This game was not intended to be a game that you can solo. Back in 2018 there was no option for a closed crew You could only play on a 2man sloop or 3-4man galleon. In the ensuing months they did end up adding a closed crew option because the community wanted the ability to be able to play the game without needing to fill up all the crew's spots before setting sail. Now back in the day there were only voyages and skeleton forts, and the skeleton forts were not ANYTHING like they are now. A solo could kill the skeleton forts in 30 minutes because the captain that spawned the key was just that, a normal skeleton captain (like the ashen key masters) with a little captain's hat on. You could complete the fort with little time spent back then, even as a solo player.
Nowadays there's WAY MORE stuff to do. There's more world events, more trading companies, different voyages, chainshots, cursed cannonballs, when you shoot another ship with a cannon you can inflict different hole tiers, 1 2 & 3. There's a whole new ship type, the playerbase has gotten better at the game, there's emissaries now, a volcano part of the map, and so much more. Whole point being, the game has changed DRASTICALLY since 2018.
Now with these changes, EVERYTHING that the game has to offer including all the world events, voyages, and even naval battles have all changed; and more importantly have all been balanced around the idea of having multiple people on a ship. Having 2 people on a sloop instead of just 1 is a GIGANTIC advantage. There a couple things you have to do when in a naval battle.
(1) Turn the wheel
(2) Raise / angle the sails
(3) Repair / bail the ship
(4) Cannon the enemy ship
(5) Prevent the enemy ship from repairing (either by boarding or shooting blunderbombs / cursed cannonballs)
(6) Defending the boat from board attempts
Now while you CAN do all of that as a solo, it takes you thousands of hours of practice, patience, and failure in order to do it well and to execute it perfectly. But even with ALL THAT being said, you will NEVER be able to sink a 2man sloop, 3man brig, or 4man galleon who has the same skill level as you. The only way that you can win in a 1v2,3, or 4 is if the opposing crew is much less skilled than you, and even then it is still almost impossible to sink a decent crew because all they have to do is constantly bucket their ship to prevent it from sinking.
Whole point being, it is EXTREMELY difficult to actually win a 1v2,3 or 4. And while you're still at a deficit when it comes to 2v3's and 2v4's, it gets much easier to win those fights because you can have someone go board the enemy ship and still have another player shooting them off the ladders and putting holes into their boat. In order to sink an enemy ship you have to do 2 things:
(1) Put holes in them
(2) Prevent them from repairing those holes
However if you are solo slooping, you don't have the luxury of being able to just go board the enemy ship whenever you'd like. Because if you die, whether it be to a random cannonball, blunderbombs, someone boarding your ship, or you trying to go over and board their ship, if you die ONCE then the enemy ship can easily send someone over to your boat, anchor you, chainshot you, and attempt to spawncamp you while their crewmates repair their boat and patch up all 50 cannonballs that you just shot into their boat, leaving you back at stage 1.
ARGUMENT: "I solo sloop all the time, and I am able to beat 1v4 galleon crews constantly. Most players in this game are pretty bad, these other players just need to get better."
Now there are some arguments against a solo sloop lobby, and I'll try to list reasons against as many as I can. One of them being that obviously, not every single crew is going to be this good, most crews are really bad at the game, and if you've spent 1000's of hours playing SOT then you could easily kill them and sink them. However YOU can only do that because you've spent so much time practicing your cannon aim, listening for boarding sounds, knowing when you can leave holes in your boat and just bail occasionally. However someone who only has a couple hundred hours in the game won't be able to do all of the things that you can do. They're not going to be able to fend off a 1v4 against a galleon because they are relatively new players. So just because YOU can solo a sloop and 1v4 a galleon since you've spent thousands of hours in SOT, doesn't mean that EVERYONE can do it.
ARGUMENT: "Rare doesn't want to separate the playerbase, everyone should be in the same lobbies with the same risks."
