Update has legitimised griefing and ruined the game.

@ozza78 Are you just completely unable to ever sink anyone or defend yourself? I've played a lot of this update and never struggled to sink any reaper ships except in a brig vs galleon fight where we were outnumbered, and even that encounter was fine. We faced them three times total and sank once. They sank twice.

Outside of that my friend and I slooping sank like 9 different ships in a session without sinking once, and ~5 were probably reaper ships. Just because they have the reaper flag doesn't mean they're good at pvp or anything.

You can see them on your map, you know if they're grade 5. You know if they're coming for you. If you don't have the flag, it doesn't mean you don't also have loot, so of course players that enjoy the pvp aspect of the game are still going to come after you. That is all I did before this patch. The patch improved the game for pvp and pve players imo, as the emissary flag multiplier has made it so pve players get more gold/rep, and pvp players get more out of their playstyle, which was absolutely terrible before this update. I played hours and hours and hours and rarely found people with more than one chest or a couple gems. Now I'm seeing tons of loot when I sink people and it's awesome.

I have noticed tons of loot on people's ships. I imagine the multipliers have also been great for pve players. Of course there's going to be an increased risk associated with that. I find it hard to believe you have invested enough time in this patch playing without the flag to determine that there's an equal amount of reapers hunting you without the flag. Pvp has always been a part of this game, and I also strongly doubt that because of this update, a huge portion of the playerbase suddenly got really good at pvp and you're having a much harder time fighting people. You need to be able to fight other players, and if you're only sinking to people, I don't know how you survived pre-update either.

@ozza78 I understand. I understand that it's harder with an emissary flag if there is a grade 5 reaper on your server, but that makes sense. You take on the increased risk when you use the flag - it's the trade off for the multiplier. I'm just not entirely convinced that you face the same problems right now without the flag, or that it's impossible to finish a voyage without getting attacked now. I'm also not convinced that reapers are camping the island you have to go to or something. As someone who has played about 18 hours so far and almost only used that time to play representing the reaper faction, I've hardly ever had down time where I'm not facing another reaper, fighting someone with an emissary flag, or leveling up my reaper grade to just wander the map looking for randoms to fight like I did before the update.

I also feel like, as with every update so far that the game has had, activity will die down and things will be a little more normal soon. I think a lot of people are playing with the reaper emissary flag because it's new, and you shouldn't expect it to stay that way for long at all. Doesn't seem like a good reason to quit.

Don't worry ya self to much next month everything will be nerfed has is every update its op to start with then it's dies down because everyone's fed up of the points you made n I totally agree the update is far to unbalanced (ie discord groups ect) its singled out players who physically Havnt got the time to earn the world ranked cosmectics due to life cominments (but own everything in game so far) the point of having a ferryman is pointless because its really only there for the tall tail now theres no point in having food barrels on islands because of the revive system there's really no point in having the sloop at all because they just get hammered n it's made easier for the bigger crew to spawn trap n revive there own when they die stupid update

The unique and worst problem I've noticed with this update is the lag of the servers, also they messed up the recconection and the xbox app doesnt let you join friends properly... In other hand, I can see they balanced the PvP experience in this update increasing those kind of players, but the game has always been like that. Just now, thoose players have more motivation. It doesnt changed that much.

Yehaaaa!!
Spread the curse in the seas!

@ozza78 ha detto in Update has legitimised griefing and ruined the game.:

@brainlessu08 thanks for the reply. It’s clear that there are two very different groups of gamers in this game. Those who want to get on with voyages and tales and those who want PvP. Rare has tipped the balance towards PvP with this update. I’ve accepted a couple of times that I should not have been caught and that’s on me, but there have been times it’s been unavoidable and that’s not on me. To say there’s no griefing in a PvP game is untrue. I’ve been playing MP for twenty years and it’s worse now than it’s every been, which is why me and my friends have moved away from that over the years. I’m glad you enjoy the game more now - the update was for you and please enjoy it. The devs at least should get to hear my voice and opinion.

Not only with this update. People do PvP into Adventure just because it's faster to level up. This update is much more than usual, but actually if another ship do a skull fort wasting 30 minutes or 1 hour to complete, than another ship can come and sink them. Lot of players do it to take lot of free loot without wasting time + level rep faster. The game just want it and I don't understant why in Adventure there's still lot of PvP when they've created a PvP mode to avoid it.... just doens't make sense

@nukdar ha detto in Update has legitimised griefing and ruined the game.:

The unique and worst problem I've noticed with this update is the lag of the servers, also they messed up the recconection and the xbox app doesnt let you join friends properly... In other hand, I can see they balanced the PvP experience in this update increasing those kind of players, but the game has always been like that. Just now, thoose players have more motivation. It doesnt changed that much.

