Adventure Lobby Alliances with Matchmaking queue system for balance

  • Hello!

    I've noticed that there are many people asking for the same thing.

    Community Problem:
    "We need a way to play with more than 3 of our friends."

    I do understand why 4-player crew for a Galleon was made for balance, but now that we have the "Alliance" feature, wouldn't it be better to have it so that we can make an alliance before we "Start sailing" and have our 2 crews already an alliance in the same server.

    Idea 1: Pre-made alliances.

    • Before sailing, the lobby has a toggle option for add an alliance.
    • The crew could start inviting another crew from their friends list.
    • The receiver of the invite would have to accept/reject the invite.
    • Once the invite is accepted, the lobby will be filled up of 2 crews each with their own crew ship.

    *FOR BALANCE:

    1. Maybe we can limit pre-made alliances to 2 crews.
    2. Having a queuing system that matches crew sizes to enter the same server.
      (example: A 6-player crew will queue up to match with other 6-player crews to enter the same server.)*

    Idea 2: Server subscriptions

    Do you guys play Minecraft? Ever heard of "Minecraft Realms"?
    Here's an idea. Why not let players subscribe for a server? You get money,
    we get our friends in the same server.

    * In your Sea of Thieves website, have an option for "Server subscriptions" with different tiers.
    * Each tier price is based of the number of people that players want in the server.
    * Player servers automatically closes if there are no players in it, costing
    you guys less money to maintain and host player servers.

    NOTE
    Now I don't know what your development cycle is, if its agile, waterfall, or whatever and who handles the product backlogs but both ideas do not require you to change any feature that is already in the game.

    These are ADDITIONAL FEATURES to be developed and deployed.

    Thanks for reading and good job for a great game!

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  • @cloudycabs

    Starting with 2 crews in a public server would be unbalanced.

    Rare has announced custom servers which will have the functionality you want, but they will not have any gold, reputation, or commendations to earn (no risk, no reward)

  • @cloudycabs Private subscription based servers are currently in the works, however they will have no progression because they are not intended to be used as PvE servers.

  • @chronodusk

    Hi Chronodusk!

    For the unbalanced part, I think it can be managed by implementing a queuing change.
    For example, if 6 players decides to make a pre-made alliance, they would queue and match with 6-player crews as well.

    I think this would be balanced, but the obvious con for this is the queue waiting time for this to happen. But still, it would solve the problem.

  • Private servers are coming, you will be able to invite how many people you want with how many ships you like.

  • @bloodybil

    Thank you but will Private Servers have progression? As per @mferr11 there won't be any, which is kinda weird for me. :/

    I hope they add pre-made alliances with a queuing system which balances out player numbers in crews & alliances that solves the "balancing" problem, if that's really what the game direction wants to go with PVP, without having to have compromises in the gameplay except possible long queue times for players.

  • @cloudycabs I am confused as to why you want such a system?
    Is it because you have a larger group and wanna play the game together and pvp anyone else and get rewards for it without serverhopping until you find each other (if that still works, returning player here)?

    Or is it you wanna be more "safe" in a way to ensure you can pve in peace and have an extra security by your other crew so that you get more/faster rep?
    I do not wanna sound rude in any way I just dont understand why you are bummed that you do not get rep with the custom servers where you can play with 8 or so people together (which other people get a huge disadvantage of when they get into the server)

    Also what happens if one alliance in your balancing suggestion leaves? you have the server to yourself until some other alliance crew joins? that does seem weird to me :/

  • @cloudycabs said in Pre-made Lobby Alliances! / Server Subscriptions:

    I hope they add pre-made alliances with a queuing system which balances out player numbers in crews & alliances that solves the "balancing" problem, if that's really what the game direction wants to go with PVP, without having to have compromises in the gameplay except possible long queue times for players.

    Yeah because server merges are totally under control right now, and arena queues are totally short, what we really need is another way to divide the playerbase and mess around with server population stability further.

