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Ship Leveling!

AuthorMessage
Bosun
Sep 08, 2008
388
Not having had any official responses to my thread about how there aren't any level 50 pirate origin or bison origin ships available at level 50, I came up with a new idea that involves nautical leveling.

In past posts, I have read posts that brought up nautical leveling, and how it is actually pretty darn annoying to have to stop what you are doing with your pirate quests and level your nautical skill on the side.

Well, instead of simply gaining nautical levels, why don't we gain ship levels? 1-50, each level slightly increasing the ship's parameters. That way, once you have your favorite ship, a pirate origin galleon in my case, you can actually take that ship out and grind nautical levels for it. Nautical levels that actually make your ship stronger in ALL aspects.

That way, by the time you hit level 50, you'd have your very favorite ship (even your raft if you wanted to) with pretty much maximum stats. All respective ship parts belonging to specific origins can stay the same, and all the ship parts granted through packs and bundles can actually be applied to your favorite vessel, etc etc.

This is an idea I just thought of about 5 minutes ago, and got pretty excited about it. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.

Ensign
Dec 30, 2011
37
Hey shining! yeah i agree with you on the ship leveling. they even should have gear you can buy that later works with a higher leveled pirate ship. I love the galleon(pirate origin) and hated having to use the bison ones. they all have a unique feel to them, but we all have different tastes.

I have posted on this topic many times. GREAT POST SHINING!

Petty Officer
Nov 28, 2008
82
Kind of a neat idea. Ive often wondered why my nautical leveling doesnt improve my combat stats. Theoretically, I AM becoming a better sailor right (as I level)?

Ensign
Jul 03, 2011
1
I agree completely, if we could actually level up our ships, then we would have a chance against higher level ships, in the case where you have little gold, and when you are in Haunted Skyway, when you have your Monquistan Skiff, and you have a quest to fight 12 Level 35 ships, I think you have an issue there.

I also think that they should have "boss ships" (example: Mack the Shark in Skull Island, or El Kazang in Cool Ranch) drop special ship equipment that don't have origins, because it gets annoying when I have a Bison Frigate, and there is an epic item, for Pirate Origin Ships only.

You touched upon a good point, Shin.

"Daniel Radcliffe, Level 25 Swashbuckler"

Lieutenant
Jun 16, 2009
133
I like it. I agree that it is annoying to have to leave your favorite ship behind because it is obsolete. Nauticle levels really should do more than just grant better equipment too. Nice idea. What would happen though if you decided to buy a new ship? Would it start at your nauticle level?

Ensign
Nov 12, 2012
32
At first I would try and level my ships from broadside combat but unfortunately

IT TAKES A BLIMEY LONG TIME!

it took me to level 43 to learn that....
Don't really focus on my ships :P

My best advice for everyone is fight on deck :P

I know it's a drag but it goes by a bit faster then broadside plus you get more objects and ship equipment

Fearless Fallon Fairlead (level 45 musky)
and my pets
Prince mocha (level 45 white-tailed jackelope pet)
Big Ned (Level 45 Vermillion dragon pet)
Fang (Level 45 tropical sky snake pet)
Old Tiger (Level 45 blue-ringed octopus pet)

Ensign
Dec 31, 2012
30
ladyFelix on Jan 25, 2013 wrote:
At first I would try and level my ships from broadside combat but unfortunately

IT TAKES A BLIMEY LONG TIME!

it took me to level 43 to learn that....
Don't really focus on my ships :P

My best advice for everyone is fight on deck :P

I know it's a drag but it goes by a bit faster then broadside plus you get more objects and ship equipment

Fearless Fallon Fairlead (level 45 musky)
and my pets
Prince mocha (level 45 white-tailed jackelope pet)
Big Ned (Level 45 Vermillion dragon pet)
Fang (Level 45 tropical sky snake pet)
Old Tiger (Level 45 blue-ringed octopus pet)
I have to disagree with this completely. The amount of time it takes to fight on deck compared to killing ships is night and day. I can kill a handful of ships and possibly be a couple thousand gold richer than you in the same amount of time. Broadside combat is extremely boring which is an issue the developers need to figure out. Hitting two buttons and waiting twenty seconds on cooldowns isn't exciting. The way things work with upgrades around every four levels via gold put a big hamper on most players due to the equally horrific companion system and the costs associated with it. Accuracy is the biggest stat you need besides health (misses add 20s or more to your time to kill).