This is probably one of the better points used against solo sloop lobbies. However Rare did make an exception to this rule when it came to xbox players. They gave xbox players the ability to opt out of PC lobbies because PC players had an unfair advantage. Enough people complained to Rare that PC had too much of a PvP advantage with mouse and keyboard, that Rare decided to give you the option to play in xbox only lobbies. This to me seems like the exact same reasoning for solo sloopers. 4man galleons have an INSANE advantage over a solo sloop. Now you might be thinking Well if we're going to add solo sloop only lobbies, why not add duo sloop only? Or trio brig only lobbies? Or even quad galleon only lobbies? And while yes, one BIG factor is advantages is the player gap of a solo slooper vs a quad galleon, it's not the only factor.
Another factor is the fact that world events are not in ANY way balanced towards a solo sloop. I did the FoF with a galleon crew of mine, and counting the minutes we took to sail there, completing the fort, harpooning all the loot, sailing to the outpost, and selling everything, took us about 50 minutes (probably 35 minutes were spent at the fort). Now you might be able to be quicker if you get a closer outpost spawn to the fort (like sanctuary to hiddenspring keep then selling at reaper's) It was pretty well optimized for us to be able to sell in only 50 minutes. Now imagine trying to solo the FoF in the same amount of time, you can't do it. While there are streamers and youtubers and the occasional normal player who DOES do the fort, it can take you HOURS to complete the fort by yourself. Mainly because not only are you alone, but if you die no progress is being made on the fort while you're dead. I haven't even talked about other world events like Flameheart and more importantly, the skeleton fleets, but I digress. The main point I'm trying to make is that world events are not skewed to help out solo players, and they shouldn't be. If a world event was medium difficulty for a solo, then it would be EASY for a 4man galleon to accomplish.
So while you could make the argument that Where does it stop? If we add solo sloop only lobbies then what's to stop Rare from making galleon only ones too?" And my main retort to that is because a SOLO has a huge disadvantage compared to a duo. Because the duo sloop can easily distribute all the work that needs to be done, as well as has the ability to go for board attempts. Whereas a solo has to do EVERYTHING themselves, and has a much higher risk when going for board attempts or doing world events compared to someone who has a crewmate. So there's no reason to add galleon only lobbies, because a 2v4 is still way more winnable than a 1v2.
ARGUMENT: If we add solo sloop servers, then too many people will leave the normal servers to play on solo sloop, that the normal servers will have a DRASTIC decrease in players.
I don't think that this will happen based on the fact that:
(1) A galleon will ALWAYS have the ability to make more money than a solo sloop, meaning that most people will want to make more money / reputation so they will still be playing on galleons.
(2) Most people have friends to play with, so they aren't just going to ALL head over to the solo sloop lobbies because of the aforementioned reasons, you can't make as much money as on a galleon or brig.
(3) Most Pvpers won't leave to go play solo lobbies either, because a galleon will usually make WAY MORE money per minute than a solo sloop can. So they'll still play the normal servers, EVEN IF they're solo because you can get more loot from a galleon than a solo sloop.
Obviously for the first week or so there will be a drastic decrease in the normal mode's playerbase. Because everyone will be trying out the new solo only lobbies. But I think that things will return to normal after that adjustment period. Now, onto the PROS for a solo lobby.
ADVANTAGES:
(1) Rare can make some world events & voyages easier on the solo only server, and balance it so that it's fair for solos.
(2) There won't be a super unfair 1v4 fight, it will all be 1v1's.
(3) It will allow new players to have a good first experience of the game. It will at least be better than a 1v4 against a galleon when they have NO IDEA what to do.
(4) It gives people who don't always have their friends online to play with something that they can do in terms of PvE without worrying about getting rolled by a crew that's bigger than them.
(5) Unlike some ideas like PvE only servers, this is more inclusive to parts of the community that weren't reached before, and it isn't destroying the core premise of the game which is risk/reward on your adventures.
Anyways, those are my ideas for a solo sloop only mode. It would be like the xbox opt in option, where you can still play the normal adventure mode as a solo if you wish, but you also have the option of just playing in a solo only mode. I truly believe that this could be a good change for the game, and allow it to be more inclusive to the community while still giving the risk/reward that's in the normal mode.
If you see anything that I argued incorrectly for or believe that there's a BIG argument that I missed against solo sloop lobbies, please comment it and I'll respond to it in the best way that I can.
