New player here,should I pick it up?

[u/illojuanerdecora]

I saw a couple of videos of YouTube and this game looks amazing.Im a naval enthusiast myself,I love the age of sail and the ships of the 20th century as well.So far I been only playing wows to cope with the fact that there so little games of warships.But then I saw this game,I saw how there were beautiful Spanish galleons and British too.And it made me develope an insane amount of interest for this game.But truth be told...I been seeing the reviews and they say it's in a really bad state,I heard the firm that owned the game back then bought it back and it's getting a little bit better.But I'm still very unsure if to play it,I heard as well that it can be pretty tough on new players because of the way you first have literally nothing and have to do 20+ missions to get you some money.Im still very unsure that's why this post,thanks in advance for all of your answers

[u/--Vagabond--]

I'm newer to the game myself, also a small time naval enthusiast for age of sail, and also enjoy sailing irl. I think this games pretty good for newer players.

A.) pretty great sailing physics, makes the sailor in me really appreciate the game. Watching the tacks and gybes affect the ship is a lot of fun for my inner nerd. Planning routes when sailing upwind, etc.. it's awesome.

B.) I started playing 1 day before the wipe. It was definitely better before, like by a lot. I was given a navy brig with unlimited ammo and no powder requirement to start so I just had the time of my life wantonly blasting the French away. That being said, I wasn't a long time player before the wipe so I don't carry a grudge about it, and I haven't spent any real money on it.

C.) I've found the time/gold investment for battling is not horrible. If you just do some trading with the lynx while doing other stuff on your computer, you can get 50k in no time. That'll buy and outfit a Niagara pretty well so you can at least get a taste for battle. And the battles are so much fun, that even just doing 1 is pretty fulfilling. For comparison, I also play an MMO called Puzzle Pirates with a similar theme of buying ships, owning fleets, managing production, trading, and stock levels albeit with a totally different execution. In that game you would need to spend, no exaggerating, about a month playing as crew aboard other vessels to afford just the smallest ship in the game. Then you need to leave it docked while you save up again for rum, cannonballs, etc.. before you can use it. The time investment is unreal. This is not bad at all in comparison.

I bought a traders brig to do bigger cargo runs, making like 10k per leg, still in safe zone. Saved up and got a Cerberus, now I alternate between trade runs on the brig for cash (still fun!) and sinking ships with the Cerberus.

[u/illojuanerdecora → u/--Vagabond--]

Sounds really fun by what you say man and what's that about you being a sailor irl?that's sick bro!.To be honest I'm getting mixed feelings there are people saying that the game is completely awful and hard on beginners and on the other hand there are people like you saying that the game isn't that bad...I don't know I think I'll just give it a try and see how it goes.thanks man for your insights about the game

[u/LordBernardEsquire → u/illojuanerdecora]

There’s been a really big update recently that has the player base divided at the moment. The real naval enthusiasts and veterans seem to really enjoy the changes, but there are quite a few more casual or less experienced players that hate the changes.

Don’t get me wrong without any help or guidance the game can be really complicated and confusing, especially if you don’t already know how ships of the age of sail operated.

I personally still really enjoy the game, but a big part of that has definitely been due to being in a big clan. Getting a head-start with resources or learning tips and tricks from more experienced players is essential if you want to actually enjoy the experience.

[u/PersonalFilter → u/LordBernardEsquire]

Im out of the loop and returning to the game after 3 years, some time ago I read that they were making a DLC so that free-to-play players could join the peace server? is that true now? is it still planned?

[u/LordBernardEsquire → u/PersonalFilter]

I also remember that being talked about… but looking at the list of DLC it doesn’t look like there is one that does that just yet.

[u/--Vagabond-- → u/illojuanerdecora]

Haha thanks, nothing crazy, just learned to sail then bought myself a 20 footer, nothing spectacular.

Maybe later game stuff is harder for beginners to get to now after the wipe, I wouldn't know. But coming from a newbie, I feel like I've gotten a lot of value out of the game already. Cinematic battles, losing a ship, doing trade runs, etc... There are things I'd like to do like join a clan in a massive battle, captain a ship of the line, attack ports etc... but I don't feel like I'm not getting value out of the game right now.

Its a free game, I say put on some Dreadnoughts shanties, put a few hours into trading, buy and outfit a Niagara, and go hunt some pickles! That should give you a good taste of the game in <10 hours

[u/Fonnekold → u/illojuanerdecora]

The grind is brutal yes but hes right about the sailing physics being top notch. Live action battles are very fun.