The sad demise of pirate battle

[cruise]

There is no question that there are less and less people playing every day. With all the changes over the last year or two people have stepped away, taken breaks, etc. I am one of the few regular day players left and typically I only play battle. (I know there are more players during the night hours, but I am unavailable to log on during the evenings and weekends.)
However, since the introduction of what seems to be "wanted" items in the chests, the only games going on in pirate lobby seem to be friendly flag....basically sitting there, letting one on each side run for the flag, taking turns at winning for keys.....boring and sad. Last month everyone wanted the beast hat, this month it is Doug's hat plus the other items.

It is almost next to impossible now to start a real game of battle and/or flag. Because we are required to have 4 players, I am lucky to get one real game in per day. Often, I have no choice but to be a fill in for a missing friendly flag player.

I know there is not much to be done about this: hoping that we could play 1 v 1 is a pipe dream. (even though you can in mansion). I know Ai is also out of the question.

Maybe if the items everyone wanted had an additional method to obtain them, we would not have only friendly flag going on in the lobby.

This is just my sad observation of what once was a really great mini game in myvmk. (don't bash me)

 

[Rosey]

@cruise not here to bash but rather give my 2 cents about it and everyone has their own opinions and likings right? I'm sorry you cannot find regular battles in the lobbies. Whenever I try to find friendly games, I mostly see competitive games. Timing is awful on both parts. I do not like battle because 1. I suck at it 2. i want to get keys as fast as i can to get the desired items. Yes yes it becomes quite boring but it's worth it to me. If i actually want to try to be competitive for keys for the prizes, I'll go to mansion.
POTC is still a great mini game but you cannot slightly blame friendly games, for those who suck at playing competitive. Again it's all about timing and finding players is very tedious either way. I'd hop on a competitive if I'm forced by certain someone.. ahem. Still I find competitive games common than friendly, or no games at all running.

 

[cruise]

Time of day has a lot to do with it. I am only able to log on during the day and all I see is friendly flag games lately.

I don't blame the friendly games but the prizes that everyone seems to want. If there were other options to get them, then perhaps everyone wouldn't need to play friendly.

This week I've only played a handful of real games and mainly filled in for missing flag players.

If we could play 1 v 1 that would solve most everything. Oh well

 

[Rosey]

@cruise I know id kill for 1v1 honestly.... finding players are hard, for both comp and friendly.
There was another thread that someone mentioned maybe keys could be implemented in JC or FW, but that's never gonna happen/not gonna happen any time soon. But I agree there should be another way

 

[PaigeUhSaur]

I am a morning player as well. Like you said it has a lot to do with the times. Since there is little to no people on in the mornings they spend their time either on SITS or friendly pirates. I think it's just easier for people to break away from SITS when they KNOW they can get an easy key without having to try for it which I don't really see a problem with friendly at all seeing how I enjoy competitive and friendly pirates.

I personally don't believe there should be another option to obtaining the chest prizes because then it defeats the whole purpose of it being a POTC reward. Just like SITS is strictly SITS. It would ruin values on items.

I do wish the AI or 1 vs. 1 option was available for pirates though just for the people who enjoy a challenge more than an easy win.

 

[effy]

honestly it just makes it impossible for actual games to be played i don't think i'd be able to obtain keys without having to play friendly it's gotten out of control these past two months

 

[xCharlottex]

I can certainly say there are too many friendly games lately. And there are groups of people who will instantly join lobby and go into a friendly game one after another and not even contemplate letting others join (if they are 2v2) which means its impossible sometimes to play friendly OR competitive.

 

[Hypnotic]

I use to come on strictly to play pirates. I'm lucky if I can get 3 games a day. All there is friendly. I refuse to do friendly even if I want the items. I'm too competitive plus I only love ship battle.

 

[VMK_Rapunzel]

@Porcupine and all players... if you suspect a player of scamming by way of using an auto-clicker, we ask that you send a Call for Help and report the player in question. It is a permanent ban offense and we do not take it lightly.

 

[meggo]

@Porcupine Don't you play friendly pirates though?

 

[VMK_Kida]

As of right now, there is no intention of removing friendly POTC or friendly Haunted Mansion. Although randomizing the spawns of flags is an interesting idea to prevent bot use. However, this being said like Rapunzel stated above, we still inform you that the use of click bots is a form of cheating and is a permanent ban offense.

Also, the use of clones for mini games is a form of cheating as well and will also result in a ban.

We ask that you please report this if you know who is doing it so it can be looked into further.

