Operations: Welcome to the Caribbean - suggestions

[TheHaney]

From a mission suggestion standpoint, I really can't emphasize enough that worldbuilding will make all the difference. EVE Online epic story arcs are a good example of this; chains of 10-12 very basic missions (go here, deliver this, kill target, etc) but the flavor built around every mission makes it memorable and exciting.

 

My suggestion would be to have a good 'ole tavern in ports where you can hire a guide. Different guides have different personalities and offer different mission lines based on their archetype:

Sneaky/Smuggler missions

Military/Patriotic missions

Privateer/Raider missions

Trading/Crafting missions

 

[Sir Texas Sir]

1 hour ago, Angus MacDuff said:

Have you seen the questions on Global?  How do I buy guns?  How do I put them on my ship?  What do repairs do?  I'm lost...Help!  We need something...

(Btw, those were questions from @Sir Texas Sir last night...)

That must of been when my cat was playing on PvE while I was at work.  She's such a noob.

Though a good tutorial would show those things at the start of the game so we won't h ave to answer those questions ever 5 mins.

[Fargo]

1 minute ago, admin said:

Please stop assuming that others can understand or can not understand real reasons. There are no resources to focus on all the reasons. 

There are people who like what is already in game and there are people who will never like it. The goal of the new player operations (basically a checklist) is to guide people who could like the game to the right activities - right away. All other potential players could be handled later step by step if this first step succeeds.  Once you understand that this is not a game for everyone. And there is no point to please everyone. 

The point is you are wasting not only your time, but everyones time, by adding, changing or removing features, based on a broken core game. Everything you add, this included, might be redundant once you fixed basic mechanics after a full wipe. And this is not just since today, but for a whole year now.

It makes no sense to care about new players, but ignore inflation that especially affects new players. It is a joke to claim that materials are redundant while every single good is inflated since month... Everything you did against ganking didnt solve the cause of the issue, and becomes redundant the moment you achieve that. BR restrictions, everything you did to reduce 1st rate PBs becomes redundant once you reduced 1st rate production naturally. Etc.

We might like a features that might not work with existent features, and even make an existent feature redundant. You are responsible to make everything that gets added to the game work. Could you confirm that? Then look at the game please. Im just working on a topic pointing out once again how you made crafting and local trade redundant, and how poorly this is designed.

Dont you want us to help you engineering the most perfect game possible? Or what is the goal. Making a game that not everyone hates? Thats a pretty good description of current NA...

[Anolytic]

10 hours ago, admin said:

Equip an upgrade on your ship 

 

10 hours ago, admin said:

Atack an enemy player in enemy capital waters and inflict 2000 damage in one battle

RIP noobs' Naval Clocks.

[Draymoor]

The ideas are cool but some of those operations would require we had access to more buildings and more outposts, at least a few more. I already bought the DLC to increase them and still feel like I could use more. 

[Sir Texas Sir]

Since we are talking about missions and new players and how to retain them. I honestly think we should make a separate green zone that is truly safe for new players in the three key starter Nations.  French/Spain you can use the areas in the Gulf of Mexico (give option when you make a char which one you want to start at, normal capital or Newbie capital).  Make that whole green zone the same as the capital zone for rules of engagement.  If LR is going to turn into a none capturable port for US than make CT and North the same, the newbie/casual friendly zones. 

Your never going to get any where trying to force those players into PvP, let them do it on there own.  Just don't offer good rewards in these zones.  We all ready have to go out to find OW ships  of other nations, so make any missions done in these zones only reward basic mods and low level gear and nothing more.  No chance for high good gear while in those zones.  Low risk high rewards after all.  

Fix the PvP zones ROE like folks been asking for some time to encourage more PvP in them.  I personlly loved the old ROE in the shallow newbie zones back when we had it as it keep fights small and more fair, something like that could be brought back and maybe even put it in certain zones that are meant for perm PvP zones/hot spots ( around Freetowns).

Free towns should be treated like the old Neutral towns.  No one can attack each other around the small green zones.  This will encourage them to be more like trade zones not gank zones.  Nothing worse than getting caught by bad wind trying to pull into Tumboda and some one tags you in that harbor when your just inches away from the port.  You can still fight in the areas just not right at the ports entrances.  You will prob see more traffic in these areas with this.  Zones might have to be adjusted so not to effect other ports (La Tourt comes to mind on this one.).  

