Season 9 Thoughts

  • onlyxTino
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    I’m not mad about what we’re getting, I’m just disappointed… lol. This update is essentially just a big quality of life overhaul, but there’s almost nothing actually new.

    • The new pirate legend voyages seems to be the same kind of voyages we’ve been doing for years. Additionally one quality of life change i think is absolutely necessary is allowing captain voyages to count towards commendations. This is one of the main reasons I haven’t touched captain voyages since they released, they don’t count towards any commendations for any trading company, to me, that’s unrewarding.
    • This new world event seems to be just a Flameheart reskin. Although I miss Flameheart, his iconic world event is irreplaceable, nothing can replace getting yelled at by him for a solid 30 minutes straight.
    • I feel as if there should be a punishment tied to buying a skull of destiny voyage. You’re essentially buying your way to the Fort of the Damned. Whereas someone who doesn’t have the doubloons or doesn’t want to spend the money has to collect all flames of fate and either find or buy a ritual skull (which can only be done once per update). The punishment can be maybe lower tier loot. Nothing crazy.
    • I appreciate a new piece of loot, but all we’re going to do to fix Forts of Fortune is by adding a chest… really?
    • Hunter’s call… I feel like that’s enough said. Convenience and a bait box are nice, but the Hunter’s call is and has been in desperate need of an actual update, this does not meet standards. Hunter’s call hasn’t felt like the rest of the other trading companies since release, and it still doesn’t.
    • As far as the rest of the small tweaks, I’m fine with most of them but two stick out to me. Like somebody else said on here, I may be the 1% who doesn’t like the harpoon change. Harpooning loot to then grab it is tedious, but it should stay that way. In fact, I think it almost serves as punishment for harpooning. Additionally I think it will only encourage running, which is what the red sea change hopes to alleviate, seems counterintuitive.

    As an update, it’s fine but as the 5th anniversary update, it’s underwhelming.

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  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    Qol isn't a needle mover it's a long term investment and long term investment is what SoT often lacks. Much of the time has been spent artificially hitting number goals which keeps the lights on but it creates a lot of issues

    I have plenty of criticisms of season 7 and 8 and maybe I will about 9 but the 3 seasons are a long term investment. The game doesn't go from 5 years to 10 years playing the artificial numbers game, they need substance and they have been adding more substance to the experience. Captaincy, milestones, on demand pvp, qol for day to day play. They are not on a path that gets them huge numbers but they are on a path to possibly create more of what they did the first couple of years, which is many of us, long term highly dedicated players. Something that the game went a few years without.

    Even season 5 and 6 were huge for long term investment and qol

    There are a lot of things I would do different but I think the last 3+ seasons do show true commitment to investing in the future, not just the number goals for the month/quarter.

  • onlyxTino
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @wolfmanbush
    I think you missed the point of my post. I’m not denying that quality of life or long term investment is essential for any upcoming update, but what I’m saying is that there’s really not much new content. Maybe I wouldn’t be complaining if this was just a regular update, but this is the 5th anniversary.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @mysticaleyeba1l said in Season 9 Thoughts:

    @wolfmanbush
    I think you missed the point of my post. I’m not denying that quality of life or long term investment is essential for any upcoming update, but what I’m saying is that there’s really not much new content. Maybe I wouldn’t be complaining if this was just a regular update, but this is the 5th anniversary.

    If what they are attempting works it's quite possible they will keep the entire season mostly active rather than just the first couple of weeks like many seasons.

    If the experience is pleasant enough it may even counter all of the HG pvpers going back to adventure hopping.

    They've done flashy many times before. It doesn't last more than a few weeks. What they are doing may create an entire season of activity.

    There are signs of it in season 8. Seasons 8 is almost done and there are more Fotds than I have seen in a very long time. Qol was improved for pvers by taking off that pressure. If it continues to work it will create a strong year 5.

  • NeedSmokes
    Commander

    I'm glad there is hardly anything new to do. I've lots left to get on with on season 8 HG mode still.

  • DutchDeadSchot
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @mysticaleyeba1l were you around during launch? There was legit only 3 factions and PVP. Hardly anything in the game. They keep adding and adding overtime, it’s awesome! No complaints here!

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @dutchdeadschot said in Season 9 Thoughts:

    @mysticaleyeba1l were you around during launch? There was legit only 3 factions and PVP. Hardly anything in the game. They keep adding and adding overtime, it’s awesome! No complaints here!

    Content and captaincy have largely been awesome for expanding the experience and now they are working on improving the quality of that experience.

