Discussion on Bilge Rat letter Rep

  • @pumpkinkangaroo you're right. Sadly we got s little off topic there when I replied to the other guy.

    With regards to your post I would have to say that I think the full level increase has caused a lot LESS traffic on this here forum than it previously did with the tiny marginal gains.
    Being able to buy as many as you can with Doubloons is your choice, missing cosmetics if thay is your wish.
    As someone else said, there are repetitive elements here so I will include a response I have written 4 times now:

    1 - 50 with a full level increase still takes 100 weeks
    40 - 50 with a full level increase still takes 20 weeks

    The game is not 20 weeks old yet... therefore a full level is fine if that's how people choose to level and play. It is still by Rare's rules and does not include anything other than a different bit of work than the normal quests.
    If a player boosts from 45 to 50 in a faction then so what? They still did a bloody good job grinding to that point in the first place.

    Keep 'em, keep 'em as they are, #bemorepirate

  • Thank you all for the great responses!

    What I'm reading most is that people are OK with how it is now. Some wouldn't mind a few tweaks but the idea is settling with most pirates. I don't do the other media forms Rare uses so I don't know if the pirates over there are feeling the same, but if so I think Rare will just leave things as they are.

    Thank you all for keeping the discussion civil and mostly on track.

  • @pumpkinkangaroo
    I'll make a final note before I get sucked into the slightly off topic side of things again haha~I apologize for any roll I had in derailing.

    The old way is- taking in game currency to buy voyages to gain rep.
    The new way is- go on a 'voyage' gain in game currency to buy rep.

    In the grand scheme of it all it's the same thing just different order of components. The decision comes down to numbers which is always a trial and error, test and retest routine. Just to reiterate, personally if this current set up doesn't work I would rather see the price change versus the amount gained. One whole level is just cleaner visually and easier to calculate out if you plan on purchasing multiples over time.

    Overall though no matter which element they adjust(if any at all) it once again becomes a balancing act. A common theme with this games development it seems. If the cost doesn't reflect the amount gained or vice versa then it will either be unfair or entirely pointless to use.

    To peak slightly off specific topic(but I feel it is connected) the underlying issue becomes the value of what you are actually buying towards: Pirate Legend. Without knowing the actual value of the status I don't know if we as a community can ever decide what the fair price is for these letters nor what is an acceptable amount of rep to be gained. It will always be based on one's personal interpretation.

    But that said. Your discussion here has done the best we can with what information we have. Good topic, good discussions. I'll be curious what becomes of the rep letters as Rare gathers more feedback.

  • @john-hatter I love how clearly you state things!

  • @pumpkinkangaroo
    It comes from a desire not to rile up either side of an issue haha~ Can't hate me if I'm on all sides and I've yet to get heat for it!

  • @pumpkinkangaroo I think that the rep should be fair to a level 49 player and a level 1 player. the cost is the same for each which is very unfair, cutting out many hours of grind for the 49 player, but only a little for the 1 player, and they cost the same, so they should give the same amount for everyone

  • @sshteeve but that is with mere hours of work, instead of the long grinds legends went through before the letters

  • @chidskid22 what about the 2 week wait between new events and possible doubloons earns? Surely that has to be taken into account as well. In real terms 3 levels may take 2 weeks and x hours.

  • @chidskid22 My thoughts on this may not match other's but I think it is fair. We all know there are 50 levels and we make the choice as to when or if to purchase a letter. Before they set it to a full level there was confusion as to how much rep was actually received. This way, you know what you are getting.

  • @pumpkinkangaroo then add a visual slider to show you how much rep you get for how many doubloons

  • @Sshteeve you may take 3 hours to get the 3 levels every two weeks, or play for 3 hours every day for 2 weeks to get the same levels

  • The cost of letters needs to scale with progression. 30 for one at level 10 and 30 for one at level 49 is a little off.

    Right now 20 coins equals 10k. Another 10 coins for 2.5k... So 30 coins equals 12.5k

    So each level to rare is worth 12.5k in gold. .miggt as well let you buy your way with straight gold then or atleast make them more valuable than as they stand. Personally at higher levels they should cost 40-50 per letter so you actually have to choose between buying the weekly items or skipping them for rep. The items were so cheap this event you could buy them all plus three levels. Doesnt seem like thats very valuable as therr is no sacrifice being made one way or the other. The other part they could change would be limiting it to one letter per event, then the current price point would be ok. My humble thoughts

  • @chidskid22 A slider could be implemented I'm sure.

    @Shuoink I've seen it mentioned that allowing only one letter per faction per event is acceptable to more people. I think this might be the easiest way for Rare to appease some of those who are unhappy. I don't know coding but it seems to me that it would be easier to code one letter per event over a sliding scale in price.

    I'm glad we are getting more points of view!

  • @pumpkinkangaroo rare should not be so lazy that they just do whatever is easiest. the slider option lets players still grind for levels, using as many doubloons and as many levels they want to buy, instead of being forced to only get one per event

  • @chidskid22 I just made a statement and I don't consider Rare lazy. I think they have done an amazing job and continue to do so. For my thinking, there doesn't seem to be as much uproar over the one level as there was before so that will impact how or if they do anything.

    My comments are just that, mine. I don't in any way speak for Rare. Please don't condemn them for some silly thought that slips out of my head.

  • @pumpkinkangaroo im not trying to be negetive, Im just saying that they wont be lazy

  • Clearly, the change in the value between what a Bilge Rat letter of recommendation was worth, between 'thrones and 'splosives, was in response to the quite reasonable complaint from the Nearly-Legends that the letters earned them b****r-all progress the old way.

    But let's do the maths. (And, yes, you Yanks - "maths" is a plural!)

    As I understand it, as in many games, Experience Points (XP) earn you progress through the ranks in a diminishing (inverse logarithmic?) fashion. Here is a chart showing Rank (on the Y axis) plotted against total earned XP (on the X axis), for any given faction. The numbers on the X axis, and precise shape of the curve is a guess, but it gives the idea. For the purposes of this argument, I am assuming that 1 million XP (or Gold???) gets you to Level 50; but you only need half that to get to Level 40.

    alt text

    Now, under Skelly Thrones, a letter of recommendation gave you progress along the X axis: Maybe something like 10,000 XP. At Level 1, this might bump you straight up to Level 5. In the 20's it would bump you around 1 level. But once you were above 40, it did not help much at all. This was the complaint of those close to Legend status.

    With Explosive Skellies, a letter of recommendation now shifts you up the, Y axis, one level. At low levels, this is worth in the order of 1000 XP, at mid levels its the same 10,000 XP you got under Skelly Thrones, but in the high 40s, its worth closer to 100K XP!

    In fairness, I do wonder if the balance has been shifted too far in favour of the high achievers, with this change. Now, any sensible pirate with doubloons to spend on letters of recommendation will hold on to them, until their levels are in the 40s.

    Perhaps the best approach would be a hybrid one. A letter of recommendation could progress you with a combination of both absolute Rank and XP. For example, it could be ½ Rank + 5,000 XP. This would still give the Nearly-Legends an appreciable boost, without severely disadvantaging those who choose (perhaps in ignorance) to spend their doubloons at much lower levels.

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