Life beyond Athena

@galactic-geek
Is it really splitting the community?
We're all still playing SoT and there's only six vessels or 24 players on any server anyway so it's not altering that split at all.

edit:
We'll still have a limit of six ships at any one time so nobody will notice any difference to their game. Unless of course they are playing one of the new maps.

It's the best of both worlds.... or all three worlds. lol :o)

@galactic-geek
As long as there are more than 24 non-legends what would it matter?
Besides, if the game got so low in numbers then it's dead in the water anyway. Which seems to be the consensus by many already.

They need to do something drastically different as soon as possible or the game will only consist of the few new comers.
They can't keep expanding the same map and expect it not to create performance issues.
The world seemed empty before the DR expansion to the map. Any further expansions will totally kill immersion.

Creating extra maps / levels is the only solution I can think of to please everyone, keeping the game both fresh and alive.

@soulseeker said in Life beyond Athena:

I really like how you are thinking here. And I have been saying this for weeks now.

Your idea I think is where the game needs to end up but I think that will take a ton of time. For now I think they need to work on giving us the following:

PL accommodations
PL missions
PL skull forts
PL riddles that go from island to Island
More cosmetics
Just to start

Mapping doesn't take very long at all, especially these low detailed islands. It's not like they are creating a typical game map like GTA 5 with tons of wall to wall detail.
Each island is just a small piece of terrain with a few barrels, trees & rock models placed here and there.

Yes the game does need those things listed too but this could be a way to introduce more, worlds more, without impacting existing performance. One thing Rare were proud of.

@ant-heuser-kush
No mate, I said PL can launch the second level and PL10+ could launch the second or third level.
As long as you have at least one person of either rank you can experience a new world map.

@galactic-geek said in Life beyond Athena:

They're not expanding the map (in terms of size, that is); only adding to it. The map's already as big as it can get (or at least close to it). Besides, those few areas that are locked off? I can't wait to see what's beyond the shroud, and I'm sure others feel the same way.

Want to know what's beyond the shroud? Added performance issues.
People are already noticing a drop in frame rates and instability issues with the DR expansion.

@x-Crowheart-x
Nice, that could very well bean alternative method but server merging would be a much bigger issue if we were to sail there. And that's where each world would feel empty.

@x-crowheart-x
Sorry mate but this line said different.

It does not necessarily have to be different servers separating PLs from everyone else completely.

It would require different servers but they wouldn't be exclusive to PLs just like Athena's voyages or cosmetics aren't exclusive to PLs.

@ant-heuser-kush
I understand, but it's no more of a wall than six vessels per server anyway.

@ant-heuser-kush
Non-legends aren't locked out entirely, mate.
If you have a PL in your crew that PL can get the whole crew into the next level just like that PL can invite his / her crew down to the PL lair.

If you have a PL10+ in your crew that PL10+ can get the whole crew into the third level.

@ant-heuser-kush
No need to apologize, that was my op intent.
I did think of sailing through the red sea to get there but I'm not sure how it would effect server population.

@soulseeker

Adding more ships to the server limit will decrease performance when you think about someone activating the ship cloud and Rare's plan to have random spawning skeleton ships in the world.

@x-crowheart-x

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of sailing there too.
Although I still like the idea of the world being round. lol
These ideas couldn't co-exist if we sail to the new worlds.

@personalc0ffee said

Because of performance reasons. Haven't you ever noticed when you get a group of people together, their animations start to lag? Pay attention next time you have more than like 5 people around one another.

While this ^^^ is true

The engine can not take that many people right now, it struggles.

This is a very intensive game.

This ^^^ is not.

The unreal 4 engine is pretty remarkable. Many games use it with ease.
Take a YouTube look at "Squad" with up to 100 players per game / server.

Squad is a first person shooter that was created in 2015. By a team of 15.
It is a wall to wall detailed terrain filled with buildings, vehicles, smoke and dust.... and 100 players.

List of Unreal engine games

Getting back on topic.
I've given more thought to the idea of sailing from one map to the next and I can see several big issues there.

