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    ATLAS

    By ATLAS •

    Q&A WITH THE DEVS - ASK A PIRATE DAY #9

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    Ahoy Pathfinders!


    We’re back with another edition of Dev Q&A. We have info on PvE, game balance, and even a few cosmetics in the works. So thanks to all the pathfinders that submitted questions in the Discord.

    The Atlas team is dedicated to provide as much transparency as we can since we feel the community is also a part of the team. Often the loudest of the members, you provide us with feedback, suggestions, and even a compliment or two. Therefore, we feel it is necessary to be open with the community in all facets. We hope you will continue to support us through rough (and calm) seas. 

    Until next time, we appreciate your support and ‘til next time, may your skies be clear, waters calm, and sails full in whichever way you roam.

    nfAtTTlziKleZZs5R31u56kQ_aAd-I3q6ufyGX4e

    Without further ado, here’s our Q&A! Hang out at our Discord for a chance to get your questions answered in the next Q&A!

         :anchor: Q&A :anchor:


    Can you confirm if there will still be island claiming system or will it be lawless everywhere after the wipe?

    We are still making updates to the area claim system and are going to focus on that. The Island claim system is likely to stick around after the wipe, but the map changes are still being finalized so that is subject to change. Either way the Island Claim System should be available for private servers.

    Can we get some details of the theme and vision? 

    We're not planning to overhaul the game. We are planning to lean into things we have and reinforce them more with new content. So you might see Army of the Damned themed things in the world more, or Atlantis... We're also talking about introducing some pre WW1 dirty industrial content.

    How are small companies and solo players going to work into the game? 

    Just like they do in the real world. Seriously. Large behemoth companies can't do everything on their own, and they can't protect everything at once. As we move towards having Wonders that companies build, it's going to require a massive amount of trade, logistics and war to get one built. This creates opportunities for smaller groups to be part of the wheels of progress or engage in acts of piracy as large amounts of resources need to be shipped on the water.

    When can we expect balance changes?

    Balance changes are happening continuously in small amounts. We don't have a focus on getting balance "right" because so many things are still getting added to the game. We want to get all of our changes in to get a better understanding of the big picture and then will come back and tighten the balance.

    Can we get some form of roadmap even if it has a disclaimer that the plans could change anytime? 

    Right now we are focused on getting ready for a larger summer release. This will include more ships and some of the ship customization system talked about in another question. In addition to that, we are working on multiple maps that connect different parts of the world, rather than one large, uniform map. We also are laying the foundation for Wonders that players can build in the world by creating a general system for giving buffs to your company based on buildings you've built. The content we are working on generally will support these systems as we move towards a world where companies have more long-term goals and reasons to compete over specific land. That pretty much covers the major things we are working on for the next six months to a year.

    ...we all know the focus is on pvp but PVE players are still generally curious what the long term thoughts and ideas really are while lots of them generally feel marginalized and pushed aside.

    We are focused on making Atlas one of the best and most unique pvp games out there. We want to be able to support PVE and Private servers so that other players can also enjoy what we create. Some of our changes are specifically driving PVP goals and do not fit well with PVE. We are looking at ways we can do a better job keeping PVP changes from creating bad experiences in the PVE community without having to spend a lot of time working on it to support two different play styles. In some cases, that means we need to not put those PVP systems on PVE. It also means we need to give unofficial server owners better tools for choosing how they want their world to be configured. Right now we are working on an overhauled configuration system that lets us do this with less disruption to our development cycle. Right now many things are hard-coded to work under certain conditions.

    Are the new claim towers going to be modified for PVE? Will the mechanic change at all?

    We would like to hear what PVE players think about this. While the disruption of adding the claim towers was painful because of the point in the season it occurred, generally we think it's better to be able to lay claim to an area and not have to build fence posts to prevent anyone else from building there. We do need to figure out some issues like decay times.

    Weight Sail buff or changes, when?


