PeglegTheAngry

ADDENDUM POST I'm going to add to this post to clarify and explain things further. I feel like I missed some stuff in my sleepless manic induced stupor last night. Pirate and Trade Companies So one thing I forgot to expand on was piracy and trading focused companies. Trading Companies: Companies that flag themselves as a trading company have PvE waters in their sovereign tiles. They do this by flagging their company as a "trade company" this prevents them from being wardeced. However, this title is lost upon aggression against another player. Defending yourself does not drop the Trade Company flag. When a trade company declares sovereignty waters in that zone become PvE and behave like empire water. Companies declared as trading companies can only join alliances with other trade companies. Standard companies who store ships or build in sovereign trade areas are open to attack by enemies. Pirate Companies: are players who only prey on others; not as a result of war.. but for the sake of it. Pirate players are not allowed in secure waters. If these players wander into secure waters such as Trade Sovereign, golden age, or empire they are free to attack; by anyone, but can not defend themselves in PvP. Gameplay Philosophy Complimentary Gameplay: Pure PvE players should never have to be subject to PvE scenarios; but they should not be left out of being touched by them. PvP conflict would be of great benefit to PvE players under this system: Traders could open vast market places, beautifully built show casing their skill and creativity to its fullest. These area's could one day end up as hang-out spots and areas touched by conflict that unaffected players are able to witness there by immersing everyone into the same event. I go back to EvE: The reward for the participating players is intrinsic; the battle itself is the reward. Now imagine this, but it happened at YOUR personally owned and built Port. You get to clean up the wrecks, you get to profit from the recovery, you get to witness, participate in it.... and it only benefits you... as a PvE only player. The PvP Players, likewise benefit from PvE players. PvP players have a place to trade knowing they wont be scammed or attacked. BPs that are otherwise useless to the PvE Players can be purchased by PvP players... and vice versa! Risk vs Reward: For the players who chose to risk PvP, they are rewareded with more resources, better BPs, more rep gains, and the instant gains PvP can bring. Likewise, for the easy going life of a PvE player; rewards come at a slower pace and with patience. After all... who else is going to breed that line of 125 bears?

You didn't read my proposal, clearly. Uhh... what? You'd get far more than half the map. Not that you need that much to begin with. Everything you need to make mythics is within 5 tiles of you if you know what islands to look for. There's only a handful of them, and they are placed so you don't have to travel to far... my goodness. Smack talk? You can leave chat you know. You don't have it straight. That's a very toxic reply for someone who doesn't want to be exposed to toxic environments. I feel like you might be projecting a bit.

Exactly. All of the critical stuff in the game would be accessible in the PvE zones, with no reason to cross into dangerous water. The PvP players would have a place to come trade and have some positive interaction. PvE players would benefit because they would see income, exotic resources, BPs that are useless to PvP , but useful to PvE, perhaps even the chance to participate in a war without it coming to their door. I don't know why it is so hard to imagine the two playstyles co-existing.

Personal incredulity is not an argument against something. The problems with EvE Online are meant to be there. I imagine the devs would keep PvE zones completely PvE... as detailed.... in my post.... Did you read it? I guess you really can't please everybody! You need to breathe when you talk.

Holy shit you are extra. If you really don't trust the future of this game, why are you here? Scoot.

Exactly. If this dude read my post they'd also understand they would have protection in PvP grids from the local company or its navy. Pirate grids would be known and avoided. Since all the lawless tiles touch, you would never have to cross into dangerous water; since those tiles would be empire space PvE.

1: It does NOT. I PROMISE you that you can find five types of each resource and mythos within 5 tiles of a polar region. If you have to cross the whole map, you are doing something wrong. 2: You do not represent all players. 3: I am a Pv$ player. Player versus Economy. 4: Yeah, because its working super well right now. The population is BOOMing. You are comfortable with the game the way it is. You dont want change... that's understandable.

You speak for all of us now? How do you know that PvE waters wouldnt be interconnected and always follow a "tradewind" ? Couldn't you also... you know, trade to get stuff? You think to narrowly.

