No game for noobs?

[Ruy Lopez]

Admin has shared some very worrying information: 5000 new players were brought into the game since launch, but the staying power is low. 

If the answer is YES, please share your suggestions to solve this problem

[Ruy Lopez]

My answer is YES. My  suggestions:

1) Ranks lower than Master & Commander can only be attacked by equal or lower ranks
2) Decreasing the port bonuses a lot, to avoid that the noobs, who have more difficult access to them, fight with much disadvantage.
3) Provide ships with random port bonuses in all ports (up to 5º rate)

Added based in usefull posts:

4) Teleport free for ranks lower than M&C

5) Lower a bit the skill of NPC of 7º & 6º rate

 

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Ruy Lopez

[Farrago]

I said “no” because I want a complicated, difficult game. Note that does not = that I want it to be a grind. I want it to be complex in trading, crafting, conquest, and combat.

But, there needs to be a beginner level which is detached from this complexity that won’t at the same time provide income and kills for experienced captains and their alts. The tutorials were a decent start but SO incomplete. Coupled with the tutorials there needs to be beginning, protected missions (quests) that reward the new player well.

[Gregory Rainsborough]

I would say yes, tutorial is great for the actual battle mechanics but there should be missions introducing trade (when it gets fixed eventually because broken as hello kitty right now) and how to make money.

[Angus MacDuff]

1 minute ago, Gregory Rainsborough said:

I would say yes, tutorial is great for the actual battle mechanics but there should be missions introducing trade (when it gets fixed eventually because broken as hello kitty right now) and how to make money.

Devs are still fixated on the aggressive AI thing that nobody wants and which will kill more noobs.  Whish they'd fix trade instead.

[LegoLarry]

I would say yes,  but i don't think there is a dev produced answer and a solution would be more current playerbase actions as a whole.

However i don't see this happening until perhaps game is on it's final death throws.

[Gregory Rainsborough]

Just now, Angus MacDuff said:

Devs are still fixated on the aggressive AI thing that nobody wants and which will kill more noobs.  Whish they'd fix trade instead.

Same. I used to like trading but now it's pointless. Easier to just get a tbrig and drag cargo and it's boring because there's no risk.

[Angus MacDuff]

1 minute ago, Gregory Rainsborough said:

Same. I used to like trading but now it's pointless. Easier to just get a tbrig and drag cargo and it's boring because there's no risk.

When I was a noob in GB it was a great thrill to get a couple of TBrigs with Arctic Fox from Manzanilla to KPR/  Big profit and I considered if a major PVP feat.

[Slim McSauce]

I said no. Starting over again, it was not that hard.
Travel wise, you just hop between allied fleets, or along your coastal guns.
Money making wise, sell the things you collect. Easily enough to sustain.
Combat, well play smarter than your foe. Choose your battles wisely.
Define your idea of difficult.

[Angus MacDuff]

3 minutes ago, Slim McSauce said:

Define your idea of difficult.

Slim, you're an experienced player and i'm sure you could start from scratch with no problem.  So could I.  New players don't have that experience to back them up.  They do dumb things and lose it all.  That sends them away. 

[Celtiberofrog]

How often it was said that NA's foundation is its "old player base".

As long as smart & dedicated clan leaders will use existing RvR rules to their advantage instead of general game advantage,

the new players will be losing interest cause the game has little content.

I remember Flags furry was wild time, full of content...

[Slim McSauce]

30 minutes ago, Intrepido said:

You are not a new player.

I am almost a few thousand hours experienced but I certainly haven't it made by any stretch of the imagination.
How far you want to go is up to you, you can make it simply selling what few good items you happen to acquire.
Your first million is practically waiting for you at the end of the tutorial, which may take an hour or two.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Slim McSauce

[Hethwill]

A newcomer of old ( now a veteran ) and a newcomer now ( future veteran ) are both intelligent persons.

Unless you all consider yourselves of superior intellect than everyone else.

