Been playing a week and want to stop

@nuhuhsatan The only instance you gave that could have remotely been considered griefing was the one where they spawn camped you for fun and taunted you while doing it. They were doing this with the intent of ruining your game and taking pleasure in it. Everything else you listed is is just playing the game, as it is about piracy and a multiplayer game.

Stick with it and play to your strengths. Don't let others get to you, just think of them like any other NPC - do you get upset when one of the game's threats sinks you and you lose everything? Losing to a player is no different. Don't be afraid to communicate with others, a lot of times being silent and running all the time is the worst thing you can do. You'll be surprised at how many battles can be avoided just by a simple "ahoy" from the pirate chat wheel.

@nuhuhsatan You play long enough one of those skelly this will come close enough to trigger aggro on you - trust me. Or they will do so while you are in route to the outpost (happens all too often to me when I am about to quit) and then circle as you are docked. So yes, treat others like you would another threat...except you do have the additional tool of communication.

It doesn't hurt to try communication, and it also matters how you go about it. Pleading to have them leave you alone is generally not going to work, but calmly explaining your goals and intentions might. But it is generally best to try to communicate before the chase ensues if you can.

If they are following in a chase, you have other options too - out-sailing them or distracting them with shiny objects. The sailing will come with practice, and actually most who will engage in such chases aren't as good as they think they are. Don't adhere to straight line sailing, use the wind speed advantage of each ship accordingly as well as their other advantages (such as sloop maneuverability, slimmer width (to go between rocks), and ability to go through shallower water). You can also try to kite them onto skeleton ships in the area, do drivebys on active forts (not quite as useful as it once was due to forts being more rare now and the aim being nerfed long ago), lose them in the storm/fog, or lead them into the Devil's Roar near active volcanos.

But yeah, you definitely need a different mindset on this game, especially if you decide to go it solo. Just remember that your losses in the game are actually pretty minimal so dying or sinking isn't a big deal...that is as long as you don't let it be a big deal by hoarding too much treasure at once. Not everyone out playing is a murderous hoard running over everyone - there are some that do, but just try to remember those skins their ship is flying in that session and learn to identify them early from a distance in order to avoid them the rest of your session. Also check your map constantly to track any reapers that might be in your session.

Oh god I can already see many issues with this..

• outpost miles away? Reaper near closest outpost? Go to the furthest one anyways. Or fight them off.

• spawn camp you for 20min?? Scuttle after 2min. That all your own fault.

• griefer definition. Serious learn difference between playing the game and actual griefing.

just because something doesn’t go your way doesn’t mean it’s the end. It’s how all video games work. You win and lose get over it. That why SoT is a session based game and everything is repeatable. Keep trying and enjoy the little things don’t expect everything to be completed day one and win.

A few suggestions from my own end as well, some have already been said here but I'll still include them:

• Keep an eye to the horizon, to the point where you take a beat here and there while doing Voyage work on the islands to get a quick read on your surroundings. Ships don't appear out of nowhere, so if you can spot them early it will be wildly to your advantage.
• Be ready to move at all times. This is most important in how you approach an island. Don't anchor to stop, learn to slow your approach by sails alone. If you must anchor, get your sails up and raise anchor immediately. Make sure your Ship is in a position to just get going (faced away from the Island or surrounding rocks). This will shave precious seconds off of proceedings when you need to get moving.
• Be battle ready when threats are around. Before they get to you, be sure to load your inventory up with cannonballs, chainshot, cursed balls, your best food (top up your Health before battle starts too), planks, throwables (which can be loaded in cannons - blunderbombs mostly for defense/deck clearing of enemies and fire exclusively to add chaos to an enemy ship), and be sure whatever guns you have are loaded.
• Keep an eye out for Mermaids. Those present for other crews will not display the smoke for you so you must be vigilant about this. If you see one then someone is no doubt around and a potential source of trouble.
• If you're off your Ship for an extended period, be sure to do a full sweep of your Ship. Check out of the way places for stowaways (they will be using a Hide Emote to conceal their Gamertag so you must be vigilant). Try to learn the hiding spots around Ships and clever ways to flush people out. Swipe your loot as folks like to chill inside it.
• Sell as often as needed for you to be comfortable. Is it nice to look at a deck covered in loads of loot? Of course! Does it tend to hurt pretty bad if you get sunk with that much loot? Almost always! If you can get comfortable not caring about it, then that is the best situation. If not, sell when you get to a point that you'd be mad if you lost that much (or preferably just before you get to that point).
• Try not to circle the places you need to go on your Map Table. You are not the only pirate that can look at that, and plotting out your whole course can lead to people being able to get the jump on you and set an ambush. Don't let this be a tool for them, let it only be a tool for you. Also don't keep your destination dead focused on the Map at all times either, get a read on where you need to go and then offset the Map (or leave it focused on your Ship).
• Communicate with other pirates. It isn't a magic "get out of danger" card that you can play, but it absolutely can make the difference between a hostile or peaceful encounter. Will it get you out of things every time? Not even a little! But it will net you the odd peaceful interaction or even an Alliance here and there.
• Never implicitly trust an Alliance. You are absolutely able to betray your Alliances at any moment. My normal rules are you don't bring your Ship into a position to fire on mine, and if you do I am going to engage and sink you (or your sinking me, but either way this Alliance is over). You are not welcome on my Ship, and should you try and board I am going to kill you as though you were not in my Alliance (this will not earn you a sinking unless you try to Gunpowder Barrel me though, just get you a trip to the Ferry). And remember, they can see your Ship on their Map Table now as well.
• Emissary work is great, but keep in mind it puts a target on you. And I am not just meaning Reapers, though they are the primary threat. Other Emissaries and unaligned Ships are also going to potentially target you because that Flag is still worth a good bit of coin even without a Reaper Emissary Flag being raised. In addition, it means there is a good chance you have some nice loot on board. Always remember it is a Risk/Reward system.

