#Remove/Change Impossible Port Attack Windows based on Server

108 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

proven totem
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This is a long term problem for now, please do something about it. The situation is the following:

On the EU server, there are numerous ports conquered by one faction that have Attack Windows so early for EU players it is literally impossible to fight or even contest. I understand that non-EU players playing on this server, but still: timers on an EU server should be according to EU timezones, same for NA, RU etc.

Players can always choose to play on whatever server, but the minority should not be able to take away content from the majority.

My suggestion would be to remove Attack Window options that are outside of server prime time. Since most people work 9-5 jobs, anything in that range should be a no go.

See attached images

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This is just 7 out of 11 ports Espaniol is currently holding on the EU server. Timezone is GMT+1

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Remove/Change Impossible Port Attack Windows based on Server

mighty wave
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Yes, this timer really needs to be changed on EU1. I totally agree.

bleak radish
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Do something to let us play and have access to the content we are looking for, these timers just block european players for the port battles

burnt trail
fallen lake
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Please devs, we want so spend much money on this game, but the delay into solving this kind of problems scares us from spend our yua... much euros on it.

coral totem
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Maybe randomize Attack Windows every day

bleak radish
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No, we are based on Europe so these should be european attack windows, after our working hours

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These new timers put by Spain are just made to block us, this is non-sense, and unfair

quartz turtle
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The Spanish faction is simply killing the game with their actions

faint dune
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Totally agree with those timers they putting them that way because no one is pretty much on

fallen lake
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Devs could limit it to eu servertime and fix it quick with some code

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But those players spend a lot of... "not euros, neither dolars" on the game, so...

visual lantern
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Current attack windows are a failure. Please take action and revise them.
This is a European server, and the schedule should be tailored to European players, not other regions.

stark cairn
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Yes, this. We also have this problem in NA. I’m not fighting a port battle that starts at 3am.

viscid birch
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I totally agree! It's a huge problem on EU server, almost every Spanish port has impossible to attack windows, it's too early for Europe to fight on Chinese prime time hours. Each server should prioritize the respective time zones

fallen lake
swift crane
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One would think that if the windows are really the problem, you would still see battles over these ports during the weekend, but they don't, even during the weekend, they are very rare and, for a few ports, it seems better to have them happen over the weekend, especially the one that requires 40 players (i know that there is one happening today, on a Monday, but still).
I haven't seen Oneg, Charleston, Bridgetown or Aruba or Laguna being attacked in over 1, maybe even 2 months now. (playing on EU1)

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Pretty sure that San Cristobel and Devios have also just been sitting, tension battles at most (if anything at all)

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As long as the game doesn't have proper server distribution, i believe the better solution would be to get rid of protection and make port battles weekly (either Saturday or Sunday, maybe leaving both days available for the defending guild to select earlier in the week).
Also, what would be the suggested window to be locked? (most threads i've seen made no mention of a proposed window, they simply stated that it had to be changed/locked)

slim drift
swift crane
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With "Server distribution" i meant only that it currently doesn't have servers for some regions that have a decent amount of players

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And this is not specific to the EU server, this is a game situation/state, the fact is, that not all players of any given server are of that region, some by choice, but mostly because they don't have one of their own

patent beacon
slim drift
swift crane
slim drift
patent beacon
swift crane
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You are both making the fight unavoidable and also guaranteeing that anyone who wants to play, can do so

swift crane
slim drift
patent beacon
swift crane
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You could also add some flavour to tension, debuffs linked to the port battle depending on how the city was managed/attacked over the week

swift crane
swift crane
bleak radish
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We want to play port battles the same way it was possible at the beginning of the game in october, not being blocked by player who abuse of the timer and refuse to fight during european prime time. Tolerating this kind of behaviors is just leading to less and less players on european side

minor sage
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yes this is a huge problem what is making a lot of EU players to quit the game and the DEV's should be on this fast to change it. it can not be that there port is open under the week open and on the weekend when many EU players are able to attack the set there protection. we tryed to talk to them but there only answear is get jobless and attack to there timer

quartz turtle
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@random knot @open dagger @hollow hazel

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Maybe one of you can answer the community's questions that are troubling us?

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@jagged skiff

narrow marlin
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On one hand I think it kind of sucks to so heavily restrict people on when they are allowed to engage in the game's mechanics. For example, what about people working the night shift who may have more time in the morning or contractors who may have more free time on weekdays?

