Melemkor - will we have the merchant ships or not?
(the ones who cannot attack, and cannot be attacked, and cannot
earn any bonuses etc). Yes or no. Please.

~/A

With all due respect: that is so full of s***.
Why does everything in this game have to do with pvp?

You forget, that pvp rules do not apply to ship combat. You don't
die when somebody shoots you down. You lose time, money and interest
on this game as you need to gather your belongings from the bottom
of the ocean and buff up again.

Why does a 15-20M ship that you've spent so much time and effort
have to be a target of one players ridicule so easily?

You really should step into a mortals boots for awhile, and for
example gather that 20M of money and decent gear without
just typing eval find_player("me")-add_money(20M);
Then wait for months for somebody to finish the ship, and
then go out sailing, just to get shot down and be ruined
of your game for the next hour and a half just because some
dude with even more time than you decided you're toast.
And what can you do about it? NOTHING.


Again, with respect - you're not thinking straight here.
You think sitting there above the clouds you can make a fair
judgement on this issue. Think again.
95% of the players I've talked about this (Ulver didn't seem to
agree with this, but he shouldn't count) say that they
would be prepared to buy a large ship and do more for the game
if there weren't the pirates.

I'm going to point for the oompteenth time to the best example
in existence: World of Warcraft. That game has the _perfect_
setup for pvp. It has servers for pve-players that can be
undisturbed if please, but can get loads of pvp action with
one push of a button (enable pvp) when you become a sitting
duck. Or just rush to the opposing factions city and fight
your heart out. I call that you give us the same here.

If one wants to be left alone and experience the game without
childish harrasment, one could do so.

Stop living in 1998 and smell the present day.

Acidia, you could not be more wrong.

To put it most simply, ships are a feature, not a requirement. They make life
easier yes, but they do cost time, effort, and in some cases aggravation. If
you want a pve experience, use the ferries, navigators, and/or wanderers.
There are plenty of ways to not interact in a pvp atmosphere and still move
around. So, consider ships an incentive to participate in a pvp environment.

But, Mel, I would love some benefit for running actual trade routes...even if
they are stupid little mnavy-only, nun-like tasks, it would be much
appreciated.

Han.

Yes, you guess why they are so rare? Because nobody is stupid enough to stick
around with their ship in a vulnerable area. The first time I got my ship out
I got sunk within 5 minutes. My point being exactly what youre referring - no
sinkings, because there are no ships floating around. They just rush like hell
from port to port. What's the friggin fun in that? I want to take my ship,
float around arelium, pick up passengers, transport them around and all that
jazz without being afraid all the time some jerk comes and shoots me down.
It's enough to spam pursue to catch another ship if you're spent enouhg
dough for the enhancements. "I'm sorry passangers. Some highbie is going to
fuck us in the ass in 20 seconds, please bail out."

And please understand I'm not talking about players chasing eachother
around the world, and how difficult it is to sink another ship. I'm talking
about letting ships roam free in the world. What's the goddamn harm in that.

Puuh!

~/A

Let them do the PVP there. That's why there are pve-servers
for people who are not determined to kick the living crap out
of eachother every single goddamn change they get.

And you are missing my point also. For fucks sake please
read this again, and please do understand it:

SHIP PVP IS NOT PLAYER KILLING SINCE THE PLAYER DOES NOT
DIE, HENCE THE GODDAMN RULES DO NOT APPLY.

Did you read that and understand? Thank you.

This is an oxymoron, you can fuck around with another player,
ruins his game for the next hour without any consequences.
That is PVP but since the rules do not apply there, its not restricted.

I'm asking a change in there. If you restrict ganking player
ships as you do killing players, I'll be more than happy to
park my goddamn boat infront of arelium and let every
pirate shoot the fucking crap out of it so that I'm immune
for the next month.

Thank you for understanding the difference here.

~/A

Cling to the old school if you will. I still want to point out that
forced pvp is a bit lame. And people who do it well, know
where to hit and how. Players getting on their way pay the price
without any means of defending themselves. This includes ships.
I can only distress so much how a sinking ship just before boot
feels like.

Would you atleast consider these:
1) A module for a ship that when being attacked, shields the
ship on command and roots it to its place for ~10 mins or so.
Works once per hour. This module also slows down the ships
normal maneuvering and perhaps something else.

2) Enlarge the area of non-combat around shipyards and piers.

3) Ship module that cloaks your ship permanently/once per
hour giving it a better chance to flee.

4) Lessen the time for a ship to sink dramatically, so that
it doesn't take ages to recover it. Or again a module that
could scuttle the ship really fast forcing the pirate act
quickly if he wants to loot the ships cargo holds.

Or something along those lines. It's just so utterly
frustrating to be in the mercy of 24/7 players who have
it all, and can make a ridicule out of anyone, making
them think twice if they want to continue playing.
(And no, I'm not quitting).