Did you read my proposal? All you would have to do is stick to Empire tiles or tiles belonging to Sovereign Trade companies. Unless you are at war with them or their Navy you are free to sail. It's kinda the way EvE Online works, but you cant be suicide ganked.

I mean, you are free to have an opinion; everyone in this thread who plays PvE (including myself) seems to disagree. I would love to build warships in a PvE zone and sell them to a mega alliance for thier war efforts, but maybe that's just me....

Actually. https://secondlife.com/

I think Ill leave this here The many private servers out there with mixed PvE and PvP grids prove this works. EvE Online proves this works. WoW proves mixed servers work. Ark/Atlas have a lot of absolutist thinkers who seem to not be able imagine the game beyond its current circumstances.

I feel like you have limited the scope of your idea too much. You are thinking too much in terms of how Atlas currently functions, which was never intended. Check this thread out for my idea. Keep in mind, it's a game... they sky is the limit, essentially. You basically want empires back, but with more restrictions. That system sucked hard, and it caused the burn out that people have now.

I think this is the wrong game-play philsophy. Restricting players down to Ark-sized bases and limiting their territory is unfun!

1: I wouldn't worry about people cheating. They would need access to dev for console commands; which would not be allowed cause they would still be on an official server. 2: I would imagine the map would be expanded to allow more players. Keep in mind PvE players can also purchase their own Sovereign grids as well. 3: Until recently, Ive had my whole experience on NA:PvP. No one coming to grief your tame unless you are on lawless or something. Even then, lawless is dead now-a-days.

I know you sent this to my thread as well; but the thing I said about planks.... can we add this to here too? It REALLY sucks to lose mythical planks and not have more to replace it with.... planks shouldnt be " lost!"

It's all good! I'm a big sailor. I can handle myself! I just wish there were a few less annoyances to deal with, but thats Early Access/hardcore games.

Oh wow. Thank you for the reply! I am super passionate about this game, despite never really getting into Ark. I have had good luck with my suggestions working out for FacePunch and Rust.... so I really hope it works for you guys too!

Me too! The experience on PvE is SO much better than PvP. I am really happy I made the switch.

The more we talk about it the more likely the devs are to do it. It seems most of the quitters want to like this game, but its just so hard to with it's identity crisis.

TIL: it is difficult to follow a cow around while stuffing rushes, fronds, onions, garlic, or potatoes in it's face.

