TheSeer

I agree the foundation spamming is annoying, maybe they could add something like the upkeep box used for NPC (not saying it has to actually cost resource) but the idea would be if things aren't built within a radius of this object then they would decay faster. They could also limit how many of these object a person could have, of course, grief might not care simple place new one just to grief. I wish they put the flag system back in, change it to a square shape and limit the number of flag per person. To be honest I had to do some spamming on one of the islands I have my main base on because even with a ton of open space including open beaches on both sides of me some people had to build right between my building and on top of me. My spamming just limit to a small area where my base is. Thankfully they stop coming this week so I got to demolish their structure and my new neighbors have been pleasant and friendly.

If Dolly is suggesting they aren't going to put up the NA PVE server then that should have been upfront and clear about that before launch day. Since they said it would come up in a few weeks people who wanted to play on NA PVE didn't do anything and now have missed any chance of claiming an island on EU PvE. I hope this isn't the case and they will indeed put up the NA PVE servers for those seeking to claim an island very soon but to be honest this shouldn't be an issue. They should have planned to add a new server in before launch or told the customers that they plan to have only one PVE server. These unclear messages coming from the devs are just upsetting more customers. I do love many things about this game but the new claim system really didn't fix any of the issues that drove people off with the old claim system.

If they were going to do that they should have been upfront and clear about it. Now people who were waiting on the NA PVE server lost their chance to claim islands. It doesn't affect me because I plan to build on lawless but they need to be clear if they are or aren't planning on putting up the NA PVE. This mixed message will only upset more customers.

I hope it all works out for you, good luck.

Can't say I'm surprised and knew this would happen. This new system didn't fix any of the real problems and actually made the issue of owning land worse since even fewer people will own an actual island. I predict that the lawless regions will once again be the most active grids because many people don't want to live at the mercy of someone else. I really do like the game but the issue of land ownership is hurting the game overall population. I probably just grab a place on lawless when NA PVE comes up.

Kappinski how do we fight the landlord on PVE? Sure that work on PVP but I think most of us were talking about PVE where you can't attack the landlord. All you can do is hope they stop playing and thus their upkeep cost run out. I haven't seen any note suggesting there are any other means to take over an island or get ride of a landlord.

I agree with you and that is why I will say the lawless system is better than this new system because at least it would have given more people a chance at land ownership. It would also take a little longer for people to claim all the land even with the issue of the spamming foundation issue. Now in a few hours, everything will be claimed if not in minutes lol since people can now spawn in different regions. They could have also fixed this problem by just limiting the number of upkeep boxes a person could put down. I just wish they would use the current claim system but put a limit on the number of flags per company. I think the only logical reason why they are refusing to do this as it is the most request solution is because they can't work out the overlapping bugs within the claim system. Honestly, why are they even bother wiping the servers? This new system will benefit even fewer people, so what the point? People who left because of the bad claim system will just leave again and renting is terrible because there is no protection. I think this will just force more people to leave or go unofficial on PVE. We already had grids with only 1 to five people playing on them most nights.

I've thought the same reason for why they wouldn't just add claim limits which would be the easiest solutions. The problem is this system leaves the renters at the mercy of whoever owners the island, something that has turned many people off. That is why lawless had so many people and I don't see the renting system becoming all that popular in the near future. If they do go this route and want to push a renting system then they need to make regulation and laws or "Contract" to ensure that renters don't get exploited, maybe landlord gets punished for just kicking someone off the land but then this makes it easy for people to grief landowners. I'm not sure how this problem could be fixed, that is why everyone wanted limit claims so everyone can own there own part of the map. Owning the island I think should take work but then again this work against small companies/sole players which I think will continue to work against the game ever really increase its population. No matter the mechanic for claiming, I think they need to add in a voting system or a trade war system (resource and gold) so ownership of the island can be contested but any feature like this will just ensure the big companies end up owning everything which puts us back in the same problem we have now. So why even bother changing the system we have?

LOTUS while you might be a pleasant landlord there are just as many toxic landlords who taxes people, steal, or destroy their building on a whim. I don't see why they think this is the solution, they said why they were making these changes was to address the fact people weren't finding land to live on. I even heard people were coming back because they had a chance at claiming their own lands. I mean this new system is the old system, and it is why so many people were stuck living on lawless and I honestly think it has negatively impacted the PVE player base including driving more people away to unofficial servers or off the game altogether. If they really want this game to be a renter game then they need to add in regulation and protection for renters. On PVE they need to add in the voting system or a trade war so people can take over the island because hopeing they run out of upkeep. Sadly this system is the opposite of what most people were asking for, they want protection from griefing and to stop flag spamming so more people could own land. I'm sure the even fewer who get an island will be quite happy but I think a bulk of the players will just drift away to unofficial or to new games. They will be running this huge chain of servers for a rather small population which makes it a waste of resources. Good luck to everyone on day one, race to the islands.