[Guest]

@Sir Texas Sir forget zoning this and zoning that!

Best way is by progression, NA avenue to do so would be to limit fights to +1 -1 captain rank.

Then a ensign can sail where he /she wants and know they can only be attack by only another midshipman/ensign/second lieutenant, fair by all accounts.

That's how to support new and up 'n' coming players, there be good numbers on release to carry +1 -1 fights.

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Guest

[Draymoor]

4 minutes ago, BuckleUpBones said:

@Sir Texas Sir forget zoning this and zoning that!

 

Best way is by progression, NA avenue to do so would be to limit fights to +1 -1 captain rank.

 

Then a ensign can sailed where he /she wants and know they can only be attack by only another midshipman/ensign/second lieutenant, fair by all counts.

That's how support new players and up 'n' coming players, there be good numbers on release to carry +1 -1 fights.

This seems like a good idea but there also needs to be something to discourage ganking. I don't see it should be allowed for something like 3 4th rates to attack one 5th rate in PvP, regardless of rank. If allowed it should be a least discouraged and there should be some feature in place to encourage more fair battles that are fun for all sides involved. The higher your rank compared to your opponent and the more unbalanced the BR becomes the lesser any reward should be. 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Draymoor said:

This seems like a good idea but there also needs to be something to discourage ganking. I don't see it should be allowed for something like 3 4th rates to attack one 5th rate in PvP, regardless of rank. If allowed it should be a least discouraged and there should be some feature in place to encourage more fair battles that are fun for all sides involved. The higher your rank compared to your opponent and the more unbalanced the BR becomes the lesser any reward should be. 

In the merit of the game, ganking allowed, sail alone at your own risk, clan base game is the focus, so BR can't be a limit either. 

[Barbancourt]

8 hours ago, huliotkd said:

Buy a trading good and deliver to enemy capital                impossible also for many vets...

A random trade good can be easily done with a T-Lynx, with potentially a few losses, though I'm not sure why you'd want a noob to throw away ships.  Violates the rule of "don't feed your enemies easy rewards" as well.

 

[Cetric de Cornusiac]

On 11/6/2018 at 10:18 AM, admin said:

Join the clan from the leaderboard (forced requirement - operation will not complete if this )

All is well. Except this one. I don't want to be forced into any clan I would not chose voluntarily. Skip this.

[Sir Texas Sir]

13 hours ago, BuckleUpBones said:

@Sir Texas Sir forget zoning this and zoning that!

Best way is by progression, NA avenue to do so would be to limit fights to +1 -1 captain rank.

Then a ensign can sail where he /she wants and know they can only be attack by only another midshipman/ensign/second lieutenant, fair by all accounts.

That's how to support new and up 'n' coming players, there be good numbers on release to carry +1 -1 fights.

 

That won't work why should a spireted low rank guy be limited to fight a RA?   Or other wise.   Not to mention just from my own expierence on other MMO's that had split areas' of ranks folks will make low ranking chars just to kill low ranking players.  I use to have a char on the GW server that was rank 6-7 in the newbie area to escort new players and help them.  I also had it there to kill seal clubbers that did the same but to harm new players.  I done this on several games and it's been used both good and bad by players.  Just like in WoT folks like to go into low tier and kill new players.  That and it would be abused by alts.  You don't want to get tagged?   Just use that alt you never leveled up.  

By the way this has been brought up along with doing a PvE/PvP flag and they both have worse actions than just making safe zones.  There is a reason why games like EvE has a low sec an high sec zones instead of having  lower rank players on a nother server or restricting of who can fight who by rank.

[samba_liten]

My 2p on the clan thing.

I have no interest in joining a clan, and would resent the game forcing me to do so. Creating my own clan is fine (I've already done so, just for fun), but that seems pointless for most people.

[Old Crusty]

On 11/6/2018 at 1:18 AM, admin said:

Welcome to the caribbean will be a new player operation that every player must pass before getting access to admiralty missions (all types). The goal of the operation is to guide the player through necessary steps required for great gameplay. 

