Solo(/small group) Player + Claiming suggestions.

[Dan3rz 4]

So I sit here, after the 7.0 patch (I played with a friend, we were doing fine) with my talents reset. I looked at the tree, thinking, okay, i'll spec into what I had before. only to realize I couldn't do that due to lack of talent points.

Im not disappointed with the change, but as a player who is now most likely playing solo, it means I cannot access all the things I want to potentially build. My solo game is currently on PVE.

My issue with the talents is that now for smaller groups, most of the stuff is gated and will not be accessible to them if they don't expand their tribe, something which they MAY NOT be comfortable doing. I was quite happy being able to build my Sloop, potentially upgrading to a Schooner soon after, but the reset screwed that notion. Whilst I agree that later game SHOULD be more gated, you shouldn't punish players that wish to play solo or in small groups.

 

As for suggestions on this part, here are a two:

 

Change "skills" to allow players to be able to spec into the full survival tree (if they wish) at 1 point a piece, atleast wooden structures/basic crafting stations (smithy/loom/shipyard) and atleast the smaller boats (upto Sloop i'd suggest, but Schooner would also work). This would allow smaller groups some flexibility, and actually a chance at getting further in the game (doesn't matter about bigger groups here, cause they'll naturally get bigger and better things sooner due to more hands on deck)

 

Give more skill points per level, this would part solve the problem for smaller groups, and would allow them a chance at increased progress in the game. With your new model on skill points, an extra point per level shouldn't hurt, and would also quell a lot of the discontent from solo players, while still making larger grouped players progress at a similar speed.

 

With regards to the other point now. Claiming. Now you couldn't have seen coming what actually happened, people zerged from the start, claimed as much land as they deemed fit. My one suggestion for this, would be to LIMIT the claims per Tribe. 1 Flag for every 5 people. If theres a smaller than 5 man group, would they need more than 1 claim anyway? The issue doing this, would be people claiming next to eachother, and then deciding to group up, the fix for this, would be to reduce one of the claims (the person joining the tribe) to 50%, so people couldn't complain that they lost all their land when they joined a company, it gives an incentive to merge Companies, since people wont lose as much this way.

 

I think the game has ALOT of potential, Bucket loads, but certain things need to be fixed to allow all audiences to play. I hope you give thought to some of the current issues, and take into account ways of fixing them.

[Edocon 2]

I totally agree with your proposals on skill points, they should be more designing on the first levels and longer to get in the higher levels

[Dan3rz 4]

my qualm is that, even as a solo player, you should be able to build atleast the smallest ship available, it'll take you the same amount of time to farm the goods than a 10 man crew farming the goods for a schooner.