Still don't like the Kraken

  • Saying that I don't like the kraken is an understatement... But that's hardly feedback, so here's why:

    It stops gameplay
    If you look at the page that explains what SoT is, most of that is about meeting with and fighting against other crews. Player interaction seems to be the most important. Being attacked by the kraken pretty much stops interaction with other crews. Yes, maybe you can communicate with others, but you cannot chase them in your ship and if they were chasing you, you are now a sitting duck, abrubtly ending the chase. There is also no real hand-to-hand combat unless the other crew decides to take you on below-deck...
    There is also nothing tactical you can do with a kraken, since it just shows up. With megs and skelly ships, you can try to maneouvre your ship in such a way that they might attack your opponent. Please tell me if I'm wrong and these tactics are available with the kraken.

    Another great thing about SoT is sailing. They have done a great job at making sailing in and of itself extremely enjoyable and satisfying. When the kraken shows up, all that sailing is gone. The ink almost stops your movement and with the kraken turning you around, it's really hard to escape the ink.
    You do get a bit of cannon fighting, but the kraken makes more holes than one pirate can fix and bail (at least that is my experience on a galleon).

    It's unavoidable
    The sea turns black and you're done for. No way to avoid it. It also doesn't stick to certain areas, like open oceans. It might attack you right as you sail away after joining a game. Perhaps it won't spawn in the most shallow parts of the seas, but they are not very plentiful.
    With skelly ships, you could try to outmanouvre or sail away. They're not even always aggressive. With megs you can head for an island. But the most important thing is that you feel like you can get away from megs and ships. by sailing.

    Suggestions
    I know that complaining is easy, so here are also some suggestions.
    Make encounters less frequent.
    Yes, this has been said a lot, but I think it still stands. You should not encounter a kraken right after you join the game. That is not a good start and gives little hope for the rest of the play session. An average chance of maybe once every four hours or so would feel better to me.
    Make encounters restricted to certain areas
    Krakens are big. Real giant squid live in the deep sea. It would make sense for krakens to only live and spawn in the deepest parts of the seas. You could (and probably should) have an encounter rate higher than my suggested once-per-four-hours though.
    deep seas?
    A little added suggestion to this is that it would be nice to have depth lines on the map. You see it on pretty much every real water navigation chart, as it is quite essential. It would make the map feel more like a map rather than a projected birds-eye view of the sea, and it would give an opportunity to show players where the deepest parts of the sea are, and where you may thus find the kraken.


    I'm not against the kraken per se. I can see that enough people like to fight it. And I can absolutely imagine that if you have a decent crew, are well stocked up and ready, that it can be a rewarding fight. I just personally absolutely hate the encounter. When I'm in a good mood and have had a good time sailing already, I can die, shrug it off, respawn somewhere else and continue playing. When I've just started the game, I'm in Sea of Thieves to relax after a day's work and one spawns right after I sail away from the outpost, I quit the game.

    So in conclusion I don't want the kraken to leave the game for good, I just want to be able to avoid it, even if that means sailing thrice the distance.

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  • You can escape from him. Don't know exactly how, but it's possible to escape.

  • Kraken against a sloop is doable if you have the supplies. But I do agree that the map needs depth marks and that the Kraken should only spawn in deep water.

    It's spawning more often right now for the Shrouded Spoils expansion so hunt it for commendations. It will be harder to complete it in the new year.

  • My issue with the Kraken is that when you're in a galleon, you're stuck before you can get the ship turned and out of the black water. It wasn't always this way. A friend and I were on a random crew back not long after the game came out and I was on the wheel. The Kraken appeared and the captain was sucked off. I turned the wheel and we caught the wind just right. I was then sucked off the ship and as I struggled to escape the tentacle's mouth, I could see the ship turn and leave the area.

    Now as soon as the black ink appears, the ship "stalls" or gets "stuck". It doesn't seem to matter which way I turn that galleon. Also, my crew and I are usually pulled off the ship within the first two minutes and aren't able to fight back.

    With the mechanics of this game the way they currently are, I find it difficult to believe so many people who say that they've taken the Kraken down alone in a sloop. Unless the Kraken's mechanics are programmed differently for small ships and crews because in every encounter with the Kraken my crew and I have had since it was re-introduced, we are incapacitated before we can retaliate and our ship is lost.

  • @kiethblacklion I heard you're not sucked off the ship when below-decks, but I did get sucked through the ship's hull from the middle deck.

