Crossplay needs to be OFF by default

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    I anticipate that this post will receive a lot of criticism, as having crossplay ON by default allows for PC players to have relatively easy wins against Xbox players reliably, and why would PC players want that to stop?

    With over 30million players, why is crossplay on by default?

    If you are on Xbox and want to play against PC players, or with your friends on PC, opt in to crossplay and be transported to a all players server.

    Season 8 is really highlighting how unfair it is to have to fight in regular PvP against PC players when playing on an Xbox.

    "JuSt dOnt lEt thEm boArD" - This isn't a valid excuse to allow crossplay to be enabled by default.

    It's absurd to think anyone can prevent boarders 100% of the time. And if it's a mouse and keyboard versus a controller, it is a drastically unfair advantage. Not to mention the awful load time differences between devices.

    Crossplay should be OFF by default, Xbox servers are empty and almost non-existent as a result of it being ON by default. This is forcing xbox players to HAVE to fight PC players, who have a clear and undeniable advantage.

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  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    I don't have any issue with it being set to off

    just inform people that they have options and what those options mean.

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @wolfmanbush I agree, inform players of their options.

    I understand that at times maybe Xbox servers will be empty and there could be a need to match Xbox players with PC, that's fine if that has to happen.

    But for it to happen by default makes no sense.

  • OtherFanboy
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    @paparug420 it’s not a hidden option or something it’s very simple to go turn off in fact the option is right there before you set sail it’s pretty simple

  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    It literally takes what...30 seconds to switch it off...
    So what is the problem here or just some rant?

    Once turned off, it doesn't switch back on. So again...what the problem?
    The game was firstly made with PC in mind, so it default is Pc. Xbox only got it thanks to Microsoft.

  • Schwammlgott
    Champion

    @paparug420 when you turn it off in your settings it stays off, but you still can be migrated to crossplay servers as it's just a reference

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @burnbacon the problem is that the majority of Xbox players do NOT have crossplay set to off, because it is ON by default.

    This results in empty servers, forcing xbox players to HAVE to play on PC servers.

    Players that are new, or ignorant to the massive disadvantages they will face in PvP do not know it could be fixed by having it OFF.

    I've almost exclusively played on all player servers, but in the past week the amount of close combat I've seen involving:

    • sprint cancelling
    • double gunning
    • insane movement turns and mid air pirouettes
    • 2 second loading screens

    As I said, season 8 has really highlighted what a massive disadvantage Xbox players face, it's undeniable, and ridiculous that crossplay is ON by default. Makes no sense at all

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @schwammlgott which is totally fine. If Xbox players occasionally end up on PC servers, that is better than not being able to play the game at all.

    However, having Xbox players by default being placed against PC players is insane.

    It's probably a bigger factor into the games inability to retain new players than most people realise.

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @otherfanboy it is simple.

    However, having crossplay OFF by default would be simpler, and if for some reason you wanted to play against PC players, and give yourself a significant disadvantage, you could simply switch it ON.

    Noone on Xbox would ever willing play against PC players, except for those who sail with friends on PC.

    It's an undeniable disadvantage, and with a game that has such high stakes for death, it's insane that crossplay is ON by default.

  • BBoaBrim
    Rogue

    @paparug420 said in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    @burnbacon the problem is that the majority of Xbox players do NOT have crossplay set to off, because it is ON by default.

    Not sure how you know that the majority of Xbox players do not have crossplay set to off. Perhaps you personally canvassed them all.

    I don't know about anybody else, but whever I download a new game the very first thing I do is to go through the settings and adjust them to how I want, whether it's graphical settings, audio settings (I always turn music off as I find it distracting), and difficulty. Even before I actually played the game I had set Xbox/controller only option to ON. It was not that difficult to spot and change.

  • Schwammlgott
    Champion

    @paparug420 sagte in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    @schwammlgott which is totally fine. If Xbox players occasionally end up on PC servers, that is better than not being able to play the game at all.

    However, having Xbox players by default being placed against PC players is insane.

    It's probably a bigger factor into the games inability to retain new players than most people realise.

    I don’t think this is such a big factor as you think...when did we get different servers for XBox', was it with anniversary update? Can't remember...

  • OtherFanboy
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    @paparug420 I play on Xbox and always have even when I don’t play with my pc friends I play in the cross play pool I don’t see the problem iv beaten plenty of M&K players and lost to just as many too but get those who don’t want to play against pc players which is why the feature was added originally it was only cross play so it’s on by default cuz they didn’t want to separate the player base

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @pumpa-cat

    Obviously I haven't got any statistics on hidden numbers, but either the majority play with crossplay defaulted to ON or they don't play the game at all because if I try to join an Xbox only server, it's an almost guaranteed 5 minute "searching the seas" wait before being put into a all players server anyway.

    With crossplay defaulted to OFF that wouldn't be the case.

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @mintharp184509 if Xbox players were just put on an even playing field instead of having to compete against players on superior hardware then this problem would also help to be alleviated.

