Hourglass is Terrible

@burnbacon I have some feedback regarding this mode, it's not beyond saving, maybe. If you think the mode is fine, well, bad takes exist, can't be helped.. and I probably can't do anything to change your mind.

• Unequal starts – Sure, you can restock between fights, but that just adds more downtime and tedium to an already exhausting grind. And even then, there's no guarantee the other ship didn’t stockpile way more (or even has curses) or even have close to infinite supplies. It makes the fight feel more about who has the bigger barrel than who sails or shoots better.

• Random nonsense – Weather, cannon bugs, getting stuck in or around rocks -- it adds way too much randomness. Some matches just feel like you're fighting the map more than the other player.

• Grind fatigue – Even when you win, the progress is laughable. Spending 40+ minutes in a sweaty match for a tiny rep bump is super demotivating, especially when you lose and get so little.

• No skill matchmaking – It’s a coin flip whether you’re matched with a brand new player or someone who's clearly PvP farming all day. There's no middle ground, and it kills the fun for both sides.

There are plenty of decent ideas floating around, standardized supplies at the start of fights, shrinking zones to force engagements, quicker queues, better progression scaling. The core concept of Hourglass is cool, but right now it just feels like a chore that's punishing instead of engaging.

Also, if they want it to be matchmaking, it should've just been full on matchmaking. Pop up in an empty, flat ocean; nowhere to run, preset supplies, same weather and waves. They wanted it to be both sandbox and matchmade, and accomplished something that doesn't manage to fit into either and makes it even more irritating.

Hourglass can be fun in small doses, but putting such a stupidly huge grind on it has turned it into a frigging slog. You either grind, or don't make progress at all. It's slightly better with double reputation, grinding outside double rep is an unbearable nightmare. And this comes from someone that loves PvP, but I just can't help but hate HG.

@levorpai

So basically you want hg to be a separate instanced mode with equal footing similar to the arena style modes we’ve seen in many other games. But that’s not what hg is, and it seems clear that the intent is pvp on demand within the regular world. I personally like how it is, I like when a match ends and I’m sitting there in the actual game, rather than looking at some loading screen giving me options to either do another match or return to the high seas. I think an instanced equal footing mode would make sense if hg were some ranked competitive style mode where world rankings are posted and whatever else comes along with it, but it’s not like that at all.

The fact is, hg fights aren’t any different than real world fights, aside from equal matchmaking (at least initially).

As for the allegiance gains, I think they’re perfectly fine. If you like hg, which many do including myself, you’ll get all of the rewards eventually. It’s not much different than some random voyage that you “complete 100 times” to get a commendation. If you like that voyage it’s not a grind, but if you don’t then you’d probably wish it were easier.

I think there should be a glory weekend every 2 weeks and a gold weekend for the other week so that people can always just hop on whatever they prefer I know some people have no use for gold and some have no use for glory so separating them in different weekends would carry the game soooo much.

@levorpai

What really kills the fun, though, is the players who reset after getting a single hole. Those fights can stretch out for nearly an hour at times, all that for like 10% xp.

I understand the pain, but those fights drag out because you let them.

If you're still new, I don't blame you, but you gotta learn how to recognize who's a good fight vs who has no idea what they're doing. If they're turning out like that, 99% of the time they're bad players.

When I see that I'm against a bad player, I either spam boards or ram them. It's not worth the time giving them a naval fight and you'll probably roll them in TDM.

@worst-tdmer I do get it. My naval skills are quite good. Boarding & TDM? Very average, so there's definitely work needed there. At the very least they could increase the rep gained overall and especially for matches that last so long, the grind remains ridiculous and there's no one on here that can change my mind. HG is a highly flawed mode, but when it works, it can be fun.

Anyone that disagrees about the grind is someone that's most likely gatekeeping what they've already earned, and seeing how brutal the grind is -- I probably shouldn't blame them.

@levorpai

I don't think the grind is too bad, though I remember when I used to.

As you get better and start streaking higher you'll notice a difference I think. This is my alt account that I've used maybe like 5 times and only ever ram/spam boards, and it's I think level 57 servants.

One of the best things about HG is the freedom to play how you want, if you think your TDM/boards need improvement, it might be good to set aside a few sessions where that's the focus. In those sessions forget about levels/winning and just spam boards and ram. Doing this, you'll probably come across a lot of people who are willing to TDM with you and will give you the win after.