The Pioneer Algorithm Is Broken

  • Sshteeve
    Captain
    Insider
    Boatswain

    So a friend of mine took much merriment in rubbing it in last night that he had received an invite to the Pioneer program.
    He showed off a shiny email from Rare praising him for his "excellent commitment to the Pirate life",

    His amusement came from the fact that he hasn't played the game since the end of week 1... about 10 hours in total.

    He hasn't played THD, CS or FS...

    So that's who we want testing a game for new features? Someone with 10 hours playtime and who has never been on the forum/twitter/discord or submitted a bug report???

    Have to say it's less than impressive for those of us without a Founder badge who appear to be left out in the cold.
    (Oh yes there's plenty of brine in this post)

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  • Octopus Lime
    Master
    Founder

    @Sshteeve ahhh the salty goodness ;)

  • Admiral RRRSole

    @sshteeve
    Aha! So that's where us committed players have gone wrong. By being committed to and playing the game.

    Well of course, it all makes sense now, what would we know about SoT?
    Hey I should get my son to check his emails as he has only played less than 3 hours on launch day and hasn't touched it since.

    Before we start rewriting all of those Irish jokes to Englishmen, stop and think about.
    Perhaps it's a ploy to get the 5 million who have left the game to return under the shiny title of "pioneer"?

    Or the classic case of "keep your friends close and your enemies even closer".
    Well played, Rare, well played.

  • Sir Lotus
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @sshteeve I wasn't gonna comment on this, but coincidentaly I've talked to someone about SoT this morning and he was like "oh yeah, i got invited to some pioneer stuff."... seriously... he has about 500 meters sailed on his profile, never posted anything anywhere. Doesn't care about the game at all.

    I don't want to start a witch hunt for pioneers, because a lot of them definitely deserve it and I really appreciate their work. But next time someone asks how to become a pioneer, I'm done with explaining that Rare has some secret formula to choose them. It's just an RNG lottery.

    Not only does this sting for those of us, who always wanted to help, it takes away a bit of the pride some pioneers might have for being chosen.

    (and yes, i've always been a bit salty about not being chosen, but that doesn't mean i'm wrong here)

  • Sshteeve
    Captain
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @ant-heuser-kush it's not about older Pioneers, it's about the injustice that people who have actively never played and most likely won't play a single test session are getting the invites. I know you well Ant and remember talking to you a lot before you deleted your account - you're a fan of the game and you actually play it!

    It's people getting invites who Rare will clearly be able to see aren't playing the game that is a kick in the teeth. I don;t even mind people who are negative on the forum about the game to be Pioneers - testers need to be critical with the new releases so they are the best they can be, but they need to actually TEST!

    I'm salty as hell on this one I'm afraid

  • Sshteeve
    Captain
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @sir-lotus exactly - well done all existing Pioneers, you were chosen purely by luck, not because we care! The wording of the email though as well: "Excellent commitment to the Pirate life"... Why not just change it to "Congratulations RNGesus has been kind to you today,please test our game for us!"*

  • ShAyNoInSaNo
    Master
    Insider

    Yep it's a joke. I've missed 1 night since launch day.

  • khaleesibot
    Master
    Founder

    Hi @Sshteeve, this thread has been locked because it is not a discussion post, it is a self admitted complaint post.

    You can read more information about the Pioneer programme in this Forum FAQ and also on our Support Site.

    The most relevant part to this post is:

    Who are the Pioneers?
    The Sea of Thieves Pioneers are a select group of players who receive special previews of upcoming features and improvements to the game. Invites cannot be requested and are non-transferable.

    We select Pioneers based on our internal testing needs. As noted by Joe in our October 10th Developer Update, we want to make it easier for more people to join the programme. So if you're interested, keep an eye out for more information!

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