    All sails are getting updated and a new system is coming for changing the stats on sail blueprints. When is a harder question. We have some larger commitments that take priority right now and are taking a “time out” on some of the smaller things we've been working on to take care of some other business, like updating the mod kit, overhauling configurations, cleaning up a lot of bugs, and growing the team.

    What tweaks do the team have for the new claim system, we are testing on Lawless islands?

    We're still in the process of seeing how the meta changes from the new claims before making tweaks. As far as in the long term, we're planning to add some unique buildings and locations that must be captured with this system to get the benefit. The intention is for players to have strategic points on islands that give them an offensive or defensive benefit. Capturing an entire island might be a multiple day process as you have to take over these locations, build your own buildings, and wait for the benefits to kick in.

    When will you add side quests? Maybe ones that earn players gold, loot, and xp? Other ones aside from the skill tree achievements/ pve bosses?

     In the past there have been some MMORPG elements added to the game and we have decided this is not the best use of our time because this does not fit the kind of game we are making. Atlas is a sandbox survival game and we are fully committed to spending our dev effort on making tools for players to create their own interesting stories.

    Are you guys gonna make more tames/bosses?

    More tames are in the works! Our current focus (within the taming system) is making more existing creatures tameable. Crocodiles are next on the list and will be released soon. We don't plan to add new bosses. Our current boss fights didn't work well and were easily exploited, so we'd like to clean those up, and ultimately we want to focus on player stories rather than PVE content.

    When will we see further information about the new ship system and further adjustments? 

    We are continuously making balance changes to the new ship system and the customization features described in this post are currently in development. The first customization feature will be released soon and will allow players to craft and swap a variety of railing types. The railings available with the launch of this feature will include Standard Railings, Cannon Railings, Cargo Rack Railings, Diving Attachment Railings, and Dinghy Hangar Railings. We know everyone loves the ability to paint their ships and we are also working to make the new ship system compatible with the painting system.

    Will the current ship system still be available to build next season or is it just going to be these new modular ships?

    There is no plan to remove the original ship system. That wouldn't even be a possibility until the other system is fully implemented. We would like the two systems to exist side by side unless something changes that makes this no longer possible. This poses some balance issues that we are going to have to address at some point.

    Will there be a new map implemented?

    Some changes to the map layout will be coming with the wipe in order to support Tradewinds. Later this year, you'll see a much larger overhaul of the map with portals to new areas.

    Is there any plan to add a farmhouse-like structure that could also feed tames? Or the ability for tames on wandering to feed themselves from wild berries/ food?

    We would like to eventually introduce a Stable structure where players can store their tames. We plan to add a similar module for the new ship system that allows easier tame transport.

    When will we get cosmetic hat microtransactions/vendor?

    We don't currently plan to add microtransactions for cosmetics or anything else even. Most of our art effort is focused on making new ships right now, but we do have one new hat coming soon!

     

    :anchor: Final Note :anchor:

    Again, we would like to emphasize that ATLAS is still in Early Access, meaning many things can and will likely continue to drastically change - even in the middle of development. Anything discussed is only up to date as of the moment it is posted. Features and changes that ultimately make it to the next patch, as well as timing, may be different from what was previously discussed.


    As always, we appreciate the suggestions and feedback from the community. Please keep them coming! Thank you for all of your support! 🙂

     

    nfAtTTlziKleZZs5R31u56kQ_aAd-I3q6ufyGX4e

     

    Happy Sailing,

    - ATLAS Crew

    :skull: For the latest dispatch on #playATLAS keep yer one good eye trained on this here information :skull:

    Natter n' chatter on Discord: https://discord.gg/playatlas

    Hear ye, hear ye on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sailtheatlas

    Watch us scallywags on Twitch: http://twitch.tv/sailtheatlas

    Plus ye can band with us Pirates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playatlasgame


     

     

    Edited by ATLAS

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    NewLexican
    Quote

    We're also talking about introducing some pre WW1 dirty industrial content.

    While I don't know precisely what you're planning, I will just say this...

    When I was a kid, I always wished games could have more to them. Alas, there's only so much devs could fit within the technical limitations of the time.

