Just Say?

[William one eye]

Recent transactions is a better reflection of the market than what is showing on the charts. We are kind of derailing the conversation a bit.

[Lefty]

Thanks to all who voted. Even the two who voted for the question. I was trying to judge the interest in the legendary proposals. It would seem there are several like minded players who want some change and have been pushing the discussions forward. However, judging by the game killer votes, it would seem quite a bit of work needs to be done before the majority will consider it worthy. Wish I could offer some alternative ideas, but I really cant come up with decent suggestions. Lets keep discussing them, but make them more appealing somehow?

[Haron]

Several thing to comment here. I'll separate it into different posts.

First, some would like the Witch Hut to be able to craft "ordinary" voodoo. I strongly disagree with that. In my opinion, it should ONLY be used to craft new, legendary voodoo, which can ONLY be aquired through the Witch Hut. I would rather not have a Witch Hut than one able to generate ordinary voodoo. The effects on the voodoo market and the availability of strong cards would simply be too high.

[Haron]

Now, do we need the Witch Hut? Probably not. I think it may add some new fun and strategies to the game, but if it is widely seen as making the game poorer, then perhaps it should be dropped. If so, it would be nice if that decision was taken soon. Reading, considering and commenting all the suggested legendary cards has taken some time. And discussing them and finding proper effects with proper prices will continue to take time. If this is never going to happen, I'd rather spend that time on something else.

To those who think that legendary cards will be "cast one, win all" - I doubt it. Sure, they will be powerful. But then again, they will be expensive. The trick is to be able to do attacks and PROFIT from it. Even with the existing cards, causing devestation is no problem. Just use enough cards. Mindbars and countercurses can always be countered. A few hundred black deaths each week will ruin the mightiest port. Selecting a player and keeping him/her lit more or less constantly just requires a bunch of the right voodoo. It's a matter of making it pay off, though. Doing things "just because" is easy. Doing things with a specific purpose in mind, a goal, and making profits, THAT's what's difficult. The same would apply to legendary cards. Of course, what I said here also means that most things can be achieved with the existing cards, so "there is no NEED for legendary cards". That's a different discussion. But thinking that legendary cards will make getting a profit easier all around, is simply wrong. Just like making a profit from Ambush cards are really difficult today.

[Haron]

Finally, and completely unrelated to the witch hut: The "direction the game is going in". Reading this post, one may get the impression that people agree that the game is moving in the wrong direction, and also that they agree on how the game SHOULD be. I believe the latter is wrong. Ask those who posted here detailed questions about how the game should work, and you'd get very different answers. We may all agree that planning and strategic thinking should be important, but the implications of that will vary.

I do NOT think a game is "better" just because it takes a long time to be able to do anything. Having to "grind" (in this case, trade) for a year before being able to launch an assault on someone is NOT my idea of a good game. Sure, gold should be important, but you need to be able to do things without first collecting a billion through trade.

I agree that some things are too "easy". Skirmish has been mentioned. I agree, although it DOES have some sides which makes it slightly harder than it may seem. Still, I agree that it's a way too simple form of play. An even easier path is to trade. Set up your routes, and check in every day to see if you've been plundered, then restart your fleets. Oh, you may argue that you have to optimize your trade routes. Fine, but really, that's an easy mathematical task. I'm not impressed. Also, it's more like a "solitaire" game, not involving interactions with others.

Plundering is slightly more difficult, but not very hard. The main aspect here is the consideration of retaliation. Finding a player's fleets, lighting him up and plundering the fleets is not that hard. But the retaliation part is what causes pirates to keep much smaller fleets than others - sometimes only a few combat fleets. This may work, but is much less profitable than having those fleets and trading, and so, doing plunders and actually profit from it - when compared to the alternative - is VERY hard. Nearly impossible. As long as you're satisfied with a smaller profit, though, it's easy enough.

Stealing ships is a tough thing to do - if you want a profit. It almost requires your target to make some serious blunders. Even then, it may require planning, timing and coordination. And a mistake can be very costly. Even when done right, the profit is seldom VERY high. It's challenging, but all things considered, not VERY profitable. And with several risks.

Building a nation may be difficult. And I'm not talking about the two years you need to trade in advance to get enough gold. Getting lots of gold is not hard, it's just time consuming. I think many confuse these things, so I'll say it again: Just because something takes a long time, does NOT mean it's difficult. Getting lots of gold is easy. Just trade peacefully for two years, log in once a day, and you'll have a ton of gold. But keeping a nation together, that's not easy. Making the players cooperate. Seeing outside threats, and responding to them. Finding a common policy, or a way to live with different policies. This can be challenging, indeed. And not necessarily very profitable - just challenging.

Other things are challenging too. Mostly those that require social interaction. To me, finding the right contracts and setting the right price is a challenge. What should I accept, and what should I reject? Also, building and running a guild has some challenges, here as anywhere else, I assume.

