Hey gents, glued to the game so far, so you've done that right
This is a (hopefully short) list of things I think should be improved.
To be transparent ATLAS is my hope for the best pirate gaming experience made to date, but in my opinion there's a lot that needs doing.
BIG THINGS:
-The framerate, for unobvious reasons.
Tested on a low, midrange and high end set up, the framerate can be torturous and changing graphics settings doesn't seem to improve it, I believe as most people won't fork out for a high end rig, or can't afford it, this could drive a lot of the playerbase away before it has a chance to be optimized, and without a large and active playerbase the game will die quickly. This could be the determining point for whether the game succeeds or fails so I think this should be priority number one.
-Community interaction.
The lines of communication between the devs and the customers has been spotty at best, especially at launch, the community wants to know what's happening, when it's happening and why it's happening, I'm sure there are some in the community that would want a 24 hour livestream attached to Jat's head (myself included). As I write this the messages are becoming more frequent and the community is less in the dark, keep it coming you guys. P.S - can we get someone inside Grapeshot to update the official wiki? "The accordion is an instrument" is hardly informative.
-OCEANIC SERVERS PLS
OCE is a large part of the community, I myself am in a Discord server with unheeded fans of the official ATLAS Discord, where after hours of begging in the most Australian way they knew how, went to a private server, now almost 1,000 strong, and raised more than $2,000AUD within 2 nights of launch just to host a 12 tile private Australian server. The main point here refers the the first one, the official servers should be the truest and best forms of the game, not just by being the largest but being the most stable and enjoyable, and Oceanic players can not enjoy 400 ping. If an official OCE server isn't formed, the Oceanic playerbase will splinter, dwindle, and dissolve. The strength of this game will come from the community, and if there is no community there will be no game.
-Territory claiming.
This was originally slated for the 'LITTLE THINGS' section but it seems too important to put there.
If I'm playing solo (for whatever reason) and I decide to build a schooner (for whatever reason) in my territory, chances are I won't finish it in one day, I've been playing with 2 other friends for the entirety of my playtime, with the sole goal of building a schooner with non stop grinding, now the grind I enjoy, there's something really relaxing about running mindlessly through a forest for 8 hours cutting down trees. What is not relaxing is waking up the next day after a well deserved sleep, finding that some scum of the earth has come along, pressed quite literally 2 buttons, sat around for an hour and a half and erased your life's work.
The territory system needs redevelopment.
The first idea that comes to mind would be; a point value system where a territory has a certain level, derived from the value of the items, tames, structures, docks and ships (that are unfinished) within the borders, along with value added from player inventories and levels sleeping, or playing, in the territory, belonging to the owning company.
The territory would be assigned a number based off of these values added together, and the hopeful claimant would have to wait a certain amount of time based on this number before claiming the territory himself.
Factors that could lower the time could be; amount of hopeful claimants and claimants levels and item value, structural damage to buildings and docks, relative force (if a galleon or fleet is floating nearby or within territory) and so on.
What's clear is there needs to be change in favour of the territory holder.
(Maybe also a cooldown on claims altogether, to discourage careless claiming)
((Maybe even a skill tree, or perks under Piracy for faster claims))
LITTLE THINGS:
-Creature hitboxes
Feels a little off when you melee a croc in the tail and it doesn't damage, no?
-Metal might be too hard to get
or a more reliable way could be implemented, but I could be wrong about this, you dudes figure it out xx
-Perks for increasing gains with tools
maybe a harvester skill tree
-NOTICEBOARDS IN TOWNS
for company recruitment or friendly messages!
-MARKETBOARDS IN TOWNS
and as a lategame unlock for large playermade territories, for selling or trading goods in a flash
could be implemented as global, with taxes of gold coins for higher distances between buyer and seller, paid by the buyer.
-this one might just be me but
WHY DOES A RATTLESNAKE KNOCK ME BACK 5 FEET WHEN HE HITS FOR 4 DAMAGE????????
WHY GOD???
WHY???
less knockback for animals (except the elephant and rhino they are badass, my first experience in the game was being sent 300 feet off the top of a super tall island straight into the jaws of a shark by an elephant i punched by accident it was fucking fantastic)
which brings me to my next polite demand
-its far to easy to accidentally hit animals while mining, cutting, and chopping trees, especially when they walk through from behind straight into your blade.
this might be an easy fix but maybe change animal pathing to make humans slightly repulsive whilst harvesting? (canonically maybe the banging hurts the monkeys ears? idk lmao)
-wolves are way too heckin quick and silent
-crocs should swim slightly more submerged than they are for maximum croccyness
-not sure how the other boats are because after 50 hours i still havent been on one but rafts have too much trouble sailing against the wind, maybe a buildable jibsail and rudder to make the sailing more saily for the raft?
-the amount of resources it takes to build a ship is both ridiculous and perfect, don't change it.
-way too many waterspouts in stormy seas, way too close to land as well. (a few rogue waves you have to face head on or risk damaging your ship in the open sea during a storm would be great)
-too many alpha creatures, fire kills them too easily too
-safe zones for newbs
-if theres a beasty outside your house you can lock yourself in, wait til he pokes his head through the wall and just punch him to death without risk.
-beastys aggro through walls
-maybe animals facing the other way should not be able to aggro to you without seeing you? wolves are probable the exception
-fishing whilst standing, whilst the ship is moving (maybe meat as bait)
finally the most important thing
if you dont read this and implement it ill give my dog away for adoption BIGGEST THING:
MORE INSTRUMENTS
CUSTOM SONGS WRITTEN IN GAME
2 MORE OCTAVES
SIMPLE SHEET MUSIC USING THE OCTAVE/LETTER-NOTE SYSTEM WHEN YOU RIGHT CLICK WITH AN ACCORDION
SET YOUR TIME SIGNATURE, SET YOUR TEMPO, PLACE YOUR NOTES, INSERT HALF NOTES, INSERT TRIPLETS
PRETTY MUCH RIP OFF TUXGUITAR
LET ME WRITE MUSIC PARTS IN GAME, FOR MULTIPLE INSTRUMENTS, SO I CAN SAIL HAUNTINGLY THROUGH THE NIGHT TOWARDS MY ENEMIES TO THE TUNE OF DAVY JONES THEME
LET ME BANG DRUMS
LET ME STRUM LUTES
LET ME PLAY VIOLINS AND VIOLAS AND DOUBLE BASSES AND THE HARMONICA
LET ME WAIL A MIGHTY SOLO ON A FLUTE
THIS IS THE ONE THING TO DO TO MAKE THE GAME PERFECT
THIS IS WHAT WILL MAKE IT OUTSELL GTA 5
MUSIC MY MAN
MUSIC
THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS POST IS FOR THE MUSIC
thanks for your consideration, this is the year of ATLAS
I'll see you boys on the high seas
aidan out