    Today, that's changed, and I more frequently find myself wishing developers would try to include less with their games. Watch the tryouts for Master Chef and Gordon Ramsay will often criticize contestants for trying to add components to a dish that, without the addition, had focus and worked well on the plate.

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    Ranger1k

          Some advice for the devs, piggybacking off of @NewLexican

    From The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian (Christopher Maurer translation)

     

         #27 Better to be intensive than extensive. Perfection isn't quantity, but QUALITY.

          #57 Thoughtful people are safer. Do something WELL and that is quick enough... Only perfection is noticed and only success endures.

          #66 Take care to make things turn out well. Some people scruple more over pointing things in the right direction than in successfully reaching their goals... It is an art to set aside art when you must do so to bring things to a happy conclusion.

         #91 Never act unless you think it prudent to do so. ...It is dangerous to undertake something when you doubt its wisdom. it would be safer to not act at all. Prudence refuses to deal in probability: it ALWAYS walks under the midday sun of reason.

         #92 Transcendent wisdom. This is the first and highest rule in acting and speaking... An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of cleverness. It's more a matter of walking surely than courting vulgar applause.

         #136 Size up the matter. Take pulse of the business at hand. Many see the trees but not the forest, or bark up the wrong tree, speaking endlessly, reasoning uselessly, without going to the pith of the matter. They go round and round, tiring themselves and us, and never get to what is important. They waste time and patience on what it would be better to leave alone and later there is no time for what they have left.

         #147 Don't be inaccessible. ...The person who doesn't listen is a hopeless fool. Even the most independent of people ought to heed friendly advice, and even sovereigns are happy to learn from others... We all need a friend who feels free to scold us and give us advice... We need the faithful mirror of a confidant. If we value that mirror it will set us free from deceit.

     

         Post is getting too long. Zero clue if your listening anyway.

    Good luck.

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    Chucksteak
    On 3/26/2021 at 9:34 AM, Grayson said:


    This is the PVE vs. PVP argument from PVE player 

    I’ve started and refuse to play pvp anymore I’ve done pvp in various games since AOL. I’m tired of pvp I want a game when I can go play walk away for a few days if I want or have to. Then come back and just feed animals then play when I can. What you pvp players don’t get or even want to get is some of us actually have lives, work, families and have no interest in being “on-call”. Some of us can only do a few hours a week not 6 or more hours a day. I refuse to have a game dictate my life and for many of you, if you want that to happen, go for it. You want to do away with pve then you’ll loose the game entirely. It’s that simple. The pve players are the most consistent users of this game. But we are also the ones the most willing to leave a game entirely to find something similar to their play style. If you drop pve or combine pve few if any may follow but a majority will just leave. So even if it’s a third of the current player base no sane company can tolerate a permanent 1/3 loss of player base in a game that’s struggling to get by now.
     

    Wow, what an arrogant and uneducated statement. Projecting much?

    I assure you, we have lives, families, jobs, sleep needs, just like PvE players do. We have the same general time available to play each day as you do. We are just more well adjusted people who don't lose sleep at the thought of our make believe base getting raided. Its part of the game. You know that player generated content they always speak of? If I don't make the base you cant raid it. Ever wonder why it sucks dick to play PvE? Ever feel like some of the content is missing? or shouldn't even be there to begin with?

    The most consistent users of the game? Lol, by what metric, you just pulled that out of your ass. You certainly are not the ones most willing to leave AND the most consistent players at the same time. That's called an oxymoron. 

    If a game ever dictates you life, the problem is not with the game. Its a mental situation that you need to deal with.

    Rest assured, if ALL of the PvE players left (they wont), the game would not die. 

    1. The game has not released yet, so it has technically not been "born" therefore it cannot yet "die". (shhh don't attack my metaphor trumpists)

    2. The game is a PvP focused game weather or not you want to acknowledge it. Ultimately the PvE crowd as it currently exists does not concern the development, release, or success of this game. If you disagree with me, I invite you to go read over the last several patches and dev notes.

