The Problems with Sea of Thieves...
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- čas přidán 18. 06. 2024
- #seaofthieves #rare #pirates
So Sea of Thieves is in a really rough spot... Today I'll be discussing the core of the issues, while also presenting some of my own ideas to fix one of my favorite games!
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I remember hearing somewhere, I think in the deep dive for season 11, that season 12 onward is just going to be content updates with no new QoL. I am tired of hearing people say Sea of Thieves is dead, they’ve been saying it since launch and yet here it is, with people still playing it today almost six years later
Yeah the hyperbolic arguments of the game being “dead” are insufferable. Like the game is still turning profit and Rare has even expressed interest in expanding the franchise into other mediums beyond just the game and its tie-in comics, so clearly it’s an IP of worth. Plus, all the rumors of Playstation compatability would be a massive boost for the player base, so they’re good in terms of regulat players.
"Ice area when?"
S.E.A., if you read this comment, I have a video suggestion.
An analysis of Pirates if the Carribean extended media (novels, comics, games, etc). I think it could be pretty fun.
I typically am very quick to shoot down front-facing cannons but I LOVE your ship customization concepts. That's the first time I've heard the suggestion with any actual thought put to it. I would be on board for a system like that! I do think the issue with it is less about splitting the playerbase (as to me, such concerns seem to be overblown whenever they surface) - and more about further increasing the already massive learning curve that this game has, which is a very nuanced topic since that is not necessarily negative, but it is a risk that developers would need to consider.
I think it’s been stated that the plan for the past three seasons was to mainly focus on quality of life updates and making the game more enjoyable for new players, but starting next season they’ll go back to big story and gameplay updates.
Veteran here playing on a daily basis grinding out Commendations.
Agree:
- Lack of content updates is a bit frustrating
- Most Cosmetics (95%) feel shallow, uninteresting and are never used.
- Dive Mechanic is killing it a bit. when i see a player at the WE i want to attend i just dive and switch servers, cause it's easier. before diving i thought twice about it, cause of my resources and the loading time.
Disagree:
- The focus on QoL-updates was fantastic (Harpoons, Treasure Chests, Souvereigns mainly)
- Plz no customazible ships. Skillgap would be dramatically increased.
Personal Note: rarely anyone wants to fight properly these days. they either run away immediately, or try to sink u while park and then run when realizing u don't sink straight away.
I love the PvP in this game but it feels like the developers are trying to avoid it, in each server there’s like 2 other ships and hourglass matchmaking takes hours. Honestly I would like more PvP and fixes to bugs with the matchmaking then more chests that don’t do anything
Nerf blunderbuss, expand Hunter's Call, more guild and pvp incentives, additional Tall Tales/story content, make Adventures replayable, add an ice area that requires specific figureheads to break thin ice.
The new "fast travel" system is literally a pvp incentive. That is the reason they added it. It only exists because half the time people were still on the way to their voyage when you attacked them. Now they almost always have at least a little loot.
Additional Tall Tales would fail, just like the Monkey Island stuff did. Most casual players (which is almost all of the player base) do not care about the story in the slightest. This is shown by the adventures not being done anymore. If Adventures had brought more players, we would still be getting them.
You asking for a new region is contradicting your pvp incentives ask, as a bigger map would lead to less pvp. And no, the servers being brought up is obviously not possible currently (we are on 5 ships/server for a reason).
@@bennxboy9055 @bennxboy9055 more rewards that are specific to pvp, even if it's just commendations.
I don't think Tall Tales ever fail, I'm not even a Monkey's Island fan but I might be after playing the Tall Tale. They provide excellent content for both new and old players.
I think an ice area could be great, doesn't even have to be as big as Devil's Roar, speaking of the Roar how about a mermaid shrine or two out there? Update the skeleton fort's loot there while you're at it.
Ice area could be Viking inspired and have a few pieces of frozen loot. That Viking theme could carry over to ship and player cosmetics in the emporium.
Rare could even pull a Game of Thrones and have an Ice curse threaten all factions in the Sea of Thieves.
@@bennxboy9055 I suppose I was thinking more like pvp specific rewards, not just loot but commendations, titles, etc.
I don't agree that Tall Tales fail, I wasn't a fan of the Monkey Island franchise before but now I might be. I think they provide excellent content for all kinds of players and is a better "chill experience" than Safer Seas.
I think an Ice area could be great, even if it was next gen only. It wouldn't even have to be as large as the Devil's Roar. Speaking of the Roar how about a mermaid shrine or two out there, and rebalance the loot in it's Skeleton Fort to make it valuable(again commendations, etc.).
