There has been a LOT of talk about larger sloop crews, and most people seem to be against it because of balance concerns. I believe that this is shortsighted, and that the real reasons for this change are completely unrelated to balance. So bear with me and allow me to start my argument with a little allegory.
Imagine you're a waiter (a server, so to speak) in a restaurant. You have tables for 1-2 and tables for 3-4 people. However, your boss is very strict about the layout of the restaurant, and so he does not allow you to move the tables in any way. He also demands that tables must always have the right amount of people, and people are not allowed to switch to a different table. For you as a waiter (server), that means a lot of stress. Say, for example, someone is eating alone, but then two of his friends want to join them. Because of the strict rules, you must demand that the single person pays and leaves the restaurant first, only then can he come back in with his two friends so they can be seated at a table for three. At another table, a group of four people is enjoying their dinner. Eventually, two of them have to leave, but the remaining two have a really great time. Since your boss demands that tables must always be filled to capacity, you continue to place strangers at their table. However, those two don't like that, they'd rather keep to themselves. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to just remove the unused table making up half of the 4 person spot. So if those two want to keep to themselves, they too have to pay, leave the restaurant, then come back in immediately to be seated at a table for two. What a hassle!
Two new people walk in. They had made a reservation for four, but the other two are going to be a bit late. Since you're not allowed to place them at a table of four and reserve the two empty chairs, they decide to sit at a table for two while waiting for their friends. After an hour, their friends arrive, so the two pay, walk out, then walk back in as a group of four to receive the appropriate table. After a while, one of them disappears to the bathroom but never returns. Desperate to fulfill your bosses orders, you place a stranger at the same table, but he immediately starts throwing everyones drinks on the floor, so the three original guests lock him in a closet, where the stranger proceeds to play a hurdy gurdy while yelling racial slurs. What a mess!
If the above sounds really confusing and like a really stressfull job to you, that's because it is. But that is more or less the exact situation the SoT servers must be dealing with. Because of the rigid structure of the matchmaking and party system, people constantly have to create new sessions for playing with their varying amounts of friends. I'm not an expert on servers, but I can imagine that constantly closing and starting new sessions puts a lot more stress on the systems than running sessions for longer and just adding or removing clients occasionally.
I believe that this could be one of the major reasons why Rare announced they want to allow smaller sizes for galleon crews and larger sizes for sloop crews, in addition to allowing vote kicks and private crews. With this change in place, groups of friends could simply adjust their crew size in response to how many of them want to play together while staying in an active session. Instead of constantly closing and creating new ones, the server could keep one session running and just add/remove players accordingly.
In addition to being beneficial to the servers, the announced change would also make the gameplay a lot more immersive and smooth, because it would not have to be interrupted to start or stop playing with your friends. Just put yourself in the restaurant I described above. Imagine you are sitting at the bar alone, but you get to know some people at the table next to you. However, to join them, all of you must pay and leave first, then come back in. That would be incredibly irritating, and in real life, you'd probably never go to that place again. Why should it not be possible to just pull up another chair and join that group right there at their table?
To put it in Sea of Thieves terms: it would be a much more enjoyable experience for everyone if players could seamlessly join each other in their ongoing sessions, instead of being limited to rigid crew sizes and having to quit their session and start a new one. It would also probably alleviate a lot of stress from the servers.
So as you can see, there is an entirely different side to the argument about larger sloop crews, but I have not really seen it mentioned anywhere. I would like to ask you all to take a break from worrying about PvP balance and consider this side of the story for a moment. In this light, it makes a boatload of sense to allow flexible crews, including larger sloop crews, to facilitate a more fluid gameplay experience for everyone by reducing the time spent in menus and loading screens and relieving stress from the servers.
"But 4 man sloops would be OP!!1"
I don't want this thread to turn into yet another pointless discussion about wether 4 man sloops would be OP or not. So all I'm going to do is ask you again to take a step back, and think about some solutions to allow this very necessary change Rare announced AND keep 4 man sloops balanced. I believe that it's quite easily possible to keep 4 man sloops balanced, and that there are more subtle solutions than to outright not make an otherwise very positive change to the game. So far, Rare has done an incredible job at balancing this game. They've been in the industry for decades, they have some serious talent in their teams. I trust them to make sensible decisions and to do both, allow flexible crews on ALL ships while also keeping the balance in tact.
Let us, as a community, stand together to support Rare. Let us find a solution that keeps the game balanced, while also allowing us more seamless experiences with our friends. Let us not fight each other or jump to conclusions about what would or would not be OP. I think we're all debating so passionately because we really love this game and want to see it succeed. Lets work together to make that happen.
Thanks fer readin', lads! I know pirates 'ave a hard time wit' that!
