I know this is beating a dead horse so to speak but I figure the more people make commentary on the subject it will garner more attention. I digress. I have been a fan and player for more than 3 years. I love having this great amazing new content and curses we all have been waiting for, especially the skeleton curse. But it is locked behind a wall of hours and hours of grind. That is if your not an active pvp player. Now I enjoy pvp as much as the next guy. But having something so coveted locked behind such a huge time sink is ridiculous. Ideally if you wanted to have a system like this I would have implemented the most wanted curses at allegaince 10 and you would progressively get more skeleton/ghost cosmetics. This takes care of 2 things at a time really. You get the curse that you want relatively fast. Then it will filter out cheaters, loss farmers etc because all those people will have what they want and they can go back to doing whatever they want to do. And leave serious pvp within the hourglass. Plus. At least for the servants of the flame I feel it's a little more lore friendly to be attacking people as skeletons from the get go. You can keep the reaper 75 as it isn't as difficult to get to. But overall serious grind reduction is needed. That is all.
Hourglass
love having this great amazing new content and curses we all have been waiting for, especially the skeleton curse. But it is locked behind a wall of hours and hours of grind.
Yes, they have been a requested item for many years. We now have a chance to "Earn" them by playing long term...you know..Long term..keep coming back...playing the same game...for years...Grinding
But having something so coveted locked behind such a huge time sink is ridiculous.
It does. BUT it necessary to be frank. Too many items are easy to get and once you have it, your "goal" in the game is dead and you have no purpose.
You get the curse that you want relatively fast. Then it will filter out cheaters, loss farmers etc because all those people will have what they want and they can go back to doing whatever they want to do.
Again, once you unlock the curse. What the % you ever do Hourglass again? Very small unless "your a pvp player"
Filters out sure, but soon..those cheaters will seek out other means. Outside Hourglass. Right now, from my experience that where they are all the time.But overall serious grind reduction is needed.
This game needs more Grind. Period.
Too many things are simply given to us, the only True grind which is more a rare chance than grinding is getting the title for fighting the Shrouded Ghost. But with these two curses behind a longer grind, it keeps players more often to login.No goal in video games means less players and no players, the game gets forgotten.
The grind if obviously too long, people have been saying that from the start.
10 on the other hand is the other extreme.
I could have seen it cut by 50%, but not now that others have sunk so much effort into it. Maybe in a couple of years.
Also the skeleton is pointless without clothing, seen one seen them all.
If it were me I would have brought the base curse down to 50 and added a lot of clothing up the levels.
At 1000 or maybe more, I would put the skeleton/phantom sloop.
@burnbacon "...This game needs more Grind. Period..."
I'll bet yer one of those pirates that launches hisself out a cannon at a cliff or volcano.
Coming from more of a casual side of playing and solo aswell. I find the hourglass mode just filled with people who are cracked at the game or hacking. At the end of the day it's just not fun to waste hours and hours of your day to have gained like 2 levels. I have heard the same arguments of just adapt and get better. And truth be told I have gotten better.
However, whether it be the fact that there is no skill based matchmaking or the lag, or hacking. It's not right to lock something like that behind something incredibly volatile and with ith what seems like no improvements or even feedback from the devs, since season 8.Even though the player count has dropped. I highly doubt that this game will ever be without players.
Everybody wanted these curses and it feels soft locked for people who can't devote that amount of time to earn the curses. The points you make are valid and I understand the perspective. I just disagree.
I sympathize with the players who want these awesome curses and can’t achieve them because they are locked behind PvP. Honestly, this is a sad attempt to get people to interact with other players.
Regrettably, the levels for the curses will never be reduced. As someone who has both curses and at 300+ in both factions I personally don’t care if the curse requirements are lowered but unfortunately there are individuals who don’t share my thoughts on the matter.
When the Arena was active, many people argued that 240 wins was too much to earn the pirate legend weapons. Rare reduced the amount of wins down to 100. Unfortunately, the individuals who already got 240 wins complained because their hard work was for nothing. Those who earned the curses will feel the same way.
If they were to nerf it the way (imo) is to add new high level cosmetics at the same time they drop the existing
with a cosmetic flood it's workable but only with a cosmetic flood for both casual players and very skilled players
casual player participation brings up morale/qol in the community and in the content
skilled player participation gives them something to do and the effects on the environment from skilled pvp participation in HG is significantly positive for risk/reward in overall adventure.
I dunno how much effort and focus they intend on putting into HG over the next few seasons but it'll likely only improve, even if slightly as long as game keeps doing well.
anyone that is frustrated over it or struggling with it just hold off on grinding it, play it casually for consistent but slow moving progress. Don't burn out on it and the game, give Rare some time to get around to it, qol will likely improve down the road with it.
Nothing significantly flawed about the foundation of HG which really just means it'll improve with more rewards added to it and whatever feedback they implement from the the community. Enough to maintain casual consistency? remains to be seen.
A system of high level cosmetics being reduced in requirement after x amount of time as new high level cosmetics are added could be sustainable.
@atcxachoo you enjoy pvp as much as the next guy, I'm guessing most of the guys next to you are alliance server players?
