~All Based on my own personal perspective and opinion throughout my time with the Alpha, and Beta.~
Though viewing some posts that make complete sense, when it comes to the frustrations of Solo Sailors coming across a well organized crew of "misfits" who care for nothing but ruining someone's day; I feel in one way the reaction of anger is justified- but, I feel that through personal experience on being both ends of the spectrum: Being the Thief AND being the prey, the variety of reactions between player interactions are so vast that there really isn't anything Rare could do about it because... it really is based on how the actual player themselves handles the situation that is being given at hand.
- Here are a few scenarios that I have found myself in that reflect what I'm talkin' about, all things that truly happened to me amongst my GameTime:
Upon spawning into a game, I landed on sanctuary outpost's tavern. Taking my time like I normally do, I bounce around the docks and local town in search for supplies to support my upcoming unpredictable journey. Essentially just minding my own business, I suddenly hear over the in-game chatter that there are other players near by! An instant flutter of nerves ran through my tightly gripped fingers; I made my way back over to my ship.
"We have a single man'd vessel at the outpost!" I heard one man yell.
"Yep! I See it too! think its someone turning in treasure? Lets check it out." another apparently opposing crew member shouts.
I now know that their intentions are to intrude on my gameplay experience, at least to my initial point-of-view, was what I THOUGHT was about to happen.... NOW, at this point, a person's natural reaction would be to load the cannons and start raining iron. Preparing one's self to defend themselves against a incoming Galleon, but I knew if I were to get myself out of this hairy situation, i'd need to think outside the box and develop a Witty Plan.
Communication, and Negotiation, was where I lead myself to carve my way to safety. Using the Emote mechanics, I climbed to the Gallery of my sloop, and began to wave!
"Oy! I'm friendly and Treasureless! Can I come aboard? I wont shoot!" I shouted across the water.
To my surprise, expecting to get blasted by cannon fire and foal names; I hear
"Wait, Is your name Jack Sparrow?! Come on over! we wont fire either!".
I hopped into the water, swam like a seal being chased by Shamu and climbed up the ladder. The crew and myself traded a few words, and came to an agreement that they could raid my ship of all my goods and we'd all sail together as a 5 man crew on a single ship, leaving my vessel behind.
- From that point forward for the rest of the session, we became friends, they learned that I was an alpha player, and they had actually been hunting players for about an hour because they were all new to the beta, without any direction and understanding on how the game works. I showed them the ropes when it came purchasing voyages, voting on voyages, some of the lesser underrated combat mechanics and how to properly bring a cutlass to a gunfight. I shared some stories; For example- the legendary moment @WyMeRz , @ChalkyHotDog , @Devilman88-SBS , and I got dragged into a three Galleon standoff within the storm one day, long ago. Stories such as those, play as reassurance that you can only gain experiences such as these within this game had made them so much more excited for SoT's official release. Also, convincing one of these lad's to actually pre-order the game while on the mic wit'me.
-points to make about this scenario-
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Defiance between aggression and negotiation counts when sailing alone. Notice I didn't immediately start running or panicing? keep your cool, not everyone is out there to kill you, and the way you react as an individual will define how the crossroads will manifest.
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Communication is key, be loud and clear, and DON'T be shy. If you want to be successful with whichever way you go about your journey, do not come off as anti-social because you're then just asking to get taunted and tormented. Let them know what you're intentions are, and simply just ask them to leave you alone. 7/10 times you'll run into respectful people, if your just a mute and don't say anything, how is it to know that they don't think you may be a threat?
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Body language, because this game grants you the ability to express yourself and your intentions through your Character. NO WEAPONS, obviously, have an instrument or something large and visible out. I'd suggest keeping away from having your compass, watch, or shovel out. Reason being is the compass and watch animations are similar to holding a pistol. Holding your shovel has a similar standing animation as to when equipping a rifle or blunderbuss so keep to the Lantern, Instruments, and or by the most suggested default, empty resting hands.
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Have something to offer, if you have a chest or two, offer them up. You'll always have the chance to go and steal it back when you have the upper hand later on if your patient enough. Maybe do as I did, and offer up some supplies like your cannon balls, and planks. Again, these things can be taken back when you have the upper hand. Right now, your key is to stay alive and keep your ship from getting sunk, if you are able to see which direction they are leaving in after negotiations, you can follow them and climb on board once they get docked at an island, unseen.
