Game does not feel like it used to

All the main game SoT content creators could move on to other main games today and the only real dent the organic environment would see is running into a few less content creators and less skill/crew heavy pvp which actually doesn't hurt a game like this at all. This game lives on without content creation and those social bubbles just like it lives on if I decide that my adventure is over here. Us, someday being done, doesn't mean others are anywhere near that point.

Individuals are burnt out, content creation is a wild ride with far more day to day struggles than people realize on the outside of it. The fact that they are popular and content creators doesn't say much about the game health at all.

Most of the people in this game aren't making a living off of it, it's not their entire day or their entire social focus throughout the day.

Season 9 by far is more consistent than most of the seasons in the organic experience as far as encounters go, still lots of boats, still lots of pvp and peaceful random interactions.

It's fine to burn out, to get frustrated, to not be into whatever the devs are up to in the game, I go through my own maintenance every day to keep from developing an unhealthy relationship with my participation here.

Some long term players being kinda done with SoT doesn't mean the game itself is in a bad spot overall. It's def not a game that truly supports higher performance play consistently but that is only a part of the experience in the world that was designed here.

@grog-minto said in Game does not feel like it used to:

It's their job to play games. Games aren't often designed to be jobs. It seems logical to me that they would have to switch to variety eventually. I wouldn't listen to them about the state of the game overall. They can only speak about their own experience and their experience is playing the game every day for several hours while entertaining an audience. That's not the experience of 99.99% of the playerbase.

It's all about approach and perspective

just about all of the people I know that heavily play SoT as their main or only game are feeling solid about season 9/encounters and the game IF they don't take pvp serious in an ego/montage kind of way and if they regularly challenge themselves and don't get involved in trashing the game/devs/other members of the community and don't super focus on every thing about opponents that they don't like. Being critical of specifics doesn't require burning the place down to make progress.

The content creators that are still doing well (imo) are doing well because they aren't out to ego challenge the SoT world, they aren't looking for personal beefs on the servers, they just see what happens on a server and keep challenging themselves in different ways, and/or just appreciating the opportunity.

People often act like being critical of issues requires spending all day being grumpy about how they feel. People do enjoy themselves some drama/critical content but good vibes even during imperfect times is far more sustainable for a large majority of content than "what are we mad about today?" Grumpy content is far easier for people to replace than inspiration, encouragement, and leadership within content. Even if it's in the form of laughs, that's as good as the rest.

This far into season in the past I would literally see one of the known content creators either every day or every other day on a server, that's because so much middle activity would dip that it was largely just extreme players mixed in with a new player here or there. Season 7 was real low organic activity because morale was low over the stat/milestone situation and captaincy issues on top of low QoL in risk/reward

Season 8 was still extreme players running into each other a lot but that was mainly from the mixing and matching of HG, more random activity was occurring, far more FotD's. Taking that pressure off pve for that season started to have noticeable positive results.

Season 9 has been a wild success imo, specifically because gamepass is very very successful and effective at getting people in this game mixed with the devs leaning more into QoL for the organic experience, specifically around risk/reward.

Out of the last 10 or so servers I have seen so many ships around within sight of active areas that I actually counted multiple times because it seemed like might even be more than 6. That's how active some of these servers are. This was never the case in previous seasons this far into a season.

Then I look at "interest" which is as important as ships. Varied interest makes a server stronger and healthier. There are people doing the events/voyages and there are people fighting over them and then there are activity opportunists that just get involved in whatever is poppin'. This is all combined for healthy interest and activity in risk/reward.

Then I look at what the streamers are getting themselves into, not the ones that are always puttin' everything down, I am looking at the content where people are just seeing what happens and going with the flow of the server. Their encounters largely line up with mine. Ships around, random activity, some treasure production, random ships getting involved, very very good indicator of the game being in a strong activity spot when someone with my amount of gameplay on one side and pvpers/hunters on the other side are seeing this all.

This is all shared servers, xbox preferred servers are just about always even healthier with activity than shared servers.

Pre-season 8 I would say that the "game is in trouble" crowd were at least somewhat on target even if I disagree with how many of them are getting to that conclusion.

Season 8 and season 9 I think they are just flat out missing the mark. All the stuff about performance is valid, but imo they are in a spot right now that the devs are often accused of (being out of touch) imo much of the content creation in this game is out of touch with the organic experience.

Monkey Island will bring in some new people, not Jack Sparrow kind of interest but still plenty good enough to add to the organic experience even more. I have no idea what season 10 will be about but as long as it isn't anything that brings down QoL for casual players in risk/reward then season 10 will likely carry on the progress of season 8 and 9.

To add on to other points I posted

Hopping pvp,

coordinated hopping pvp has been devastating to the organic environment, that's not on any specific pvper, that's not entirely on content creators, that's not even entirely on devs because they can only do so much about something like that without bringing down over QoL for just about everyone. This had a few year run of just flat out running off activity.

Adding variety to athena and then adding HG which mixed up reapers and athena significantly it lead to less extreme hopping. Add on burnout that lead people to either play less at the top of the food chain or just hop less and multiple factors brought down hopping significantly.

