I am confused on the purpose of this game...

  • OGTrashBoat8
    Castaway

    I bought this game with 2 of my friends after watching some youtubers play this and it looked really fun. But my experience with the game is nothing like what I watched. I knew it wasn't going to be exactly the same, but it's nothing like I thought.

    I've been playing for a couple weeks now and I have seen like zero action. It was only recently that I got in my first battle after seeing a ship on the map and heading towards it. We died instantly. It was in way a fair fight. We lacked the skill to fight them. But that's besides the point.

    I just don't understand the purpose. Like I understand you do quests and voyages to dig up treasure and cash it in for gold. But then what? It seems like all you can buy is skins, nothing to give you an advantage against fighting people. So if gold's only purpose is for cosmetic looks, then what's the incentive on doing quests? It's hard enough to find other players in a server unless they appear on the map. I want to fight people, but we just get destroyed when we try. So how are we supposed to get better when there's a lack of players?

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  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    I swear Ive seen this post before, word for work. About purpose of the game, which is described.

    1. You mentioned it, Voyages and Gold.
    2. Exploration. Story/Lore
    3. Being a pirate
    4. Creating a story of your own.
    5. Fight NPC skeletons

    How to get better?

    • Practice.
    • Fight Skeletons
    • Skeleton Ships

    Not everything is gonna happen every few seconds. Go fishing, battle a Megalodon, find the kraken (or it finds you) Travel to the Devils Roar and try to do voyages without sinking.

    Set yourself a goal.
    Commendations are also there as things to do.

  • Stundorn
    Castaway
    Insider
    Founder

    @ogtrashboat8 the purpose of playing Games is to immerse and have fun.
    If you want instant action play Arena although i cannot recommend it.

  • Mavnderlvst
    Sailor

    @ogtrashboat8

    Personally, I think the player distribution is about right in any given session. The question is whether you're playing with a crew or solo. In the case of the former, there's loads to do with your crew mates but, while you can sail around looking for a battle, a lot of your time will be best spent in all the socializing and questing available. Plus, as was noted, setting goals to explore, improve your sailing, or literally whatever else you can think of. This game is solidly an open world sandbox, so a lot of the fun is dependent on the imagination of the player.

    Now, if you're playing solo, it's a different story and (I'd argue) far more of a challenge as each ship you come across is more likely to be a threat to you. Solo play in a sloop is about as challenging as it gets, and you have to make a lot of tactical choices that keep your mind busy (and you above the waves).

    So, the answer is the game is literally nothing but a toolbox for whatever you want it to be.

  • Genuine Heather
    Captain
    Insider

    @ogtrashboat8 I may be stating the obvious here, but the purpose of the game is to have fun. Sea of Thieves is an open sandbox style game. You enter the game with all the tools you need to create your own adventure. There are many different paths you can take. You can go on voyages for any of the trading companies. You can be a scavenger, sailing from place to place and taking whatever you can find. You can go full-on pirate and hunt other vessels for gold and glory. You can focus on world events like skull forts and ship battles, or even the Fort of the Damned. You can embark upon an epic quest with a Tall Tale. You can kick back and go fishing. Or just roam the seas, taking whatever comes. There are all kinds of ways to enjoy the Sea of Thieves. It's all up to you.

    If you're looking for PvP action, there are few things to try. You can raise a Reaper's Mark flag, or become a Reaper's Bone's emissary. Either action will mark you on the map for other players. Some people will avoid you. Some will seek you out. Either way, you'll probably need to sail around a while before spotting another ship. If you sail across the map you'll find someone eventually. There are always other ships out there somewhere. You just have to find them.

  • Drou 07
    Ship Mate

    The game's purpose is to HAVE FUN!! As for the cosmetics, the game would be super unbalanced. You said you died instantly in your first battle cause you lacked the skill. If gold was used to buy more than cosmetics, for example guns that deal more damage, you would instantly lose even if you were more skilled than them, just because their weapons deal more damage than yours. OG players would be unkillable, and the game would be unplayable for new players. Pro tip: if you're bored of the voyages, try Tall Tales or PvE Events.

