Are you men or are you mice?

[Xepshunall]

A wasted effort.

[Hawk]

Voodoo can do almost anything in this game.. steal turns, increase danger, block other voodoo ect. So most players with more voodoo than me can beat me regardless of what I do.

I consider this game highly unbalanced but thats where the fun is.. I post in the forums what I think should be changed, and have fun even when getting attacked by +10 players.

I am actually surprised how well I am doing, since I was prepared for the voodoo assault


P.S. I trade rare voodoo cards for credits, then buy the few cards I need

[Captain dungeness]

I have bought less than $10 of voodoo card packs and am still doing well. I have a guild who has my back and have played regularly for long enough that I have the trade and combat fleets to support me. I've been plundered to low fame numbers multiple times but even with my smallish stockpile of voodoo it is possible to get back to the top 20... it's just a matter of time.

The game gives a HUGE advantage to paying players but I wouldn't say it's impossible to compete. I definately can't take and hold the top spot continuously like Xepshunall could but I will climb back quickly when plundered.

Collecting 1 credit every 24 hours just like the voodoo gifts would be nice. But I think the 15 credit initial stock is an even better idea. Then the new player gets to see what awesome stuff they can get and it would speed up the new player experience. If you are worried cheaters will use those credits for evil then make them complete a few missions before being rewarded with the 15 credits. That may deter cheaters as it would take much more time compared to opening an account and having 15 credits to spend immediately.

[Hellfire]

I have played Pirates Glory for a long, long time. And I would have to say that it is at the most imbalanced it has been so far. Yes, some change to give free players a small credit handout every day would be helpful, especially along with a starting gift for the new ones, but it still doesn't come close to competing with what any serious pay to play player is capable of.

I'm not saying I have a solution, far from it. But in the future when this game grows to a certain point, the top twenty will just become a war of who can throw the most money at voodoo and turns, with no chance for the average player of ever attaining a spot without getting annihilated. I'm not going to go and flame any of the people who actually buy credits either, you guys are the ones who pay for the server fees and the dev's paychecks, and your awesome for it, but how long until somebody comes along with a full pocket book and simply points at the leader boards and says "I want all of them gone"

Because it has happened before, and it sure will happen again.

[Captain Jack]

There is already one way to earn credits: You can sell your free voodoo cards. Right now, you earn 4 free voodoo cards per day. We intend to increase this number to 5 a day and this will happen soon.

Some mathematics now:
5 cards a day * 30 days = 150 cards a month (or 200 credits free as 15 cards = 20 credits)
A small guild constisted of 10 members = 150 * 10 members = 1500 free cards a month (or 2000 credits free which equals more than a $50 purchase)

So this mechanism already exists. Of course one could say, why not ALSO add this 1 extra credit ? Well, the answer is simple and clear. We would always prefer to add a card instead of credit. By adding 1 card per day, it is like adding 30 cards a month or 40 credits (which is better than 1 credit a day = 30 credits). In this way, we also promote the usage of the Card Market for all players.

Ultimately, any player will have to take crucial decisions. Should he sell his great card for some credits or not ? And then, how should he spend his credits ? In turns or cards or boosters? Even in this department, the best strategy matters.

We would also like to share some insight about game economics. We want everyone to be able to enjoy our game, even if they cannot pay a penny. It is true however that we need the income from paying players to maintain and evolve the game. Our only incomes are from credits sales as we got no advertisement income. A key point is that about 95% of this income, comes from 18+ players due to the limited purchasing ways.

Currently we have to pay maintenance costs and advertising costs on a per month basis. We should include however developer costs which are very high nowadays. A good senior developer can easily cost about $2000 a month. Artists cost a lot more. And a game does not only needs one programmer and one artist but it needs several other key figures. My role for example is the community administrator and I also take bug support role as the first tester of all as well as various promoting roles. This simple tasks need a lot of time and time = money. The good part is that we all own the game (main developer is the project manager as well), therefore we are able to evolve the game without considerable financial support. Ultimately however, money talks as everyone needs to profit from a 12hour job a day if he wants to make a living. If the game succeeds at this point, then it is most definitely that it will continue to grow for the years to come. The crucial point will be October - December 2012 where we will decided if we need to develop a new game for 2013 or stay with the current ones. By October-December 2012 we hope to finish all main developing ideas for PG such as Nations, Missions etc.

Game economics are the great reason we ask from the players to "advertise" Pirates Glory to their friends as much as they can. We cannot afford the large scale advertising that other browser game companies do. These companies run with investor support and they have very specific economic modules where most of the time non-paying players do not stand a single chance. Most of the time this is also concealed excellently.

In contrary, in Pirates Glory, you are able to be in top 20 without paying a penny. I cannot say the same for the top 3 perhaps although the current top #1 admits to have spent only $10 so far. $10 for a 3 years enjoyment (or more, not sure how long he plays ) is fairly cheap, considering that a single soccer game ticket costs about $20 to $50. Of course there are players who have spent much larger sums of money and we intend to thank them somehow in the near future with some free PG products (like a pg poster perhaps or a pg coffee cup, etc). If I wanted to put it crystal clear for everyone, I would say that money can be decisive in PG but not enough;

The main attribute required is teamwork; cooperation.

[Xepshunall]

I withdraw the argument. Words are not enough.

[John rackham]

I admit to having spent modest amounts of real-life money on boosting up my attacks on NPC fleets; 400 Turns in stock, ability to buy 400 more in a 24-hour period, double up Turn gains etc... luverly. As a result I have a large stack of Fame (which is worthless) and a few more boats now than I would eventually have got anyway.

There is nothing to stop other players from achieving the same results. If they don't spend money it will take a little longer. But there nothing in the game which bars players from winning whatever they want to win without spending real-life cash.

[Hawk]

There is nothing to stop other players from achieving the same results. If they don't spend money it will take a little longer. But there nothing in the game which bars players from winning whatever they want to win without spending real-life cash.

If you are a merchant then yes..

But this is a pirate game, and right now it is basicly suicidal to go up against a player who spends a ton of cash on voodoo and turns..
Even players working together cannot overcome such a player.. (unless they also have a member with alot of voodoo)

[Xepshunall]

You don't even care to understand the good I WAS trying to do.

[John rackham]

The original proposal was that all players should get credits for logging in and playing. I question that. If players buy credits they are only getting somewhere faster than they might otherwise do. And they are keeping the Developers in sandwiches and stuff, including stuff like Development, which is surely a Good. They are not buying an absolute advantage.

Apologies if I have misunderstood your original proposal.