As we all know Colonies solved none of the problems that Empires had, save for offline raiding. On PvE servers it serves little purpose but to advertise your island on the map. I feel like it has it's place but it could be SO MUCH MORE. With all this talk of Factions I have my own extensive ATLAS OVERHAUL that should see surges of returning players. Functionally, these are minor changes... just to get it out the door and working. To tie it all together, though, it's a big undertaking. I haven't seen other threads tackle this kind of system yet, so I am going to bring my own ideas to the table. I am not going to be touching on QOL issues in this thread, that's for another day. Sorry. 1: The Nations System Overview Currently, the colonies system works by allowing players to join a company, and then an alliance of companies. This would not change. Companies and Alliances will still be critical to the game. Emergent Player to Player scenarios drive sandbox games like Ark, Rust, and EvE Online. The current claim system does little to provide the player with a "bucket and pail" to tackle the sandbox with. Currently without any tools or encouragement there is no reason for cooperation; therefor, the fun of the current sandbox is had by shoving handfuls into someone's shorts and eyes. Ergo, Mega clans, griefing, raiding bambis, and tears.... lots of tears. Due to it's limited nature the current system is pretty punishing for players. Another issue I find is that: everyone I know hates playing in a mega or simply not playing for themselves. I am the same way. While, I enjoyed my time with the likes of GypSEAS, Uganda, No No No, and TC I can not say it was ideal. I never felt like I was actually having fun. It felt more like a social obligation; one which only was needed to protect my meager stash of tames and a ship. The social aspect is and was a huge draw; and part of the reason I stuck around. However, once I got a taste of playing for myself on Private Servers/PvE/SP it changed my views quickly... it was FUN. Exactly the same gameplay... minus just about all of the problems. Players have made the system punishing. The issue is that players and even the devs carry the same ideals and gameplay philosophy that works for Rust, Minecraft, or Ark but does NOT work for something like Atlas. Atlas, has more in common with EvE Online than any other game, and thus; it should do as much as it can to try to emulate it. Therefor, the claim and PvP system should function in a similar way. Colonies already does this for claims (vulnerability window + wardec), which is great for large alliances; it is not great however, for solos or part time players. It drives player interaction toward raiding... and just raiding. No trade, no intrigue, just raids. I think a good way to reconcile this is to allow hardcore PvP, PvE and casual PvPers to exist on the same server. Alright, here we go: Players will be able to chose between four main Nations, all four of which are split into alliances. Players may also chose to not affiliate with a single nation or faction They may even chose to remain hostile to all four if they like. Each alliance decision has different drawbacks or benefits. Each nation and faction has it's own ideology, special blueprints, cosmetics, and benefits. The Nations are as follows: Eastern Empire Western Kingdom Norse Republic Southern Syndicates Pirate Cartels Eastern and Southern Empires form the "Golden Empires Collation" Faction. Norse Republic and Western Kingdoms form the "Western Trade Companies" Faction. Pirates will ignore and defend players who prove bloodthirsty enough, but this comes at the cost of Navy attention. The presence of the Nations has lead to different levels of "security" in the waters. National/Empire Waters: PvE except for players enrolled in Faction Warfare, pirates, or those under a PvP war declaration. (More below) Lawless Waters: Basically nothing changes. Outside of player alliances: anyone can attack you, you can attack anyone. Resources are the most abundant, wild animals spawn at higher levels and are difficult to tame, sometimes lesser mythic mobs (gorgons and yetis) spawn here. These areas surround Powerstones, rather than Freeports. International Waters: This is the same as standard zones under the current system. Semi-open PvP, any player can claim, decent resources, better wilds, less dangerous islands. Homestead Waters: These are regions hosted on the player's personal computer. Only they and people invited can access this area. (More below) Sovereign Waters: An extended version of island claims, this sets an entire grid to PvE and taxes all islands to a central bank. Once waters become Sovereign the company or alliance who owns the water can not be removed. (More below) Powerstone Waters: Only slight changes here. Convert zones to PvE and allow temporary builds. Allow taming of all non-mythic powerstone spawns if the player has the powerstone for said island. 2: Waters Explained. National/Empire Waters: These areas are owned by the corresponding nation, and take the current place of Freeports and Lawless islands surrounding them. Players are completely safe from PvP when in these zones unless they are at war with each-other or in faction warfare. Waters are patrolled by NPC pirates who attack ships and players on islands. Occasionally spawns WPE's. Faction Warfare most often happens in these areas. Players with sufficient reputation with either/both the Nation and the Faction Navy may claim certain islands. Faction Navy members get access to larger, better, yet cheaper islands that give more resources once claimed. (Areas owned by Pirate Factions also function in a similar way but are hostile to "good" players. ) Players who's companies are at war are able to attack each-other in these zones. Limited verity of resources spawn in these areas. Travel to other areas required to make anything better