The ice area could have a few pieces of frozen loot that ranks similar to Ashen, it could bring a Viking theme that easily extends to the Emporium DLC costumes, equipment and ships. Rare could even pull a Game of Thrones and make it so all of SoT is threatened by an ice curse.
they already said season 11 was the last foundational fix update season. so yes we will be seeing actual new content next season. these changes they have been making instead of major content additions were very much needed over new content. i am actually enjoying the game again after about a year because of the fixes they have made.
As someone who loves, or maybe loved Sea of Thieves, I agree completely with all of your points. Your idea for a bounty hunting system is a great one, I hope the devs hear about it!
I dont like the idea of a bounty hunting system. That'll just make gameplay a pain. If you know of gta 5 online they had a similar system. You get a bounty and every player knows where you are and it's annoying trying to play and you're being chased by the ENTIRE SERVER. So I think it'd get on alot of peoples nerves when they log in to just play for an hour or so and they're being chased by sweaty solo's or galleons and all they want to do is a tall tale and they're being attacked by everyone. Maybe they want to do a certain voyage I dont know but being chased all the time by players looking for quick gold would get pretty annoying.
Again though, Safer Seas has kinda made the point about trying to do Tall Tales in peace moot.
@@TheSEAempire I know. I was just using it as an example. Do you have any idea how annoying it'd be when trying to do the basic voyages or world events and every player is after you?
Well yeah, that’s just part of High Seas. If somebody doesn’t want to deal with that they can just hide away in Safer Seas.
@@TheSEAempire but safer sea's is no good. You can't even sail your captain ship so you got to deliver all loot to the representative one at a time and you only get 30% gold so safer sea's isn't that great
I stopped playing for mostly all of season 9 and came back somewhat regularly now and having fun but there are problems. I’m fine with the quality of life updates but if they do this still they should keep the story moving. I want flameheart to return and show his potential.
I'm the same I gave up playing during season 9 because the initial sailing was boring and monotonous since season 11 the seas are active I rarely go long without a fight or making a freind now and it's revived my love for the game I haven't played anything else since s11 released and I even find myself wanting to play hourglass to get my reaper skelly curse with the new distinction system and 500 levels for each company I actually get the sense of progression that I lost once I maxed out every trading company to 75 its been almost 2 years since I've been able to earn reputation and that made the game stale IMHO I didn't want to take loot from people because gold is worthless unless you can level up along side it I didn't even play during s10 because guilds don't mean much to me as I'm primarily a solo player and don't care for others making progress for me thus update has done so much for the game its given a whole heap of players a reason to come back and steal loot..... honestly the games never felt so alive!
I like a lot of things in this game, but I also have some huge criticisms:
- To begin with, why can't we have a normal character creator? The argument people us is that each pirate should be unique (which doesn't matter because I already saw clones, and costumes also make them less unique) or that the pirates should be ugly and everyone would be making gorgeous pirates (which is nit true as every game with custom characters will have those players who make goofy abominations, or else no one have chosen fat pirates) or that your pirate should represent you (if that's the case then let me make him how I want and make him close to how I look) or that it doesn't matter because the game is in first person (but then again we can emote or sit)
- My next criticism is that the game is full of repetitive grinds: You completed the Fort of the Damned? Great, now do it 49 more times. You won a few battles in hourglass? Keep fighting until you get 100. You comoleted the shores of gold? Now do the tall tales 4 more times. You got to 75 max level in the trading companies? Now we have increased the cap to 500 while the only thing you can get are rings that don't work with gloves.
- There are not many incentives to be friendly, and there are tons of incentives to attack and sink. In my personal experience every pirate for the last 2 years have just shot me on sight before saying hello or asking anything. They just silently go on a shooting spree either from their cannons or eyes of reach. I'm nit asking for more forced cooperation adventures or events where you need to be in an alliance to complete them, but I would like more incentives to be nice so you don't attack every ship in render distance. Sure, it's a pirate game, sure, it's not sea of friends, but it doesn't have to be sea of sociopaths either. I decided to stay in safer seas because I am tired that every interaction I have with other players is PvP, every time has been attack, attack, attack. I don't mind PvP every now and then, but in my personal experience that has been the only kind of interaction I had wirh other crews, no one asked me to make an alliance, nor invite me to a guild, nor do a WE together and split the loot, nor di Glitterbeard, nothing, every ship that approached me has been doing it with the intention to sink (even before the supply barrel update in Season 8, and even when I didn't have any loot) so I am staying in Safer Seas because of that.