    And I have heard people say you can escape, but even if you do catch the wind full in all sails, the kraken will turn the ship around slightly and you lose it again.
    I'm not sure about sloops, it might indeed differ. That said, bailing and to some extent repairing on smaller vessels is also easier, so I'm not sure it would be entirely fair.

  • @m1sterpunch said in Still don't like the Kraken:

    Kraken against a sloop is doable if you have the supplies. But I do agree that the map needs depth marks and that the Kraken should only spawn in deep water.

    It's spawning more often right now for the Shrouded Spoils expansion so hunt it for commendations. It will be harder to complete it in the new year.

    Supplies? I've defeated the Kraken 4 times today with nothing but the sloops base supplies! Accuracy and damage management is everything.(Don't be too quick to patch ALL holes, especially those around the stern castle.)

  • @ottersteeth Yes, in the patch notes they said they have fixed this but I have still seen it happen twice on a brig. Have not had it happen to me yet on the sloop or gally since the update so it definitely seems to happen less.

    Onto your original post, I quite like the new Kraken but there are still some issues. #1, it doesn't seem like a single entity because of the lack of presence of a body. This is also apparent when each tentacle drops loot. Most of the time I don't have an opportunity to get off the ship to grab the tentacle loot because I have to kill the other tentacles. I much rather have all the loot spawn after it "dies." #2, I remember before launch the devs saying it "hunts" you. Even with the new update that seems to make it more frequent, I'm pretty sure it's blind lol. #3 The new slap move was a good addition, it still needs more. Slap, wrap, and suck are good but other than that it just looks at you. Something that would be really cool (although maybe not feasible) would be for it to lift the ship into the air or something.

  • @crazed-corsair

    The main problem I have with getting a kraken attack while solo is getting sucked up while your boat is gripped. Those extra holes can mean the end if (I think this is part of the mechanics) the Kraken pulls your boat down like a ballast ball.

  • @xcalypt0x

    #3 The new slap move was a good addition, it still needs more. Slap, wrap, and suck are good but other than that it just looks at you.

    I was just thinking, I think it would be nice if you keep some foreward momentum and it doesn't feel like your ship completely stalls, but that the tentacles at the outside (which now look very strange) function like moving obstacles. So the kraken would try to block your escape path as an extra 'attack'. Just enough that you feel like you have a chance to escape, but you can't simply sail out of its range.

  • @OttersTeeth I really like your OP and motivation :)
    When i saw your post, i had a "here we go again, default complain..". But no!

    I think Karen absolutly have to be into the game. In every pirate story, Karen is mentioned.
    But you are right, it should be avoidable. It would be nice to have some depth numbers so you have to "plot" your route to have the minimum risc. But you can choose to go for the fastest route and have a risk of encounter Karen (and maybe other sea monsters in the future).

    Really like the idea!

    [offtopic] Really like your name! I play waterpolo and our team is called after the mighty Otter ;) [/offtopic]

  • I have to say, of the emergent threats, the kraken is the one I want to see more of. I've only faced it a few times since Shrouded Spoils dropped and I'm keen to practice defeating it solo.

    OP makes fair points, though with the encounter typically being pretty short, I don't think it has too big an impact on gameplay. It's simply another threat on the seas that you may or may not come across.

    Of course, some folks want to see more of it, some less. So creating the possibility to see it more or less depending on your motivation might not be a bad thing. I still think it should have a chance to spawn anywhere at any time (you can get loot from it now, so even if it spawns as soon as you leave your first outpost, there's something to be gained from it) because I love that it's a random threat that can just hit you at any moment.

    Though perhaps there could be a way to increase your chances of seeing it if you so choose. It's been suggested before that perhaps certain flags could increase the chance of certain encounters - perhaps the putting up the kraken flag increases your chances by a certain percent, with other flags for the other encounters having the same effect. whilst the overall chance of getting hit by any of them is decreased when not flying their flag.

    One thing I will say though, I am against being able to avoid it entirely. It's part of the game that should be just as possible to happen to you as being attacked by another crew at any time.

  • I agree that it's a pain in the *ss for small boats / crews. It's like an instant game over. No way to be clever and use strategy to get out of it.

  • It is possible to sail away from it, you just need good wind in your favour. It's tough now it slaps you about making you change course, so you need to keep angling you sails and pointing your ship towards the edge of the black.