  • Drou 07
    Ship Mate

    Also, forgot to mention in my previous response, you are never going to win your first battle. You need to practice and don't be afraid to engage in PvP with bigger ships. Don't give up when you lose, but every time you see a ship go for it with the confidence you'd have if you had never lost a single fight. Also, don't worry about sinking and losing loot. It's just loot and, as you said, it can only used to get cosmetics, and not stronger stuff. Gold is not as important as playing the game.

  • Mavnderlvst
    Sailor

    @drou-07 said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    Also, forgot to mention in my previous response, you are never going to win your first battle. You need to practice and don't be afraid to engage in PvP with bigger ships. Don't give up when you lose, but every time you see a ship go for it with the confidence you'd have if you had never lost a single fight. Also, don't worry about sinking and losing loot. It's just loot and, as you said, it can only used to get cosmetics, and not stronger stuff. Gold is not as important as playing the game.

    I think this is the single most important thing anyone has to keep in mind when playing this game- especially if they're playing solo. It's easy to get frustrated after you invest time to complete something and get sunk on your return trip. But the reality is that it's almost impossible for this not to happen at some point. Keeping in mind that there is no real terminal limit to the availability of treasure and quests will help maintain a good attitude about the losses you inevitably incur. Of course, nothing can account for time lost but that's a choice that all of us have to make when playing any game.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    One day if you continue to play you'll make a wonderful friend that you found on the game

    or you'll be in the middle of a skeleton fleet while fighting 2 or 3 other pirate ships at the same time in a massive battle for the history pages

    or maybe you'll just be alone on a ship as the sun sets and the stars begin to shine and the purpose of the game becomes clear

  • JW1066
    Sailor

    @drou-07
    I think this is great advise, I’m fairly new to the game. Have had a few scraps with other players (and possibly a.i.). At first I thought what’s the point after getting sunk a couple of times I decided I’m just going to fight back the best I can. Every fight I have, I learn something new. Yesterday, I so busy chasing my opponents ship that I didn’t notice he’d left his/her ship, waited till I sailed close and climbed my ladder. What a fantastic tactic! This pirate gave me hell, we battled on my ship, several times I got killed, respawned, until he fire bombed my ship and jumped over board leaving me to deal with a fire. It was great fun. I battled that fire all day and all night and won.

    I think the real fun in this game is choosing to deal with the hand your dealt. If you get in a scrap, give em hell or runaway it’s up to you. If you find yourself getting battered in a storm or ship is engulfed in flames do all that you can to survive. Pretend you’re really in that situation and dying or sinking is not on option.

    I’ve never played a game like this, and when I started playing, I was thinking similar things. But once I decided to play the game, even filling up the barrels on my ship, whilst a chore, is actually a really great part of the game.

  • CotU42
    Lord
    Insider

    @ogtrashboat8

    The incentive for doing voyages is to gain commendations, reputation and coin. What do these things give you? Titles, cosmetics and items you can flex with. This allows room for pirates to purely focus on becoming better and not be bogged down by the requirements to own a specific item. Simply gather it for the joy of treasure.

    Ones ability to find other crews is very much based on the luck of the seas and their keen eye for spotting sails. One can use the emissary tables to get a clearer picture of the amount of ships cruising the seas with potential loot, head to the almighty clouds in the air as beacons of their activity, start up the Fort of the Damned or raise a reapers flag to showcase their intentions. To improve in ones combat ability in quick order, the Arena is a perfect training ground.

    The question always remains in an open world, where one is free to roam... what shall we do, which direction will the wind blow and how will I influence the world.

    Simply put, the purpose of the game is what it is for any game... to have fun.

  • OGTrashBoat8
    Castaway

    @burnbacon I promise I didn’t copy and paste it, I wrote it myself lol

    As far as fighting skeleton ships and stuff, how do you initiate those? Cause from the videos I watched they just kinda started fighting them. Same thing with these voyages where you fight waves of skeletons and bosses. How do you get those?

  • OGTrashBoat8
    Castaway

    @genuine-heather So this is the type of game you kinda need to play for hours at a time to really get into it? Not something you play for an hour or so?

