Moving Forward

[Captain Jack]

Ahoy all,

We have deprecated the forthcoming updates announcement. While most things mentioned there remain our priorities, they are not any longer in the order described there.

The game is currently at its peak. For several months now, we are going from good to better. This makes us sceptical in forwarding big risky ideas forward. We will play it safe for a while.

For this reason, we will focus on the following scenarios:
-Work on existing ideas (approved suggestions, small requests).
-Guilds -> We will work some ideas to upgrade the role of guilds
-Nations -> We will strengthen them in order to move forward to Nation Diplomacy (More laws, more options for nation officials)

Ship Specialization will continue. Currently, there are 4 ideas on the table:
-Pirate Flagship (The idea needs some refining, I will post there the details)
-Ship Abilities (Some might implemented in the near future - details will be posted)
-Special Crew and First Mate (Might get a priority soon)
-More Levels to ships (Needs more refining - Details will be posted)

Ship specialization is no longer considered as a feature to implement and conclude. It is considered as an everlasting feature as it is focused on the most important part of the game as we consider it; Ships

We decided that Avonmora Herald should not be implemented before Nation Diplomacy.

Witch Hut needs more work before it can be considered for a priority ticket.

Port Buildings are an amazing idea and we have many more that have not been shared yet. They can be part of the basis we want for Nation Diplomacy.

Even if we say Veterans first, we must say Newcomers second. We need to work more for our newcomers. Loans seem to be working better than ever and there are now more than one training guilds. Still, this is one of the areas we need to work more.

In the following days I will create a few new discussion topics with some brand new ideas we worked on. In the next few days you will start receiving the first implementations that are described here. Any questions, please let us know.

[sXs]

Thanks for the update Captain Jack.

[Shadowood]

Thanks CJ. It's always good to hear from you

[Bmw]

I really don't blame you for stopping /slowing down the development of risky things I've even noticed the massive amounts of new commers. I'm glad the game is doing awsome it's definitely one of the best one's I've played it definitely is the longest I've played a game in my life.

[Mugiwara]

Thanks for updates. i strongly agree with not rushing for features. game pretty nice at present. Also we got plenty of new players which is awesome to have.

[sXs]

Even if we say Veterans first, we must say Newcomers second. We need to work more for our newcomers. Loans seem to be working better than ever and there are now more than one training guilds. Still, this is one of the areas we need to work more.

In the following days I will create a few new discussion topics with some brand new ideas we worked on. In the next few days you will start receiving the first implementations that are described here. Any questions, please let us know.

This may take a bit of explanation, and honestly, it probably doesn't give you any ideas on how to procede but this is the one instance that put me on the verge of quitting PG. Maybe some insight can be gained from it.

I joined Helm on day 1. I learned a lot from the leadership there and i learned quickly. Once I understood the basic game mechanic, I started progressing in the nation missions as quickly as possible. My goal was to reach Marquess and gain that Man of War. As a new player I saw this as the absolute only way to complete with veterans. After all, big ships mean more plunder wins right? More plunder wins means reaching that magical 500 wins more quickly.

I built my hideout to early, I built my Marina.... again to detriment overall development. For a few days I upgraded my MOW until i thought I was ready to bring it out. Foolishly I brought it out a few hours before i signed off for the night and didn't park it back.

In the morning i signed on to find myself in the middle of a defleeting. With help from guildmates i was able to stop the attack. and park my MOW back in marina. After the dust settled i looked at reports to find I had lost half of my trade fleets, a few million gold coins and nearly lost my MOW.

I got so upset, i sent all my fleets to Airora. I announced to guild and to my attacker that they were all in one port to make it easier for them and whatever was left over i would dump to the shipwright.

It took probably 2 days before I decided to give PG another shot.

I don't blame those who tried to take my prized possession now, after all, that is what pirates do. It was a juicy target very hard to pass up. In fact, I respect and learned a lot from him/them. That one incident taught me more about attack and defense dynamics and mechanics than reading any forum post or talking to any vet.

So.... why do i bring this up? Simple, if you do manage to get a newcomer to join and hang around long enough to even become self sufficient, things like this just drive them away.

I grew extremely fast from what some of the vets have told me. Joined on day 1570, King of a nation on day 1587. I was on game 12-16 hours a day for the first month or so. At the time, I didn't know about the global events being posted in Tavern. I didn't know that as soon as i reached Marquess, everyone knew. In fact, I didn't even know how easily you could lose ships if you weren't prepared.

Personally, I think fishing the global events to take advantage of new players and their mistakes is an extremely low form of game play.

I think the nation missions should be extremely more difficult to accomplish. Recent nation change took me 2 days to become King from the time i started nation change. There needs to be some balance in development and learning. There needs to be more information available. I respect those that taught me the game but they only answer the question you ask. Yes there are a few guides, but unless you know what questions to ask, you wont get the right information. Helm was a training guild mainly for traders. Very little information about attack and defense mechanics.

I do want to acknowledge the following. Black Sparrow was able to talk me off that cliff and get me to stick around. Mugiwara helped me get my defenses set. Shadowood..... as much as I hate to admit it, that one incident changed my entire game play for the better. After the fallout we talked and I learned a lot. Avery, taught me more in the first week than a month in Helm. Haron and Mercs taught me a bit of humility.

But how do you quantify this into something newcomers can grasp? Even if we can get them past the first few hurdles, one simple incident can push them out. It almost did for me.


