Okay so My crew does this quite regularly. While I'm not sure if you are on console or PC I will say, that when I start the game alone, and add my Xbox friends in, we tend to be in a friendly server. So if you have a friend on PC have them start the server.
Again, not sure if this is even how rare does this but the one time my Xbox friends started the game and invited me there were 3 reapers and ships chasing us. The seas are full of those doing quests and others hunting.

To get them started, you want to do everything you can to mitigate risk. Set the ship to the correct heading and let the deckhands steer and move sails. You go to the crows nest and check for danger. Scan that horizon. Any ship you see, can definitely see you. Stay hidden for as long as possible.
When you get to the island, let them find the treasure. You stay in the crows nest and watch for danger. It may seem annoying but you can do it.

Try having them do the Maiden Voyage and then run through the first tale of Pirate’s Life with them. That should give everyone the opportunity to learn and practice the basic mechanics of the game.

@smuntface get them to read The Pirate Academy player guide for starters. Lots of hints and tips in there. :D

@wolfmanbush Strike First Strike Hard
sometimes you need to be the iniatator. get them by surprise

No Mercy

take them down at all cost

@galactic-geek said in How to teach noobs gently?:

Are you watching the new season of Kobra Kai too!? 😅

nah I often leave tales I grew up on where they left off.

but I'm happy that people are having such a good time with the continuation of the story and that many characters returned

Thomas Ian Griffith is a very underrated actor with an excellent presence and enigmatic charisma on screen and Terry Silver is one of my favorite movie villains ever so it's awesome to hear that he is back.

I'm excited to look around for his appearances on podcasts at some point for promotion of the show just to hear what he has to say.

@smuntface If you want to teach them beginners naval combat, do the 5th Pirate's life tall tale with them! I found it to be the best way to teach new players basic cannon trajectory, and the importance of having the enemy on your broadside.

@wolfmanbush said in How to teach noobs gently?:

Wax on
Wax off

What was Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel with chores that seemed pointless and a waste of time to Daniel in the beginning?

The basics, discipline, practice, routine

building a foundation

Gather some loot (wax on)
Sell loot every 20 minutes (wax off)

Practice naval (wax on)
Practice repairing, eating under stress, watching ladders, remaining calm (wax off)

Bonsai
think of only tree

Bonsai is light and life. Commitment. Appreciation. Investment
setting realistic goals and reaching them by focusing only on them
not focusing on the harshness of pirate life
only on what matters at the moment
what matters to a pirate is up to them but keep it positive and productive

the lessons come together
as time goes on the pieces start to fit
the practice and the commitment begin to show results
take it day by day and session by session
realistic short term goal by realistic short term goal

it's ok to lose to an opponent, must not lose to fear
we all face loss throughout pirate life
giving into the fear of losing is a pirate robbing themself
never rob yourself, make others work for it
confidence aimed at outcome is arrogance. true confidence is knowing that win or lose you will get back up and move forward no matter the outcome

mercy is not for the weak
Let the harshness go
don't take out bitterness from the past on less experienced/skilled pirates with the power that comes with practice and improvement
remember what it feels like to not have power, to not be able to defend.

Are you watching the new season of Kobra Kai too!? 😅

@mr-whaletoes said:

@smuntface Well, first of all, start calling them "rookies" and not "noobs". The word "noob" has a rather negative connotation.

I prefer the term, inexperienced.

@captain-coel said in How to teach noobs gently?:

@smuntface honestly, if you don't have anything to lose, just fight.

Yeah, we're talking brand new players. And server hoppers who spawn right next to your boat every session. They'll learn eventually, but I'd like them to enjoy the game, not feel as though it's a futile exercise.

@capt-soul-beard said in How to teach noobs gently?:

1- How to prepare the ship (Materials)
2- You (The skilled player) should always be on the wheel because new players are terrible at it.
3- Kill anything PvE on sight (Skeleships-Megs-Krakens-Forts (This will build up their combat skills)
4- You should focus on PvP as much as possible with minimal PvE
To make them "evolve" lol, do one vault and put the treasure all on the bow of the ship (Pointy end) and focus on full PvP (This teaches them to not care about losing the loot which will make you a lot better at SoT)

This is pretty much what I'm trying to do. So far, not going too well.
When I first started this game, I had a mix of aggressive players & others who would keep their distance. Lately, aggressive players are the only ones I see, including my normal seasoned crew I play with.

I understand that "playing the game" is where this discussion will end, just wondering if anyone had any more insight than that. Cheers

@capt-soul-beard said in How to teach noobs gently?:

@smuntface I've taught a lot of people who were new, teach them:

1- How to prepare the ship (Materials)
2- You (The skilled player) should always be on the wheel because new players are terrible at it.
3- Kill anything PvE on sight (Skeleships-Megs-Krakens-Forts (This will build up their combat skills)
4- You should focus on PvP as much as possible with minimal PvE just so they don't get that sense of wasting their time, basically do no collect loot just to lose it all, new players get higher stress the higher the treasure count on the ship is.

To make them "evolve" lol, do one vault and put the treasure all on the bow of the ship (Pointy end) and focus on full PvP (This teaches them to not care about losing the loot which will make you a lot better at SoT)

Tldr;

Make them do PvP regardless of loot count on the ship to make them better able to defend themselves (Also you constantly gotta remind them to repair the ship-angle the sails-etc.)

@smuntface I've taught a lot of people who were new, teach them:

1- How to prepare the ship (Materials)
2- You (The skilled player) should always be on the wheel because new players are terrible at it.
3- Kill anything PvE on sight (Skeleships-Megs-Krakens-Forts (This will build up their combat skills)
4- You should focus on PvP as much as possible with minimal PvE just so they don't get that sense of wasting their time, basically do no collect loot just to lose it all, new players get higher stress the higher the treasure count on the ship is.

