Poll: would you (have) play(ed) SoT without any form of progression?

@bugaboo-bill I'm not sure if small numbers really ruins RP or something.. But thanks for the answer by the way!

@bugaboo-bill I wanted to say A but truth is all of my friends would say B.
I could still play SoT and maybe make new friends but I'd rather play another game with my old friends.

So my answer is, neither A nor B.

I would play Sea of Thieves
In a hurricane
On a raft
In the pouring rain
Or on a boat
In a moat
Where no other ships
Would stay afloat
I'd play in a tub
With a bucket
In a place called Nantucket
Or on a lake
In July
Sinking sloops
Making captains cry
I'd play Sea of Thieves
Just about anywhere
Yet without the loot
It'd be hard to care
What a classic game
Created by the developers
From a Company
Named RARE

@bugaboo-bill Dr. Seuss is my favorite author!😂

@duke-of-spire said in Poll: would you (have) play(ed) SoT without any form of progression?:

I would play Sea of Thieves
In a hurricane
On a raft
In the pouring rain
Or on a boat
In a moat
Where no other ships
Would stay afloat
I'd play in a tub
With a bucket
In a place called Nantucket
Or on a lake
In July
Sinking sloops
Making captains cry
I'd play Sea of Thieves
Just about anywhere
Yet without the loot
It'd be hard to care
What a classic game
Created by the developers
From a Company
Named RARE

Very eloquently written!

Our true reputations are held in the hearts of those we sail with and to a lesser extent to those we encounter.
So many times I've joined a crew only to find them at a loss for direction, for purpose. I've helped turn the cowards courageous and the killers into diplomats. I've heard the voices say "Man we have a ton of loot & my God I didn't realize we had this much stuff"! Yesterday I sailed with a greenhorn who by nights end declared his love for the Sea of Thieves. I told him everyday is a different adventure. No two days will ever repeat themselves as long as you choose to embrace the challenges laid before you. My last words to him were "The best pirates let the winds guide them"! His last words to me were "wait"! I signed off leaving him hanging😂

@mr-dragon-raaar I log into open ships a couple of times everyday. If they're communicating I nestle in and see what they're up to. Some are worth guiding! It's refreshing when you sail with the 'willing". During the voyage yesterday I had them stealth to Snake to investigate a sloop. One of them said "I'll take a barrel" to which I replied "no! It'll take you forever to get there! No cannons! Sword lunge, swim, secure the sloop, raise anchor,wreck it, and defend the holes!". They did exactly that and were like two kids in a candy store for the next 5 minutes then a meg spawned on us so I put them to work.😀

Well yes i most liked to fill a boat with loot not really caring about selling but maybe it would be less exciting without value i dunno.. but i loved the treasureboat pictures more then the worthless divital gold number in my screen -.-

Just a pile of decorative gold without a number would be cool to see it grow make you feel good xD

Also love to catch over 50 chickens and sell them on order sailing around to outposts surviving pirates etc but i quit playing merchant because i cant get coops easy because of the cargo missions -.- but it was super chill sailing around not getting caught it was still exciting and so satisfied to succeed and deliver all chickens save xD but really messed up when karen start eating sloops with 50 chickens that still hurts and i still freakin hate karen :(

Yes for a limited time because of how fun it is but i believe most people want a goal in mind to achieve

What I'm coming across are "friends" of other pirates attempting to play the game without guidance. One of the most common statements I hear is " A friend got me to try it". It's like they sailed once or twice with their so called "friend" and got abandoned due to their "friends" impatience. Yesterday one of the guys was absolutely terrified to go on the "offensive". So what did I do? Commanded him to go on the "offensive" via stealth & sabotage. A pirates self esteem has to be nurtured and built up. You can't just sail with them once and tell them "Ok, the sea is yours!". I see this games community growing by pirates having fun! Not PVE only servers, not quests or commendations, not Arena, but through quality adventures on the high seas. There are so many variables that can help define a crews emotional status while adventuring. Kindness, Thoughtfulness, Empathy, Sympathy, Domination, passivity, revenge, the reckoning, happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, nervousness, and even rage are all part of it. Some crews exhibit multiple behaviors all at once!
If we can teach others that this is actually what separates SOT from most other games and to play knowing that "winning is temporary and failures are not fatal"
then the community will continue to grow.

I choose A.

I've been quite content with SoT horizontal progression system. Obtaining cosmetics isn't the goal for my crew. It's to create new stories to talk about while getting wasted on grog at the Athena's Fortune.

