While safer seas offers new players the ability to learn the ropes of sea of thieves, it doesn’t really prepare you for the switch to high seas. Having played sea of thieves before safer seas was available, I have always tried to avoid conflict best I could. While not always possible, switching from computer+Xbox to just Xbox with controller only made a huge difference. Could there be a possible update or option to have guild ships in game with you? Maybe disable alliances so you can’t reap reward and exploit safer seas as a massive alliance server, but enable “ghost mode” similar to what GTA 5 and make to where ships or cannon/gun/melee damage just goes through one another. Allow for a request to duel, similar to that of hourglass only no milestones or achievements are awarded. This would give players the ability to practice pvp amongst friends who could help hone skills verses trying to learn from people who want nothing more than to sink your ship. I noticed there is a spot where you can join a private server, is there a way to host a private server for this very reason.
Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.
If you search you will see this has been requested multiple times before
Here is what one of the Devs said on the matter
The game design and intent for Sea of Thieves is a shared world adventure, and it always will be. Those who wish to play in the confines of Safer Seas will always have the option but we will not bring the rewards and activities in line with those of High Seas when many of the restrictions are in place due to the risk vs reward factor that is inherent in Sea of Thieves - removing any risk means rewards must be balanced accordingly.
Safer Seas will act not only as a safe space for our Tall Tale players but also for families with children who just want to pirate, for people who want to play the game but learn the ropes and it will organically feed into Adventure mode, keeping the player pool there healthy and upskilled as they've learned the mechanics.
This is not only useful for new players but families, players with accessibility needs - the whole game suddenly become available in a way it hasn't before, letting them naturally progress to High Seas and being a Pirate Legend. SoT has grown a huge amount in 5 years and it can be fairly overwhelming.
The borders put in Safer Seas mean that to experience the full depth and breadth of the game you will have to hit the high seas BUT if you're playing with your family you don't have to, you can just enjoy the game and have fun as a family.
I appreciate your reply. I have searched and I didn’t see anything that outline potential exploits the way I have. The only “risk to reward” I see is the potential to have an environment in which you and your friends/family if you will, can play against one another as this is not available in high seas. As I put, there is absolutely no reward in it aside from better understanding in the mechanics of how pvp works, especially when you are relatively new to high seas and you run up against year ones. I love the idea of safer seas for what it is completely, but my suggestion has absolutely no negative effect on it as it is. In turn, I understand why you can’t get in a server with your friends on high seas and I am behind it.
safer seas... doesn't really prepare you for the switch to high seas...a possible update or option to have guild ships in game with you? Maybe disable alliances so you can’t reap reward and exploit safer seas as a massive alliance server, but enable “ghost mode”... where ships or cannon/gun/melee damage just goes through one another. Allow for a request to duel, similar to that of hourglass only no milestones or achievements are awarded. This would give players the ability to practice pvp amongst friends who could help hone skills verses trying to learn from people who want nothing more than to sink your ship. I noticed there is a spot where you can join a private server, is there a way to host a private server for this very reason.
Saw a similar post last night, though this is more of an omnibus.
If Rare ever allows us to buy private servers, they should disable gold earning (allow purchases), and disable all rep, milestone, achievement/commendation progress.
I think I read somewhere that Rare isn't going to develop anything exclusive to Safer Seas. But regardless, I'm not a fan of the ghost mode idea. If you're looking to practice PvP, idk why you'd even need one. It certainly wouldn't prepare you for High Seas.
A "request to duel" between crewmates, when designed in a way that guarantees the duel is consensual, is something that I'd be in support of, and also something I feel belongs in High Seas (or private servers) more than Safer Seas anyway.
Also, imho, the best practice you can get against friends is when they want nothing more than to sink your ship lol. Yeah, in IRL sports, you might not want to go full-contact every practice because you risk real injury. But this is a video game. Try to sink each other, learn from mistakes, improve, have fun.
What I'd like is just a barebones, true, empty sandbox. No ghost mode or other bells and whistles needed. Something for players & their friends/family/communities to host their own PvP practices/contests, races, mini-games, whatever.