  • OGTrashBoat8
    Castaway

    @drou-07 I figured we were gonna lose the fight, but it just seemed too hard. These guys were literally just sitting at Fort of the Damned (which after reading all these responses sounds like a challenging quest) and one guy killed 3 of us with like no effort lol

  • OGTrashBoat8
    Castaway

    @wolfmanbush I guess I’m just used to action games. I have almost 1700 hours in Battlefield 4 so a game like this is new to me. But from the videos I watched it showed a lot of action so it got me excited

  • Mavnderlvst
    Sailor

    @jw1066

    This is the best attitude to have about this game, hands down. Otherwise, it's far too easy to get sour. Personally, I think it's a nice game for training yourself to deal with adversity. You're always dealing with something, but if you keep at it you develop an edge and eventually the issues start to seem more manageable. After a few weeks or months of play you're putting out fires, bailing water, and fending off an attacking ship in the middle of a storm like the best of them.

  • Mavnderlvst
    Sailor

    @ogtrashboat8 said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    @wolfmanbush I guess I’m just used to action games. I have almost 1700 hours in Battlefield 4 so a game like this is new to me. But from the videos I watched it showed a lot of action so it got me excited

    There's definitely action but, most often, when it rains it pours. Everything is serene until suddenly all hell breaks loose.

  • PrimoMT
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    I understand your point. SoT is not for everybody, and that's fine.

    Some interaction and or in-deep dungeons/voyages settings would be highly appreciated, and with the Seasonal ranking to come, it should add a little bit more to the game, but yea it may look's lacking from various points of view.

    Just give it time and don't expect the game to give you something, just go for it and you'll have a blast.

  • FatherFuzzie
    Lord
    Founder

    Being a pirate really is about it

  • Mavnderlvst
    Sailor

    @ogtrashboat8 said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    @drou-07 I figured we were gonna lose the fight, but it just seemed too hard. These guys were literally just sitting at Fort of the Damned (which after reading all these responses sounds like a challenging quest) and one guy killed 3 of us with like no effort lol

    Always consider going to a new port or finding an alternate mission if it might help you avoid trouble. You can always come back (so long as you don't leave the session). If you can see them they can probably see you if they're looking so the sooner you make that call the better.

  • Grog Minto
    Master
    Insider

    @ogtrashboat8 a dit dans I am confused on the purpose of this game... :

    @wolfmanbush I guess I’m just used to action games. I have almost 1700 hours in Battlefield 4 so a game like this is new to me. But from the videos I watched it showed a lot of action so it got me excited

    Yeah I can understand why you got this impression. But never forget the wonders a good editing and cherry picking can do ! ^^
    This game is special. You could sail for hours without seeing anyone. But you could also cross path with a boat in the first 20 minutes of a session, start blasting and suddenly it's a giant mess with 4 ships fighting eachother.
    This game is an unpredictable beast ;)

    Regarding the purpose of this game :

    It's a tool to help you live through stories and adventures. Finding treasures, solving riddles, pirating ships... It does work the best when you just set sails and let the flow take you. ^^

  • Schwammlgott
    Champion

    @ogtrashboat8 said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    @burnbacon I promise I didn’t copy and paste it, I wrote it myself lol

    As far as fighting skeleton ships and stuff, how do you initiate those? Cause from the videos I watched they just kinda started fighting them. Same thing with these voyages where you fight waves of skeletons and bosses. How do you get those?

    Skeleton ships are roaming the seas, just attack them...sometimes they spawn on you to fight you...you can tell by the music that appears, those will follow you until you or they are sunk...just like the megalodon
    Voyages you can purchase from the factions at each outpost...goldhoarder you get digging up treasure voyages and vault voyages
    Order of souls you get skeleton bounty voyages, those where captain skeletons have to be defeated on islands and ghost fleet voyages
    From the merchants you can get animal delivery voyages, cargo runs and with todays update shipwreck voyages

  • Stundorn
    Castaway
    Insider
    Founder

    @ogtrashboat8

    ya that is the sweaty streamers and YT'ers with their exploiting aproaches and not having a pirate adventure tryin to turn SoT into a Shooter with TDM at Forts etc.
    I hope they will move on and SoT becomes more of a fun comical pirate adventure ROLEPLAYGAME!