• First, loading times. Like we haven't wasted many hours looking at the load screens already, right?
  Why be forced to load into the default map when you have full intentions to do either of the newer maps?
  This will cause extra loading times, extra server matchmaking in the same respect as server migration, etc.
  You don't want to spawn right in front (or on top) of anther vessel.
  Basically working the servers two fold and losing any immersion in the process.
  In the same token you don't want a ship dropping in on your vessel either.

My regular crew mate once spawned into a game where his ship landed on top of another ship at the outpost. It may have been the other way around, I'm unsure now.
They had both spawned into a new game at the same time. @Jacknife-Wilson shot the other ship with his cannon to break free of it but that set the tone of the entire game session with the other crew seeking revenge.
It's an uncommon glitch (or better phrased, a Rare glitch) but merging from one world map to another could open the flood gates to similar issues which may include ships spawning on top of an island due to the conflicting map grid of both worlds.

• It would also mess with the ship's chart table / map, especially if crews zigzag back and forth between worlds. So let's keep it simple.

Due to the reasons given, the choice of world map / level would have to be made via the menu as first suggested.

@ant-heuser-kush G'day Ant.
That idea is all well except for the fact that...
(a) Adding any more to the current map is putting more stress on system resources. People are noticing a substantial reduction in frame rate since the DR inclusion to the default map. Nobody wants to play a choppy, laggy game.

(b) By having an exclusive area of the same map you are taking away some of those six ships making the world even more baron.
Immersion is almost dead now with the lack of ships on the horizon, don't empty the world even more.

Rare's only option to keep the seas alive is to add new maps. They've reached their limit with the default map.
It will still be six ships per server so it doesn't change or split the player base. Therefore you won't notice a reduction of players / ships in either of the servers you choose to play.
It will bring many back to the game and help keep those of us that are bored shhh hitless from quitting.
The crew I've sailed with for most of my journey have all reached pirate legend status and are playing other games.
Since becoming a PL my regular crew mate has already dipped his toe into games such as State of Decay 2, S C U M, currently Horizon 4 and is looking forward to Fallout 76.
I too have bought S C U M early access to play with him and I spent most of yesterday playing Horizon.

Other game have several maps to play, even old games and they're still thriving.

@ant-heuser-kush
Although it could be just as pleasing for all players to have something new to discover, my main line of thought was as the title says, Life beyond Athena.

People are leaving the game out of sheer boredom and the empty promise of something special upon reaching pirate legend status.
Doing Athena voyages (a.k.a. the same quests we've done a thousand times) aren't special.
The game needs something to make obtaining PL status feel worthwhile.
The game needs a lot more diversity across the board.
The game will only struggle to survive as a playable platform by attempting to add more into the existing map world.
The game will struggle to survive outright if something drastic like this is not implemented.
This does not only provide incentive for PL of all Athena ranks to play-on, it also acts as the dangling carrot to non-PLs.

You know what I thought the first time I did an Athena's voyage? I didn't want to ever reach PL status. I know that I'm not alone in thinking that.
I appreciated the offer to try it out but I just couldn't get excited about doing the same ol' c**p for another 837 quests / 93 voyages.

The new worlds will be the same as letting non-PLs into the not so "secret" liar or allowing non-PLs to do Athena voyages or allowing non-PLs to purchase Athena cosmetics. Where you only see this idea as a wall I see it as the gateway.
Each new world gives Rare the opportunity to add much needed diversity to the world map, the quests and the ai threats.

By focusing solely on adding stuff for everyone has only hampered the BS hype about "becoming PL is only the beginning".
People are seeing it. Look around, many PLs are not happy with being lied to and many others have already left the game.

By not doing this idea of progressive stages / levels will only continue to see more people leave out of sheer boredom or turn to PvP (before they finally leave) which will ultimately turn away more inexperienced new comers to the game.
This idea also opens the game to add even more levels and / or biomes in future.

