Played a bunch. I have suggestions.
Okay, so I've played the game enough to make my way to the cursed swamp. I do really enjoy the game, but there are some things I'd like to put down here as some suggestions in case the devs were looking.
1.) Deposit all. I'd really like to have a button that would deposit all goods to nearby storage from my personal inventory. Going around to individual storage containers isn't fun.
2.) Infinite storage. I believe that all land based storage should be infinite. Once I decide that a certain crate will hold wood, I can put as much wood in there as possible and it'll never fill up. Storage that I carry and storage that my ship can carry should still be limited.
3.) Take all, goodbye. If I choose to take all of the items out of a dropped loot stash from defeating enemy ships, that should automatically close to menu. Currently, when you select to take all loot, you are greeted with a screen that shows a now empty stash. I have to exit out of that screen with a separate key press. Its a small thing, but its still annoying. If I want everything there is nothing left to see, so automatically close the screen and let me get back to battling.
4.) Reputation gains from battle. I think you should gain reputation if you defeat pirate ships in ally waters. I'm aware you eventually max out reputation, and getting more isn't necessary. Just thought it would make sense thematically and help with immersion.
5.) Craft by myself. There are some items that I should be able to craft without a table. Bandages, Rope, Cloth. I shouldn't need to make a table for small things.
6.) Pass time prompt. When in the bed, time stops passing at what I presume to be midnight. I then have to get out of bed and back into it to continue the time passage to morning. I'd like to get a prompt instead to whether I want to continue passing time or not. Having to go through the get out of bed animation to then immediately do the get into bed animation is clunky.
7.) Sleeping on ships. I think, once the ships get big enough to have cots, I should be able to use them. They should act just like normal beds. I can spawn at them and pass time with them.
8.) Ships point away from land. When summoning my ship, could you please make it so that it is always pointing away from whatever island I am at? Having to put the thing into reverse to then turn it around is such a slow process.
9.) Earned Blackbeard Variant. I do not think that the Blackbeard variant of the ship chassis should be common knowledge. I think, once you've unlocked a certain fleet type, you will start earning progress on the Blackbeard variant. A small percentage is earned when sinking matching Blackbeard ships, and a large percentage is earned when boarding them.
10.) Pirate Patrols? I know you guys want the pirate theme to work for this game, and for the most part it does, but pirates on patrols in formation is kind of weird. I think a pirate treasure ship being escorted by gunboats makes sense a bit, but then they just keep turning around to stay within a certain area. They should be trying to get somewhere.
And if there is no treasure ship, then they should still be traveling from one point to another, but in smaller numbers. I do understand that its just a game, and there has to be a challenge on the water, but I do wonder if there is another way.
Pirates chased down their target. Maybe leave the treasure ships as a group that is just trying to get somewhere. But maybe have some pirate ships that spawn and just head straight to the player. Maybe they are solo, maybe they have a buddy or two.
And on this note, if I out level a pirate ship by a huge margin, maybe they try to get away?
11.) Bigger Ships, More Crew. Currently, ships get bigger, crew size stays the same size. This seems odd. I don't think the crew I had on the small boat should be able to handle everything just as easy on the big boat. Ships come in small, medium and large. I think crew size should too. Early game, small crew runs small ship. But later, if I run a medium ship with a small crew, I think acceleration and number of cannons fired should suffer. I think towns and bases could offer options to increase crew size.
12.) Harvesting exhaustion. I'm not talking about my character here. I'm talking about me. I know this is a survival game. I know people like the repetitive nature of getting the same resources again and again. There are things that this game does that makes it take longer still, and I think it unnecessary.
First. If I am going to get copper, why is it necessary for my inventory to also be filling with stone? Yes, it makes sense, but is it really necessary? There are so many other sources for stone, can't we just have copper come out of the deposit when I'm breaking it apart? The same goes for later trees still giving basic wood. I can literally find wood on the beach or in the small plants everywhere. Does it also have to show up when I'm just looking for hardwood?
Second. This is mostly for mining, but hitting the same rock more than once to get it to break is so boring. It isn't rewarding at all. I think mining would be so much more enjoyable if every swing broke a certain number of nodes. And then maybe you could give a reason to upgrade the pickaxe. Maybe at the base level it breaks 2 nodes, then upgrades to 3, and maxes at 4. I think it would make the process much more enjoyable.
This would be odd with trees, but I still wouldn't hate the idea of cutting down trees with less swings.
13.) Boarding Party Abilities. Right now, unless I missed something, there are no Blue Boarding Party Gear items that have abilities. I'm sure they plan on adding them, but I think there is a way to do it that would be more enjoyable. I think blue boarding party gear should only be obtainable if you go below decks while boarding an enemy ship and finding a chest. I would absolutely love a reason to actually board a ship.
When I first started playing this game boarding was really fun. But it became boring after a while. Very same-y from one battle to the next. If a system of loot could be added that could only be found while boarding, I think it would help. And making this loot thematic would be even better. So make it the only way to get blue boarding party gear, and the only way to find some certain cannon plans and some certain ship armor plans.
14.) Take Ships. I'd like the ability to take an enemy ship after a successful boarding. I think it would be a fun part of the game to have that option to seize defeated ships. Now, I don't think this should be easy by any measure. I think there should be a very small part of the enemy health bar, right after it triggers the disabled effect, that if you manage to get the health to sit in this tiny window, then if you successfully board, you will be prompted to take the ship. Most battles, you do so much damage you'd likely sip right passed this part of the enemy health bar. But with clever usage of the edge of a volley pr timing a wave, players could get good and getting the health bar to sit in this window.
Taking it would give you a temporary half crew, which would limit you as stated previously in my crew size paragraph. With this half crew you would then have to get the ship back to your base. Your other ship would follow you. Once there you could repair the ship or sell it for a very big sum.
15.) Lantern Indication. I'd love for there to be either an indication that I left my lantern lit, or that it automatically turned off hen I left a dark area after a certain amount of time. The number of times I've left my lantern on are incredible.
16.) Co-Op Icons. Lastly, I'd like to be able to share icons I put on the map with my buddy. Right now, he doesn't see icons I put on the map.
Yes, this is a lot, but these are things I'd like to see. Obviously everyone won't agree, but if even a couple things can get added, that's a win. This is by no means a way of me saying this game sucks. I love this game. I've played a number of hours solo and with a friend. I just want some things changed. Just some. Thanks