@cstrap Because you aren't running into any hackers./cheaters doesn't mean its not a problem. It is still very much an issue albeit not as frequent when the game launched. And there is still a website that switches its name that is selling cheats to this very day.
And on top of that there isn't any form of anti-cheat in the game so besides reporting which is a frustrating thing in on itself, there is nothing stopping players from using them.
And even when they get caught and banned, all they do is delete that account (at least on PC) create a new one and do it all over again.
One problem when trying to identify if someone is indeed cheating, is the state of the servers themselves. Instability issues/lag spikes/hit registration problems can blur the lines between an obvious cheat/hack or server issues.
So to sum up. stating YOU haven't seen any cheaters is a inward narrow view of the issue that doesn't take the rest of the player population into account. And on the flip side, just because your hits aren't killing other players, or you lag out when near other players, it doesn't necessarily mean they are cheating.
There are several ways to clarify these issues, one obvious one is implementing an anti-cheat. Similar games that run on the same or similar engine that have them, its about time SoT does too.
Another possible way is to migrate alternate accounts into one account in the Pirate profile. The premise being, the player would have a main account that then will be asked to link any existing accounts to said account and allow new users to create "Alt" Pirates in the pirate profile.
The purpose behind this is something I touched on earlier. When players get their accounts banned they would then delete said account and do it all over again. With the system I mentioned above if they were to have their account have action taken against it, be it a ban/suspension, that player would lose access to all pirates without the ability to just simply create a new email address and abuse the existing system.
This, I believe would deter players from using cheats and not only that being verbally abusive, harassing other players and anything that could compromise access to Sea of Thieves.
Even though I feel like making posts like this is like throwing a pebble into a black hole, I hope something can be done about all these issues. because after all we love this game, otherwise , we wouldn't be here making these posts.
Fare thee well and see you on the seas everyone!