Thanks!
-Kida

 

[Rosey]

Friendly pirates should 100% be banned. Its plagued with people afking and reaping the benefits, people who use an auto clicker to get the flag and return it to the base, and excluding other players who also want to play. The way I see it, its just the same as using clones and shooting yourself repeatedly. It also makes getting credits far too easy since you can get 1k every 4 minutes, which in turn drives the prices of everything up, and lowers the prices of the chest prizes due to the insane amount of gold keys. Please save potc and ban friendly.

well lucky for everyone we are banned from shooting our clones since friendlies started

 

[Boulevard]

Friendly is ruining this game for me. It's just sad. The fact that people who consistently play friendly on a daily basis don't even care really irks me. I understand that it is difficult for some people to earn keys, but the amount of friendlies being played is outrageous. I know nothing will ever be changed because people don't care, but I have seen myself come on the game less and less because I can never find a battle game to play. I know I am not alone in this and it just makes me sad.

 

[Cowboy_Pirate]

Not picking sides, but I've noticed that all the players who use to spend all day playing battle have stopped playing. So all the friendly players who use to play in the south lobby has just taken over the reg lobby since there's no one playing battle now.

 

[arvinarvin]

Not picking sides, but I've noticed that all the players who use to spend all day playing battle have stopped playing. So all the friendly players who use to play in the south lobby has just taken over the reg lobby since there's no one playing battle now.

I agree, and to springboard off your comment, I don't think the issue is the existence of friendlies, the issue is the population that plays only battle has significantly declined. As someone who normally only plays friendlies, I recognize the people that normally only play battle because I would catch glimpses of the names of those that do before switching to South lobby. Now I rarely ever see any of them aside from a handful and unless that handful of battle only players are on at the same time, they're not gonna be able to form a battle game.

Battle and friendlies have coexisted for a long time, there would be times where 3-4 full battle games are going in East while there are 1-2 full friendlies going on in south. It was never a problem before, so why is it a problem now and calls for banning it? Say what you want about how engaged friendly players actually are while doing it, but it isn't their fault that there aren't battle games going on. I wish there were more people playing battle because I'm so used to switching to South and it became a habit, and I just want more people in the game in general, but alas, that isn't the case. So just because it's hard to start battle games doesn't necessarily mean its friendlies' fault.

 

[Boulevard]

When the chest prizes became a hot commodity, friendly definitely increased. The amount of battle games were deeply affected, because battle players stopped playing because of everyone constantly playing friendly (me being one of them). I respect your opinions but the amount of friendly games has definitely not stayed the same.

 

[arvinarvin]

When the chest prizes became a hot commodity, friendly definitely increased. The amount of battle games were deeply effected, because battle players stopped playing because of everyone constantly playing friendly (me being one of them). I respect your opinions but the amount of friendly games has definitely not stayed the same.

I'll agree with you on that, I think the main issue is that if you're not good at battle (or HM) or don't have somebody that'll carry your team, you're never gonna get keys, so you either have to pay for the chest prizes or play friendly. That's why there have been so many calls in the past for the ability to get keys from JC and FW, but in order to keep the exclusivity of the item it hasn't been done. I'll also agree with you that friendly games have increased simply because especially in the past few months, as more people have quit or been banned, the majority of the people left are the ones that play friendly almost exclusively so those that want to play pirates/get the chest prizes are pigeonholed into playing with them. And we both agree that as battle players have left the likelihood of battle games starting up has gone down a lot.

Trust me, I wish the population of the POTC lobbies were how it were 5-6 months ago where there'd be full games in both lobbies all the time, I just want everybody to be happy and play how they want. Ousting and blaming other players though on how they play will just make even more people want to leave.

 

[meggo]

Personally, I don't think friendly games are that bad. If you prefer friendly, then play friendly. If not, then don't. There is no reason to bash people for wanting to play a different way. Staff allows friendly so just let it be. Also, I don't think friendly games are the reason why less and less people play. People either have kids of their own to take care of, they work, go to school or they just don't come on as often as the rest of us. During the day it is tough to find players to play ship battle or capture the flag; the struggle is real. Most players do play at night so if anyone is up to play then, I'm always up for ship battle.

 

[Expect]

@cruise I can totally understand where your coming from. For me personally, i suck at ship battle, so it would take forever to get keys. I do play enjoy ship battle from time to time though. Personally, i also play friendly battle since its easier to get the keys and also i have the worst luck pulling from the chests. I think if the keys were implemented into the game that would help as well.

 

[wishingFantasy]

I can't play normally because I lag so badly it is impossible.
I'm also bad at the game myself. I want my keys and credits as fast as I can with no strain on my PC. Not only that, I cannot improve my PC as I don't have the luxury.
I'm not afraid to lose and I know there is a thing called practice, but like I said how am I supposed to improve when I can't even play? Please don't make it more difficult on friendly players. We have a reason to play this way. Some different than others.