Yehaaaa!!
Spread the curse in the seas!

Only that?! Like every new update there's lot of lag on servers + lot of bugs + some commendations not working + xbox goals not working....
Personally I got used to it and I always wait a bit before playing a new update

Part of the SKILL in this game is becoming a good pirate. Vs other REAL pirates. If you cant get over a small/medium fps skill hump then just move on. Dont agree at all with what your saying, and sounds like a YOU problem more then a game problem.

@ozza78 said in Update has legitimised griefing and ruined the game.:

@brainlessu08 thanks for the reply. It’s clear that there are two very different groups of gamers in this game. Those who want to get on with voyages and tales and those who want PvP. Rare has tipped the balance towards PvP with this update.

Hmmm. I think by saying there are two balanced groups here you are oversimplifying the discussion. The game is sold as a PvPvE experience - that’s a fact. There is certainly one side (on which you are) that prefer the PvE aspect of the game, and refers to PvP players of the most genetic type as ‘griefers’ more often than not. I understand liking the PvE - it’s great in SoT. Of the updates so far this the second true PvP update. Since launch every single weekly update apart from the cursed cannonball update has been heavily skewed to giving your lot content (if only to stop the complaining for 10 minutes) and the Arena doesn’t count as not only is it a completely different game, but it came with the biggest PvE update so far - The Shores of Gold. The balance is certainly NOT towards PvP in any way, sure if someone sails over to you, you ignore them and shoot skeletons and now you’re dead, then PvP has beaten PvE, but you can just sail away and they don’t have a hope in hell of catching up. To say oh the game is 50/50 PvP PvE is wrong, because that would imply that you could just separate the two elements and they’d be just fine. The whole point of the game is PvP occurs to break up the PvE and change it. It’s like asking for Sea of Thieves but without the outposts. Sure, great, you can sail around and get loot, but in the same way that you can’t actually do anything with it, playing the game without any form of PvP would be unfulfilling and wouldn’t do the world the dev team has created any justice. This update is definite proof that the devs are working to bring PvP further into the PvE experience - with emissaries being a solid bridge between the two.

@ozza78 unavoidable? Lol. PvP is unavoidable. Practice, get better, and you wont have to cry here about it being unfair.

@sorenthaz I will never complain about having more of a challenge by fighting more Pvp’ers which is more challenging and fun then playing the sams AI skellies every time I go on an adventure. And most PVP players wont. We’d rather have players who havd fine tuned their SoT skils to fight then some game ‘campaigner’ who refuses go step out of the box in the game and get better by challenging themselves with more PvP.

How about become a better pirate for your AI enemies by getting better by fighting real pirates? What a thought. Instead of blaming devs who got tired of adding endless AI to an already endless AI game by forcing players like you to interact and have a real fight with real pirates.

I like this update because I like the combination of pvp and pve. Finally I can do something that gives rep, both in pvp and pve. This update is for the pirates that likes pvp. All others updates have been for pve players. Its was time to give us that like pvp an update. Just live with that this game should be for more players than only pve lords.

I think many people throw around the term"greifing" too lightly. When someone chases down your ship, sinks you and steals your loot they are not griefing you, they are simply playing the game as intended. Im sorry you feel griefded by this but you are not being griefed. Its like if you load into an online match of COD and someone shoots you in your face, they did not grief you.

I am not sure why some people have their pirate britches up in a bunch about this update. Me and my friend were Gold Hoarder Emerssies last night and made good money. Really did not change our playstyle much, we always stay alert when we have loot on our ship but with the flag up I just paid extra attention and checked the map frequently for Reaper Ship positions. Other night we were Order of Soul Emissaries, again no issues. We do not like PvP on this game either and we do just fine.

Side note I would really like to know what your definition of "griefer" in this game is?

@ozza78 my bad. Im tired of seeing so many PvP complaints when it hasnt changed in two years, and it wont.

@ozza78 said in Update has legitimised griefing and ruined the game.:

Having played the game when it first came out, my friends and I quit after a few weeks, frustrated by the griefing in the game. We knew there was something special underneath that and hoped to return to it. Two years later, we dipped our toes back in and fell in love. We fought skeleton ships, killed megladons, did some tall tales, found ashen treasure and had a blast. We came across the odd griefer, but not enough to spoil the overall experience. We’ve sunk a lot of time into the game.
Then the new update arrives and we find our experience marred by crews hunting us down and ruining the experience. We’ve decided to walk away from the game for the second time. Maybe we will come back in a month, see how it is, but in this state, it’s a hard pass.
Let me address a few issues that I’ve read about.

