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Forums » List all forums » Forum: Piratical Parley and Politics » Thread: State of the Ocean Discussion Thread |
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Thread Status: Normal Total posts in this thread: 67
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Cronus
OceanMaster Joined: Jul 17, 2003 Posts: 1342 Status: Offline |
A discussion thread for the State of the Ocean announcement post located here . ---------------------------------------- Current avatar by Podgekins Tinfoil, popsicle sticks, and paste make for a nice shiny new hat! ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Cronus at Sep 24, 2016 6:42:44 PM] |
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wrs1864b
Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 6337 Status: Offline |
just some data to chew on. I've been collecting ocean population stats for a little over three years now. Here is a brief overview of how things have changed. wayne@hipbone: $ ./island_pop_stats -odate 2013-08-05 -ocean meridian | head ---------------------------------------- Algol can not assert the truth of all statements in this post and still be consistent. |
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yerep
 Joined: Oct 24, 2008 Posts: 350 Status: Offline |
Good to know that that the game is here to stay and you are committed to repopulating the oceans! Cerulean needs much love!:) Papaloons. |
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Gunnerfreak
 Joined: Jun 12, 2011 Posts: 436 Status: Offline |
Could you give me a layman's explanation for that, please? Lol.... ---------------------------------------- Gunnerfreak on Cerulean <- Home ocean. AKA Gunnerfreak on Obsidian (new ocean!), Ice, Emerald, Opal, and Jade, Gunnerfreak-East on Emerald, Gunnerfreak-West on Cerulean, and Gunnergunner on Meridian. Also a Respe-ranked YPPedia-wiki freak. |
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wuppypuppy2
Joined: Jul 24, 2010 Posts: 685 Status: Offline |
Just wanted to share my gratitude that this game is being kept alive and running. Having played throughout every one of my teenage years, I'm still finding new challenges to tackle and new hearties to get to know. So, thank you! This really is a rich word to work (and play) with, and I can only hope it continues to be expanded in ways that encourage the playerbase to grow. (also if you all could spare a moment to reinstate portrait background contests, this landlubber would be thrilled, though I fully understand its lack of urgency. perhaps in the interim [if much interim remains] previous limited edition backgrounds could be brought back, as a change of pace from just the seasonal ones? either randomly or by player vote, I'd be super pleased either way!) ---------------------------------------- Wayfarer of Mala-idian-erald |
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xelto
Joined: Mar 18, 2007 Posts: 5707 Status: Offline |
The population is not as big as it used to be. But the problem with this set of information is that it doesn't accurately track anything, as it reflects the number of pirates that have logged on in the last 10 days... including alts. So anyone who stopped using labor alts gets over-reflected in the stats. Or even, anyone who used to have a whisking alt army that now uses the notice board "events" section to get around instead of bringing out the horde cuts down on the number of "active" pirates in these stats. ---------------------------------------- Gurndigarn on Emerald Ocean "Oh, come on. You jobbed onto a ship called the Cursed Isle Raider and you expected *refined*?" |
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Gunnerfreak
Joined: Jun 12, 2011 Posts: 436 Status: Offline |
Yeah, I got that about the population. Thanks, though. ---------------------------------------- Gunnerfreak on Cerulean <- Home ocean. AKA Gunnerfreak on Obsidian (new ocean!), Ice, Emerald, Opal, and Jade, Gunnerfreak-East on Emerald, Gunnerfreak-West on Cerulean, and Gunnergunner on Meridian. Also a Respe-ranked YPPedia-wiki freak. |
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wrs1864b
Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 6337 Status: Offline |
It is the number of pirates found on each island, as seen on the "island" tab of the sun menu and scraped from the yoweb island pages. As Xelto says, the island population numbers are just the number of pirates that have logged on in the last 10 days. I get into more gory details in the thread I linked to, and as I mentioned in that thread, it is important not to read more into the numbers than are there. The number of "active" pirates is not the same as the number of pirates that are logged on at the same time (tracked by the PPAT), which isn't the same as the number of pirates that are actually doing stuff, which isn't the same as the total number of accounts that OOO used to publish. As Xelto also points out, individuals with large numbers of labor/forage alts can distort these numbers (I'm looking at you, Turtle). There was also the time OOO gave everyone who just logged on a chance to win a familiar, which made