I Find This Very Sad

"Would you like to test our game for free in its unfinished stat?" -Well heck yea!
"And then would you like to complain about how the game you're testing for free isn't finished?" -Of course! Until my lungs give out!"
"And complain about how you don't enjoy it?" - Every minute!

......Great! Guess what? You aren't obligated to buy it! If you tested it for free in alpha and are one of few people who can't just have fun with friends and make memories, you can just....not. buy. it. And if you pre-ordered, get a refund, or cancel if you haven't been charged yet.

I trust rare will provide me with endless entertainment, especially since a lot of the people I know from the alpha have put hundreds of hours in this game in the state its in now. And they have teased us about a lot more content. But no one is forcing you to play. Be grateful that you got a free preview of the game and a chance to decide whether or not you like it before buying it. More than a lot of game developers do now-a-days, where you have to purchase a game outright and find out AFTER that it was a waste of your time. coughEAcough

Simply put, having followed for a long while now.....

Rare hasn't given us anything that "sells" the game, nothing.

To date Sea of Thieves has proven to be an incredible tech demo for water effects, but, even as stunning as they are, it won't keep people playing the game. We have no data on other guilds, progression, reason for progression. Is there going to be a player economy, player housing, guild mechanics, and other modernized game mechanics?

That is what the veteran followers have been wanting to know for a long time. What will we be doing in SoT?

So far it has been "Awesome stuff, just pre-order!".

The most interesting thing I've read so far is "This game was designed for streamers to make more money" lol

@the-lion-turtle said in I Find This Very Sad:

@suave-beard said in I Find This Very Sad:

To date Sea of Thieves has proven to be an incredible tech demo for water effects, but, even as stunning as they are, it won't keep people playing the game. We have no data on other guilds, progression, reason for progression. Is there going to be a player economy, player housing, guild mechanics, and other modernized game mechanics?

There is no player economy, player housing, or guild mechanics.

This isn't an MMO.

"This isn't an MMO"....

Yes, yes it is. It is a massively multiplayer online video game, what kind of MMO can be debated. Although, since the entire premise seems to role play as a Pirate Legend, this would be an MMORPG. A Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.

"This chocolate isn't chocolate!"

I digress,

The point that was being made is that other than the previously mentioned water, we have nothing else to indicate what we are doing in the game. Sail in a circle playing digging simulator on simple fetch quests?

@xdilligafx1974 said in I Find This Very Sad:

@carcinogenetxc

After hearing / reading this sentiment more than a few times on here, I guess I'm going to be the one to speak out for the other side of this.

For the last several years, there has been a serious shift in what a "Beta" has become. A Beta used to be another form of testing used by a company to further their grasp on what is working and what still needs more work. Unfortunately, this has slowly shifted from that form to a much more polished Demo that's been used to showcase the best of the game in order to help sell / market the game just before it's release.

With Sea of Thieves, Rare is going with the more traditional "Beta" in this instance and not the more modern "Demo." Personally, I think it's a sound decision even though there's more than a few modern players who have a slightly different mindset.

On a related note, Rare has stated several times this is going to be a game as a service which means there will be a steady stream of content, even after release. Which might explain why certain features are not in the current build and why the Pioneer Program isn't being disbanded anytime soon... They're needed to test and give feedback on (currently) not-yet implemented features and systems that are being designed for future releases.

Hopefully, this can explain why this week what you're playing is not a fully developed game and is, in fact, an actual Beta.

No, I think that's what game developers tell us when their game's content and motives behind betas are questioned (IE: the NMS excuse rhetoric).

Unfortunately for Rare, much of their player base, and gamers in general aren't idiots. Manipulating a definition to suit your needs as a developer, so you aren't looked at as a false prophet bearing fallacies, doesn't change the legitimate definition of what a beta for an upcoming game is or should be.

This is a tech demo. We have been equipped with a wide variety of gear and clothing we did not have to purchase (one could assume this is to place new players ahead of the learning curve so they don't feel lost) while content has been tailored down and hidden behind a wall so we can't experience the game in full... or half...