First time I got unicorned was ganked by 5. Then sunk, single shot by single shot.

Even the other day i lost a ship against enemies without guns.

Still here. Love the game. Love the War server.

 

 

[Hethwill]

1 minute ago, PYR said:

 

lol…. Yes,  everything is OK and players don't go away… just an optic illusion. You are right….

I'm not right. I'm just saying we were all newcomer once.

Why are we still playing ? Guess we did play and learn. 

Any person can do that. You are NOT smarter or better than anyone else.

YES, the game is challenging. NO, it is not overwhelming.

[van der Clam]

This all depends on what part of the game you are asking is difficult.

• Following the tutorial to learn how to sail? Easy (different story for completing it)
• Building up resources, reals, and doubloons? Easy
• Learning to battle AI? Easy (different story for elite admirals)
• Crafting? Moderately easy (different story for knowing what items are needed for specialty upgrades)
• Finding action? Easy against NPC, easy in PvP Zone, Easy near Port Battles, easy if you pay attention to Combat News (slightly different story for direct OW PvP)
• Surviving against PvP? Relatively easy
• Surviving against PvPPP? Hard
• Surviving against PvPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP like most battles are? Impossible AF

[Vernon Merrill]

Making the game "easy" does not correlate with keeping the people engaged longer.

People who want immediate, quick clicker action are not more likely to stick around.

The problem is: the majority of players SAY they want ACTION....  what they REALLY want is "no risk" ACTION.

"I want to sail 1st rates...  but I don't want to lose it....  and if I do, I don't want it to take more than an hour to replace"

So you get about 1/4 of players who are scared to actually take their ships out to sea, 1/4 players who become DLC heroes, 1/4 who bitch about DLC heroes because they power grind for the best ships and goodies, and another 1/4 who sail stuff they can replace and have fun....

[Macjimm]

NA combat is way too hard for anyone who wants a shits and giggles game that can be mastered in a few sessions.  

For those who enjoy skill based games it is satifying to have a challenge.

I doubt that NA would retain players if we dumbed it down. 

EDIT: If all ships and resources could be obtained in a snap, we would be complaining about players fighting with silly styles cause they don't care  if they lose their ships.  Combat would become petty, repetitious and boring.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Macjimm

[LegoLarry]

4 minutes ago, Macjimm said:

NA combat is way too hard for anyone who wants a shits and giggles game that can be mastered in a few sessions.  

For those who enjoy skill based games it is satifying to have a challenge.

I doubt that NA would retain players if we dumbed it down. 

 

 Well it's not retaining players at the moment,  server pop fall has been kinda dramatic for a released game. Admin said over 5k new people bought game after release, and again we are down to levels just above test; it's quite worrying.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by LegoLarry

[Macjimm]

Just now, LegoLarry said:

Well it's not retaining players at the moment,  server pop fall has been kinda dramatic for a released game.

When will we have no players left.  Players have been raging about the server pop drop since 2016.  There are more players now than then.

[LegoLarry]

3 minutes ago, Macjimm said:

When will we have no players left.  Players have been raging about the server pop drop since 2016.  There are more players now than then.

 

During US time zone yes there are more players,   EU prime time though has crumbled from 1.5k peak to 750 ish from what i've seen.

Maybe everyone has finished levelling their alts .

 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by LegoLarry

[Guest]

KSP is going up in player count, 16% this month, up to 4500+, imagine NA with all those players, it would be awesome.

If only Dev's didn't go so hardcore, didn't use "Risk" and "Adrenaline" as immersion. 

E.g. of beginner game negative effect, teleport fees, 

The application, once you get "establish" there no problem, as @adminhas said and it gets newbies out and about creating pvp content. 

In reality, it only makes it harder for newbies to get "establish" and opens them up to ganking and continuous loss, in both cases leading to less retainment. And to top it off, it has an negligible effect on the end game.