    I wouldn't say the devs don't care, just that there are other priorities

  • Astralenigma
    Marauder

    @paparug420 said in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    @pumpa-cat

    Obviously I haven't got any statistics on hidden numbers, but either the majority play with crossplay defaulted to ON or they don't play the game at all because if I try to join an Xbox only server, it's an almost guaranteed 5 minute "searching the seas" wait before being put into a all players server anyway.

    With crossplay defaulted to OFF that wouldn't be the case.

    I get the same amount of waitin time on PC, that doesn't seem to be Xbox exclusive.

  • BBoaBrim
    Rogue

    @paparug420 said in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    @pumpa-cat

    Obviously I haven't got any statistics on hidden numbers, but either the majority play with crossplay defaulted to ON or they don't play the game at all because if I try to join an Xbox only server, it's an almost guaranteed 5 minute "searching the seas" wait before being put into a all players server anyway.

    With crossplay defaulted to OFF that wouldn't be the case.

    Ah, I see. Interesting to note. 👍

  • Magus104
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    The "30 million players" is "30 million pirates created" That is not an indication of how many people are actively playing the game. At its highest peak Sea of Thieves had almost 67k people playing in the past month the average steam users playing SoT is 9.5k Theres about 2 million active sea of thieves players. While true a lot of PC players don't have the steam version because it wasn't on steam until the cross play option on xbox decimated the server population for PC players so they rushed out the steam version to try and compensate for PC players constantly running into the same crews and getting to know each other by name.

    This game is much more popular on console and especially now with the release of a new world of warcraft expansion even Captain Falcore was playing it when sea of thieves has been his main game for years now

    As Sea of Thieves is free on gamepass Rare can't use the good old video game metric of "30 million copies sold!!!!" so it's "30 million people have created a character!!!!" It's a metric that just looks impressive on paper. And it is considering how I think their expectations weren't even 1/4 that number. So don't think I'm trash talking their accomplishment. It's just a milestone number of how many people have demoed their game essentially. They will never tell us the active player count. We can only use 3rd party tools that track xbox users activity and steam users activity and achievement completion %s to come up with speculated numbers. But like when they added sea forts the new content of the season you could look at the achievement for just opening the treasure room door for the first time. Was about 1.5 million players so pad that with a few hundred thousand that don't do the PvE content and you can guesstimate a player count at that point in time. But like right now player counter says theres 249k people playing sea of thieves right now. Steam charts shows 17k playing right now.

  • dlCHIEF58
    Champion
    Insider

    @magus104 said in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    While true a lot of PC players don't have the steam version because it wasn't on steam until the cross play option on xbox decimated the server population for PC players so they rushed out the steam version to try and compensate for PC players constantly running into the same crews and getting to know each other by name.

    I just need to point out this highlighted statement is pretty much false. Rare themselves said after they launched the Xbox only option less than 5% of people were using that mode. It may have increased since then but it is just plain false that this option "decimated" the PC population. It may fit your biased narrative, but it is false.

    If PC population dropped significantly at any point, it most certainly was not because of the Xbox only option being introduced.

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @astralenigma maybe that is your region? I routinely get placed into all servers sessions within 1-2 mins maximum consistently

  • PapaRug420
    Master

    @magus104 Not exactly sure what point you were trying to make but I think the game is far from dead or even dying.

    Player retention is obviously an issue and I've no idea how they could fix that, and it's besides the point.

    However, I don't believe for one second that if crossplay was defaulted to OFF that suddenly PC players would suddenly start only seeing the same 3 or 4 crews over and over.

    Season 8 is really highlighting that there exists a huge advantage for PC players over Xbox players, and it is an easy fix!

  • BBoaBrim
    Rogue

    Regarding the point of SoT losing players. I think perhaps all games suffer from this. A hyped game is released, lots of people try it and it’s the natural order of things that some players will fall away. It could be that the game wasn’t what they thought it would be, or that they tend to play more of another game. I for one love SoT, but I spend much more time on FS2020.

    The number of games that, according to members of their communities, are dying is laughable. Ark, FS2020, ESO, Elite Dangerous are some games I play where certain naysayers claim the game is dying. It’s always seems to be those that can’t get to grips with how the game plays, or they’re upset because the devs won’t bow to their demands to make the game the way that the individual player wants to play it, or, simply put, they’re dog at the game and want it to be made easier. Elden Ring is an example of this. Players who have never played a Dark Souls game before tried Elden Ring and got upset because it’s too difficult. They then demanded that an easy mode be implemented.
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    @dlchief58 said in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    @magus104 said in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    …Rare themselves said after they launched the Xbox only option less than 5% of people were using that mode.

    Wow, that really surprises me. I thought it would have been a lot higher than that.

  • mferr11
    Vanguard
    Insider

    @paparug420 said in Crossplay needs to be OFF by default:

    With over 30million players, why is crossplay on by default?

    Cause the devs want the game to be a shared world where all people can interact.

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