I agree with what others are saying above me. This new system is worse than the old system or even the lawless idea because even fewer people will get to own land. That is what drove PVE players away because many couldn't get a claim. I don't get why the devs don't get it. The main complaint against lawless was the problems around spamming and I saw some people give great suggestions to how this might be addressed but preferred the claim system as it gave you a small area to control. Simply by removing water claims and limiting the number of claims per player or by company size would have made most people happy. The only answer that I've come up with to why they don't do this is because they don't know how to fix the overlapping and exploits within the claims system itself, that is why they went to one claim per island. It just sad because I want the game to be great but this system isn't going to be appealing to a large number of people.

Yeah because the first come first server idea worked great last time for the game. This new system is worse than the old one because even fewer people will get to own land because of the number of the island in game, which is funny because they said why they were making the change on PVE was to ensure more people got land to build on. If anyone says you can rent, so could you in the old system. Yet lawless regions continue to have a higher population than other grids because people wanted claims and didn't want to rent land from other people. Why because there is no protection when you rent land. Moving on to your second point first it a game nothing in it works like the real world and second landlord can't do whatever they want in the real world. They have to follow regulations and rules or be punished, so if they actually create a system of protection for renters maybe people wouldn't mind renting land. The current system gives the renter no protection. Many people have given different solutions including using the old system and putting a limit on claim flags per person. Others wanted to limit the number of foundations/pillars a person could place or the number of upkeep boxes a person can utilize, all of these ideas had merit and would have given more people access to land ownership. In the end, I think the lawless idea was better than this system even if there would be problems with foundation spamming. Of course, this is my opinion and for those of you who like this new system that is great. I just feel the new system has the same flaws as the old system and it won't make the game any more appealing, which is sad because I think the game could be great. In the end, I think the official server will continue to keep a rather small population and not grow under these changes. Thankfully I can still enjoy the game on my friendly unofficial server.

Well, I feel like the new changes are worse then everything being lawless, at least in that system I had a chance to own my own my place and people couldn't take it from me. This new system once again will allow a small number of people to own the land (as there is not near enough islands for the bulk of the PVE community) and from what I can tell there no way to take the islands in PVE beside the owner lapsing on their upkeep. So anyone who is unlucky enough to not get an island in the island rush on day one will be forced to be a serf. This is what drove people away and isn't this why they planned to change the system. Renting land was already in the game and it wasn't popular for the same reason it won't' be popular in this system. If you want people to rent land then you have to put in some kind of protection system for the renter. I just don't get why they won't try the old claim system with a limit per person or company? This new system does not address the core issues that people want their own land to build on and some protection from other griefing them on PVE.

Thanks for posting, it's nice to know your reading our feedback.

I'm worried like other that Freeport will become too crowd and people will get kick off or bugged again, then bye bye boat. I do understand why they aren't doing settlements on PVE, because how would the islands be contested? The island would be taken by a handful of people or companies and the rest of the community would be at there mercy. If they're not going to let us place claims (think should just limit claims) just make it so NPC vendors can be placed anywhere and have them appear on the map as a green dot or something. I always wanted to put a little guy on my dock so I could sell the resources on my island to passing ships. I have to say it does feel like PVE was an afterthought but maybe it won't be so bad.

I really want to believe they have figured out a method to stop spamming of pillar and foundation but with their track recorder, I'm not really having much faith. How do you make spamming so costly that big companies can't do it without crippling the little guys? I just don't see a mean to stop this behavior, that why I like the claim system was better but they need to simply limit the number of claim per company. The only other idea I had was limit the number of upkeep boxes, this would work similar to the claim system but allow a little more flexibility and avoid the problem of flags blocking or overlapping each other. I've been starting to wonder if maybe why they dropped the flag in PVE and are going to one claim per island in PVP is because they weren't able to figure out how to fix the bugs like overlapping and exploits caused by the flag system. I really do hope they increase the radius around structures, maybe the larger or the more concentrated amount of structure like dock, crafting stations, etc. in an area the bigger the buffer is because I've had people spam stuff in the middle of my little area and this is why I start pillaring off my own little area. Of course, I didn't pillar an entire island, but I did work with other people on my island to stop a mega group who was walling off half an island from taking more land. Also, large gates should cost a lot to upkeep to avoid everyone spamming them and trying to wall everyone out.

I do hope they heard us and instead limit the number of claim flags per person or company because I just don't see how the upkeep system is going to prevent the mega-company from pillar/foundation spamming island. Unless of course, you make it so costly but then it cripple small companies from having a moderately nice building without grinding all day. Your idea of flag decay and then the flag vanishing from the map would be great and make it easier to see when the claim opened up.