What we need is your suggestions of steps and hoops passing through which will prepare the player to be a member of your fleet or clan. 

Proposed 3 part operation

Welcome to the Caribbean

• Equip an upgrade on your ship 
• Equip guns to your ship
• Unlock and equip a perk
• Repair your ship in battle
• Find and capture a trader in the open world
• Find and sell a trading good in your Capital
• Deliver the ship to  ____ name of free town contextual to your nation.. For example American players will be required to set up outpost in La Tortue or Tumbado
• Establish the outpost in that city
• Join the clan from the leaderboard (forced requirement - operation will not complete if this )

Trials by fire (pvp missions wont be available on pve server)

• Sink 5 combat ships in the open world
• Capture 5 trading ships and deliver them to port
• Atack an enemy player in enemy capital waters and inflict 2000 damage in one battle
• Gain 5 PVP assists
• Participate in a port battle

Operation Columbus

Establish 5 outposts 

• La Tortue
• Tumbado
• La Mona
• Shroud Cay
• Aves
   

Operation Trade Lanes

• Build a workshop
• Build a mine
• Grow a forest
• Build a forge
• Craft and deliver 100 repairs
• Craft and deliver 50 12lb carronades
• Buy a trading good and deliver to enemy capital

Operation Welcome is mandatory for progression.
All other operations could be optional.

 

Propose interesting missions and rewards. We are very interested in your input and ideas. 

How about you concentrate on all the problems in the game that the players have been bringing up in the Forums?

A tutorial that would accomplish the tasks in Welcome to the Caribbean is good to teach people the basics.

Forcing people to join a clan, and forcing clans to accept people is wrong period.

If you would fix the Patrol Zones everyone would lead new players there to get PvP experience.

Requiring a person to set up ports where you want them to is simply wrong unless you give us several more.

Just concentrate on fixing the problems that we have been bringing up and the game will be a lot better.

[Barbancourt]

On 11/6/2018 at 12:30 AM, Mr Pellew said:

The only issue I have with that mission is sending people to an enemy safezone. Send them to the PvP zone or somewhere else but not enemy safezone.

Sending new players to the PVP zone would be chumming the waters.  They're just going to get curbstomped repeatedly by the roving gank fleets. Sending them to enemy capitals is much safer, LOL. 

[TheHaney]

There's an opportunity in the tutorial OW missions to tie them into real-world events.

 

As an example, the mission to enemy reinforcement zones can be themed after Stephen Decatur's infiltration of Tripoli. Have the new player sail to a mission located in an enemy reinforcement zone that requires them to board and sink an enemy Constitution that's manned by only 40 crew. Spice it up with flavor dialogue and you've got yourself a daring, dangerous, memorable new player experience.

[admin]

10 hours ago, Old Crusty said:

How about you concentrate on all the problems in the game that the players have been bringing up in the Forums?

 

Captains. We would like to remind everyone that we are interested in proposals on exciting missions, stories and events that new player can be exposed it as part of the operation. We are not interested in anything else in this topic. 

Please avoid rants and off topic. If you cannot avoid rants and off topic = do not post. 

[Barbancourt]

I think a straightforward prompted "Open World orientation" would be more helpful than a string of mission hoops.  Particularly things like navigation (with protractor and trader tool), fleeting and fleet control, markets/trading/contracts, farm/mine/workshop/shipyards, port entry rules, missions/patrolzones, hostility/PB mechanics, other things I forget....and most importantly of all the Rules Of Engagement in detail.  I've been playing for a long time and I STILL don't really understand the ROE.  I also don't understand all of the interface for controlling fleet ships in battle.  Elaborate "newbie quests" like establishing multiple outposts, killing multiple ships or getting involved in PBs or clans are getting off track of an orientation, and instead could be offered through the normal mission interfaces.  The game has no manual, so an orientation is an opportunity to guide players through how the interfaces work. 

 

[tipsypo]

On ‎11‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 9:18 AM, admin said:

The goal of the operation is to guide the player through necessary steps required for great gameplay.