I'm not saying that content wasn't desperately needed across the board but everything has been too slow in coming. Seven months since launch and there's still nothing new for legends to do.
How long did they expect us to reach 50/50/50?

Talk about an anti-climax.

@ant-heuser-kush
With all due respect, I think you might be over-thinking it, mate.

From reading these forums PLs are becoming a nuisance to anyone trying to do quests.
Many have written of how PLs have done this or that and several PLs themselves have admitted to only PvPing to kill boredom.
Whilst PvP is a required ingredient to make the PvE experience all the more thrilling, or at least entertaining, it also tends to push new comers away from ever returning to the game.
You speak of "people will never get to experience it, at least not as it should be" well I'm afraid that if they don't play the game long enough then so be it. Experience and experiences come with sticking it out for longer.
People, much like yourself, have been playing SoT since launch but still aren't PL status simply because of either of two reasons.
(a) they don't have enough free time devoted to gaming
OR
(b) they have divided their game time to many titles available on game pass.
Either way, it's not exactly making a commitment. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
You only get out of it what you've put into it.

You can't enter the PL lair without at least having a PL in your crew or do an Athena's voyage without the same requirement.
Only your own experience or feeding off of someone else's experience will get you there.
You can't buy Athena's cosmetics without your own experiences in doing Athena's voyages.
Why is this suggestion looked upon any different?

What other game do you know of that you can just move on to the next stage without completing the first stage?
You might as well say "I've just started this game and it's not fair that I can't be Pirate Legend on day one". Seriously, this is where people sound selfish.

If anything (if new worlds were implemented), you should be grateful for added content, the new worlds to explore and above all, the game's survival.

Rare have hit a brick wall with adding anything extra to this game which doesn't impact performance. They've sold it with minimum specs and have to stay within those system requirements.
They are quite proud of the fact that SoT is almost playable on a potato PC but at the same token they've painted themselves into a corner.

Without drastic changes you will be bored soon enough, too. Any long term pirate who still plays beyond Athena's will be the type who want to feel superior over the 90+% player base of noobs.

At least this is a suggestion of how to keep the game afloat well into the future.

@ant-heuser-kush said

Okay, what happens when the second map gets too full and the servers can no longer handle any more updates?

If and when a map gets too full you stop adding to it. Well actually you stop before it gets too full. If the current map is causing performance issues then they have obviously put too much in it for their methods of map creating. This is the case at the moment with the inclusion of DR.
I don't know what you mean by the servers not handling any more updates. Servers are just a heap of hard drives. Why wouldn't they handle updates?

Are you willing to sacrifice Skull Forts, the Kraken, the Megalodon, AI ships, and any other new feature that they might add?

New maps would mean new AI threats. The kraken and megalodon are not new threats. They would most likely be replaced with threats of the new biome.

You're essentially saying that if you want to sail to the Devil's Roar, you have to back out with your crew, complete the voyage, and then go back to the menu to launch the new area. Everything should be seamless, that's what I'm getting at.

I'm essentially saying that if you want to continue playing this game with any new content then this is a suggestion on how that might be achievable. Why are you so against it?
I've already explained why I don't think that sailing to the new map will work.
It stands to reason if you want to play a different map then select that map. Just like if you want to play a different game then you do so.

Sure, people need a PL in their crew to get access to the hideout or go on legendary voyages, but they also have the chance that a PL will spawn on their ship in the old area. You're trying to remove all PLs from the old area and that is a problem.

No, I'm not saying that at all. Menu options are exactly that, OPTIONS!
You don't deserve any more of my time while you are behaving like a seven year old jerk by twisting everything around. Or are you really that silly?

If you don't like the suggested idea then fair enough, move on, think of how you could save the game from being stale. Or is your answer to go play something else?

@nofears-fun
Thank you for a reasonable question that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out.
Although finer details would depend on the devs, I'd imagine it would remain the same as current Athena's where a PL can propose the voyage then leave.

Good point about some players being A10 before becoming PL. Again that would fall into the final decision making of the devs.