Easy game improments to make a more in-depth game.

  • vfv666
    Founder

    First of all, just wanted to say this is a very fun game. It's has solid basic mechanics that will make this game go far. That being said, it feels like we were only released with a base game. It already feels like Elite dangerous where there is a big grind with no real pay off or end goal. I think there are some basic things that can be implemented that would greatly improve the game and it's depth. Now not saying my ideas are the best ideas, but it's a start to some good constructive conversations that will hopefully spool up awesome ideas/maybe Rare would look at it.

    Death system:

    There needs to be bigger draw backs to dying. Right now death is not very risk/reward. I can charge at another group of people and try to kill them, with pretty much no consequence other than wasted time. Whether it's a currency cost to replace a ship, or something else, this would make players think more about what they are doing and if it's worth it or not.

    Also killing other players needs to have better pay offs. I will get to that in a moment under the bounty system.

    Better rewards/better things to grind to:

    Rewards for some of the harder events, are extremely lack luster. The only big event that really pays off, is the skull storm cloud one. Yesterday when my crew and myself took down a kracken, we were excited to see what the reward was. We got to live! Which is cool and all, but we just killed one of the hardest encounters in the game with no reward. In my opinion, and maybe I am wrong, but there should at least be something. Maybe a big group of shipwrecked ships with lots of loot as a reward for being awesome? Especially assuming that kracken has probably sunk many ships.

    Bounty system:

    Right now, killing players is not rewarding at all. You can kill 20 people and not get anything for it. Unless they have treasure on their ship (does not happen too often), you are not going to gain anything, and, once you are committed to a fight, you have to kill the same person about 3 times before sinking their ship. If it's a crew of 4, that is 12 people you are murdering on average before you kill their ship, for nothing.

    Bare minimum, when you kill a player, it needs to make a pirate skull drop, that comes out at a random value. Would give you some pay off. Not much, but some.

    What would really make the game great, is a bounty system. Everyone should slowly be building a bounty on them. It could be equated to time alive, and how many players killed. Once that player is killed, their bounty value comes in the form of a skull, that you could turn in for money. Another thing that could be added, is each server could have a bounty board, that shows who on the server has the highest bounty, their name, what their ship looks like, and last known location. Would give pirate hunters something more valuable to do/go for.

    Anyways just basic ideas. May not be the best ideas, but, even something simple added to the game like these mechanics, would make the game 100%better and it would not be hard to do. Anyways get some ideas flowing. Having a good day everyone!

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  • isukun

    I don't really like the idea of getting rewards for killing players. It makes the game feel too much like other shooters, then. The emphasis should be solely on looting other ships. Especially considering the ways people abuse spawn camping in the game. I could see crews pinning down sloops and spawn camping to harvest skulls. Really not fun for the player on the sloop.

    A better solution might be to implement a way to tell if a ship has treasure on it. Maybe when a ship is empty it flies the jolly roger, but as soon as a cage, chest, or any valuable item is brought on board, the flag is dropped. It stays dropped until the items are turned in, brought onto another boat, or the ship is sunk.

  • vfv666
    Founder

    @isukun

    Hey, those are good ideas, and yes, spawn camping is annoying. Just last night, me and my buddy spawned in a sloop. We were getting supplies at the outpost, and all the sudden we see a 4 man crew trying to kill our boat and we haven't even started yet. Though, we did murder them all so no worries there. There are a couple of solutions to this though. Make the outpost a no fire zone, and maybe have the no fire zone extend for a certain distance.

    Another solution though, comes from my boy th hunting idea. This would keep spawn campers in check because if you have a boat just murdering people at an outpost, then they will rack up a bounty, people will know it, and go take care of them anyways. That pretty much polices griefers/spawn campers and solves most of that issue. I still like the rewards for murdering people/collecting bounties:)

  • Blam320
    Legend
    Insider

    There's a megathread about respawn penalties. The short answer is "no," and I'll let you read the various long answers for yourself.

    Given how much people complain about PvP in this game anyways, I think it's a good idea to not include any more incentives. Pure bloodlust is incentive enough, it would seem.

