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[Resolved] Call Leviathan tweak

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:58 pm
by Xepshunall
I have not yet heard one good argument for the existence if the Call Leviathan card. For this reason and since so many players have an opinion, I believe that a STRUCTURED discussion needs to exist. Please don't enter in anything but one-line pros and cons. Please do not quote anybody. This is an effort to get to the true opinion of the players and to help us understand whether the Leviathan should exist in Pirates Glory as a voodoo card that can be used like a precision missile.

Reasons to keep Leviathan:
Retaliation without skill or effort. Hooray for laziness! (especially mental)
Much sought after. (boosts credit purchases)
I don't want that specific player to have that specific ship.

Reasons to abolish Leviathan:
Competition should decide whether a player continues to play the game rather than somebody's real-life cash.
Spiteful people shouldn't have such a weapon.
I built my ships to fight and trade with, not so someone can sink them without even owning a ship.
The need to develop a potent fighting fleet and the sense of accomplishment makes the game interesting.

AGAIN, I ASK THAT YOU KEEP WITH THE STRUCTURE THAT I'VE BEGUN

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:19 pm
by Mordag
Pros:
I have to assume it was meant as an anti-bullying measure (I doubt it works since newbies don't have them)


Cons:
The game would stay trade-only as long as it exists
Wars are truly meaningless - no participation necessary, log in for 3 min, send a bunch of Leviathans, log out
Bullying is encouraged actually
Strength of individual players/guilds becomes meaningless
Without wars or war fleets, very vulnerable trade, and no defense against those milking voodoo cards it begs the question: why bother?

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 11:18 pm
by Hawk
Pros:
Players can sell them for good credits on the market
Offers a way to beat otherwise unbeatable ships

Cons:
Too damaging, too fast, and too easy
You do not need any ships to beat an enemy with it
It is a crutch for game mechanics that need to be fixed/updated

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:18 am
by Roileon
Neg:
As said by another player, it creates this situation of a room filled with loaded shotguns to where 1 wrong move sets off a shootout. Or, in more realistic terms, it is like the world right now and countries nuclear arsenals to where one false move sets off a chain reaction of leviathans

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:37 am
by Edward_Teach
Roileon wrote:Neg:
As said by another player, it creates this situation of a room filled with loaded shotguns to where 1 wrong move sets off a shootout. Or, in more realistic terms, it is like the world right now and countries nuclear arsenals to where one false move sets off a chain reaction of leviathans


Yep and if you're on the receiving end of all the leviathans it can be cataclysmic.

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:44 am
by John rackham
Pro:
None.

Con:
Alien to a game based on shipbuilding and trading. I have nothing against voodoo which has something to do with tweaking the game mechanics (eg Hostile Natives, which I suffered from recently :) ) but Leviathan is not such.

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:47 am
by Roileon
Pro:
The card can be reinvented to be less of a nuclear weapon.
Con:
The card might not be reinvented and continue to be a serious threat to all of yalls lvl60 ships ;)

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:53 am
by MAjesty
Cons: Look this card is obviously terrible for the game... ive already posted enough on this.. just pointing out that my opinion hasnt changed at all.

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:47 am
by Captain Jack
I haven't seen many pros listed, here are some more (Pros):
-Allows you to weaken a specific enemy ship.
-Allows you to deal worthwhile damage to an otherwise untouchable enemy.

Ultimately allows you to weaken an opponent fighting fleet enough so you can beat it with your own.

It also has economy side effects as this card is a counter to Expedition Journey. It counters the gold gap created by Expedition Journey usage preventing inflation.

It is a rare card and like all rare cards, it is rare. Here is the complete list of counts, for players that have 10 cards or more.
Code: Select all
68
67
57
49
43
43
25
24
23
17
13
12
11
10
10


As you can see for yourself, only 15 players have 10 cards or more.

The only problem that we see for this card as administration, -as we do take in mind more things from the ones you listed here and in the other relative topic- is (Con):
-Potential ability to sink a ship that has had many Master Craftmanship cards used on it.

Still, in defence on why this is not enough to change the card, this is part of the game. If you think this is too much, don't use this strategy. Or if you think the damage Leviathan applies is too large, use small ships and laugh it off. Or run countercurse/mindbar 24/7. Or find who has more than 10 such cards and make a deal with him/her or war him right away. I am sure you can find more countermeasures.

As developers, we made sure recently that Master Craftmanship card can be used in safety in at least one ship type. This is Man o War. Man'o' war cannot be commandeered and now it cannot be targeted by Leviathan once it reached level 1. You should consider this as our way to balance Leviathan without nerfing the card but rather boosting something else (in this case, Man o War).

Nerfing (making something less strong) as a game development option is something we always avoid. It is something we dislike. Nerfing requests are going to need proper justification if they are ever to be taken seriously in consideration. Still, we are always more positive to create something else, probably more powerful, rather than proceed with a proposed nerf.

In this case again, if we nerf Call Leviathan, then we will also need to nerf Expedition Journey. If we nerf Expedition journey, we would need to change ship prices too perhaps. If we mess with ship prices again ... you get the picture. Nerfing is bad for the game.

Re: Leviathan - Pros and Cons ONLY please.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:20 pm
by John rackham
Well put... in that case I would rather have Expedition Journey and the dread Leviathan, especially as Men o'War have that level 1 protection.