On the other hand, this is definitely an issue and is being deliberately misused. On NA1, there have been times when guilds have taken a port, then set the timer to the early hours of the morning specifically to avoid being attacked. Often, the guilds doing this aren't even active during those hours, but they know how slim the odds are that people will show up en masse at 4AM so they gamble on it and the game rewards them for doing so.

There's also the issue of players being on servers in regions they're not actually based in, which allows them to nearly guarantee that they won't lose a port taken at the start of the season.

Obviously, this isn't necessarily the fault of the players. The lack of an Asia server right now forces people to jump to EU or NA despite having very different active times. However, the way the port battle mechanics currently work means that people doing this would be incentivized to remain on the non-local servers and continue using timezones to gain an advantage even if local servers are initiated. Why hop from the RU server to NA or EU to Asia if the difference in time zones gives you a competitive advantage that would not exist on your local server?

I think the simplest solution is to impose harsher limits on the options for port battle window settings based on the local time of the given server.

drowsy pendant
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Transfers will hopefully partially fix this

narrow marlin
leaden garden
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this has to be on top of the priority list before its to late!

minor sage
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the chinese guilds that are the problem at this moment mentionated allready that they will stay because it is a good life for them on the EU server

drowsy pendant
swift crane
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They are, i play from a bit further away too and it is shit

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Not very much the ping, but the connection is unstable, i get disconnected quite a bit

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All while my connection is completely normal

solar yoke
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This is so game breakingly ridiculous, half the map untouchable and out of play really is a joke. I'm an Aussie and even I accept that port battles are 2 to 3am for me on the EU server, my choice to play that server so its my choice to accept the times that work for Europeans. I've played 6 months and have seen the Spanish for tension and pb's maybe once, would love to have the whole WOSB experience and fight for southern ports.

narrow marlin
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Yep that's why I'm not a big fan of trying to region-lock people to particular servers via MAC or IP. If your buddies are in a different country that shouldn't prevent you from playing with them if you're willing to work around the time zone difference

visual lantern
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The situation looks critical. There are a number of vulnerabilities in the game, while clear balancing mechanisms are absent. In such conditions, any weakness that is found immediately begins to be actively exploited by players. One of the key problems is the attack windows set to the Asian region.
Since the very beginning of the season, because of this, at least 5 ports have effectively become inaccessible. Players understand the problem and are trying to fight it, but this is practically impossible when the attack times coincide with the working hours of the European audience — people are either at work or just returning home.
As a result, a significant part of the content for European players ends up being blocked. A logical question arises: who is this content for, if it is unavailable on the European server for European players?
At the same time, the situation is worsened by the fact that defenses are deliberately set for weekends (Saturday and Sunday) — essentially the only time when European players can gather and try to fight for cities. This does not look like a coincidence, but rather like a deliberate use of the mechanics to their advantage.

solemn viper
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why so complicated... @hollow hazel is there anything planned to fix that issue with Portbattle timers atm? Do the Devs have noticed the Problem and will help the Europeans out of that Situation? Ignoring cant be the fix right?

hollow hazel
solemn viper
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well, wont make us happy i guess ... but at least an answer

fallen lake
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Q1

worn badger
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Soon... same answer as always while the playerbase deteriorates rapidly.

fallen lake
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But the ones causing the issue are paying money for peace farming on pvp circle so...

merry verge
# hollow hazel There are plans to improve the PB systems; they’re currently in development, but...

Not only the system, but the balance between Attack and Defense needs revamping.

Even if you address the current way people are exploiting the system to prevent PBs, you have to address why people want to avoid PBs in the first place.

One of the reasons so many guilds are blocking PBs is because Defending a port in the current meta is difficult.

This is especially the case against Pirates, since they don't have the 50% requirement to get allies into the battle when attacking, they can always fill the PB with their best players from the entire faction.

solemn viper
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Pirates? 😄 it feels like thousands of spains blocking their portbattles for no reason 😄 cause if u get into pb u had to fight a the creme de la creme ... right? ^^ At leas against 50% of them, because the defending Guild has to bring the other 50% xD ... i dont wanna blame you here mate, but Spain does playing the block mechanic like nobody else! Preventing with bad timers for EU and if u get into pb, just the best of all guilds will show up, if u manage to claim one, u will get attacked open world by all spains and then full creme dela creme team will go in... like Westbastion last time... xD just saying, 1 VIP rest everything else just to beat EVL 😄

merry verge
# solemn viper Pirates? 😄 it feels like thousands of spains blocking their portbattles for no ...

