Search for long-term motivation

[motorboat 0]

Summary:
Use what you have already developed. You can achieve a lot with very little effort.
For each new possibility create an option to activate/deactivate. This gives you direct feedback on what players think is good/bad.
What they use and what they don't.
On all the platforms discord, forum etc. you only get feedback from the loud players. Is that the majority? I don't think so.
And please maintain a page with all settings you have. In the game, in the Wiki or somewhere else.

Detail:
Here are my thoughts. The game is good, has great potential. Only the long-term motivation suffers at the moment. Why?

I look back on e.g. Rend. The crafting was solved differently there. In order to produce better weapons at a higher level, a certain number of weapons of this kind had to be produced with lower quality.
I.e. you want to craft a better bow/gun? Let's say 110% instead of 100%. Then you first have to make 10 bows with 100%.
Or another example. You want to build stone walls? Then you must have mined a certain amount of stone to be able to learn this skill at all.
It was a somewhat more natural approach as currently in Atlas (or Ark). Here it means find a blueprint and you can make it right away (if you have the resources).
(And which is completely illogical. You can only make a certain number. That's like if I can only build 5 cars. Afterwards I am then again too stupid and can only horse-drawn carriages.)
Furthermore, this approach has the advantage that when playing in a group, the skills/activities have to be split even more.

Vitamins and food. The vitamin system has already been quite defused and certainly still doesn't have too many friends today. Too bad actually.
Yes, I admit it. I'd rather let my character die than take care of the food.
Why is that so? It's the recipes.
For pretty much every recipe, I need special resources that I can't grow myself.
So actually it's pretty useless to build a small farm. Everything I need for the recipes, I should be able to grow.
For example, why can't I grow olives, lemons, etc.? Should I sail halfway around the world to get the materials?
Yes, I do that exactly 1x, so that I have the seeds. Then I want to be able to plant it myself.
I have to travel a lot because of the different resources. I don't feel like doing that because of the food.
Is this a sailing trip simulation or a game with fun?

Speaking of sailing. Much has already been written. More ships etc. Yes it is true. More different types of ships are needed.
One that can transport a lot but cannot be armed. One that is fast but weak. One with thick armour but slow.
One that can shoot further, one that I can ram with, one that only makes sense in the shore area for defense.
Different tactics should be possible. That makes it interesting. If this causes a lot of work for the developers it will be done later.
But why can't I apply boost to my ship? That would certainly be relatively easy to implement, a quick win for everyone. Makes a recipe for faster sailing, one that reduces weight...
There is already the possibility to shoot faster. When I activate a homemade magic cake, a temporary boost is triggered.
Especially the PVP players certainly have a lot of great ideas for this.

Discovery Zones and Skill Points. I think that's a bit stupid at the moment. It only leads to stopping briefly at each island, setting foot on it and then immediately sailing on again.
And the fact that there can still be different zones on an island makes this system even more confusing and impractical. I don't find it very motivating.

And the islands in general. The following situation. There is a coconut on the beach. I let it be picked up by my character. I get cactus.
It is definitely a coconut on the beach and not a cactus. I expect then also a coconut in the inventory and not cactus. Unfortunately, it is still the case at the moment that
the same thing leads to different resources on different islands. This means that each island must be tested: Is what looks like Resource A really Resource A?
I think it's a big mess. On one island the tree gives Strongwood on the other the same tree gives Softwood. I find it chaotic.

Tax. I didn't understand that, what should be the principle behind it? Why should I pay tax to someone if I don't get anything in return?
Give it all a meaning. For example, if I come into a tax area I have the possibility to pay the required tax or not.
(After all, we are pirates here and certainly do not pay taxes voluntarily).
And if I pay tax, then it is e.g. not possible to kill or rob me. Yes, this might become a bit complex in the implementation.
But as it is currently implemented, quite demotivating.

PVP or PVE. This question has been discussed controversially several times. From my point of view, a way should be found to bring these two worlds together.
Because the game world is too big to support only one of the two. Why not decide when logging in, do I want PVP or PVE? Players in PVE mode are specially marked.
Killing them or stealing their equipment/ship is then not possible. Maybe you can only steal their goods. Or they have to pay tribute...
Maybe it would also be good to give players a score about how good/bad they behave and accordingly the player who kills another player gets more/less XP.
As I said, this is quite controversial. And either the developers already have a solution in mind or they should discuss it with PVP and PVE players.

Animals. There are a lot of different animals. But useful? An elephant is a must for the wood. Or a bear for the fights...but most of it is unfortunately quite useless. 
I would like to be able to use animals for certain purposes and each animal has also a special meaningful use.
The implemented features are currently sometimes too weak to be considered meaningful.
And also other features like the Para in Ark.
An animal indicates when enemies are approaching. And then wolves, tigers etc. should be able to defend my home independently. Snake? Dead. Player? Dead.
Currently they cannot be used well. They either run too far away or you just can't find them anymore. And if they are injured, they don't return to a safe place.
The result is always the same. You lose them relatively quickly and the benefit has been small.

Breeding/Farming. That I can't breed all animals/plants on all islands...I personally don't think that's a good design decision. Many players want to settle on the same biomes.
If the penguin with its temperature regulation could be used here, it would certainly help some.
And why can't I also use the penguin with the plants? 3 penguins and I can plant an olive tree in the Arctic. Wouldn't that be fun?

