Atlas Plans To Turn Down The Game’s Difficulty For Solo Players And Small Groups

Atlas is hardcore, we get it. The life of a pirate isn’t exactly a walk in the park but does it have to be that difficult? Grapeshot Games has been getting a lot of feedback based along these lines which is why they’re thinking of turning the difficulty down a notch or two… or ten.

“A large number of you have expressed that you are unable to make enough progress to reach this stage of the game, due to our hardcore design. Our thinking going forward, with the community’s help and feedback, we plan to make the game less punishing and reduce the steep climb required for players to reach the parts of the game which make it special. This means we’re going to be changing core systems to ensure that those who do not have as much time to invest or play in small groups or as solo players are still able to experience the highs seas of ATLAS.”

Hardcore players, alpha groups, and large companies needn’t worry though. The dev team promises that you’re still part of the game’s fundamental design and vision. “We believe there are changes we can make which will make the game more immediately accessible for everyone and overall more enjoyable, without detracting from the heights that large and dedicated groups of players can achieve,” says Grapeshot. “All players will be able to experience the best parts of this humongous shared persistent world, whether you’re a solo player, a small group, a large company, or a multi-company alliance.”

Planned changes to the game include giving players quick access to the “piracy” part of the game, allowing solo players and small groups to safely log-off, incentives to neutralize territories, and more MMO features such as additional quests, daily missions, and automatic trade routes.

The changes are scheduled to start rolling out by March. Meanwhile, the devs are preparing to roll out a “Mega Update” in February. Check out the Atlas official site for more info.