What KI needs to do is make ship combat more meaningful possibly more exciting and give it a bigger play in this game. One of the advertised features in commercials and videos are flying ships in the sky fighting each other. Unfortunately when people actually play the game the realization that the ship portion of the game is extremely lacking comes to light and does little. Pirates of the burning sea was interesting for a time (could upload your own flags and craft ships etc.). Ship choices and options will hopefully expand in the future.

Ensign
Dec 15, 2012
18
Shiningfantasia on Jan 22, 2013 wrote:
Not having had any official responses to my thread about how there aren't any level 50 pirate origin or bison origin ships available at level 50, I came up with a new idea that involves nautical leveling.

In past posts, I have read posts that brought up nautical leveling, and how it is actually pretty darn annoying to have to stop what you are doing with your pirate quests and level your nautical skill on the side.

Well, instead of simply gaining nautical levels, why don't we gain ship levels? 1-50, each level slightly increasing the ship's parameters. That way, once you have your favorite ship, a pirate origin galleon in my case, you can actually take that ship out and grind nautical levels for it. Nautical levels that actually make your ship stronger in ALL aspects.

That way, by the time you hit level 50, you'd have your very favorite ship (even your raft if you wanted to) with pretty much maximum stats. All respective ship parts belonging to specific origins can stay the same, and all the ship parts granted through packs and bundles can actually be applied to your favorite vessel, etc etc.

This is an idea I just thought of about 5 minutes ago, and got pretty excited about it. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.
good idea cus i like my frigate(pirate) and it has all my good gear on it plus its my biggest ship so far
by fearful talon jackson level fifteen swashbuceler

Ensign
Nov 12, 2012
32
Baconnaise on Jan 25, 2013 wrote:
I have to disagree with this completely. The amount of time it takes to fight on deck compared to killing ships is night and day. I can kill a handful of ships and possibly be a couple thousand gold richer than you in the same amount of time. Broadside combat is extremely boring which is an issue the developers need to figure out. Hitting two buttons and waiting twenty seconds on cooldowns isn't exciting. The way things work with upgrades around every four levels via gold put a big hamper on most players due to the equally horrific companion system and the costs associated with it. Accuracy is the biggest stat you need besides health (misses add 20s or more to your time to kill).

What KI needs to do is make ship combat more meaningful possibly more exciting and give it a bigger play in this game. One of the advertised features in commercials and videos are flying ships in the sky fighting each other. Unfortunately when people actually play the game the realization that the ship portion of the game is extremely lacking comes to light and does little. Pirates of the burning sea was interesting for a time (could upload your own flags and craft ships etc.). Ship choices and options will hopefully expand in the future.
okay

I was saying that I find it easier to battle on deck

plus in game it tells you specifically that you are more likely to raid a ship in deck combat

just saying

Community Leader
ladyFelix on Jan 27, 2013 wrote:
okay

I was saying that I find it easier to battle on deck

plus in game it tells you specifically that you are more likely to raid a ship in deck combat

just saying
True, it does say that, but it also says that bringing friends to an instance will make it go by faster and that's true, but only under a specific set of circumstances. Unless you're really having a tough time getting a quest drop or you are incapable of defeating them any other way, boarding will always be the slower and less practical way to go. I have been sinking ships with other players who are boarded. I move on to sink other ships all by myself and have usually done 3-4 more ships by the time they are finished with deckside combat. Any item drop boost benefit you might get is outweighed by the time it takes. Unless the drop rate is 400-500% higher in deckside vs. broadside, it won't be worth your time to use deckside as a default.

Host of the Talkin' the Plank Podcast, where we talk about Pirate 101 every Friday!
Community Leader
Boarding ships is a better chance of getting your drop only under one condition.. You compare them 1 to 1.

The unfortunate truth is KI's statement misleads people, because you can sink 5-10 ships in the time it takes to board and defeat 1. ALL my friends "flee" if we get boarded now, we dont have the time for these battles.

