Bounty hunter idea

  • princes lettuce
    Master
    Insider

    A lot of people use this forum to rant about other players sinking their ship and killing them. I myself am not a huge fan of PvP either, but it’s a part of the game so we’ll have to just live with it. I think people who don’t love PvP are often like me: they’re not good at it. They don’t have the time or dedication to properly learn the PvP mechanics, and it makes them feel frustrated. They get killed over and over again and feel helpless. However…

    I have a suggestion though, and wonder what you guys think of it:

    If player A is killed by another player (let’s call them player B), player A can talk to a tavern lady and pay some gold, any amount they choose(!). In exchange, the tavern lady hangs a 'wanted' poster on the wall of her tavern, including the face of the wanted pirate and the username of player B. Other players could come across this poster and ‘add’ it to their quest wheel. The bounty they could earn by killing player B would be the amount player A paid the tavern lady. The moment they kill player B, the money is added to their account and subtracted from the account of player A. Once player B has been killed, the quest is finished. This means that if several players pick up the wanted flyer, only the first person to get to (and kill) player B will be able to collect the bounty. It’s kind of like a race!

    I think it would make the game so much more interesting! I understand that PvP players might feel like they would constantly be witch-hunted, but I can imagine some might love the thrill of it. Besides, you won’t always get a bounty on your head, and if the bounty is too low nobody will bother.

    Another downside is that people who pick up the flyer might go on a rampage: attacking any ship they see. But… then again, they can get a bounty on their heads for that as well, which would keep the game going haha!

    What do you guys and girls think?

    Also: if you are in a crew (or even an alliance), do you think the whole crew (or alliance) should earn the bounty? I mean, killing another player is always kind of a team effort, but on the other hand the bounty is on one person and not on their entire crew. Any opinions?

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  • DarthMaxor1991
    Master
    Insider

    I think it's a pretty decent idea. There would need to be some fine tuning. Bounty would obviously disappear once the person has left the server. Person who paid the bounty would probably need to get their gold back. Be nice to have a radius tracker on the map so you have an idea where the bounty was last. Also maybe have a notification pop up for the person that becomes the bounty. So they know they have a price on their head. Overall I think it would be great!

  • princes lettuce
    Master
    Insider

    @darthmaxor1991 said in Bounty hunter idea:

    I think it's a pretty decent idea. There would need to be some fine tuning. Bounty would obviously disappear once the person has left the server. Person who paid the bounty would probably need to get their gold back. Be nice to have a radius tracker on the map so you have an idea where the bounty was last. Also maybe have a notification pop up for the person that becomes the bounty. So they know they have a price on their head. Overall I think it would be great!

    I agree with you, good thinking. About the tracker, maybe there could be some kind of... I don't know, a system like in the board game "Scotland Yard" where you get to see their position every so many turns. Maybe once per day at midnight?

  • Capt Niteshade
    Marauder

    Another good idea that just needs some fine tuning, well done

  • ViperishEmu2992
    Marauder

    Good idea!

    I think that you should be able to pay to put gold on any players head (game tag). When the "reward" gets high enough their poster is displayed in every tavern (whenever Server they are on).

    When you kill them a key drops that can be turned in for the reward.

    This would give players something to spend their gold on. And it would be fun for adventurous scoundrels to see how big they could get the reward on their heads before they finally got "taken down".

    Mechanics would need some work, but you have a fun idea.

  • A Double Deagle
    Marauder
    Insider

    Awesome Idea, but they should make it accessible from the tab menu and n0ot in a tavern so that people don't have to go to an outpost to find a bounty, I love the idea though!

  • ender enderson
    Ship Mate

    this is an awesome idea!

  • Tiferet X
    Master
    Insider

    Up! Nice feature.

  • Joe Krakatoa
    Commander
    Insider

    I think this is a broken idea. Any pirate can leave the server at any time.
    Bounty hunter target gone, but by what magic device are we notified of this?

    Since when does Rare provide incentives for hunting and killing another pirate?

  • m1sterpunch
    Master
    Insider

    This is a great idea, and has been mentioned before.

    There are a few caveats to it though.

    A few obstacles to overcome:

    • Leaving the server:
      I'm sure there's a way to have the bounty follow you to another server but how will the poster work? Will it be on the current server that the bounty player is on? Or will it be updated with the server that the player who placed the bounty is on? It would have the effect of the Bounty player having to leave the server to avoid the bounty so it would still achieve the "revenge" purpose.

    • Cheesing the bounty system:
      Scenario: A two sloop alliance forums (either a game alliance or just a handshake agreement). Sloop A places a bounty on Sloop B. Sloop B allows themselves to be sunk, Sloop A players both get reward. Sloop B then place a bounty on Sloop A.
      Lather. rinse. repeat.
      There has to be a way that friendly crews can't abuse the mechanics to farm bounty gold.

    I love this idea and it would be a great way to balance out aggressive players while also giving the PvP players what they want. It just needs some careful thought to implement. I hope it makes it into the insider build at some point because I'd love to see it in action.

  • princes lettuce
    Master
    Insider

    @m1sterpunch said in Bounty hunter idea:
    are a few caveats to it though.

    A few obstacles to overcome:

    • Leaving the server:
      I'm sure there's a way to have the bounty follow you to another server but how will the poster work? Will it be on the current server that the bounty player is on? Or will it be updated with the server that the player who placed the bounty is on? It would have the effect of the Bounty player having to leave the server to avoid the bounty so it would still achieve the "revenge" purpose.

    True, I hadn't thought of that. I don't know how to fix it to be honest, but I'm sure someone can come up with something good! The idea that they could go offline might add to the excitement of a 'race against time' for some?

    Maybe they could make the bounty stick through several gaming sessions. For example: let it last 1 hour in the game. If they log out after 15 minutes, the next time they log in the poster will appear in the taverns again and will be there for another 45 minutes.

    • Cheesing the bounty system:
      Scenario: A two sloop alliance forums (either a game alliance or just a handshake agreement). Sloop A places a bounty on Sloop B. Sloop B allows themselves to be sunk, Sloop A players both get reward. Sloop B then place a bounty on Sloop A.
      Lather. rinse. repeat.
      There has to be a way that friendly crews can't abuse the mechanics to farm bounty gold.

    Honestly, I doubt this will be a big issue. I mean, look at alliances. There's almost nothing to lose, you only gain, yet almost nobody wants to form them. It would be a problem if you could choose to be on the same server as your friend's ship, but that's not the case.

  • Stundorn
    Castaway
    Insider
    Founder

    can easily be exploited and turned into a griefing mechanic.

    what about salty PvPers who loose and put a bounty on the defender?

    What about people knowing each other and exploit it.
    Ship A is attacked by B,
    B puts bounty on A.
    C is A's friend, and gets the bounty while A accept to get killed by C.

    Many mre flaws if you think something like this through.

    What you want is not incentivizing PK playstyle, but this is something that needs a lot of finetuning as PK playstyle is not completely to be banned and somewhat essential to the game.

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