Good afternoon @Lynsey [Midoki], Now that we have the new PH update with all the various defense and building upgrades, which we so desperately needed, I was hoping you could discuss what will be coming next down the PP pipeline? Many of us on the forums have been asking about, and offering many ideas, for new content. Whether that be new Legendary Pirates, regular pirates, defenses, or even buildings and events, there have been so many great ideas here. Now that the PH update has been out for awhile, what has Midoki been working on besides maintenance and bug fixes? There must be something *new* coming at some point! Can you give us some insight as to what we can expect in the future? I’m not here to complain or demand updates, but I feel like there must be something that y’all are working on besides additional LP upgrades. Any info you can give on what we have in store for the future would be much appreciated! Thank you @Lynsey [Midoki] and the rest of the Midoki team! Cheers and happy sailing, -Oak
Ahoy Captains! For Pirates, new features and content is tricky at this stage - the game is nearly four years old, and we still have a respectable chunk of the playerbase using older devices. Whilst that's the case, we can't add too much that would push those devices over the edge - for example, we can't currently increase the size of the islands, and we have to be careful about adding extra buildings and particularly defences, or increasing the size of the Tavern, as they run the risk of killing the game on older devices. However, we are always looking at what we can add and tweak, and keeping an eye on what devices our players are using. Currently we're looking at the Rumble system, and changing it to a 1v1 battle. As it stands at the moment, in order to keep the matchmaking times relatively snappy (although sometimes this can go a bit wrong with hours of waiting!), sometimes guilds get woefully mismatched - not so bad if you're a big fish, but not so great if you're a medium or small fish! By changing it to 1v1, we're hoping to make the matchmaking a lot more accurate for guilds of all shapes and sizes, without massively increasing the wait times. Obviously we're also looking into ways of doing this without guilds being repeatedly matched against the same opponents. There's also some new and (quite literally) shiny things coming out in the next update. There's also other new stuff that we're working on that I'm not at liberty to discuss at the moment!
Good Morning @Lynsey [Midoki], Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to discuss what may be coming in the PP future! You have no idea how much I, and probably others here on the forums, appreciate this! So thank you!! Now, I completely understand the old device issue and not wanting to weed them out so to speak, but at some point, the game simply has to progress with the available technology and if you don’t, you’re not only doing your customers a disservice, but yourselves. Personally, I think what you stand to lose by not using the technology and advancing this game in conjunction with said technology is far greater than lagging behind to accommodate those with old devices. I’m not saying you should or need to change anything anytime soon, but eventually I think it would be best to advance the game however possible to keep it new and fun and exciting. That being said, I am happy to hear that there are some new things coming out in the next update as well as some secret projects! Also happy to hear y’all have been thinking about changing the rumble system, which I think does make sense for the super high and low guilds, however, there are quite a few who average a few hundred thousand and those rumbles where 3-4 guilds are all challenging for the top are the best. Perhaps you could create an option based rumble system? For example, in 1v1 you could actually challenge someone specific. Then perhaps you could have 3v3 and 5v5 options available? The big problem I see with the 1v1 is that those guilds who can easily hit 1 million or more and consistently score at least 700k are few and far between and it would be hard to match them. A rumble queue could be cool, where a guild “starts” a rumble and others can see that they are looking for a match, and then various guilds could ask to join the rumble until enough guilds have entered? The guild who “started” the rumble could have the option to accept and reject other guilds who want to join the rumble? There are obvious matching issues there too but I think it would be a cool option. Anyway, thanks again for the update, it is much appreciated! Cheers and happy sailing! -Oak
Oh there you are @Intimidator! It’s been awhile bud, glad to see you’re still keeping an eye on things haha! Come over for a visit sometime if you’re still playing! Cheers mate! -Oak
Ultimately, the game's tech will only progress with the players - if we still have substantial numbers of players on older devices, then we can't/won't cut them off as the negative impact would outweigh the benefits. Guilds would find several of their friends/members gone, the number of players would decrease which could potentially cause issues with matchmaking (as well as the people cut off because of their device, you may also see more people dropping the game due to their friends no longer being able to play), plus there's the moral issue of the fact that people have invested both time and money in the game (but sadly not in a new device, heh!). Now it may happen that we end up having to do it anyway if Apple or Google start dropping support for older OSs, but until then, we'll continue to support all of our players. You don't need to worry about us though, we are keeping our tech up to date! [QUOTE}I’m not saying you should or need to change anything anytime soon, but eventually I think it would be best to advance the game however possible to keep it new and fun and exciting. That being said, I am happy to hear that there are some new things coming out in the next update as well as some secret projects! Also happy to hear y’all have been thinking about changing the rumble system, which I think does make sense for the super high and low guilds, however, there are quite a few who average a few hundred thousand and those rumbles where 3-4 guilds are all challenging for the top are the best. Perhaps you could create an option based rumble system? For example, in 1v1 you could actually challenge someone specific. Then perhaps you could have 3v3 and 5v5 options available? The big problem I see with the 1v1 is that those guilds who can easily hit 1 million or more and consistently score at least 700k are few and far between and it would be hard to match them. A rumble queue could be cool, where a guild “starts” a rumble and others can see that they are looking for a match, and then various guilds could ask to join the rumble until enough guilds have entered? The guild who “started” the rumble could have the option to accept and reject other guilds who want to join the rumble? There are obvious matching issues there too but I think it would be a cool option. Anyway, thanks again for the update, it is much appreciated!-Oak[/QUOTE] Interesting points, but having multiple Rumble systems would spread the guilds across multiple completely separate matchmaking pools (1v1, 3v3 and 5v5), which would potentially lead to very long wait times - especially as we're trying to make the matches more accurate! The queue idea is nice in theory, but sadly a bit open to various issues - guilds organising Rumble times and taking it in turns to win, or feeder guilds deliberately losing to boost the winning guild's Rumble stats (and also boosting individual players, as you're more likely to face a Rumble Rival), guilds being left alone in the queue because nobody wants to fight them, guilds repeatedly turning down any guild that looks like they might give them an actual challenge, etc. Sadly there are many excellent ideas that fall down at the hurdle of 'How are players going to attempt to game/exploit this feature'! We're hoping that the new system will work for guilds of all types, but, as with any new feature, it'll require monitoring once live, and possibly further tweaked to get it to where we want to be.
