Witch Doctors gameplay - manageable risk for everyone

[Shadowood]

Backfiring voodoo and all kinds of proposed stipulations due to some not liking a players style and thus labeling it toxic is funny to me. Since I have been here I have heard griping about names, pirates, privateers and now voodoo. If you collect on a bounty and get smacked for it, why cry? If you skirmish someone regularly and they smack you for it, why cry?
Will bankers lose a random amount of gold for having gold in a bank not belonging to them due to that bank losing money? Or pirates have random cannons explode causing loss of ships? Will privateers have their nation randomly drop them for skirting so close to pirate behavior the odds catch up?
My point is simply that peoples style of play is a direct result of the goals they have in mind.
Send a Levi at Black Sparrow and watch your fleets meet Poseidons pets in great number. Send an assassin at Valur and watch Japan lose half its population as ninjas converge on your captain's list.
There are people who just want to trade and some who want to collect ships others go for skirmish and battle records and all of those goals are in direct relation with others goals and to find yourself on the receiving end of what you call toxic I call normal.
Even admin sinking my ships I did not call toxic, I just chalked it up to him tired of talking.
So many new things promised for the horizon, flagships, plantations, and a million updates and this is what we have come down to as a community?
I have lost capital ships merchant ships ports etc and I say to you the voodoo that plagued me was not toxic even if in some cases I took it personally, I was simply targeted for whatever reason and it was duly noted. One day I may get to return those favors if I have not already but I will not expect rule changes to protect me from labels I may want to place on other players because in the end It is a pirate game.

+1

[Vane]

Backfiring voodoo and all kinds of proposed stipulations due to some not liking a players style and thus labeling it toxic is funny to me. Since I have been here I have heard griping about names, pirates, privateers and now voodoo. If you collect on a bounty and get smacked for it, why cry? If you skirmish someone regularly and they smack you for it, why cry?
Will bankers lose a random amount of gold for having gold in a bank not belonging to them due to that bank losing money? Or pirates have random cannons explode causing loss of ships? Will privateers have their nation randomly drop them for skirting so close to pirate behavior the odds catch up?
My point is simply that peoples style of play is a direct result of the goals they have in mind.
Send a Levi at Black Sparrow and watch your fleets meet Poseidons pets in great number. Send an assassin at Valur and watch Japan lose half its population as ninjas converge on your captain's list.
There are people who just want to trade and some who want to collect ships others go for skirmish and battle records and all of those goals are in direct relation with others goals and to find yourself on the receiving end of what you call toxic I call normal.
Even admin sinking my ships I did not call toxic, I just chalked it up to him tired of talking.
So many new things promised for the horizon, flagships, plantations, and a million updates and this is what we have come down to as a community?
I have lost capital ships merchant ships ports etc and I say to you the voodoo that plagued me was not toxic even if in some cases I took it personally, I was simply targeted for whatever reason and it was duly noted. One day I may get to return those favors if I have not already but I will not expect rule changes to protect me from labels I may want to place on other players because in the end It is a pirate game.

+1, I can agree to this too.

But if changes need to be made, I am glad points were made to avoid ships being a determining factor in any form of handicap or punishment.

[DezNutz]

First, there shouldn't be a playing style of just voodoo casting. This isn't Voodoo or Witch Doctor Glory. Yes, I did say it.

Secondly, I find it quite funny when players bring up banks/bankers as a comparable playing style to witch doctors (WD) not having ships. I beg to differ, banks require immense wealth to build and immense wealth to create a viable profit/income. That wealth doesn't just magically occur. As well, find me a banker in this game that doesn't have trade fleets. WDs on the other hand, can enter the game buy credits and create an immense voodoo chest, without even bothering with fleets. You can't just start the game and create the wealth needed to build a bank. So don't even start comparing other game features to WDs.

Thirdly, I don't think we should differentiate WDs into toxic and non. What defines a WD from one that is toxic. That is nothing but sugar coating to make some players, who like to de-fleet and cast voodoo, feel better. It does nothing to solve the actual problem this game has.

I think the solution resides in the root cause of the issue. VOODOO. I'm sure the complaining will begin, but voodoo is necessary to perform actions that should be available outside of voodoo. Phasing out certain voodoo into game features will allow pirates to still exist and function as they do, but eliminate WDs. Voodoo would still exist, but it should be limited to buffs.

Let's remember that this is a seafaring game based during the Golden Age of Piracy.

[Stan Rogers]

First, there shouldn't be a playing style of just voodoo casting. This isn't Voodoo or Witch Doctor Glory. Yes, I did say it.

Secondly, I find it quite funny when players bring up banks/bankers as a comparable playing style to witch doctors (WD) not having ships. I beg to differ, banks require immense wealth to build and immense wealth to create a viable profit/income.

Thirdly, I don't think we should differentiate WDs into toxic and non. What defines a WD from one that is toxic. That is nothing but sugar coating to make some players, who like to de-fleet and cast voodoo, feel better. It does nothing to solve the actual problem this game has.

