How to change the kill-on-sight culture?

@r4bbi-the-shark I hope to God you are right! I just want to enjoy myself on the sea and not be harassed all the time and cussed out by angry adolescents.

my suggestion?

decreasing the maximum number of resources we can carry per ship (maybe just cannonballs) would give resources themselves more value and would apply more risk to engaging other players while also shortening the time engagements last (more likely for both ships to survive with all resources used forcing a retreat or scuttle). it would also encourage players to explore islands more often gathering these resources and maybe conveniently run into random loot.

it would also be clever if a cannonball could remove planks nearby where it hits, applying more risk to engaging multiple players in a short amount of time without being sunk yourself.

To each their own. The world is full of people who kill on sight and those who don't. You just have to make your way as best as you can and realize you are just one of many voices.

@lethality1 You can turn off PvP. Other than that you just have to accept that other people aren't under your control, nor are they obliged to behave how you want.

@lethality1 sigh, they are not wrong calling it a pirate game because they aren’t talking about the real pirate life. They are talking about fantasy pirate that hid their loot in the ground and killed each other if they weren’t pleasant enough. And if you want to be real pirates, then you should complain that we shouldn’t be digging up chests, or collecting animals to sell, or even not being able to have clothes ruin so you have to survive. Oh wait that game wouldn’t be to fun. Instead of being a pvpve game it would be a survival game that isn’t what people we advertised. Yeah sorry don’t go with realistic pirates as their excuse because they really mean is fantasy pirates

For me it differs a bit. But the one thing I personally experience from time to time is alliances going sour. For example the other day me and my mates were sailing a brigg and teamed up with a galleon for a fleet event. It was an awesome experience and even a meg showed up midfight. But as soon as we where done the galleon crew swam onboard our ship and blew it up and killed us and then left the alliance. That moment just took the fun out of the game for me. 30min of raging seas with epic battle only to be screwed over by the other ship in the end. We even offered them to share equally even before we started the event but yeah some ppl are just greedy and to behonest [mod edit] oh and btw 3 of them where pirate legends. I thought legendary players had more maturity in them but yeah the usual comment to that is "hey its a pirate game" kind of thing.

@weststormborn said in How to change the kill-on-sight culture?:

@lethality1 sigh, they are not wrong calling it a pirate game because they aren’t talking about the real pirate life. They are talking about fantasy pirate that hid their loot in the ground and killed each other if they weren’t pleasant enough. And if you want to be real pirates, then you should complain that we shouldn’t be digging up chests, or collecting animals to sell, or even not being able to have clothes ruin so you have to survive. Oh wait that game wouldn’t be to fun. Instead of being a pvpve game it would be a survival game that isn’t what people we advertised. Yeah sorry don’t go with realistic pirates as their excuse because they really mean is fantasy pirates

You calling it 'fantasy pirate' makes the point for us correct ones. You are arbitrarily defining your fantasy of how to play. Nobody denies that pvp is an allowable mechanic but everyone that calls it a pvp or pvpve game is wrong. There is zero progression or recognition of pvp in game. It is not a pvp game. In my opinion anyone that engages in pvp aside from securing neutral loot (forts) or protecting their pve loot from an aggressor is griefing. That's my opinion. It's not a fact.

My opinion is based upon the developer's actions in creating the game. If they wanted to track human players killed or sunk it would have been easy to implement. They didn't. They did choose to add numerous metrics to their chosen progression metrics. Every change to this game has been about encouraging cooperative play. The arena may change that, but still that's a fraction of the added content since launch. Numerous individuals cite various examples during events when not only did the seas calm but there was a deep camaraderie. If you choose to not play that way it's your loss. There is much more to gain from friendly seas than there is in aggression. Everyone knows that. Pvp isn't about progression to the social misfits that choose to play that way. There are numerous factors in it, but progression isn't one.

@lethality1

The simple answer is really, we need Duke to give us something new and exciting to do.

Since the Shrouded Spoils hit, not much was added. Mercenary voyages were fun, but was just an extension to the general voyages and did not do much to shake things up.

On top of this the Arena is coming up, combat was changed and provide an incentive to practice combating other crews.

Rare has been caught up preparing for the major release that is coming the 20th and therefore the updates have been small and just focused on Quality of Life improvements.