  • YungKrusty
    Marauder
    Insider

    The game only gives cosmetic rewards because like you said: a new player doesn’t stand a chance against a veteran. The only difference between a noob and a vet in this game is (and always should be) the skill gap. Adding rewards that give players an advantage would only help the rich get richer, so to speak.

    What’s the point of playing a game for no rewards other than cosmetics? The way I see it, this game is just a fun pirate simulator. I play it to be a pirate for the time I’m playing it. I’m a normal person once I log off, so video game gold means nothing to real world me. I don’t expect to keep my loot haul every time I play, and I don’t even mind losing the treasure! That’s because I realized that the cosmetic rewards are ALWAYS gonna be there when I leave the game. I could take as much time as I want to get gold and grind for some stupid glow in the dark outfit for my pirate. But the experiences of taking turns insulting flameheart as he yells at us, meeting another crew to either share a grog or fight each other tirelessly for 30 minutes, or even losing huge loot hauls to badly timed krakens....those are the rewards that won’t always be there when I log off the game.

    When you get outplayed by a player or the CPU, just be glad that real-world you is still alive to tell the tale. That’s the real treasure.

  • ActionScr1pt
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @ogtrashboat8 join the community discord / official discord and between those 2 channels you have thousands of people looking to play SoT.

    Then... when you have your 2 friends, go into the discord looking for adventure and say "Reaper Gallion LF1 to do world events / pvp / etc"

    get your 2 friends, your new guy, all 4 of you in discord. Put up a reaper flag and head towards the reaper chest on the map. Then head to the first world event up. Then do any ghost ship you see. Get your flag to LVL 5 and all other ships show up on your map. Proceed to sail to those ships and you and your friends slay those noobs :)

    That's about as close to a Battlefield / COD / BR you will get...

    Also.. alone, i like to sail Devils Roar (volcanos) and do merchant deliveries, or gold hoarders, etc.

    If you are looking to kill a hour then run a sloop and grab someone on discord and run any single mission or two and then turn in and bail.

    If you are looking for random stuff to do.. search "Ashen Curse Walkthrough" or something like that and you can do the achievement solo and get a cool glowing skin.

    You also can go level up your fishing or do the story mode quests. There are over 10 of them and you can solo them all if you want.

  • ClosingHare208
    Marauder
    Insider

    @ogtrashboat8 said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    I bought this game with 2 of my friends after watching some youtubers play this and it looked really fun. But my experience with the game is nothing like what I watched. I knew it wasn't going to be exactly the same, but it's nothing like I thought.

    I've been playing for a couple weeks now and I have seen like zero action. It was only recently that I got in my first battle after seeing a ship on the map and heading towards it. We died instantly. It was in way a fair fight. We lacked the skill to fight them. But that's besides the point.

    I just don't understand the purpose. Like I understand you do quests and voyages to dig up treasure and cash it in for gold. But then what? It seems like all you can buy is skins, nothing to give you an advantage against fighting people. So if gold's only purpose is for cosmetic looks, then what's the incentive on doing quests? It's hard enough to find other players in a server unless they appear on the map. I want to fight people, but we just get destroyed when we try. So how are we supposed to get better when there's a lack of players?

    you become pirate legend after that pvp pratice

  • Bieltan
    Seafarer

    @ogtrashboat8 said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    @wolfmanbush I guess I’m just used to action games. I have almost 1700 hours in Battlefield 4 so a game like this is new to me. But from the videos I watched it showed a lot of action so it got me excited

    The videos will skip the humdrum nature of the rest of the game. Its honestly pretty Zen most of the time unless you are actively seeking out PvP and advertising your location for it (Reaper Flag/Chest).

    Ship Battles are intense, and there are a lot of seasoned crews out there. Keep at it, you'll find your Sea Legs eventually.

  • TheSevenTeas
    Marauder

    @ogtrashboat8 said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    As far as fighting skeleton ships and stuff, how do you initiate those? Cause from the videos I watched they just kinda started fighting them. Same thing with these voyages where you fight waves of skeletons and bosses. How do you get those?

