No Warning

  • ATARI CARTEL
    Master
    Insider

    Written below is an email that my friend and crew-mate drafted up and sent to Rare a few days ago. They responded to her saying that she needs to post this on their forums under the Feedback + Suggestions category. She couldn't do that in a timely manner as she has gone out of town with her family on vacation - so I am posting this for her.

    Please know that this is a legitimate fear and there was no warning from Sea of Thieves that this would happen:

    In the recent update where you added fast travel, you included warnings like losing treasure on board & emergent voyages while diving, but it would be wonderful if you included one about being teleported to your crew/ship when the fast travel is activated.

    I’ll start by saying that I adore your game. I’m a Pirate Legend! I play with a few close friends & we always have a blast! BUT, I am absolutely terrified of being in the water… (except for the “pretty water” which would be the Shores of Plenty. I feel quite bold in that water) ..Now you might be wondering how I became Pirate Legend with the limitations of staying on the ship, minus “pretty water,” outposts and islands. That would be the crew I mentioned earlier. They’re wonderful in the fact that they do most of the water work, like swimming to get loot or swimming to board another ship. They’re the ones jumping in the water while I stay on the ship doing other pirate things (like drinking grog, playing my fabulous concertina & dancing with the monkeys.. you get it)

    This wonderful crew of mine warned me about this update. We had a plan that I would stay on an outpost while they traveled to the island we needed to be at while I simply mermaid over once their underwater travel was complete. I watched them leave the outpost with my spyglass, watched as they started to submerge, then SUDDENLY my screen goes black and I am teleported underwater with them. The physical jump and blood shrieking scream were simply reactions to something I very much wasn’t expecting. My headset was thrown to the floor and I had to look away until my crew said all was well.

    We laugh about it now, because it was quite hilarious. But next time, please, add a warning that all members will be teleported along with the ship, regardless of where they are. Also, if I could just mermaid to them or even opt for a black screen during this fast travel, that would be greatly appreciated. If games can have an arachnophobia setting, I feel like there can be an “I’m scared of the water please don’t drag me into it” setting ESPECIALLY if Megalodons can be lurking around. That would be awesome.

    Thanks for hearing my feedback, I appreciate your time.

    Signed,

    Pirate Legend AtomicCrayons & crew

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  • WolfManbush
    Lord

    Tough situation to be in given the design and appeal of the game.

    I support accessibility options most of the time so good luck.

    I'll likely support any feature they add to help with this.

  • Batman0l0l
    Castaway

    Good evening Pirates,

    I for one am on board with AtomicCrayons that there should be some sort of setting where you can allow players to either switch on and off a setting for fast travel to crew members or be given a option to select as a prompt to either “go with your crew” or “fight alone” kind of thing and then if need, simply mermaid to your crew mates.

    Thank you AtomicCrayons for giving us this suggestion and having the love that you have for this game!

    Sea you around!

  • D3ADST1CK
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    I think the only option in this case is going to be to pull you to the ship and display a black screen or pull you somewhere else like the Ferry of the Damned. This also doesn't resolve the issue with resurfacing unless you want to be blacked out during that period as well.

    They can't leave you to run around on your own because your ship is migrating to another server completely, so it pulls you to a staging area (dressed up as your ship underwater) so it can be sure you aren't interacting with anything "belonging" to the original server at the moment it moves you and your ship to the new server.

  • BurnBacon
    Champion
    Insider

    I mean. It does tell you when you dive. You will switch to a server. Even the videos introducing it say this.

    Read on.
    Next up, we will see warnings on every single voyage. “Warning you will fight skeletons” for those of us who have a fear of body insides.

  • HiradC
    Commander
    Insider

    The thing is this is only a warning you'd need the first time, and it's a consistent feature with all use of portals and dive mechanics. Diving actually takes you to a different server so there is no way crew could stay behind.

    The loot warning is specifically when you have some on board

  • PithyRumble
    Castaway
    Insider

    The drowning mechanism made me very uncomfortable for the first year or so. Deep-water still gives a little chill.

  • RealStyli
    Champion
    Insider

    As someone with thalassophobia in real life, specifically drowning, I can empathise entirely with this. Why I ended up playing Sea of Thieves is long story, but it has helped me deal with it in videogames.

    The first year or so of the game I definitely had increased anxiety about going underwater, but now that's very uncommon if I have something to focus on especially, like a shipwreck (I won't be playing Subnautica anytime soon though!). Not everyone is the same and, for some, that anxiety is incredibly hard to overcome.

    I think a warning about the dive mechanics isn't a big ask. I was lucky that I knew what it entailed beforehand, so it wasn't a shock, but still the first few dives were nerve-racking. A tutorial style prompt just has to appear once.

    Something to mask it would be ideal, and it is possible - it's a game, and the underwater tunnel is just a loading area, it doesn't have to appear the same to all crew members. So players who choose to enable such an option don't have to be separated, it's just about what the game client renders on your screen.

  • JaxyCafe
    Master
    Insider

    true, a new accessibility option to while diving turn the ocean skybox into blue skies and rainbows would be a welcome change

    or a poorly cropped photo of chapman smiling repeating a bunch, nobody could get scared at that

  • Tesiccl
    Lord
    Insider

    Did none of the crew tell this poor person it was about to happen?

    Doesn’t feel like this one is on Rare when a warning is given if you vote to dive. It pops up on the screen saying “sail to open water to dive”, it says it on the voyage table, and it’s in the screen when you’re selecting the voyage. Not to mention all the promo they’ve done about it on social media, the patch notes describing it, and even people talking about it in general.

    If your friend missed all of that, then they must live under a rock.

  • ATARI CARTEL
    Master
    Insider

    @tesiccl If you read what she wrote, she did know that we were going to dive. Diving to a location after choosing a voyage wasn't new to the rest of us. She knew that we were - and she wanted us to - which is why she watched us dive from her Spyglass on the outpost. What none of us knew is that she would be dragged into the water from the outpost after we dove. There was no warning about that. Telling us to sail to open water doesn't explain that. Telling us that we'll lose any loot onboard doesn't explain that. She was going to watch us dive and then when we re-emerged, she was simply going to mermaid to us at the new island. There is no warning that says "Oh and by the way, any crew that is NOT on board will also be dragged under water when you dive".

  • TheBlackBellamy
    Lord
    Insider

    @ATARI-CARTEL

    When you said email, did you mean an actual email to Rare, or a support ticket?

    If you haven't seen this page already, I would share it with your crewmate or fill out a ticket for her:

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/accessibility

    And here's s direct link to opening a support ticket:

    https://support.seaofthieves.com/requests/new

    Tbh I'm not sure why Rare didn't direct you there, instead of to the feedback section. A lot of these posts tend to get drowned out by newer ones & if devs do check here, they don't make their presence apparent enough. A support ticket is your best bet.

    Good luck.

  • ATARI CARTEL
    Master
    Insider

    @theblackbellamy

    Thank you for the info. She filled out a support ticket (from the link on the website) and they responded afterwards directing her here to Feedback + Suggestions. Sorry for the confusion.

  • Lem0n Curry
    Champion
    Insider

    IMO "Emerge beneath the waves and re-emerge at your destination quickly" leaves no question on what would happen to ship and crew during a "Dive to location" way to travel.

    A pop-up every time before you vote on the voyage would be bothersome for the other 99% of players (as for people with this fear only once would be enough I guess).

    Having a setting that replaces the "underwater intermezzo" with a black screen or perhaps some advertising for the Emporium or stills with rhymes we used to get starting the game, would be fine as long as it takes as much as time to transition from that as it does from underwater to surfacing.

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