Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?

@spectergames706 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that being solo is a choice, but it is one we all have to acknowledge many players make. solo slooping is and always will be the hardest way to play the game, but in recent times it seems too hard, even to seasoned veterans.

Like I already said (and you said back to me for some reason) solo slooping is a choice. an undeniably harder way to play the game.

But the extent of how hard it is, and how much is expected of solo players, has gotten ridiculous in recent times. thus, the influx of posts like this.

@shadowfox327533 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

Don't solo sloop if you don't wanna. Open crew, join a discord LFG, find a crew here on the forums, so many other options if you don't wanna do it.

Okay, I'm going to continue to call this out every time this argument is made...

This is very reductive of the experience of a lot of players who struggle with issues that make forming a crew hard. Social anxiety is a thing. It's a mental health issue that affects everyone differently and, what seems easy to you, is like moving a mountain to them.

The game may not have been initially designed with solo play in mind (indeed, you could only Open Crew at launch), but a very large portion of the playerbase do sail solo, for differing reasons. Some are comfortable in crews as well and only sail solo off-peak, when their crew is unavailable.

It's also clear that, for the majority of the game's life, Rare has balanced around it. Whether that's Tall Tale bosses, dig time, time on the Ferry, or even just the fact there is a solo mode in Hourglass. It felt somewhat endorsed.

It's only in the last year or so that Rare has been making decision after decision without the playstyle in mind... often seeminly uncaring that they are killing it off.

And this is the reason the forum is seeing a growth in posts expressing frustration at solo play.

p.s. I'm not saying solo needs to be on par with crew play, it has always been hard mode... but the delta has grown to an extreme lately.

@ShadowFox327533
There are many solutions, like making the sloop's stats change dynamically based off the crew size. solos get less holes, faster anchor raise time and sail adjustment time.

@spectergames706 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

There are many solutions, like making the sloop's stats change dynamically based off the crew size. solos get less holes, faster anchor raise time and sail adjustment time.

like I said, it would change dynamically. someone joins? ship stats change. someone leaves? ship stats change. would probably be hard for the devs, but I feel this would be the most balanced way to make solo play better.

@D3ADST1CK fair, maybe it would take a few minutes for the changes to activate, that way people can't stratigically leave to give the ship temporary advantages

@shadowfox327533

I didn't realise I was actually working for Rare and was required to give a solution.

There have been plenty of folk who have been giving suggestions though. One of the prime issues at the moment for solo players is dealing with the grapple gun boarding meta, which even Beardageddon doesn't like. Personally, I would say it's one of the worst additions to the game in the last couple of years. I would relegate it to a tool that cannot attach to ships at all.

@shadowfox327533 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

You aren't required it just helps me better understand the problem. I solo sloop 90% of the time. I try my best to fend off boarders but sometimes you can't and that's ok. You don't have to win every fight and you especially don't have to complain about it

I don't expect to win every fight, but "sometimes you can't and that's ok" is basically a resignation to the fact that the game is fundamentally not balanced at all.

Like I already said, solo has always been hard mode. I also solo the majority of the time, well over 90% of it. So solo being harder than crew play is not the issue. It's the large gulf that now exists in the capabilities. I have seen other players give up the game because that way of playing is just not as viable anymore. I've seen day one players and Partners basically quit over the decisions Rare has made.

At the end of the day, I just want players to come back to the seas and enjoy playing it the way they want to play it. I can handle myself, I rarely meet PvP because I am good at sailing in the shadows and, while I recognise the imbalances, I can brush it off when I do get absolutely wiped by a 2/3/4 v 1. But it has made me less inclined to boot up the game knowing that there are less options against larger crews.

@spectergames706 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

@spectergames706 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that being solo is a choice, but it is one we all have to acknowledge many players make. solo slooping is and always will be the hardest way to play the game, but in recent times it seems too hard, even to seasoned veterans.

Like I already said (and you said back to me for some reason) solo slooping is a choice. an undeniably harder way to play the game.

But the extent of how hard it is, and how much is expected of solo players, has gotten ridiculous in recent times. thus, the influx of posts like this.