This is massive for QoL in the organic experience, it still happens but it's nothing like it was during the -hop all day for reapers- peak.

HG as hg is kinda whatever, some like it, many don't but the effect of HG on the environment made everything that went into it completely worth it.

Hopping being reduced naturally as an effect rather than devs specifically getting involved is best case scenario because it doesn't become a fight scenario in response to some major nerf. It just became less appealing.

Stealth plays,

Seeing a lot more of this including a return to it in more content creation. Any type of pvp is valid if it's within the rules but some styles are healthier for the environment and some are more destructive to production. As people brought down the hopping people started getting a bit more into stealth plays, this is healthier for pvp, entirely because it's server investment and has risk. Nobody is obligated to switch over to it but the shift in focus has positive effects.

Being sunk/attacked

People talk about ships returning over and over, that's gonna happen, some crews just have that in them

but what I am more focused on is that a lot of people just bounce after getting sunk at an event/fotd/before they sink now. This is actually a positive thing. It's an indicator that people are becoming more focused on consistency and efficiency with nerf'd pve. Once people implement the "move on quickly" approach as pve grinders they will have a much more productive and less unpleasant time in the game. Quicker pve helps this a lot.

So, people are free to talk about their burn out, how they've lost motivation to play, frustrated with the game/devs, that's their story but the foundation of risk/reward and the food chain is literally the strongest it has ever been in my view, far more opportunity for pve and pvp. A foundation that now supports more players than ever before.

@reverend-toast said in Game does not feel like it used to:

The thing I love about Sea of Thieves, is you never know what your session will bring. Yes Fort of Fortunes can be done quickly... if you aren't contested... and we will ALWAYS go to a Fort of Fortune to find people to engage with.

Last night, we were doing Hour Glass Dives on a Brig to get some allegiance and then check each server to see if there was anything interesting to do on it. Got to a server and there were 3 other reapers. One Grade 2 looked like it was trying to tuck on a Fort of Fortune, and another Grade 2 was chasing a Grade 4 across the map. We decided to interrupt the chase, and it turned out to be two Galleons. We took out the 4, and then the 2... at that point the Fort of Fortune went down, and the reaper 2 went on the move.

We went toward the fort and didn't see a ship there... just a sloop that looked like it had just logged into Daggertooth. Turns out that was a Solo Slooper who did the fort (Also turns out the other reaper was NOT tucking) and he just turned in the Chest of Fortune... and left everything else on the Fort. So we fought and sunk him, collected the loot, and finished our session.

Yes Treasure is easier to get, and some people do quick sessions... but I have been finding larger and larger loot hauls as of late.... including one where a streamer had over 6 stacks of Fort of the Damned on their ship. (They were not happy we sunk them 😛)

For me the heavy criticism in the social areas mixed with activity staying consistent for season 9 has revitalized my love and appreciation for the environment in SoT.

As frustrating as specific parts of Captaincy have been for me it pales in comparison to how much I adore the immersion of Captaincy. I just really really enjoy what Captaincy brought to my own experience.

Season 9 has brought back a lot of really random interactions and I love that. Anything weird or bizarre (as long as it isn't over the line) is what I love about encounters. Can never be too random for me.

I dunno how after all the hours I have but I still get excited for every meg and every kraken, I still enjoy taking out every skelly ship I see and I still get a lil thrill when a boat heads my way for combat. I still enjoy fighting off ships that are chasing pvers around. I still feel so proud of people for overcoming whatever they are struggling with in this game and getting themselves to a more comfortable spot in their piracy and adventure experience.

I have seen people improve so much in this game, at the game, how they handle and approach the game. People that could barely deal with a pvp encounter turning into well rounded pvpers themselves, people sticking to those goals and reaching them. Everyone has their own journey to go through so I'm not saying anyone else is obligated to be cool with what they are frustrated about, but for me I still dig it too much to be anything other than optimistic about the game's future.

You just burned out on it and it lost a bit of its shine, probably best to take a break and try again later. I'm still in love with the core game, but i desperately need a load of new voyages to play. It's what i log in for (plus the random encounters along the way).

My main issue with these live service type games is that SoT has been out for 5 years now, and it's slated to run for about another 5. But did they add 5 years worth of content all this time? Are they going to add it in the next 5? What is 5 years of content? Players to some degree make their own content in SoT, but many don't just play for PvP and want to do lots of PvE with the odd encounter. I'm one of those players, and the PvE content has gotten stale for me, so i stopped playing again.

Realistically, i can see them adding a world event or 2, maybe a voyage for each faction in a couple of long seasons. New Tall Tale is coming too, which i'm excited about. But it won't keep me playing for long. If they scrapped the last 5 years of SoT and put out SoT2 in a few years, i'd probably get more gametime in a SoT game. But obviously they won't.

What i'd really love to see in SoT is so many new voyages that players can pick a wide selection of their favourites, and play those for a very long time. The encounters along the way will keep things varied, and the sailing part of the game is so nice. But there's only so many Lost Shipments and Vaults one can do before it's stale, and having a whopping 10-20 more fun voyages will keep things quite varied.

Add more voyages and then add some more.