as the mission specific pirate. This is spawned for me, only one able to start the battle. It makes it feel more immersive, that I get a mission and there actually is that ship.

The ship may have a papers/letters/maps inside. Starts a new mission, telling there is a pirate hideout nearby. Market to my map, sail there and there is an instance for me.

To make fast you can use the same swords to mark locations. Later with time make even graphical hideout on land.

An end dialog informing I found stuff from hideout and can transport to hold.

This kind of missions would make me to feel more engaged, that the NA world has an adventure to offer. Not just, "Go somewhere and try to find some bots if you are lucky and sink em".

 

Doubloons:

Issue with doubloons and sea of thieves is that I have to sail back to port after every fight. I don't have to but to make sure that I get my doubloons. Sailing has never been really fast in NA. This may cause some over head and slow down progress.

Something to consider. It could be done so that x% from the rewards will go directly in the money chest. This way everyone will have some progress. I capture AI trader, 2000 doubloons. 500 doubloons will go directly in the money chest and 1500 in the hold. This same thing could work in PvP.

In Sea Of Thieves, you sail 2 minutes, do a missions 5-15 minutes and sail back 2 minutes. You cannot lose your ship nor gear, as there is nothing to lose. It can be that you have to modify this system to suit NA.

In NA, I sail to sink AI 15 minutes, I am a new player, it takes 60 minutes to win the battle. I start my sail back, 10 minutes. I am attacked, 45 minutes. What I got in the end? Some XP and lost everything. I don't know but I could imagine that this will be too rough for many.

What will eventually happen is that veteran players will farm less experienced players to point they quit.

[Lovec1990]

46 minutes ago, Cmdr RideZ said:

A server goes full, 2000 players. There is going to be enough bots in OW for all?

Before instanced battles took care from this but today?

How much slower/faster we get XP in the new model? Not ok if even slower than before.

It can be that you have to invent new kind of instance based missions.

If nations would be in war lore wise, there could be war related missions.

Some kind of events or roaming targets. Informed in mid screen. Can there be nation/player specific events? Like an AI pirate that has been seen in area X. Has better reward etc.

Can there be fleets that are only visible for player who owns the mission?

 

Overall hunting roaming bots does not feel engaging. Not saying there cannot be missions like this but these alone keep me "disconnected".

 

Example:

There is a pirate hunting GB traders near port X. Go sink her.

Sailing there and found the pirate. Marked as the mission specific pirate. This is spawned for me, only one able to start the battle. It makes it feel more immersive, that I get a mission and there actually is that ship.

The ship may have a papers/letters/maps inside. Starts a new mission, telling there is a pirate hideout nearby. Market to my map, sail there and there is an instance for me.

To make fast you can use the same swords to mark locations. Later with time make even graphical hideout on land.

An end dialog informing I found stuff from hideout and can transport to hold.

This kind of missions would make me to feel more engaged, that the NA world has an adventure to offer. Not just, "Go somewhere and try to find some bots if you are lucky and sink em".

 

Doubloons:

Issue with doubloons and sea of thieves is that I have to sail back to port after every fight. I don't have to but to make sure that I get my doubloons. Sailing has never been really fast in NA. This may cause some over head and slow down progress.

Something to consider. It could be done so that x% from the rewards will go directly in the money chest. This way everyone will have some progress. I capture AI trader, 2000 doubloons. 500 doubloons will go directly in the money chest and 1500 in the hold. This same thing could work in PvP.

In Sea Of Thieves, you sail 2 minutes, do a missions 5-15 minutes and sail back 2 minutes. You cannot lose your ship nor gear, as there is nothing to lose. It can be that you have to modify this system to suit NA.

In NA, I sail to sink AI 15 minutes, I am a new player, it takes 60 minutes to win the battle. I start my sail back, 10 minutes. I am attacked, 45 minutes. What I got in the end? Some XP and lost everything. I don't know but I could imagine that this will be too rough for many.

What will eventually happen is that veteran players will farm less experienced players to point they quit.

its already happening.

 

[Cmdr RideZ]

1 hour ago, Lovec1990 said:

its already happening.

 

I know. It can be that Sea Of Thieves alone is not good enough.

 

One option could be:

Instance based missions for 7th to 5th rates. Make much easier for new players to start or get back on their feet.

Long time ago 5th rates had durability 5. Upgrade to 5th rate cost about 1/5 from what it cost to 1st rate. They could bring back similar multi durability price curve. Make all 5th rate gear also common.

[Jean Ribault]

Anything to make it easier for newer players to at least gain some ground without being discouraged, I'm for.  Increasing difficulty as players get established in game.  Crutches should be available for newer players until they can get established in game.  It may help with player retention, which is good for all players.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Jean Ribault

[Anolytic]

Remember when we had rookie capitals?