Honestly it's not that bad, yes a grind but that's what makes it an earned reward. I got it pretty easily and have helped my friends that don't pvp anywhere near as much do a large chunk of the grind
The hourglass grind is painfully long and could use a “rebalancing” like captaincy received.
Prerequisite: The following suggestion implies the xp requirement per level of allegiance would be the same from level 1 to infinity.
1st win: one-half of a level of allegiance earned per victory regardless of your current allegiance rank.
2nd win in a row: one whole level of allegiance earned.
3rd win in a row: one and a half levels of allegiance earned.
4+ wins in a row: two whole levels of allegiance earned.
Keep the allegiance bonuses for turning in flags and voting down the hourglass the same.
The hourglass treasure grade bonus system for defending your ship from invasions with treasure onboard could have the potential to multiply allegiance gains by 2 if you reach grade v.
Grade 1 - no multiplier
Grade 2 - 1.25x
Grade 3 - 1.5x
Grade 4 - 1.75x
Grade 5 - 2xThe hourglass treasure grade bonus multiplier affects the allegiance earned instantly after winning a battle AND the allegiance earned after turning in flags and voting to lower your hourglass.
So in summary, if you were on a 4+ streak and also had enough treasure on your ship to reach a grade v treasure hoard and then if you managed to defeat a crew in an hourglass battle you would earn a maximum of 4 levels of allegiance per victory.
So how many wins would it take to get to level 100 if you could win every battle and go on a long streak?
(0.5 + 1 + 1.5) + 2(x-3) = 100
3 + 2x - 6 = 100
2x - 3 = 100
2x = 103
x = 52 winsIf you happened to have a grade v hoard of treasure on board the entire time while streaking that 52 number could be halved to 26 wins in a row. The only thing is you have to wait longer for a battle when defending than when diving usually.
Just the other day it took me like 4-5 hours of playing to earn 4 levels of allegiance because towards the end of the journey to 100 the levels start to take several wins to level up.
Let’s not forget to mention allegiance gains for losing a battle while on a win streak.
Why not give crews who lose while on a win streak more allegiance than if they lost on a zero streak?
We want to encourage crews to go for 4 wins in a row and continue fighting even after that going for as long as a streak as possible.
One we that can be accomplished is by buff allegiance if you lose while on a streak. And of course loss farmers will not benefit from this because they aren’t ever on a win streak.
Loss on a zero streak: one-eighth of a level of allegiance earned regardless of your current allegiance rank.
Loss on a one streak: one-quarter of a level of allegiance earned.
Loss on a two streak: one-half of a level of allegiance earned.
Loss on a three streak: three-quarters of a level of allegiance earned.
Loss on a four plus streak: one whole level of allegiance earned.
Aside from giving us more allegiance per battle I also think hourglass could be made better by adding new modes to break up the monotony of fighting one crew vs one crew of equal size all the time.
Imagine four crews of equal size fighting to see who will be the last ship standing.
- 1st place gets two levels of allegiance.
- 2nd place gets one level of allegiance.
- 3rd place gets one-half of a level of allegiance.
- 4th place gets one-quarter of a level of allegiance.
Just get rid of the ability to vote to fight a larger crew in a 1v1 as almost nobody uses it.
I don't think the challenge is the grind, the challenge is the perception of the grind based on your opinion regarding PVP.
- If you don't want the curses, you care not about the grind.
- If you loathe PVP and want the curses, the grind is waaaaaaaaaaaay too long.
- If you tolerate PVP and want the curses, the grind is too long.
- If you enjoy PVP and want the curses, then the grind may feel long if you paid attention to your progression but chances are you've already played enough HG to have both curses.
Since the beginning, I have always believed two things: hourglass should absolutely have exclusive cosmetics for pirates to put on display when sailing the seas, and due to the high desirability and long standing request for these two curses, they should not have been that exclusive cosmetic. (IMO the reward should have been a ship cosmetic so your PVP status could be viewed from a distance in adventure mode, amplifying the sense of dread a pirate feels when they spot your ship. You need to be too close to your quarry for them to see a curse so at that point they just think, "oh this guy is cursed, yea ok I can just stop trying now.") The problem with hourglass since the very beginning is that the reward for participating in on-demand PVP has always and will always be more attractive to the wider SoT player base than on-demand PVP. @WolfManbush is sadly correct though, the only way to stuff that genie back into the bottle is to make an even more appealing reward for participating then making it easier to achieve level 100, but I don't believe such a cosmetic exists.
Thankfully, treating the symptoms is far easier than curing the disease: play during boosted weekends. I ground out the last 50 servant levels in an afternoon last community day, and I'm not a cracked PVP sweat for sure. I'm no loss farmer either, but the amount of allegiance you get during those days is insane. Again I have to agree with @WolfManbush: enjoy adventure more, only play HG on boosted weekends while listening to music or streaming a movie. This is my plan to get the last 20-odd levels of servant I want to get that 130 cosmetic I deem "reasonably achievable." Maybe after I get that I'll look at the next boosted weekend and feel that unlocking the next few tens of levels is worth my time.
Ultimately though, curing the disease simply won't happen. The player base en masse really doesn't want PVP on demand, so outside of boosted weekends HG will always suffer from low participation which will make SBMM feel broken. 🤷♂️