Interesting points, but having multiple Rumble systems would spread the guilds across multiple completely separate matchmaking pools (1v1, 3v3 and 5v5), which would potentially lead to very long wait times - especially as we're trying to make the matches more accurate! The queue idea is nice in theory, but sadly a bit open to various issues - guilds organising Rumble times and taking it in turns to win, or feeder guilds deliberately losing to boost the winning guild's Rumble stats (and also boosting individual players, as you're more likely to face a Rumble Rival), guilds being left alone in the queue because nobody wants to fight them, guilds repeatedly turning down any guild that looks like they might give them an actual challenge, etc. Sadly there are many excellent ideas that fall down at the hurdle of 'How are players going to attempt to game/exploit this feature'! We're hoping that the new system will work for guilds of all types, but, as with any new feature, it'll require monitoring once live, and possibly further tweaked to get it to where we want to be.[/QUOTE] @Lynsey [Midoki] i understand what you’re saying about the longtime players and guilds losing members because of old tech and whatnot, and I wouldn’t want to lose anyone in that manner either so I can sympathize with that. I think my point was more along the lines of what you said about Apple and Google dropping support for old devices. Essentially, as time goes by, people will have to upgrade to be able to use devices and tech effectively. I guess I also look forward to what the tech might become, like expanding islands for example as you mentioned. I also agree with the matching issues you mentioned regarding my queue idea, and I had those same thoughts but didn’t want to type them all out on my phone keyboard haha! I just thought a rumble queue could be cool, but yes matching issues would be tough. Thanks again! -Oak
Tell everyone I said hi! Sadly lost my mojo with the game finally lol. It seems we always circle back to the game cannot be anything more because of people on old devices. If people had time and money invested and still wanted to play, why wouldn’t they pony up a couple bucks for a device if need be? It IS a game played on technology and most people should understand it must be upgraded every now and again. We’d all love to see something more besides new color schemes and levels I’m sure after 4 years?! I suppose a lot of us are in that minority at this stage. Many like myself finally smelled the roses and gave up hope for anything more. Too bad, so sad, what a shame... boo hoo. Are new events or other forms of guild competitions also limited by old devices?
I understand somehow both points ... but on a long term, peeps must buy new devices, because the newer games are NOT more designed for older devices- the older devices can't run them. And the support from Apple and Google for 3-4 years old tabs and phones and ipads will not last forever. My 4,5 years ago bought iPad 4. generation is stucked already with iOS 10.3. Some games already doesn't work with iOS 8 anymore and soon also not with 9 and 10. No support for them from the developers, because they want/must bring new content into the games, all the time, because players want some new stuffs. New means really new, not only level ups and new colors . With all respect i say that now, the reason for doing nothing or not much for developing plunders atm what was told is not acceptable. And they have working already for months on a new game which for sure will not run on that older devices (or does it?) we are talking about and that tells a lot too..... i don't think that Midoki is making a new game for older devices. So, if peeps wanna play it, they will have to upgrade their current devices.... and for that reason Midoki should also come up with something new and something exiting also for Plunders . It would be a win-win situation for both, for Midoki and Plunders players Have a nice day everyone
Unfortunately so many people are always going to look for the unfair advantage so they win. Very pleased to see Midoki looking at the rumble system and match-ups, but I don’t see what difference it’ll make if it’s a match between 1 or 5. The team with the deepest pockets with win. Just give us an option to rumble with/without/limited gems would lead to more interest in rumbles and fairer match-ups. Even if that lead to longer match-ups I think most would prefer that when the pay-off is an even chance of winning.
Rumble fixes: 25 players opt in before rumble matching can start, limit battles per player to a suggested 10 - then we will be good. Gem-2-Win sucks big time.
Hey @WOLLIMAUS - saw that you and lilmorgan are alone in moonshiners, how would you like to join us at Scottish seadogs for the event? We got a couple spots open! Let me know! Cheers! -Oak
Hello @Oak Island That is very friendly from you, thanks uuu so much. I moved this morning with ...maus to our MoonShiners event guild Black Velvet . I was this time a bit slow with moving . Thank u for asking , but maybe we meet soon on the battleground .
Anytime @WOLLIMAUS come on by for a visit and a rumble! And yes, we will likely see you guys this week in a rumble or two . Cheers and good luck in the event! -Oak