- Hourglass in my opinion can be long and tedious, it was the first grind to level 100, but unlike the new grinds to 100 in rhe trading companies for a distinction you are more likely to sink due to it being PvP, one side must always lose so the other side can win, and when losing your allegiance reciwced is so tiny that it demoralized me and demotivated me to keep going. I'm at level 73 with the Guardians and I am tired of keep trying. Because allegiance is the same for a long hard battle or simply anchir and farm losses then I can see why people do it. It doesn't take effort or performance into consideration, and by fighting all I did was delay my sinking to get the tiny reputation that a loss farmer could get much faster. It doesn't matter if I have a loot haul if I lose, it doesn't matter if my emmisary was high if I lose, it doesn't matter if my streak was high if I lose, it doesn't matter if my hourglass value was high if I lose, it doesn't matter how many cannonballs I landed, how much water I filled on the enemy's hull and how close I was to winning if I lose, it will always be the same result, just a fixed tiny portion of allegiance. That really doesn't motivate me to try to improve, it just motivates me to win fast or lose fast, nothing more.
- I kinda wish there could be more ways ti get allegiance, I would suggest PvE methods but I know others will disagree and get mad at me so all I can suggest is to add more PvP modes, I don't know maybe win some rounds with swordfight in a closed space like the arena tavern, or maybe add modes with an extra objective like a chest like arena had in hourglass. The thing is that these 1v1s felt so repetitive to me that I gave up. I am no longer doing hourglass for a long time, and I got sick of it. I was doing hourglass just for the curses, if the prize for hourglass were a ship set, a hat, a jacket, some weapons or anything different I would have never touched the hourglass at all. I don't want a trophy, I just wanted to play as a ghost for the sake of being a ghost.
- One last criticism, I hate FOMO, and this game relies a lot in it. For real, I hate FOMO, and I wish all items were available to everyone even if it takes longer and harder tasks to get them. I really don't mind if others have my super rare items at all, they could give everyone the Vanguard sails just for login in and I wouldn't care at all, I know I got mine because I participated in the beta, and I don't need to prove anything to anyone (mostly because nobody ever cared about my accomplishments before) and I don't need to show off or brag about something to strangers on the internet, to me a cosmetic is just that, a cosmetic, I don't care about trophies. I customize my character to look good to myself, not because I want to show off anyhting to anyone. Yeah, cosmetics should explain your story, but then again, nobody ever cared about me and my stories, and the first thing other players do is try to sink me on sight before talking.
The ship customizations in the way you described is a cool idea but i could see it bringing up the argument of "meta". In which everyone then just runs the same specific custom options.
what about treasure planet
Treasure Planet is Treasure Island it's just the same story but in space
👷♂How about a survival version of SoT? You'd be able to collect materials and craft equipment and make improvements to your ship such as a making a lighter hull or a beefier hull. The end result would be a faster ship or more tanky version. You'd have to scavenge for materials and fight off skellies and phantoms.
🏝I would like to hire an NPC to help me out since I'm a solo player. There would be a voyage to pick up a castaway for a reward. When he's aboard, he could fire cannons, repair the ship, dig up loot, shoot skellies, etc., but at a cost. The castaway could become rambunctious if left idle. Let's just say he has a taste for grog, likes eating your best food, and likes to play with fire. He may fall overboard when inebriated, and you'd have to retrieve him...no mermaid recovery for him.
🚩How about a game of "capture the flag"? Someone gets the flag off a neutral island, returns it to his ship, and has to sail to his home fort, fight off phantoms, then raise the flag. All the while, his ship is visible on the map for all to see. Other pirates are trying to track him down and take the flag for themselves and return it to their home fort. Maybe there are two factions that are playing against each other with multiple players and ships on each side. This would foster teamwork. When you're sent to the Ferry of the Damned, you'll have options on how to return back to the game: back to your ship or the flag carrier's ship. You'd have to use your lantern -- either use your default flame or the flame from the Ferry of the Damned. If your ship has sunk, you return to the ship that is carrying the flag or your home fort.
🏈I remember a game mode created by a bunch of players a few years ago where they would park their ships at an island, and they would capture something of value on the island and return it to their ship. It took a lot of coordination to set up this game mode across the community. I don't remember what it was called.