a huge bump everywhere. That said, I think the numbers are still useful. The number of pirates as counted by the island populations and the number of pirates logged on at the same time (PPAT) do trend in the same direction and at similar rates, so they are related and the island populations determine which islands will spawn greenies, so it is useful for that. Now, things to chew on: * Both Emerald and Meridian now have populations that are lower than Cerulean was three years ago. Would spending another year setting up another ocean merger really do anything long term? (The last merger seemed to have taken most of a year to develop.) * Why are different halves of the new, merged, oceans performing differently? Why is midnight fading quicker than Cobalt? (like wise, Malachite is fading faster than Viridian and Hunger is fading quicker than Sage.) Is this due to the number of number of islands that can spawn greenies? Is it due to the number of low population islands? Is it due to the number of colonized islands? * Why is Meridian fading the fastest, while Emerald is fading the slowest? * Individual islands and archipelagos are also performing differently. Why? Basically, understanding why things are fading may give us important clues about how to help the game ---------------------------------------- Algol can not assert the truth of all statements in this post and still be consistent. ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by wrs1864b at Sep 25, 2016 7:06:41 AM] |
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Gunnerfreak
Joined: Jun 12, 2011 Posts: 436 Status: Offline |
Okay, cool to know! Thanks! Also.... *coughs* Merchants...... They don't sell things as often as they used to...? ---------------------------------------- Gunnerfreak on Cerulean <- Home ocean. AKA Gunnerfreak on Obsidian (new ocean!), Ice, Emerald, Opal, and Jade, Gunnerfreak-East on Emerald, Gunnerfreak-West on Cerulean, and Gunnergunner on Meridian. Also a Respe-ranked YPPedia-wiki freak. |
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xelto
Joined: Mar 18, 2007 Posts: 5707 Status: Offline |
First off, the developers have said that it would probably make the databases unweildy to the point of being useless, so it's unlikely to happen any time soon. Not only that, this game really, really can't afford to go a significant time without game improvements again. I suspect that that really hurt the most, having the ocean merge and YPPX back to back, so no significant game changes happened for roughly threeish years. By any chance, do your files go back far enough, to check on the rate of decay during that period compared to the period after the kraken came out, expressed as a derivative? That is, has the percentage of pirates (not the overall numbers) leaving the game increased or decreased since new content has become available again?
It's due to the same reason that Aimuri and the rest of the Orion archipelago did better than Ursa back on Hunter. People perceive it as being the Place the Cool Kids Hang Out At, and move there.
People are moving from Meridian to Emerald. ---------------------------------------- Gurndigarn on Emerald Ocean "Oh, come on. You jobbed onto a ship called the Cursed Isle Raider and you expected *refined*?" |
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Cronus
OceanMaster Joined: Jul 17, 2003 Posts: 1342 Status: Offline |
We do plan on bringing back the portrait background contest. However we are going to change it so it runs less frequently. This might mean we have more winners each time so that we can still have a similar number of portraits to use throughout the year. Until then, bringing back past ones sounds like something we can consider. ---------------------------------------- Current avatar by Podgekins Tinfoil, popsicle sticks, and paste make for a nice shiny new hat! |
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Raalala
Joined: Mar 6, 2008 Posts: 640 Status: Offline |
I like that the portrait background competitions are taking a break, if I'm honest, when something happens every single month end to end, it makes it less special, less of a pat on the back when you do win too. Bring back older ones! I'm really missing a few of the good old backgrounds and would like to add them to my collections :P As usual, I'm against any more ocean merges etc. I think I've said this in a few threads now :x ---------------------------------------- ~ Bambeh Johnydepp says; 'BatBam, your f-ing play on words fetish' Priapus says; 'Mate, look at his screen, you could play chess on that.' Avatar by Seapint! |
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Erfan
Joined: Apr 2, 2005 Posts: 8180 Status: Offline |
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Cronus
OceanMaster Joined: Jul 17, 2003 Posts: 1342 Status: Offline |
Please take note of the part where we demanded pictures. ---------------------------------------- Current avatar by Podgekins Tinfoil, popsicle sticks, and paste make for a nice shiny new hat! |
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Gunnerfreak
Joined: Jun 12, 2011 Posts: 436 Status: Offline |
