Introduction
It took me a while to come up with the title of this thread. I had a few options, but I eventually picked one to (hopefully) get your attention. Now the main core of this topic is one big complaint, but since complaining won't solve anything, I'll come up with some solution as well. For all you scallywags who don't read, feel free to start the discussion right after reading the title.
Cosmetics as progression
Sea of Thieves is a game that heavily relies on the idea that cosmetics are a way of progression. You can level up with multiple factions to earn cosmetics, but your pirate won't get any statistic advance over other players. If this game allows you to create your own pirate and become a Pirate Legend on the Sea of Thieves, then we do we all look the same?
Launch - Not enough variety
When the game released the outfits were expansive and there wasn't a lot of variety. It was okay since the game was still fresh and the goal was set: get gold, buy outfits and make your character look more pirate. We had about four options to choose from: Admiral (Merchant Alliance), Sea Dog (Order of Souls), Sovereign (Gold Hoarders) and Bilge Rat (Bilge Rats). All four outfits had a special variant that could be unlocked piece by piece by leveling up.
Not a lot of variety, but this was soon fixed with the: Executive Admiral, Grand Admiral, Corsair Sea Dog, Ruffian Sea Dog, Royal Sovereign, Majestic Sovereign, Rotten Bilge Rat and Castaway Bilge Rat. Although some complaint about the fact a lot of these cosmetics were already in the beta, things were starting to look up as more outfits became available. Not long after, some cosmetics were removed because they looked too similar.
Bilge Rat Adventures
When the first Bilge Rat Adventures released we got a glimpse of all the cosmetics that would be coming to the game. The Bilge Rat Adventures started off a little rough around the edges, but the rewards were worth it. With the Bone Crusher and the Wailing Barnacle sets we had some unique new outfits to wear. Sadly, these were the only outfits we got to unlock in the Bilge Rat lifespan.
Cursed Sails and Forsaken Shores
Between the Cursed Sails and the Forsaken Shores the game started to focus more on Ship Cosmetics. New looks for the cannons, capstan and helm were leaked.
The Cursed Sails gave us the Hunter Outfit and with the Forsaken Shores we got the Kraken, Ocean Crawler and the Forsaken Ashes outfits. Again some cool and unique outfits.
Looking like a clown or actually looking like a clown
What do you do after becoming Pirate Legend? Well, not a whole lot in the sense of progression towards new Cosmetics. Yes, we have the Ghost outfit to unlock along with some nice esthetics for our ship, but again there isn't a lot of variety. Since every player is allowed to progress in Athena's Fortune, a lot of players could get their hands on these cosmetics. In my opinion, this is all fine, but what about the truly dedicated players and legends of the seas? Where are our unique cosmetics to become that Blackbeard or Jack Sparrow you promised we could become?
With the Festival of the Damned we got the option to put some face paint or makeup on our beloved pirates. It didn't take long before players found out that they can look like a certain clown form a well known fast food restaurant. I am guessing that creativity knows no bounds, both outside and in the game, but when a clown showed its face in a Developer Stream the number of players equipping this "outfit" skyrocketed.
The Mercenary Outfit debate and what's still exclusive?
Before we fire up this discussion again, I want to point out what's still truly exclusive in the game. Players who were loyal enough to pre-order the game got their hands on the Black Dog Pack and those among us who were fortuned enough to buy a Sea of Thieves Themed controller got the Ferryman Outfit. I am not going to discuss the Ebon Flintlock, Obsidian items and Midnight Blunderbuss, because I think that's a different discussion. What I do want to talk about is the Mercenary Outfit.
The Mercenary outfit was exclusive for those who bought a limited timed card for 3 months of Xbox Live. Personally, I loved this outfit a whole lot, although it is just another reskin of the Black Dog Outfit. This outfit is now available to all players for in-game gold, because RARE caved by the many complaints concerning this availability of this outfit.
Again, I won't complain, because it was stated that the Mercenary Outfit would be exclusive for a limited time. On the other side of the coin, this raised some concern among the player base. How long before the developers will release the Black Dog and Ferryman to the public?
Now: Golden Legendary Cosmetics
This is the part where I will address why I choose the title of this topic and why I am actually complaining. The Anniversary Gifts we got are laughable, to say the least. These cosmetics are again simple reskins of old cosmetics, the same thing rehashed but with a golden touch slapped onto it. It almost feels like RARE is running out of ideas or getting lazy.
We don't even have all the Legendary Equipment Cosmetics, but they decide to bring in the Golden Legendary Hurdy Gurdy? And speaking of the Ferryman Cosmetics: The Golden Legendary Blunderbuss is almost an exact copy of the Ferryman Blunderbuss.
The Future: The Arena and Hunter's Call
As we know by now, these factions will come with new cosmetics to unlock. I can only guess it'll be the same structure as other factions. Get the first one from your local Clothing Store and buy the recolour when you've reached a certain level in that faction. In a nutshell: more reskins/recolours.
The verdict
Although we think the developers are pushing out more and more cosmetics I noticed that more and more players look the same.
The only progression in the game is grinding towards recolours of the same outfits we can buy from the start. It's a shame that a lot of sets don't mix well with cosmetics from other sets and I haven't even started on the lacking number of options for our female pirates out there.
Maybe it is my fault and I shouldn't have expected more, but I still feel neglected as a Sea of Thieves enthusiast that loyally went on an adventure to collect all the obtainable cosmetics.
Solution? It has been suggested many times before
A new feature which allows us to dye your clothes. We can dye our hair, so why not our clothes? Instead of unlocking recolours, we could unlock level specific dyes for outfits respectively. Yes, it's not really a solution, but it points out how many unique outfits there truly are.
Yes, this has been suggested before, I have seen the topics, but I also noticed that those topics have a quick demise. With this thread, I would like to keep the discussion open and hopefully get the attention of the developers.
All outfits
- Sailor
- Admiral/Ceremonial Admiral
- Grand Admiral
- Executive Admiral
- Sovereign/Royal Sovereign
- Imperial Sovereign
- Majestic Sovereign
- Sea Dog/Rogue Sea Dog
- Corsair Sea Dog
- Ruffian Sea Dog
- Bilge Rat
- Castaway Bilge Rat
- Rotten Bilge Rat
- Legend
- Ghost
- Bone Crusher (*)
- Wailing Barnacle (*)
- Black Dog (*) / Mercenary
- Ferryman (*)
- Hunter
- Kraken
- Ocean Crawler
- Ashen
(*) Time Limited/Exclusive
References
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/77589/clothing-dyes-yes-it-s-this-again
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/74224/is-level-locked-clothing-in-the-past/
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/55328/dyes-for-cosmetics
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/75836/suggestion-for-the-arena-team-clothing
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/74740/better-clothing-system/
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/30113/customizations-i-want-to-see-in-sot/
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/73896/different-colored-bra-tops-tube-tops-for-female-players
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/64326/custom-ship-and-clothing-colours/
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/57359/in-a-game-all-about-cosmetic-unlocks-with-a-fairly-limited-offering-is-the-community-ok-with-expensive-reskins-of-variants
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/81678/not-enough-overall-cosmetics
- https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/58294/8-items-being-removed-because-they-are-not-distrinct-enough