Quite a while ago, they made it to where it takes 2 chains to drop a sloop's mast (used to be just one....talk about tough times), and they respawn quicker from the ferry. Now you're saying it's gotten much harder?? Can you provide specific examples of what you're talking about here, that's been made more difficult??

@shadowfox327533 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

So what's your solution to the problem????????

You have a problem but no solution. So therefore if there is no solution, then keep it how it is already.

The solution is to either...

A). Undo some of the horrible decisions that have directly impacted solo play

B). Offer solo only servers as an optional matchmaking preference.

Or..

C). Make some IN-GAME preference adjustments to Open Crew to make it a viable solution for on-demand crew filling.

Since I doubt that Rare is going to undo or make significant balancing changes to the things they've done...and I genuinely doubt they'll make any improvements to Open Crew...I'd say option B is the most realistic.

Undo some of the horrible decisions that have directly impacted solo play

Can’t think of one. But I can maybe guess 1 but a group of players will swear that isn’t the issue :/

@realstyli said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

The game may not have been initially designed with solo play in mind (indeed, you could only Open Crew at launch),

While this is true, before Closed Crew was introduced (about 2 months after launch) you could opt to play on a solo sloop (and a 3-crew galleon).

@europa4033 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

Quite a while ago, they made it to where it takes 2 chains to drop a sloop's mast (used to be just one....talk about tough times), and they respawn quicker from the ferry.

And for a while, solo was in a good spot.

but now, the time to kill is drastically reduced with faster weapon switching. a boarder can easily knock a solo off of their own ship using the reworked blunderbuss. double and even triple boards become much more viable, people spawning in to find a firing squad on their own ship.

I understand that spawncamping is often part of the sinking process, but the recent changes to combat have put things in a ridiculous spot for solo players. I'm sure things are working out great for brigantines and duo sloops, but this "fluid combat" is detrimental to solo players and makes the numbers advantage even more advantageous.

@lem0n-curry said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

@realstyli said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

The game may not have been initially designed with solo play in mind (indeed, you could only Open Crew at launch),

While this is true, before Closed Crew was introduced (about 2 months after launch) you could opt to play on a solo sloop (and a 3-crew galleon).

Oh yeah, you are entirely correct. So it's even more the case that solo slooping has been facilitated since day one.

@spectergames706 said in Does Rare expect over 200% Efficiency from solo players?:

I understand that spawncamping is often part of the sinking process, but the recent changes to combat have put things in a ridiculous spot for solo players. I'm sure things are working out great for brigantines and duo sloops, but this "fluid combat" is detrimental to solo players and makes the numbers advantage even more advantageous.

While it's clear I generally agree about the balance of solo slooping not being in a good spot, I wouldn't necessarily put it down to the quick swap change. I have my own qualms about that, for different reasons.

When it comes to a 2/3/4 v 1 spawncamp situation, it's just more likely the two tap is coming from multiple players rather than one person quick swapping... at least in my experience. But things like the grabble gun and the Cannon of Rage have lead to those scenarios being more common and there being less "escape" routes for the crew that's at a disadvantage. I've been afraid of this for years, that they would mess with the cat vs mouse balance and lead to the cats getting a free lunch, killing off the mice.

My issue with the quickswap is just that they changed the blunderbuss mainly because the TTK was too fast (one tap) but effectively undermined it with that change. I'd take the blunderbuss one tap over the knockback any day. But we'll get a lot more complaints if they revert either, so I don't know what the solution is there.

@realstyli

oh absolutely, the imbalance against solo players is far more complex than just quick swap. the sheer numbers advantage and ease of boarding is definitely a bigger part of it.

This could have been simply added to the similarly subjected : https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/182979/please-make-solo-slooping-viable

Nothing more to add.

So Imbalanced…
Just watched a streamer use a cannon rowboat, two small kegs and destroy a random 4 man burning blade grade 5 ship.
Wasn’t even a fight…it was test and they failed.

@sweetsandman

That would be great, but from my experience playing solo servers, like one that used to exist on Path of Titans, is that Discord and other social communication platforms are an issue. Friends can get together on their individual sloops and team up against the solos.

@shadowfox327533 telling someone to open crew is basically telling them to get sunk

@realstyli id prefrer if harpoon still worked for my ship when i use it makes boarding my own ship faster granted im lazy