    Kraken definitely needs to actually drop a reward. On top of that, it needs changes to its behavior. Right now the only thing inherently "threatening" about it is the sheer amount of resources needed to drive it off. It really needs to directly attack the ship more often.

  • vfv666
    Founder

    @blam320

    I am new to these threads, just posted one today, and looking through the mega threads now. Thank you for the direction/advice.

    Hmmm I dunno. I love PvP and bloodlust haha. Though I understand that not everyone does and a lot of people just want to grind and not be bugged, and the game needs to cater to that. That being said, gotta make PvP lovers hapoy too it's only fair;) it for sure is a delicate balance. Like I said, my ideas are not the best in the world, but, mainly just trying to find solutions. Early on, I can already tell this game is going to be like elite dangerous. PvP becomes worthless without much of a pay off and not very much risk. Again there needs to be a delicate balance to make the crowd happy, but, one of the big aspects of this game is PvP, and they could of rolled out a much better system for it. The game is going to become bland/repetitive very quickly for those who even just play maybe 2 hours a day. This is a very bare bones/featureless game so far, which isn't good because this supposed to be micrpsofts/rares flagship game. They need to add more than just the bare minimum. While the bare minimum/core mechanics of the game work great, long term, it's not going to hold interest. And I want this game to hold interest because it has so much potential! One thing that is getting frustrated about games lately, is that they seem to release a game unfinished, and then add in content when it's already too late and the player base has lost interest. Like destiny 2. No one releases a full game anymore lol. Just a half done game or a game based off micro transactions. Sea of thieves almost has it right. Just needs a lil more/a push in the right direction.

    Yesss more kracken loot please. Or at least more cannon ball replacements lol.

  • Anndy578
    Founder

    a bounty system would be nice. it'd likely just get abused tho

  • vfv666
    Founder

    @anndy578

    Not really. Cause dying would reset your bounty. And it would really of go up if your killing people. Killing people with a low bounty value really wouldn't be eating your time for.

  • isukun

    @blam320 The problem is that there is incentive to attack people, but the payoff is often not what people are expecting. That's why I like the idea of adding someway of identifying if a ship is actively carrying any loot. It could cut down on the pure bloodlust a little if people know attacking a ship won't get them any reward.

    Of course, this would work best with a voyage system that encourages players not to beeline back to outposts after every treasure pickup.

  • Blam320
    Legend
    Insider

    @isukun said in Easy game improments to make a more in-depth game.:

    @blam320 The problem is that there is incentive to attack people, but the payoff is often not what people are expecting. That's why I like the idea of adding someway of identifying if a ship is actively carrying any loot. It could cut down on the pure bloodlust a little if people know attacking a ship won't get them any reward.

    Of course, this would work best with a voyage system that encourages players not to beeline back to outposts after every treasure pickup.

    You're quite wrong. That's part of being a pirate; sometimes you attack a vessel to discover they aren't carrying anything valuable. Besides, PvP hounds don't need any special incentive to attack players; they're going to attack anyways, because they're only in it for the thrill of the hunt, booty to be plundered merely an added bonus.

    In fact, I would say the problem will only get worse. The only people complaining about PvP are the ones who had found treasure, and were randomly attacked. If there was an indicator as to whether a ship had cargo aboard, the number of people complaining about being attacked while trying to get their loot to an outpost will increase tenfold, as they will start to be relentlessly focused by every pirate within sighting distance.

  • isukun

    @blam320 No, actually, that's not part of being a pirate. That's why they targeted merchant vessels and not other pirates. Many pirates were working with colonial powers to disrupt trade routes with rival nations. The ships they attacked were targeted for the cargo they carried. They didn't just randomly attack ships hoping they'd have something aboard.

    You also assume this suggestion is to address people who whine about PvP as it's intended in the game. There should be a risk involved when you're hauling treasure or goods. That's part of the game. There are quite a few players motivated to attack others based on the prospect that they may have something to steal. Many of them are getting discouraged by the fact that the vast majority of the time they're wasting their resources attacking ships that offer no rewards. If you choose to risk it and hit up another island before returning to an outpost and you aren't keeping an eye on the horizon, you're taking a risk of being attacked. That's part of the game and I don't feel sorry for you if things go south. It's not encouraging to have people randomly attacking each other for nothing, though, and I've seen complaints from both sides of that equation.

