Remove the Extra Freeports - Replace with more islands.

[Martyn 246]

On release, it was actually necessary to increase the number of the original freeports, due to the massive influx of players, the server was literally flooded within minutes by 60+k people all wanting in.  The freeports are mobbed, hundreds of players in every direction.

 

But that was then.  Now you might see 1 other player in a free port, either getting easy access resources or a mast head or other cosmetic, maybe some starter crew.

There's no reason for all the freeports now. On release there were only 6-7 in total, it's time it went back to those original few.  The saved space can be turned into more space for players already in game.

[photek 66]

oof...

[Chucksteak 279]

The free ports are needed. Its not overly obvious at this point, but if this game is to last they will have to setup some form of town/hub in these safe zones as they continue to develop the game.

If your talking about spawn points, they should open it up to the full map like it was originally on 1.5 launch. This should be the default setting while beds exist as the currently do.

[Meerkat 33]

the number of free ports have always been the same. they are needed now to trade for rare materials so you don't need to sail to the ends of the map. you will be thankful for them when you are trying to craft those legendary and mythic patterns.

what changed is they had to allow you to spawn on lawless areas to handle the server stress on free ports at launch.

@Chucksteak you can spawn on any grid now,  just change your home server.

side note, still tons of islands available on NA-PVE for medium and large companies. sorry all the solo islands where taken the first night.

[Gindorf 111]

2 hours ago, Meerkat said:

 

@Chucksteak you can spawn on any grid now,  just change your home server.

 

Sadly this is not correct. You can only select lawless and freeport now. Been that way since 3ish weeks after 1.5

[Meerkat 33]

3 hours ago, Gindorf said:

Sadly this is not correct. You can only select lawless and freeport now. Been that way since 3ish weeks after 1.5

if so they changed it back, i remember spawning directly to the grid and island that the company was planning to claim after wipe.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

On 5/22/2019 at 9:50 PM, Meerkat said:

if so they changed it back, i remember spawning directly to the grid and island that the company was planning to claim after wipe.

Yes, that was a temporary change, to allow people to spawn all over the map.  But, it has been many many days since this was changed back.  Only Freeports and Lawless Islands, now.

 

Here is a better change.  Increase the number of grids with a Freeport, but have that just be one larger island, in the middle of the grid, and have that surrounded by some lawless islands.  It would require some changes to their code, but would be worth the effort.  With this change, they would get rid of Lawless Grids...combining Freeport and Lawless into one grid.  You could cut down on the number of Lawless/Freeport Grids, by half, and yet increase the number of grids with a Freeport.  This would be a positive change, with player merchants in the Freeports being a thing.  It brings them closer to you.

 

At present, the entire map breaks down like this.

• 225 grids in total
• 1 for the Maw
• 16 for Freeports
• 64 for lawless
• 8 Golden Age
• 136 Claimable

That's 89 that cannot be claimed.  With some changes, this is how it could look.

• 225 grids in total
• 1 for the Maw
• 32 for Freeport and Lawless, Combined
• 12 Golden Age
• 180 Claimable

That's twice the grids for Freeports, 4 new Golden Age Ruin, and 44 new grids full of islands to be claimed.  This would allow for more places for players to set up, and own an island, but also allow everyone to be closer to a Freeport, to trade at.

Like I said, this would involve some coding, to combine Freeports and Lawless islands into one grid...now the level 8 restriction, would only be at the actual freeport, not the entire grid.   I have seen this in some unofficial servers.  EliteARK does this, if I remember correctly.

 

[Badkebab 79]

Given the current player population I'd say we aren't really in need of more land. 

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

14 minutes ago, Badkebab said:

Given the current player population I'd say we aren't really in need of more land. 

Probable not, but if they improve the game, we might.  But, at the same time, whether it is lawless, or claimable is only part of the issue.  Allowing people better access to freeports to manage trading, is a QOL issue, and this game needs QOL improvements to make the game sell again.

Honestly, they need to completely rethink Freeports, because they sold people on this image of a lot of people in the freeports, making it a living, and breathing social center, and I think they are going to deliver that, if they want to bring people back, and get more people.