Give new players 2 starting outposts:

Nation Capital + Shroud Cay. (Impossible nations only the latter)

Also make teleporting to Shroud Cay free (no doubloon cost). ONLY teleporting into Shroud Cay.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Anolytic

[Barbancourt]

20 minutes ago, Anolytic said:

Remember when we had rookie capitals?

Give new players 2 starting outposts:

Nation Capital + Shroud Cay. (Impossible nations only the latter)

Also make teleporting to Shroud Cay free (no doubloon cost). ONLY teleporting into Shroud Cay.

Bahamas are a bloodbath.  No need to feed the sealclubbers there.

[John Jacob Astor]

On 11/9/2018 at 2:42 AM, admin said:

You can hire more labor force in the Admiralty, by purchasing labor contracts. 

@admin, there may be a balance problem as relates to the actual volume of Doubloons in the market.

US national markets do not have much in the way of doubloon traffic.  So yesterday evening I surveyed Tumbado, Shroud, La Mona and La Tortue.  I found a total of 15 contracts offering a total of 21,210 Doubloons at an average (weighted) of 153 Reals.

This sounds like a lot until the volume is thought of in terms of the the crafting markets.  If the L3 labor for resources and the shipyard build is added together this would appear to be roughly equivalent to the labor necessary to build slightly less than nine Indiamen.  In terms of the totality of the player environment that is not very many ships.  And of course extra labor for ships and resources aren't the only things that  consume the coins.  And then there is also the resultant cost of the labor, which seems rather high.

What are the expected price ranges and volumes for Doubloons to be viable for the purchase labor contracts?  Unless my math is wrong there does not appear to be a sufficient Doubloon volume entering the markets to make this bifurcated coin economy actually work.

Doubloon earners are either 1) not earning enough coins, 2) do not actually need to sell them, 3) or there may be issues with the mechanics of selling them.  Or possibly some combination of all three.

Edited November 12, 2018 by John Jacob Astor
clarification

[Vernon Merrill]

33 minutes ago, John Jacob Astor said:

@admin, there may be a balance problem as relates to the actual volume of Doubloons in the market.

US national markets do not have much in the way of doubloon traffic.  So yesterday evening I surveyed Tumbado, Shroud, La Mona and La Tortue.  I found a total of 15 contracts offering a total of 21,210 Doubloons at an average (weighted) of 153 Reals.

This sounds like a lot until the volume is thought of in terms of the the crafting markets.  If the L3 labor for resources and the shipyard build is added together this would appear to be roughly equivalent to the labor necessary to build slightly less than nine Indiamen.  In terms of the totality of the player environment that is not very many ships.  And of course extra labor for ships and resources aren't the only things that  consume the coins.  And then there is also the resultant cost of the labor, which seems rather high.

What are the expected price ranges and volumes for Doubloons to be viable for the purchase labor contracts?  Unless my math is wrong there does not appear to be a sufficient Doubloon volume entering the markets to make this bifurcated coin economy actually work.

Doubloon earners are either 1) not earning enough coins, 2) do not actually need to sell them, 3) or there may be issues with the mechanics of selling them.  Or possibly some combination of all three.

2)

 

I would venture a guess that many “PvP’ers” have everything they need already and, thus, don’t really need to spend many. (But are most likely hoarding them because A) that’s what people do in this game and b) it’s still new and they may become more limited).

And also, “RvR’ers” seem to be still contemplating and evaluating the cost factor of waging war still.  So these players, too, are probably hoarding until the new RvR meta is determined.  

[Manbot]

@admin would like to give u a short summary of my thoughts on the changes after these week of playing.

first of all great work with the UI looks good and works much better then the old one! 

Now my issue is with the change of both the crafting requirements and the ai fleet paths which I think will kill this game for many veterans and most importantly new player. 

- grinding is way too hard for new players, fleets are too large and players with a basic cutter do not find it easy to take them on.

- the sizes of the fleets while great for battles are to large to engage alone- this forces me to either get a friend ( which we don’t all have every time we play) or not attack them at all.

-doubloons are too hard to get and of too much value- the cost of items in Dubloons are a lot higher then what you can get from grinding.

- which means I will never furfill the missions I have and therefore never get their rewards.

- forcing me to find enemy fleets in enemy waters is counter prouductive in both reals and ship. I’m forced to restock at free ports where repairs costs a fortune and forced to used secondary ships to hunt for fear of loosing more expensive to craft ships.

