The state of SvS
 

CALLING ALL SVSERS

How do you feel about the state of SvS at the moment?

Since the recent updates for the long awaited notoriety lvl and weapons lvl rises, which we all had fun with, SvS has pretty much died. The reason for this is the changes incurred by the recent addition of speed penalties for damage taken.

Most of us who play only to SvS as there is nothing left to do, and have spent time perfecting our game and strategies to play with satisfaction beyond latency problems and problems with bugs, glitches and issues with cheats are feeling some serious malcontent.

After nearly two weeks of this I decided to ask how my fellow SvSers felt starting with Eva Jewel of Black Shark Inc we both agreed that the state of the game is horrid, there is effectively no game. On asking round other SvS guilds and crews the sentiment was so overwhelmingly the same that we felt it was time to try to get Disney to relook how the update has taken effect on SvS.

So here are the current issues which a few of us have taken the time to test and comment on our findings.

Speed Penalty to Hull Damage
A hit to the hull of a ship incurrs a stun penalty of half your maximum speed, this penalty is similar to the stun effect that we experience on our pirates if they are hit whilst passing an enemy. It is temporary however, here are the durations of this restriction.

- First hit to the hull no matter how large or small:
A 6 second stun penalty slowing you to half speed and then slowly climbing to full speed.
-Second hit to the hull no matter how large or small: 20 second stun penalty slowing your boat to half speed for 20 seconds then slowly restoring to full.

Speed Penalty to the Sail
A minor hit to the sail will take the tip off your sail and reduce your maximum speed by a 1/4. This damage is perminent. A hit taking half the sail will reduce you to ONE knot.

The likely hood of you surviving the 6 second stun is slim, I took a hit of 32 points damage to a war sloop hull of 7200 hp and that was enough to give me a 6 second stun, which resulted in sinking. Take Cover on maximum lasts for 20 seconds, and takes one minute to recharge. Most of us hit TC to avoid taking damage initially and we can still take damage from fire shot.

When you consider that there are lvl 30 mastered gunners in the game now who can hit a pin on Kingshead from Tortuga preserving your sail is key, however a lvl 30 mastered sailor is very poorly equipt to defend his vessel by comparison.

It has to be pointed out that this update was never tested on the test server in SvS. Had we had enough SvSers there prior to the update going live then we may have been spared this predicament with the ability to feed back on the severity of the penalties.

If like so many in SvS you feel passionatley about this part of the game which is effectively the POTCO endgame and you want to preserve it and your reasons to play please join us in a unity which is spanning the current SvS contingent like never before.
Post your comments here on the thread, and also take the time to contact Disney via live chat, and email to the disney community.

Thanks for your time,

Maya Mara GM New Padre Pirates / Silky Officer Team SvS
Eva Jewel Officer Black Shark Inc
Davey Burnrat GM Team SvS

Unified for the purpose of saving SvS

Since I personally don't SvS, I would never have thought of the slow effect there. I believe you have a very valid point though. I have already posted a few complaints to Disney about the slow effects while sailing.

I fail to believe that a single cannonshot from a light sloop through the sail of my war frigate should cost me so much of my speed. A fireball does the exact same thing. If Disney can calculate difference when I'm using Thundershot vs. using ironshot when I attack an enemy, then they should be able to do the same when the enemy attacks me.

Also, I'm still complaining about enemy ships that can:
A) recharge and fire 3 times faster than I can, even with maxed rapid reload.
B) turn on a dime, and faster than any pirate ship.
C) fire high explosive brodasides. I can't!

Even though I don't SvS, I will continue to complain about these items, and I will add your SvS concerns when I do.

TY Basil.

Its worth adding that mighty oversight on Disney's part is that in doing this those inclined to cheat using hacks and hack programmes which are boasted of around the svs arena are sadly more than happy to take further advantage adding yet more reasons for people to end their memberships, and it wont be the ones playing underhandedly that go.