It has always been the case that the seas become more ruthless when the variety of adventures to go on is a bit stale and it diminishing when new adventures are added. In short have some patience the tides of the bloodthirsty pirates comes and goes, based on the updates we receive.

Btw. though the kill on sight might still happen, grabbing your speaking horn can turn the tides. Most pirates out there are just looking for a fun time. Therefore if you want new and different encounters, you will have to most likely initiate these negotiations.

What are you bringing up "Pirate Culture" for? Unless Pirate Culture included eating bananas to heal bullet wounds, fighting sentient skeletons, and delivering chickens to merchants it has nothing to do with this game.

How do you steal without killing? Yeah mate let me just board your ship and take a chest surely nobody is going to shoot me in the back right? And Recruit you for what exactly? If someone is attacking you they sure aren't looking for an alliance.

The arena will probably lead to less PvP encounters so theres that. But there isn't anything you can do to discourage a crew who wants to fight. Thats the whole idea of this game, you play the game the way you want. If someone wants to be a bloodthirsty pirate out to sink every other ship on the seas then thats their prerogative.

@needsmokes said in How to change the kill-on-sight culture?:

@bugaboo-bill said in How to change the kill-on-sight culture?:

And i'm curious if they also do something for the solo sloopimg and pve focussed players, because they will have the hardest time forever and will mainly quit if i'm right.

I am fully aware that this game was made as an online social game, but the fact remains that many console players often just want to sit down and play alone.

This isn't the game to do that. This game was designed to be played with a crew. Solo Slooping is supposed to be a hardcore challenge for experienced pirates, its not supposed to be the way to play. There are so many resources to find people to play with. Xbox LFG, These forums, the SoT Discord, the reddit, or if you want to do it the old school way just join random games and if you find someone you're cool with add em as a friend.

I like to play games solo too. But you aren't gonna have fun with this game if thats all you wanna do.

@bugaboo-bill said in How to change the kill-on-sight culture?:

When i hear the other speaking to me i allways get a hint where they are coming from.
We often heared: We are friendly, but it already sounds as if they wont believe themself :-)
So if we accept an Alliance, we do this not to work together or because we need the money or whatever, but to know about one of 5 ships is doing that and where.
We wont betray, but we also wont let you come close as long as we have loot.
Do your thing, know there are Allies, but the only benefit is to know where each other is.
They can do something to make Alliances more worthwhile when they add a faction for cooperative play where you climb the ladder when you are part of an alliance and hand in loot together at an outpost. This way people wont betray each other, because they need you to be at an outpost with you both handing in loot.

In the near future SoT will change drastically with plenty of pvp focussed players.
The Seas will become way more toxic!
I first thought that they will all go play Arena only, but i dont believe it anymore and i think Rare is going to incentivice PvP in the Adventure mode as well.
And even if not, the Arena players will also to try out Adventure mode and lurk for easy targets.
I'm completely convinced that we will see the more complains and toxicity this game has ever seen.
I'm curious if the game can stand it.
And i'm curious if they also do something for the solo sloopimg and pve focussed players, because they will have the hardest time forever and will mainly quit if i'm right.

The game will drastically be hit with more pvp focused players in the adventure mode? Why do you think the player populations balance is going to change drastically and in that direction? I am just not getting on what this is based?

The fate of your tale is in part of your hands. I have seen enough: Situations that pirates can talk their way into an alliance during combat. I have also seen pirates not willing to engage, communicate and just want to do their thing and get wiped out. The way things pan out usually have to do with being willing to engage with the pirates, be it by battle or by communication. Nobody can rely and trust someone that is unwilling to communicate, silent pirates are the most paranoia feeders and shady pirates around. This is a multiplayer online shared world experience, the players will always need to some degree to engage with others to be successful and achieve what they want.

Rare has always promoted PvP in the game. They have always given us reasons to group up. Also, the people that come and go when they had their fair share will always be around.

Also, I personally hate it when people go: PvE focused players vs PvP focused players, most players are somewhere on the scale, but nearly ever just in one of those camps. They engage in PvE for the majority of their time, they also don't cower away from PvP and that is what Rare will keep on promoting.

Behavior to avoid it all together should not be enabled by adding a mode that offers the same experience as the adventure mode. If this is added it should be a multi-crew PvE encounter focused mode that offers a new way to explore the world and boss fights, just like the Arena gameplay will provide a different type of way to explore PvP combat.

