I was really speaking very long term/high level there. We don't intend to completely overhaul everything. We want to mitigate risk and reduce or eliminate rewards from 6 level 50's stomping a level 20 player.

At some nebulous point in the future we might support a higher risk higher reward PvP scenario. This is pure blue sky, but I can imagine some system where you flag yourself as uninsured and gain some potential reward from that, but you're risking a much greater loss if you're sunk. Again, this is strictly theoretical at this point.

What we're working on in the short to medium term is reducing the risk associated with PvP, reducing the incentives to fight completely unbalanced battles, and reducing the losses of people who are killed by completely overwhelming forces.

In parallel to that we're working on a way to create interesting low level and small ships PvP on a more limited scale. Low level/small ship PvP will always be an adjunct to the main PvP experience, but we think it makes an interesting addition, and it also means we can expose newer players to the fun side of PvP: actually having a chance to win.

That is, quite honestly, yet to be determined. However, that is the obvious implication. A single battle between a merchant and a solo pirate is interesting game play for the pirate certainly, and possibly for the merchant. The decision we have made is not that we want to eliminate that game play, but that we will sacrifice it, if we have to, to make PvP a better experience.

You're using that quote out of context, quote the entire thought:

It is not, in my opinion, possible to make an open world where ganking does not happen. We can, however, make it a low value activity, and dramatically reduce the impact it has on the victim.

Mods = not technical people nor can make the fix. It is being worked on internally. The moderation team does..well..moderation.

First off I want to thank everyone for their constructive feedback and suggestions. I know that it's frustrating to hear 'design goals' without some specific details to back them up, and we are working on getting those details out to you.

I want to clarify: we don't expect to be able to make all Open Sea battles scrupulously fair, that's not a reasonable goal. I don't believe it is possible to create a PvP game with a persistent world where ganking is impossible. What we want to do is remove incentives that encourage players to engage in massively unfair battles exclusively. Additionally we want to drastically reduce the penalties that are experienced by a player who is in a massively unfair battle.

Right now there is every incentive to only engage in battles where you have an overwhelming advantage. This means that the most heavily supported game play is ambush game play. What we want to do is stop providing incentives for that kind of game play, both directly with rewards, and indirectly with penalties for loss.

I believe that high risk, high reward game play is interesting, and something we should support. But right now that's the only thing we support, at the cost of many other styles of game play. What Isildur is saying is that we are going to stop supporting that high risk, high reward game play at the expense of everything else. He is not saying that we'll never support it anywhere. What I want to do is make high risk, high reward game play something you opt into.

Hello all,

We do encourage people to discuss and even debate almost whatever they wish. As long as people do not break the PotBS Community Rules, you can discuss your thoughts on the game.

However, if you do want to respond to a post where folks have expressed frustration or dissatisfaction, you should also be following the PotBS Community Rules.

Specifically, these rules:

- Do not abuse new users
Remember that new users will not always know where to find information that may be common knowledge to the seasoned forum user.

-No Flaming
While debate and discussion are encouraged, we will not tolerate rude or insulting posts, personal attacks or inflammatory posts of any kind.


So, ya know...quit it.

Hello all,

We do encourage people to discuss and even debate almost whatever they wish. As long as people do not break the PotBS Community Rules, you can discuss your thoughts on the game.

However, if you do want to respond to a post where folks have expressed frustration or dissatisfaction, you should also be following the PotBS Community Rules.

Specifically, these rules:

-No Flaming
While debate and discussion are encouraged, we will not tolerate rude or insulting posts, personal attacks or inflammatory posts of any kind.

-No Foul Language
This includes the use of invectives like *** or gay (or any variation), sexually explicit language, racially or culturally insensitive comments, or the use of any words understood as offensive to others. (This includes trying to get around the profanity filter)

Have you discovered something strange or run into a problem with the recent publish of Build 1.4? The this is the place to share your thoughts!

Please note: Posting in this thread does not replace the need to file a support ticket with the details of the issue you've discovered. To file a support ticket, please visit this link.

Best,
Aether

I'll forward the feathers and hat suggestion on to Ken.

There are some localization strings that should be updated with the next live patch.