First of all, not on EU. The exact specifics of current faction balance don't matter. What matters is the root cause.

The current root cause is that it is far easier to protect your ports by just denying the PB in the first place than take the risk of fighting a PB.

If you want to fix the PB system, you can't have one faction with an advantage over others.

Currently attackers in PB are in an advantageous position with game balance and Pirates have the bonus of mechanics advantage as well.

Meanwhile, in tension battles, it is the defenders who are in the advantageous position. They can feed the PB to a friendly guild, use trade guilds to block etc etc.

In any RvR game, when attacking has an advantage over defending, it will always devolve into defenders exploiting everything they can to deny attackers. It is the nature of wanting to keep what you have.

Most people are not fighting the way they are fighting because they like it. They are doing it puts them into an advantaged position instead of disadvantaged.

slim drift
# merry verge First of all, not on EU. The exact specifics of current faction balance don't ma...

Correct.

  • Remove reputation penality for sinking neutral guild inside tension area;
  • Limit attack windows based on server's region;
  • Set minimum 50% of attacking squad composed by the attacking guild (as it's current set for defending squad);
  • Make patrol ships unattackable to the faction owner of the port.

Problem solved. I remember we should play this game to... play! not to avoid playing.

EDIT: tbh tension defence is viable only if you have a major zerg. The bigger zerg always win. That's why the attacking windows of a specific faction are set on Asian time instead on European one

worn badger
slim drift
quartz turtle
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@hollow hazel We Europeans are interested in whether the developers will do anything about the attack window time on the European server, or will the abuse mechanics and game-killing continue?

slim drift
# hollow hazel There are plans to improve the PB systems; they’re currently in development, but...

Reputation abusing and port battles set in asian timer are killing the activities right now. Pls try to fix it as soon as possibile.

Just set a limit: PB should begin from <t:1777395600:t> and end at <t:1777330800:t>, it's a 6 hour windows and EU Prime time. (pls comment if you think it's too late or too early)

I love you are working on improving Port Battles system, but that's a long plan, we need a fix right now.

warped hatch
viral wave
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Love the one from TexSrb, i think being able to buy protection during the week is cool but bring the chaos at the weekend. It will keep players active (seriously). Military factions (I am in one) will also have to plan more and it will introduce a different dynamic entirely. Even if we do this for one season, just to try it.

proven totem
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Bump

upbeat hound
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Only 50% of the attacking or defending guild? That seems very low to me. I think 75% would be fine. If you don't have enough people, then you don't deserve to have the port, it's that simple. My guild always tries to field 100% of its members. If there's only room for one or two, then we seek support from allies. Enough with the abuse on the EU1 server; the server is dying.

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Months ago, the action was daily; it was exciting to see the ports changing hands. Now, it's all become a fight between the same old players, preventing new people from participating. It's always the same people winning ports, and that's what's preventing access to the content, in addition to the abuse of attack windows.

fallen lake
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Normal people wants 75%

slim drift
tacit holly
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Defense is different

merry verge
tacit holly
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By requirements is a loose word in use there because if I recall right its one person from tensioning guild and the rest can be trusted guilds

tacit holly
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I run BIG and this is news to me

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But its not impossible as both mil factions and pirates can do that

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The 50% requirement is for defense

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And that's for mil faction only

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Pirates need 100% for their defense PBs

proven totem
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Same for SIN

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Infamous situation on EU is when NEB (espaniol) carried a chinese guild at Oneg (10v10, with 9 from NEB). Chinese have been holding that port ever since, 2pm EU timer

fallen lake
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Practically most of espaniol ports has been carried by NEB, even those dead spaniol guilds who owns ports lol

slim drift
drowsy pendant
proven totem
long narwhal
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Bucket laughs

proven totem
glad plover
vestal knot
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Will be better maybe in 3 months

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maybe 11-13

faint dune
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Devs will never understand is like talking to ghosts

proven totem
mortal tapir
faint dune
plush moat
shut rapids
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well we have now 5 ports with asian time in EU and no content

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kinda funny

echo cipher
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ye might aswell sstop playin, no content no fun

slim drift