How I feel about 'forced social events'? Well... It makes me think of Rare in this light:
It wouldn't necessarily be all that big of a deal to me, but there are ZERO tools to organize any in game meetings of potentially co-operative groups. Everything is literally left up to luck, chance, and sure a bit of effort.
God forbid you only have limited play time to sail around begging for help from strangers who likely will presume you are just there to eat them...
Heck, just today I grabbed two seafarers chests (First chests I could find without a voyage) planted them on a building and camped an outpost NEXT TO AN ACTIVE SKULL FORT (I was at sanctuary) I had to wait over an hour on the rooftop where I planted the chests in plain view before a ship approached the outpost, and even then none actually docked... the guys who finally spotted me playing music on the roof? Some sloopers who just logged in...
They were wordless in their interaction with me... they stared...they puzzled...they seemed to fear taking the loot at my feet.... it took them over 7 minutes to actually dare to grab the chests.... and then they kept dropping them instead of selling them all while watching me with a weather-eye towards paranoia... 5 minutes later still they finally sold the items.
They fired at me a few times as well but never actually killed me... warning shots I'm sure...
Then I boarded their craft and acted as if I might just be a mute 3rd sloop mate...
I was helping in obvious ways... reacting to their actions by trimming sails.. helping raise anchor... etc... even then when they got lost on their gold hoarders voyage and were trying to show me their map ... I walked them right to the X and let them dig it up... then after skellies spawned I started towards their vessel with the castaways they dug up... and naturally they couldn't bear it anymore and fired.
My unstated goal? To help these kids and mess around cause I was bored. I mistook today for Skeleton Highchair patch day and wasn't in the mood for progressional play, I wanted to explore and screw off...
Yet these kids proved without a doubt that if there is a block to communication in the game... as there often is what with the issues with VC and if your in party chat or not... range issues... directional issues... simply not having a mic... etc etc etc... if there is a block to communication everything.goes.to.hell...
So how are we as players really supposed to group up in game aside from via hair pulling patience, luck of the draw, committing far more hours searching for elusive help than may be expected and other issues the forums have been lit up about?
I don't have the answer... or at least not an easy one.
Picking servers is antithetical to Rare's interest it seems (not to mention potential infrastructure issues that would arise from server alphas)
Mentioning safe zones will likely get you hung upside down by your toenails from a bowsprit
It's clear Rare wants us to meet and greet on occasion without castrating players freedom to "Be moar pie-rat!" and potentially ( I use the term loosely) 'grief' each other.
So I'm already out of ideas.
But isn't it obvious? We sort of need SOME tool to better secure our ability to find those much loved "multiple crew" gatherings?
We've got the bullhorn (See VC issues above) and that "helps"... but only just...
I'm not saying that potential allies should be vetted and trust worthy or forced to play nice... but it'd be really nice if I could use the various SoT social hubs to meet other players outside of the game and arrange bringing them INTO game later to play in a group larger than our max 4... sure let them be on outside "teams" or whatever... maintain the ability to screwball others... pvp on... all that sure NP.
But... when the only answer is beg, wait, or server hop?
mmm Yea I think something is missing...
Ideas ppl?
edit to add* maybe a new central island with more specific 'shops' and 'voyages' that would force people to NEED to go there often? Instead of the hopscotch choose your fate outpost set-ups we have? That would be a bit of an issue as well Rare has stated they want to allow players the freedom to spot danger at an outpost and sail to a different one... (While still forcing merchants turn ins to specific locations lol.... )