@theblackbellamy said:
If Rare ever allows us to buy private servers, they should disable gold earning (allow purchases), and disable all rep, milestone, achievement/commendation progress.
I think I read somewhere that Rare isn't going to develop anything exclusive to Safer Seas. But regardless, I'm not a fan of the ghost mode idea. If you're looking to practice PvP, idk why you'd even need one. It certainly wouldn't prepare you for High Seas.
A "request to duel" between crewmates, when designed in a way that guarantees the duel is consensual, is something that I'd be in support of, and also something I feel belongs in High Seas (or private servers) more than Safer Seas anyway.
Also, imho, the best practice you can get against friends is when they want nothing more than to sink your ship lol. Yeah, in IRL sports, you might not want to go full-contact every practice because you risk real injury. But this is a video game. Try to sink each other, learn from mistakes, improve, have fun.
What I'd like is just a barebones, true, empty sandbox. No ghost mode or other bells and whistles needed. Something for players & their friends/family/communities to host their own PvP practices/contests, races, mini-games, whatever.
I can get behind everything you said, private servers would certainly be the way to go, especially turn off any actual progress. I guess it just boils down to, i need to just jump in the game and throw on the hourglass repeatedly. You are most certainly right, you learn from experience. Ghost mode was a way safer seas could offer the ability to play along friends with a guarantee that they could not attack you. I love the game, I love the casual run in with friendly ships as well. I guess its time to just get out there and get sunk repeatedly until i get the hang of it.
The request to duel in high seas would also work but only if it put you in a zone where others couldn’t potentially come in cannons firing.
I guess private servers would truly be the way to go in that regard. But as i mentioned before, I think its time I just get aquatinted with the hourglass.
Definitely appreciate your response.
@burnbacon most certainly I agree. I feel, if you are a brand new player switching from safer seas to high seas, fighting against friends or family would give you some sort of idea of what to expect. I don’t agree with going easy on people as it don’t truly help you learn, But positive feed back from someone that just destroyed you on what you should or should not have done will. It may not prepare you for what high seas offers in the forms of PvP, but it will give you a feel for what you might be able to expect. I know that regardless of how much you play with friends or family, you will most certainly jump into high seas and get destroyed, its not about learning all there is about PvP, its more about being able to just jump into something you can do with friends and family, while gaining some knowledge. Something that the game does not currently offer.
@lx-tipps-xl said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
safer seas...it doesn’t really prepare you for the switch to high seas.
This is my biggest gripe with Safer Seas...
They intended on it being an expanded tutorial... But it fails in that regard... badly.
A tutorial, by definition, is to provide instruction. There is no more instruction on safer seas than there is on high seas. All the same pop-ups and basic starter instruction that exists in safer seas is - and always has been - available in high seas.
So, since that was a miss, all that safer seas really created was...
1). A place for families/friends to play together and have fun. If your intent is to have fun, then you don't care about the diminished rewards and limited end-game features.
2). A place for the anti-PvP players to use as proof that Rare will cave and cater to their requests if they just whine enough.
That second bucket seems to be the only ones on the forums these days...
_
I very much support safer seas serving as a sort of private server where you can invite friends and have multiple ships. Kill the alliance functionality and have at it. No reason not to, really.It could serve as an additional instructional piece and as a means for family/friends to play together in larger groups.
Rare, if you truly stand by your intent with safer seas, then this is a no-brainer.
@sweetsandman said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
@lx-tipps-xl said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
safer seas...it doesn’t really prepare you for the switch to high seas.
This is my biggest gripe with Safer Seas...
They intended on it being an expanded tutorial... But it fails in that regard... badly.
A tutorial, by definition, is to provide instruction. There is no more instruction on safer seas than there is on high seas. All the same pop-ups and basic starter instruction that exists in safer seas is - and always has been - available in high seas.
So, since that was a miss,
I disagree this is a miss; people can explore how to do certain things without interference of other crews; I remember when Cursed Sails started, giving us skeleton ships and brigantines: my crewmate and I jumped on a brig and sailed for a skelliefleet - this did not end well.