I think the solution resides in the root cause of the issue. VOODOO. I'm sure the complaining will begin, but voodoo is necessary to perform actions that should be available outside of voodoo. Phasing out certain voodoo into game features will allow pirates to still exist and function as they do, but eliminate WDs. Voodoo would still exist, but it should be limited to buffs.

Let's remember that this is a seafaring game based during the Golden Age of Piracy.

For me, you are preaching to the choir. Put the primary function of the game back to sea-faring and decrease the current importance of voodoo.
Unfortunately, not a solution that can be quickly addressed.

[DezNutz]

Spoiler: show

First, there shouldn't be a playing style of just voodoo casting. This isn't Voodoo or Witch Doctor Glory. Yes, I did say it.

Secondly, I find it quite funny when players bring up banks/bankers as a comparable playing style to witch doctors (WD) not having ships. I beg to differ, banks require immense wealth to build and immense wealth to create a viable profit/income.

Thirdly, I don't think we should differentiate WDs into toxic and non. What defines a WD from one that is toxic. That is nothing but sugar coating to make some players, who like to de-fleet and cast voodoo, feel better. It does nothing to solve the actual problem this game has.

I think the solution resides in the root cause of the issue. VOODOO. I'm sure the complaining will begin, but voodoo is necessary to perform actions that should be available outside of voodoo. Phasing out certain voodoo into game features will allow pirates to still exist and function as they do, but eliminate WDs. Voodoo would still exist, but it should be limited to buffs.

Let's remember that this is a seafaring game based during the Golden Age of Piracy.

For me, you are preaching to the choir. Put the primary function of the game back to sea-faring and decrease the current importance of voodoo.
Unfortunately, not a solution that can be quickly addressed.

I agree that it isn't an instant fix, but we can't just keep band-aiding the problem, because the proper fix will take time to implement.

[Admiral Nelson]

Come on Merchants; roll up roll up. Lets us all hold hands and sing the perfect harmony.

" All danger be gone,
all danger be gone,
we want our profits to rise
and the danger to fall.
Voodoo is bad, trading is good,
any other form of playing then trading,
is morally corrupt,
lets all voice our opinion,
so the badies can be gone"

[DezNutz]

Come on Merchants; roll up roll up. Lets us all hold hands and sing the perfect harmony.

" All danger be gone,
all danger be gone,
we want our profits to rise
and the danger to fall.
Voodoo is bad, trading is good,
any other form of playing then trading,
is morally corrupt,
lets all voice our opinion,
so the badies can be gone"

As predicted.

Shifting voodoo to game features, doesn't necessarily change the effects, it just moves it away from being implemented via voodoo. As well, why do you assume that the shift to a game feature instead of voodoo wouldn't have benefits for pirates. I'm sure a pirate in this thread said the same thing, but I guess he just wants merchants to run away with it.

[Admiral Nelson]

Oh no I am not saying anything nor am I moaning, as I already know there is no point.

[Stan Rogers]

Well, Admin did say that the problem needs to be defined before a practical solution can be found.
IMO, that is the root cause of the problem discussed.

I still shudder when I think about all the new voodoo curses that were being proposed a while back. Some very good idea's but, the wrong direction to propel the game advancement.

Currently, when a new player starts, voodoo is the hardest thing to master and the most challenging thing to learn in the game. It is fun for a while but then it becomes the same old thing so the search for more challenging and expensive voodoo is requested.
Currently, voodoo is "the tail wagging the dog" if you will pardon the expression.

[Dmanwuzhere]

First, there shouldn't be a playing style of just voodoo casting. This isn't Voodoo or Witch Doctor Glory. Yes, I did say it.

Secondly, I find it quite funny when players bring up banks/bankers as a comparable playing style to witch doctors (WD) not having ships. I beg to differ, banks require immense wealth to build and immense wealth to create a viable profit/income. That wealth doesn't just magically occur. As well, find me a banker in this game that doesn't have trade fleets. WDs on the other hand, can enter the game buy credits and create an immense voodoo chest, without even bothering with fleets. You can't just start the game and create the wealth needed to build a bank. So don't even start comparing other game features to WDs.

Thirdly, I don't think we should differentiate WDs into toxic and non. What defines a WD from one that is toxic. That is nothing but sugar coating to make some players, who like to de-fleet and cast voodoo, feel better. It does nothing to solve the actual problem this game has.

I think the solution resides in the root cause of the issue. VOODOO. I'm sure the complaining will begin, but voodoo is necessary to perform actions that should be available outside of voodoo. Phasing out certain voodoo into game features will allow pirates to still exist and function as they do, but eliminate WDs. Voodoo would still exist, but it should be limited to buffs.

Let's remember that this is a seafaring game based during the Golden Age of Piracy.

I assume you mean the Golden Age of Piracy that included theft, torture, terrorism, and tactics that made people feel they were besieged by some evil magical force, but then I am sure there is a fairy tale version as well.