Safer Seas

So after some reflection and seeing the overreactions of some, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is going to be good for the game.

We “sweaty” players can’t have fresh meat to play with if the meat won’t play the game. We have to accept that the anti PvP crowd will never bother us again with complaints while we fight, and we’re only left the ones who want to fight.

A change of heart is healthy, we don’t all have to be stuck in our old ways.

(this comment is not meant to incite or intimidate)

@tesiccl said in Safer Seas:

( ... ) We have to accept that the anti PvP crowd will never bother us again with complaints, ( ... )

Except for complaints that the rewards and possibilities aren't enough. That started about 5 or 10 minutes after the video.

@lem0n-curry I meant to the PvP players sinking the PvE ones.

My opinion about all of this, if it gets new players or even returning players back, im in for it.
Becouse i can imagine maybe it will be boring after a while, and after maybe new people have learned the basic of the game, and more people maybe joining in on the "high seas".
If the game is in a bad state, and this can save it and get more people, then why not.
Its not that people are not gonna play regular mode, becouse people will. But the "safe mode" will maybe bate more and newer players in with time becouse "oh look we get more gold and stuff doing that, lets do it".
I was not a fan when i saw it earlier today, but it hopefully will benefit all the players in some sort of way at the end of the day, and maybe even for the sales on the game.
And even maybe will this reduce the skillgap and have more skilled players in the regular high seas mode, and im all up for that, its not fun sinking new players anyway.

I'm reading a bunch of hypotheticals and assumptions, but we won't know how these changes will affect the seas until it happens. Honestly I was a bit disappointed at first but I'm keeping an open mind, since both sides of the coin (anti versus for) seem to be rooted in equal merit.

@unleet1

Honestly I was a bit disappointed at first but I'm keeping an open mind

Same. It's been tough, but i'm there now!

@gravesilence272 truly I think that’s hyperbole. I’ve looked through a lot of comments and many people are saying they’ll be happy to get some experience in the Safer Seas first then come to the High Seas, and that’s people who’ve never played the game before, so there’s definitely potential.

@gravesilence272 said in Safer Seas:

@tesiccl said in Safer Seas:

We “sweaty” players can’t have fresh meat to play with if the meat won’t play the game.

Well, after "Safer Seas" there's not going to BE any "meat" on the "High Seas" for anyone to pirate.

It's just going to be a bunch of PvPers with nobody to hunt except each other - but then why wouldn't they just switch to HG all the time?

That's not going to happen. There are too many things that are exclusive to High Seas servers that players will want to be able to play...

• Being able to reach Pirate Legend
• Earn Rep and Gold for Athena and Reapers
• Hourglass
• Captain a ship
• Guilds
• Emissaries
• Gold & Glory and other events

There will be plenty of reasons why even the PvE hardcore will want to continue playing on the High Seas, don't worry about that.

Edit: Also, just saw, Mike Chapman has confirmed that the Fort of Fortune, Fort of the Damned, and Chest of Fortune won't be available on Safer Seas. So there's more reasons to join the High Seas.

@rustybeanyard said in Safer Seas:

@realstyli
Honestly, will Safer Seas really hone people's skills and reduce the quitting rate of those who "really like the look of the game and but don't want to deal with getting 'ganked' by more experienced pirates?"

What it will do is give them the space to learn the mechanics of the game and how the different systems work.

The game has come a long way since it launched and many of us have had the advantage of learning new mechanics and features as they were added. We started in the shallows and were gradually led out to deeper waters. For newer players, they are thrown in at the deep end. It's a lot, especially when the game doesn't teach so much.

Let them get to grips with it, learn how to sail and navigate, how to fight PvE, what does what... the ones who want to move on for greater challenges to the High Seas will. The ones who don't, were never going to stick with the game long enough in the first place. But the potential is always there to change someone's mind given the right conditions.

The pearl-clutching over this update is truly astounding (just as it was a few years ago when people began asking for some form of PVE experience in larger and larger numbers).

