Why SOT is dying

Tha average player who plays SOT will be a solo sloop.

True.

The solo sloop player is a lamb for slaughter.

No, most the good slayers are solo sloopers who kill full crews with ease.

The average player will get tired of dying and quit the game.

Part of the game though. If the "average" player is tired of dying....I can't picture them playing any other game that has 'death' in it.
Yet, Fortnite, Minecraft, GTA, Helldiver, CoD, TF2 all have dying and a lot of it...and if you die to much, you dont really progress. Yet these games, thrive.

the solo sloop player should have the most advantage in this game.

Solo is Hard Mode, you have best ship compared to most, maybe not powerful but still best. Player choice to play alone or with crew, it a choice not forced. So in that, It player fault for everything that happens, not the game.

Average player know this, Gamers should know this. Idk why it so hard to understand...that video games for yeah.

@captainluke56 what advantages?

@burnbacon "No, most the good slayers are solo sloopers who kill full crews with ease." This is just wrong, even as someone who can take down crewed galleons as solo sloop I would argue that a kinda skilled duo sloop is much better than a very skilled solo sloop, and it falls apart with bigger boats.

"Part of the game though. If the "average" player is tired of dying....I can't picture them playing any other game that has 'death' in it.
Yet, Fortnite, Minecraft, GTA, Helldiver, CoD, TF2 all have dying and a lot of it...and if you die to much, you dont really progress. Yet these games, thrive." Most of the games you listed don't have stakes when you die. Minecraft is the only one, and that is a game that is mostly played single player. Even if MC is multiplayer, you sign up for it. You cannot have a non PvP server in SoT without safer seas, and that's not a valid comparison to MC since the full game can be accessed offline in single player.

"Solo is Hard Mode, you have best ship compared to most, maybe not powerful but still best. Player choice to play alone or with crew, it a choice not forced. So in that, It player fault for everything that happens, not the game.

Average player know this, Gamers should know this. Idk why it so hard to understand...that video games for yeah." How is it the best? It has the slowest rate of fire, the lowest damage output, it's slower than any other ship. The only benefit the sloop has over any other ship is the mast taking 3 hits instead of 2 and the water filling slower because it has less holes. The mast isn't even really an advantage since every other ship has more masts, so even if they have 2hp instead of 3, there is 2 masts, making it 4 total HP to deplete to demast on a brig, and 6 on a galleon.

@potatosord Every mast in the game (except skeleton or ghost ship masts of course) has three hp. The only difference between a sloop (and the burning blade) and every other ship is, that a chain shot deals two dmg to the mast of a sloop (and the burning blade) instead of three. :D So it either takes three cannonballs (same for every ship) or a chainshot and a cannonball or two chainshots.

@streichkase Functionally makes no difference since most players don't go for or try to demast with cannons, just chainshot. I've seen people do more demasting with scattershot than with cannonballs.

The real reason SoT is dying is because the underlying game is falling apart. Hitreg is the worst its ever been. Foodreg is horrendous. Fake buckets happen too often. Invisible backsplashes where you see the water projectile leave the ship but it goes back in anyways. Bluetooth sword, cannon reload desync, long loads, blackscreening, cannon shot lag, dropping directly down when you fire yourself out of a cannon, the MYRIAD of ways that have been available to track where a player is going to spawn to damage them before they even have a chance to know where the attacker is, players lag teleporting around, falling off the boat because of lag, the game arbitrarily deciding your ladder grab doesn't work despite hitting F 10 times while the prompt was visible on screen, trinkets positioned EXACTLY in the way of repairs so you have to look down even further to repair, the wheel still being usable while broken but it turns into a skill based mini game where you have to find the exact pixel that allows you to grab it even though repair and use are different buttons so you should have both options available at the same time. This game has so many issues that affect what happens in EVERY player interaction, EVERY PvE interaction, no matter who you are, how you play, what you do in the game, or if you ever even see another player, these things will still affect you. Mermaids breaking grapple ropes. Times where you die instantly to something and the game forces you to sink because it long loads you, only to drop you in the ocean 50 meters away from your boat as it turns to future driftwood. When you eat because you're burning to death after a continental meteor of lava slams your boat or you hit an ocean keg, and the game decides that your over a second long animation didn't count so you die and your boat sinks. I've had so many matches in hourglass where I can't use the ammo box, or the sail controls, or use the barrels, on my opponents boat. The random crashes all the time. This game could be so much better if it just worked. So many times a play fully fails because the game bugs out. You get a win stolen from you because the game just... doesn't work. I can't count on 2 hands the amount of days I have just quit SoT for the day and did anything else because it had so many bugs in such a short time that I couldn't handle it anymore.

SoT’s been dying for 7+ years because people won’t learn to socialise with others and get a crewmate? Sure… Usual doomerism rubbish.

@heslashthem said in Why SOT is dying:

SoT’s been dying for 7+ years because people won’t learn to socialise with others and get a crewmate? Sure… Usual doomerism rubbish.

The second part of that first sentence is very hurtful to anyone who suffers from severe social anxiety. It's not that we "won't learn to socialise". Trust me, we try. Every day. But it's not helped by sentiments like this. Do better.

To the OP: Solo slooping is hard mode. Always has been. And Mike Chapman has said time and again that galleon is the core experience.