     

    TLDR: Worst non-argument ever. Very poor representation form the PvE crowd.

     

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    Ranger1k

    @Grayson

         I don't agree w everything @Chucksteak says about you but I will offer some possibilities to consider.

    1. Single Player/ Co Op may provide the experience your craving, if they ever manage to get it sorted.

    2. Same for private servers, once again, if they ever get the mechanics stabilized.

    3. Worst case vote with your feet. I'm on hiatus myself and theres plenty of games to choose from.

     

         Final thing, I definitely flipped my shit when they pulled the "surprise-wipe-no-more-NA PvE" for season 3, so I sympathize w your frustrations. I don't understand why they don't realize the importance of catering to BOTH play styles in a ONE CHARACTER experience. Pretty simple.. Some days I wanna PvP, some days I wanna PvE and some days I don't want to log in at all. Not rocket science, unless they cut a deal that pays per customer hours played, I heard thats a thing.. Dunno.

         Next few months will be interesting to watch either way if one is sufficiently detached..

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    sklein

    Attention Atlas Developers. 

    I am a PVE player and I used to play Atlas a bit (~1,150 hours). I coaxed about 10 of my fellow PVE gamer friends to get the game and some of them have many hours as well.  I was practically the games biggest fan.  The ability to build a ship and have deep customization options, the ability to practically explore a world, a rewarding blueprint system, tames, land building, etc.  It was the perfect game for survival PVE with a pirate theme.  No other game pirate themed game comes close.  But all of my Atlas playing friends and myself,  have pretty much rage quit the game for a handful of reasons.  Reasons include game-breaking bugs PVE-game breaking choices that you've made.  A few of these are: Losing spawn locations in the Ocean map, charging gold for ships, Warehouse/Farmhouse turning invisible, Blackwood map problems including falling through water like it was air, dying from heat waves even though you are submersed in water.  There are mods that attempt to fix these problems, but Atlas crashes with mods loaded for a variety of reasons.  Many PVE players are in this boat, and I think you can see that in the steam concurrent players charts.  Weekend play is less than 3k concurrent players at any point in time - The lowest its ever been.  You're "vision" is killing the game - slowly.  Your numbers are supposed to be going up during early access, not down.  I don't think you can neglect the PVE crowd.  It is in your best interest to bring PVE back.  There was a time when Atlas had adequate content for PVE and would work enough to have fun.  We found bug work-arounds, we lived in cold areas, we knew when the ladders were not going to work, we new the areas in Blackwood that would cause problems and stayed out of them, we added mods to allow submarine use on Blackwood.  But then, your updates beginning in late 2020 started to introduce more problems, so much so, that it was impossible to have fun.  I don't usually write to developers like this because usually i don't care enough about a game. But this game has the ingredients to be one of the best PVE games ever and i had to speak up.  Hopefully you are listening.  

     

    stevek

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    Grayson
    On 4/1/2021 at 10:48 AM, Chucksteak said:

    Wow, what an arrogant and uneducated statement. Projecting much?

    I assure you, we have lives, families, jobs, sleep needs, just like PvE players do. We have the same general time available to play each day as you do. We are just more well adjusted people who don't lose sleep at the thought of our make believe base getting raided. Its part of the game. You know that player generated content they always speak of? If I don't make the base you cant raid it. Ever wonder why it sucks dick to play PvE? Ever feel like some of the content is missing? or shouldn't even be there to begin with?

    The most consistent users of the game? Lol, by what metric, you just pulled that out of your ass. You certainly are not the ones most willing to leave AND the most consistent players at the same time. That's called an oxymoron. 

    If a game ever dictates you life, the problem is not with the game. Its a mental situation that you need to deal with.

    Rest assured, if ALL of the PvE players left (they wont), the game would not die. 

    1. The game has not released yet, so it has technically not been "born" therefore it cannot yet "die". (shhh don't attack my metaphor trumpists)

    2. The game is a PvP focused game weather or not you want to acknowledge it. Ultimately the PvE crowd as it currently exists does not concern the development, release, or success of this game. If you disagree with me, I invite you to go read over the last several patches and dev notes.

