Ahoy Pathfinders!
We’re happy to see that many of you responded with much interest in our last Q&A with the developers! We’re here with our 2nd round of Ask a Pirate Day, where our developers aka the crew answer your questions from Twitter, Facebook, Steam, Discord, and of course, the forums.
Remember guys, we’re still in the very beginning stages of this renewed Atlas journey! The changes that we are making and considering are setting the framework for more changes to come! You can’t have a building without a solid foundation first, am I right mateys? As we continue to examine the game and receive your feedback, it is possible that we may change courses as well. Thanks for joining us in Early Access to help shape the ATLAS experience.
Without further ado, here is our next set of Q&A! :)
DEVELOPER Q&A
Question: Do you guys have any plans to fix the issue of people using freeports as safe storage?
Answer: Yes. However, it may take some time to implement any changes.
Question: Do you plan to balance Drake? It seems very hard compared to Hydra.
Answer: A larger pass of all encounters is coming and we will endeavor to fix this then.
Question: When do you guys plan to update the optimization of the game? Even people with good graphics cards have a hard time getting 60fps with high settings.
Answer: That is in the works. As we head towards 1.0, things should get better.
Question: Can you guys make mounts less of a focus in this game?
Answer: We agree. More and more "design energy" is being put into ships and the ocean. We are also planning some simplifications for land-based interactions. The changes we are making now are really the foundation for changes planned for the future. It may not be obvious choices now but hang in there with us.
Question: Will the 120 level cap on creatures be adjusted, or set to be adjusted, so those who would like to play a bit more with breeding be allowed to do so?
Answer: Right now, we are focused on putting more fun stuff on the water and encouraging players to play around there more. So, for now, I'm afraid this is a "no". Hang in there, though. Again, we’d like to emphasize that the changes we are making now are really the foundation for changes planned for the future.
Question: When can we get the devkit updated?
Answer: It's in the works as we speak.
Question: Are we ever getting new ships?
Answer: Yes, we are working on a new, more optimized system and will be launching additional ships once that's in.
Question: Are you ever going to increase the structure limit on ships?
Answer: It's hard to say. Right now we are taking a deep dive into making ships more viable and interesting as a whole and that may or may not play into it.
Question: Any plans to delve into an upgraded Atlas version on Unreal 5?
Answer: I would love that. We are looking into the possibility of it.
Question: Will there ever be an option to seat and unseat crew from cannons and sails from the wheel from the radial menu?
Answer: That is something we are currently considering. The realism of NPC's and NPC management is front of mind with respect to ships, but nothing firm has been decided. All I can tell you is that we don't like how stiff they are either.
Question: Any plans to pay NPCs to gather resources, man ships, etc? Will the NPCs be a little smarter?
Answer: Cleaning up everything about NPC's is going to come first and then we'll take a look at how we can grow them. But for now, this is a long way off.
Question: Will you make animals immune to damage while in a bola on pve. So much griefing going on.
Answer: Yeah, we understand that PVE is a bit rough. We'll take a look.
Question: Will there be a focus on bringing the ocean more content? New ships, more parts to make ships better looking, maybe different sails, and fixing the current ones.
Answer: Absolutely. That is our primary focus right now.
Question: Are you going to add a mail system to talk to other pathfinders in regions other than your own? As well as other MMO features?
Answer: Right now we don't have any dedicated plans for mail, but there are some systems coming online that may facilitate the development of a mail system and others that would definitely benefit from it. It won't be soon but it may well happen.
Like always, we’ll try to answer as many questions as we can in our next Q&A session. Please feel free to ask away on this forum post, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, and Steam!
Happy Sailing,
- ATLAS Crew
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