It has been my experience that although there does not seem to be a visual change in a players ship stats, that the players nautical level DEFINATELY plays a role in thier battle success.

Using same ship equipment for various battles, and comparing to ship nautical I am attacking I can tell my nautical plays a role. The higher my nautical is, and the higher above my targets nautical I am, the easier the ship is to sink. The closer it is to my nautical (or above my nautical), and it is HARDER to sink.

Just because your not seeing ship stats change, doesnt mean things are changing. Your nautical is part of the equation.

As for wanting a specific ship at a specific level, I still hope to see ship stitching which was definately brought up in conversation during beta testing, and not by the testers!!! By the developers!

Dr Zeppers (aka Silent Sam Stern)
Piratey parodies I like to make.
I be a crazy pirate for goodness sake!
Artist & Admin of Skull Island TV
Ensign
Dec 28, 2012
12
The current system of changing ships requires two things that offset your ability in other areas: The gold invested in purchasing ships and starting gear will generally mean weaker companions (since their training points are the only other large gold sink), and the time spent grinding for better equipment means you aren't gaining the experience you could in other areas.

Allowing players to advance their current ship without that investment of gold and time would require further rebalancing of other areas. However, if the issue is purely that players wish to use the "shell" or "skin" (for looks, as well as origin specific equipment), then the ability to retrofit a ship should be implemented. You pay a fee to the ship vendors where you would normally purchase a new ship, and they make the necessary adjustments to increase its base stats. Equipment stats tend not to change dramatically throughout the game, but the addition of some more origin specific gear for higher nautical levels would solve any issues in that department.

Ensign
Dec 31, 2012
30
I don't see why they couldn't just offer each faction type per area instead of having the ship level with you. It also seems shortsighted to not have pros and cons besides health and accuracy on say a skiff and a heavy galleon. They just didn't put that much effort into the way this portion of the game works. If only they put the detail and care into it like they did the pop culture references I'd have much less to complain about.

Ensign
Dec 13, 2008
37
Though I know it's not going to happen, I'd really love to have the ability to capture ships.
That was one of the major sources of income for many historical pirates, and a potential way of upgrading their current ship.
It would also potentially give a reason to board ships more often.

Ensign
Dec 31, 2012
30
Dr Zeppers on Jan 28, 2013 wrote:
Boarding ships is a better chance of getting your drop only under one condition.. You compare them 1 to 1.

The unfortunate truth is KI's statement misleads people, because you can sink 5-10 ships in the time it takes to board and defeat 1. ALL my friends "flee" if we get boarded now, we dont have the time for these battles.

It has been my experience that although there does not seem to be a visual change in a players ship stats, that the players nautical level DEFINATELY plays a role in thier battle success.

Using same ship equipment for various battles, and comparing to ship nautical I am attacking I can tell my nautical plays a role. The higher my nautical is, and the higher above my targets nautical I am, the easier the ship is to sink. The closer it is to my nautical (or above my nautical), and it is HARDER to sink.

Just because your not seeing ship stats change, doesnt mean things are changing. Your nautical is part of the equation.

As for wanting a specific ship at a specific level, I still hope to see ship stitching which was definately brought up in conversation during beta testing, and not by the testers!!! By the developers!
This is quite true as well. I've had my daughters character over nautical level 40 for awhile now since she was level 20 and it makes a huge difference. She can equip gear that isn't ship specific (cannons/anchors/horns) from mooshu or the 40+ crown shop. She's actually useful in her now heavy bison galleon still killing jade fleet ships. It really didn't take that long either since jade fleet or amber horde ships were routinely giving her 285 xp or so a pop. She leveled up quite a big chunk by acquiring a new ship and having me help her farm parts for it (not to mention all the kills quests). She outleveled those ship areas fairly quickly and I began to take her with me when I had to farm ships as I leveled as well. It does pay to keep your nautical above or at least equal to what your level is because of how good the money is. If you aren't farming jade fleet for cash and are leveling up in the game spending the time fighting ships even lower level ones taht you can kill fast (group is best if you can find one) helps pay your way to 50.

