I got this game for my son on his birthday and purchased 3 copies to my kids and I could play. The first week it was very enjoyable, sailing around with my kids, teaching them port and starboard, and how to follow a compass. I had so much fun I convinced my friend to pick up a copy so we could crew a ship together and explore. Now, fast forward to this week. It is almost as if your game is designed to encourage people to 'screw' with other players. I am not talking about normal piracy, sink the ship and steal the loot. I am talking about having someone continually mess with you, from the point your crew materializes on some shore until you all quit the game in frustration. I spent the day looking forward to our family game night and playing this game. We had so much fun last week and were so excited about tonight. My youngest wanted to grind it out and get a gold sword like his older brother. Unfortunately we were messed with by the same players for over an hour. First our ship was stolen right after we started. We had to scuttle it to get it back. Then we had to fight the same people for over an hour as we tried to get from there to the first island. They just stayed on our boat, killing myself and my two sons over and over again (we had no loot as we just started the game) and then when we did manage to sink them, they sailed straight back from wherever they respawned and proceeded to continue killing us just several minutes later. I work all day, work is hard, life is hard, and at times you want to escape and have fun in a video game. We all looked forward to tonight and tonight was horrible. We did not have fun (which is something you advertise) and we won't be playing again until you guys figure out a way that I can play with my family without being harassed for no reason by other players. This is ridiculous to think I paid for 3 copies of this game (if you need receipts I can supply) and I can't even enjoy it because you guys created the perfect vehicle for people to be complete butts to others for no reason. This is worse than trying to mine in EVE during Hulkageddon. I can appreciate that due to the nature of being a pirate, pirate type behavior will occur. 'We got our ship sunk and lost that loot', this makes sense, 'This guy chasing us all across the ocean and killing my kids and then killing them again as soon as they respawn', this does not make sense. It also speaks to the really c****y nature of online society and if we pay for your game you should give us a way to politely decline from mixing with them. Why can't you set up micro instances of the game and allow crews to play PvE instead of PvP?
Life is tough enough, people deal with hardships more than not and want to be entertained by their video games. This is not entertaining. It started out that way but has deteriorated to the extent that this is no longer a sea of thieves but rather a sea of s******s. Perhaps acting in such a manner is fun for some people and I don't hold that against them or even ask that they stop doing so. All I am saying is perhaps when someone spends money on a game to have fun the game developers have an obligation to make sure that happens for all players. At what point does Rare value one customer over another by allowing people who play the game one way to prevent people who're seeking to play the game in another way from having any fun?
Being a pirate or being a jerk? Rare has created the perfect environment for the latter...
Same thing happened to me. Guys attacked me twice. Difference is when it happened a second time I LEFT THE SERVER. If your time is precious why waste it trying to battle against the odds? Just switch servers. I’ve played some games for hours and not seen a single ship. Others I’ve seen tons and they’ve all ignored me. I even had one guy give me a chest - awesome guy!
All I am saying is perhaps when someone spends money on a game to have fun the game developers have an obligation to make sure that happens for all players.
You're wrong. Unless you're suggesting that since I hate football, if I buy the next NFL game, the devs have an obligation to transform it so I can enjoy it?
If they make PvE servers (which they won't, thank god) then I'll just hop on them and board your ships and steal your loot. Except on those servers you won't even have a way to fight back.
@purewebatl honestly I'd say that the internet has created a mass of hateful trolls that thrive on diminishing other people's enjoyment and their own anonymity behind their screen. I think that if they started Banning Xbox accounts for this toxic Behavior then you'd see much less of it as these trolls would actually be held accountable for once. Hopefully we will see less of it with the Game Pass ending. As renting a game invites toxic Behavior.
Yeah, there are griefers, and while it's not an elegant solution, you could just quit the game and start in a new session. That should put you in a new server where those same players shouldn't be. It sucks that you'd have to lose whatever quest you were working on to do so, but switching servers after the first 15 minutes of getting griefed sounds much better than the alternative.
@purewebatl said in Being a pirate or being a jerk? Rare has created the perfect environment for the latter...:
@maximus1978 piracy (noun) the practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea.
I guess I didn't realize that piracy meant being an a@#hole.
Attacking and robbing ships at sea isn't a jerk move?
@djiem
Yeah at sea or getting ambushed at an isle is one thing, getting camped at an Outpost you need to go because of an merchant mission is another thing.@djiem not in the context of this game as it is a core premise of it. The jerk move is when the same people attack the same ship repeatedly with nothing to be gained outside of ruining another player's fun.
@purewebatl said in Being a pirate or being a jerk? Rare has created the perfect environment for the latter...:
@djiem not in the context of this game as it is a core premise of it. The jerk move is when the same people attack the same ship repeatedly with nothing to be gained outside of ruining another player's fun.
You could always fight back and win?
Or scuttle the ship?
Or switch servers?@koolgoldfinch I agree, but why is it that one group of paying customers should be inconvenienced because of another? Don't the developers have a responsibility to ensure all their paying customers have fun?
@purewebatl said in Being a pirate or being a jerk? Rare has created the perfect environment for the latter...:
@koolgoldfinch I agree, but why is it that one group of paying customers should be inconvenienced because of another? Don't the developers have a responsibility to ensure all their paying customers have fun?
No. Plus, if you prevent this, then it's the other party who doesn't have fun. You can't please everyone.