  • I think a lot of people commenting here are only seeing this as a means to withdraw from PvP, which isn't the case. I can understand wanting to play more that just 3 other friends. Servers along this line can open up the PvP dynamic as well with giving players methods to better organize fleet fights. While certainly this opens up ways to abuse PvE farming, its not completely bad if we implement steps to avoid it.

    First, put a limit on the number of Ships in a fleet. The maximum number you can queue with is two ships. You would also limit the type of people who can queue for this server. The server itself will only have other fleets to avoid those solo ships getting overwhelmed. It might also not be a bad idea to remove Alliances in this version.

    I can appreciate a way to facilitate a fleet system without removing player gains. Would be cool to see a bunch of fleets fighting over FOTD. Ultimately, I would like to see Adventure with team battles.

  • @shikia-caeleaum

    Hi!

    I'll just go back to my original post --

    Community Problem:
    "We need a way to play with more than 3 of our friends"

    BUT:
    Without having to have compromises in the gameplay except possible long queue times for players.

    It doesn't matter if we do PvE, PvP, or island hopping and fishing, or do two separate things at once. Just as long as all options are available in the same server, with no compromises like eliminating progression, bounties, etc.

    This raised the question of "What about the balance?"
    so I suggested a queuing system for adventure mode.

    I really think it's possible since there are tons of other survival/pvp games that do it.

  • @cloudycabs it would not be fair to have a constant 1v3 battle. This is essentially making PvE servers cause people would just leave as soon as they realize what their situation is

  • @cloudycabs Oh nonononononono. Ever heard of alliance grinder servers? Makes it so much easier to make them.

  • @cloudycabs I understand that.
    Edit: stated above ^

  • @ice-ninja-2005 said in Pre-made Lobby Alliances! / Server Subscriptions:

    @cloudycabs it would not be fair to have a constant 1v3 battle. This is essentially making PvE servers cause people would just leave as soon as they realize what their situation is

    @dominusocto7 said in Pre-made Lobby Alliances! / Server Subscriptions:

    @cloudycabs Oh nonononononono. Ever heard of alliance grinder servers? Makes it so much easier to make them.

    Hi guys!

    As I said, to solve this problem they could implement a queuing system that matches crew sizes to make the balancing fair. No one would be 1v3ing anyone if at the start of the game, everyone has the same amount of players! :D
    @cloudycabs said in Pre-made Lobby Alliances! / Server Subscriptions:

    *FOR BALANCE:

    1. Maybe we can limit pre-made alliances to 2 crews.
    2. Having a queuing system that matches crew sizes to enter the same server.
      (example: A 6-player crew will queue up to match with other 6-player crews to enter the same server.)*
  • @cloudycabs that's still 3 ships automatically spawning in together and that are aligned. Those 3 ships would easily gang bang a ship that doesn't have a premade alliance. No sloops gonna win against 3 pre qued gallys. Your just sort of ignoring what were saying. This would be completely imbalanced.

  • @ice-ninja-2005

    No server would start without a queue system. No premade alliances will be able to join an already in-session server. No one would be 1 v 3ing anyone since before a match even starts, the "Matchmaking Queue System" will need to calculate the number of players within crews to match them up together and start a server. 6-man crews will start with other 6-man crews. Giving no one any advantage.

  • @cloudycabs so you could just have a 12 man crew and no one else could join cause servers can't support 24 players

  • @cloudycabs said in Lobby Alliances with Queuing System / Server Subscriptions:

    @ice-ninja-2005

    No server would start without a queue system. No premade alliances will be able to join an already in-session server. No one would be 1 v 3ing anyone since before a match even starts, the "Matchmaking Queue System" will need to calculate the number of players within crews to match them up together and start a server. 6-man crews will start with other 6-man crews. Giving no one any advantage.

    You keep forgetting to take into account crews leaving and server merges which always will happen.

  • @cloudycabs Whilst I appreciate what you are saying, the queuing system will actually make it easier to create a PvE server. It wouldn't take long for two groups hitting the set sail button at the same time to end up on the same server, all they have to do it all meet up and reform one big alliance.

    Although this doesn't really have anything to do with the OP, I feel alliances should be limited to three ships in general.

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