But how to make the game really "challenging"? Making it require thinking to play well? Not to play, but to play WELL? I think the main path to achieve that is to make trading more complex. Just running your day to day trader route should give the tiniest of profits. To get the big bucks, you should need to be at the right place at the right time, compete for the best trade routes with other traders, eliminate competition, and generally play against the other traders. Not just play a solitary trading game, where once a month you may be plundered by a pirate, causing you to lose a days income or so.

Also, I strongly disagree with those that find discovering the hidden rules in order to play well a good idea. In my opinion, every rule should be available to everyone. Mastering the game should be about understanding the implications of those rules, and using those rules to your maximum benefit, not discovering what the rules actually are.

The problem is, of course, that we all have different views on what would be the best direction to move in, despite the seemingly agreement that it should be "more complex and require thinking".

I'd also like to mention the difference between something that is "complex" and something that is "complicated". This game has a lot of rules, and will take a long time to learn. That makes the game complicated. Once you understand how the game works, though, playing it well is not that difficult. So the game is not very complex. An example of the opposite would be the board game Othello, with their motto: "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master".

[Captain Jack]

Is Pirates Glory an online collectible card game (sort of Magic the Gathering) mostly alike Urban Rivals with some elements of strategy?
Ot is it more like a sort of Railroad Tycoon set during the pirating golden age, with some elements of magic (represented in game by voodoos)?

There's some clues that the game bears (at least) its cgg soul: it's a fact that someone with lots of cards and no ships can have a very strong impact. While someone with lots of ships and no cards has actually no chances to enjoy the game.

Just woah! I would not think that anyone would memorize Railroad tycoon in relation to PG. But we have some elements from there for sure. For example, a new interface for Trade Routes (no more 4port limitations) could be in the style Railroad tycoon implemented them.

[Admiral Nelson]

What is railroad tycoon?

[Captain Jack]

What is railroad tycoon?

It's a very old PC game.

[Admiral Nelson]

It's a very old PC game.

That being said, this is a old (new) online game... Over 9 years... Whens the anniversary?

[Captain Jack]

I have read through all the posts here.

I want to keep this post sort. I really want it. So I will try. Please, realize that this post could have been 10 pages long.

First, about us.
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We are not the average developers. We might just sit 16 hours a day before the pc screen, coding. Or hunting for rules violations. Or simply chatting with the players. If you exclude some summer days, there are no holidays for us. Hardly a Sunday. No, no one forces us to do it. We like what we do. It is our choice.

Secondly, about PG
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PG is our precious game. We believe in PG. It has kept some people around for years. When it was primitive. Now, it is just so better. It is bound to keep most of you who now post here for several years more. Deal with it. We will make sure this happens.

This game above all is a landmark community. If you ever leave PG and if -god forbid- you ever lose your character -mostly this can happen after your own decision- one thing is certain; There will be regrets. If not regrets, there will be memories that you will seek back frequently when you will be searching something interesting to kill your time.

Moving on, what PG is about
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It comes down what we are trying to do with PG. Here is our objective:

->A game that you will play DAILY, for the rest of your life.

Woah, what?
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No RTS, no RPG no nothing. These are all poor labels to describe our game. It is unique. It is very unique. In many aspects. Now think again of our objective. Do you think that this is easy to do? I tell you no, it is not easy. Do we know how to do it? No, we do not but we keep trying.


Development
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Let me be very sincere. We have realized two things which I will share with you today:
1)Developing too fast is bad.
2)Developing too slow is bad.

Even in development frequency, there needs to be balance.

Long term players
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In general, they can be a nightmare; they are full of doubts. They will oppose whatever they like and they hit at administration. They will often reminisce the good old days. When they leave, they will leave a goodbye post thanking and saying that the game is not good any more.

Well, that's in GENERAL as in PG, it is a totally different story.

We love the long term players here. They are our top priority. They always have been. You will not see many leaving so these irritating goodbye posts are few but still easily recalled. I have not read anyone reminiscing the good old days yet. I do not see any hits at administration; Ok, there is John Avery but really, that's not a game issue; it's his problem mostly (being a teenager can be hard, I believe he loves the game and in time this will be proven). There is also Psychodad but I think he is mostly doing it for humor although I am not entirely sure. That's two. A good record I think.

New players
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These are hard to get. This is not going to change. No matter what, the game will remain for the few. This is why veterans is our priority. It is more important for the game longevity to keep the existing players here rather than recruit new. The chances are better for the first part.

So what happens?
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Simply put, the Witch Hut or Port Buildings or whatever, they will only come in a form not acceptable by all but first and foremost, acceptable by us. If we can accept them, you will accept them too. We will make sure they will be acceptable by you too. If not, we will find something else. We will need to find something else as the last thing we want is a stagnated PG.