1. Go and play another game is a frequent retort. Fair point. There is no other game like this- it’s unique.
2. Don’t fly an emissary flag. We’ve tried that. Got pummelled anyway. Devs have given no rewards to reapers if they sink your ship. They do it anyway. Devs give no rewards for repeatedly killing you. They do it anyway.
3. Ferryman has an option to sink your ship and send you elsewhere. Thanks- the option is to lose all the stuff you’ve been working on your voyage for.
4. Devs talk about emergent gameplay. This was true a week ago. Now the emergent gameplay is- log on, start voyage, get attacked, griefed and abused verbally online, log off.
5. PvE servers. Would love it but it’s not going to happen. So devs need to find a solution.
6. This game is meant to be fun and I understand that they want you to experience the whole pirate life on the seas. Since the update it’s been tense, fraught and very little progress has been made. Constantly looking out for human boats that will attack, staring at a map for the reaper ship movements while your friend is on an island digging up treasure. Getting in a fight with a skeleton galleon, taking it down and then getting done over by the reaper ship when you’re enjoying your victory. None of this is fun. Not when it is the only experience you are having.
   This last couple of months, we’ve dug up treasure, collected bounties, fished, battled many creatures, gotten drunk, thrown up over my crew, put a parrot in a cannon so my crew mate unknowingly fired it at a megladon, found treasure in tall tales and stupidity killed each other with blunderbombs. What could #bemorepirate?
   That’s what this game should be and it’s no longer that. Shame. I loved this game.

We've got another one! 😂

@combatxkitty while i would not consider chasing a ship, sinking it, and stealing theyre loot as griefing, i do not see griefing on the rise due to this update. I have however seen a rise in toxicity towards new players, and an increase in foul language and harrassment towards other players. Ive been playing this game since the hungering deep and havnt stopped. Ive loved it. Its had its ups and downs, but i have never seen such a rise in toxicity in this game until now. I havnt seen it in the forums but in the game itself

@ziobasi

The game just want it and I don't understant why in Adventure there's still lot of PvP when they've created a PvP mode to avoid it.... just doens't make sense

You and many others keep making the mistake of assuming what Arena is. In the developers own words, its a mode designed for people who want the compact version of Sea of Thieves. It doesn't set out to be a PvP mode. Had it gone that route, they might as well have made BR last ship standing. In all honesty that would have been easier. However, back on point.

So in a sense, it makes perfect sense, this update demonstrates that PvP has and will always belong in Sea of Thieves. Emissaries just cements that belief.

I'm finding it fascinating that both sides of the spectrum are saying "you are the only one who thinks this way, lolol everyone that agrees with me" .... Would probably help rare more if people actually laid out what they disagree with or agree with so they can compile something that the majority will like.

On that thought: repears bones shouldn't change skill wise but their should be some sort of limit to how many can join a faction per server like 2 ships each faction. I found the pirate legend gilded to be kind of lackluster we got 7cups, a cargo and 3 Athena skulls 1 skill was a disgrace... I've yet to do the other faction missions so can't have an opinion

@okamivan said in Update has legitimised griefing and ruined the game.:

@combatxkitty while i would not consider chasing a ship, sinking it, and stealing theyre loot as griefing, i do not see griefing on the rise due to this update. I have however seen a rise in toxicity towards new players, and an increase in foul language and harrassment towards other players. Ive been playing this game since the hungering deep and havnt stopped. Ive loved it. Its had its ups and downs, but i have never seen such a rise in toxicity in this game until now. I havnt seen it in the forums but in the game itself

Ok well yeah I mean the pitfulls of online gaming right? My first ten minutes in this game consisted of me being sunk and cussed out so that stuff has been going on since the start like any online game.

You said this:

Then the new update arrives and we find our experience marred by crews hunting us down and ruining the experience. We’ve decided to walk away from the game for the second time.>

Crews hunting your crew down and ruining your game experience? Sorry but those crews are well within their rights to do that. Not all crews do it either. Me and my crew do not and its not because we cant sink a ship we use to do skull forts all the time and battle it out with other ships and never lost one. What makes the game great is you do not know if that ship on the horizon is going to come after you or not. I personally enjoy when ships chase me, its a thrill, I toy with them and rarely has anyone ever caught up and if they manage then good for them. So what you see as ruining your game experience many see as an exciting challenge. Also make sure you cash in your loot. I cash in loot so much pretty much 98 percent of time I am being chased I got nothing to lose. If on rare chance I do have loot then the chaser gets the privilege of sailing to every out post on the map as we do our drop offs.