Hmmm


Maya

I whole heartedly agree, the recent update to the game has made privateering near impossible to play. We all have worked hard to attain our skill points and spent countless hours retraining (at an extreme cost) to find the right balance only to have all that time wasted to this update. Face it with the damage penalties the way they are now, full sail and ramming speed are useless as well as the repair feature, because if you get tagged by any kind of shot you will be sinking. The new changes have pretty much taken strategy and competition out of privateering leaving it to be pretty much what Disney designed it for...just part of a tattoo quest.
I too will be contacting Disney with our grievances.
It's not fair to those of us who have stuck it out waiting for new content, keeping our unlimited memberships active and continuing to fill Disney's coffers, only to have our sport decimated by their lack of attention.

~JD

i agree in full on this Maya and will do my part as well.

Thank you for posting this thread. Ever since the new updates svs has been messed up. You will have my support and ill do my best to help.

Good thread- totally agreed

SVS Damage
 

I sure hope something changes on this, I like the fact that if a ship loses its sails it now wont outrun you but what I dont like is how easily sails can be taken off. If a grape shot hits the hull sadly mayas calculations are correct. Problem is you cant run at all. I think if someone can take time to post a better calculation on damage vs speed it may help Disney understand where we are agreeing on going. Sadly I cant handle SVS anymore so I am taking a break. If I had my choice I would rather go back to old settings. Some things I like on the update but theres more to not like about it....just my opinion.

sigh......

It's not just the svs ... it is pure boredom .... without svs there literally is nothing to do. Yes, I can stand about mindlessly in tormenta and level to 50 .... I have to ask WHY? What is the point of raising the Noto when all it meant is to do the exact same thing we all did after the black pearl quest to get to 40. To level. I don't see the point of raising the cap without a quest or second storyline. I am highly disappointed in this update. I guess I expected too much. By the way if they add a quest or storyline now, after everyone levels to 50 what would be the point in that?

Dhestroyer
GM
Shadow Realm

Well put Dhestroyer and others prior to his post.

How many pirates can we start, quest, level and master before boredom sets in? Even if a pirate is mastered and levelled, there is not much afterwards except SVS and Guild Activities.

Keeping hope alive for a "THE" update to come through.

Member services will hear from me as well.

I have to agree with everything that has been said. Svs has been changed in a way to make playing it less enjoyable - a shame since it is the best thing going for the game as a whole.

I'll be contacting my friendly Disney reps pronto. Anyone who values the competition svs provides should do the same.

Well put PB, as I enjoyed SvS when it first come out but fell out of it once so many issues came along - it would be nice to see some re-vamping and fixing up of the items listed :)

I called Disney this morning and talked to a rep, he told me to email [email protected] to tell of the SVS issues, thought I might save a few of you from wasting time calling, email instead :) ~~ Eva

Brilliant Eva, ty for that!

Please continue to get your guild members, crew members and svs friends to visit the forum and add a comment too, it wont do any harm for Disney to see how many memberships are under strain due to this change.

Maya

Personally, I'm not playing SvS again until they fix the glitches or boot ALL the CHEATS.

If you can't play without a shortcut, you have NOTHING to brag about. If you need to fire three times faster to only defeat me twice as fast, then that means I'm probably still better - its like guys who uses steriods... smack a big ol' asterisk on them.

Well what can I say....

I quit this game all together because of Disney's lack of testing and thought. When SVS first came out.. it was fun... then.. as everyone knows.. it went downhill once all the glitches took over. Honestly I spent months trying to figure out why ppl would glitch, then brag about how good they are. This game has a long way to go before I will ever take my ship back out to sea. I came on a little while after the update and saw the mayhem this update has caused to the SVS scene, I stayed out for about 2 mins.. just enough to see how SVS had become.. not a thing of skill or talent or battle, but a game of whoever hit first won. This new update has taken out every aspect of showcasing ones talent. I watched a lvl 20 capt sink a fully crewed 50 ship all because he made first contact. Now, how is that possible? After seeing that.. I have docked my ship and hung up my hat and boots... at least until Disney can get it together.