A bit of a rant but maybe some insight can be gained from it.

[DezNutz]

But how do you quantify this into something newcomers can grasp? Even if we can get them past the first few hurdles, one simple incident can push them out. It almost did for me.


A bit of a rant but maybe some insight can be gained from it.

There within lies the problem. No single source has all the information. A Jack of All Trades, but a Master of None.

The other problem that I find for new players is that information is scattered throughout the forums. A central location of information is a definite.

And while you can argue each side of written knowledge vs experience, you need both.

For any player to succeed (especially newer players), they need:

1) Learn the Base Knowledge
2) Guidance from an experience player on how to use that knowledge
3) Experience in using that knowledge.

[Maha]

thank you Feniks for sharing.

my expierance is quite different.
not a gamer before this game (does this game qualify me as a gamer now??) i had never ever joined a guild. so the first few days i was on my own. figuring stuff out the hard way, reading the forum to find answers. someone gave me 500k gc. just gave it. i was suspicious for there is no such thing as a free lunch.
those days i did the starters missions, hoping they would let me understand the basics of the game.
when i finally joined a guild (for the mission) i chose a small one, not understanding how guilds work i thought that small guilds would have more time for me. [BTS] was a guild with no interaction whatsoever, my guild stayed silent. i only related to those i attacked or got attacked by. asking how they 'broke the rules of the game (they used voodoo) That is when i got in contact with Haron from [MERC]. after two weeks in the game i joined T'Zak Ryn and became a mercenary. i never got a loan and gc gifts were scarce as well. what i got was advice and a steady source of answers for my questions. [merc] taught me how to build my own ships and trade for my gold coins. they did not advise to jump the learning curve by taking on easy to repay loans.

what [merc] did not teach me well (trade) i got from isle of man merchants. they did not provide the best route but helped me to figure out how to make the best of your fleets.

it took quite a while before i could afford a frigate finally i had enough credits to buy 2 or 3 frigs on the auction. i am quite sure that it was the last time as well. i noticed that it is cheaper to build ships yourself (Or steal them). suddenly i found myself plundering/stealing lots of ships.

i followed the advice to wait with the hideout until i had 50 million gc. impossible to imagine i would ever own such an amount. and i had to wait to become a marquis until i had a marina. (5 minutes after i had my MOW i was spied upon)

with my financial growth grew the understanding of the game. what i had was hard won and therefore i was careful with it.

i do believe that loans or huge donations do new players a disfavor. They develop their business without understanding. Yes, they make lots of gc and they can repay those loans easily. but with the ships and easy gold comes the idea that they play the game. for most of them it does not matter how long they play the game, they will lose a bunch of fleets and capital ships. they played without understanding the dynamics.

how long does a veteran has to wait before he relieves a newbie from his innocence? time does not really matter, the longer waited the more they lose. is it unjust that they never learned the dynamics? is the game to blame that those dynamics are not spelled out in detail? i think their guild are partially to blame when they allow growth beyond understanding and the newbies are to blame themselves when they ignore given advise.

so, here is my 2 cents: refrain from loans! make it your goal to finish the beginner missions (merchant, pirate and noble) and don't buy ships on the market until you've build or stolen at least a hundred yourself.

[Haron]

Three good success criteria from Deznutz. Also, advancing too fast can be dangerous. Gaining resources faster than you gain understanding may soon make you a target. Taking the time to play through the early stage, and not "fast forwarding" by taking massive loans, may be smart.

[sXs]

how long does a veteran has to wait before he relieves a newbie from his innocence? time does not really matter, the longer waited the more they lose. is it unjust that they never learned the dynamics? is the game to blame that those dynamics are not spelled out in detail? i think their guild are partially to blame when they allow growth beyond understanding and the newbies are to blame themselves when they ignore given advise.

I think you may have misunderstood. I do not blame the vet for taking advantage of the situation. My point was that I was able to get the MOW in about 2 weeks from my first day of sailing. Looking back now, that was a huge mistake. I achieved the rank of Marquess without "earning" it through knowledge and game play. Newcomers will always look for the shortcut and quickest growth possible, I know i did. Shipwreck hunting, inactive plunders gave me 200 ships in my first week to 10 days. I thought growth and game play was easy. I think at one time i had 700 ships in the first month. Granted most weren't sailing but when i needed gold i dumped unused ships back to shipwright. I think the ship wreck hunting, while well intentioned, may have been a bad idea overall. Inactive plunder early on and shipwreck hunting gave me all the ammunition i needed to make a fool of myself early on.

But how do you quantify this into something newcomers can grasp? Even if we can get them past the first few hurdles, one simple incident can push them out. It almost did for me.


A bit of a rant but maybe some insight can be gained from it.

There within lies the problem. No single source has all the information. A Jack of All Trades, but a Master of None.

The other problem that I find for new players is that information is scattered throughout the forums. A central location of information is a definite.

And while you can argue each side of written knowledge vs experience, you need both.

For any player to succeed (especially newer players), they need:

1) Learn the Base Knowledge
2) Guidance from an experience player on how to use that knowledge
3) Experience in using that knowledge.

+1 for central location of information

Maybe a player/veteran based wiki page, I know the wiki page has been put forth in suggestions. But if it is player based instead of developer based we can gain a bit of insight from all areas and experience.