@djiem not sure if you read my post but we did scuttle the ship and then we did successfully fight back and win but they just came straight back and continued. They did so knowing that we had nothing, as we just left the outpost after starting the game. Then, why should we have to switch servers? Rare has some responsibility in creating an environment where all players can enjoy their game. Possible they could create a matchmaking system in where they pair players up by skill or previous actions in the game? At the end of the day I am just a guy who paid money for this game and hoped to enjoy an evening playing it with my family. It didn't happen, no big deal, but when we spend $60 maybe they should have to provide something more in line with what they sell?
@purewebatl said in Being a pirate or being a jerk? Rare has created the perfect environment for the latter...:
@koolgoldfinch I agree, but why is it that one group of paying customers should be inconvenienced because of another? Don't the developers have a responsibility to ensure all their paying customers have fun?
Not when it's an online-only game. Even the ESRB state on all games that have online interaction that they can't possibly guarantee anything with the little disclaimer "Online interactions not rated by the ESRB." It's just not a thing that's possible, and they don't market the game telling you that you'll never have a bad time. They market the game as a pirate adventure where you hunt for treasure, battle skeletons, and fight with other players. Granted, there should be more in the game, but what we have is what Rare advertises.
@djiem said in Being a pirate or being a jerk? Rare has created the perfect environment for the latter...:
You can't please everyone.
THIS. This is absolutely true. I feel dumb for not thinking this, especially since it's very obvious.
@vancough, you are exactly correct in saying this. I should have had my crew just drop out and join a new server. That could've potentially solved the entire problem of people being complete A@#hats online. However, I would have lost the time in doing so and then lost my voyages which cost me something. Both of us our customers, both of us paid money to play this game. Rare should've realized that this style of game can create online bullSH%$Tery and created a way for players to mitigate this if they choose to.
@koolgoldfinch so, it would be too much for Rare to create a system in which one could create a private session within the game and play against the environment much like GTA online does? Obviously you can't can't guarantee online interacions but it is 2018 and I think you could predict them. I guess I was unaware that this was a game in where one could sail about harassing the same players over and over again with no gain or penalty. If I had read that I wouldn't have purchased it. For me, my choice is not to play it, but because I bought this game I wanted to post my complaint here.
Lots of people seem to have the wrong impression of this game they seem to think it's a PvP death match it's not it's an Adventure game with pve content and PvP elements but the PvP is so basic has no risks or penalties it encourages this death match style of game play...
PvP needs to be reworked/enhanced two simple things to do have the aggressing crew get moved to another server If they get sunk and add a death penalty every time you die 10 seconds gets added to the respawn timer max 2 mins and to clear the penalty you have to be out of PvP combat for 10 minutes this means the more you die the harder it is to keep your ship from get sunk so fights don't last for hours and skill and tactics mean something.
@rarestarfish386 and that is a shame. If the game truly doesn't offer enough to capture player's attention than perhaps it isn't worth $60.
@purewebatl You are free to report players. Rare has told people many times that if you come across griefers, you should report them via the Xbox Live system. It would be nice if they had an in-game report feature, but until they implement one, or possibly an "Avoid This Player" option in the game settings, the best way to combat this is reporting the players that are harassing you through Xbox Live, then joining a new server. Like I said, it's not elegant, but it's all there is right now.
@purewebatl Well if you're being harassed for over an hour by 1 crew and don't leave the server you're kind of begging for it at that point. I understand the frustration but how hard would it have been to simply leave and restart fresh? As for the spawn killing if you had no loot why not just scuttle? A lot of these problems are so easily avoided it just seems like people don't really try to fix it and rather just hope the crew bullying them decides to stop...spoiler, they will not decide to stop. Best thing you could've done is restart on a fresh server then enjoyed the game with your kids. If you're really going to quit playing over that then that's just a yikes from me. I hope you give it another try and take this advice, this games gorgeous when you learn how to escape the trolls who try to ruin it.
@pilks4k agreed, basically Rare could've put in some more thought on how this system would play out.
@shambozo you are right, we should've just switched servers. Then everything would've been okay and we would have not a single problem in the way Rare has decided to set up in game player interactions.
I was completely against private games but this game needs it or it will be dead in a couple of months being pirates is one thing and it doesnt bother me but there is an issue with people solely playing it to ruin other peoples experience like spawn killing people till your forced to quit the game because even after you scuttle your ship they find you and the spawn killing continues
@purewebatl said in Being a pirate or being a jerk? Rare has created the perfect environment for the latter...:
@shambozo you are right, we should've just switched servers. Then everything would've been okay and we would have not a single problem in the way Rare has decided to set up in game player interactions.
I think you're misunderstanding. Rare doesn't force people to be jerks. People are jerks. And when they're anonymous, they don't mind showing that off. I am sorry that some people ruined your game night, but it is not Rare's fault. They could absolutely implement more features to stop this, like an in-game report system or an "avoid this player" button (both of which I think would help in reducing a lot of griefing incidents) but even if they don't, it's not Rare's fault that people decide to be jerks.
@lowbei good point, who did I think I was to purchase such a game and think that I could play it and enjoy it with my family.
@purewebatl If you just left after dying a few times, none of that would've happened. It becomes very obvious when a player's intention is to troll and it's very easy to avoid these type of players. Splitting the game into PVE/PVP would only destroy the game.
@djiem that is true, but what if you gave people a choice to either play on a server that doesn't have PvP? That would get pretty close to pleasing everyone, well maybe not Rare because they will have to expend money to set it all up...