Those are just a few tips from me to you, and I hope they serve you (or others who stumble on this) well out on the Seas. If you keep at it you'll be able to have much greater control over your individual sessions, and every Voyage (success or failure) is a chance to learn things and become better. Experiment and grow!

Best of luck out there pirate.

@clumsy-george said in Been playing a week and want to stop:

@nuhuhsatan

Hello Nunuhsatan , intresting name by the way , but if i read your story ,then it seems there is little of devil in you. This is not written to mock you but some may be triggered to hostility as they think that someone with devil, as that other word is moderated , in his name doesn't care much about being haunted down...

Nah , that was a silly remark , you see , playing this game is easy , mastering this game , well, that is a whole different story. If i would may make a suggestion , and by the way i'm almost 46 now ( * Jesus , George , that old ??? Bigger pigs than you have died much younger , you have the Devil's luck on yer side), try to join some of the crews here , there are a few Fleets and not all of them are filled with triehards ...

Some will take you under the wings and teach you to keep an eye on the Horizon at all times , they will teach you how long it approximately will take a ship ,far on the horizon , to come to you...

You see , alertness of the Horizon, or is it awareness , is very important . Steering and outsailing others is also a very , underestimated weapon , and keeping people away from boarding by shooting cannons accurately is purely king... But alas, that can't be learned in an evening ...

But i am not here to dampen your Spirit down , no , have you tried talking to them ? i agree , many don't do that anymore but sometimes your Personality can change their bloodlust , they may leave you alone , or offer you an Alliance and some will even help you on your Tall Tales , some by helping you directly , others by sailing in the vicinity and help to protect you if you would get in ntrouble...

i could write tons of experiences i , my crew , and many others in here had , in a both positive and negative way but that would only bore you . So , all i want to say is , don't give up , try to find a few or one experienced crewmate that guides you around and after a while you will see that the game becomes to grow on you in skill ...

You lack PvP skills? Don't worry , i never had those , still i've been playing till 2016 , have been able to keep the ship afloat while we thought we lost it and eventhough i can't shoot to save my life , i'm still a liked person in my crew...

Don't give up ,it's like you said , you left Rust for it's players , you may leave this game for the same mentality and...Whatever your next game ,multiplayer game will be , you will leave that one too as there will always be players who think they just need to kill without any form of mercy...

It's all up to you ,but i can tell you , if you stretch out that hand , then you will meet someone that takes it in order to help you get to know the Pirate tricks you need...

Great advice. +1 I too have been "griefed" and some of these tips will be useful. I actually enjoy seeing how they grief me sometimes as it is all a learning opportunity.

Cheers

Hey there,

It's all been said alreadt but I'm a 40 year old father of three, limited time, pretty bad at PVP. I have fallen in love with SoT and can't stop playing!

I'm only a month into playing (maybe one or two evenings a week if I'm lucky) and I solo sloop which can be pretty tough. Once a week a friend of mine joins and we sail around doing voyages.

I have had some run ins of course but nothing to the extent you have with all the spawn camping. If that happens to me I'm logging off and back into a new server. I don't have that time to waste.

But please stick at it - add me as a friend and see if I'm on when you are - always happy to play together. I'm a casual player, doing the PvE stuff and defending myself when I have to. I'm also incredibly cautious, always looking at the horizon, keeping an eye on any reapers on the map.

See you on the seas.

@wavestalker I mean you're not wrong in what you say. However I personally have reconfigured my thinking around the concept that if you do anything solo it is worth so much more as the odds are always against you. Just this last weekend as I soloed and finished a fort I had a duo sloop roll in on me and sank my sloop. I managed to swim the key to another island, find a row boat and snatch my loot out right from under their noses. There's just as many failures as there are successes that I could list for you. I guess my point is that sometimes we just have to work with what we have and realise that just like life, the game can and will be unfair. How we react to it is more important than the situation itself.

I feel your pain its hard to find someone to trust i have a hate and love relationship with SOT i rember being spawned camped when I was soloing it sucks and it not enjoyable but those people that do that are petty and think they are cool for doing that I just cut my losses and find a different server those ppl that do that are toxic very much I sail with my younger brother and his girlfriend and we have fun we get sunk sometimes and other times we do the sinking most of the time we are ot on the seas making money and enjoying the beauty of the game just rembe this I know it's kinda of coward thing to do but scuttle your boat it sucks but if you have nothing to loose then do it they will loose interest but as you play on I will promise you will get better at pvping I am not a big pvper but the game is sea of theives and you must do whatever it takes to survive to either get away or sink who ever is attacking you but I feel your pain and it sucks keep playing dont give up this game is wonderful besides of its problems sometimes but its a big game enjoy dont ever give up

@jalapenojme said in Been playing a week and want to stop:

It’s just part of the game. They will never change this. This has sparked my new method of playing. I now just sail without loot luring PVP players into chasing me and once I get bored I’ll Red Sea which annoys them and wastes their time. You just gotta make your own fun

Proof that not all heroes wear capes XD

@nuhuhsatan

If you're looking for people to play with who want to do the same things you do, whether that be world events, voyages, arena, or even just fishing, you should join the official Sea of Thieves discord server. It has over 230,000 players in it with tons of LFG (Looking For Group) posts for players of all different ages and skill levels. If you're tired of going solo sloop and getting killed by a galleon in a 1v4, play with some other people and turn that matchup into a 4v4.

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/seaofthieves

@mageofheart5367 going off the known map = red sea. Once there you and your ship will take damage till dead. Makes it near impossible for reapers to claim the goods they tried to get from you.