To make them "evolve" lol, do one vault and put the treasure all on the bow of the ship (Pointy end) and focus on full PvP (This teaches them to not care about losing the loot which will make you a lot better at SoT)

Wax on
Wax off

What was Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel with chores that seemed pointless and a waste of time to Daniel in the beginning?

The basics, discipline, practice, routine

building a foundation

Gather some loot (wax on)
Sell loot every 20 minutes (wax off)

Practice naval (wax on)
Practice repairing, eating under stress, watching ladders, remaining calm (wax off)

Bonsai
think of only tree

Bonsai is light and life. Commitment. Appreciation. Investment
setting realistic goals and reaching them by focusing only on them
not focusing on the harshness of pirate life
only on what matters at the moment
what matters to a pirate is up to them but keep it positive and productive

the lessons come together
as time goes on the pieces start to fit
the practice and the commitment begin to show results
take it day by day and session by session
realistic short term goal by realistic short term goal

it's ok to lose to an opponent, must not lose to fear
we all face loss throughout pirate life
giving into the fear of losing is a pirate robbing themself
never rob yourself, make others work for it
confidence aimed at outcome is arrogance. true confidence is knowing that win or lose you will get back up and move forward no matter the outcome

mercy is not for the weak
Let the harshness go
don't take out bitterness from the past on less experienced/skilled pirates with the power that comes with practice and improvement
remember what it feels like to not have power, to not be able to defend.

@smuntface Well, first of all, start calling them "rookies" and not "noobs". The word "noob" has a rather negative connotation.

Beyond that, I suggest making them feel good about themselves, win or lose, and try to make sure that you are providing clear, instructive feedback in the case of a loss. Always give positive feedback at the end of a battle or quest, even if they failed the objective. Good feels are the best kind of motivation to play a game and get better at it. Remind them that PvP is the hardest thing in the game and with every loss they have become just a little better at it... and promote having fun over every other objective. It's a game, after all, fun should be why they play it.

I also suggest experimenting with the rotating role of "captain"- a title, mostly, but let the captain be the "boss" of the ship and determine what to do or where to sail. This will hopefully give your friends the same kind of experience that a solo slooper gets, only much less dangerous with the aid of the crew.

Try to get the rookies to cooperate with other crews that are friendly (or at least pretend to be)- give them tips for social skills on the seas and how to spot if who seems to be a friend actually only wants your loot. End this training if you can complete a glitter beard event with them without helping too much on the diplomacy end of things.

Finally, promote independent practice when they are at least at a mediocre skill level. Don't stick with them forever- the end goal is to get them onto your level, which will not be achieved if they can't advance without you. Still make sure to join their crew every now and then, though, and help them where they need it.

But so far, it's been impossible to show them anything,

Nothing is impossible if you give up.

Best way?
Let them encounter the world as it is. Don’t hide or bash anything. Toss them into the deep end of the water, if they have questions, answer them. But never bash anything. Don’t get upset if nothing goes right.

Everything happens in the game will happen. Nothing should be hated on or hidden.

Also. YouTube :p

By all means, a more thorough tutorial could be provided. That being said, mechanically this game isn't complicated. Even the sailing mechanics are relatively easy to grasp. Sail in wind go fast, sail not in wind go slow. There is a bit of nuance, but most of that can be explained in a sentence or two. The only things newbs should struggle with is minor details like what are the streamers rising into the air in the distance and where do I turn them in. Sea of Thieves has a lot of the latter.

When you guys & gals are learning up noobs, what are your techniques?

A pseudo apprenticeship typically works. Play with an experienced person to lead while the rest just follow along based of the advice given. When pertaining to PvP exactly, do a lot of it. Sounds simple, but like anything you do to get better it takes practice. Just try different stuff until you find something that works and don't afraid to sink. What worked best for my crew was placing people in basic roles broken down into Captain (dedicated steerer), Deck-hands, and boarders. Boarders do the boarding when its opportune, but still do basic maintenance if its required. That include patching when overwhelmed. Deck-hands stick to the ship and don't leave. They primarely fix the ship and fire the cannons. Captain steers but calls out actions like anchoring, adjusting sails.

The biggest thing though is just develop how you communicate. My team developed rules to follow. Within those rules is how to communicate. Call out what you plan to do. If you go to patch, call it out. It is required of the patcher to call out the needs required to get sailing. Do we need an extra bucketer or is one person plenty to patch and bucket? Things like that. Also don't assume If no one is calling out what they are doing volunteer yourself. We have sunk too many times assuming someone was repairing or didn't need help.

@smuntface honestly, if you don't have anything to lose, just fight. Even in loss there are things to learn. Otherwise make it like the first quests of the game. Low level quests keep you close to the outpost and have you do simple tasks for a reason. Even if you do higher level voyages, only do 2-3 islands before cashing out until they become more seasoned.

I'm not quiet sure about that, but I believe in the first couple of hours, lets say 20. I never met another ship. I do not know if Rare is offering some "Beginners" Server and as soon as they play with you they get to the "normal" servers.

But it also could be just random luck I've never met someone the first 20 hours.

My tips would be, to avoid Servers with active reapers on it, maybe don't set up any emissary flag for the first few rounds and try to avoid fights with looking around as far as you can and make a big nono arround every other ship.

I believe the first thing you should do is teach them to look around from time to time. With that the worry about other players sinking you ends and what's left is just PvE, which after a week or two becomes absurdly easy to do.