Safer Seas

@gravesilence272 said in Safer Seas:

Of course they're after easy targets!!! The only thing that makes it worth doing is if the average target is easy and plentiful enough for them. This completely changes that for them. They're not looking for a challenging fight, they're looking for easy prey.

And the game would be better of without them. For starters because they are breaking the code of the game:
Article 6 Respect New Pirates and Their Voyage Ahead
May the old legends help to forge new ones: treat new pirates with respect and share your knowledge.

@triheadedmonkey said in Safer Seas:

@gravesilence272 Surely any REAL 'predators' would prefer a prey that is capable of at least putting up a fight?

I've seen enough nature docs narrated by Sir Attenborough to know that is totally false, and least from a biological standpoint.

I'm not advocating for kicking puppies - I'm simply saying that the play style of people hunting other players (which IS NOT how I play - despite what people seem to keep assuming? LOL) - is dependent on the difficulty and availability of other player ships to pirate from.

If either the average number of targets gets too low, or the average difficulty of targets gets too high, then the entire play style of hunting other players becomes unsustainable.

"Safe Seas" does both those things, and stands a pretty good chance of killing off the "hunt other player" play style.

That's my prediction anyway, I guess we'll all see 6 months after it drops!

@gravesilence272 said in Safer Seas:

I've seen enough nature docs narrated by Sir Attenborough to know that is totally false, and least from a biological standpoint.

I'm not advocating for kicking puppies - I'm simply saying that the play style of people hunting other players (which IS NOT how I play - despite what people seem to keep assuming? LOL) - is dependent on the difficulty and availability of other player ships to pirate from.

If either the average number of targets gets too low, or the average difficulty of targets gets too high, then the entire play style of hunting other players becomes unsustainable.

"Safe Seas" does both those things, and stands a pretty good chance of killing off the "hunt other player" play style.

That's my prediction anyway, I guess we'll all see 6 months after it drops!

I'm not piling on here, I know you have a few different convos going on but risk/reward food chains are my jam so I wanted to counter this

The game's weaker area has become the middle. It's improved with season 8 and 9 but it still has a way to go.

The only way to reinforce and rebuild the middle is to take pressure off the bottom of the chain.

Safer seas will have some degree of impact on activity, for a while as it settles.

The design (as long as they don't make major changes) will build up pirates and they will go out on their own over time.

The goal and hope is that pirates get beyond those early crushing losses so they get attached enough to work through it. You speak of sustainability and that is what this is. That's what parts of season 8 were, parts of season 9, and soon season 10.

It'll work to some degree as long as they stick to the current design.

I dunno what the other changes will be in season 10 yet but these safer seas won't cause harm long term, there will be short term effect that could change encounters for some players quite a bit, depending on play style, but overall it'll settle and there will be a clear path to get to the middle. That's sustainability.

@abjectarity

That is awesome of you for helping out new players learn the ropes. An I believe that's what they wanted us "legands" to do with new players (Pirate code artical 6) but most people just sink on sight.

As for the accommodations on the safer seas for the shrouded ghost that we all believe is a myth lol. Does it matter if safer seas get those accommodation for some things that can be gained by not being a pirate legand?

Safer seas already has a reduction on alot of things so if anything that spawn rate will be near impossible to get.

Not all foe you just thinking out loud.

@abjectarity

That's awesome I just wanted to give you props. It's nice to see an hear other stories of us just helping out. We all get blood thirsty it's true for any of us lol. But it's how we go about dishing out some chaos haha.

As for the accommodation yes I agree with you an like that they did lock down some aspects so you would have to go to high seas I do like the addition and feels like it will be positive to the player base.

@burnbacon said in Safer Seas:

Just dawned on me.

Safe Seas is like having your kids home school and afterwards, drop them at College. They will not be prepared for the real world, they will have knowledge but once they step out of the bubble and realize...the real world isnt great and wanna go back Home.

Or simple, you train to fire a weapon in the military. But never shoot anyone. First time you have to...you cant stomach to pull the trigger. You can, you know how...but your already dead.