- crafting is absured, while it’s much easier for basic resources to be farmed both woods like white oak and live oak are still a grind to get and ship and even after that you are hit by wooping doubloons tax that for the reasons above just takes the will out of grinding to craft any ships.

while I understand these changes where made to push for more pvp battles I think they have done the opposite where people now engage in much less pvp and pve. 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Manbot

[AgentGB]

Can we not have player generated missions. similar to contracts. At the moment, there doesn't seem to be that much incentive to assist players outside of patrol zone event since the risk outweighs the reward, & not all players are driven by goodwill, & cannot be built on in the 1st place if the interaction isn't driven through game mechanics. Seems the only way to make any real moolah is through trading. So why not introduce a synergy between traders & hunters. Seems strange that players can not issue contracts on enemy players, perhaps, a combined money pot, in which a contract can be issued and contributed into by other players that see the hunter collecting on it. This will add a dynamic to the hunter & hunted, this could also add a push/pull factor to different ports, if wanting to make such contracts localized to a port/area (e.g Cuba region) or just faction global. 

 

If exploiting of such a system is a problem, similar akin to that of  "the good, bad & ugly" from which Clint Eastwood fiddles the bounty system. I think overall, any gaming of such a system will hardly see them reaping huge wealth, and will most likely end up with them sinking their time into meeting up somewhere to game it & divvy up the reward. Plus if such mission contracts can only be issued at faction ports, will make it more difficult regardless. 

[o Barão]

2 hours ago, Manbot said:

@admin would like to give u a short summary of my thoughts on the changes after these week of playing.

first of all great work with the UI looks good and works much better then the old one! 

Now my issue is with the change of both the crafting requirements and the ai fleet paths which I think will kill this game for many veterans and most importantly new player. 

- grinding is way too hard for new players, fleets are too large and players with a basic cutter do not find it easy to take them on. farm traders easy targets

- the sizes of the fleets while great for battles are to large to engage alone- this forces me to either get a friend ( which we don’t all have every time we play) or not attack them at all.

-doubloons are too hard to get and of too much value- the cost of items in Dubloons are a lot higher then what you can get from grinding.farm traders easy doubloons

- which means I will never furfill the missions I have and therefore never get their rewards.

- forcing me to find enemy fleets in enemy waters is counter prouductive in both reals and ship. I’m forced to restock at free ports where repairs costs a fortune and forced to used secondary ships to hunt for fear of loosing more expensive to craft ships.

- crafting is absured, while it’s much easier for basic resources to be farmed both woods like white oak and live oak are still a grind to get and ship and even after that you are hit by wooping doubloons tax that for the reasons above just takes the will out of grinding to craft any ships. "white oak and live oak" farm traders and  you will get all the woods

while I understand these changes where made to push for more pvp battles I think they have done the opposite where people now engage in much less pvp and pve. 

 

[John Jacob Astor]

9 hours ago, Wraith said:

 

Yup, speaking for those I have contact with, I don't think anyone is really contemplating selling doubloons because they are too limited a resource at the moment relative to the extreme costs for sinks like mods and line ships. And with there being a lot of uncertainty in both future pricing and future drop rates for both, everyone is just stacking them at the moment and letting things lie for the time being, RvR-wise.

I won't speak for other clans but across our active players we are easily amassing enough doubloons to replace a couple of first rates a day.. But I don't think most individual players, unless they're very lucky or winning a lot of PvP battles could afford to go out and lose even a single third rate per day (plus its mods) without it becoming doubloon-neutral at best?

That's my impression anyway.  I feel like costs for mods need to go down.. and/or doubloon wins for PvP (the ones going straight to the wallet and the metric by which PvP leaders are measured) should go up still further, possibly awarded by damage dealt and not kills/assists in order to reduce the incentive to only take fights you can win, loot, and sail away from (i.e. gank).  I mean, even Ram Dinark is not getting enough doubs from PvP kills alone to replace more than a Navy Hull should he lose a ship. Now, because he's elite, he certainly is getting loot and a lot of doubloons from those wins, and that's fine, and can offset the cost of PvP if you're actually able to loot and escape with the doubloons. But that can be tricky, especially for new players.

 

I have exploratory buy / sell contracts out in several different ports.  I don't think the price has settled out yet, as it's pretty clear buyers and sellers haven't fully adjusted to the re-denomination into Reals and Doubloons.  But what you are describing fits.  There doesn't seem to be a compelling logic for the large scale sale of Doubloons.

At least not enough to supply the volume of extra labor needed to make the crafting markets work.  Combat players need them more for other things, than for the Reals that a sale generates.

[o Barão]

I need some help please.

