Abysmal lack of players. Increase server population?

You can find other ships fairly easily by sailing to the other outposts on the map. Chances are someone somewhere is either getting a quest or returning from one. Also, the early quests are generally pretty close to your outpost.

yes increase server population, im I don't think that would work but increase team size to 5

@Seztrenn
You want around 50 boats per server?? That would just make this game like Skull & Bones!!
This isn't a battle royale type fps, this is s Shared World Adventure Game & the encounters with other crews are supposed to be a special event, it wouldn't be if it was turned into a boating lake of chaos!!

@katttruewalker said in Abysmal lack of players. Increase server population?:

Ships are now visible from further afar, will you fight or flee?

That's good to hear. It was definitely possible before to debark onto an island and have someone get at you from beyond the horizon fairly quickly.

@logansdadtoo Sorry but if the most fun thing to do in the game is supposed to be a "special event that only happens once in a while" then there's a problem with the game.

Im not complaining though, in the alpha it was horrible, sailing from island to island for hours with literally no ships around, boring as hell.
For some reason this beta either brought A LOT of people in, or something changed because i was running into ships after 5 mins.

@darlain
There is no problem with the game, it is designed that way.
Rare's aim for player encounters was to happen every 30-45 minutes, as i said they don't want it to be constant battles. If the server size was to increase, then the PVE side of the game would suffer too much as a consequence.

@naoshadowpaws Still i don't see how this solves the 16 person per instance issue.

@logansdadtoo lol, this game's PVE is a joke. Sorry.
The only thing that might actually be a threat are the skeletons maning the cannons at the forts.

Also, like i said, having an encounter every 30-45 minutes is a horrible move by rare. That means that unless someone camps you at an outpost, you're pretty much safe to deliver a lot of chests.

@daros808 said in Abysmal lack of players. Increase server population?:

For those defending the current server population, it's great you had some fun encounters. However, I don't think any harm would come from doubling pop size. Think about how fun a loaded population could be - alliances, sailing in formation, etc. We need to come together to have devs increase population in game.

Rare's really missing opportunities with every single aspect of the game tbh.

@darlain
Thats the problem a lot of people have in this game!! It's not all about the fighting or the threats!!!!
There is so much more to it, but i suppose if all you want to do is fight, then this probably isn't the game for you!!

@logansdadtoo Enlighten us then, what is there more to do?
Don't mention the quests, because they are fetch quests with slight variations. It's worse than a JRPG.

@Darlain
I cannot go into details, as the Pioneer program is still covered by NDA.
I have been playing the alpha & beta for nearly a year now m8 & i am always finding new things to do & ways to play. Yes, the quests we have tested so far are only basic quests, but with more factions to be added that will soon change.
We have only seen what Rare has wanted to disclose, for all we know there could be 10 different factions & many variations on questing, delivering & treasure hunting!
Rare want you to be able to play any way you want to play, so they have to cater for everyone & have to keep the balance right. At the moment they are managing to do that very well in my opinion.
Not everyone is like you my friend, we don't all want combat all the time, i am quite happy with things balanced like they are.
Like i said, Skull & Bones seems more like what you are looking for & SOT isn't going to be anything like that!!

I very quickly found that when I had a crew that knew what they were doing, we ran into a lot of other people in a very short amount of time.

When I had a crew that was clueless, we rarely if ever ran into anyone.

This comes down to:

• More experienced crews move faster, cover more ground, and are more likely to run into someone
• More experienced crews spend less time below decks and generally have more eyes on the horizon, meaning they're more likely to spot a ship when they do run into someone

I was in the game yesterday three times, in one of those lobbies i barely saw anyone nearby, but a few ships far away in the fog, probably avoiding contact.
In the other two sessions i was sailing with friends and we had several encounters with other pirates, so there are players out there, maybe it's just a bit of luck or the players aren't equally distributed over the lobbies.

Unless it was mentioned in this thread, we did have to protect our chests to deliver them to the outposts (which didn't work out all the time) or just got randomly attacked.

@darlain said in Abysmal lack of players. Increase server population?:

@logansdadtoo Enlighten us then, what is there more to do?

Look at the game like any sandbox game: explore the islands and caves, climb to the top of the Galleon Grove Outpost and dance, fool around with gunpowder barrels in the taverns, look for easter eggs, enjoy the details in the world and the views.
Basically just do whatever you want, explore what ever looks interesting and - yes, this is a part as well - attack whoever you think you can defeat.

It seems to me like Rare really worked on those details as well, also i do realize that some players just don't care for those things and prefer pure progress - that's most likely not the only point of the game.

@logansdadtoo Yep, im not buying all this "i can't go into details" thing.
If i buy a game i want to know exactly what im buying.
No man's sky flashbacks all over again.

Also, i've seen several "Pioneer" people complain about the same thing that i'm saying so...

@darlain
Then don't buy it til release m8, then you'll know exactly what you're buying. The same as how you'd have bought most of your other games i suppose!
This is a beta test, an unfinished product, not the final release.

I feel I find players all the time. They are waiting at the outpost for people to come and hand in their chests.