i believe a lot of people when they say the kraken is underdeveloped. i like the general design of the Kraken, because it gives devs more freedom to develop the AI and the black water motivates players to stay on their ship; too many times have i seen players just say "dont worry guys i got this!" then they just jump in the water expecting a Kraken body to hit with their sword. i just want them to stay on our ship where they can help.
first things first, i dont care, nor do i think it matters whether or not the kraken is a single 3d model/body underwater. i am confident that rare can develop the encounter's final stage to feature the krakens head appearing from the water just like its limbs. i will suggest this, but i am confident it is on rare's list of things to do.
Gameplay Fixes/Improvements
the gameplay is simple and gives the devs more freedom to develop the AI. there are currently three types of limbs: limbs that can grab players, limbs that can grab a players ship (damaging it), and limbs that.....just do nothing. nothing at all; they are just there so that you can damage the Kraken with a cannon and keep track of how many limbs it has left. but i feel as if we do not need a representation of the Kraken's health if the limbs have death animations and music for those death animations.
so for my first suggestion, can we remove this type of limb. the limb death animations should be the only thing that represents your progress with the encounter, plus the lack of knowing your progress would make the Kraken much more threatening.
my second suggestion is to have the limbs that can attack you or your ship attack/appear more often. there are times when players can go through the entire encounter without their ship being damaged. sometimes the Kraken does not even grab your ship at all.
my third suggestion is to buff the limb that grabs you. it attempts to drown you and throws you far away, but even if the water can damage you, it is still very rare to die to these limb types.
in general, the Kraken needs to be more aggressive and needs to be consistently attacking your ship in order to be more threatening.
Quality Additions
these are additions that would make the encounter more interesting besides pure gameplay. there is barely any quality included throughout the Kraken encounter. your ship slows down and the music changes, but that's about all that makes the encounter more immersive. there needs to be more sound effects and just more going on around you to make the encounter much more interesting. for example, whenever you run into a storm; your visuals not clear, your ship is consistently flooding, your compass does not work, the helm turns on its own, the waves damage your hull, and every wave towers above your own ship.
my first suggestion is rock and tilt the ship more often during the encounter (or refer to a suggestion under "Additional Gamplay.")
my second suggestion is to either decrease the helms turning speed or have it turn on its own like in storms shortly after the encounter has started.
my third suggestion it to quickly drag players down underwater if they remain in the water for too long, then start sound effects of the players muffled screaming, a monstrous sound, a loud chomp, a gulp, then the player appears on the ferry.
my forth suggestion is to simply add a physical in-game reward for at least surviving the encounter, such as a shipwreck or platform suddenly appearing from the water, carrying a special chest or cosmetic reward. im confident that this is already on Rare's to-do list.
Additional Gameplay (future updates)
RARE said that the Kraken will evolve over time, meaning either more tentacle types or more ways that a kraken could attack your boat.
just going to make this clear again, add a head as the final stage in the future; if i may add a more detailed suggestion, Kraken could tip a boat over and reveal itself beside it.
my second suggestion is to add more ways the Kraken could attack.
- limbs that pierce the side of your hull and appear inside, blocking routes within the ship until damaged.
- limbs that pierce all the way through your ship and appear on the other side, blocking routes within a ship while also attacking players on deck.
- limbs that directly hit the side of your ship.
- limbs that spray water on your ship, filling the hull with water.
- limbs that appear after the first limb that wraps itself around your ship. the limbs could wrap themselves around each mast and bow, then the kraken quickly pulls your ship down when all limbs have a hold of your ship.
- a limb that grabs your mast and tilts or rocks your ship.
again, i like rares version of the kraken (limbs spawning just below the surface, the black water, and its current methods of attack), But yes, the Kraken does seem to be underdeveloped as well not being as aggressive as it should be and thus could use some quick fixes for now, then major updates later on.
to end this topic, i humbly ask RARE to share any news concerning the development of the Kraken.