I only played to kill people from the beginning, and that's the only thing I could enjoy in the game
The arena was my favorite game mode, it was just going in and killing without having to chase people for hours
I think they should bring something similar back, hourglass doesn't count because it's only 1v1, it's repetitive like the rest of the missions in the game and you have to keep your ship afloat, in Arena you just went from ship to ship without stopping or worrying about changing servers if your ship sank
They should put different stats on the ships as you mention, maybe chaser cannons or something that changes the combat in a more interesting way and not just nerfing the guns again and making it clunkier
Whenever they update the combat they only make it easier for new players and with less need for skill and we still win 98% of the time just make it less entretaining
Completely agree. The direction the devs seem to be taking is pretty disappointing and you highlighted the issues with it. I've seen this pattern repeat so many times with games I love. They're trying to get more people into the game by appealing to people who don't actually want to play that kind of game. What can possibly go wrong?
Also the addition of Sovereigns is there because their loot inflation got out of control. People didn't want to have to carry their gigantic haul of treasure back to each trading company rep. Instead of fixing the loot inflation then, they band-aided the symptom by adding a feature that trivialized cashing in loot. You just spam the harpoon at Sovereigns and then walk 3 steps to sell. This removes all of the interesting challenges in trying to sell your loot while under pressure. Of course the dopamine crazed target audience love it, because hey, MOAR TREZURE! MOAR GUD!
After they tried to fix the loot inflation by reducing the number of items and increasing the value, everyone rebelled on the forums. They'd rather have 10 pieces of loot for 100g each than 2 pieces for 500g because... I dunno... "moar pieces iz moar lewt!"
At this stage, you can't blame the devs really. They're left catering to a playerbase that just keeps getting dumber.
The problems with The SEA...
I actually love everything he hates. Seems like a stretch to complain about things. I didn't play the original Monkey Island either but loved the three tale tales. Played them many times, helping others get through them. Each to his/her own I suppose.
well since gold skelly dosnt get itself so thats all i do on the game
bounty boards in taverns would be sick
I've been stuck in Minecraft for the past week😢
I don't think the fast travel is really fast travel it just gets you going faster
I just want sloop style windows on my brig 🧡😅 season 9 player here, so a bit late to the seas, but I can't get enough of this game
One thing that I would do to improve SOT is creating new kinds of swords and other bladed weapons. We have three different types of guns, but only one sword? We should also have rapiers for lighter and faster damage, broadswords for heavier and slower damage, and throwing daggers that can nail enemies from a distance.
I’m partially inspired by how the sword and gun play worked in Disney’s Pirates Online, cuz I loved the variety of weapons and the combat that could be explored in that game.
Complicating the combat even more isn’t something rare is going to do and I don’t think it’s something that will work out well with the playerbase
Maybe a shorter dagger for quicker close range dagger, but I feel like the typical use of throwing knives in games is that they’re projectile instead of hitscan which sea already covers, so I don’t really think they’d add much.
*laughs in insiders*
Coming back this now… huh… well I’ll be damned..
would love to see more content from ya ;)
please get a better mic ^^'
Yeah for whatever reason my mic really doesn’t like my new laptop. Normally when I do videos I record with my PC and it sounds much better, but I’ve been out of state for the past few months and I have no idea what to do 😅
Absolutely terrible idea to add additional stats to cosmetic parts of the ship. Balance will be ruined
Hence why I brought up having drawbacks for each customization.
people are strange. they fix the game everyone is like booo no content , they add more content everyone is like boooooo fix the game , i feel like ppl dont understand that the content creation is sea of thieves is supposed to progress slowly like a tv show
But it’s still a live service game and does live or die on the basis of how many people are playing/spending. No new content means no new players, and a greater chance that older players will lose interest. And they haven’t really fixed much, the game was already fine enough in terms of how it’s played. It’s like cleaning a room that’s already clean, it jusy becomes redundant.
honestly doesn't seem that SoT is your favorite game since you hate most things about it! xD I think the new update is great and SoT is better now than ever before! :D
That’s quite a bit of a strawman since I do actually love it. I just don’t think the recent updates have been great, so I don’t see the issue here 🤨
Lol Thos who think pvp is the core then you are in the wrong ship my guy.
Huh?
I think it's a key part of the game, and fun if you're not a PvE bot.
I think it’s more than fair to say that PvP is part of the core gameplay when the intent behind one of the trading companies and a huge part of the current story both involve PvP. Saying that it isn’t is somewhat disingenuous.
@@TheSEAempire Exactly
@@TheSEAempire If so why not give the pepole more content to it if its the corr? Most updast tend to avoid it. And pepole who cry about it are the main proplem as they mostly focusing on the pvp not the other fantastick content. And i only heard him crying over no content to pvp not justs overal gsmeplay. He vants to dunk on noobs with different ways so i dislike it.