I absolutely love this game. I've spent days' worth of time on it (possibly weeks), with no intention of stopping any point soon. Today, I had an experience that has changed how I view this game.
I joined a random galleon, hoping to get people who were fighting the skelly ships so I could get the commendation. As soon as I logged in, I heard almost every player's worst nightmare: a kid who was 10-13. My immediate inclination was to relog and not spend my time, but the AWFUL load times on the Xbox (seriously Rare, please do something about them) coupled with an article I read about someone helping out a younger player kept me in the game.
It turns out that this was the kid's first day playing. Since I had a couple hours to kill before my friends were available, I decided to show them the ropes. After helping them load up the ship, we got a 2 more permanent crew mates: another 10-13 year old, and an older guy. Both said they were new. So, I helped them learn how to sail a galleon, and we even went on a couple low level voyages together.
It turned out that the older guy was actually a Legend, which he gave away by putting a unicorn on our ship. The kids didn't know, but I did. After a couple voyages and a valiant but failed attempt at fighting a skelly ship, we went our separate ways.
After, I started reflecting, and I realized that this game is awful for new players. The kid had already experienced several people quitting on him, and even being locked in the brig because of his age and his experience level.
There should be something to help new players more than a quick tutorial about eating a banana. Maybe a 10 minute voyage on a separate server that teaches them how to gather supplies, turn sails, and other small things that experienced players do in their sleep. There should also be something in place to discourage new players from playing on galleons and brigs, since the sloop is so much easier to learn on. Possibly even something that matches players together based on time played until a certain point.
None of these are perfect solutions, but I feel like it would be a good step in the direction that keeps new players joining this game.
P.S. I don't know if you're on the forums, but again, thank you for your patience and staying cool, unnamed Legend that sailed with us.