Oooooooh! Yeah, Erfan! Post pics! :P ---------------------------------------- Gunnerfreak on Cerulean <- Home ocean. AKA Gunnerfreak on Obsidian (new ocean!), Ice, Emerald, Opal, and Jade, Gunnerfreak-East on Emerald, Gunnerfreak-West on Cerulean, and Gunnergunner on Meridian. Also a Respe-ranked YPPedia-wiki freak. |
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Dexla
Joined: Sep 26, 2006 Posts: 3090 Status: Offline |
I'd like to ask a question that I don't think I've seen anyone ask yet... Is Cronus the new Cleaver? Captain Cronus has a nice ring to it! ---------------------------------------- Dexla d'Midnight |
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Gunnerfreak
Joined: Jun 12, 2011 Posts: 436 Status: Offline |
Hmm, that's a good question. What happened to Cleaver? O.o ---------------------------------------- Gunnerfreak on Cerulean <- Home ocean. AKA Gunnerfreak on Obsidian (new ocean!), Ice, Emerald, Opal, and Jade, Gunnerfreak-East on Emerald, Gunnerfreak-West on Cerulean, and Gunnergunner on Meridian. Also a Respe-ranked YPPedia-wiki freak. |
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majestrate
Joined: Feb 18, 2005 Posts: 3958 Status: Offline |
mic drop #TeamAwesomeFTW ---------------------------------------- #TeamEvil
Avatar by the gracious and wonderful Phaerie <3 |
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joandart
Joined: Jan 24, 2007 Posts: 1630 Status: Offline |
I would buy that cereal. And read the ingredients veeery closely. ---------------------------------------- Herowena of Cerulean Still Sleeping With The Fishes Avatar by Dexla |
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wuppypuppy2
Joined: Jul 24, 2010 Posts: 685 Status: Offline |
Is it really considered cannibalism if you dont know there are dead babies in it? ---------------------------------------- Wayfarer of Mala-idian-erald |
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Cronus
OceanMaster Joined: Jul 17, 2003 Posts: 1342 Status: Offline |
Agreed! I've informed the other OMs that I am now their Captain. They all agreed *cough* enthusiastically.
It's considered delicious. ---------------------------------------- Current avatar by Podgekins Tinfoil, popsicle sticks, and paste make for a nice shiny new hat! |
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Tayes
Joined: Mar 13, 2009 Posts: 104 Status: Offline |
[Edited to remove deleted posts] I've always thought the best way out of this mess is a new ocean. Right now, how could you expect a "greenie" to want to continue playing. I remember starting off probably 10 years ago, fighting long and hard to get 15,000 poe to buy a sloop... then building a fleet, then pulling together 2 Million in jobber poe to blockade. Although challenging and needing commitment, it was attainable. When I was playing, I was a student. I would try to support the game when I could (maybe buying $60USD worth of dubs a year) but it was nice to be able to succeed solely through in game play (yes, I know some people are great with commods/shoppes/poker/etc. and can make 100+ Mill in game). If we had a blank slate, everyone starts off fresh, older players have the advantage, knowing the game play, but younger players would have a shot. It can't be connected with other oceans. I think a "doubloon style" ocean has shown to be popular but it can't be connected with doubloons from Emerald/Meridian. We saw that we Malachite, people with money on Sage/Viridian/Hunter (myself included) were able to bully their way into having control in the new ocean by pulling their poe across from other oceans. Yes we can argue all day long about "banned" pirates getting a second chance, and yes I do think that some people having permanent bans for things, that I don't think they would commit again has hurt the game... but I think the economy and the rich being "so rich" *cough poker* has really killed the population... People are just getting too discouraged. I think the slow creation of this new ocean could create great hype within existing players and create this new ocean with contests, community involvement - examples: - Island Design Contents - Island Naming Contests - Creating themes, maps, new adventures, etc. Even if this was a long term investment, you could get players excited again and keep the committed base involved. And from a financial perspective, I'm no expert but with the competitiveness of our game, I could for see a lot of people buying dubs early to try to get an edge - adding revenue to make up for the investment.... Side note, there wouldn't be an abundance of PoE like there is now, reducing PoE buying. There would be other questions that could be brought up to without affecting the current ocean: ie: Should the game go back to putting an emphasis on pillaging... the foundation of the game at it's peak, and less on Sea Monster Hunting? Do we really need 200K poker... it doesn't create money and moves all the money back to the same people? (As someone who made most of their poe off 200K, it pains me to say that but it would be way better for the game to cap at may 50K poker) Does the game really need 2925832 different kinds of familiars, clothes, other items.... it seemed to do just fine with 3 familiars and less complexity. Can anything be done about graphics or other game play? Anyways just food for thought. I know it's very hypothetical and would need A LOT of support and investment from Grey Havens, however this is how I saw the game working again. Start fresh.... Keep the other oceans open to keep people from bitching... and let the people who want to work hard and succeed have the opportunity. Thanks for reading! Tayes ---------------------------------------- -Tayes Blaming Brenda ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Cronus at Sep 28, 2016 8:36:45 AM] |