Playing tough just gets people hurt and in trouble

it's always about practice, strategy, studying, efficiency, goals, objectives, perspective, drive, discipline

these are all strengthened with opportunity to grow

the goal isn't just survival in the environment it's setting a path for people to thrive as individuals participating in a sandbox.

I think a closer example would be driving. Driving is intense early on, there is a lot going on, risks, it is exciting for some but it is too much for others and they get discouraged.

Practicing in an area without the pressures and intensity allows people to lock in the basics without the stress. Then they can start branching out as they build up. They aren't fully prepared for everything but they have the basics down so they have a higher chance at success. More people will want to branch out, not many want to just drive around a field somewhere without the rewarding thrill and adventure of road trips.

So...after going through ALL POSTS in here (didn't think I'd do that, but I did)...here is my 2 cents

I'm a PvE player (about 95%), I was always against PvE server and first it was a huge let down for me seeing this in the video yesterday...not so much after finishing the video, but still didn't like it...
Now, after reading all that comments I'm actually ok to get the safer seas, not for me personally, they don’t give me anything of value so I won't go there, maybe to introduce new players...
New players will now have the chance to learn the basics, and are able to get into the beauty of the game

One thing I'm a little bit concerned about is, it maybe will lessen the friendly interactions (maybe, as they are rare anyway)...so one suggestion about this, give us a few more activities, that are meant to be made with 2 or more crews (for example skeleton thrones, or Glitterbeard...btw Glitterbeard is one more thing exclusive to High Seas, obviously)

And one other thing, as some suggested, cap the commendations of the regular 3 trading companies to lvl 3 or 4, except Hunter's Call (I'm finished with HC, so not to grind this out for me)...so there is enough incentive to get to the High Seas

That's it...good choice you made here Rare...I really hope this will give the attention and growing Sea of Thieves deserves!

@magus104 those restrictions doesn't go far enough imo...commendation cap is also needed, as I said in my post above yours...

You are right, it won't have such a big impact to the game for all the players that are still playing...but a lot for new players and as it's still a Gamepass game, people will give it (another) try...which will be a good thing in the long run

Seems like a fair amount of people are upset about this change, worried about it splitting the player base. An anecdotal data point, during COVID I convinced my wife and a few friends to try SoT. It was fun doing some of the PvE stuff, it was a cool world to hang out in because we couldn't really hang out in person. We enjoyed it at first. We were really bad, could barely steer and navigate, bad at FPS games, etc, like we struggled fighting an NPC ship or Megalodons and sometimes got sunk because we barely knew what we were doing. We got some small amount of treasure, bought some cosmetics that probably are meaningless to the average player, messed around, trolled each other by throwing up on people, hung out, played instruments. It was a good time.

We played 3-5 times. The last time we played we had finally managed to kill a shark, it was great. And then some 12 year olds who were WAY better at the game than us ganked us and used proximity voice to taunt us. I basically could never get anyone to play again. I'm decent but not crazy good at video games. I play games to relax after work and to digitally hang out with friends. My wife and some of our friends are pretty bad but just want to have fun. Getting stomped by people WAY better than you is not fun. Maybe for the people stomping, but not for the fodder.

When I read about Safer Seas, I told my friends. They were excited, and we'll probably play again. In a PvP sense, you didn't LOSE players. We were never going to be players without something like this. Maybe your thought then is "well then the game isn't for you". Fair I guess? But like the majority of the time we played, we had a blast. I can see a concern with Rare spending too much energy on making PVE only content. BUT there's probably tons and tons of existing content that we've never touched. And by literally just letting us play 3 year old content at our own pace, old content that is probably totally uninteresting or meaningless to veteran players, they can make some money. Which seems good for everyone who likes the game? I'm not advocating for making new content just for players like me, but rather, once the PvPvE enjoyers are done with it, let me play some amount of it and vibe in a pirate world with my friends on a week night. We don't want to get gud, we just want to chill.

