I want this game to be about pirates, this is what could help!

[rechetking 0]

Atlas right now is split between two player bases. One player base comes directly from Ark, expecting Ark 2.0. The other player base comes from the trailer, expecting a pirate mmorpg experience. If the trailer is supposed to be a reflection of what the actual game is going to be about then there are many short and long term changes I would recommend to promote a pirate mmorpg experience. I'm aware that my lack of experience as a game developer makes it impossible for me to understand the difficulty of implementing changes, but I still hope you will look at what you can do within your limitations to make this the new pirate mmorpg that you advertised it would be.

Short

• Reduce material costs of crafting everywhere, but especially on small/medium boats! Pirates are all about boats! If you want this game to be about being a pirate everyone needs a boat!!! These changes are very important for PVP SERVERS!
  note: End game ships are fine as is, and should take forever to build.
• Acquiring food shouldn't be difficult! This is really aimed at fish, since the fishing system is very restricted and not very robust. I am aware though that this is the hardest to fix, as it's not simply fine tuning a number.
• Food should also have more of an effect on starvation and vitamins. It should be easy not to starve or be vitamin deficient. The current system encourages just dying from starvation and respawning, because it's such a hassle to actually gather the correct food, and gathering it barely does anything.
  note: If you want to argue this is unrealistic, what's unrealistic is eating 60+ berries, carrots, grass and not being full or disgusted.
• Increase spawn of treasure maps, make the tutorial include where to find treasure maps. Treasure maps are the most interesting component of the game, with very high scarcity. Acquiring them should be easy, completing them should be hard, not the other way around! Make the journey challenging not the preparations.

Long

• Introduce a new skill that allows you to identify and mark material nodes from a distance.
  note: This will allow players to identify islands they wish to land on, and ensure that each island visited will provide something beneficial and not be disappointing.
• Rework cooking, so well made food provides buffs! Cooking shouldn't focus on fulfilling survival needs, it should go above and beyond to make it useful late game.
  note: If you try to balance the vitamin and hunger systems around cooking you will restrict player choice immensely. I'm not fully aware what cooking does right now so this is a shot in the dark.
• There should only be 1 claim per company, company size should be restricted to 50 players, company size determines the size of the claim, governing a grid should be an alliance of companies, that determines rules together. It's incredibly important that companies, and governance act to increase player interaction and not decrease it, that's all I really want. Current system supports zerging and taking as many islands as possible. Cuts out new players and players interested in setting up late. Encourages everyone to join the biggest company. Very important for PVP SERVERS!

 

In short the goal of these changes would be to reduce preparation time, and increase the amount of time people are actually out on adventures. Atlas needs to be complimented by the systems of ARK, but not defined by it for it to survive!

Edited December 26, 2018 by rechetking

[funkiboi 0]

I agree with 99% of this, however I feel like company's should even be smaller maybe like 20-30. I feel like having a fleet defeats the whole pirate image. 

[rechetking 0]

I'd keep company size high, because we don't know how many players it takes to control the end game ships, and how responsive the AI crew will be. I do think the smaller the better though, but if company size gets too small people will just team regardless and circumvent the company system.

[funkiboi 0]

 ya you are right, I didn't think of that. well  maybe they could  limit how many ships a company can have so it doesn't turn into a fleet show

[MagpieOAO 18]

I like the ideas of cooking providing buffs and the claim issues. Would also make sense if there are taverns where you can buy food for buffs, possibly player made ones eventually.