Community Leader
Baconnaise on Jan 29, 2013 wrote:
I don't see why they couldn't just offer each faction type per area instead of having the ship level with you. It also seems shortsighted to not have pros and cons besides health and accuracy on say a skiff and a heavy galleon. They just didn't put that much effort into the way this portion of the game works. If only they put the detail and care into it like they did the pop culture references I'd have much less to complain about.
I think that what many people are not attuned to is that KI games are supposed to be casual/easy.

They are supposed to be fun for the entire family, and not require a lot of complicated statistical circumstances or situations that make the game unfun for those that are quite a bit more into casual game play. There are many choices for gamers looking for more complicated, more comprehensive/advanced MMO play. I hope they dont change KI games to suit those looking for this, as it will ruin the game for many of us. There are not as many choices for casual MMO players.

The game was written for entertainment, which is why those "references" are key, and make the game a lot of fun.

Dr Zeppers (aka Silent Sam Stern)
Piratey parodies I like to make.
I be a crazy pirate for goodness sake!
Artist & Admin of Skull Island TV
Ensign
Dec 31, 2012
30
Dr Zeppers on Jan 30, 2013 wrote:
I think that what many people are not attuned to is that KI games are supposed to be casual/easy.

They are supposed to be fun for the entire family, and not require a lot of complicated statistical circumstances or situations that make the game unfun for those that are quite a bit more into casual game play. There are many choices for gamers looking for more complicated, more comprehensive/advanced MMO play. I hope they dont change KI games to suit those looking for this, as it will ruin the game for many of us. There are not as many choices for casual MMO players.

The game was written for entertainment, which is why those "references" are key, and make the game a lot of fun.
All MMO's or games are entertainment. Those pop culture references usually fly over a tween or teens head (I have five kids that play off and on). I have to disagree that it's casual play due to level grind that's fairly common in games like this. The lack of options in just about everything plus arbitrary mechanics make them lose interest. The chat system and filters which are nice for smaller children usually hinder the older children from socializing with their friends. Battles in the current incarnation aren't for the young (or old) that are usually more impatient. Treating children like simpletons that require hand holding in everything is a big mistake. When I say older children keep in mind I mean ten to eighteen.

I do agree certain things should remain simple/random/lack of choice. There are some such as the companion system which shouldn't be the way they are. Ship wise I think the lack of choice is a problem (people like different looks it's subjective). The ship battle system leaves a lot to be desired which is why all of mine avoid it at all cost (most apparently do looking at the forums and seeing people in game). The animations on the spells and visuals are there but it could use a little more interaction to keep focused and interested.

Bosun
Sep 08, 2008
388
Baconnaise on Jan 29, 2013 wrote:
I don't see why they couldn't just offer each faction type per area instead of having the ship level with you. It also seems shortsighted to not have pros and cons besides health and accuracy on say a skiff and a heavy galleon. They just didn't put that much effort into the way this portion of the game works. If only they put the detail and care into it like they did the pop culture references I'd have much less to complain about.
You know, I posted this same exact question on the forums.

I got such off the wall responses, I still don't see the logic behind it.

Petty Officer
May 25, 2012
53
I too would like to be able to improve on some of my ships, simply because I like the look of them and would like to see the dock at Subata Temple filled with ships from all over the Spiral and all ready to sail. My suggestion would be to add a shipwright - type of vendor near the ship parts and fuel vendors. Basically he'd be like the companion tome vendor. You pay this vendor to rebuild/improve on your ship and it goes up a level with corresponding base stat improvements.

You should be able to improve your ships in this fashion to a maximum of your nautical level.

I'd pay to have all my ships at level 50.

Canny Matthew Tolliver, level 50
The Wandering Vagabond: Pirate Raft, level 4, pilot: Old Scratch
The Careless Voyager: Pirate Skiff, level 7, pilot: Ratbeard
Nimble Vixen: Royal Navy Skiff, level 26, pilot: Bonnie Anne
Shining Wisdom: Samoorai Skiff, level 32, pilot: Wing Chun
The Lucky Venture: Pirate Frigate, level 50, pilot: Grim Bruce McFin