@kittyperry4494 said in Safer Seas:

Seems like a fair amount of people are upset about this change, worried about it splitting the player base. An anecdotal data point, during COVID I convinced my wife and a few friends to try SoT. It was fun doing some of the PvE stuff, it was a cool world to hang out in because we couldn't really hang out in person. We enjoyed it at first. We were really bad, could barely steer and navigate, bad at FPS games, etc, like we struggled fighting an NPC ship or Megalodons and sometimes got sunk because we barely knew what we were doing. We got some small amount of treasure, bought some cosmetics that probably are meaningless to the average player, messed around, trolled each other by throwing up on people, hung out, played instruments. It was a good time.

We played 3-5 times. The last time we played we had finally managed to kill a shark, it was great. And then some 12 year olds who were WAY better at the game than us ganked us and used proximity voice to taunt us. I basically could never get anyone to play again. I'm decent but not crazy good at video games. I play games to relax after work and to digitally hang out with friends. My wife and some of our friends are pretty bad but just want to have fun. Getting stomped by people WAY better than you is not fun. Maybe for the people stomping, but not for the fodder.

When I read about Safer Seas, I told my friends. They were excited, and we'll probably play again. In a PvP sense, you didn't LOSE players. We were never going to be players without something like this. Maybe your thought then is "well then the game isn't for you". Fair I guess? But like the majority of the time we played, we had a blast. I can see a concern with Rare spending too much energy on making PVE only content. BUT there's probably tons and tons of existing content that we've never touched. And by literally just letting us play 3 year old content at our own pace, old content that is probably totally uninteresting or meaningless to veteran players, they can make some money. Which seems good for everyone who likes the game? I'm not advocating for making new content just for players like me, but rather, once the PvPvE enjoyers are done with it, let me play some amount of it and vibe in a pirate world with my friends on a week night. We don't want to get gud, we just want to chill.

nah, this game is for you too

kill those megs for me on the safer seas

@kittyperry4494 said in Safer Seas:

Seems like a fair amount of people are upset about this change, worried about it splitting the player base. An anecdotal data point, during COVID I convinced my wife and a few friends to try SoT. It was fun doing some of the PvE stuff, it was a cool world to hang out in because we couldn't really hang out in person. We enjoyed it at first. We were really bad, could barely steer and navigate, bad at FPS games, etc, like we struggled fighting an NPC ship or Megalodons and sometimes got sunk because we barely knew what we were doing. We got some small amount of treasure, bought some cosmetics that probably are meaningless to the average player, messed around, trolled each other by throwing up on people, hung out, played instruments. It was a good time.

We played 3-5 times. The last time we played we had finally managed to kill a shark, it was great. And then some 12 year olds who were WAY better at the game than us ganked us and used proximity voice to taunt us. I basically could never get anyone to play again. I'm decent but not crazy good at video games. I play games to relax after work and to digitally hang out with friends. My wife and some of our friends are pretty bad but just want to have fun. Getting stomped by people WAY better than you is not fun. Maybe for the people stomping, but not for the fodder.

When I read about Safer Seas, I told my friends. They were excited, and we'll probably play again. In a PvP sense, you didn't LOSE players. We were never going to be players without something like this. Maybe your thought then is "well then the game isn't for you". Fair I guess? But like the majority of the time we played, we had a blast. I can see a concern with Rare spending too much energy on making PVE only content. BUT there's probably tons and tons of existing content that we've never touched. And by literally just letting us play 3 year old content at our own pace, old content that is probably totally uninteresting or meaningless to veteran players, they can make some money. Which seems good for everyone who likes the game? I'm not advocating for making new content just for players like me, but rather, once the PvPvE enjoyers are done with it, let me play some amount of it and vibe in a pirate world with my friends on a week night. We don't want to get gud, we just want to chill.

I've been saying this all along. That the idea of being against PvE servers is so bizarre to me because you're already losing out on all the players who hate the PvP aspect of the game anyway. People play once, lose hours of progress and quit, never to play again. Or wont even give the game a try. I myself am a person who prefers playing the PvE content of the game and I don't mind engaging in PvP from time to time, but every time I think of playing Sea of Thieves I just get exhausted before launching the game and just don't bother. Sometimes is fun, but the "constant tension" that so many people seem to enjoy isn't the thing that makes me enjoy the game. This isn't a competitive game and there isn't even really a reason to compete with other players for commendations or cosmetics, so the "exclusive club" never made sense to me.