We should have first familiarise us with either the skellieships or sailing a brig undermanned before we did the combination. Likewise, people can now familiarise themselves with doing a fleet or fort uncontested before they go on Higher Seas and add hopefully at least awareness of other crews and subsequentky dealing with them (fight, flight, ignore or alliance).
For new(er) players any combination of multiple PvE might be a challenge - dealing with that without also some added PvP can help IMO.
@lem0n-curry said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
I disagree this is a miss; people can explore how to do certain things without interference of other crews; I remember when Cursed Sails started, giving us skeleton ships and brigantines: my crewmate and I jumped on a brig and sailed for a skelliefleet - this did not end well.
We should have first familiarise us with either the skellieships or sailing a brig undermanned before we did the combination. Likewise, people can now familiarise themselves with doing a fleet or fort uncontested before they go on Higher Seas and add hopefully at least awareness of other crews and subsequentky dealing with them (fight, flight, ignore or alliance).
For new(er) players any combination of multiple PvE might be a challenge - dealing with that without also some added PvP can help IMO.
Again, a tutorial, by definition, is instruction being provided. Tutelage.
There is no more guidance or instruction on safer seas than there is on high seas.
You learning the way you (and all of us) learned is through trial and error. That's not a tutorial. That's experimentation.
All they did was provide a competition-free sandbox for people to continue with trial and error. Which is fine...but that's not an expanded or enhanced tutorial. Players aren't being taught anything more than they otherwise would be in high seas. In fact, I'd argue they're being taught less...which is the opposite of an expanded tutorial.
@sweetsandman said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
@lem0n-curry said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
I disagree this is a miss; people can explore how to do certain things without interference of other crews; I remember when Cursed Sails started, giving us skeleton ships and brigantines: my crewmate and I jumped on a brig and sailed for a skelliefleet - this did not end well.
We should have first familiarise us with either the skellieships or sailing a brig undermanned before we did the combination. Likewise, people can now familiarise themselves with doing a fleet or fort uncontested before they go on Higher Seas and add hopefully at least awareness of other crews and subsequentky dealing with them (fight, flight, ignore or alliance).
For new(er) players any combination of multiple PvE might be a challenge - dealing with that without also some added PvP can help IMO.
Again, a tutorial, by definition, is instruction being provided. Tutelage.
There is no more guidance or instruction on safer seas than there is on high seas.
You learning the way you (and all of us) learned is through trial and error. That's not a tutorial. That's experimentation.
For a crew that is new/newer/newish they can experiment for sure, but a crew where one (or more) people are more experienced, they can act as a tutor for the new crewmembers without first learning them how to deal with other (hostile) crews.
All they did was provide a competition-free sandbox for people to continue with trial and error. Which is fine...but that's not an expanded or enhanced tutorial. Players aren't being taught anything more than they otherwise would be in high seas. In fact, I'd argue they're being taught less...which is the opposite of an expanded tutorial.
That's the beauty of SoT - people can find out - either by themself, using YT or other vids or a more experienced crewmember how to deal with what the game throws at them. A universially tutelage would probably be incomplete anyway or take more time to develop than is feasable.
We are insiders and have two pirates who progress independently of each other. If private servers were allowed then they would have their own pirate for that as well. No shared progression or cheesing. I currently play on such for other games, and what happens there generally stays there. Official progress would always necessitate playing official servers. Purchases that require real money are a bump I don't have a solution to. Maybe all that is disabled except on official. It could work.
@lem0n-curry said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
For a crew that is new/newer/newish they can experiment for sure, but a crew where one (or more) people are more experienced, they can act as a tutor for the new crewmembers without first learning them how to deal with other (hostile) crews.
Again, there is no more of a tutorial available in SS than there is in HS. Sure, you can learn the ropes from your experienced crew members (if you're fortunate enough to have them) without the worry of hostile crews...but that's the vast majority of HS sessions anyways 🤣
A universially tutelage would probably be incomplete anyway or take more time to develop than is feasable.
You're absolutely right. Proper tutorial(s) take time to develop. It's a shame that new players still don't have a good one for SOT after 5+ years.
