Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares"

  • SappyElephante
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    Something that I have never really liked is how the current loot mechanic works. There are 2 obvious issues with it.

    1. If you have to log out or get dc'd before your crew cashes in loot, you don't get any of the gold or experience, even if you helped obtain and defend that treasure.
    2. If you are lucky enough to join a session that is just about to cash in loot, you get just as much of a reward as the players turning it in who could have spent hours obtaining it, which is not really fair (there has been one recent controversial example of this...)

    My suggested solution? Introduce a "shares" mechanic to loot. A somewhat simple idea could be:

    1. Any loot item obtained while you're actively part of a crew results in you getting the typical full amount of gold & exp for that item when turned in at an outpost.
    2. If you join a crew midsession, you will start with a 0% share of all loot already on board. This % will increase with time, i.e. the longer you have helped protect and transport that treasure, the higher the % you will receive when cashed in. Any new loot found would act as above in 1.
    3. Any loot & exp linked to your character during that a specific voyage will be rewarded to you if you are online or offline when and if your crew turns it in. (If offline maybe only receive a max of 90% of loot value to encourage players to stay with the ship until all treasure is turned in?)

    I think some kind of system like this would encourage players to stick together longer, strengthening the crew bond, and it would also discourage loot/xp farming by server hopping.

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  • SappyElephante
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    An example of how this could work would be as follows:
    I join a 2 person sloop that is midway through a gold hoarder voyage. The player I joined had previously found a captains chest (A). We play for 15 minutes and find another captains chest(B). The player I joined, however, either got dc'd or had to log off. Five minutes later I arrive at an outpost to turn in the treasure.
    Assume each chest rewards 1000 gold. Also assume you get 3% per every minute logged into your crew from treasure previously onboard.
    From chest A I get 20 * 3 = 60% of 1000, 600 gold. From chest B I get the full 1000 gold. Total: 1600 gold.

    For the player that got DC'd or had to leave, rather than getting nothing out of the voyage, he/she gets 90%, 900 gold from chest A & chest B. Total: 1800 gold.

  • Memphypoo
    Rogue

    I'm in a party of 4, I steal your chest and sell it. Who gets the shares?

  • Kenneth Mcgrew
    Marauder
    Insider

    There needs to be something in the game as the current mechanism actively discourages multiplayer for some.

    i love playing SoT with others... but i never get any progression from it.

    i roughly play for an hour so in solo that's about 3 missions crossed off and cashed in, i have also joined many multiplayer sessions where the ship is on a longer quest and the crew want to gather about 6 missions or even more, i dont have time to complete it and have to log off before they get cashed in

    rewards for my from multiplayer = 0 gold
    Rewards in solo = 11,600 Gold

    there really is no incentive for me to play multiplayer if i want to progress so its on the back burner now.

    a change needs to happen to encourage crew up options where loot can be shared somehow if you need to log off or get D/C otherwise its solo for me until i can buy some sails etc which is gonna take an age given current earnings.

    i dont tend to open my boat up to others as three things usually happen

    a. no-one joins in any case
    b. The person who joins is silent and shoots everything on sight
    c. They sail off with your ship while your on land / generally mess about

    so ^^ SoT is a solo game unless your a serial gamer with no job and can afford to play 6 hour sessions

  • HandSh0t
    Marauder
    Insider

    There is nothing wrong with the current system in my opinion.
    If you're lucky, you join a session with loot.
    If you're unlucky, you got to leave before the cash-in of loot.

    it's the way it works.

    If you're on a galleon and they are on a long run and you know you got to leave within the next 30 minutes, you simply COMMUNICATE with your ship-mates and go to an outpost.

    If you know you only got an hour in total to play, i don't recommend joining another crew at all, it just doesn't make sense.

  • Memphypoo
    Rogue

    @kenneth-mcgrew said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    there really is no incentive for me to play multiplayer if i want to progress so its on the back burner now.
    .....
    so ^^ SoT is a solo game unless your a serial gamer with no job and can afford to play 6 hour sessions

    Try doing a Skeleton Fort solo whilst defending yourself from people looking for some of that loot. Yes, it can be done but it can be done a LOT faster with additional people. The incentive is that you get things done faster and have more protection. An extra pair of hands and an extra pair of eyes (or many extra pairs).

    It sounds to me like your problem is more around deciding "when to cash in" rather than a problem with multiplayer. I, on the other hand find it a lot more rewarding when i play with friends. We communicate with each other when to cash in and when to keep going.

    A lot of threads posted on this forum would disagree with your last sentence, but if you prefer to play solo you can do that too. That's the beauty of this game. As with any game, you get a few bad eggs but there are tools available to deal with them. I'd also recommend making some friends with the people you've had good experiences with (i highly doubt it's been 100% negative).

  • Kenneth Mcgrew
    Marauder
    Insider

    @memphypoo said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    @kenneth-mcgrew said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    there really is no incentive for me to play multiplayer if i want to progress so its on the back burner now.
    .....
    so ^^ SoT is a solo game unless your a serial gamer with no job and can afford to play 6 hour sessions

    Try doing a Skeleton Fort solo whilst defending yourself from people looking for some of that loot. Yes, it can be done but it can be done a LOT faster with additional people. The incentive is that you get things done faster and have more protection. An extra pair of hands and an extra pair of eyes (or many extra pairs).

    It sounds to me like your problem is more around deciding "when to cash in" rather than a problem with multiplayer. I, on the other hand find it a lot more rewarding when i play with friends. We communicate with each other when to cash in and when to keep going.

    A lot of threads posted on this forum would disagree with your last sentence, but if you prefer to play solo you can do that too. That's the beauty of this game. As with any game, you get a few bad eggs but there are tools available to deal with them. I'd also recommend making some friends with the people you've had good experiences with (i highly doubt it's been 100% negative).

    90% of my time on SoT has been positive, problem is by time i have organised a team to take on a skeleton fort its time to switch the game off :)
    pre organising with RL friends is easier yeah but that's not in the spirit of random encounters and a true multiplayer game with random folk

    there has to be some middle ground to allow progression in "join and go" sessions rather than having to stick it until the bitter end

  • Memphypoo
    Rogue

    The flipside is that with your current "join and go" sessions you can also receive loot you didn't participate in earning. So it's not all doom and gloom.

  • SappyElephante
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @memphypoo said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    I'm in a party of 4, I steal your chest and sell it. Who gets the shares?

    You and your crew.

  • Kenneth Mcgrew
    Marauder
    Insider

    @handsh0t said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    If you know you only got an hour in total to play, i don't recommend joining another crew at all, it just doesn't make sense.

    sooo casual players should avoid multiplayer, my point exactly, a multiplayer game which discourages multiplayer???

  • Kenneth Mcgrew
    Marauder
    Insider

    @memphypoo said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    The flipside is that with your current "join and go" sessions you can also receive loot you didn't participate in earning. So it's not all doom and gloom.

    unfortunately i have sunk about the same hours multiplayer and solo in individual play sessions, and multiplayer gold is 0 while solo is 11k

  • Cyphronite
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @sappyelephante sagte in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    1. If you have to log out or get dc'd before your crew cashes in loot, you don't get any of the gold or experience, even if you helped obtain and defend that treasure.

    Yeah that can be annoying, but it also creates some of the immersion in this game. You just have to stick around and take care and cash in the rewards. And it's not that one single cash-in / haul is significant. Of course, when you have just managed to collect the forts treasure and have to log off, I would be mad as well, but even then the amount you earn may be lost, but overall it's not significant.

    1. If you are lucky enough to join a session that is just about to cash in loot, you get just as much of a reward as the players turning it in who could have spent hours obtaining it, which is not really fair (there has been one recent controversial example of this...)

    I don't think this is a problem. The one joining the session is lucky, but who cares? You don't lose anything.

  • JoeySav
    Founder

    @sappyelephante i get what youre trying to do here, but trust me it will be abused more then it would work. People would AFK or just sit there doing nothing sicne they know they cant be kicked and get full reward or youll get someone who joins at the end does a ton of work and gets b***d on the payout. if anything they need to just increase chests cash in value across the board and have more interesting quests.

  • JoeySav
    Founder

    @kenneth-mcgrew The same can be said about any multiplayer game, rainbow six siege team killers, overwatch intentional throwers. My point is there will always be bad eggs and people who get off ruining your enjoyment IF YOU LET THEM.

  • SappyElephante
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @cyphronite I'm a little confused how getting dc'd helps the immersion.. or do you mean being present to cash in chests?
    And yes, it's a pretty nice treat to log in and immediately get all these rewards cause the crew you just joined is cashing in, but the point I wanted to get across is that this game's "progression" is the gold and reputation you receive. Getting both of those for doing no work doesn't seem logical to me.

    @JoeySav this is already unfortunately an issue with the brig :/

  • Kenneth Mcgrew
    Marauder
    Insider

    @joeysav said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    @sappyelephante i get what youre trying to do here, but trust me it will be abused more then it would work. People would AFK or just sit there doing nothing sicne they know they cant be kicked and get full reward or youll get someone who joins at the end does a ton of work and gets b***d on the payout. if anything they need to just increase chests cash in value across the board and have more interesting quests.

    let say a chest is worth 1000 gold.

    if you cash it in then that's 1000 gold to each player in the current crew regardless of how much effort they put it

    same chest but if you were on the crew when it was found and got d/c perhaps there should be a 50% payment on d/c so the player leaving gets 500 gold

    join a crew with 20 chests already on board then you have to wait to cash them in, the same rules apply, you dont get the 50% because you were not on board when they were dug up

    There must be a happy medium somewhere and its just a thought, anyone can currently sit AFK in the current system without repercussions

    Your sentiment on chest values is well received though, the payoff currently is appalling and would do away with the need to share gold, the problem exists and we need a solution, shares of gold or larger value chests would both be welcome in my eyes.

  • JoeySav
    Founder

    @kenneth-mcgrew so the easiest way to fix the problem is add a vote to remove from crew. That will solve it all essentially. Which im pretty sure rare said is being worked on at the moment.

  • Kenneth Mcgrew
    Marauder
    Insider

    @joeysav yep fixes one problem but potentially creates another option for malice and grief, let someone do the hard work and vote them off before the cash in :) cant see that being abused in anyway.

    the lack of gold in each chest and d/c half way through missions will still be issues if not looked into though, and this is kinda where the OP is coming from.

  • CREEPYOLDPIRATE

    @memphypoo receiving loot in which you didn't participate in getting is a bad thing...not a good thing

  • Noc1112
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    I feel like this would make the grind more soul-crushing than it already is

  • Filthee Mudblud

    @handsh0t said in Fix The Loot Reward Mechanic - Introduce "Shares":

    There is nothing wrong with the current system in my opinion.
    If you're lucky, you join a session with loot.
    If you're unlucky, you got to leave before the cash-in of loot.

    it's the way it works.

    And you need no luck if you happen to have a couple thousand twitch followers
    The Prod1gyX incident is a blunder and proof there IS, in fact, a major problem with the system

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