Having a higher percentage chance to have to fight against people who actually WANT to fight as well... The horror of it all...

Let's look at what attractions High Seas players will have, shall we?

• You'll be more likely to engage with a crew who is willing (and likely ready) to engage you as well, rather than run away leading to a mutually boring chase, wasting each other's time.
• You'll still be able to crow about how you're playing the game 'the way it was meant to be played', yada yada and so on.
• You'll still be getting exactly what you claim to want out of the game (a fight or many) during your session, as server merging is still a thing.
• You'll be fighting in the normal world and not some small arena-type area.
• You'll be earning 100% on gold and rep. - Let's not forget that these result in nothing more than cosmetic rewards in the first place.
• You'll be able to take part in live events.
• There will still be fat, stacked emissaries for you to plunder.
• You'll have Captained Ships.
• You'll have Guilds.
• You'll have Athenas.
• You'll have Reapers.
• You'll have Tall Tales.
• Oh yeah, and if by some strange momentary inspiration you decide you actually want to undertake voyages rather than hunt other people, you'll be able to do that too.

So what EXACTLY is the problem with Safer Seas?

The only reason I can see for all of the whinging about Safer Seas is that there may not be as many EASY targets sitting around, waiting to be picked on, leaving the PVPers to risk facing (gasp!) an actual loss in battle every so often.

You want to play as a 'real' pirate? Then stop complaining about Safer Seas and go be a 'real' pirate (just be ready to have to take an L once in a while).
The game's not going to die from this update, it's going to grow its player base and its appeal to a wider audience and that is a good thing overall.

@d3adst1ck idk. Captain Falcore mentioned it in his Safer Seas video so I'm just repeating the words of a SoT partner.

Happy Sailing!

I’ve been playing for a little bit, like the change, if you don’t like it don’t play it that simple. I’ve met so many newer players that just want to explore and try the game and the amount of times they said that it was the first time they’ve have had an interaction like our crew astounds me. They’ve all be sunk on site, or when they’re loading up their ships while getting slurs yelled at them. I’m happy for the change for the new players to try before they have to deal with people.

@jack-flintlock said in Safer Seas:

The pearl-clutching over this update is truly astounding (just as it was a few years ago when people began asking for some form of PVE experience in larger and larger numbers).

Having a higher percentage chance to have to fight against people who actually WANT to fight as well... The horror of it all...

Let's look at what attractions High Seas players will have, shall we?

• You'll be more likely to engage with a crew who is willing (and likely ready) to engage you as well, rather than run away leading to a mutually boring chase, wasting each other's time.
• You'll still be able to crow about how you're playing the game 'the way it was meant to be played', yada yada and so on.
• You'll still be getting exactly what you claim to want out of the game (a fight or many) during your session, as server merging is still a thing.
• You'll be fighting in the normal world and not some small arena-type area.
• You'll be earning 100% on gold and rep. - Let's not forget that these result in nothing more than cosmetic rewards in the first place.
• You'll be able to take part in live events.
• There will still be fat, stacked emissaries for you to plunder.
• You'll have Captained Ships.
• You'll have Guilds.
• You'll have Athenas.
• You'll have Reapers.
• You'll have Tall Tales.
• Oh yeah, and if by some strange momentary inspiration you decide you actually want to undertake voyages rather than hunt other people, you'll be able to do that too.

So what EXACTLY is the problem with Safer Seas?

The only reason I can see for all of the whinging about Safer Seas is that there may not be as many EASY targets sitting around, waiting to be picked on, leaving the PVPers to risk facing (gasp!) an actual loss in battle every so often.

You want to play as a 'real' pirate? Then stop complaining about Safer Seas and go be a 'real' pirate (just be ready to have to take an L once in a while).
The game's not going to die from this update, it's going to grow its player base and its appeal to a wider audience and that is a good thing overall.

This is what changed my initial perception of the concept ^^

@jack-flintlock

Someone gets it.

As an hardcore PvPer I think this decision is nothing but good. Swabbies were hurting the organic activity of the servers by not knowing how to interact with the shared world and often being scared to engage with other players. In the long run this will make the "regular" servers feel more alive, challenging and dynamic than they've ever been.

