Make Hourglass Defense Worth It

The way it is right now seems fine to me seeing how easy it is to cheese it using merchant cargo voyages and how fast you can get loot at ghost forts.

No because then you have a pve method of increasing the faction. They should make so you can opt to decline your 20 min cooldown if you wish but I think the priority is invader vs invader so heavily that it may not make a difference.

You should always absolutely have to defend the loot for it to add any multiplier to your hourglass value.
Perhaps something like the higher your loot stash faction is the higher priority you have for being invaded would be interesting

Currently, the reason most people do not defend is because you can only be invaded once every twenty minutes.

and attacked at any given moment.
I defend because I have more control over where I battle and how I battle. See too many players complaining about hunting, they forget defend is way better.

Just had a thought... invading ships always spawn directly ahead of you...

Has anyone fired up HG, grabbed some treasure and sailed juuuust to the edge of the Red Sea?

Dastardly tactics aside; yes I think the faction treasure grade system bears a second look and a balance pass.

Only substantially increasing the reward given will make anyone really consider it, and I would actually be open to the treasure grade rewarding kill streaks, as some of the already PAINFULLY difficult cosmetic achievements require rediculous amounts of full streak bonuses to unlock... AFTER reaching 100

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

The way it is right now seems fine to me seeing how easy it is to cheese it using merchant cargo voyages and how fast you can get loot at ghost forts.

For the amount of time it takes to get loot from fortress to how little rank up it provides (1 bar fills from 1 fort, but the rep boost gain is insignificant), and how difficult the battles might end up becoming... well when you measure all the cons plus the possibility of loosing all that treasure and time to the 1 pros of the possibility of getting a bit more insignificant boost gain if you sink an opponent, and you compare the pros and cons, most people will come out of it thinking it's no where near worth it to defend.

Right. It takes huge amount of loot to reach treasure grade 5, and while the boost it provides to a succesfull defense isnt bad, it doesnt iffset that youll get far more rep diving over and over in that same timeframe, even if you lose

@red0demon0 said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

The way it is right now seems fine to me seeing how easy it is to cheese it using merchant cargo voyages and how fast you can get loot at ghost forts.

For the amount of time it takes to get loot from fortress to how little rank up it provides (1 bar fills from 1 fort, but the rep boost gain is insignificant), and how difficult the battles might end up becoming... well when you measure all the cons plus the possibility of loosing all that treasure and time to the 1 pros of the possibility of getting a bit more insignificant boost gain if you sink an opponent, and you compare the pros and cons, most people will come out of it thinking it's no where near worth it to defend.

Insignificant? At grade 5 its basically a full level with every win. Its not supposed to be a side thing to do that is as easy, its supposed to be entirely risk reward. So you may lose and the loot is gone, but thats because it gives quite a considerable boost.

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@red0demon0 said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

The way it is right now seems fine to me seeing how easy it is to cheese it using merchant cargo voyages and how fast you can get loot at ghost forts.

For the amount of time it takes to get loot from fortress to how little rank up it provides (1 bar fills from 1 fort, but the rep boost gain is insignificant), and how difficult the battles might end up becoming... well when you measure all the cons plus the possibility of loosing all that treasure and time to the 1 pros of the possibility of getting a bit more insignificant boost gain if you sink an opponent, and you compare the pros and cons, most people will come out of it thinking it's no where near worth it to defend.

Insignificant? At grade 5 its basically a full level with every win. Its not supposed to be a side thing to do that is as easy, its supposed to be entirely risk reward. So you may lose and the loot is gone, but thats because it gives quite a considerable boost.

[Mod edit]

You're right, it's not easy to go to 4- 5 different forts, collect that much treasure, then start a battle, and sink. By the time you reach the 3rd fort you have such. good stash of loot that unless your a sweat, more moist and damp than the armpits of Old salty pro athlete Bob Rush over here, you'd be an ignorant fool to not sell it. It is simply more valuable at that point to sell than to ever bother with the hourglass in the first place. Not to mention it's faster to destroy 4 ships and rank up than to go to 4-5 forts, fight ship, and rank up... maybe rank up, almost... rank up

Ahoy!