SS is not a proper tutorial or even an expanded tutorial. It's an experimentation playground at best...and that's fine...but let's not act like a new solo SOT player (which is the overwhelming majority of SOT players) is emerging from Safer Seas with this wealth of knowledge provided by a proper tutorial. All they're getting is a false sense of security.
@sweetsandman said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
@lem0n-curry said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
For a crew that is new/newer/newish they can experiment for sure, but a crew where one (or more) people are more experienced, they can act as a tutor for the new crewmembers without first learning them how to deal with other (hostile) crews.
Again, there is no more of a tutorial available in SS than there is in HS. Sure, you can learn the ropes from your experienced crew members (if you're fortunate enough to have them) without the worry of hostile crews...but that's the vast majority of HS sessions anyways 🤣
A universially tutelage would probably be incomplete anyway or take more time to develop than is feasable.
You're absolutely right. Proper tutorial(s) take time to develop. It's a shame that new players still don't have a good one for SOT after 5+ years.
SS is not a proper tutorial or even an expanded tutorial. It's an experimentation playground at best...and that's fine...but let's not act like a new solo SOT player (which is the overwhelming majority of SOT players) is emerging from Safer Seas with this wealth of knowledge provided by a proper tutorial. All they're getting is a false sense of security.
On this I end up curious. Why don't seasoned players look for noobs to mentor? I'm still a noob here myself, so maybe I'm missing something? In other games I see/participate in training all the time. We even staged wargames to teach tactics etc. If the community takes a hand, I think that is the best tutorial you could have.
why not just go into high seas straight away and/or do hourglass?
If you take a kid who's never played basketball before, but wants to, and put him in a 1-on-1 against a D1 athlete, not only is that kid going to lose, he's probably not going to learn anything either.
Now, I agree with Sandman that SS doesn't teach new players anything. It is more of an experimental playground. The equivalent of taking that same kid, putting him on an empty court with a rack of balls, and saying, "okay, now figure it out."
At least in this empty court, the kid can figure out the weight of the ball, practice shooting 2s and 3s unguarded. Will it entirely prepare him for a 1-on-1? Ofc not, but he'll at least be one or two steps closer to being prepared.
@valhalla-sky said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
On this I end up curious. Why don't seasoned players look for noobs to mentor? I'm still a noob here myself, so maybe I'm missing something? In other games I see/participate in training all the time. We even staged wargames to teach tactics etc. If the community takes a hand, I think that is the best tutorial you could have.
I agree, veteran tutelage is often times the best teaching you can have.
Unfortunately, there's no easy way of aligning a veteran that wants to teach with a noob that wants to be taught.
Open crew is wildly inconsistent, LFG is tough to sift through...and then you're looking at other social media resources to try and pair those 2 things up...so...nothing easy.
_
Now, a couple years ago I posted an idea on how just such a thing could happen in a coordinated and Rare-backed way because I recognized that new players were being turned off to the game at a rapid pace (that was before all the world event rebalancing and hourglass, but it mostly still applies).I still think that idea would go a long way in the community...
Instead, Rare delivered Safer Seas as the new player training ground.
I'll let you decide which one would server new players better.
@theblackbellamy said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
why not just go into high seas straight away and/or do hourglass?
If you take a kid who's never played basketball before, but wants to, and put him in a 1-on-1 against a D1 athlete, not only is that kid going to lose, he's probably not going to learn anything either.
Now, I agree with Sandman that SS doesn't teach new players anything. It is more of an experimental playground. The equivalent of taking that same kid, putting him on an empty court with a rack of balls, and saying, "okay, now figure it out."
At least in this empty court, the kid can figure out the weight of the ball, practice shooting 2s and 3s unguarded. Will it entirely prepare him for a 1-on-1? Ofc not, but he'll at least be one or two steps closer to being prepared.
That's not who wanted this though. It's for people who wanted a more relaxed (ie. fun) way of playing Sea of Thieves without being trolled by folks who only want the pvp.
Safer Seas won't have any new people wanting to 'learn' the game, it's not that big. People want to 'learn' CS:GO, LoL, DOTA etc.
