An added layer

[Magnum]

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[Harry White]

I am massivley against this, one reason.

 

Roles.

 

Never in this game, ever, IMO. A sandbox should have no advantages to anyone, even if that is a role choice at the begining.

 

other than that, I am happy for merchants to not be Hailable, and have a much lower level.

 

but roles in this game is a huge no no for me, maybe I am wrong.

[Guest raat]

Also, why should merchants names not be displayed?  Wouldn't the point of knowing it's a player merchant be to attack it because it's carrying more valuable cargo?

[Magnum]

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[Guest raat]

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Rattha - I was actually think about the long run enjoyment for the swashbuckler types and the "glory factor" of having their name in lights.

 

I think most merchants would not be attracted to that and would be fine for that being reserved for Navy Captains.

 

I don't understand why you are opposed - is it that you want to target certain players - not just certain countries?

 

I understand some people want to avoid PvP, I just don't think players should be given options to hide from it.  And that that would detract from the overall health of the game.

[Magnum]

[Harry White]

My way is not the right way or the wrong way, but it is my opinion and I do feel it is the same way the Devs are swaying, please Admin come on and tell me I am wrong, because if there is roles in this game I don't think it will be for me, as I want to be able to do what I want when I want, if that is jumping from a 1st rate to a traders brig or from a frigate to a trader with no dis-advantages due to a decision I made 3 months ago.

 

Please don't take this as a shouty comment in which I am oppressing everyones views, because I am not.

 

And also Raatha I think traders should just be a trader, in the ways of Naval combat you would never of looked at a trading ship and said, 'oww my its the so and so, ooowww she is a bigg 'un' but milatary ships they did and so Frigates and stuff yes should be identifiable, but traders not so much IMO.

[Magnum]

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[maturin]

I understand some people want to avoid PvP, I just don't think players should be given options to hide from it.  And that that would detract from the overall health of the game.

I hope to see you seeking out PvP in your trader's brig someday soon.

 

You know, for the health of the game.

[Guest raat]

People will absolutely still do trading regardless of whether their name is displayed, that's just silly to think it'll deter people from doing it.  If you don't want to be attacked while trading, then make sure you have allies protecting you.

 

If there's no risk to trading, how is that healthy for the game?  There needs to be risk to make for interesting gameplay and to keep people involved.  Enough of the QQ that people want a game to be risky for everyone involved, including myself.  Risk = Reward = Fun.

 

 

Harry,  I respect your RIGHT to have your opinion above all other rights (I'm with Voltaire on that) - I just think we are talking in circles.

 

You do know you can pick more than 1 alt to play? You could be Lieutenant Captain Harry White as one alt and "Black Flag Barbarossa" the Pirate in another - so there are ALREADY "roles" in the game as far as I understand it.

 

My current three alts are all different countries (testing you know) and I have deleted 6 or 8 as I went on so I could try sailing for different countries.

 

WHAT is the big deal with alts?

 

 

Also, Amp, you misunderstand the difference between roles/classes in a traditional MMO sense vs. Alt characters.  Those are 2 different things and you're counter-argument here doesn't address roles.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Raatha

[Harry White]

My definition of role and yours is different, you talk from a role playing part of view, I am talking on stats, as in my character shouldn't have an advantage over yours in shooting because I have been playign for 200 hours, everyone should have the same chance at any point, I don't expect to see a 'Naval officer' role to boost XP and money on prizes, that makes anyone who wants to trade stuck to not doing well.

 

Raatha I agree, but why would you want to go for a player trader over an AI one? AI traders should have the same type of loot the players do, just giving the traders something to work with.

[Guest raat]

My definition of role and yours is different, you talk from a role playing part of view, I am talking on stats, as in my character shouldn't have an advantage over yours in shooting because I have been playign for 200 hours, everyone should have the same chance at any point, I don't expect to see a 'Naval officer' role to boost XP and money on prizes, that makes anyone who wants to trade stuck to not doing well.

 

Raatha I agree, but why would you want to go for a player trader over an AI one? AI traders should have the same type of loot the players do, just giving the traders something to work with.

 

 

Well, you make a point that I'm not sure we fully understand yet or is even fleshed out in the game.  Do AI actually deliver any goods for the nation and how does that effect the overall game economy?  I imagine that's obviously not worked out yet since Econ isn't in the game.

 

I'm just assuming that at this point in the OW testing (combat and travel only) that without seeing a player's name, you'd just be allowing people to skirt PvP and allow them to accrue wealth without any danger involved.

 

And logically even in the future, I would imagine players would be more proficient at trading and deal in more valuable cargo anyway than AI.  That would mean either waste endless hours battling only every trader you came across to prevent a Nation's economic growth (as in without names displayed).  Or, for sake of everyone's use of their time, to encourage PvP, and just general quality of life for non-Traders, you would be able to selectively target only traders you deem to have a strategic incentive to target to prevent economic growth (as in with player names displayed).

 

I don't really see how, in the latter, that it would deter merchant seamen from either wanting to trade or still being effective at doing so.  It would, however, require them to be more selective of their route, their escort, and what cargo they carry.  Adding not only an element of danger (in other words fun ), but strategy to the trading game.

[Magnum]

[Harry White]

I basically mean roles as what you have said, you pick a 'class' as in merchant, this gives you a bonus in monies but less XP.

 

I really don't want to see that in this game.

[Magnum]

[Guest raat]

emphasis added

 

 

You make my point - while you want to lean the table in YOUR favor and not waste YOUR time by forcing players to display their names - I want the table more even with you being forced to as you say "waste endless hours battling only every trader you came across to prevent a Nation's economic growth (as in without names displayed)"

 

Because that is how it was in real life - do you remember the merchant captains Nelson kicked ass on? Plus do you really think driving around in this environment lacks "danger" for a ship with no/few guns ---- OMG!