     

    TLDR: Worst non-argument ever. Very poor representation form the PvE crowd.

     

    🥱

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    George Catcher

    So... as far as we didn't hear a word from devs for a while, they preparing something big?

    (I mean, they don't work a month to introduce a croc-tame don't they? Because if so then game will go form EA to release state in like 70 years lol 😆)

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    George Catcher

    Y-y-y-y-yea guys, what's the point?

    JbGwG4L.jpg

    I mean I'm glad, but you do realize that next patch will bring WIPE and we all will start over right? So most of players don't play and wait for this wipe and those who do play - will lose all, no matter how many they will gather with those X-es?

    Also the question is - will this patch happen before 23rd and we'll star over with X5 EXP (I welcome that but every1 who star right after patch will level fast and place their warehouses), or after 23rd and then there wont be any points of those x-x-x-x-x...?

    Edited by George Catcher

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    Nacona
    11 hours ago, George Catcher said:

    [...]

    Lulz... i just did not check the forum for 2 weeks now and nothing happened. The wipe does not come so far... now it's announced that it will not be wiped until end of April. Some weeks ago there where huge ship battle videos on youtube because PvP Players started to get rid of what they had crafted in this season.

    This new map must be awesome and i guess all islands templates will be reworked... we will get a complete new Atlas... i am so exited!!!! 1111 (well Maelstorm was just a changed layout of the templates where you look on a former coal rock, hold H and it shows a crystal but you farm a gem) Well so yes Devs take your time and surprise us with a new map that you tested and which will have no main bugs. I don't care if there will be some issues with the ground/surface that you can fall through it or such things common in the unreal map engine.

    I am also very exited to see if you can fix/improve the lawless land claiming. If you can fix that decay timers will be shown correctly. If there is no 12 hours decay time on structures anymore. If you will fix gathering building BPs work as intended(increaed farming rate and not stopping at common weight when this is increased). I would appreciuate if you could set/choose the farming rate of the different resources in a farmhouse. I also would appreciate if a compnay would only have 1 farmhouse per island which would include the warehouse and alllow more players access to this one due to this change. I would appreciate if you could improve the markets QoL and adjust it that there is no need to demolish the market once you have send more than 90 trading invitations. I still don't have trading logs since the lawless claim patch and the buffer overflow issues... where is the hot ifx?

    I could talk about Dolphin taming but i found out lately once you have a submarine you can kill all sharks around and than grapple the Dolphin for a wild taming ride. Got 4 of them so it's actually working. But Dolphins can't swim backwards so for fish farming i am using a bear instead of a dolphin because you can't harvest the fish after killing... All my Dolphins are parked under water in a shark safe cage but due to their turning radius and only forward swiming i can't place them up in the water. Luckily they don't need to breath.

    So this are only bugs about the latest updates that are not getting fixed or improved so far and only considering the PVE part... so not to mention older bugs which list is still very long for example BPs Drop rate and quality... i spend about 40 hours in Golden Age to get an improved ship for Kraken fights but i ended up with a masterwork ship... no legendary or mystical parts(and if found some with no worthy stats better than my masterwork) but all resources for crafting available.

    But yes, I am exited what you can show us after another 1,5 month of silence. Btw. some where you posted that your Community Managers will not log into their forum accounts after they did the first post @Nami@Chismebeard... so maybe you log into the Atlas Developer Account and answer sometime here and just simply putting your name below the answer?

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    Ranger1k

    @George Catcher & @Nacona

         Just curious, where is that 5x event Pic from? They still think other message platforms are more important than their Official Forums? Really?

    Going to play the other video game thats earned my business.

          Sidenote, from here on I refuse to refer to them as "seasons", they're fucking WIPES because the developers can't get their shit straight. Period. I'm losing count what will the next wipe be #4 or #5?

    Edited by Ranger1k

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