I get that Rare don't want people to play a PVE version of SoT, which is a shame because clearly there have been a great many people asking for it. By them creating Safer Seas, then taking out as many things as they could to make it as not fun as possible it's just a terrible decision really. Game devs #1 rule should be to make a game as much for for ANYONE who wants to play their game. Not make one game mode not worth playing at all, to force people to play a game mode that isn't fun for 50% of the population.Smacks of a studio who don't know what their players want, this is known as a bad studio.
@jt-matey said in Possible safer seas suggestion or access to private server.:
Game devs #1 rule should be to make a game as much for for ANYONE who wants to play their game. Not make one game mode not worth playing at all, to force people to play a game mode that isn't fun for 50% of the population.
They aren't forcing anyone. Those are the people who don't want to play their game.
@theblackbellamy this is hourglass tho. The matchmaking is designed to match people with similar K/D ratios. So a newbie will be paired with newbies
The matchmaking is designed to match people with similar K/D ratios. So a newbie will be paired with newbies
Is that what your experience has been with hourglass? Have you consistently been matched with players at your skill level? Back when I played, it was kinda all over the place.
Btw I'm not saying there's zero value in jumping straight into HG, but not everyone learns well in trial-by-fire type of initial experiences.
@theblackbellamy at launch, yes, I admit, matchmaking was all over the place. But now you do get players of equal skill levels. Consistently.
at launch, yes, I admit, matchmaking was all over the place. But now you do get players of equal skill levels. Consistently.
Interesting. Your experience seems to differ from players like this.
I'm wondering if the HG population is beginning to look like Arena during its end stages. And I mean prior to the temporary bump in activity we saw weeks just before it's closing.
But for months before that, the "regular" Arena crowd was made up of players who really loved Arena, and players who were just grinding the cosmetics. Every other SoT player either already completed the grind and lost interest, or lost interest in the mode for another reason.
As I said to the OP of that other thread, I'm guessing that the current HG population is made up mostly of experienced players, who play despite the bugs, potential of cheaters breaking their streak, potential for long queues. And so, you probably tend to run into other experienced players like yourself.
But there are still players who, like that other OP, frequently feel overwhelmed by the skill of players like you, due to an absence of players with their skill levels.
@theblackbellamy what I said stands. I have encountered new players and introduced them to HG, with us getting equally low-skilled players in matchmaking. Done this multiple times throughout the year, the result is same. I suppose the player you mentioned before with poor experience had high-skilled crewmates.
what I said stands. I have encountered new players and introduced them to HG, with us getting equally low-skilled players in matchmaking. Done this multiple times throughout the year, the result is same. I suppose the player you mentioned before with poor experience had high-skilled crewmates.
Yeah I have no idea what that other player's crew looked like. I wasn't able to gather as much from his post, but feel free to read through and make whatever assumptions you want lol. I already linked it in my previous reply.
I wasn't dismissing your experience either btw, just taking note of the differences. Without any actual data to look at, I'm just reading anecdotes on the forum.
@theblackbellamy The question that I was answering was how matchmaking worked. My answer is based on factual information provided by Rare. All the points after that about the experiences of different players are all anecdotal, so there's that.
The question that I was answering was how matchmaking worked. My answer is based on factual information provided by Rare.
What I asked was what your experience was lol.
I'm already well aware of how matchmaking was designed to work. What Rare intended. At least from what they shared.
Matchmaking crosses stamps, but not regions. And it is a modified Elo based on W/L. Not "K/D," mind you.
A skilled PvPer with low Elo will still get matched with a newer player with low Elo. So, it is a little more nuanced than "newbies match with newbies."
Also, if you are low Elo, and your whole region is devoid of other low Elo crews, the matchmaking system doesn't just kick you out and say "oops, try later I guess." A low Elo crew will still get matched against a high Elo crew, when the player pool is low.
And according to others, it seems to be low pretty much all the time, outside of Gold & Glory or other community events.
But perhaps your experience is different in this regard too? Maybe you luck out with constant instant-queues to your evenly-skilled fights. A PvPer's dream HG sesh. Not a loss farmer in sight haha.
@theblackbellamy players pools in EU are generally rather large at the time I usually play. And sure, I have met loss farmers and full golden curse ships as well during tougher days, but all and all experience is good. Thank you for asking