Chris Stormspinner
Shadow Realm

I agree that the update has changed, to the detriment, SVS. I also commend Eliza, even though she "hates SVS" ,for her comments. This update has not only degraded the games best experience (opinion) but has motivated the macro-using , land speed glitching, cheats to have another arena to "fire away while afk". I actually came across a ship that was firing fury and firebrand without any gunners. Just 1 person sailing. He said it was "magic". I say lack of skill but thats another topic.

This "update" seems more like destructdate (my word for it).

(this post in no way refers to any individuals or groups nor does it infer anything towards any individual or group. It is intended for contrast only)

Maggie Heartstealer
THE Heroine

Sad
 

I'll send off an email, since I'm out on shore leave. LOL. Thanks Maya, Davey and Eva for organizing this. Hopefully our voices will be heard.

Yes, Janky I hope so too!

Ty to all posters so far, and to those who sent Disney your concerns direct ;)

It is equally important that we get all our friends that are talking about the state of svs in the game on the beaches because they simply cannot sail now, to post here and/or contact Disney.

Thats a lot of membership that is going to get placed with other games providers, meaning that, people are moving on as we speak.

Lets hope we can catch the right ear in Disney.

Come on Disney we have thoroughly enjoyed the game and supported you for so long, we waited for these updates eagerly, it shouldnt be the case that we waited that way for our reason to leave.

Maya

If there is anything I can do to help restore the once grand game of ship vs. ship, I will do it.
This is an important part of the game for hundreds of pirates and will surely be the cause of the decline in activity if these issues are not addressed.
Maya and friends : for you to take the time out and shed light on these problems and strive toward a fix for them , is nothing less than comendable. I have been contacted by who I believe to be influencial persons in and out of game , about the svs tourny and disney possibly making an actual game of it. Of course this is just talk but , I have been bummed lately because right when things were looking better in svs , it came to a screeching hault. There will never be annything good to happen for svs if it stays in this state. I feel that if enough people do thier parts (contacting Disney, documenting changes , repoting etc.) we together can breathe life back into to our game. I will use my resources to help in anyway possible.

Phil DePane

Hmmm Well...I still have not recieved a response, anyone else? My guildmate did, Disney sent him a regular typical generated email saying "report the player" for whoever is in violation lol...I am guessing they just dont get it. Sigh.

Actuallt its not always half speed when dammage is taken because my frigate (not war or light) goes from 10 knots to 4 knots

eeek even worse Capt Sammie!

maya

Im Jake. Maybe one of the most hated. :D
But about SVS dieng. Thats not True just last night i had an 11 k bounty.
SVS is far from dieng. Just take a look at Andaba's Bounties Around ten o'clock.

I dont know if SvS is on its way out. I still find enough players to have fun. That being said I hate the speed penalty as I usually sail alone and 2 knots is a death sentance when I have a full loaded war sloop closing in. I can't even turn to rake em with the broadsides one last time before I go see ol' Davey. I would like to see that go back to normal and as long as we are calling big D how about suggesting that if a ship ports or logs the ship that did the damage gets repairs and bounty same as a sinking. I get tired of gunning it out with some guy just to have him log and now I'm limping away with no reward, just a thought.

I SvSed for the first time in while the other day and had a blast! I do not think the speed thing impacts the game that much it just makes it harder for those that try to run to the edge of the world to escape sinking! Which was one of the negatives of SvS in my opinion anyway. Now I can tag them with lightening to slow them down enough to catch em and sink em.

Well stated Crazy to prove our point.

Hard earned skill points were placed in full sail,
ramming speed and windcatcher to get away and use the repair feature to extend game play and require "strategy" and "tactics" in order to sink the opposition,
making the game challenging and interesting, are now useless.
Now it's exactly as you state, tag, catch and sink, then only to have the same done to you
(within seconds), lather, rince, repeat.
Pretty boring after a short while if you ask me.
By the lack of response from Disney, I guess what has been done to Svs has followed along Disney's line to make the game simpler, easier and basic.
Alot of us "old timers" remember when just getting to Tia in Cuba and being able to talk to her without being attacked ,killed or sunk, was almost an impossible feat! But still a challenge. :) LOL

I think as stated above it can add strategy to the game. You are forced to cut down angles and try to out think the fox so to speak. I myself don't run as I dont have gunners and I just die tired LOL or get sunk trying to repair( a long process by yourself) but when I can't move enough to at least turn and evade incoming cannon blasts something is wrong. The best I can do in that case is hit take cover and head for a cannon and at least hope to make em easier for the next guy.