(These things will lead you to where you need to go when having positive Player Interaction, you have to remember that you are playing against intelligent, real people. The objective of this game for Rare is to NOT have it NPC Based. When you see a ship in the distance, they want you to KNOW that there are real, unpredictable pirates on that ship. If you cant get over that fact alone- this game is not for you. They have made this VERY clear!)
~This Next scenario is in reflection to how as a smaller vessel, YOU ARE A THREAT.~
Sailing across the open ocean, and with nearly 6 chests onboard, I'm ready to make my way home to a nearby outpost. As suggested by some of the most notorious pirates,
"never sail with more Cargo than you don't mind losing!"
From the highest of waves, and the raging storm. I run my boat a'ground crashing into the Harbormaster's dock. Patching the holes, bailing the water, and hauling my pile back and forth til' the golden weight was lifted from my hull; I spotted a Tall, Dark silhouette in the far distance... I spied a Galleon!
Knowing that I now carry nothing to lose, this was my chance to possibly gain some reputation through Thievery, and live up to my name.
I watched the horizon for about 10 minutes, glaring off from the crowsnest watching the course of this ship. Seeing the sails turn and work in unison, I knew that this was a crew that knew their maneuvers.
Neighboring island, to neighboring island; picking up explosive gunpowder barrels as I made my way closer and closer to the ship with lanterns off and Mainmast turned vertically to their direction even though I was against the wind. I needed to keep myself as lessly visible as possible, even if it meant sacrificing some speed, I knew I'd catch up with them on their voyage. Already, my size had granted me the element of surprise, Sloops are much easier at hiding behind low rocks and sub-islands rather than the Tall ships if gone about blending your mast with the island's trees correctly.
At this moment, I am waiting an island over from where they are docked, and by luck and chance- they are on their way to the next island over that is paralleled with my current isle. Using the spyglass, i watched as each crew member hopped off the ship in search for the chest of their provided maps or riddles. This, was my chance!
On my sloop, I lined my top deck and gallery with gunpowder barrels, my ship was a gliding bomb along the water, I set my vessel's sail with the wind, and was at full throttle using the waves as ramps; I Soared towards the Galleon with intent to destroy.
I became close, and raised the sail so that I wouldn't cause an early eruption alerting the enemy that I was inbound on their position. Broadside to their ship, I dropped anchor bordering their deck to the point where I could walk from my ship to theirs, with ease. I climbed onboard their ship to take a look around; and to my suspicion I found their hoard of Chests placed strategically along the captains bed, arranged by the most expensive, to most common. If their was one Chest that i wanted to come back for that they couldn't find, was their Cursed grog chest.
Not yet noticed, i grabbed the chest of a thousand grogs and jumped overboard, swam to the islands beach and found a dingy wreckage a ways away from where our ships were docked.
Since I was so close to the crew, I began to hear their conversations.
"There's a ship next to ours guys! run!" Someone shouted in a panic to their crewmembers.
This was the chance for me to see if my plan was truly going to play out. I found a vantage point upon a rock that was slightly overlooking the two ships butted up against each other. Tension started to rise within me'self, and my heart began to beat faster, and faster. I was excited!
One by one, the 4 crewmates climbed on board the vessel, and to my knowledge, I think they believed that from a distance the gunpowder barrels were actually chests that i had stolen from their cabin, but oh, oh, oh, were they wrong!!
BOOM! I fired my rifle and ignitd the first barrel that was placed, peaking over the side of the Sloop's Gallery, and the fireworks were astonishing. The explosion itself was so sudden and instant that the frame dropped and froze my screen for a good-long 5 seconds before the game realized what just happened, and caught up with itself.
The entire crew died in synchronization, and both ships were sinking, all their chests were lost to the sea, and my mermaid appeared within a few seconds after this monumental moment for thine'self accomplishment. I referred to my hand written note of the according island, planned my route and set full course to the destined destination, gathered up all the chests that were at the bottom of the sea, and went to retrieve the cursed chest I placed on the beach. I was surprised that the other crew hadn't returned before I did, or that I didn't even see their ship in site and on the way, but the more that I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that they may have given up and quit the game. (Oh well, their loss?)
- Doing what I did, had me rolling in gold. I had nearly 12 chests, 2 captain chests, a few seafarers, a few castaways, and a marauder. Along with the cursed. I was rocking with about 2,100-2,200 G's by the end of the session.
