Dear Rare,
I think the elephant in the room that not many players talk about anymore is the ongoing issues with cross platform play. We understand that efforts were made to mitigate the issues that came with the arrival of PC players by way of offering us the option to choose our "preference" as to who we are matched with on the High Seas & Hourglass. We understand that if the game can't match us with other console players using controllers we will find ourselves encountering PC players as a means to keep the seas as busy as possible and HG matches happening without unacceptable waiting times. The truth is, many PC players have a technical advantage over console players, they have higher frames, better processing power, they use keyboard and mouse and console players use consoles, televisions and controllers which is comparatively lower spec, lower performance and limiting for anything competitive in game.
Sea Of Thieves has an aesthetic that seems to be geared towards a younger audience and it is the younger audience that theoretically could stay playing SOT for a long time depending on their experiences in the game. Statistically I presume younger players are by vast majority playing Sea Of Thieves on consoles and by majority PC gamers are adults. Other age of sail, sea fairing games that are more tailored towards a more mature audience are arriving on the market more and more like "Ahoy" which may see a gradual decline in adults playing Sea Of Thieves as time goes on, as they move over to games that appeal more to a more mature audience, therefore I feel it is important to nurture the audience that will be with you the longest but still in a way that doesn't alienate the mature audience that remains.
A hostile encounter with another crew before PC players arrived used to feel better, there was always a chance that you could win, hold your own and even if the other crew seemed more skilled and better at Naval & PVP, it felt as though luck could turn to be on your side, the tides could change, the wind could blow just right and it felt like there was always a potential to win or at the very least escape. Encountering other players now is a lot of the time down to a coin toss. Double gunning, wrist flicking with a mouse and everything assigned to hot keys on a keyboard with higher frame rates is incredibly difficult to compete with using controllers on a console and it usually results in PC players spawn camping console players followed with toxicity via text chat which can morph into a form of online bullying. It makes the whole experience not very enjoyable particularly for younger players on console and not very challenging for PC gamers who would likely prefer to have exciting, fast paced, sweaty engagements on High Seas and HG more often rather than just putting lambs to the slaughter without much of a challenge.
I suggest that you submit a pole and present the question to the players if they would like Console only / PC only servers. I don't think it would be good practice to remove cross play as an option but there should be a way that Console players and PC players could opt to play the game exclusively with others using the same platforms even at the expense of quieter seas and longer wait times for HG matches, it would benefit the games health and longevity to have an option that goes beyond being just a preference like we have now. I feel that having an option to play exclusively with other console players would even the playing field and make the experience of sailing on High Seas and participating in PVP modes more enjoyable and more fair for all. PC players Vs other PC players exclusively would also provide that community with something resembling a more equal and proportionate challenge for competitive play which would improve the culture of High Seas and HG.
Safer seas offers players the ability to learn the ropes, level up a bit and get familiar with the game and it's great for very young players, families and the like but it is also used by players to complete commendations and other tasks without the risk of losing progress which means high seas may be getting less populated with console players and more populated with PC players as Console players migrate to Safer Seas for these certain activities. I believe Console only servers would be an invitation to return to the high seas and PVP modes for console players who have migrated to Safer seas which I feel over time would result in higher numbers playing in the shared world again.
The only way to know for sure is not to ask the players why but to present a pole, have players register with their accounts and vote Yay or Nay on the question of exclusive servers for Console and PC platforms and monitor what platform votes Yay and what platform votes Nay.
One side will undoubtedly be a resounding Yay.