    You wouldn't be seeing more attacks, either. Sure, you won't discourage the handful who are just out for blood, but the larger group who are more opportunistic aren't going to be shooting first and asking questions later. You don't come across ships often enough to make a game out of just hunting ships with cargo.

  • Blam320
    Legend
    Insider

    @isukun said in Easy game improments to make a more in-depth game.:

    @blam320 No, actually, that's not part of being a pirate. That's why they targeted merchant vessels and not other pirates. Many pirates were working with colonial powers to disrupt trade routes with rival nations. The ships they attacked were targeted for the cargo they carried. They didn't just randomly attack ships hoping they'd have something aboard.

    You also assume this suggestion is to address people who whine about PvP as it's intended in the game. There should be a risk involved when you're hauling treasure or goods. That's part of the game. There are quite a few players motivated to attack others based on the prospect that they may have something to steal. Many of them are getting discouraged by the fact that the vast majority of the time they're wasting their resources attacking ships that offer no rewards. If you choose to risk it and hit up another island before returning to an outpost and you aren't keeping an eye on the horizon, you're taking a risk of being attacked. That's part of the game and I don't feel sorry for you if things go south. It's not encouraging to have people randomly attacking each other for nothing, though, and I've seen complaints from both sides of that equation.

    You wouldn't be seeing more attacks, either. Sure, you won't discourage the handful who are just out for blood, but the larger group who are more opportunistic aren't going to be shooting first and asking questions later. You don't come across ships often enough to make a game out of just hunting ships with cargo.

    You're thinking of Privateers. Those were pirates who worked with colonial powers and attacked rival shipping.

    What exactly are you trying to say? I don't think I've said anything critical of the game. I stand by my belief, however, that putting indicators on ships with cargo will worsen the problem we have of players complaining about being attacked while they're carrying multiple chests. I'm talking about the people who want PvE only servers. I disagree wholeheartedly with them, but we're only going to see more of them if we implement an indicator for "I've got something aboard!"

  • isukun

    @blam320 Most pirates from that era were privateers. Even the ones who weren't were breaking average of trade routes from the new world back to Europe. They knew how to identify potential targets.

    What I'm saying is those complaints don't matter. You're going to have people who oppose PvP regardless. The game is built around risk, however, so the people bothered by being attacked when they're carrying chests don't matter. What matters are the people who find the PvP is pointless because there is no payoff or those who find getting randomly attacked when they aren't on a voyage or have just started one to be frustrating and potentially a deal breaker. I get the feeling those experiences were not the intention of the developer when they created this game. They envisioned players defending their booty from other scalleywags, not just randomly attacking each other because they happened to be in the vicinity of one another only to find that neither had anything of value. At least that's not how the game was presented.

  • Potatoe Beard

    @blam320

    I do believe Rare are adding a Respawn penalties, which will change the game allot and by this i do mean people cash in and race to fight other ships because there is no penalty or when you're trying to do skull fort and the galleon or sloop just spawn 2 islands away. The penalty which I believe they were adding was paying the ferry of the damn gold each time you died but depending on the death, depends on the cost.

  • Blam320
    Legend
    Insider

    @potatoe-beard said in Easy game improments to make a more in-depth game.:

    @blam320

    I do believe Rare are adding a Respawn penalties, which will change the game allot and by this i do mean people cash in and race to fight other ships because there is no penalty or when you're trying to do skull fort and the galleon or sloop just spawn 2 islands away. The penalty which I believe they were adding was paying the ferry of the damn gold each time you died but depending on the death, depends on the cost.

    Respawn penalties are going to be very punishing for new players, especially if environmental deaths are expensive.

  • sinseers

    I would also recommend long distance co-op player tracking in the form of silhouettes or the player names staying on screen no matter where they are in relation to you.

  • Ofrostyfeets
    Marauder

    @vfv666 isent the outposts already a no fire zone people in the game are just not respecting the community rules? sure they can make you immortal in the outposts but it will be abused aswell

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