@duke-of-spire said in Poll: would you (have) play(ed) SoT without any form of progression?:

What I'm coming across are "friends" of other pirates attempting to play the game without guidance. One of the most common statements I hear is " A friend got me to try it". It's like they sailed once or twice with their so called "friend" and got abandoned due to their "friends" impatience. Yesterday one of the guys was absolutely terrified to go on the "offensive". So what did I do? Commanded him to go on the "offensive" via stealth & sabotage. A pirates self esteem has to be nurtured and built up. You can't just sail with them once and tell them "Ok, the sea is yours!". I see this games community growing by pirates having fun! Not PVE only servers, not quests or commendations, not Arena, but through quality adventures on the high seas. There are so many variables that can help define a crews emotional status while adventuring. Kindness, Thoughtfulness, Empathy, Sympathy, Domination, passivity, revenge, the reckoning, happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, nervousness, and even rage are all part of it. Some crews exhibit multiple behaviors all at once!
If we can teach others that this is actually what separates SOT from most other games and to play knowing that "winning is temporary and failures are not fatal"
then the community will continue to grow.

Let us not forget to train them to flipping stock their ship properly before leaving port. This is the most aggravating thing to me in the world.

@inboundbomb Agreed. Greenhorns are terrible about stocking ship!

@duke-of-spire said in Poll: would you (have) play(ed) SoT without any form of progression?:

@inboundbomb Agreed. Greenhorns are terrible about stocking ship!

This is how my start up goes with a rando crew. I get into the game typically first for some reason and start grabbing supplies from the bar and surrounding area till pockets are full then head to the ship. get to the ship drop off said supplies and run back out for more and pass the crew that finally joined. gather from the barrels at the shipwright and continue inland to fill pockets if not done by the first few barrels only to come back to see the ship set sail. Time to go to the next server and try again. LOL

@bugaboo-bill absolutely. Buying equipment is nice because it gives my loot value, but the game is all about pretending to be a pirate and going out on adventures.

@inboundbomb Hahahaha been there done that.

@inboundbomb there is a strong argument to be made that stocking while underway by jumping off at forts, barrels, and islands adds more time for what you actually want to do that night. Which is not to say that stocking at the outpost is wrong, just that not doing so is not necessarily a sign of incompetence. I know some of my crew would stick around the outpost for an hour if they could find supplies that long, so its definitely advantageous to insist they grab what they can on the way to the ship and then depart.

@william-flint I play solely on galleon crews. 10 min tops to stock up if everyone does their job. Not to say that your strategy isn't valid since all my normal crews I used to play with stocked from the port then went to the nearest fort for more. 90% of the time I am the only one gathering supplies when doing random crews. It's just poor preparation.

A, might even play more if it was just a social interaction. I see how progression can/have detour many from the social interaction, good or bad.

@they-sank said in Poll: would you (have) play(ed) SoT without any form of progression?:

I vote option C - Fun and progression.

If a player wants to role play and have freestyle fun without ranks or cosmetic progression, by all means, it is a sandbox.

If a player wants to rank up and focus on earning gold and cosmetic progression, by all means, it is a sandbox.

If a player wants to role play, have freestyle fun, rank up, and earn gold and cosmetic progression, by all means... it is a sandbox.

Don’t remove the “Long Harsh Journey” that has a reward at the end for the people that want it, and don’t force people to do the “Long Harsh Journey”.

Exactly!

And the great thing is that the game currently works that way, as the only thing that progression affects is the cosmetics you own.

You aren't at a disadvantage if you don't want to grind for something. Nobody is obligated to complete any goal or earn any cosmetic. And there are plenty of us who will go for the long grinds and enjoy the rewards to show for it. Everyone wins.

@bugaboo-bill I'd have to say B.
This is mainly because I like grindy games for thier rewarding nature.
It feels more rewarding to be given an exclusive item by accomplishing something rather than the item being available to every pirate from the start.
I would still play the game, but only for a fun time with my friends for about an hour.
The grind keeps me playing the game for longer periods of time.

@bugaboo-bill yes and no, I wouldn't have played this long without them as I am sometimes bored and don't know what to do. Goals are a good thing to have especially when learning the game and setting challenges for yourself or just to provide a goal for the session.

The numbers are the numbers, but they provide a reason to redo things I have done. Even though I don't make it my main reason to play and to be honest my crew base has slowed down and I am currently playing more other games of late. I still play, but now I also play other games.