I hate to disagree but one of the reasons I quit playing SvS were players who ran scared to protect their bounty anytime they came up against a more skilled captain and crew and then spending forever chasing them only to have them port when they realize I would not give up and let them repair.

To some extent I am playing Devils advocate as I also hate chasing for long periods, more so as a gunner than capt. as I'm just standing there. I also feel that porting or logging is the most cowardly thing you can do and as I stated above think you should get something if the ship you are chasing does so. Maybe a speed penalty is needed to some degree but you have always been slowed down if you lost sails correct? (I'm not trying to be smart lol don't remember.) I just don't think my mast should be built out of balsa wood as it now seems to be. Maybe that is the result of people aiming for the sails more now that the speed penalty has been installed or a change in game settings I'm not sure. I do know that people seem to be losing sails alot more often and a 20 count penalty makes it impossible to get away from the crew you just sunk with the newly repaired ship if you are near the island.

I would like to see some kind of boundry set up for SvS. Say a big ring around the SvS islands on the map if you leave the area you lose your score, bounty, and start over by the island just as if you were sunk. If you are sailing SvS solo you should sink alot anyway it is designed to be played in crews for that reason. Sinking occasionally and trying to get the bounty back are all part of the fun of SvS no one should be able to sink one ship run and repair then do it all over again thats why you get salvage bonuses to help. If anything the slow down effect requires more strategy, than hit and run away, to be successful maybe thats why some are upset.

I play another game and it has a server just for PvP (much like pirate Pvp or Boss) maybe that is what is need for SvS as I like your suggestion. Make it where there is no where to port,nobody else sailing through and blocking traffic,and no bounty leaving. At the end of each day(week,month) a tally is added up and the winner announced(french or spanish) and you get rep for that team based on play for them and lose it if you play for the other side.Sorry now I'm rebuilding the whole lot LOL


Yeah I know I'm gonna sink LOL it tells me that an unmanned cannon stacks the odds against ya on the wait screen..I'm just hard headed.I can see some of your points and agree and then see some from the otherside maybe the answer lies in between somewhere.

Yeah, the new speed penalty for getting hit certainly isn't balanced for SvS play. It may not have been completely realistic before, but it's even less so now. And way less fun now in my opinion.

It isn't necessarily the sinking that concerns me Roxy. I think it is good for the ego to sink at least one a day ;) It is more the lack of ships/pirates playing svs at all - purely because of the changes made to the svs environment.

I know several long time pirates that have totally stopped playing. Unfortunately the competition for online gaming is such that some of these pirates are unlikely to return. An unfortunate outcome of the much anticipated update.

Same subject different thing. Is it just me or do the broadsides seem to be missing and not targeting well after update? I was on top of some people tonight only to have broadsides go off in fan pattern like no one was there. Not the fist time this has happened for me, anybody else seen this?

I like the new SvS, mainly because the little sloops aren't able to manipulate the game so much
anymore. And the speed penalty is good in my opinion, especially if your enemy shoots your masts down.
I mean, would you really be able to move at maximum speed without sails? Didn't think so. All
things change and sometimes you just have to accept them. :buds:

And those people who leave the game because of something like that were going to leave
in the future anyways, so why cry after them? If you don't like the game you shouldn't play it..
PotCO is the only MMOG i've liked so far, but there are many people who find their true home in
games like WoW or LOTRO. I don't judge them but i am not begging them to come back either. :degen:

The only thing i don't like about SvS is the cheating. People who are not skilled enough to play
fair like others do is just pathetic. Why don't they go to Cuba and run a lap of gators, that should
still be in their reach, no? :mybadki6:


So basically, i won't be signing that thought of SvS being ruined. It's just different in a good way.
I think Disney deserves a "Thank You" letter. :skull: