I have to admit, I think that we are guilty of becoming a little entitled...
I just want to give credit where credit is due...
All of the updates, all of the additions to the game with the only exceptions being the contents of the Pirate Emporium and access to the full season pass rewards have been FREE.
My personal standard for any game is "If I play a game for longer than fifty hours then I have had my money's worth."
SOT has seen A LOT more than fifty hours from most of us I'll wager and every update including but not limited to A Pirate's Life & Monkey Island Tall Tales and related cosmetics / trinkets / rewards have all been FREE.
I am just as guilty as the next SOT pirate of dreaming up all the wonderful things Sea Of Thieves could be and losing sight of all the wonderful things Sea Of Thieves has been and already is. I have made suggestions and thought up many things that myself and others would enjoy if they were brought to SOT but at the end of the day SOT is SOT and it can't possibly be EVERY game. I would love to see a new region, dynamic improvements to the game and more possibilities explored but we have to be realistic in our expectations!
Would this game benefit from large high quality, high production level purchasable DLC expansions? Possibly? Probably? Other games probably have larger budgets and bigger teams than SOT has as a consequence of having those paid DLC Expansions? Or is it the case that the game is running on a last Gen engine and there isn't much room left for much more big and significant additions? Is the bucket almost full? Is it reaching it's weight limit and nearing full capacity? I don't know, I'm not a game Dev and I have no knowledge of how these things work.
Is it time to draw up the big finale to tie the story up? It's almost been a decade! That's pretty good going I guess? What is the possibility of going out with a bang and making it memorable? Maybe even re-playable? What about leaving the game's story and game state somewhat open ended so it still makes sense for players to return to SOT and jump back into it whenever they want? At least until the game eventually reaches it's inevitable end? What happens when the traffic drops to a new record low and stays down and it comes time to shut down the servers? Will that be the end of our adventures on SOT or could we get some kind of offline mode? How would that work? Don't like the idea of losing access to sailing in SOT or all the things we have bought for our pirate and our ships over the years... In the end, could SOT become an offline couch co-op at least? So the game can still be played and enjoyed without being online or paying for a private server? How would that work? Could it work? I don't know.
Is Sea Of Thieves Two a possibility? A new map? New locations? New characters? New Tall Tales? New stuff? Current gen? Maybe with Sea OF Thieves Two, large, high quality, high production DLC expansions could have a price tag? I for one wouldn't mind paying for content providing the content is worth paying for and the asking price is reasonable and proportionate to the quality and size of the expansion. Could Sea OF Thieves Two be unrelated to Sea OF Thieves One altogether aside it being situated within The Sea Of Thieves, perhaps in a different previously unknown / uncharted group of regions obscured by the shroud? Could paid DLC expansions for Sea OF Thieves Two also be unrelated to the base game of Sea Of Thieves Two as to not alienate those who can't immediately purchase DLC? Paid DLC expansions could come with rewards and incentives to entice players to put their money where their mouths are without being exploitative or greedy. I mean... Rare gave us so much in SOT in exchange for our time and our optional spending via the season pass and pirate emporium purchases, it would be, at least in my opinion, not unfair for Rare to expand on the universe of SOT with the same art style and gameplay and release GREAT DLC expansions two to three times a year with a price tag attached to them, which I feel would arguably be an evolution and a positive step upward and forward from what is currently in place. The players parting with money solely for cosmetics and getting frustrated at somewhat regular announced updates that do not consistently meet the expectations of the community is maybe not a good strategy.
I would personally rather buy a series of amazing Tall Tales done to a high production level, within well polished DLC expansions two to three times a year for which cosmetic items could be earned via completion / commendations over what we have now.
As for PVP modes, obviously feelings are mixed about what Arena was / what Hourglass is and will be and what this new last sloop sailing PVP mode will actually feel like. I personally loved Arena and enjoyed the experience more than I enjoy Hourglass and I don't have high hopes for the new PVP mode but each to their own. It would be in my opinion great to have all PVP modes available for everyone with their respective rewards. I'm not a fan of things being taken away to replace them with something else, I personally much prefer seeing a concept developed and improved rather than extracted and replaced with something else. Expansion is better than redaction!
Time limited events I feel have not been healthy for SOT. People have lives, work, school, uni, college and time limited events especially where lore and story is concerned is just a terrible idea. In Sea of Thieves Two, if there ever will be such thing, please don't do time limited events.
I think commendations and prestigious cosmetics connected to time investment and challenges is not a terrible idea but in it's current state it is excessive and almost seems like a poorly veiled attempt to keep people playing the game and for me it raises the question of whether players would spend just as much time playing the game without all that and have more fun with that time. I have personally abandoned my aspirations to reach level 1000 in the HG factions and I no longer pay attention to the commendations at all but I do enjoy occasionally playing Hourglass and harassing other players on High Seas or forming alliances, I also go back and play the Tall Tales and explore sunken shrines and do all the other activities the game has to offer but I have no more interest in completing commendations that involve doing things hundreds of times over in PVE or PVP regardless of what the rewards are. I think there could be better more fun ways of holding our attention and perpetuating our time spent on the game, like amazing big high quality expansions with in game incentives without the grueling grind and repetition for yet another hat or set of sails, I think we have quite enough cosmetics to last us all til doomsday.
Obviously everyone is different and there will be people who absolutely do not agree or like what I'm questioning and suggesting here, I expect that, as you can't please everyone 100% of the time... I've played SOT since Beta. I have had my money's worth one hundred times over from SOT already and I hope to be able to continue enjoying SOT for a very long time to come but as it stands, other games have my attention again right now and although I will return to SOT because I love it and to check out the new PVP improvements to HG, the new Garrisons and the Daughter of The Depths if / when they arrive, I definitely will not be be doing those or any activities multiple times over just to obtain ship cosmetics or clothing or to tick a box in a menu screen. I will be coming back to try out the new stuff to see if any of it actually feels new or improved and to explore their re-playability and fun factor. If it's re-playable and fun I'll play it more and spend more time on the game and if it's not, I'll find other things to do in SOT that are more re-playable and fun or I'll go play a different game until I'm in the mood for Sea Of Thieves again.
Really interested to hear anyone's thoughts on any of this. Not looking for a debate or any arguments, would just be cool to read what everyone thinks.
Fair weather and strong winds!