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xelto
Joined: Mar 18, 2007 Posts: 5707 Status: Offline |
This is where your concept falls apart. Leaving aside the fact that all doubloons were purchased with the understanding that they are good on all oceans (creating a legal obligation to remain so), this means that you're either asking for everyone in the game to lose everything they have*, or asking for yet another ocean, in a time when ocean populations are shrinking and a number of people are asking for consolidation. ------------ * Until they get back on the poker tables. I wouldn't take long for the money to become reconcentrated. ---------------------------------------- Gurndigarn on Emerald Ocean "Oh, come on. You jobbed onto a ship called the Cursed Isle Raider and you expected *refined*?" |
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Cronus
OceanMaster Joined: Jul 17, 2003 Posts: 1342 Status: Offline |
In the interest of not allowing the thread to derail, I've removed several posts from people evading serious bans requesting self-serving policy changes. I am going to address a few items: - Players are not permanently banned for language or saying a mean thing to someone else unless it was particularly egregious (ie, multiple accounts using hate speech to harass staff/players). And even if that happened, players banned for this type of thing may be able to successfully return to the game through the ban pleading process (see below). - We regularly allow players to return to the game. However, if your ban was for a serious enough issue (ie. billing fraud), you are not honest in your plea, or you have violated the ToS on another account since being banned, your plea is not likely to be successful. It's common sense that we will not believe you'll be willing to adhere to the Terms of service if you are violating them while submitting a plea. - The overwhelming majority of our players are awesome, in good standing, and have never had a negative issue in their support history. And now to return to the thread, I'd like to address a few relevant questions:
We're still in early stages of looking into our options. This is something we can consider. I'd (personally) be curious what others think about it.
There's probably only so much we could do regarding graphics. In terms of gameplay it depends on what exactly you're asking about. If you have specific suggestions about gameplay, we are actively reviewing suggestions in our Game Design forum. I understand it can sometimes look like we're not listening if we're not actively responding, but we are watching (which sounds creepy). ---------------------------------------- Current avatar by Podgekins Tinfoil, popsicle sticks, and paste make for a nice shiny new hat! ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Cronus at Sep 28, 2016 9:27:06 AM] |
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wuppypuppy2
Joined: Jul 24, 2010 Posts: 685 Status: Offline |
I'd be all for it if there was a way to somehow save certain things. I'm saying this because some folks have trinkets, pets, etc with huge sentimental value. I have trinkets given to me for my fifteenth birthday by friends who haven't played in years, for example. I know of some people who treasure items given to them by friends who have since passed away. If these items were made untradable, perhaps, but could be transferred over? Or maybe if it's a fam or a pet, it can be saved but not worn? I think a fresh start could really revitalize the game (so long as the greenie-accessible content remains strong) and I'd have a ton of fun, I'm sure. I just hope the gain isn't paired with a loss to some! ---------------------------------------- Wayfarer of Mala-idian-erald |
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Crazymg
Joined: Nov 25, 2008 Posts: 576 Status: Offline |
I definitely see the benefits of a new ocean but If we were to keep the the current oceans too, I feel at this point the playerbase would be stretched too thin. If it were to be a replacement ocean, unless I can transfer my Familiar and LE ship collection you'd lose me as a player. I enjoy the game but not enough to have everything I've worked hard for thrown away. Sure in time I could acquire them again but they wouldn't have the same stories behind them, and I happen to think some have awesome stories behind their acquisition or timing of acquisition. I'd certainly be open to making certain things untradable once transferred or even paying a reasonable transfer fee or something.
