Hourglass has always had a matchmaking problem because not enough people play unless the XP gain is being boosted by Gold and Glory weekends. Simple solution is to boost activity by boosting XP gain every week on HG only, maybe on varying days or whatever. XP gain is so glacial when it's not being boosted, it feels like a massive slog to get to level 100 anyway, let alone 1000. Maybe some more people will go for the gold curses with more regular boosts as well.
Boost Hourglass XP Every Weekend
@BurnBacon To give everyone opportunity to enjoy boosts, they can vary the days from weekend days to weekdays
should just do it like gold rush imo
2 hours a day at specific times. 1 hour at one time and 1 hour at another.
Hg has high burnout and it's just not much fun for a lot of people
but a fight here or there per day or a few times a week is entirely manageable for most players.
Should avoid the "grind hg" meta and focus on incentivizing healthy casual participation so that people don't burn out and so they aren't extreme grinding content they don't like, which directly negatively impacts other participants.
@wolfmanbush This is how i play, i start my sessions with a couple HG games and then go on doing other stuff. However if it's just an hour or two per day, it's very easy to miss and can result in just one HG game being boosted, or none. For example i'm never aware that gold rush is on, if i'm even playing that exact hour. A middle ground can certainly exist where it's boosted not as often as gold rush, but for 4-5 hours at a time.
Best double-XP idea I've seen is a purchaseable voucher from Larinna. Similar to letters of recommendation.
Make them cost some high amount of doubloons; allow for multiple purchases (3?) at once (only 1 used at a time); and make the purchase cooldown something reasonable, like once a week.
Double-xp weekends are good, especially when they extend to 3-4 days (...as they usually do, Bacon 🤦♂️). But if they are every weekend, they might hog all the activity and leave weekdays with dead queues.
If folks could buy these vouchers, they'd be more likely to participate in HG, with additional flexibility, which may increase activity throughout the whole week rather than just the weekend.
@theblackbellamy Locking boosts behind doubloons will screw over new players who have few or none. But you're right in that the boosts need spreading out to avoid dead zones.
@hefty-henri said in Boost Hourglass XP Every Weekend:
@wolfmanbush This is how i play, i start my sessions with a couple HG games and then go on doing other stuff. However if it's just an hour or two per day, it's very easy to miss and can result in just one HG game being boosted, or none. For example i'm never aware that gold rush is on, if i'm even playing that exact hour. A middle ground can certainly exist where it's boosted not as often as gold rush, but for 4-5 hours at a time.
every day offers the opportunity for a healthy balance between life/game and random adventure/hg
a big issue with HG is that people can't stand hg but are grinding it for rewards in a way that is keeping them from enjoying other parts of the game and other games and other activities.
Someone can say "eh, not a good day today but I'll get it tomorrow" as opposed to getting frustrated during the non-bonus times and stressed out during the bonus weekends.
Hg is one of the few pieces of content that rewards losing. It's not harsh content it's just time consuming content that people make harsh by approaching it in a way that feels like it's punishing, it's not punishing because it rewards losing.
Whenever I do anything that is difficult/challenging/time consuming my priority is sustainable maintenance. If I burn out I won't get it done, if I focus on a bunch of stuff I don't need to be focusing on I won't get it done, if I do it in a way that makes me miserable or those around me miserable then it's not worth doing. One step at a time, one moment at a time. Consistently and with regular maintenance.
There is no grind in a video game that is worth sacrificing joy, peace of mind, good vibes, for.
That largely is what the success of gold rush has been, people can skip the gold and glory events and community events if they need/want to. It opens up the chance for people to do a little bit every day without as much stress about it.
@wolfmanbush Sure, and having it work like gold rush is already better than the way it works now. Personally i've only ever managed to participate in 1 gold and glory weekend in the 2 years i've played, because if i'm focussed on a couple of other games or am not home at all, i'm just not playing SoT. So to have more opportunities for HG boosts at all would be welcome.
@hefty-henri I'm against the idea. If that happens, everyone will have the golden curse and no one will know how to play. Then the golden curse will lose its meaning.
@ixxxoloff By playing hundreds of hours, sure. Some people don't have time to put that many hours into a game on a weekly basis
I'm for n against it in the same time. Aye, Double Renown n Gold for fighting in Hourglass is amaizing n a great way to encourage New n Seasoned Pirates to participate in such activity. However, I think, the whole idea of attracting Pirates with extra Renown n Gold is not the Best. 'Ere always will be a desire for more n thats not what we aiming for.
@burnbacon because there is one day of the week where nobody works? for the majority this will work best, the same argument for "So those of us who work on community day will miss out" this is a complete invalid point as it can be applied to any in game event.
@belphegor1384 said in Boost Hourglass XP Every Weekend:
why not just add an emissary ledger system like the other companies? it gives us a reason to grind and an opportunity to add more skeleton cosmetics more often.
as for gif new weapons and ship cosmetics would be in their ledgerIf they were to do that I wouldn't have it set up for emissary value I'd just set it up for matches completed.
Ledgers as far as values goes just show who is cheesing and who is playing to the extremes, doesn't really serve the overall community.
A lot of people already feel like they can't compete, throwing those numbers at them and telling them to climb really is just another thing that will discourage casual players and people are aren't at the top of pvp.
Meh. Making HG queues peak and dip is not how I'd prefer they boost the engagement.
I'd rather see them enhance the rewards such that it encourages participation all the time. I've made this suggestion before, so I'll copy and paste it here:
I think they could do daily deeds that boost faction progression as well as weekly/monthly/seasonal trials that boost faction progression...similar to how the deeds/trials work to boost seasonal renown
Daily deeds could be something relatively simple and give the equivalent boost of about one win's worth of faction leveling. This would give those casual players that are doing a lot more losing than winning the feeling of progression as they put effort into battles. Here's some quick ideas...
- Participate in 3 faction battles
- Hit opposing ships with cannonballs (x20)
- Send an opponent to the Ferry of the Damned
- Take down the mast of an opposing ship
- Repair your ship during battle (x10)
- Bucket water during battle (x10)
- Play a shanty as your ship sinks
- Have a seat as your ship sinks
- Take a trip to the Ferry of the Damned (x5)
That's just a start...There's a million different things they could do to make it fun and make it so that the casual players can feel accomplished after a session of effort in faction battles.
Weekly/Monthly/Seasonal trials could be more challenging and/or combine a lot of the daily deeds ideas and provide ~1-2 wins worth of faction leveling.
@wolfmanbush fair enough, speaking as one of those players who’s half way decent, I can understand that
@ixxxoloff Doubt it. Most players detest the hourglass mode, and just want to hit their base 100 curses, and unlock a few of the customizations.
@sweetsandman This is a great idea and i just posted something similar above, daily/weekly quests that give people a nice chunk of XP. To encourage short daily HG sessions, and accumulative sessions to complete weekly/monthly stuff. No leaderboards, just personal rewards.
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