Winter Thorne

1 hour ago, wakko151 said:

Its not too small. You need to join a company. This is not a solo or small group kinda game. If you are failing or not getting the results you would like, switch tactics.

44 minutes ago, SoloHan88 said:

Then this isn't the game for you. You're thinking it's something that it's not.

Pffffft.   It's not up to you guys to say  what kind of game this is, who it's for or how it has to be played.    Let the devs say that.  Once they do, maybe some of us will decide it isn't the game for us after all.  Or maybe not.    Try saying "I HOPE this is not a solo or small group game" instead of pretending you have some secret access to the design spec (if there even is one), because we all know that's what you really mean.

We must be playing 2 completely different games.    It would be fun to play yours, where people are happy to see all the crews taking land and where a fix to vultures, lighthouses, and flotsam are good news.  And those ships of the damned..well, good thing they got fixed if you've made a huge ship and don't want it destroyed, I guess.  I hear there's a crew out there with an entire armada of galleons, although we don't know what they're up to because , although they talk a LOT, we can't understand them.

Unfortunately, some of us are playing the game where, after laggedy laggedy rubberbanding, character disappearing,  disconnecting, gold-farmer griefing, we are finally making it out of Freeport, except we have nowhere to go because all the land is already claimed.  Oh sure, we're considering stealing all of some guy's stuff and his claim (on a pve server) if he has some issue where he can't get into the game for a couple days, but it seems a crappy thing to do.  (And we know we won't benefit anyway, because someone else will just take all OUR work before we accomplish anything there.)    Seems a disappointing exercise in futility, after working so hard to get out of the n00b zone.   And that tweak to skills made all of us laggards so very happy too.

Make no mistake, this is not a post about EA tech issues.  It's about game design, and about what seems to be a complete disconnect between what you think is the current gameplay, and what many of the players are actually experiencing.  Given what many of us have experienced so far, some of your comments seem to freakishly off-base.

Lauding crews that are grabbing up all the land on the servers before many players can even get out of the gate.  Not recognizing the distinction between  goals and playstyles between PvP and PvE servers.  (Dominate the map?  Sure, for PvP.  Not necessarily a goal on PvE)

Not providing any sort of "vision" of how you see players actually playing the game.    What's the gameplay for a group of 4 friends wanting to start a crew and join the game in 3 months time, for example?  Maybe one wants to be the best boatbuilder on the map, one wants to be the best cook, one wants to be a trader, etc....They enter Freeport, start a crew, sail out..and then what?    How do they accomplish that with no land, or 3 day chunks of time with land?  Do you have in mind a more ephemeral existence for the players, with no real base of operations?  Do you see people building structures on ships and just living on them?    Is the game designed specifically to exclude more casual players, single or small group players, adults with lives?  Some explanation of what you're going for here would be helpful.

Again, the focus on performance and server stability is spot on at the moment, and this is not a complaint about that.  But it would help to know if there's a point to enduring it, and if restarting from zero 20 times will eventually become a fond memory, or an unhappy experience of time wasted when there's no prize at the end of it.  I was fairly confident of the former until this post and especially until this tweet - 

If it continues to run smoothly, we're going to be looking at doing a wider release to see how it fairs against a large horde of players.

Have another look at the game experience many of us are having, and you tell me if this sounds like good news.

it·er·ate

/ˈidəˌrāt/

verb

1.

perform or utter repeatedly.

Maybe it's time to stop "iterating" and do something different.

1 hour ago, Traven Guthrie said:

And your future of barren islands with 1000s of solo player bases would be bad.  Wc needs to change something in the game design, but forcing land away from people isnt the answer. Since you want to play by yourself they should make it possible like on ark.

If you can't win people over to your point, lying won't help you.

I said earlier I planned to join or start a crew.

6 minutes ago, Goldfish The Builder said:

If only you could contest land claims!  

"Hello, Boss?  You know that sales trip you wanted me to go on?  It's longer than 3 days so I can't go or I'll lose my claim in this pirate game I'm playing."

"Sorry Mom, that cruise I was going to take you on is a whole week..can we find one that lasts 2 days?"

"What do you mean there are 200,000 without power and you'll get back to me when you can?  I'll lose my claim!"

So many stupid mechanics in this game.  I can't imagine what these guys are thinking.

6 minutes ago, Traven Guthrie said:

You dont have to like my answer for it to be true. Sorry Ive posted about this on several other threads and on this one I didnt say that the solution is another server. Its not about mega crews. Mine isnt a mega crew and we are doing fine. On my grid theres dozens of crews with decent sized lands.

