I lost interest in the game fairly quickly because...

  • icebice
    Marauder

    I'm a solo player and I would like to meet and play with other people.
    9/10 games you try to find a crew (galleon), you will end up in a dead crew where everyone is leaving or have left because they have already played for some time. I've tried waiting for new crew members and they do arrive - eventually - but during the waiting, people have gone AFK.
    This happens so often that I lost interest in booting up the game. I don't want to play on my own in my little ship. I want a full-scaled crew and have fun! And when I do find a crew like that, we usually play for hours (microphone f*w).

    I seriously think this game needs improvements in matchmaking because it really sucks at the moment (I've not played for like 2 months now, I doubt it has been "fixed").

    What are your experiences in matchmaking?

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  • Sshteeve
    Captain
    Insider
    Boatswain

    Matchmaking in open crews can be awful, but it can similarly be a fantastic experience.
    I won't go linking all of the other threads out there about this, but rest assured if you start befriending folk you like who you sail with and send them a quick message, they usually team up again with you.

    Also - the clubs - oh man the clubs and guilds and the fleets that advertise on here, or just other forum members. Always happy to lend a helping hand if you need it... just send me a message and we can sail.

  • canadianmuscle3
    Founder

    Clubs are the beat way to find crews to work with. You can post what your looking for and get people constantly. I always had success that way untill I finials built a friends list that I no longer need to use the service.

  • icebice
    Marauder

    Oh yes, it can be fantastic at times but mostly it's really awful.
    I have added several people but the whole Xbox app for Windows is utterly bad and most of them never launch it to accept your friend request...
    I do know you can add each other through emotes but not everyone knows this.
    Also, as a player, I don't want to have to go to a forum to find a crew. I want that feature to be in the game and properly working!

    I wouldn't mind to sail with you though! As long as you have a microphone :)

  • icebice
    Marauder

    I've never tried clubs though, maybe I should but still, a game should not rely on a third party app to find proper games.

  • Gerinako86
    Marauder
    Founder

    I load up a closed crew first

    Put down the voyage I want to do

    Then change crew type to open

    Works most of the time for me without fail

  • Da German420
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    searchin for groups with the xbox app work so much better,u will find a decent crew in minutes.

  • BusinessJjj
    Founder

    @icebice
    Must be you then because I never have issues playing solo or finding groups.

  • PirateCraggy
    Legend
    Insider

    @icebice said in I lost interest in the game fairly quickly because...:

    ..... almost sounds like an Essay or Dissertation title.
    For me those days are over, I just play the game, still enjoying it!...:-)

    alt text

  • Pink Geek Chic
    Master
    Founder

    @icebice I frequently use the "looking for group" function in the game hub. It is a fantastic tool. You can search for other people who are also looking for crews. AND you can find ones with similar play styles and goals as yourself.

    Occasionally, I will land on a crew that I find myseld uncomfortable in. But there are always endless posts to go back and choose from...or post yourself!

    Good luck in the future and happy sailing!

  • Mad Jim Rogers
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    Use looking for group

  • HandSh0t
    Marauder
    Insider

    I'm Dutch and there's a dutch discord dedicated to this game. There's always people looking for crews, so I play with other dutch people I don't even know, but can communicate with very well.

    You should try joining the official discord and ask for crew there. The open session joining is plain bull as people only join to see if there's loot to turn in, just to leave after turning it in again.

  • Sytoki
    Marauder
    Insider

    @icebice the random matchmaking in this game is no different than any other. GTA 5 heists were god awful without competent players, any moba games you’ll suffer if your team doesn’t know what their doing, and likewise if your crew changes every 10 minutes then you won’t move more than 2 feet from the dock. I recommend if you want to change from solo to a more team player, check out any of the numerous sea of thieves discord’s there are. Tons of people in the main one and I always have people to chat with.

  • Ghostpaw
    Legend

    Random squads in Battlefield result in being teamed up with

    • Snipers perched on a hillside not spotting enemies
    • Medics ignoring your requests for medpacks and stepping over your body rather than reviving you
    • Players who won't drop ammo
    • Mates who ignore squad objectives as they work on their pet project

    Random teams in Fortnight result in being teamed up with:

    • Players who will blow up your own structures
    • Teammates who will try to collect items before you can regardless of what works for the group (e.g. hoarding shields while the rest of the squad has none)
    • Players who will race into a fight far away from the rest of the group, get killed, then drop out within the first couple of minutes leaving your squad short for the rest of the match

    I could do this for most any multiplayer game. Random groups are terrible. This is not a weakness specific to SoT. Make some friends in the game. Be someone that others want to play with again. Be a member of the team and pull your weight. If you are finding people who are fun to play with and yet you are not receiving requests to play with them again, or they are turning you down when you offer, then maybe they didn't enjoy playing with you as much as you enjoyed playing with them. Don't promote yourself to deck-boss and don't stand around watching the horizon or playing the drum as others do all the work.