  • @princes-lettuce said in Still don't like the Kraken:

    I agree that it's a pain in the *ss for small boats / crews. It's like an instant game over. No way to be clever and use strategy to get out of it.

    This is blatantly false.

  • @princes-lettuce as @Crazed-Corsair beautifully said, that is not true.

    In fact, i find it easier to counter on a sloop than on a brig and a galleon.
    Because on the sloop you can ignore all holes "upstairs", in a brig you can't ignore any hole.

  • @ottersteeth said in Still don't like the Kraken:

    @xcalypt0x

    #3 The new slap move was a good addition, it still needs more. Slap, wrap, and suck are good but other than that it just looks at you.

    I was just thinking, I think it would be nice if you keep some foreward momentum and it doesn't feel like your ship completely stalls, but that the tentacles at the outside (which now look very strange) function like moving obstacles. So the kraken would try to block your escape path as an extra 'attack'. Just enough that you feel like you have a chance to escape, but you can't simply sail out of its range.

    I really like that suggestion. It would be especially good if hitting the tentacles with your ship damage your ship like running into a rock does.

  • @ktingaling @Crazed-Corsair Just my experience then, but I mostly sail a brigantine with a 2-person crew so maybe that's why it's different. I feel like one person isn't enough to repair the damage, and if you're both constantly repairing: nobody is attacking and there's no point in 'fighting' the kraken since you're not even fighting it. What we do is cower below deck and hope we can sail out of it's reach.

  • @princes-lettuce Yes, imo the brig is the most difficult one to fight / survive a kraken indeed! I have the feeling Karen is holding it back a bit on sloops and compensate her fury on the brigs ;)

  • @ktingaling said in Still don't like the Kraken:

    @princes-lettuce Yes, imo the brig is the most difficult one to fight / survive a kraken indeed! I have the feeling Karen is holding it back a bit on sloops and compensate her fury on the brigs ;)

    The Brigantine is actually one of the most difficult ships to master period, on account of it being the easiest ship to sink in the game. Which is the price you pay for its excellent combination of speed, maneuverability and firepower.

  • @Crazed-Corsair yes, now i think if it.. i agree :)

  • @crazed-corsair said in Still don't like the Kraken:

    @ktingaling said in Still don't like the Kraken:

    @princes-lettuce Yes, imo the brig is the most difficult one to fight / survive a kraken indeed! I have the feeling Karen is holding it back a bit on sloops and compensate her fury on the brigs ;)

    The Brigantine is actually one of the most difficult ships to master period, on account of it being the easiest ship to sink in the game. Which is the price you pay for its excellent combination of speed, maneuverability and firepower.

    Hmm I never thought about it that way. We always pick the brig because we find the sloop too vulnerable, and the galleon too slow. Could you elaborate?

  • Our experienced crew sunk twice by the Kraken. It takes a lot longer to remove a tentacle when wrapped around your galleon. At one time we had 2 tentacles wrapped, one over the hold hole so you couldn't go below or bail water. This was the main reason why we sunk both times. While another pirate was sucked up in to a tentacle.

    I also noticed tentacles hold on to you for longer even if you're doing damage to it. One had me for a couple of minutes until it decided to end me by holding me under water until I died. I went through 5 bananas and 2 1/2 health bars while being held under water.

    Also, the loot will come up when you destroy a tentacle meaning you don't get the loot from the early tentacle kills.

    I actually like the Kraken, but sometimes it seems no matter what you do, you're going to sink. Covering the hold is the main problem. It also seems that the tentacle holds on to you for a duration not reliant on the damage you apply to it.

  • @princes-lettuce

    Hmm I never thought about it that way. We always pick the brig because we find the sloop too vulnerable, and the galleon too slow. Could you elaborate?

    On both sloops and galleons, you have a 'middle deck' (on the sloop it's just the back bit, where the map is). As long as you are not too deep in the water, holes there won't let in much water. On a brigantine, you don't get that. All holes let in water.
    The advantage of the brig and sloop is that you can bail while standing in one spot (so scoop up water and throw it out without moving). On the brig you can do so from the top of the stairs, on the sloop from the 'middle deck'. You won't get all water out in that way, but as long as there are not too many holes, you can prevent your ship from sinking.
    So I think that a sloop is the easiest to keep afloat when you're with 1 or 2 people (except if volcanoes are your biggest threat, than it's the galleon).

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