You've missed the entire point.  I didn't say anything about another server.  What happens to the next 1000 players who buy the game?  If you're not a mega crew, you better plan on being one, because all those players gotta go somewhere.  What happens if these crews don't WANT more players?  Better figure it out quick,  because Jat is tweeting out that they are talking about a wider release next to get hordes more players onto the servers.  Hope they tell them they can't start their own crews or stake their own claims before they let them plunk down their cash.

Your answer is neither true nor false.  It's just your opinion on game design.    People are free to disagree with it and I do.    It makes no accommodation for future players, making the future of the game ridiculous.

According to twitter, if the next performance patch improves the servers, they are talking about doing a wider release to load up the servers with hordes of players.

Better tell them there's no land left to claim first.

~triple facepalm~

3 hours ago, Realist said:

There is no way to fix it. Not making a bigger radius, not making a smaller one, and not making a limit to them.

they were simply the wrong decision and a very bad one.

with ark you could build anywhere. If someone wanted to play solo and understood they had no chance, at least they could find a little hidden enclave and live for that brief moment.

some people will surely give excuses, but a game where there is no place to even put a foundation is a game that is fundamentally unplayable.

 

i am really disappointed in the poor choices made by this development company and it is time that we stop making excuses for poor choices and start holding them accountable. No wonder the gaming industry is going down hill. The white knights are the ones killing it.

What's your issue with making a limit to them?    It would fix it until the server population reaches a certain level, then you need another server, but at least the devs would be able to do the math (I think) and figure out how much space is left.

13 minutes ago, Traven Guthrie said:

Dont limit claims.  You dont understand that without open land no islands would have resources. people would build in every place and stop the respawn of resources.   Join up with crews and you dont have to worry about land. Stop trying to play an MMO as a single player.

 

But I agree that the PVE server is far from PVE.  From the constant land stealing (a PvP thing)  Stealing from smithies and the like (also PVP) and because people can access things like smithies griefers are sinking ships in PVE from overloading them. On PVE players shouldnt be  able to access anything owned by someone else, period. Like shipyards. thats PVE.

I don't like your answer.  I intend to join up with a crew when I find one I like, but I'm not going to join up with people who annoy me, so that may take a while.  People shouldn't be forced to join an uber crew just to get a spot to claim.  What happens in 2 months when 4 friends decide to start playing the game?  They can't have a crew because the only way to have land is join a mega crew who got here in the first 3 days?  In the end, nobody who didn't get here, avoid all the bugs and issues, and get out and claim entire regions of the map will be able to have a crew.  We'll have 3 crews per server and if you don't like it, tough.  That's your answer?

Also,  I agree with you partly on stealing.  More things ought to be able to have locks on them.  But if there's a way to lock up your stuff, and you don't, I don't see many issues with stealing.   There's a game mechanic to protect your stuff, you just need to use it.   That business of overloading people's ships is griefing.  There's way too many ways to grief in this game.  They need to shut those down.

24 minutes ago, smiltstomb said:

You can't take it if they are there.  Also you can't actually fight over it.  Doing it any other way means people could claim land never log back in and the land is just gone for good.  You have to have some system in place to make it where land can be claimed by new/future players.

That's because the claim system is stupid.  Claims should be limited to 1 per person, and a max size for companies depending on company size.  They should disappear if there's no activity for 20 days or something like that.  You shouldn't have another player able to wipe your claim if you have to go on a business trip or go on vacation, have an extended power outage, etc.

Though with the lack of available claims it would be rare if your claim stuck around after 3 days.    3 days just isn't enough for anyone with even the smallest bit of a life.

1.  Family vacations - 1-2 weeks

2.  Business trips

3.  Extended power outages

4. Injury/illness/surgery, etc.

I could probably come up with at least 6 or 7 more reasonable things that would keep someone out of the game for 3 days.

This is a hard enough game to start if you're not a dedicated player.  (Meaning you're a grownup who gets a lot of interruptions in their playtime)  With the decay, and the vitamin thing,  it's like being the guy in the circus who spins 15 plates on top of long poles sometimes.  A short claim delay makes it impossible.

I hate griefers.

That might handle being away from the claim, which is the smaller problem.  The bigger problem is being away from the game for >3 days.

The latest patch notes say -   PVE Territory can only be claimed if the owner has not been active around the territory within the last 3 days

I don't understand what the devs are going for here.   If a player has to be away from the game for 3 days, they lose their claim?    No vacations allowed?

They did say earlier that the idea wasn't to make a claim and then just stay on it.  They want everyone out exploring and traveling.  So if I make a claim, then go out sailing and exploring and don't get back to my claim for 3 days and "be active" (whatever that means), the claim can be stolen?