While I understand the idea behind the concept, I don't think the systems going to work because to stop spamming they will need to make the upkeep pretty step. If they don't make it very step it will not stop large guilds from spamming foundation/walls/pillar to take over islands. If they do then sole and small guilds will only be able to upkeep a small outpost. I just don't see how they are going to find a balance to make sure people can enjoy building without being grief or bothered with massive upkeep cost. Also with how close you can build to other players, it is going to be a griefing nightmare. I believe it would have been easier and better to simply limit the number of flags per person.

I agree with what others have been saying. The claim system is a great idea and something I like, it just was poorly implemented. Please just limit the number of claim flags per person and don't allow ocean claims. There is no way you are going to be able to use upkeep to prevent spamming unless you make it so high that it cripples smaller groups from building.

I agree that it would have been better to limit the flags per person, the claims were a great idea but weren't well implemented. I left Ark official servers because I end up getting walled into a corner with nowhere to go because foundation spamming and that is exactly what I think will happen here. I just don't see how you can make the upkeep system balanced enough to allow small groups to build big bases and stop large guilds from spamming foundation/walls everywhere. If you make cost high enough to stop mega guilds it will cripple sole players. If they had limited the claims so one person couldn't place 1000 claims I think there would have been enough land for everyone. Oh well, have to wait and see how the system works out.

I think they are counting on the upkeep cost stopping foundation spamming that cause this problem but I'm worried about this too. I'm also worried about people walling in people house or walling people off the island all typically ways of griefing others. The problem is if they make the upkeep high enough to prevent spamming for big guilds then it will cripple the small players from building decent size bases, that why I don't think this system will work.

I agree that thing needed to change the flag spamming on PVE was bad for the game as many people couldn't find land but I think they would have been better off limiting everyone to 1-3 claim per person. They say that the upkeep will stop foundation spamming but I'm not so confident about that. I am also very worried about griefing from resource camping, walling out or in people, etc. Another problem is if they make it costly enough to avoid spamming then it will make it very hard on a small group or sole to built bases. If they are going to keep with this system, I hope they increase the distance between foundations so that people can't build on top of you. As for wipe it understandable if they are changing the maps adding island etc. but I wish we could keep our character progress. I suppose I will have to wait for the test server but I'm just worried this system will be just like Ark and that why I quit playing official servers.

I think your idea has merit but I don't agree when you say lawless isn't suppose to be a permanent home. Yes, it shouldn't be our permanent home technically but the current claim system is forcing people to live in lawless areas because finding land to claim is very hard. After I lost my one claim I've been looking for a new claim for a long time. Finding land has been made even harder with the long timers (something I agree is needed due to people having lives) but without a limit or upkeep systems, a handful of people have control of most of the land. This is forcing most of the community into living in the lawless area. As for renting land nice concept but it doesn't work. There is no protection or punishment for evicting renter without warning. They need to fix the claiming system so a greater percentage of the remaining population can actually find a claim to live on.

I was under the impression that NPCs don't work to reset the timers in the lawless area but if they did work that would be great. I've been looking for claim land "lost the one spot I had" for a while but I've had no luck. I've currently been living in the lawless area but haven't invested too much into my site for fear of losing it all if an emergency comes up and I have to leave town. I think they should add the feature if it's not in the game so people could use NPC to protect their land within lawless areas or they could fix the claiming system at least on PVE. Right now a few people are hoarding massive amounts of land due to flag spamming. I don't feel it fair to punish people for living in the lawless areas. P.S please report back and let us know if the NPC work

While I understand the need to be able to go on vacation the current system is going to turn new players or those who can't find anything to claim away from the game at least in PVE because almost everything is claimed. I think Shintai idea of having 3-5 flags per company is a great idea, then make it expensive to buy more so big guilds with lots of active players could do so. I also think there needs to be upkeep cost to each flag which gets more expensive with each flag. This way you could pay down large upkeep to go on vacation but it would take a little more work then just login in because the current system allows 1 person or few to indefinitely keep massive amounts of land by logging in once a month. Of course, going to one to three flag per person would also work. This would prevent a small group of people from owning massives part of the world as I know is occurring right now or make an upkeep cost for each flag which get more expensive with each flag. I think flags need to be count on a world scale, not a grid. I'm sorry in my opinion no one on PVE earned it, PVP sure because you actually have to defend that land but PVE people just got there first and spammed their flag. The other people were lucky to snag land due to bugs or when the dev randomly changed how claims worked. Unless they add new grids or make a mechanic so people in lawless can actually go on vacation too I don't see a lot of people joining the game in the future beside going unofficially. I want the game to grow and be successful because it can be a lot of fun. P.S I think flags are still broken because they all say 20 days in the white text when trying to put a claim flag down but some of the PVE activations on the flags are different but I haven't been able to test it because the lowest I found was 6 days.

I check out the claims again and there are huge differences between the Upkeep timer (white word you see when trying to place the flag) and the PVE Expiration timer on the other person flag. I wonder if this is a bug, the question is when the PVE timer Expires will we be able to claim the land or will the upkeep flag prevent players from claiming land.