-points to make about this scenario-
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First and foremost, came Planning and Patience. Think, before you act, like I listed in the previous Act; these are actual people that you must outsmart to come out victorious. I saw the opportunity, made sure I had nothing to lose and that I essentially accomplished everything that I had wanted to do that evening, and reprioritized my thinking process to become the predator over the prey.
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Adapt to your surroundings. See the ship as an extension of your character, rather than a vehicle on it's own. You must hide yourself while being outnumbered and outgunned, so when it comes to the open sea, stick to emerging rocks and low-riding islands when going from destination to destination. Hop islands, rather than sailing across open water, it's much safer this way, and allows you to practice your maneuvers a bit... imagine it as... driving between cones like a car. Practice makes a Pirate.
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Improvision and Preparation, because this coincides with Planning (Bullet 1). When things go south, turn the sails and go with the wind, make what wasn't the plan... the plan, and own it as if it were the original plan. Improvising on the fly is an essential part of becoming the predator of the sea. You'll need to know what to do, and when to do it, when it needs to be done. So, always keep an open mind and a watchful eye for opportunities and resources to use to your advantage. Originally, I was just going to sail onto their ship and steal their treasure, but over the course of stalking them, I came up with the idea of blowing up their vessel and killing the crew completely so I could return after respawn.
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Predict and Assume, Know and expect things to not go the way that you would like; push for things to go your way as much as you can. Predict the aftermath of every decision that you make. how long will it take for them to respawn? what if they notice me before the plan is in place? what will I do if something doesn't work. Assume they know where you are, assume that they will be there before you after both ships have sank or while on route to retrieve any dropped loot. Make the least expected, the expected, and NOTHING will ever take you by surprise.
~Validations by my Opinion
- Individual Decision Making.
- Player's Ability to Analyze Situations.
- Reaction and Response to initial Non-Threatening Activity.
- Reaction and Response to Threatening Activity.
- Step-by-Step Manifestation of Awareness.
- Ability to Recognize Advantages.
The list above are all things that Rare can not control; they are solely up to the player to develop on their own time, and have absolutely NOTHING to do with the size and speed of the ship that you are on. It is directly based on your skill, the way you think, and the steps that you take when placed under pressure whether it was voluntary or involuntary.
When it comes to Progression in Sea of Thieves, I feel that the progression is based on the actual players ability to learn the game itself, rather than having the game win for you. You feel overpowered, or underpowered, all because things went your way, way to well, or didn't go your way, and something happened to you that you feel wasn't "Fair".
This game is very different than any other game that has came out within the last decade. Driven by Raw character v. Character balance, cosmetically driven and economy built off of Players rather than NPC's. Ever since the Beta, with the newcomers who have arrived there has been a huge wave of individuals who are trying or wanting the game to be changed from what it originally stood for. NPC's weren't ever really suppose to be a huge thing, We are suppose to build bonds with other players, but separated from the classical MMO style because, this is not an MMO; but having the same effect to create your own stories. You, are suppose to become the legend of the Sea, climbing to the top of the foodchain as the most notorious pirate. They want this game to be at the point where you could look at someone, and know exactly who that is, what that Ship's name is, and what it was that they did that gave them the reputation that they have throughout the servers; and this is stuff that they have said and talked about throughout all of the Tavern talks and Interviews.
In my opinion, the reason why we are all here is help build this thing. To help create something that will bring a new and original light to the gaming industry, hoping and striding to be something bigger and better for both the Development company and as a community; Not, tear it down and completely rewrite it into something it was never meant to be.
Everyone has the capability to learn, as we learned to Walk after we crawled- and so with that I'll hope this will change some people's perspective when it comes to understanding the experience that's being placed before you with this "project". You're going to be put in places where nothing is going to make any sense, and you will become frustrated because it's nothing like you've ever experienced before. But one of the things I loved about this whole thing was when Rare started all this up- they didn't hold anyone's hand, they just stood back, and watched to see what people would do. Some became savages, some became protectors and coached one another, some explored, some hunted, and some just got really.... really drunk!
This isn't a "Git Gud" post, but a proposition to those who have had a hard time soloing this game; to be annalistic and Creative for when the time comes you cross paths with a 4 man crew. Whether it's positive or negative. Just think, and put yourself in a position where they should be fearing YOU.
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