AO has been updating, and thus more and more Generation 6 players are joining the game. I frequent the Bronze Sea, and I often see the poor guys on their sailboats suffer from things that don’t seem fair even to us, level 175 players. And, speaking of level 175, the advanced people may benefit from these changes too, as to reduce the annoyance factor.
NPC Ships’ Targeting. Those pirates may have one eye covered with a patch, but they do still possess a large detection radius. The Bronze Sea does have a mechanic, where high-tier ships spawn to the south of the map, and sailboats occupy the north, but it still isn’t enough - ketches can be consistently spotted near Palo Town. So, what is a level 35 player on their sailboat with 1200 hp and heavy cannons supposed to do?
NPC ships may only target player ships of the same tier as themselves or higher. This means, that a pirate ketch cannot start shooting that sailboat, until the sailboat shoots it first. The new player decided to fire upon a peaceful NPC ship? Their fault, they will get sunk and remember that experience for the future. Learning. But those who did learn, and don’t attack ships they can’t sink, will get rewarded by getting to keep their boat afloat.
However, the NPC ships are also able to occasionally fire at any aligible ships, if they are in range, even prior to aggroing. This mechanic will stay, but the player ship that got damaged by it, if it is of a lower tier than the NPC ship, will receive immunity to being selected as a target for that attack for 30 seconds or so. This will create an illusion of that NPC ship still being a threat, so the new player is encouraged to flee.
TL/DR: Your ship is worse than the NPC’s - it can’t attack you until you attack it. Occasional shots at lower tier player ships give 30 sec immunity to them from triggering that attack.
The Shifter of Fate. Yeah, Jorund is getting a separate mention, for how he is a consistent threat for players of all stages. Now, he is supposed to be deadly - Shifter of Fate is a boss ship, after all, and it being a step-up from even the Truthseeker is totally justified. It is just that the sea it was put into is filled with those who can in no way oppose the 30k hp menace.
Shifter of Fate can no longer initiate the attack onto any player ship, until they attack first. Players must be given an opportunity to engage in a boss fight, not be forced into it. NPC ships are incredibly persistent, until their AI will get them stuck between Frostmill’s glaciers. If you are confident in yourself - go shoot that flagship and challenge the Captain of the Jaw Pirates. If you are just minding your own business - sure, why would Jorund waste his time on some weaklings?
Shifter of Fate receives a 20% nerf to its durability and damage. Yeah, this one may not be necessary, but a 30k hp boss ship in the starter sea of all places is still weird to encounter. This will reduce the hp to 24k, and make fighting it a bit more manageable. Not like the loot is that good to justify the difficulty. The Beast Bone Ram is good, but you only need one or two of it, and Jorund’s set just sorta exists. The braziers look cool, in my opinion.
Weather Events. Sir, the second gigantic wave has hit Palo Town.
The devs fixing the various bugs relating to weather during the Full Release was a great accomplishment. But, they became way too oppressive. Just look at Sameria - poor island houses tornadoes on basically every server. The colossal whirlpool popping up near an island’s coast or in the most inconvenient place between islands possible is a common thing too. And who could forget the glaciers - it blocks your ship, it blocks your vision, and it lags your entire screen with snow particles! Glad that the third part is getting solved, but I am here to address the first.
Every island receives a rather large zone around it, that prevents any and all weather events from spawning within it. Hurricanes (the colossal versions of tornadoes), colossal whirlpools and glaciers have that zone even larger. No more tornadoes spawncamping the docks, or whirlpools creating a minefield for sailboats.
Also, feel like putting this one here is warranted.
Forts Firing On Sight. Alright, these are military forts, guarded by soldiers under the orders of their leaders. It makes sense that they don’t want you around. But, can’t they be more tolerant, when they are located in the middle of most routes in that sea? Talos in Bronze and Montu in Nimbus are basically near the middle of the map, and many players will sail past them, with no intentions to cause harm. Why are they getting 3k durability wiped from their boat the second they are in range of a mortar? Castrum’s alright in that sense, the thing is literally in the middle of nowhere.
When a fort detects a player ship, it will fire a red signal flare that can’t be seen by anybody other than the player who triggered it. If, after 30 seconds, that player’s ship is still in range, the fort will open fire as usual. The devs added flare guns - how about NPCs get more use out of them too? You get a red flare - that’s a warning, get away from that place! You stayed - that’s on you.
Logbook and pop-up tips. I am infinitely thankful for these features existing, I love, when the devs explain their game properly. More creators should do that with their places. But, many people playing that game have a short attention span, barely bother to read the tips and get dunked on by game mechanics for that. If you ask me, that is totally on them, a severe skill issue. However, we can still do a good deed by helping those inferior specimens learn how to read.
Every logbook entry unlocked and every pop-up tip seen will get a more noticeable audio cue about its obtainment. The logbook entries will receive a button next to them. Clicking it will remove the button and award a player a small amount of associated items. Literally just 5 apples or something for unlocking Cooking, a tier 1 fishing rod enchant scroll for Fishing, 3 Bronze Sealed chests for Shipyard - a tiny reward that will incentivise paying more attention to the information the game gives you. The rewards are one-time each, obviously.
Boss entries and animals will award some drachma and animal meat respectively for unlocking and reading them. Athena’s notes, fish, Order of Aesir and Titles receive no changes. It can be useful to know what can you get from that boss or that animal species, so it’s best to encourage people to read about them. The Book of Athena requires conscious pursuit to fill, so the player will read the obtained pages anyway, no encouragement needed. Order of Aesir is literally the plot of the game, who could skip reading that? If players do really ignore the entries for the unlocked Barons and High Lord(s), then I have too much faith in humanity. As for fish and titles - who cares, really, they aren’t that important.
Aight, your turn to yap in the discussion below, you people know the drill.
