I think we need a mainland to explore

Maybe just replace the map border with a huge island?

It would look very stupid but at least it would stop Red Seaing

And you have a big Island

But finding chests and skeletons would be a pain lol

Maybe there can be a way for us to sail out of the red sea, to load into this new area.

and you would never ever see another crew or player again since all the crews are spread across not only the giant Sea of Thieves which had its map area almost doubled with the Pirates Life update, but in addition would need to get doubled again for the idea of a giant land mass.

As you can see in several cases, the Sea Of Thieves are located in a very specific part of the real world. And of course a lot of things would need to happen before an actual big land mass could be introduced.

Old gen hardware already have 5 minute loading times in areas of high loot density. Shores Of Gold alone give people massive FPS drops on lowest settings. Can't imagine how this could ever be seemlessly introduced. Big Island but without much details maybe. But Rare does not want the servers to appear even emptier than it is right now. The original design was for players to see other player ships every 15-20 minutes or so. The bigger the map, the less likely to find someone.

Also keep in mind that Rare develops content to be actually played. I can't see how this is something that people would go to after doing it once.

Maybe as part of the PL hideout thing they promised for the Captaincy stuff back in 2018. That people can get their own customizeable hideout or even island like in the maiden voyage, but multiplayer; Crew only. So only your crew, no loot and just for hanging out in a kind of pre-lobby state. Designing your ship, decorating, maybe playing cards or anything in a hideout, preparing in a hideout before travelling into the Sea of Thieves through either the waterfall (portal) in the PL hideout or sailing through the red sea like in the maiden voyage with some kind of cutscene ending up like portal hopping. Why not?

But a giant land mass being introduced in a way remotely like you suggested is extremely unlikely if not even technically impossible due to the limitations of servers and client hardware.

It would be easier to create snow / desert themes for an existing biome and maybe a limited amount of time like during the new adventures. But then again, except snow we do have sandy islands in the Shores of Plenty as well as deserted islands in the Devils Roar biome. Not like the classical desert but deserts usually are defined by being dry due to a lack of water. See where I'm going?

As long it isn’t a safe haven. Sure.

On land activities are dull in my opinion. On land is just lackluster in my eyes, movement, fighting, shooting, anything you do on land is just too basic. I'd very much prefer the game stays where it shines, and that is on a boat. Boat operating is just more fluid and dynamic compared to its dry counterpart.

@nabberwar said in I think we need a mainland to explore:

On land activities are dull in my opinion. On land is just lackluster in my eyes, movement, fighting, shooting, anything you do on land is just too basic. I'd very much prefer the game stays where it shines, and that is on a boat. Boat operating is just more fluid and dynamic compared to its dry counterpart.

Half of the game content is on land, and its fun. If you have an issue with this part of the gameplay I recommend you make a suggestion to improve it rather than shutting down a cool unrelated idea.

@alienmagi

Half of the game content is on land, and its fun

An opinion that I don't share. On land is rather formulaic. I recognize its need, but doesn't mean I want more of it. Digging and reading a map is basic. Island combat is repetitive. Getting the goods is the chore to drive the true fun, that is sailing and fighting on a ship.

I recommend you make a suggestion to improve it rather than shutting down a cool unrelated idea.

No I don't think I will. Welcome to the internet, I don't have to do squat. I have no desire to aid in the formulation of an idea that leads the game into a direction I won't enjoy. This is feedback in a nutshell, I don't have to help ideas I deem bad.

@nabberwar said in I think we need a mainland to explore:

@alienmagi

Half of the game content is on land, and its fun

An opinion that I don't share. On land is rather formulaic. I recognize its need, but doesn't mean I want more of it. Digging and reading a map is basic. Island combat is repetitive. Getting the goods is the chore to drive the true fun, that is sailing and fighting on a ship.

I recommend you make a suggestion to improve it rather than shutting down a cool unrelated idea.

No I don't think I will. Welcome to the internet, I don't have to do squat. I have no desire to aid in the formulation of an idea that leads the game into a direction I won't enjoy. This is feedback in a nutshell, I don't have to help ideas I deem bad.

Nobody said you should do anything. This is why I used the word "recommend".
It was merely a suggestion, since just said that you dont enjoy a massive part of the game.

By all means, feel free to keep saying that island content shouldnt be expanded if you want to.

@axecaliburtv We just have huge areas of open sea where the red sea once was, having a mianland or large island like the shores of gold there could be great. Last gen aside, PC and current gen can handle it. If we are going to consider last gen moving forward Sea of Thieves will always be very limited.

@tek-lt said in I think we need a mainland to explore:

@axecaliburtv We just have huge areas of open sea where the red sea once was, having a mianland or large island like the shores of gold there could be great. Last gen aside, PC and current gen can handle it. If we are going to consider last gen moving forward Sea of Thieves will always be very limited.

You have to consider last gen support as Sea of Thieves said not long ago they had no plans on dropping support for the older consoles. Also pc is the lowest capable device not console

@tek-lt said in I think we need a mainland to explore:

@axecaliburtv We just have huge areas of open sea where the red sea once was, having a mianland or large island like the shores of gold there could be great. Last gen aside, PC and current gen can handle it. If we are going to consider last gen moving forward Sea of Thieves will always be very limited.

And this assumption is where your whole suggestion will fail I'm afraid. Rare has not even remotely hinted at even considering for one second to discontinue last gen hardware. Maybe also because of contracts with Microsoft who built the old xboxes and run the servers. At least thats my state of information.

And yes, those hardware limits the servers as well as the remaining clients in the game. If we have a player using an old xbox play with us and helm, the ship and the whole crew bugs and teleports around and other strange things happen :D Thats how it is. And this might also partially a reason why some things had to be put in seperate servers using portals.

Every island has to be stored and loaded somewhere on hard drive and memory. Everything thats not just pure water. Above and below sea level. That already takes huge loading times of several minutes for those devices when loading in and reloading from the Ferry.

so TL;DR: yes, we are going to consider last gen, and yes, SoT will therefor be limited to a certain degree.

@timedsatyr79799 said in I think we need a mainland to explore:

Lore wise, it makes perfect sense. The frozen fangs idea, can be added, but then players may not find it exciting if there are frozen ice stuff that hits your ship like in the dr. Dr is never used. It is just a waste.
I see that with the season 3 update, the map has uncovered the shroud and expanded it for the coral fortress. It is the same for the down and left part of the map. Maybe, we may get a new region.
I think dr needs a update.

Thats simply not true. DR is being used, just not as frequently as the other regions. But it is being used by several experienced players who are making use of the high risk high reward mechanics, be it Ashen Vaults or Athena runs. Or for doing DR commendations as well.