 

--------

 

And Harry - I guess I don't understand "roles" as you put it - help me out what is "your role" as you define it.

 

You're very offensive, Amp.  You assume I'm just trying to make this game easier for myself.  Instead, I'm thinking of what makes good gameplay.  Lion, gazelle, whatever.  I'm talking about, if I were to trade, it would be boring as hell to never have to fear being attacked by players.  At the current stage of development, people higher than Brigs just let Trading vessels go by because it's not worth their time and effort.  Maybe it'll change with Econ, but if it's still not worth it, then they'll continue to let Traders go by because it's a waste of time and effort when people have limited time to play.  I, as a Trader, could easily just sail right past people if it just looked like I was AI.

 

Also, you don't see how making merchants invisible tilts the table in favor of trading?  It takes trading out of the realm of PvP, and thus making it extremely easy to amass wealth with no danger involved.  Are you afraid of AI, Amp?  Does the AI scare you?  Any trader could just run and get away from any AI attacking them so I don't see how there's any risk for them.

 

And PvP'ers won't waste their time attacking a Trader Brig or Snow if there's no real reward for it.  However, PvP'ers would want to prevent a nation from becoming too economically powerful so that it can't fund their National Navies and outfit everyone in 1st rates.  Which is exactly would what happen if they can run trading routes without threat of attack.

 

If you think for a minute that clans won't use the "no names for traders" to game the system and easily amass wealth so everyone's running around with huge fleets, you're totally naive.  If you can't tell who the player traders are, then you can't prevent player clans from becoming way too powerful for even your little ole' lonesome self, Amp.  Just saying.

 

That's the nature of online MMOs, you allow people a loophole to avoid danger, but yet still amass wealth, that economy is going to be all jacked up, and heavily over-inflated.

 

Think of it this way, what's best for gameplay?  Instead of what's easiest for the player.  You take away names that doesn't make it easier for Naval officers, it just makes it more time-consuming.  You take away names for Traders, you just make the game easier for them.  You remove the danger.  But you also make it less interesting.  Without risk of attack, what keeps you engaged in the game?

 

Is that better for gameplay?  To me, no.  Difficulty, strategy, danger, risk, reward...those are the elements of good games.  Mindlessly running back and forth between ports watching your gold accumulate is less of a game and more of something tedious to do to kill time.  Like playing a game on your iPhone while waiting in the doctor's office or something.

 

Trading should be an exciting profession, and something that requires skill and hard work to be good at.  But also, not something that takes forever to accomplish.  Much like the PvP side of the game should be.  Easy to learn, difficult to master.

 

I'm not saying that no names for merchant traders isn't logical in terms of realism.  Just that it doesn't offer anything intriguing to the game, and even detracts from it in my opinion.  Unless a lot of other things about this game changes, to me, it just creates more problems and makes trading less interesting than it helps the game.

[Jeremiah O'Brien]

Amp, come on now. If you want a legitimate discussion, by all means have one. However, picking apart other's posts and finding new meanings that were not necessarily intended does nothing to add to the discussion. That being said, this will probably be the only post I'll make here, as I'd rather not involve myself further.

[Magnum]

 

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[Jack Feathersword]

Why would you want to limit game play like that?

 

Why can't being a trader or merchant or a naval officer be a choice players make by their actions. Trade/ Fight battles/Missions or craft and have those actions progress your character in that direction.

[Harry White]

You say limit game play and want to impose limits on players who don't have the skill points you mention, people shouldn't have extra bonuses for any reason, yes an office might know a trader in Port royale and can get you a bit knocked off, but that would be realistic, not, you have put in 200 hours, well done heres 10% off at all ports.

 

Seriously guys, we cannot have random give outs, random amounts of money and random skill points helping people, if it is a sandbox, which the game is said to be, everyone, from a day 1 player, to a 1000+ hour player, should be equal in a basic lynx, not accounting for skill of course.

[Jack Feathersword]

You say limit game play and want to impose limits on players who don't have the skill points you mention, people shouldn't have extra bonuses for any reason, yes an office might know a trader in Port royale and can get you a bit knocked off, but that would be realistic, not, you have put in 200 hours, well done heres 10% off at all ports.

 

Seriously guys, we cannot have random give outs, random amounts of money and random skill points helping people, if it is a sandbox, which the game is said to be, everyone, from a day 1 player, to a 1000+ hour player, should be equal in a basic lynx, not accounting for skill of course.

 

 

Where did i say anything about skill points and discounts? I didn't say anything about what "progression" would be. I said why would you want to limit someones choices up front. Further to that point; The more you do something at it the better and more efficient you get at it. It makes perfect sense to have a progression system in place that has minor improvements based on time or experience.  

 

Why can't you just discuss the points raised without being a jerk?

[Magnum]

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[Principe]

 

 

Or a crafter - someone who rarely goes to sea?

 

 

Nu uh! 

[Adam Creutz]

My thoughts

 

I have read thru what all of you have written about roles and charachters and I can only say that I have no thoughts on that myself. Rather I will try to add my toughts on the subject on names being displayed in the OW.

 

Remember I only write my thoughts as of now and you're free to add to them or to not like them. 

 

Names in OW:

 

I think that names of players in the open world should either be shown or not, it doesn't matter for me as long as it applies for every player regardless of what you sail or do. Having some players basically hidden feels weird if some players are not.

 

My explaination for why names should not be shown for anyone is that from the distance you can first hail someone it sort of makes sense to just be able to know nationality. Then if you should see the name of the captain (if player) when you're inside attack range or when you are in the battle instance, I have no idea. 

 

Please remember and consider that my thoughts are just that they might change or become opinions but so far there thoughts.

[Magnum]