Empty horizons and emptier servers

@eguzky
Not just that, it's "it's fair when I do what I want but it's not fair when you do what you want"

Amazing how PVPers always act so entitled.

@eguzky You don't have to cater to anything. But if you are going to fly an emmisary flag, you invite PvP. That's the whole idea behind it.

@scheneighnay I never said it was not fair for anyone to do what anyone is doing. All i'm saying is reaper hopping is a good thing because it keeps the emissary system valid instead of just a cheesy way to make extra money.

@hefty-henri said in Empty horizons and emptier servers:

@eguzky You don't have to cater to anything. But if you are going to fly an emmisary flag, you invite PvP. That's the whole idea behind it.

I invite PvP...IF they can find and catch me.
Your post is 'Reapers should portal hop so people can't avoid them'. IE: 'People should HAVE to PvP because I want PvP, so exploits are OK to make this happen'.

I have every right to check for Reapers, raise flag if I see none, use it, and then drop it if I find one.
I do not have to 100% PvP just because I raised said flag. It's a risk, not a guarantee.

I haven't touched this game since a little after Season 7 started. The game doesn't work. It's laggy and littered with bugs. The SoT Twitter blocked me for pointing these things out. Maybe when the entire point of this update actually works I'll come back. They took my gold and their response is a voyage of Restitution? This game is a joke right now.

What is going on at Microsoft? Their first party games have been a disaster as of late.

@ipr0jectpat said in Empty horizons and emptier servers:

I haven't touched this game since a little after Season 7 started. The game doesn't work. It's laggy and littered with bugs. The SoT Twitter blocked me for pointing these things out. Maybe when the entire point of this update actually works I'll come back. They took my gold and their response is a voyage of Restitution? This game is a joke right now.

What is going on at Microsoft? Their first party games have been a disaster as of late.

they can't accurately return what they lost data for

something I just thought up while thinking about your post is a credit system for a ship rename

people known to be playing during effected times of the losses/major issues would receive credits towards a name change

every 2 or 3 major issues would result in a free name change

it's wouldn't be ancient coins just credits specifically for the name change

imo then it not only creates a bit more accountability which raises morale of participants it also leads to something a bit more significant which helps with morale.

Someone that plays a lot that racks up a couple-few free name changes over time might feel a bit less of a loss during the data loss times.

It's because they won't put pve servers in the game. Kinda been the answer for a while, but they shut down the mega thread about it and shut down anyone trying to tell them its the answer. Then the game would have more people and others would want to try the pvp servers and they may love pvp, but you gotta give them something to even want to come back.

@yourbrodayo said in Empty horizons and emptier servers:

It's because they won't put pve servers in the game. Kinda been the answer for a while, but they shut down the mega thread about it and shut down anyone trying to tell them its the answer. Then the game would have more people and others would want to try the pvp servers and they may love pvp, but you gotta give them something to even want to come back.

Servers aren't low activity because the people don't exist they are low activity because people have adapted to making gold in the shadows, because there is still a lot of gold to make in the shadows.

Fighting server hoppers and pvpers with no loot is not interesting and there aren't as many pvers that attack with loot because they also have adapted to off-the-dock hunting

People are still around, enough to fill servers, it's interesting activity that makes servers thrilling that is down.

This game has shown in the past it does fine with pve/pvp when the risk and the reward are mostly balanced and when taking higher risk actually makes sense to the middle.

They don't need pve servers for activity they need servers that perform well and a risk/reward system that draws people out of the shadows because it is worth it to them.

There doesn't need to be a bajillion people to make this game's food chain work well, the numbers they have are workable, especially with 5 ships per server.

Their biggest recent mistake for what exists is doing damage to the relatively small group of high risk takers that lean pve by getting rid of overview stats and giving people 0's. People really aren't feeling doing their 300th ashen winds when a log shows 2, doing a fotd when their log shows 0, doing a fof when their log shows 0. Two, three, fours years in and redoing that high risk stuff isn't really appealing as a fresh start.

Well, why do you think people try to loot in the shadow? Could it be because they don't want to pvp? They won't come out when yall keep pushing them back in. I'm not saying take pvp out completely. All I'm saying is that it's pointless to play when you spend hours trying to get a quest complete and it all gets taken away. They have pve ships that attack, megalodons, environment hazards like volcanos to still keep plenty of risk. The game may not need "a bajillion people, but it's dying and has been for quite some time. It doesn't need to die just because you want everyone to have YOUR adventure and not their own. Pvp server and a pve server shouldn't take THAT much away from the game.

I wonder if some of us old timers are simply expecting too much of the Sea. I mean, I've been playing on-and-off for nearly 5 years now - that's a pretty good return on a $40 investment. And I still find myself going out for a quiet sail, "making gold in the shadows" as @WolfManbush elegantly puts it.

Sure, I miss my swashbuckling days, and my experience is far more pve than it once was for many reasons, not least of which is how broken pvp has become. But the game is still installed on my near-to-bursting hard-drive, and there is still something about playing it that I can't get from any other game.

