Hello pirates!
I'm taking the liberty of posting my recent experience here. Perhaps this will come across as frustration or simply as something that's not necessary, but for those who want to hear it (or just read it), I thank you in advance for your few minutes.
To begin with, you should know that I returned to the game after many years of absence. The seasons hadn't yet been released, and it seemed to me that our beloved skeletal enemies had just discovered they could carry powder kegs.
When I started the game, upon its release, I found it to be the best game I'd ever had the chance to play. Entire nights spent playing with a friend, meeting people, laughing with people I didn't know, with whom I might have exchanged a few sniper shots and cannonballs. People who became online friends, with whom I wanted to play again, and next time sharing the same ship. I left the game every time with a smile on my face, eager to sail again.
And what about today? Every game begins with apprehension and ends with frustration. The encounters are always the same, and the story is identical. We begin an adventure full of hope, wanting to have a good time, we choose an emissary according to our needs, we load our boat, we set off in search of treasure, and above all, we look at the map, a practice that was once quite foreign to me...
How many boats are on our server? Who are their emissaries? Should we change servers? The lottery begins, and like the lottery, the chances of winning are slim.
So we begin the journey, the first quests, the first forts, and fights. Very quickly, our emissary value rises to reach rank 5, and it's time to sell. Sometimes we don't even reach that point, but it doesn't matter. "Emissaries are targets for the Reaper," you might say, and sure enough, the patrol catches up with us, and hell begins.
Another crew targets us, and the race to escape begins.
Fight? When we play quietly in the evening after work against people who spend their days on the game? Impossible.
Escape? Same observation, they'll catch up with us one day and the result will be the same.
Try communication? We want to sell our loot and they want our flag, nothing incompatible if we agree... And yet, it's been a long time since I've had any exchanges with other players on Sea of Thieves. In the worst case, no response, in the best case, "you noob," "you dead," "French baguette," and other mocking laughter.
So as soon as we start getting followed, we rush to sell our flag. We won't get our loot, our emissary value, but they won't get our flag. A small victory, I want to say, but nothing better to offer. But there is this slightly bitter aftertaste, spending hours collecting loot for nothing, because 2 or 3 people (because galleons no longer exist, not "meta" enough I imagine) decided to follow us for sometimes 30 minutes or even an hour or more, all for our flag. And we leave the game, frustrated, angry, wondering why it's always the same story, why we always meet the same people.
Simple question, simple answer. This scenario repeats itself because there are only two ways to play on the high seas: chill out and do your thing, or constantly hunt others.
Those in the first category are fewer in number (I think?) since they play less, and probably give up after getting sunk, while the others change servers again and again to find prey. The solution is to play on calm seas, you might ask? But what if I want to enjoy all the game's content, or if I want to meet other players like me? It's simply become impossible.
We play, hoping not to end up on a server with tryharders, which will happen sooner or later, and we leave the game like we leave League of Legends, not because we had a good time, but because we're fed up.
In short, Sea of Thieves remains the best game I've ever played, the best encounters, the best nights playing because we didn't have classes the next day, and now we've taken days off, but when people ask me if it's worth starting the game today, I automatically say no.
New players no longer have a place in this game. There are no more encounters with others; it's simply not the same game anymore.
There's always a way to change and create a place where everyone can find their place, but I think we need to find a solution. Create PvE and PvP servers? I don't think so. The Reaper's emissaries play the game their own way; they shouldn't be banned from a separate server.
Put people on servers based on their level? How to play with friends who are beginners, how to calculate matchmaking, too complicated...
I think the solution should perhaps come from the players, the players who, like me, are there to chill, and those who are there for non-stop PvP. We have a microphone and we're all human beings; we can always try to agree if our goals aren't the same. Sure, you enjoy sinking others, even if they're weaker (or if they're just running away, but you're slightly psychopathic for enjoying that), but will you enjoy it as much when the weaker players are no longer there? I'll always be ready to hand over my flag after a naval battle, but not if you also steal my hours spent farming. Of course, it will always happen, because stealing other people's loot is also a goal of some, but I hope it's not a general phenomenon.
There's so much to explore, and yet a voice in my head tells me nothing will be done. That's why I'm throwing this message in a bottle. Who knows, maybe it'll reach the right shore.
If you've made it this far, thank you again for your time!
I hope to see you soon for a chat on the seas.
A simple Sea of Thieves pirate. Not one who's been Emissary 5 Reaper 5 587 times, or who's sunk 150 ships in a row in PvP, or sold 40 Emissary 5 flags of each reputation to the Reaper; but a pirate who taught an Italian to speak French, who met some Spaniards, fought with them, and ended up splitting the loot between two before drinking in the tavern until 3 a.m., or who spent four hours with a new French player explaining everything I knew.
