Have you ever played safer seas when you first got the game? I have too, and it was an amazing feeling, right? It all crumbled down to where I got over level 25 which then stopped me and forced me to switch to high seas. The players that play high seas play it because they want to be more "competitive," or have more experience to the game. Now, I agree that it does in fact open the game a bit more and makes it a bit more enjoyable with random people, just like real life. However, most people don't really pay attention to how fun the game really is as they only focus on being "the best" in the server by attacking others and ruining their experience. Furthermore, high seas in general is just a bit too harsh. That is why me and a friend switched back to safer seas to calm down and really enjoy the game for what it's designed for. We eventually took a quest on taking harder missions, granting us better loot and currency. That's where we figured out at an outpost that we cannot sell our loot without having to sail a captained ship, which is in high seas BTW. As we went back to high seas, we experienced the worse possible way to enjoy the game, even if we didn't want to take it to a competitive level. We are usually just forced to have our loot at risk, while also having the peace ruined and fun to the game itself. I recommend that safer seas should be unlocked for players who really just want to enjoy the game peacefully and actually have some fun by taking a break from high seas. To add to this, there should be a feature that lets players choose whether they want to play high seas or safer seas and actually enjoy the game without having to be forced towards high seas. Otherwise, high seas should have a "competitive" or "regular" mode so people can be specific on where they want to play. This would not only make the game better, but more enjoyable for people who just want to practice or mess around with their friends. This problem doesn't only occur to a friend and I, as I've heard many people complain about the game being ruined because they lost their loot after working hard for it. This feature may affect a lot of players and may also attract more people to the game. Thank you for reading this, and I hope this connects to the future for Sea of Thieves.
Sea of Thieves Shouldn't Contain This Much Competition
I look at it like this.
I don't have any of the HG cosmetics. That is for one reason. I don't like contrived or linear gameplay/pvp in a sandbox. So I don't get those rewards.
Same could apply to some of the BB rewards. Etc Etc.
I don't like certain types of encounters so I leave when they happen. I don't really wanna be on a crew so I play solo a very large majority of the time, even though it costs me more in the end.
There are people that don't like pve grinding so they don't get some of those rewards. Etc.
We all work around our likes and dislikes in the sandbox.
Once people stop fighting against what exists it becomes way easier to create quality experiences within what exists. Doesn't require skill or performance, just a mindset that prioritizes making the best out of the sessions/adventures.
Never gotta fight, never gotta stick around, but nobody gets to win all the time.
I genuinely love playing with other people, that is, apart from in this game.
I don't know what it is about SoT but almost every encounter ends pretty quickly, with them killing me without any warning or them fleaing in fear that I'll Kill them. If you take a look at X or how the game is regarded on other social media platforms, a lot of friendly and helpful players left a long time ago because this became their only interaxtion with other players too.
The introduction of safer seas brought me back, but I had already exceeded the rank caps they placed on safer seas from previous gameplay so there was nothing really left to play for. I decided to buy a guild ship and make a guild, thinking I'll work on that and make it my own... but that is also locked behind a PvP wall. I cannot access my ship unless it's to log in for an hour in PvP mode and eventually just watch it sink anyway.
It's really, really off-putting that a generational game this old hasn't been able to solve this simple problem. Indeed, they are deliberately making it a problem with the arbitrary caps on PvE mode.
@reweezy This is why Safer Seas came around, to give players a chance to enjoy the seas but let Rare still develop the game they intended the audiences for. Not every game is for everybody and if you find it too demanding, then you have a few choices, but asking for all the reward and no risk is not going to happen, not for the kind of game Rare are making.
@reweezy what Sea of thieves is "designed for" IS pvp, risking loot, loosing it, and DEALING WITH IT. You have to understand that a game needs a goal, in sea of thieves, that goal is unlockable cosmetics, ranked by rarity. If you could gain ALL of these in a no risk, all reward server there would be no point in playing the game.
I get that you are new to the game, but the focus of dev team has been to lighten the load for new players and making multiple ways to learn and explore what you want to do.
- the game doesn't force you on high seas, but there needs to be a level cap, no risk, no reward.
- Those who are "competitive" or try to be "the best", are simply playing that side of the game because that's what they like, the fun of a game is subjective, you cant define it. Also they cant ruin other peoples experience by sinking / attacking because that IS the experience.
- You some grave misinformation here, you can always sell all loot, whether you are on a captained ship or not, the only limit is if you can sell to sovereigns. Thought you would have understood this if you got level 25 on safer seas...
- Stop calling open world ship v ship pvp a "competitive level", it is how the game is meant to be played. Cant take the risk? Return to safer seas or sell more often!
- "Competitive high seas" is already a thing, its called hour glass pvp, "normal high seas" is just a regular session. If they want to practice or mess around, do so in safer seas.
- The people complaining are new players, like yourself, who cant accept that there is a risk / reward system in sea of thieves. Today you have multiple ways to safely and easily get loads of gold with relatively low risk, diving to a voyage, completing it and selling can easily net you 30-40k in 30 minutes. The chance of meeting a ship on the way from the island to the outpost is essentially zero and you still complain?
I can guarantee you one thing, this will NOT connect to the future of sea of thieves, Rare has already spoiled you new player too much!
I don't know why I expected more empathy from this community than to just tell the OP to go to Safer Seas or stop playing if they can't take it on High Seas. This community can do better than to try and drive new players away with "deal with it" responses.
Instead, maybe it's time to admit that Rare shifted the balance too far to the PvP end of the spectrum, with too many concessions to the aggressors.
From Red Sea changes to Burning Blade turn-in blocks, everything Rare has done in the last few years has made it easier for the aggressors to find and secure their prey. It's never been easier for PvP hunters to hop seas fast and keep their supplies. While Rare are fast to patch PvE exploits (rightly), they leave PvP exploits in the game far longer - one very obvious one with Reapers still hasn't been patched since the Holidays.
The game is PvPvE, but it needs to maintain a balance in the ecosystem. The game's PvP systems aren't good enough or competitive enough to sustain it on its own, and driving PvEers away is a sure fire way to make sure the game dies faster.
Safer Seas is a good place to start, but once players have exhausted it, High Seas is the only real option for any kind of progression to continue. All I would ask of my fellow veterans is to have some understanding for how hard it can be to adapt for a new player, bearing in mind that we had years to learn the game, as features were added over time.
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 also families and players with accessibility needs - the whole game suddenly becomes available in a way it hasn't before, letting them naturally progress to High Seas and become 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.