One simple mechanic that has an simple effect but accumulates with everyother little negative effect/mechanic, something @admin doesn't get it, and these are things that cannot be read within statics printouts.They all add up to a negative experience. 

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Guest

[John Hill Regard]

I believe that game is really too hard for a beginner's.

You have no chance to survive or progress if you don't join a clan and a lot of beginner's won't.

IA are calibrated for very experimented player's but if you are a beginner no way to match with a equivalent BR ship , so you have to fight a lower BR and you will be ganked fast by an experimented hunter who farm noobies all day long.

We Need :

- More IA less strong

-Stop when choosing your nation to annonce France easy difficulties and Russia hard core ....It is really easy to play Russian and very difficult to play French (i have played both) .

-to have an interresting game and keep player's we should have contents and that don't mean increase the difficulty to an hard core game .Give the power back to player's .We have stupid port bonus controled by a single player...This bonus should be given back to player's as "crafting progress tree" instead of reaching this stupid level 7 and after ???

-Your character should exist and you should be able to choose were you want to develop him...Crafting fight trade all this spec should have a "tech tree" that will give content.

-Dev have to start thinking also to casual not only beginner's....Nothing is designed for them. 

-Dev have to think pleasure and fun if they want their game survive. Player's number's has decrease since the release Zerg is killing the pleasure and player's are leaving the game. A lot of troll are laughing about crying player's but they will soon be crying because they have no more PVP....

-To have PVP player's tomorrow we must keep new player's in game ...Game should be more balanced and acces to ship far more easy...the fight is fun but if player's are to affraid to loose their ship they won't go to fight  .

-Zerg should be game controlled because player's are not responsable enough to understand that every player's that they gank 3 time's, that every nation they wipe and that every important spot they take , lead to a huge number of player's giving up....Zerg player's simce to forget that it's a game and not war and with no fun for everybodies and every nation ....No game....

-

 

[Atreides]

1 hour ago, Vernon Merrill said:

Making the game "easy" does not correlate with keeping the people engaged longer.

People who want immediate, quick clicker action are not more likely to stick around.

The problem is: the majority of players SAY they want ACTION....  what they REALLY want is "no risk" ACTION.

"I want to sail 1st rates...  but I don't want to lose it....  and if I do, I don't want it to take more than an hour to replace"

So you get about 1/4 of players who are scared to actually take their ships out to sea, 1/4 players who become DLC heroes, 1/4 who bitch about DLC heroes because they power grind for the best ships and goodies, and another 1/4 who sail stuff they can replace and have fun....

That 1/4 is my target, with enticements for the other 3/4.

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Atreides

[Gregory Rainsborough]

Should get rid of teleporting between outposts. Disproportionately impacts new players.

[HachiRoku]

3 hours ago, BuckleUpBones said:

KSP is going up in player count, 16% this month, up to 4500+, imagine NA with all those players, it would be awesome.

If only Dev's didn't go so hardcore, didn't use "Risk" and "Adrenaline" as immersion. 

E.g. of beginner game negative effect, teleport fees, 

The application, once you get "establish" there no problem, as @adminhas said and it gets newbies out and about creating pvp content. 

In reality, it only makes it harder for newbies to get "establish" and opens them up to ganking and continuous loss, in both cases leading to less retainment. And to top it off, it has an negligible effect on the end game.

One simple mechanic that has an simple effect but accumulates with everyother little negative effect/mechanic, something @admin doesn't get it, and these are things that cannot be read within statics printouts.They all add up to a negative experience. 

 

You mean Kerbal space program? Its a far more difficult game than this. Difficulty is not a reason players quit. Its playerbase is increasing because KSP2 was announced. Its also a single player game that is extremely mod friendly. 

 

Naval Action is extremely punishing and time sink. It requires a shit ton of time to be competitive. There is nothing easy or hard about being ganked. Thats not what people care about. They care more about the fact that everything is a chore. Some people dont want to invest a few hundred hours to get a 1st rate. 

Edited August 29, 2019 by HachiRoku