You are creepy? ---------------------------------------- ~Princessmg~ |
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RonenOsden
Joined: Jan 9, 2009 Posts: 1125 Status: Offline |
All of this has been discussed on the forums many many times, my final conclusion : Wiping the slate = game death (I for one would not continue playing) Total update of graphics = loses the charm of the game main issue I believe is holding game back = Constant NEW things get boring. Fix old things that havent been freshened up in years... one way I see to save the game = Advertising and/or lowering current sub/doub prices - There are so many other games that for 10 a month you get so much more gameplay and rewards. 7.50 would be so much more appropriate I believe. conclusion = Poker sucks, it has ruined the game from the start. Add a rake for poe sink :) - Fix all the puzzling glitches and bugs that have been around for some time (Im sure someone has the whole list) - Cerulean specifically could do with some downsizing of colonized island count ... there are a bunch of unused islands, just being ravaged by BKs ... Honestly Im not sure what else can be done, I have been playing this game on and off for over 11 years. I have made many pixel friends and enemies, I still love this game even though it can be seriously irritating at times. I generally restrain myself when it comes to posting in these "The sky is falling! what do we do?!" threads, because you cant argue with most the people posting in them. What I believe is that most of what has been discussed in them is just that, insanity. Why would you wipe the game and start over now? That makes no sense whatsoever. Why make a new ocean when the current ones are in such population decline already? (Personally I believe its because the player base has aged and life taken over, so they have no time to play anymore) One thing I would like to know is this : Did Grey Havens take control of this game to usher it to eventual death or make it thrive again? ---------------------------------------- Cptnronen Born And Raised On The Cobalt Ocean Status : Preparing for the end. Avatar created by the amazing Cattrin. |
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joandart
Joined: Jan 24, 2007 Posts: 1630 Status: Offline |
The graphics are a huge part of what I like about the game. So, uh, shout-out to them. ---------------------------------------- Herowena of Cerulean Still Sleeping With The Fishes Avatar by Dexla |
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Cronus
OceanMaster Joined: Jul 17, 2003 Posts: 1342 Status: Offline |
We'd love to see the game thrive. I think it's safe to say that this little pirate game has been a big part of our lives (and that of our players).
I don't foresee any major changes to the aesthetic. Even if we did want to make a change, it would be a massive undertaking. On a personal level, the aesthetic of the game has a retro feel that I enjoy. However, there are some graphical issues that are coming up for those who are using newer systems. That's what I was referring to when I mentioned that there was probably only so much we could do, but something we hope to look into. ---------------------------------------- Current avatar by Podgekins Tinfoil, popsicle sticks, and paste make for a nice shiny new hat! ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Cronus at Sep 28, 2016 1:13:41 PM] |
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Raalala
Joined: Mar 6, 2008 Posts: 640 Status: Offline |
I'm with Cptnronen on this one, I would likely not play anymore either, there are a lot of things I have collected over my 10 year play time, that I could not obtain again, purely because I don't have the time anymore, most of the time I'm online currently I just stand around (Super productive right?) It's all about the memories that have been made, if you wipe it clean, you more or less delete the chances of me scrolling through my inventory, coming across a trinket or portrait and being like, -Links to friend- 'Remember this?!' Then you have people like Meehearties, who has spent the majority of her game time collecting one of each item in the game? It seems a bit unfair to wipe all of the hard work that each pirate has done to obtain what they have, for the possibility of new players. (When we all know we can get new players plenty of other ways) That's right, I did 100% just drop that thread in there again =I It needs fixing. There may or may not be a sf bug that's been 'bugging' me, it might be due to my lack of a java update however, so I'll do that and do some tests. Furniture. Wall clipping. Pleaseeee pleaaaaaseeee can we get this fixed. Furniture clipping in general. ---------------------------------------- ~ Bambeh Johnydepp says; 'BatBam, your f-ing play on words fetish' Priapus says; 'Mate, look at his screen, you could play chess on that.' Avatar by Seapint! ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Raalala at Sep 28, 2016 12:36:22 PM] |
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