lets be honest, the dark sea is a important update, love it or hate it, it had to happen, but it haves several problems, i dont think i ever went into the dark sea and had fun and i believe my reasons are good
water poisoning
water poisoning
water poisoning has a lot of problems, the feature itself is bad, it’s unfun and it’s pure RNG, now RNG stuff can be fine, maybe even fun, if done correctly
- the way to counter it is to wash or hide under something, which is annoying bc it can happen anywhere, anytime, it can happen in fight, on a massive island, on a brig, water poisoning doesnt discrimate, and it’s bad
if ur on a big island then u better be close to ur brig or be close to a structure, but if ur not near any, u can break a wall, ignoring the fact that some people just can’t or have to struggle, but then u have the realization that u can’t, the only time terrain destruction is useful and not just an annoying feature that should be removed, it doesnt work, so now you have to rush to ur brig, hopefully making in time, or start preparing every swear word you want to say
- it’s pure RNG, in some runs, u don’t get it at all and sometimes, ur curse with it, the fact that every time you take unavoidable DMG is annoying, its unfun, suddenly i have to run back to my ship bc of water poisoning when i could do better stuff like looting the island
there is always that one person washing more in-game than they would ever wash irl and then there is their team mates that didnt touch the shower since the start of the run, suddenly taking DMG which req a specific way to counter it isn’t a fun game mechanic, u did nothing wrong and yet u take dmg, imagine fighting something and even if u dodge their attacks, u still take random damage from nothing, its not fun, so why water poisoning is like this
my idea on how to fix it
remove it, straight up remove it, but i have a feeling that even if vetex sees this, that he wont do that unless we sacrifice the most liked forumers to him (sorry bio or randomness), however i have a different fix idea, which is a completle rework, now i assume vetex is aware of how many scraps and re-scraps and overhaul and remakes game designs take, and yes, ik it takes time, but honestly it is worth it to delay game to overhaul and remake different stuff from a game so its more enjoyable? yes
- Water poisoning dmg nerf
- now just like in the normal seas, there is rain, more specifically, magic rain, each one will deal a different effect, once ur out of it, the effect will start to end after x amount of minutes (and ofc, washing before its gonna give u a temporal immunity, same as hidding, it will start clearing it out)
ideas
magma, acid, fire = slight DoT, enough that it can kill someone, but very slowey, the current water poisoning dmg is too much and it can kill someone too fast, each one might have different dmg and DoT duration after u get out from the rain
snow, light, sand = slight vision blinding, maybe it haves a chance to stack up but not to the point where u cant see
maybe some other magic gives u specific effects
- and ofc there is a chance to get it, the moment u go in shouldn’t be the moment u get said effect
this should fix the RNG problem, since now u have a visual indicator and it should fix the absurd dmg, also by fixing the RNG it fixes how annoying it is, the “oh im so fuck” to “im at my brig no biggie” scale is no more
Lighting
this one is short, lighting is another element of RNG to the dark sea, there are some visual indications but they dont last for long, you also cant see it at all if ur inside it, it can happen anywhere, anytime, again it can happen when ur on ship or fighting, my only suggestion would be to make it so the lighting doesnt happen that fast after the visual indicator and tone down the dmg, also make it visible if ur inside it
Waves
Waves
Waves, just like water poisoning are extremely annoying, they can range from taking you and slamming into ur brig or island, to taking u off to god knows where, the only thing they are good at is getting atlanteans of you, that all, they arent challenging and fun, they are just annoying
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wave imbued with magic are a prime example of this, all they do is damage, just normal wave damage, or DoT damage that undos 3 shipbuilder abilities, they arent a challenge, its all just press G to take less dmg, despite the majority of them having different magic imbued, only the DoT are an issue, its also kinda boring, to also add, they are spammed, everywhere, its not a fun time, ur not rlly doing drift, reacting to them as they appear, u just watch them, press G and maybe try to dodge the DoT ones
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waves taking you its such a annoying feature, there is no way to escape unless the game lets you or it hits you into something, literally i was caught by a wave that was under water, they also seem to grab you when you already passed them, in my opinion that such an annoying mechanic that it can get some work on
my idea on how to fix it
First give other wave types an effect on the player when they hit the boat, and again, no extreme effect, holding G should also reduce the severity or time of said effect, also reduce the DoT dmg of some waves, imo they are too big, they powercreep other waves
i would also give a button that u can spam to escape, or maybe even better, a minigame, alike the AA one that u have to do when 2 spells clash
i would also make more wave patterns and reduce the normal wave spawn so they arent as spammy, currently we only have one, 2 waves clashing, i would suggest to make more types, and while right now i cant think of any, atleast any good ones, im confident that they can be made
Rain
oh my god the rain, its so stupid, i know the dark sea is meant to be hard and in-universe not an enjoyable thing, and it can be like that and fun, but this isn’t it, oh no, it actively harms it, the only time you can actually enjoy a bit more is if the server decides to nuke the rain and not let it to happen, dark sea had this problem of islands not spawning near you, and while this has been fixed, the rain mostly undos that, atleast by some level, the rain isnt some interesting, manageable mechanic, it actively harms the experience by taking away your visibility
so how would i fix it? different rain types, some are easy, not a lot of rain, just a few drops, and it can ram up to the current dark sea rain, however the extreme patches (current dark sea) should be rare and small, maybe medium, while most of the rain while is there, it takes less visability away, i would also allow a deckhand or heck, even player to go on the upper parts of the ship (i forgot the name) which would buff their vision and make rain less rainy so they can announce others about a island
there might be other big problems that i miss, but its so frustrating that the dark sea, a big part of the game, its just like this, its not friendly, not as in, its hard and u need a strategy, as in, get fucked, rng lottery, fuck you way