Also, playing a multiplayer solo is a choice, it comes with big risks and challenges. It will mean that you lose bunch of loot from time to time. I had the entire skeleton fleet loot be denied to me by a brig that showed up right after I completed the battle on my own this week. They were pure out for blood and by the time I dealt with them the loot already had sunk. It isn't the first and last time something like this will happen.

Solo players are not helpless at all, they aren't playing a crew size to be cuddled and protected. They are the most sturdy, most legendary pirate sea dogs that roam the seas that are facing the dangers on their own. That is exactly what it means to be a solo captain and is exactly what it should be. If it is too brutal for one to handle, they should gather a crew and set out together. This is an online multiplayer, cooperative, shared world game and playing with others is kind of in all those descriptions.

@lethality1 said in How to change the kill-on-sight culture?:

@iduskk said in How to change the kill-on-sight culture?:

What are you bringing up "Pirate Culture" for? Unless Pirate Culture included eating bananas to heal bullet wounds, fighting sentient skeletons, and delivering chickens to merchants it has nothing to do with this game.

How do you steal without killing? Yeah mate let me just board your ship and take a chest surely nobody is going to shoot me in the back right? And Recruit you for what exactly? If someone is attacking you they sure aren't looking for an alliance.

The arena will probably lead to less PvP encounters so theres that. But there isn't anything you can do to discourage a crew who wants to fight. Thats the whole idea of this game, you play the game the way you want. If someone wants to be a bloodthirsty pirate out to sink every other ship on the seas then thats their prerogative.

Oh, I'm countering those who say "it's a pirate game" - well then play like pirates. Pirates are not murderers without consequence.

The crews I'm talking about don't want to fight. They are not "pvp-ing".

I was on an island twice yesterday and watched from the top of a hill holding an animal crate, sloop just sails up, boards my ship (which had nothing) then go back to theirs and proceed to sink mine. Why?

Just to recap for you: there was no PvP involved, no fighting, no loot to steal.

As far as the rest, just think about it for once. Most of the stealing in the world is done without killing - so, figure it out in a video game how to make the value proposition of doing so less appealing. Or more rewarding if you don't.

There doesn't need to be loot to steal for some people. Some people just wanna sink ships for the fun of it. Maybe they want to voyage on your island and would rather you not be there. Maybe they just want to be bloodthirsty pirates and kill everything in sight.

Why did you let the other ship just roll up on you like that though? You gotta keep an eye out for other pirates and be ready to defend yourself at all times. Even if you dont wanna go looking for fights, you still gotta watch out for those who are. They probably saw an empty ship and just sank it for giggles. Where was your crew while this was happening?

@lethality1 mate sinking a ship for fun is not "toxic"

Some people just wanna sink ships. Thats why you gotta defend yourself. You got caught with your pants down, it happens man. You gotta have someone on the ship keeping a lookout for players like that.

Totally agree with OP.

KoS culture as said before seems to stem from BR games hence the younger players seems to be more KoS and the older chaps bit more forgiving.

As a great man once said “ you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a changing..”

How Bob Dylan predicted Sea of Thieves is amazing!

@xultanis-dragon It seems you don't get attacked on sight. Well almost everyday that I play I get attacked. No "How ya doing" just straight attacks. Luckily most of the time I have already sold my booty. No one wants to talk just attack. Life goes on in SoT.

In my experience this all comes down to a lack of content that encourages players to interact.

I remember when the hungering deep went live and the skeleton thrones , soo many players wanted friendly contact. But since those events nothing similar has really come up to encourage this style of interaction.

The long and short of it is that players are bored , especially those that have reached pirate legend, I've been guilty of it myself. Rare needs to provide more content to encourage particular behaviours.

@lethality1 , so we pull up on an active skeleton fort, us in our galley, they in theirs. They were there first.

Up pops an alliance offer from them. We accept.

Then, we pull slowly across their bow in perpendicular fashion, known in naval terms as "crossing their T". Now we're across their bow, and they have zero cannon shots.

Then we dumpstered 'em. Each cannon landed ten shots at the waterline for a total of forty hits before they could remember what day of the week it was.

(That thing wouldn't have sank any faster if you scuttled her.....)

Then we killed the crew, took over the fort, and didn't have to bother with how to split the Stronghold spoils at the end.

Then we continued playing the game as it suited us best, both for profit and for entertainment.