    Skeleton ships might be roaming the seas (chase them down and engage them); or spawn on you randomly and start attacking; or are part of the skeleton fleet world event (ship cloud in the sky; sail to it and start fighting!).

    Fighting off skeletons and bosses could be three things. 1) Order of Souls bounty voyages (bought from the OoS rep on the outpost, though I imagine you're familiar with that already) 2) Skelton fort (another world event; look for a skull-shaped cloud in the sky) 3) Ashen Winds world event (look for a firey tornado in the sky). (Bonus 4: certain Tall Tales, though I'm not familiar with them myself)

    Skeleton fleet, Flameheart, skeleton fort and Ashen Winds world events spawn one at a time and randomly; they can't be activated by players. But once they're up, you can sail to the beacon and engage!

    Edit: oops, missed the reply you already got on this

  • WaveStalker
    Seafarer

    My problem is basically since playing PVP games small scale and 100 players or more per side since 1997 is choice. This is a dread game. Their is no real cost for death. Might as well play Fortnite. That’s what Plunder Pass is copying.

    I like many things about this game. PVP annoys me the most. Most modern day PVP games are consensual. Sometimes I don’t want to be bothered by PVP. Yes most modern day mmo or mmorpg offer an option.

    This game is a major time sink. I can only play roughly once a week on a Saturday. Most Twitchers steam for 8 freakin hours or more.

    I like the PVE ships, encounters, cooking, fishing , exploration but I’m in the market for a new game.

  • WaveStalker
    Seafarer

    @fuzzyh1ghland3r said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    Being a pirate really is about it

    When you see a disengaged player and kill them it’s not being a pirate it’s like killing a sleeping cat. Do you understand this? Questing players are not interested in PVP.

  • TheBlackBellamy
    Champion
    Insider

    @wavestalker said:

    Questing players are not interested in PVP.

    Speak for yourself. I throw up the reapers emissary whenever I'm doing PvE specifically because I'm interested in PvP.

    If you don't think it's pirate-like to be sneaky, opportunistic and treacherous, then I don't think you know what a pirate is.

  • FatherFuzzie
    Lord
    Founder

    @wavestalker then don’t play a open world sandbox game . Everyone on my sever works for me and I utilize them for resources and supplies . I don’t care if your doing a tall tale , have no quests , have no treasure . Your ship is sinking I take all you have .

  • Mrat13
    Marauder
    Insider

    @stundorn said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    @ogtrashboat8 the purpose of playing Games is to immerse and have fun.
    If you want instant action play Arena although i cannot recommend it.

    This. Players like OP are the reason Arena flopped. Don't make Adventure into a PvP Arena. It has PvP, but that isn't it's main purpose. If people had realised Arena was the place to do proper PvP, we would not be in the Arena mess we are today.

  • WaveStalker
    Seafarer

    @fuzzyh1ghland3r said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    @wavestalker then don’t play a open world sandbox game . Everyone on my sever works for me and I utilize them for resources and supplies . I don’t care if your doing a tall tale , have no quests , have no treasure . Your ship is sinking I take all you have .

    @fuzzyh1ghland3r said in I am confused on the purpose of this game...:

    @wavestalker then don’t play a open world sandbox game . Everyone on my sever works for me and I utilize them for resources and supplies . I don’t care if your doing a tall tale , have no quests , have no treasure . Your ship is sinking I take all you have .

    And you gain nothing for you efforts. GG

  • RockAce26
    Marauder

    Yes YouTubers that your watching have probably been playing since launch, and are better then you. My tips are

    1. At first sail only on sloop, sloop is most maneuverable giving you a bit of an edge on players in less maneuverable ships.

    2. Play a bit of arena, this will give you more chances to practice, there are sweaty kids in arena so watch the animation first and do not rage quit.

    3. Check out tip and tricks videos, I suggest HitboTC.

    4. Keep trying.

    5. Ask to alliance with other ships.

    6. Use looking for group posts to find others to play with and teach you.

    7. The purpose of the game is to HAVE FUN, most players try to sink on sight of players, I like to play on a neutral position stay on lookout but try to alliance, if you get in an alliance then ask to PvP with the other crew, in an alliance you are able to hurt other players but be able to revive.

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