Let's remember to be polite when in the midst of debates with other pirates. Personal attacks and name-calling are not appropriate and will be moderated.

thank you!

Okay, so based on some of the replies here I will say this.

Defending in HG certainly needs a buff. The idea where the more loot someone has while defending makes them more of a priority for invasions is an interesting idea. Another idea would be an option which the player can toggle on or off how frequently they get invaded for faster matches.

@soulstinger2k20 I dunno, if you get and keep grade 5 it is pretty ridiculous bonus, not that I've done it but watched beardageddon on I think community day

@personalc0ffee said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

The way it is right now seems fine to me seeing how easy it is to cheese it using merchant cargo voyages and how fast you can get loot at ghost forts.

Oh?

Do tell

I always liked the idea of the defend. It was what I was looking for the most being able to get bored while voyaging and just pop the hourglass and continue on my voyage until invaded. Then everyone runs back to the ship and we sail out to meet our attacker.

It's really sad what's happening to it.

I tend to play about the same way for the most part, but merchant cargo does seem to count towards the glass grade when last i did hour glass. So what i would do is i would get a cargo run voyage, and just grab that loot as a starter to boost grade, but i havnt done hg in a little while so i hope its not been patched out.

But im sure you could stack cargo voyages and load the ship up quickly with it if it still works.

@personalc0ffee said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@personalc0ffee said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

The way it is right now seems fine to me seeing how easy it is to cheese it using merchant cargo voyages and how fast you can get loot at ghost forts.

Oh?

Do tell

I always liked the idea of the defend. It was what I was looking for the most being able to get bored while voyaging and just pop the hourglass and continue on my voyage until invaded. Then everyone runs back to the ship and we sail out to meet our attacker.

It's really sad what's happening to it.

I tend to play about the same way for the most part, but merchant cargo does seem to count towards the glass grade when last i did hour glass. So what i would do is i would get a cargo run voyage, and just grab that loot as a starter to boost grade, but i havnt done hg in a little while so i hope its not been patched out.

But im sure you could stack cargo voyages and load the ship up quickly with it if it still works.

Why not just do the lost shipment and then use the Grade V emissary cargo quests

That takes time and if im doing hour glass im looking to get into it the moment i log on, rather than grinding to prep for it.

Defense is the main way I'd like to play the HG. I really enjoy the chill PvE aspect of the game so I find myself mainly sailing around and either doing voyages or seeing what comes up organically. The idea of being able to integrate PvP faction leveling in with my normal playstyle was very appealing to me when season 8 was announced.

But HG defense definitely needs some attention and tuning to make the experience better. Some of the ideas in this thread have been quite interesting and I'd be excited to see Rare take a look at them.

@personalc0ffee said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@personalc0ffee said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@personalc0ffee said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

@goldsmen said in Make Hourglass Defense Worth It:

The way it is right now seems fine to me seeing how easy it is to cheese it using merchant cargo voyages and how fast you can get loot at ghost forts.

Oh?

Do tell

I always liked the idea of the defend. It was what I was looking for the most being able to get bored while voyaging and just pop the hourglass and continue on my voyage until invaded. Then everyone runs back to the ship and we sail out to meet our attacker.

It's really sad what's happening to it.

I tend to play about the same way for the most part, but merchant cargo does seem to count towards the glass grade when last i did hour glass. So what i would do is i would get a cargo run voyage, and just grab that loot as a starter to boost grade, but i havnt done hg in a little while so i hope its not been patched out.

But im sure you could stack cargo voyages and load the ship up quickly with it if it still works.

Why not just do the lost shipment and then use the Grade V emissary cargo quests

That takes time and if im doing hour glass im looking to get into it the moment i log on, rather than grinding to prep for it.

Isn't the point in defending to stack loot fast as possible and do the hour glass?

It is, but getting emissary 5 to get the emissary voyages seems like quite a long dedication, while just grabbing a pile of cargo voyages is already quick enough to stack with if you go that rout.

Personally i just use 1 cargo run as an immediate quick boost, then just do voyages as normal because for me its about the thrill of defending a stack rather than cheesing cargo voyages for quick grade.