Doublouns update and impact on reward system

  • HensPie
    Seafarer
    Insider

    I was honestly pretty open about the doublouns reset and was excited to see how this would affect the reward system etc..
    Well ... Yesterday I sailed for 4 hours in an open crew doing world events and made around 1 mil in gold and 0 ( zero. ) doublouns.

    I was ranting to my mate and he said that "it’s not about the Gold, it’s about the Glory” and it's true! But that “glorious feeling” came from how the game rewarded you naturally for just playing successfully. Once I hit Pirate Legend and started sitting on 10+ million gold, gold stopped mattering. I haven't unlocked every cosmetic in the shop but I can buy whatever I want, whenever I want it. I am end-game on gold.

    So what (unknowingly) kept me in the mood for world events? One of those things was those rarer items in the shop marked for doublouns, the other is rewards behind certain commendations; which felt grindy but not impossible. The currency you needed to obtain those shop items (doublouns) was obtained by simply playing the game: world events, PvP, random encounters with friends. I simply set sail, and the rewards followed, slowly but surely. I got a reaper hat for 1500 doublouns, just by playing the game, I bought it because I could - not because I really wanted it but I got rewarded. Another good example of this is The odd ancient skeleton now and then.. This is also a very nice reward for simply playing the game and being able to buy something from the emporium.

    Yesterday it felt like this entire part of the doubloun reward system was taken out of the game was shoved behind specific quests/commendations. The natural long term grind and “hunt for cool cosmetics” went from: "Play the game however you want/The player decides how to play the game" to "Go do this exact activity/The developer decide how to play the game".. The name "bilgerat checklist" feels appropriate because it is literally a checklist. The game now even attempts to dictate my calendar to complete said checklist... because apparently this doubloun hunt is only during bilgerat weekend? I absolutely fail to see the reason behind gamedesign like that ..

    Yesterday, my persona: "a pirate legend with over 100 mil made in total gold" I lost the meaning behind "completing a world event". I don't see any reason to do one anymore because this updated removed any sense of reward I got for completing a world event. When it comes to gold I've reached the end-game. I've done the world events hundreds of times and subconsciously felt rewarded after completing one. From one update to another, this is gone.

    • The rare cosmetics are only obtainable in this obscure shop where I have to jump specific hoops ... It feels like checklist for completing a commendation instead of simply playing the game.
    • I feel like I'm no longer rewarded for playing the game as a sandbox.

    In order to remain constructive, here are my two cents:
    Imagine there was a currency around "sinking ships" called Boudlouns (integer not null) ... And every time you sank a ship in open seas you got +1 boudloun.
    In the pirate legend hideout there is a guy and you can trade him 10.000 boudlouns for your ghost curse ... So just "go out, do your thing, sink a ship? get a boudloun".
    "teammate who sees said ghost curse: Wow you sank 10.000 ships? Crazy!!"
    Now..
    Imagine the devs notice that "the seas are too pvp focused and people are complaining they're always getting sunk" you make the decision to put this whole currency in its own gamemode (essentially hourglass) ... where you can exclusively grind for boudlouns for your curse...
    Would you have improved the overall experience on the sea of thieves or worsened it? I have my opinion ...

    Could anyone help me uncover the value of doing world events post this update please?

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  • R3vanNS
    Master
    Insider

    Did you just use doubloons change to lowkey flip the switch in the end and suggest PvP rewards without PvP? Lol. 😂 Cuz that's kinda how it sounds.

    Could anyone help me uncover the value of doing world events post this update please?

    Chests of fortune in S20. Drew mentioned it in the dev update video. I'd take it over doubloons any time of the day.

    PS. I'd prolly spent more time agreeing on doubloon thing if I weren't indifferent tbh. All doubloon rewards I cared about I already unlocked, and I'm not bothered in the slightest now.

    I just play how, what and when I want to play it in terms of world events, and def ain't driven by any type of FOMO.

  • Arias1101
    Ship Mate
    Insider
    Founder

    You need to adjust your notion of reward.
    How can doubloons be the only reward you got out of world events ? How many did you get anyway before the changes ? Beetween 0 and 25 per event ?
    Now it's 0, yes.

    But lets be real here, they removed doubloons AND they replaced doubloons prices with gold.
    Right now there is ONLY 5000 doublons you really need in TOTAL in the whole game. They're obviously not going to hand them over like candies.

    Honestly, I did not even understand what was your point near the end regarding your pvp analogy.
    You get "over 100mil gold", that's... Nothing to be fair... Not nearly enough to buy everything, especially now that doubloons prices have been converted to gold prices, there is a lot of items worth more than 1 mil now, even in standard outpost shops.

    If you're seeking for value, I'd recommend taking a look at commendations. They are the goal that suits me personaly, and I'm still not finished, even with a lot more than "over 100mil gold".

  • HensPie
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @arias1101 Let me try to clarify my point a bit better. I agree with you on commendations and I enjoy them too, especially when there's an in-game reward. I still have about 60 coms left to do. But to me, commendations hunting is not entirely the same. They require you to actively track (and sometimes grind) specific objectives.

    What I’m talking about is something different in the sense that there's a passive, natural reward you get from just playing the sandbox. Before the changes, even if it was “only” a small amount, doublouns were something you earned alongside everything else. You didn’t think about them, they just accumulated over time until you could buy something. That something were those exclusives in the shop that gave that currency meaning. You always had something in the background you were slowly working towards.
    Yesterday however, I received the possibility to buy every exclusive I still cared about in one go. Before, that would’ve taken me weeks/months of just playing normally. That long-term incentive is gone now. Everything is simply in the shop and if I want it I can buy it..

    I get your point about gold still having value, especially with the price changes, but for players who’ve been around a long time, gold becomes less of a motivator compared to how rewards are earned. At least paying the price of Belle's hat doesn't feel the same as buying dark adventurers after reaching pirate legend.. It could/should in my opinion.. I guess Belle's hat at 2.5 million is too cheap?

    Regarding the PvP analogy: my point was that moving rewards into specific modes (like Hourglass or certain commendations) takes them out of the open world sandbox and I really like the game when rewards come from the chaos of the sandbox, not from queueing, grinding levels or completing a checklist, it's not something I like to do every day.

    My main question remains though. what incentive is left for endgame players to just sail around and do world events, without targeting a specific grind? Because that’s the feeling I really missed yesterday. I guess I need to buy 40 mil worth of trinkets so I can feel the need for Gold again?

  • Arias1101
    Ship Mate
    Insider
    Founder

    @henspie Honestly, it's always been about gold and commendations to me, doubloons were always a side bonus in my eyes (too hard to actively grind).

    I see this change with a good eye since it gives gold some value.
    Items that gave doubloons still exists and now give gold.
    Items that costed doubloons still exists and now cost gold.

    Nothing is lost, instead, a new shop as been added, with a "new", more exclusive and limited, kind of doubloon. Wich is a good thing to me !

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