The game as it stands, combined with the content from the alpha (NDA no longer applicable) doesn't appear to hold nearly enough content to satiate your casual player audience. So while the claim is to "stress test servers", you're not even going to need to bolster them for a massive wave of players, as I'm seeing a lot of the same sentiment the OP expressed here, expressed elsewhere. Hell, half the twitch streamers holding the major positions on the site said "This game has potential, but it's missing a lot..." With 60k+ people watching someone who is likely a major influence on their game purchases, that alone should tell Rare that they made a huge mistake in not showing a stronger hand. For many, this is their first glimpse of SoT, and it's not looking good.

@the-lion-turtle said in I Find This Very Sad:

@suave-beard said in I Find This Very Sad:

@the-lion-turtle said in I Find This Very Sad:

@suave-beard said in I Find This Very Sad:

To date Sea of Thieves has proven to be an incredible tech demo for water effects, but, even as stunning as they are, it won't keep people playing the game. We have no data on other guilds, progression, reason for progression. Is there going to be a player economy, player housing, guild mechanics, and other modernized game mechanics?

There is no player economy, player housing, or guild mechanics.

This isn't an MMO.

"This isn't an MMO"....

Yes, yes it is. It is a massively multiplayer online video game, what kind of MMO can be debated. Although, since the entire premise seems to role play as a Pirate Legend, this would be an MMORPG. A Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.

"This chocolate isn't chocolate!"

I digress,

The point that was being made is that other than the previously mentioned water, we have nothing else to indicate what we are doing in the game. Sail in a circle playing digging simulator on simple fetch quests?

I guess any other multiplayer game in existence is considered an MMO then. I can play with anywhere from 4 to 16 people on Halo games. Guess that's an MMO too. Oh and PUBG is 100 players. That's even more players than Sea of Thieves so I guess PUBG is definitely an MMO.

4 or 5 boats in a server is not an MMO.

Incorrect. Your (pretentious and sarcastic) assumption is that an MMO is any online multiplayer game. The first "M" in "MMO" is "MASSIVE" as in large... open world. Not arena based play. If Halo was a huge open world where you and your squad were supposed to venture to points of interest, and not just get cutscene'd to an arena with fancy scenery, then that would be different, but it's not. Casual multiplayer games where you're entering an arena or a small area/map to achieve a set purpose or goal in a linear fashion are not MMOs by definition.

@the-lion-turtle if you want to make the fanboys happy you can call it a Open-World Multiplayer Adventure Game, that's what I've learned hushes them up. Rare doesn't like the MMO tag, they've expressed this. However their game does follow some of the same rules as your standard MMO. So whether they like it or not, its the kind of audience they're going to gain regardless, and that audience has come to expect certain unalienable pieces of content that Sea of Thieves is clearly missing right now.

@the-lion-turtle They are clearly targeting the same audience though. Regardless, I have decided that we will see in 2-months what happens. I expect it to be a train wreck, but hope its not :).

@the-lion-turtle said in I Find This Very Sad:

@face-0-o Pretty sure that's not what Massively means in MMO.

A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG, or more commonly, MMO) is an online game which is capable of supporting large numbers of players, typically from hundreds to thousands, on the same server.

Massively multiplayer online game - Wikipedia

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27054/massively-multiplayer-online-game-mmog

You're forgetting that MMO is the shortened acronym of MMORPG. Of course most games have you assume a role of some sort, so that's a moot point. Nevertheless, halo is not a massively open game, so it was a poor example.

I would say this game is not a MMO but it shares the same exact feature as a game called "Absolver" you can run into players who can either help or hinder you, not sure what you'd define these games as since they are always online ..maybe a IMOG(Instance Multiplayer Online Game)

I find it fascinating that people actually find time to complain how someone elses creative works arent what they want it to be. Good for you? Did you pay for its developement? No. Did you come up with the creative ideas for the game? No. Design elements? No. Concept art? No.

If you dont like it, be glad you found that out now, yeah? I'm going to play the game and have the blast I've been having with my awesome crewmates and have endless hours of fun, as I've had right along since the alpha. I do realize not everyone is happy playing in the same kind of setting, and thats fine. But dont try to force change just because you have problems with it. Thousands of people have had absolute blasts playing this game without an issue and cant wait for more.

(A lot of people in these forums sound like whiny entitled brats. Seriously, are you guys 12? Get over yourselves. )