  • KattTruewalker
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder
    Deckhand

    @icebice

    The official discord is a really easy place to find crews -

    Join the Sea of Thieves Discord Server!

    Join the Sea of Thieves Discord Server!

    Sea of Thieves is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Windows 10/11, PlayStation 5, Battle.net and Steam! | 425074 members

  • DaveyJay1984
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @icebice I've had a mixed bag of matchmaking. That being said, I had three friends on the Xbox app before playing SOT. Now I'm nearing 50.
    Make friends with anyone you have fun playing with, even if they are on different crews and you end up on the Ferry together. Join in via the looking for crew section and search for groups on the forums and discord.
    Once you have some good friends on your list, you'll only need to play solo when you want to.

  • GPMrks
    Master

    I'm a solo player too and unfortunately this game can let us quite desmotivated, nowadays I'm playing once in a week just so I can make a little progress through time cus this game has a lot of issues for us. One that really annoys me is that we don't get experience just for completing the voyages so if we get our loot stolen it was a massive waste of time and some of us don't have too much time to play, I enjoy get together with other crew to complete stuff but what about when I'm playing alone? I love the game but they have to do something for us. :/

  • Ever Reddy
    Commander
    Insider
    Boatswain
    Founder

    As others have said, it can be a very mixed experience at first. I would suggest persevering with open crews and adding those people you do get on with to your list. Eventually you'll end up with a number on your list you you can likely partner up with when you do jump on.

    Also you might want to try open sloop crews as they're less likely to go AFK while waiting for other players to join.

  • icebice
    Marauder

    Thank you all for your replies but the issue is not exactly that you can't find a crew (through third party means). The issue is that the game's natural looking for group thingy is a disaster that you'll end up in dead games over 90% of the time. It should be fixed in my opinion. Not all players want to install Discord or even start the Xbox app in Windows 10. The issue should NOT be fixed by third party applications. The issue lies within the game and should be fixed from there - period.

  • Sir spishush
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    @icebice I have found some great people to play with via the game Hub and the looking for group section. I have also had great success with the sea of thieves official discord, use these things and you should have no problems.

  • DaveyJay1984
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @icebice So ignore the third party application advice.
    Make friends with anyone you have fun playing with, even if they are on different crews and you end up on the Ferry together. When you launch the game, see if some of your new friends are playing. If you start a new ship invite said friends to join your new ship.
    The point is, as with any game, you will sometimes get grouped with people you don't want to play with. Befriend the ones you do and move on from the ones you don't.

  • John Hatter
    Marauder

    While I am a content solo player and have never messed with the matchmaking at all, I do feel too much in the form of group building relies heavily on outside sources. It is no argument that good solid groups can be made through these sources but given the core desire the game makes of us socially it's tools are rather limited.

    It is the same argument that arose during Hungering Deep with needing that 5th person. The game is pushing towards large crews as well as crew to crew cooperation yet offers no internal mechanism to achieve this other than luck.

    It comes down to the fact that they want the game to be this social group experience and yet the game itself (as far as matchmaking goes) cannot promote this. While people will be people and there is no quick fix to poor players the matchmaking itself needs work. Relying on outside sources is just letting someone else fix your problem and personally just seems like lazy game design.

    I don't think anyone would argue against the success of these outside sources nor that the sources should exist but they should never have become the 'go to' matchmaking services, not for this type of game. People paid for a multiplayer game so we shouldn't require outside resources to get the multiplayer part. Just doesn't click with me.

  • Shartwork
    Marauder
    Insider

    @icebice In game matchmaking is absolutely abysmal. I've never seen so many consistently terrible players in a video game. I solo queued into galleons for a couple hours a day on and off for a few weeks to see if it really was just bad luck. I was not, I can count the amount of decent crews I found on one hand. A vast majority of the time you'll join a crew of 3 other people with sailor titles anchored in open water with no voyage down trying to turn sails and the wheel having no idea whats going on. If you want to not deal with this just use the SoT discord or join one of the dozens that are posted around here. Xbox LFG can be decent too, basically anything except for in game matchmaking.

  • Zilka Xelx
    Seafarer

    Horrible for the most part. The last 3 to 4 days I've given up on playing after 1 to 2 hours of trying to find a decent crew.

  • Jabba133

    I use discord 95% of the time when i'm not soloing. There is 2 good servers: the official one and the reddit one. I highly recommend it since I always find a group within minutes and discord is great for multi crew/member pvp games.

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