The Forsake shores adds some great content(like actual content) to the game. However, very poor design philosophies that have held this game back since launch are still being implemented in this newest addition to SOT.
First I'll start with what "Forsaken shores" does well.
- Art: The new theme is amazing and immersive. Nothing new to SOT since the map design has been the best thing about this game since launch.
- Environmental threat: Rares first attempt at environmental threats was poorly executed. Randomly spawning snakes that spit venom when you get close, and randomly spawning skeletons were boring at best and session ruining at worst(anyone who's been solo and had a cannon skeleton randomly spawn and lock you in a 5 min loop of you repairing/bailing water will understand). FS by comparison is a breath of fresh air. Falling rocks, boiling water, fault lines, ang geysers(or geezers apparently) are incredibly immersive and fun environmental "threats". I put "threats" in quotations, because unlike the horrendous snakes, you can use them to benefit you(using an old geezer to launch you up on a ledge, baiting skeletons to their death, etc.).
- Rowboats: Tons of fun and an amazing addition that I was very much disappointed not to see at launch.
- Bilge Rat commendations: I was very much disappointed by the "events", but my biggest gripe was that Rare was spending time and resources to add things to the game(which it desperately needs) only to take it away after a few weeks. They are still very lackluster, but the decision to give players the option to go back and get the doubloons at any time is the right one. I very much hope that Rare continues to provide permanent content that adds lasting value to the game.
- Cosmetics: Lots of new cosmetics that have new designs and aren't just recolors is nice.
- Inventory changes: They are great and everyone knows why. Moving on.
- Sea merchants: This is a huge improvement to the game that I think is VERY much being overlooked. Sure the implementation needs some work(store inventories are too limited, NPC's are still bland and hard to tell that they are different people, etc), but having NPC's out in the world makes a HUGE difference in making the game feel more alive and lived in. PLEASE continue in this direction Rare.
Unfortunately now get to the list of bad things(a big list). Almost all of "FS" problems stem from Rares design philosophies in general rather that something specific/unique to "FS", so i will be addressing the general problem and how they relate to "FS" problems.
The Problem
- Ai targeting and unavoidable dmg: This has been a problem in this game since the beginning. Most dmg sources in the game a virtually unavoidable, and in a game where you have non-regening HP this is a very bad design choice. Most shooters have unavoidable dmg because you have health regen. The dmg you take acts like a timer. You have X amount of time to kill the enemies(the more you kill the more time you have) before they kill you or you need to get back behind cover. Games like halo and doom add another layer to this time by giving enemies weapons with slow projectile speeds which allows the player to dodge dmg(which gives them more time). This in turn rewards players the more they challenge themselves(shooting targets quickly while standing still is good, but if you can shoot targets while moving(which is more difficult) it's better). If you choose not to give players health regen, then you have to give them clear ways to avoid taking dmg such as in Dark souls or Cuphead. The current ranged Ai in this game simply doesn't work well with how healing/repairing works in SOT. The volcanoes are not a problem because they erupt to frequently, they are a problem because Rare thinks it's ok for enemies to deal dmg to you with no counter-play other than "don't be there". The of "shoot, take dmg, eat bannan, and repeat" or " Take dmg, plug hole, bail water, and repeat) is bad design. If you take dmg in SOT it should be because you made an error, NOT because you just happen to be on the same plain of existence as a skeleton with a gun.
Solutions
- Volcanoes and geezers should NOT have any form of targeting. It should be completely random. The amount of projectiles would need to be increased so that the volcano still poses a threat.
- Add sound effects to falling rocks that act as a warning to players.
- Cannon skeletons should not spawn at all on regular islands after you are already in the area. Searching an island for treasure only to hear cannons firing on your ship is NOT fun game-play. It is just frustrating and annoying.
- Skeletons need a new weapon(throwing bones, fire balls, etc) something that lets players avoid the dmg with their actions. Guns are far to powerful to give to a bot that can have 100% accuracy if it want's to.