As an experienced player, would you rather have a meaningful session where you have to battle it out/negociate with one or more experienced crews or would you rather have your server filled with diaper sails swabbies roaming around ?

If you're scared that the players who actually will be interested in Safer seas (brand new players, older folks, families) are not going to be available for you to plunder, sorry to say but you're closer to a bully than you are to a pirate.

I'm looking forward to season 10.

Failing to have made a good tutorial which explains the mechanics of the game and that you have to know how to defend your loot, you will ruin the servers, because believe me, the pve players and their recommendation will remain on their SAFER SEAS
Why there isn't just a custom server with 0 gold to win, 0 reputation, nothing to gain, but with the possibility of discovering the entire game. instead of removing a pool of players?

@rlkaa

because believe me, the pve players and their recommendation will remain on their SAFER SEAS

Hello, hi... ahoy.. PvE-focused player here... Let me tell you exactly why I will NOT be remaining on Safer Seas...

No Fort of the Damned or Fort of Fortune... kind of really want to do those... oh, and the Chest of Fortune, which is only on the High Seas.

The Shrouded Ghost (already mentioned it elsewhere) but would really be soul destroying to get that and not have it actually be able to count towards The Legendary Hunter of the Shrouded Ghost commendation... because there are no Athena commendations on Safer Seas. In fact, no Athena at all.

Gold earned at 30% what it is on the High Seas... and that's not factoring in the multiplier for Emissaries, because they're not a thing either.

No Captaincy, so all those Milestones just not tracking. How am I going to unlock my non-existent trinkets that I can't even show off?!

The only appeal of Safer Seas for experienced PvEers like me are doing Tall Tales (but again, we'd lose out on Milestones for those) and fishing (same deal). Maybe the odd time just to chill, unwind, take a few screenshots... hopefully, not of the Shrouded Ghost!

@realstyli this is what I really appreciate about Safer Seas is that it’s not just a copy and paste safe space, it’s designed to be limited.

Safer Seas are ultimately a good way to bring new blood into the game.

Sure, a percentage of these players may never be interested in the High Seas and they will eventually stop playing, but IMO a larger portion of these new players will be interested when they get comfortable and invested enough. I'm sure behind the scenes Rare will also match players who are newer to the game to play within the same server. It can only be good for the overall game population and is also likely to generate income from the emporium.

It's a winning business decision.

@gravesilence272 listen you may be pessimistic but I’m taking the word of those I’ve seen plenty of comments about.

@triheadedmonkey said in Safer Seas:

@gravesilence272 Surely any REAL 'predators' would prefer a prey that is capable of at least putting up a fight?

This is good for people who think the game is just PvP too, they will get better fights rather than just kicking new puppies, Tall Tallers or families fishing. 🤷‍♂️

THIS and let’s face it, it’ll sharpen the “sweaty” players’ skills too if they go up against higher skilled people. It naturally gives the playing field some balance instead of dunking on brand new people and claiming a win.

@gravesilence272 said in Safer Seas:

@realstyli said in Safer Seas:

That's not going to happen. There are too many things that are exclusive to High Seas servers that players will want to be able to play...

Yeah, from the endless PvE comments I've read, the people making them couldn't care less about those things. They just want to kill random skeles, dive shipwrecks and do tall tales with zero risk.

Most of the folks I've seen with those sentiments already gave up on the game, or never even gave it a chance to begin with, the game isn't losing them, it never had them.

There will be plenty of reasons why even the PvE hardcore will want to continue playing on the High Seas, don't worry about that.

You're missing the point. Sure, not ALL PvE players will abandon the "High Seas", but enough will that it will change the fundamental predator/prey ratio, and render the "player hunting" play style unsupportable.

Which begs the question, what sort of "prey" are you after? An easy fight against new players or a real challenge?

The servers scale to population, as they always have done. All it means is that there will be far more chance you'll come up against experienced players.