than FINE bps, thus encouraging trade, travel, and piracy. Homestead Waters: Meant as a starting point and offline storage area, Homestead Waters host a single grid containing an island with a pre-built small shipyard, low quality map spawns, and crew recruiter. Homesteads provide every Freeport resource. Homesteads do not spawn useful creatures, but do however allow the player to breed any creatures regardless of conditions at a cost to the baby's wild level. Players may store up to TWO personally owned ships. Nothing stored at a Homestead decays and remains in stasis unless the player is present. All NPCs and Tames brought here are fed/paid at no cost to the player. Companies can not store company owned ships at a Homestead. As was mentioned before, this is just a place to start and tuck things away when you go offline for a long time; or a place for absolute casuals. Homesteads provide NO experience. Players are also granted access to a "lumber mill" which provides unlimited wood building pieces, and deployables only placeable on the homestead (not boats). Players must have unlocked desired deployables. Sovereign Waters: As mentioned before, a sufficiently advanced Company or Alliance can purchase a token from a friendly faction or nation to convert an area into a PvE area that can only be attacked under a war declaration or by an opposing navy. These areas can still be raided, however, the residing company/alliance can not be removed, nor do damaged structures remain damaged (boats and tames however do not regenerate) anything popcorned/left in bags is deposited into the claim flag. By default, only allied companies can build in these areas. Companies may have ONE sovereign grid. Declaring a zone Sovereign spawns uncontrollable NPC ships belonging to the player's company and allied navy. Players can be attacked in open water in these zones. The residing company must remain at a certain level of activity, pay gold upkeep, have settlers, and appease its allied Nation/Faction to maintain control of an area. Piracy: Areas claimed by pirate players spawn extra resources but are in PvP mode longer than normal grids/islands. They also attract a larger and more powerful than average Navy presence to the area. 3: Better NPCs "Drone Better. People make problem. Trust me... drone better." - Ivan Vanko This is going to be a quick one. NPCs don't do enough. NPCs should repair ships when at sea, be able to help farm, watch animals, etc. Make special vendors or quests to acquire specialty NPCs/crew. Allow players to place their own crew recruiter/NPC quest giver. As was mentioned earlier, more NPC factions are needed. Less reliance on mega groups to enjoy the game to the fullest. Having the ability to assign an NPC to a ship and it automatically patrol/escort the player would also be spectacular. NPCs need to preform anything players can do; busy work wise (raising tames, resource gathering, etc) Solo players should not need other players. Instead, players should always be better at what NPCs can do; rather than being a requirement. 4: The Content is the Reward. I've noticed that playing this game without PvP changes it's nature. In a PvP setting, PvP is the reward for 'content'. Doing a games content for a reward is a poor way to play a game, and a big reason this game ( and WoW) is doing so poorly. Playing the game should itself, be a reward; and it is only that way for PvE /local/Single Players right now. Rewards should be things that make content more fun; tames and buffs are on the right track for that. As you may have gleamed by now, under this system player actions result in the ability to do the same content faster, better, and in more fun ways. 5: Naval Battle + Ships. Deplanking in its current form looks bad and feels bad. Planks shouldn't disappear. Instead, they should form holes and catch fire/splinter depending on the damage taken. But, never be "lost" instead, they are repaired as needed. When "deplanked" they begin to leak as they would now. The option to surrender and turn over the ship/portion of resources to encourage piracy would be a boon. As an anti-griefing and a "fun insurance" measure ships sunk should have the option to re-surface them. For anchored ships, this is just a resource fee. For ships lost at sea, it should require the Submarine and a special token/feat. 6: Faction Rewards What would alliance be without benefit? As was mentioned before working for a faction/nation rewards you with reputation (or negative rep) used to unlock BPs, powerful ships, tames, NPCs, land rights, and cosmetics. Conclusion: I do hope you can see how all of this plays together to encourage ALL types of players. No one is left out under this system. Small groups, solos, and mega groups are each rewarded in their own way. Every form of player interaction is encouraged, and maximizes fun. Even with our current player-base this system would still benefit the players. I hope that even if this system is not utilized that the devs consider some aspects of it. I know if I were developing this game, this is the system the game would have come out with.

I think there needs to bet a bit more oversight moving forward. Getting a clamp down on the /r/playatlas sub to be less shitty toward the game and devs would be superb. Attitudes about the game would be different if less people were inclined to join the complaint circle jerk.

Single Player. They are level 1300

All I want... is some good bears. Ive had to kill the same Alpha lion THREE times today. Yes it died, yes a new one took it's place. I keep losing ALL of my progress to it; since all of my progress hinges on a bear. This is one of the many reasons this game is dying. I'm ready to call it quits myself. This deluge of un-fun bullshit makes me want to scream. Every time I find a high level tame, it dies in some horrible and spectacular way. Is there a dev watching me or something?