- If you don't want to do any of these then the alternative is adding health regen. This is not a good solution IMO
The Problem
- Heavy handed game design: Rare has had a problem with designing SOT to limit how players do certain things. Sometimes is very overt like requiring more players than you can possibly have on your ship, so that you will be forced to team up with another crew, sometimes its you needing to deal more dmg than you can possibly do solo to a statue under the sea, and now it's sicking an aim-bot murder volcano on you if you sail up to an island in your regular ship instead of the rowboat "LIKE WE TOLD YOU TOO!!!"- Rare 2018. Rare needs to let players tackle problems in "new and interesting ways" rather than coding the game to actively sabotage players that don't play the way they intended.
The Solution
- Solution to the "rowboat problem" is actually very easy. Make the water boil around the island 100% of the time. This way it's always better to use the rowboat than it it is to swim, but it's not impossible to do it by parking really close to the island.
- Let players find their own ways to do things, even if it makes the activity more difficult. Let people try to solo activities like the hungering deep, and add scaling(more players in the area the harder it is, but still easier than playing solo).
The Problem
- Making us go and find equipment/resources: This is a deceptively large problem that Sea of Thieves has. It not only breaks Rares stated design philosophy of"no advantage for time played", but it is also very problematic design especially when used in excess like it is now. It forces players to search randomly to find the things that they need and just hope that they find them. This can cause massive disparities between crews combat power and effectiveness. Why should 1 crew beat another just because(by sheer chance) they found a couple of really good cursed cannon balls and a barrel bomb? How are you supposed to have any idea of what strategy to use if you have no clue what they could possibly have? How can I play the #Rareapproved way if i can't find a rowboat? Scavenging the map for bananas and cannon balls is not fun. It is not good game design, when your players need to start off every game session by running back and forth over and over to loot barrels and stock up their ship.
The Solution
- let them buy resources. There is no good reason we shouldn't be able to buy bananas, cannonballs, etc from the merchants to stock up our ships. looting every barrel for these resources and transporting them 5 at a time is... not a good idea for making a game fun.
- Every ship should start with a rowboat already attached. If the rowboat is destroyed, then they can buy another one for X gold from the shipwright. This just makes sense and saves a TON of wasted time, same as buying resources. It also gives NPC's more reasons to exists and be interacted with by players.
- Let players buy equipment. This is only barrel bombs at the moment, but it will hopefully more in the future. I don't want cursed cannonballs to be sold simply because I don't think that they should be in the game at all. With barrel bombs, I think that there should be a limit(like 1 per person). Barrel bombs also need to be nerfed IMO(2 or 3 holes instead of 4).
The Problem
- No achievement items/no upgrades: With the "FS" we got the kraken set. How do we get the kraken set? by killing the kraken? nope. You get it by using get that you get from doing the same fetch quest that you've been doing since launch. This is a big problem. This game currently has nothing but cosmetics, but the cosmetics don't even mean anything. You get everything the exact same way(other than the event gear, which just means that you played at X time). Upgrades are seen as a no no in SOT, but their really isn't a good reason. Upgrades and side-grades give players new ways to play the game personalize their experience. Games like battlefield, COD, planetside, etc have been giving players TONS of upgrade options without giving unfair advantages to new players. The argument about "everyone being on the same playing field" is simply not valid. Not only are their PC players playing against console players(that alone is a bigger advantage than any upgrade would provide), but you also have: Players that play longer have more resources and equipment like barrel bombs and cursed cannonballs, crews of 1 vs crews of 4(now + alliances), ebony/flintlock pistols ALREADY have working iron sights, and even the guns themselves are already just sidegrades/upgrades. The Eye of reach could easily be an "upgraded" version of the flintlock(more dmg and range, but longer reload).
The solution
- gives us achievement items. Rare doesn't even need to design any new encounters to get this started in a big way. Make skeletons drop bones that we can use to make bones cosmetics, let us carve up sharks, snakes, etc to make themed gear, let us carve up Meg and the kraken to make gear with special effects.
- let us upgrade weapons. Some things like better sights could be strictly upgrades, but i think they should definitely stay way from things like just giving weapons more dmg. Making alot of the upgrades be PVP bonuses only would be a great idea(such as giving the new burning sword bonus dmg against plant skeletons). Utility buffs like meg clothes given a small boost to swim speed, are all great options that would give players better reasons to work for gear.
And that's it for this post. It ended up being very long, but I hope some people and especially Rare can get some ideas from it. I'm sure i made a ton of typos since, but i'll try to correct them when I see them. Let me know what you guy think.