@ntraills said in Empty horizons and emptier servers:

I wonder if some of us old timers are simply expecting too much of the Sea. I mean, I've been playing on-and-off for nearly 5 years now - that's a pretty good return on a $40 investment. And I still find myself going out for a quiet sail, "making gold in the shadows" as @WolfManbush elegantly puts it.

Sure, I miss my swashbuckling days, and my experience is far more pve than it once was for many reasons, not least of which is how broken pvp has become. But the game is still installed on my near-to-bursting hard-drive, and there is still something about playing it that I can't get from any other game.

100% when it comes to content

Stuff that I talk about like the stats? maybe, dunno

I do know that people that spent years carrying the activity and sharing and contributing in this game did more than just take from it, they put a lot into it that helped it to grow and grow.

When all is said and done and all of the day to day disagreements are no longer relevant it's definitely one of the best bang for the buck entertainment experiences of many of our lives imo.

Even on the worst day the sunrises and sunsets look as good as they ever have so there is always something there to enjoy.

@capn-lucky5984 said in Empty horizons and emptier servers:

Its a very weird scenario for me.

Exhibit A.
I log on, stock my ship, and go looking for PvP. I spend half an hour searching, find a ship, attack them, only to realize after they’ve sunk that they haven’t had a chance to produce some goodies.

Exhibit B
I log on, stock my ship, and decide to work on my Emissary Ledger or do a Tall Tale. I notice as I play that other crews are EVERYWHERE. Ships taking on world events. Ships looting sunken shipwrecks. Ships fighting other ships! I yearn to fight them, or maybe even help them and find a new drinking buddy, but I have Important Business in the form of my Tall Tale.

You saying that you have become Capn Unlucky?

@r3troraccoon
I agree, which is why I recommend rare add back the arena
HEAR ME OUT
Instead of starting a game like a match, you would join into a constantly going server where you have to complete objectives (I.e. dig up a chest and deliver somewhere). The map would be small and it would be about 7-10 (or whatever number) of ships per server.
So instead of waiting for a game to start you just drop in with whoever else is playing at the time.
This way there's no wait times, and constant pvp whenever u want.
You could also earn coin from it, by digging up a reapers chest or something and selling it.
Everyone on the map (the map would be mini so people can't run far) would complete for the chest. When it's sold a new one would appear.

@wolfmanbush
Yessirrrr

With the way PvP works in this game, it's never going to retain a large playerbase or ever really grow. It's easy to say "it's part of the game, deal with it" when you're good at it. But if you're bad at PvP no matter how much you practice or engage in fights, or in my case, play with a controller on PC because I have busted wrists, you're screwed. You're basically locked off from the high-end rewards because the moment you touch an emissary flag, or an Athena's Chest, you're going to be hunted down and bodied by a Level 5 Reaper solo slooper who spams "Well played!" in text chat as he spawn camps you. You have no chance of accruing more than 100-200K a session, and all the Athena stuff combined is in the tens of millions.

When I do play these days, it's almost always solo, none of my friends are any longer interested in it.
I think portal hopping has played a big part in those decisions. We were mostly pve players but often enjoyed defending ourselves when it came. But with an emissary flag raised, and pro fighters portal hopping around destabilising the natural server order of things. It's got to them.
So these days, when I do sail, I don't bother raising a flag, I just quietly go about a short session in the shadows and log off the moment I see reaper 5s appear from nowhere.

Can't comment of the game is in a healthy place with active players. But judging by a few videos I have watched recently, it doesn't look to be.

Rare will have to decide how to tackle that if it is the case. But the game is held back by the Xbox one generation, and will continue to be.

Either way, I can't complain. Its been one of the best games during my long lifetime playing. And however it ends up. I'll always have fond memories.

@shotgunky It will retain a playerbase of people that like PvP, since it's such a big part of the game (which so many people don't seem to be aware of when buying it, looking at the endless complaining). It's like saying DayZ won't retain players because of it's PvP, or Rust. In those games and in SoT it's possible to avoid PvP by being sneaky and employing tactics to shake off people that chase you, but it will keep finding you.

@hefty-henri said in Empty horizons and emptier servers:

@shotgunky It will retain a playerbase of people that like PvP, since it's such a big part of the game (which so many people don't seem to be aware of when buying it, looking at the endless complaining). It's like saying DayZ won't retain players because of it's PvP, or Rust. In those games and in SoT it's possible to avoid PvP by being sneaky and employing tactics to shake off people that chase you, but it will keep finding you.

The majority of people playing this game do so for the PvE content with friends, not PvP. There's a reason Arena never took off, it didn't have enough players to justify its existence. "Being sneaky" involves actively gimping yourself by cutting your gold income in half and being chased away from loot you yourself spent anywhere from half-an-hour to an hour to acquire. Don't even get me started on Athena voyages which advertise to the entire server, "I'm over here, come screw me over and take my loot."