I don't believe that the game is dying. I think there is a shift in focus to a more PvP-focused game and that just means a lot of folk are put off, and a new audience is found. Do I like it? No. But that's the reality. If you truly want to send a message that you're dissatisfied, just vote with your wallet and your playtime.

@realstyli like my own social anxiety, only you can do something about it. I can empathise with your issues but don’t expect me to agree with the hyperbole behind your or OP’s post.

@heslashthem said in Why SOT is dying:

@realstyli like my own social anxiety, only you can do something about it. I can empathise with your issues but don’t expect me to agree with the hyperbole behind your or OP’s post.

I'm only saying you could chose your words better. I don't disagree that it is primarily up to the individual to manage their MH struggles, but that is made harder by a general lack of understanding and empathy around these issues.

And, to be clear, I also don't agree with the OP that "the solo sloop player should have the most advantage in this game".

It is a game that is designed and balanced around crews not solos, that has always been the case. Players need to accept that aspect of the game. If you're going to play solo, temper your expectations and expect to lose, often. Learn to run only the risks you are comfortable with.

Do I think there are some balancing issues that could be addressed? Sure, but handing a win condition ("most advantage") to solo sloopers only encourages less crewing up.

Bad take.

The solo slooper needs to be cautious and canny, aware of their limitations and advantages.
Accept that certain tasks out of reach.

Props to Rare for putting the Reapers Fort in Safer Seas. I think that this is tacit acceptance that with a Mega Stash boost its is an unenjoyable/unfeasible experience for the solo slooper with time limited deeds requiring completion.

The Black Keg is also a boon to solo sloopers given the playstyle the majority of solo's would adopt.

@pc-monkfish That's part of the issue. There should NEVER be an "I win" button. I shouldn't be able to just get a giga keg, which you can get for free with the voyage table, and take it over to someone and be basically guaranteed to win. It's too powerful. It's a bad take to want to have instant win buttons.

@potatosord

Re : The Black Kegs

Lately I have been sinking myself more often than other ships so they are pretty balanced.
If a brig or galleon wants to slavishly follow a ships track when pursuing now that the kegs have been out for 2 months, that's a skill issue.
They're rarely instant win now - but they certainly give folk second thoughts.

@potatosord not an instant win. You’d better offer immediately or lunge off harpoon back or you sink.

2 will drop a burning blade tho 😏😏😏

It’s been a lot of fun leveling ships in the game.

SOT is dying because the PVE in this game has no structure and its not interlinked together and that makes the average player do 1 or 2 quests or do 1 world event and then quits the game and the players that play every day will smash the commendations in 1 week and then quit until next update , that´s why its dying not because of the solo sloop player that is dying on repeat

SOT is dying because the PVE in this game has no structure and its not interlinked together and that makes the average player do 1 or 2 quests or do 1 world event and then quits the game and the players that play every day will smash the commendations in 1 week and then quit until next update , that´s why its dying not because of the solo sloop player that is dying on repeat

You means players who saw a Streamer video and expected the same experience but finds out they have to "Grind" or actually play long periods to achieve said experience.

The same players who play everyday, achieving those commendations in 1 week, because the small percent of players who can't play a lot, demand and get what they want. Don't wanna spend hours/days/weeks/months doing those commendations.
So they quit playing...until next update.
Those players? the kids who want everything given to them without actually playing.

Yeah...I hope all those players quit...so us actual players who care, still support and play regardless of everything will play until this game is fully complete. ^_^ It still fun game, like many games before it. Some "die" but still thrive with the supporting players who...just game it as it is.

Not dying at all. Today was straight up action, especially with these new world events. Still think the devs need to find more ways to have interesting yet chill sessions.

So. Some suggestions.

1. Get rid of reaper 5s being able to see ships on the map.
2. Get rid of emissary levels being seen on the ships flag.
3. Make the sloop fastest by far.
4. Make sloop alliances with other sloops 100% equal cash in.

@potatosord said in Why SOT is dying:

@pc-monkfish That's part of the issue. There should NEVER be an "I win" button. I shouldn't be able to just get a giga keg, which you can get for free with the voyage table, and take it over to someone and be basically guaranteed to win. It's too powerful. It's a bad take to want to have instant win buttons.

There's a lot of counterplay to being kegged, and even if you are kegged... You can still survive. A Brig kegged my Solo Sloop TWICE and I still didn't sunk... Just spent a lot of wood. (They sunk themselves by kegging my ship because I was parked right next to their Brig, so legit didn't have to do anything to win that fight).

Edit: Should confirmed that yes, it was two of the new Smuggler Kegs.

@captainluke56 said in Why SOT is dying:

So. Some suggestions.

1. Get rid of reaper 5s being able to see ships on the map.
2. Get rid of emissary levels being seen on the ships flag.
3. Make the sloop fastest by far.
4. Make sloop alliances with other sloops 100% equal cash in.

1. No. That breaks the balance of the Reaper Emissary.
2. No, being able confirmed which ship you're looking at is extremely helpful and losing information is never a good idea.
3. ???
4. No. The Brig should be the fastest overall since it has the weakest defense in direct naval combat. Sloop is fastest only against the wind and still pretty good overall, while having the best mobility overall.
5. No...