 

The devs said and i quote in the patch notes:

• You cannot take non captureable ships to the open world but you can use them in the instance
• this means you can capture all ships for sailing in the current battle instance
• once you exit the instance non capturable ships will be taken over by the admiralty (with hold)
• Please make sure you dont exit in the imported ship or non capturable ship to the open world if you have valuable things in the hold
• To receive a reward for that ship sink it in the instance transferring to a capturable ship

The last part is what i am getting confused.

" To receive a reward for that ship sink it in the instance transferring to a capturable ship"

My english is not very good so can someone explain in more details the last sentence?

Edited November 12, 2018 by no one

[woodenfish]

25 minutes ago, no one said:

I need some help please.

 

The devs said and i quote in the patch notes:

• You cannot take non captureable ships to the open world but you can use them in the instance
• this means you can capture all ships for sailing in the current battle instance
• once you exit the instance non capturable ships will be taken over by the admiralty (with hold)
• Please make sure you dont exit in the imported ship or non capturable ship to the open world if you have valuable things in the hold
• To receive a reward for that ship sink it in the instance transferring to a capturable ship

The last part is what i am getting confused.

" To receive a reward for that ship sink it in the instance transferring to a capturable ship"

My english is not very good so can someone explain in more details the last sentence?

If you capture a Le Requin (for example) in a battle (instance) and transfer to it (sail in it) you can do that. If you want the doubloons/other rewards, you have to sink it in the battle (instance). To do that you have to be on a different ship which needs to be a non DLC one.

[o Barão]

1 hour ago, woodenfish said:

If you capture a Le Requin (for example) in a battle (instance) and transfer to it (sail in it) you can do that. If you want the doubloons/other rewards, you have to sink it in the battle (instance). To do that you have to be on a different ship which needs to be a non DLC one.

ok i think i did understand  just some questions to clarify.

1- I can capture all 4-1 rate players ships and sail them in OW?

 

I can't capture and take any 4-1 AI ship to the OW however i can use them in battle. 

2- So lf i capture an 4-1 AI ship or a DLC ship in battle and transfer all my crew to that ship and my first got sunk what happens when the battle ends?  I will teleport to the nearest outpost?

[CdrNexoe]

On ‎11‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 11:07 AM, admin said:

Please post in the support section and provide actual information on your account. 

Have THERE TOO.. And no results

 

[Manbot]

8 hours ago, no one said:

 

So what your are telling me is after this patch I need to search an empty sea for traders so I can hit their sails and board them or sink them to hope for a Dubloons drop and then keep doing that indefinitely??? Just so I can maybe build 1 first rate? 

 

wow that’s boring lol and far from what the devd where trying to do I’m sure 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Manbot

[o Barão]

1 hour ago, Manbot said:

So what your are telling me is after this patch I need to search an empty sea for traders so I can hit their sails and board them or sink them to hope for a Dubloons drop and then keep doing that indefinitely??? Just so I can maybe build 1 first rate? 

 

wow that’s boring lol and far from what the devd where trying to do I’m sure 

Doesn't matter if is boring or not the only thing it matters is that works great for new players in game.  Just for you have a better picture , last week i farmed 7k doubloons in 3 days, many different woods ( some white oak, live oak, teak ) so basically with the new patch i am able to buy almost anything with a little work,  also it helps a lot for new players that want to craft. If you like to do different things there are missions ,  you can help your teammates in fighting the AI fleets to gain exp, etc, etc . It is an open world have fun.

[La bouche]

It is great indeed. Everybody have things to do now, including PvPers. Every corner i sail i see players around. You just need to adapt to the new enviroment. Devs are in the right tracks this time.

[Manbot]

2 hours ago, no one said:

Doesn't matter if is boring or not the only thing it matters is that works great for new players in game.  Just for you have a better picture , last week i farmed 7k doubloons in 3 days, many different woods ( some white oak, live oak, teak ) so basically with the new patch i am able to buy almost anything with a little work,  also it helps a lot for new players that want to craft. If you like to do different things there are missions ,  you can help your teammates in fighting the AI fleets to gain exp, etc, etc . It is an open world have fun.

So you telling me that it didn’t matter if a game is boring? If I wanted to be bored I would go to work lol a game is ment to be fun and chasing traders around an empty see isn’t- I can’t even attack AI fleets without having the help of a friend as they are so large and rare to find!!

 

1 hour ago, La bouche said:

It is great indeed. Everybody have things to do now, including PvPers. Every corner i sail i see players around. You just need to adapt to the new enviroment. Devs are in the right tracks this time.

Don’t know where u sailing but from where I am pvp has gone down- for the first time since I can remember of a major patch player numbers have gone down not up, rvr is dead in the water as smaller clans are afraid to lose their ships that cost 10k doubloons to craft, the market is gone to shits and old veterans ( main pop base of the game) have called it quits on naval.