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

Maximum A

That being said, I'd still love a 'stats' page where I could bask over my history of dastardly deeds

@bugaboo-bill
Like galactic geek said it's a loaded gun. To be honest I would probably lean more towards the B side of things. Just my nature of having something to accomplish. I like having tasks and checklists due to my work profession. I guess without the grind that is in place I would've been one of those nasty PVP slaughters all in sight and leave nothing floating on the seas kinda player because I would make that a purpose for myself to play the game. I do like the gratification of my deeds done upon the seas or in any game. With that being said this game is a wonderful one with many things to do and I've spent many a time just sailing a round goofing off.

Well, I need a mix of both. Sometimes I don't care about the progression and I chase other ships, or something else, but sometimes, I want to do something specific.

Basically, SoT as it is, is great!

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

@bugaboo-bill
Calling SOT a no purpose game is a bit too far for me...But i answer your question first :Without a Doubt, answer A.

Now, i don't care about Gold in any form , i love the fishing, sailing, shipbattles and even the swashbuckling that i always lose...But the thing that makes me enslaved to this game is the unpredictability at the start of the evening...
One can make plans , Sea routes but 5 minutes later another crew, storm , Megaladonodon or Fortress Popup alters everything...
The possiblities in improvising on all kind of occasions is never the same...Not one session is a copy of any previous evening , not even the Tall Tales ,who unfolds in a realtime world where anything could happen...

But my number one reason is just to have fun, and bringing fun over to others , that fails sometimes because of many reasons but if it works the immense wave of happymaking adrenaline pounds through every vein...

They may take my money, my titles , my cosmetics away but they can never take my fun away .

What happened? I didn't see any inner monologue. Lol

@bugaboo-bill

Sea of Thieves is definitely meant to be enjoyed for the experience. Any game is really. But Sea of Thieves emphasizes players of any experience level jumping in and being able to have the same adventures as everyone else.

Progression in the game is limited to cosmetics to remind us that this game is more about the fun of it than anything, but I think some form of progression (like what we have now) is still necessary.

I feel like it's like the difference between playing poker for fun and actually gambling with at least some chips to play with.

The progression makes things more interesting and It heightens the emotions you feel while playing. That's why it is an important piece of the puzzle to have things to earn, and have things that are difficult to earn.

It makes it so that you feel more protective over that hoard of skulls and chests that you have, and amplifies the impact it has on the player when you lose the chests. Because now you won't be able to get that jacket you wanted! Oh no! But at the same time, you're not at a disadvantage based on progression, so you still feel motivated to keep playing and keep trying.

The game is fun as is, but I think it does need that progression to add a value and reason to trying to steal and protect your loot, so that emotions and interest are amplified.

I'd still play it, because it is a fun experience no matter what. But with nothing to earn, I'd likely get bored and only play it here and there.

Anything extreme is bad.

More or less the same thing you said in the other post.

But dont think the game will work in any of the black an white scenario you set up.
If things have no value other than a little text story, other than you can take a picture/screenshot.
I have a screenshot of almost every person I played with or doing something memorable, so that is there for players to do already.

I dont give a **** for any treasure, but I still dont want any others to have it, unless I give it away off cause, I personally hate when people put all treasure in one pile, Treasure should be spread out, as a showpiece.
I Put all my treasure in front of the ship for all to see.

If you are only rewarded with animation/text, how will you "pay" for cosmetic, or even get any.
Will all just run/sail around in plain ship, an the starter outfit, since it dont bring anything to the game.

Personally I like how different players play the game, an in the beginning some is on the grind for a new outfit or something for the ship.

Again, I get your logic, an I will be able to have fun just with the interaction I get. that's why I even play the game.
But many interaction an comments I give, is a compliment on there outfit or ship, witch they have worked on for X amount of time, an is in general a good icebreaker.

I wouldn't have played it for long. Progression gives many people something to strive for and prestige is a big motivating factor for many gamers.

@eva1977 said in Poll: would you (have) play(ed) SoT without any form of progression?:

Anything extreme is bad.

That's an extreme take. :D

I would have played it, for certain. The progression has not been a large factor for myself. I always tend to just enjoy the moment, the immersion, the experiences, and the adventure itself.
That being said, I'm not sure that would have been a GOOD idea. However, I would have played it and hope I would still be playing it today, just the same as I did with the game with the level of progression it does have. I can't say for certain that I would have played it as much, or as often, if I didn't occasionally have achievements as my motivation for doing things in the game.

I do think that acquiring certain rewards/cosmetics from certain events, time periods, and accomplishments adds a good element to the game - beyond providing the hook of progression for the achiever. It provides the potential for visual history upon looking at various pirate characters.