    How fortunate are some of us to have been around to watch the environment grow? Imagine being a new player with milestones and captaincy and all the content that exists. If they bring down the harshness for newer players and casuals (hopefully 9 helps with this) they are set up for years of enjoyment and exploration, adventure.

  • Smuntface
    Captain
    Insider

    @mysticaleyeba1l said in Season 9 Thoughts:

    ... captain voyages (should) count towards commendations. This is one of the main reasons I haven’t touched captain voyages since they released, they don’t count towards any commendations for any trading company, to me, that’s unrewarding.

    Don't they? They certainly do for some stuff IME, like Athena missions, although I've not gone through each & every one to test it.

    I also don't like the Harpoon change. I guess the idea was to help solo players more. Don't think it's gonna pan out that way tho... Kegs should still blow up when you harpoon them!!!

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @smuntface said in Season 9 Thoughts:

    @mysticaleyeba1l said in Season 9 Thoughts:

    ... captain voyages (should) count towards commendations. This is one of the main reasons I haven’t touched captain voyages since they released, they don’t count towards any commendations for any trading company, to me, that’s unrewarding.

    Don't they? They certainly do for some stuff IME, like Athena missions, although I've not gone through each & every one to test it.

    I also don't like the Harpoon change. I guess the idea was to help solo players more. Don't think it's gonna pan out that way tho... Kegs should still blow up when you harpoon them!!!

    it's a real big deal for solos and even duo crews that produce

    it's going to be one of those "how did we live without this" types of improvement for qol

    it's huge for moving treasure around which means it will create more interest in producing that treasure for smaller pve crews

    add on that they are looking at improving qol for smaller crews doing world events and we might be looking at a decent activity boost in the future for pve.

    Sloop is a very popular style of play and solo and duo have long been popular. Lots of potential for production improvement with qol serving smaller ships/crews

  • SurveyorPete
    Legend
    Insider

    Kegs should still blow up when you harpoon them!!!

    Perhaps not blow up automatically; but they should stay on the harpoon and have to be removed manually. If they are swung into the wall of the ship -- then they should blow up!

  • N0Soup4U
    Ship Mate

    Wouldn't even call it a "big" QOL overhaul, some of the QOL are irrelevant (flags, mermaid statues, to name a few)

  • ElectricKnights
    Legend
    Insider

    As a long time solo slooper, I greatly dislike the harpoon change. And I'm honestly sick of people saying it's great for solo. No, it's not. It's odd and ill-fitted to the hands-on immersive game that I've played since beta.
    But hey, it's going to happen, so I'm not going to waste my time about it.

    I fully agree that taking items off of the harpoon is a fine, reasonable, and understandable "cost" of harpooning in the first place. Maybe that's because I played long before we even had harpoons. Get off of my lawn!

    As for the lack of content in this update - I don't mind that at all. They could use a season to stabilize things a bit, what with the state of things with all the added content.
    However, I do agree that timing a QoL update with the anniversary comes off as a little bit lackluster. It doesn't bother me - but I don't see it as good optics (for whatever that is worth).

    At the same time - as a player since beta, I celebrate a season of steadying, stabilizing, addressing, and fixing issues with the existing game. Now, whether or not this season will accomplish that - is another story, really. We'll see!

    Cheers!

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @electricknights said in Season 9 Thoughts:

    As a long time solo slooper, I greatly dislike the harpoon change. And I'm honestly sick of people saying it's great for solo. No, it's not. It's odd and ill-fitted to the hands-on immersive game that I've played since beta.
    But hey, it's going to happen, so I'm not going to waste my time about it.

    Your criticism is more about immersion and isn't really about solo or not solo. It's a fine criticism but it's not a counter to the convenience it brings to solo play, convenience that is a strong incentive for solo production.

  • Jolly Ol Yep
    Marauder
    Insider

    @mysticaleyeba1l a dit dans Season 9 Thoughts :

    • The new pirate legend voyages seems to be the same kind of voyages we’ve been doing for years. Additionally one quality of life change i think is absolutely necessary is allowing captain voyages to count towards commendations. This is one of the main reasons I haven’t touched captain voyages since they released, they don’t count towards any commendations for any trading company, to me, that’s unrewarding.

    Imagine they came up with a new mechanic for those quests ! Nah, just kidding, just a new compass...

    Well can't you have patience ? Captaincy is what ? 6 months old ? There haven' been the time to get enough hindsight, have there ?

    I'm being ironic.

    This is indeed getting ridiculous.

    I can't imagine the technical debt they deliberately put themselves in each and every time.....

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