Letter from Will Harbin about the Future of Battle Pirates
May 2nd marked the seven year anniversary of Battle Pirates - a game I'm incredibly proud of. Over the years we've seen exciting new factions, incredible player tributes, and tons of emergent gameplay. But if there's one thing I've learned in my tenure, it's this:
Complacency is death.
Unfortunately, Battle Pirates has become a bog of complacency. A lack of diligence has allowed balance-breaking bugs to escape and go unnoticed for months. A lack of community engagement has caused us to lose touch with the speed that players can realistically progress. A lack of planning has forced the team to wildly over-tune stats, targets, and events in order to shoehorn value into new content.
All because of complacency. Well, complacency isn’t going to cut it and it’s time for us to right this ship. So what are we doing to fix this?
First, I’ve put a new leadership team in place. Our issues don’t stem from the talented individuals working long, difficult hours to execute on the nuts-and-bolts of the game, it’s about how we’re deploying those resources. Heading up that leadership team is our new GM, Michael Rubinelli. A State of the Game post will go up in the next few weeks in which he will discuss the long-term look for Battle Pirates. Additionally, our new Lead Designer WrongThinker will be putting up a post on Wednesday introducing himself, as well as the second part of our correction strategy, which I will now spoil.
Battle Pirates has adopted a philosophy that dictates everything we do. It’s simple: “Players First.” Content and features will continue to ship, because that’s how the game is supported, but with every new feature, we will always ask: how does this enhance the player experience? How does this make a player’s life better? Easier? More fun? If the only answer to why we’re putting something in the game is money - I don’t want it in the game.
Finally, we’re tripling down on our community engagement efforts. Expect to see more developer presence, more AMAs, more live streams, more unadulterated proof that the Battle Pirates team is exactly as invested in the continued success and longevity of this game as you are.
The fact that we’re in this position is no one’s fault but our own. The time of complacency is over. You’ve shown us that you’re here for the long haul, and it’s time for us to show you that we’re here for it too.
Long live Battle Pirates!
Will Harbin
CEO
EDIT: And me being able to post here just goes to show how much you need me on the team. lol.
Please whatever you do STOP just stop with the "helping the players" bulldoodie speech.........why? Because you say one thing and do the opposite.
Example. Expeditions, ssrb, fm......you already tried and failed horribly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8T095mFdW8
My major gripes:
1) Constant fiddling and upping damage is a pita in the FM targets
2) PvP is binary, ether you **** ev1 or are a farm. Not sure if this can be fixed without completely rethinking the ship class system
3) Fleet limiting targets, I have a theory that correctly built nix's would perform well in 100 raid targets. Can I try it... no!
Cut build times and make the event/s achievable, even if you are having to catch up. I don't mind slogging away at a few targets for Uranium, but when you nerf them and the whole fleet sinks to the bottom within seconds it does make the player feel rather despondent.
You can't say you didn't know about the bugs, but as long as you were making money, we were just rabble to be fleeced.
And you think we're going to trust you now?
More bullcrap isn't going to pacify anyone so I am as skeptical as everyone else, actions this time, not words.
Every time they frakked us over before, there was the usual BS about "enhancing the game for a better player experience". It was lies then, why should we expect it to change now?
Absolutely the biggest thing they need to address (After the bugs) is to make a game it is fun and inviting for new players. Show me how you can find "fun" in being level 50 and stomped on by level 100 players.
Show me how you are going to make the game "fun" for small spenders without boring the whales.
Show me how you're going to bring back the vibrant player communities we used to have, back when the game was something to look forward to.
Show me this isn't just another fancy PR campaign and in a few weeks it'll all go back the way it was.
This game has been on a steady decline for the last few years, given what I've seen in that decline and the regular staffing turnovers we've seen, convince me you're in it for the long haul, because this game can't be fixed overnight.