It would be an interesting game, though, if treasure was just to be horded on your vessel. All to vanish each time you log out. Probably not a great design though.
I think they made the right choices in their design! :)

Still, a fun 'What If' question to ponder!

At this point it's hard to decide to be honest.
Every time a new cosmetic comes out that's buyable I can buy it and I'll have everything unlocked anyway so if they had no progression and you'd have everything unlocked from the start that'd be the same.

Can I choose C? I don't know?
On one hand I love the game for its core gameplay, but I do tall tales/ Arena/ voyages etc to also check of my list to get everything done. That doesnt mean I'm grinding just to get these commendations and items. I just weave them into my natural play as a sort of challenge set by Rare.

I honestly don't know if I would. Getting to PL wasn't really a priority for me at the start, it seemed so far off but I was always interested in getting gold and unlocking cosmetics - and that's a form of progression.

Since getting PL, I care less about the gold but getting cosmetics, especially limited-time ones, is still a driving motivation.

For the most part though, what got me to continue playing was always jumping on with friends and exploring the world, having adventures and chatting. But those adventures were centred around voyages, goals, so you were always progressing towards something.

A game without any progress whatsoever is not really a game, is it? Even so-called "walking sims" like Gone Home or Tacoma have some form of progress as you unlock a story and piece together a narrative.

Sea of Thieves without any progress? It would still have some fun mechanics and be a beautiful screenshot maker... but I think it would get boring after awhile. I'd probably boot it up every now and then though to relax and chill.

Hello there! Game needs some progression, if you ask me. For many players (and some of my friends too) it's really pointless to play it. Yeah this game is about gameplay at all, but also it have some journery spirit and other cool stuff. But all of us love this feel of reward for spending time (this thing MMOrpg based on), so.. Yeah it require some balancing, but it worth it. How many times you will rejoice of finding chest? Still after tons of them? But if we could add may be some different weapons, like which will have a bit different damage, differend reload speed or something.. It could give a bit more sense to find treasures, where you could find not only locked chest (yeah I know it's locked in lore of the game, but developers are gods, they can change anything they want, including this thing too). May be even some clothes with stats/bonuses? What about camisole giving you a 15% bonus speed of reloading cannons? It's a small number, not really disbalanced, but still a bit of advantage, so it makes sense then! May be Captain Tricorn, which gives 10% speedboost for all your crew by increasing their morale? And a lot of items we could create, with more usual/unusual perks, more/less advantage. It could have some rarity too. Where for example common Captain Tricorn could give only 5% speddboost, Legendary one is about 15% for example and etc, I think you guys understand me. So it could add more reasons to play this game, it will attract new players, cuz this game is really-really nice, but looks like not finished a bit, here is a lot of players don't playing it cuz it have no progression. Yes I understand you can tell me "This game is not about it, we can't change game everytime anyone want it" but.. Most of games, almost of all genres DO HAVE progression (sandboxes, shooters, even platformers do). Also, as I know our developers listen the community (and it's nice! It's rare thing nowadays), so if community will ask, it seems like they could add it. I think some progression could take a new breath for the game (Yes I know the game still young, one-year-old, but on start it was more like early-access, not a full game, for now it's great). Here could be some progression for ships too, like different types of cannons for example, one could have less damage but faster rotation, another one firing with flaming cannonballs (why we still don't have any fire system? We do have a bucket of water, so we could have firefighting mechaninc), different reloading speed and etc. Different types of ship hull, more armored but more weight (so then less mobility), or even some armorplates? Which needs to be destoyed before you can hit shiphull in that place plate located are. In real life it could work by that way too, more equipped ship with better cannons have better chance to win shipfight. Developers, could you guys please add at least a really simple (you can improve it later, but just for start) system, like with no really unique stats, but at least something, like reloadspeed, damage % and etc. Just imagine how cool it could be when you finding treasure with not locked chest, but with rare hand hook, which will increase your climbing speed by 25%, then you feel some progression, but not so disbalanced as in MMO with some stats and etc, more like perks or simple persents, but still cool I think. Also about character, why it does not have any progression too? You beware of disbalance, you want this game is fair for everyone, but.. Having more ammo for example, is really disbalanced? Or bigger inventory? Is that a real what will rule the fight? Also, fight 2 vs 4 still disbalanced just by math, so then game DO HAVE disbalance, and it's FINE, cuz that way how thing working in real life too. So.. Before anniversary update game didn't have any storyline, it was more like sandbox. For now it have. May be we could have progression thing in future, as it was with storyline. This game have a really big potential, but some progression needed to stay on it longer so as not to bother.

I will play this game by any way, but I wish I could see it's becoming better. And I can't promise I will stay here for long. Just because no progression.

P.S. Sorry guys for my bad English, it's not my native language so

If someone needs to ask this question... they have not understood the whole game.

(A)