Wild Pirate Camps. My current experience with it is somewhat disappointing. Pirate ship sunk (needed about 200 cannonballs). reward? zero.
The pirate camp with 2 stone houses cleared. At the end 2x3 explosive barrel. reward? 2 pieces of standard cloths and a little bit of gold.
Costs and benefits are out of proportion. Why should I fight these pirates? What should motivate me? No relevant reward.
And that you can't hit a pirate at the cannon (he is immune to damage) other player have already complained. 
That I can only carry a killed pirate...only my animal able to mine him and get armor and weapons?
The base for the Wild Pirate Camps is now available.
Now this concept does. Fixe the illogical elements and expands it. I have an extremely bad reputation? Send me pirate ships or SoD chasing me.
The difficult part, the AI, is already there. Use what you've already developed!
The game knows my strengths. It could react to it and make the attacking pirates (or group of pirate ships) accordingly strong.

SoD only occur in groups. No more single ships. How about a little more variance? At the latest after the x-th ship it becomes boring. And also these ships should be dependent on the wind.
Otherwise it is quite unfair and weird.
The same applies to the Treasure Maps. Almost impossible without an animal. Try different strategies? Useless. Only melee weapons still work. At least in the Single Player ...always the same procedure is boring.
It should be possible to recruit your crew (NPCs) without freeport. The following happened to me earlier. I got my first NPCs. Then my ship was sunk. New NPCs? Sorry, max. 10.
The fact that they were dead in the meantime did not interest the game. I thought it was pretty uncool at that time.

Also the repair of the ships was criticized already several times. So I haven't had ships repaired by NPCs for quite some time. Probably I have hired simply lazy / stupid NPCs.
Here I think all structures connected to a ship should be repaired automatically as soon as an NPC has no other task. Even on the high seas, as I can do myself.
And please indicate if any materials are missing for the repair. And why can't I skill the NPCs for their purpose? The NPC on the sail can then turn the sail faster. The NPC that repairs can work more effectively. On the gun, they shoot faster...

And if we already have NPCs. Can't I assign other tasks to them? Cut down trees and bring the resources to the camp?
I'm supposed to spend more time at sea, so the activities on land should be done by the NPCs.
Every pirate needs a base on land. Therefore, something useful should be done there during my absence.
Today they just stand around senselessly.

Gold. What can I do with gold? The NPCs pay, yes. But I only have a handful. They can't do much. 
Buy all resources? I haven't looked at the Freeport lately. At least a few weeks ago not all resources etc. were available to purchase. Seeds? Fruits? Food? Low Level Animals? Standard Weapons? Planks?
Trading in Single Player? If there are no other players/dealers that can buy from me. At least on the Freeport I should be able to sell surplus.

Much of what I wrote here has already been suggested by others.
Try to communicate even better. Take single points. Discuss them (in writing!) with the players e.g. here in the forum. The player have from time to time the easiest and greates ideas.
Let them participate in the development. At least give them the feeling. If the players can't bond to the product, you'll lose them.

Sorry for this long text.
 

[hurricane moon 24]

confusing wall of text.......

its like you just typed out a rant in your head without thinking ....

 

it prob makes sense to you though matey

[Percieval 1,067]

tl;dr anyone summarize??

Edited October 8, 2019 by Percieval

[Forb Hidden 134]

Pretty good written, many examples, good ideas and at least helpless.

Just another suggestions-thread. Isn't there a specific part in this forum for suggestions...?

[Winter Thorne 696]

I read this:

3 hours ago, motorboat said:

Tax. I didn't understand that, what should be the principle behind it? Why should I pay tax to someone if I don't get anything in return?

 

And then I read this:

3 hours ago, motorboat said:

Why not decide when logging in, do I want PVP or PVE? Players in PVE mode are specially marked.
Killing them or stealing their equipment/ship is then not possible. Maybe you can only steal their goods. Or they have to pay tribute...

 

And based on that, I'd recommend not wading through the wall of text for any other gems of wisdom.

[Geminia_Sierra 20]

Quote

And the islands in general. The following situation. There is a coconut on the beach. I let it be picked up by my character. I get cactus.

This is one thing I think needs some fixing

Quote

So I haven't had ships repaired by NPCs for quite some time.

you do have a resource box on the ship? it is filled with the mats needed for repair? If you don't have the resources, the NPC's will just stand around

Quote

And please indicate if any materials are missing for the repair. 

just equip the repair hammer. If you're missing mats from the resource box you'll know. 

 

I agree with a lot of what you have re-hashed from many people. 

- wpe pirates immune if manning a weapon unless you run up to them and smack them with a sword or the weapon is destroyed by your cannons.

- NPC's being able to be assigned to gather resources would be nice.

[Liatni 35]

I have a question for the OP. Have you read over the basics of the Road Map? Many of the things(not all of course) you have mentioned are on that road map. (to be developed later on).

[Cptchris101 0]

@hurricane moon confusing wall of text? I think he did a good job describing his thoughts well. This isn’t English class it’s a forum online for a game lol you expect journalism type wording and grammar lol you’re going to get tired telling people “wow that’s a confusing wall of text”. Lol you brits haven’t learned to not be cocky you should have learned when we “Americans” beat you all the way back to England, Matey    Ps if your not a Brit then oh well, you must think you are above everyone else lol SMBG

[Gomez Addams 278]

Dear OP,

Jack Kerouac outlined “the essentials of spontaneous prose” before he wrote “On The Road”. I think you might enjoy reading that.

Edited October 23, 2019 by Gomez Addams

[Gemini Five 41]

On 10/8/2019 at 5:33 AM, motorboat said:

For each new possibility create an option to activate/deactivate. This gives you direct feedback on what players think is good/bad.
What they use and what they don't.
 

tl;dr  but this would be great.