More often than not, the social interactions in this game are with your own crew anyway. Very rarely do we come across a crew who even wants to speak to us, usually just trying to come in open firing anyway. That's not "social" that's just PvP. The idea of having fully-equal PvE and PvP servers for rewards would change next to nothing about the "High Seas" servers, but instead bring in a massive population for the "safer seas" which allows people to bring in money to support Rare through the Pirate Emporium. This would mean more funding and hopefully more support for the company to produce better and better content, but evidently both Rare and the PvP sweats don't like that idea. I expect the Safer Seas will see a small surge of new players to come try the game who will possibly enjoy it for a little bit, or until they're capped. Then realize if they want the "full experience" they have to go into High seas and just quit again. As much as I think this is a step in the right direction, I see it as a near-pointless update, unfortunately.

@thegrimpreacher said in Safer Seas:

They're not even really 'splitting up the playerbase' in any meaningful way. Everyone's going ape-ship over the idea that the seas will be emptier, but all that's going to happen is that there will be fewer noobs on their first skull voyage to roll up on and sink while they're in the middle of Plunder Valley looking for a single Foul Bounty Skull. Or a random fisherman trying to catch their last Muddy Wildsplash. Or a Tall Taler on their fourth run through Wild Rose.

If your primary enjoyment in this game is to roll up on one of these guys and frak them sideways for an easy sink, no return combat, no loot and a handful of starter supps... I mean, no gains at all really except to ruin someone else's experience under the guise of 'SeA oF tHiEvEs, NoT fRiEnDs', you're actually just a Satchel of Richards.

They can't sail a Captained ship & progress Milestones, sail under an emissary & progress their monthly ledgers, sail for Athena's Fortune or Reaper's Bones at all, activate the Hourlgass, sail for a Guild, do live events like Gold & Glory or do the FotD in this mode. All to cap the main companies at lvl 40 at an excruciatingly slow 30% progression rate.

Either they stay in Safer Seas or they quit after getting bullied; they're not contributing to the ship count in Adventure Mode either way and you're not missing out on any 'organic PvP' on the seas no matter which way they swing.

But the liklihood that once they're gone through Safer Seas and gotten proficient at the game, they might move on to the normal mode is significantly higher than someone getting dumpstered a half-dozen times in their first session and staying in to keep having it happen over and over and over again until they 'git gud'.

You summed it up perfectly. Personally, I'm ecstatic about this. The thrill of the game is that you try to progress with the chance of being sunk. But, and YMMV, the general level of PvP aggression on the servers can seem to get very high for weeks on end. And it becomes less of a chance of getting sunk and more of a perpetual guarantee.

I'm also glad there will be limits to leveling up. Every adventure, tale, story, quest or task in the game can categorized by this question: Does it benefit more from storytelling, or does it benefit from the thrill of getting it done with enemy pirates lurking about? Any of the former, I'd like to see enabled in Safer Seas. There'd be less yelling at NPCs: "Yeah yeah, we get it, lady. You lost your true love to Flameheart yada yada yada, now can you hurry it up please because I need to check the horizon for enemy sh— annnd I'm on fire now. Great."

I somewhat disagree with the comments saying that this will depopulate the PvPvE servers. In the short term, maybe. But I suspect new players will eventually want to take the training wheels off and explore the wider world of SoT. And I anticipate lots of new players when Safer Seas rolls out. I think plenty of griefers treat newbies like they only serve to chum the waters, so to speak, as easy kills for a quick ego boost. And providing said chum with a safer means of learning the game is sure to frustrate them.

And yeah, sometimes I like to play this game like a screensaver and just sail around and zone out. And to be in the middle of nowhere and hear a blunderbuss go off at point-blank range at 100% volume while I'm reading through a tall tale journal is all kinds of vibe-killing.