Discussion on Bilge Rat letter Rep

@pumpkinkangaroo I think that the rep should be fair to a level 49 player and a level 1 player. the cost is the same for each which is very unfair, cutting out many hours of grind for the 49 player, but only a little for the 1 player, and they cost the same, so they should give the same amount for everyone

@sshteeve but that is with mere hours of work, instead of the long grinds legends went through before the letters

@pumpkinkangaroo then add a visual slider to show you how much rep you get for how many doubloons

@Sshteeve you may take 3 hours to get the 3 levels every two weeks, or play for 3 hours every day for 2 weeks to get the same levels

The cost of letters needs to scale with progression. 30 for one at level 10 and 30 for one at level 49 is a little off.

Right now 20 coins equals 10k. Another 10 coins for 2.5k... So 30 coins equals 12.5k

So each level to rare is worth 12.5k in gold. .miggt as well let you buy your way with straight gold then or atleast make them more valuable than as they stand. Personally at higher levels they should cost 40-50 per letter so you actually have to choose between buying the weekly items or skipping them for rep. The items were so cheap this event you could buy them all plus three levels. Doesnt seem like thats very valuable as therr is no sacrifice being made one way or the other. The other part they could change would be limiting it to one letter per event, then the current price point would be ok. My humble thoughts

@pumpkinkangaroo rare should not be so lazy that they just do whatever is easiest. the slider option lets players still grind for levels, using as many doubloons and as many levels they want to buy, instead of being forced to only get one per event

@pumpkinkangaroo im not trying to be negetive, Im just saying that they wont be lazy

Clearly, the change in the value between what a Bilge Rat letter of recommendation was worth, between 'thrones and 'splosives, was in response to the quite reasonable complaint from the Nearly-Legends that the letters earned them b****r-all progress the old way.

But let's do the maths. (And, yes, you Yanks - "maths" is a plural!)

As I understand it, as in many games, Experience Points (XP) earn you progress through the ranks in a diminishing (inverse logarithmic?) fashion. Here is a chart showing Rank (on the Y axis) plotted against total earned XP (on the X axis), for any given faction. The numbers on the X axis, and precise shape of the curve is a guess, but it gives the idea. For the purposes of this argument, I am assuming that 1 million XP (or Gold???) gets you to Level 50; but you only need half that to get to Level 40.

Now, under Skelly Thrones, a letter of recommendation gave you progress along the X axis: Maybe something like 10,000 XP. At Level 1, this might bump you straight up to Level 5. In the 20's it would bump you around 1 level. But once you were above 40, it did not help much at all. This was the complaint of those close to Legend status.

With Explosive Skellies, a letter of recommendation now shifts you up the, Y axis, one level. At low levels, this is worth in the order of 1000 XP, at mid levels its the same 10,000 XP you got under Skelly Thrones, but in the high 40s, its worth closer to 100K XP!

In fairness, I do wonder if the balance has been shifted too far in favour of the high achievers, with this change. Now, any sensible pirate with doubloons to spend on letters of recommendation will hold on to them, until their levels are in the 40s.

Perhaps the best approach would be a hybrid one. A letter of recommendation could progress you with a combination of both absolute Rank and XP. For example, it could be ½ Rank + 5,000 XP. This would still give the Nearly-Legends an appreciable boost, without severely disadvantaging those who choose (perhaps in ignorance) to spend their doubloons at much lower levels.