[Chucksteak 279]

1 hour ago, Badkebab said:

Given the current player population I'd say we aren't really in need of more land. 

Could always use more land.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Jack Shadow said:

Honestly, they need to completely rethink Freeports, because they sold people on this image of a lot of people in the freeports, making it a living, and breathing social center, and I think they are going to deliver that, if they want to bring people back, and get more people.

This is absolutely correct. What should be a social and economic hub is instead a complete failure so far. I am looking forward to these being improved vastly.

That being said, we cannot lose all of the lawless zones. These are the places where anyone can go to farm resources that might otherwise be locked away behind a mega guilds defenses. These are the places where duos and solos can live relative safety.

[Evir 38]

Every tiny guild wants their own island, that is the problem. 5-10 active player guilds thinking they should be the kings of the world. That is the problem, then everyone allying up and making super alliances (outside of the game mechanics) causing land to become scarce even with basically no one on them. Declaring war on small groups becomes extremely risky because your small group, cant fight that small group + all their direct allies and the "allies" that are made outside of the alliance system in game.

That is where the land problems are coming from. There is plenty of land, just too many small guilds refusing to work together in a more direct way, because that would mean that they "I'm the king" leader giving up their power and the individuals actually having to work as part of a larger group. "my stuff" "my ship" "my mount" runs rampant, when all they really have to do, is just MAKE MORE, increase your production and you do not have to worry about "my" because there is so much of the stuff, it doesn't matter. Just take one of the 40 extra rifles, or 1 of the 10 extra tames.

Edited May 24, 2019 by Evir

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

On 5/24/2019 at 3:18 PM, Chucksteak said:

Could always use more land.

 

This is absolutely correct. What should be a social and economic hub is instead a complete failure so far. I am looking forward to these being improved vastly.

That being said, we cannot lose all of the lawless zones. These are the places where anyone can go to farm resources that might otherwise be locked away behind a mega guilds defenses. These are the places where duos and solos can live relative safety.

You would still have them.  The islands surrounding the Freeport Island, would be Lawless islands.  The idea here being that Lawless and Freeport would be in the same grid.

 

On 5/24/2019 at 3:41 PM, Evir said:

Every tiny guild wants their own island, that is the problem. 5-10 active player guilds thinking they should be the kings of the world. That is the problem, then everyone allying up and making super alliances (outside of the game mechanics) causing land to become scarce even with basically no one on them. Declaring war on small groups becomes extremely risky because your small group, cant fight that small group + all their direct allies and the "allies" that are made outside of the alliance system in game.

That is where the land problems are coming from. There is plenty of land, just too many small guilds refusing to work together in a more direct way, because that would mean that they "I'm the king" leader giving up their power and the individuals actually having to work as part of a larger group. "my stuff" "my ship" "my mount" runs rampant, when all they really have to do, is just MAKE MORE, increase your production and you do not have to worry about "my" because there is so much of the stuff, it doesn't matter. Just take one of the 40 extra rifles, or 1 of the 10 extra tames.

Wrong.  The problem is that nobody should own the whole island.  They need to totally rethink this entire thing.  Stop with the unlimited land claims, and stop with the owning of entire islands.  Make better islands, with more suitable coves to build a port.  Give every company just two claims.  One for a port, and one for a base.  Make them slightly bigger than the old sea claim, but not hugely bigger.  Allow those claims to work just like the island claims work right now, as far as a safe and vulnerable time goes.

As for the "I'm the king" leader giving up their power, comment goes.  Sorry, but games must be about fun.  When I went from being the leader, to being a nobody in a company, that was not fun, and while I stuck it out for a while, most of the company quit...quit the game completely.   The game has to learn how to support smaller companies.  My suggestion would be to create official Alliances by creating several factions.  Have people actually fight for land as groups.  Maybe make it four factions, or just two.  Maybe start with four, and see if that works.  If not, go to two, with subfactions.  The subfaction you choose would determine the armor skin you get.