 

On ‎11‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 9:18 AM, admin said:

• Find and sell a trading good in your Capital

Maybe someone's mentioned this already (no results searching "contract" though) but some task to guide them in setting up and obtaining goods through buy/sell contracts specifically. As that's something that took a little bit of learning when I first started on the game. And made quite a good difference to my gameplay once I learned how to. It's now something that I am going to have to spend some time learning about again.

Edited November 8, 2018 by tipsypo

[qw569😳]

On 11/6/2018 at 12:18 PM, admin said:

Welcome to the caribbean will be a new player operation that every player must pass before getting access to admiralty missions (all types). The goal of the operation is to guide the player through necessary steps required for great gameplay. 

What we need is your suggestions of steps and hoops passing through which will prepare the player to be a member of your fleet or clan.

This will be very useful if you add a description, like in the tutorial, how to complete missions.

[Bluetooth]

On 11/6/2018 at 11:34 PM, BuckleUpBones said:

Then a ensign can sail where he /she wants and know they can only be attack by only another midshipman/ensign/second lieutenant, fair by all accounts.

Alt heaven.

[RickC]

On 11/6/2018 at 3:14 AM, admin said:

I don't think you are reading this correctly - 5 combat ships is not pvp only task..  
5 pvp assists is a separate task and it is not as hard. If you pvp. Better start cracking right away. 

The goal is to lead the players to fun activities from the start - without delay. Game is most fun in a group and pvp and conquest are great if filled with players.
So please stop the negativity and lets lead the new players to fun activities. 

Propose new missions, challenges and ideas .. 
 

Game is most fun in a group.  Spot on!!  So give us back our old Fleet Combat Orders.  Your new mission system kills the ability to grab friends and get quickly into a fleet battle sailing the rate of ship we prefer.

[Barbancourt]

17 minutes ago, RickC said:

Game is most fun in a group.  Spot on!!  So give us back our old Fleet Combat Orders.  Your new mission system kills the ability to grab friends and get quickly into a fleet battle sailing the rate of ship we prefer.

I thought the Kill missions matched the number of ships you brought into them with the same number of AI? 

 

[Njord]

On 11/6/2018 at 10:18 AM, admin said:

Propose interesting missions and rewards. We are very interested in your input and ideas. 

What about a mission to visit every port on the map? This could be a long term goal for the average player and should grant a appropriate reward. Should not be too hard to implement since the ports even keep track of when you visited them last. If the reward is good enough, this could give additional drive for players to sail all over the OW and not only stay in one corner.

Still wish we would get small unmapped islands with smuggler outposts, native tribes and treasures to be found. Just like Kidd's but much smaller - just a sandbar with a few palm trees and huts on it. Some places on the map that neeed to be found by searching in the OW would be great. There is a lot of potential with the seemingly endless OW.

[traitorous mctraitoro]

Really great idea. New players do need some kind of steering to understand the game, or at least get their feet into it.

Of course needs some adjustments. Imo.

Now being lazy I haven't read the comments mostly because I imagine it's full of veterinary complaining and crying.

ANYWAY

Welcone to Carribbean - 

I think you should add host a battle group and attack a fleet together, (or something along those lines).

Capture a 6/5th rate.

And perhaps ditch the sail to free town, a bit in the deep end imo (new guy could get sunk on the way of a 2 hour journey etc.) add to the optional ones perhaps.

Maybe add some kind of shared reward between the player and clan that accepts them, after a period of time and once only ofc, like poods or maybe some upgrades. Gives both a reason and a boost for excepting and joining the clan. (Something along these lines). If this is possible anyway.

Trial by fire -

I really like this idea, but again I think a reward for the player AND clan upon completion would help.

As for sailing to a capital, I would say change it to a patrol zone, or at least add something for a patrol zone.

As I said before I'm too lazy to read the comments, but using my imagination I disagree with whoever said join a port battle is too hard for it. This should definitely stay, but again will need to be encouraged with split rewards for the clan and player, just to make the clans willing to help.

Other ones -

Perfect I think

OVERALL

I like any kind of encouragement to not just log on attack ai and repeat. This should help new players find Thier bearings. Great idea.

That is all.

Mcbaity.

@admin 

Edited November 9, 2018 by traitorous mctraitoro
Forgot tags :)