Sea of Grief

  • Rich44Man
    Founder

    This game turned out to be exactly what I though it would be and that is a paradise for people who like to cause grief for other players. I didn't play the alpha so I decided to play solo first to learn the basics of the game. After a few minutes I finally figured out how to buy voyages and activate them in the ship. I'm studying the map when I hear voices from proximity chat. I look up to see a bigger ship come sailing in to the outpost. I thought a lone player who just started the game and has nothing would probably get left alone so I go back to looking at the map. Wrong, less than a minute latter I'm stabbed in the back while looking at the map. I then hear one player brag how they killed me while the other brags about stealing all my loot which apparently was just the cannon balls and bananas that came with the ship. I finally figure out how to get off the ghost ship and spawn back on my ship. I surprise one player still on my ship who jumps into the water and starts calling me expletives while screaming for help because I'm after after him. In reality I just went back to studying the map.

    That was the only the first experience with other players. After that there was winking my ship while I was off and thus getting stranded on an island with a treasure chest and no way to turn it in. Then there was the outpost campers who ambushed and killed me while I was swimming to shore with a treasure chest.

    Like I said, this was exactly what I was expecting from this game. Anytime you allow PVP with PVE you end up with grief. I've already seen threads calling for PVE only servers and or areas which ironically I disagree. My experience with PVP was frustrating to say the least but without PVP it would have been extremely boring. Anyway, that is my feedback from playing the beta so far.

    Summary: Sea of Thieves is a Sea of Grief . . . solo players and new players beware.

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  • TerraSleet

    I agree, the game is definitely not solo friendly. All players get 100% of the loot when it's turned in meaning bigger crew = faster profit. There is absolutely no reason to solo in terms of PvE.

    In PvP numbers advantage is everything in this game. A solo sloop has no chance against a two or higher crew, there is no room for outplaying because you can't man the sails, cannons and nav at the same time but they can. In its current state this game is definitely another one of those "bully the solos/PvE noobs with your squadmates" griefer paradises.

    IMO solo matchmaking should be limited to solo only, duo to duo only, etc. and measures put in place to prevent griefing and multi-ship teaming (unless they actually want a PVP-only playerbase, which from my experience pushes new players away fast leaving only toxic sociopaths and edgy teens.)

  • DanBeardLuff
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    @terrasleet That's not true. I do work on my sloop. Galleons will straight up run away from me when they realize I'm not easy prey, and I chase every time.

  • TrackerRoo
    Ship Mate

    Make friends and sail together because there will always be groups who target lone players just to mess with them or steal what they have. It's like DayZ, you get five guys who will just camp spawns and kill newbies or fresh spawns just because they can. PvP is a part of the game and removing it takes out things to do. Could just have NPC ships patrol set zones and attack any ship that shoots at another ship. Like the Royal Navy maintaining order within their seas. Shooting another ship is an act of piracy so the Royal Navy would set about dealing with the aggressor. It's a way to have safe zones without breaking the lore or immersion.

  • Ctl x Alt x Del
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    Making friends and doing a 2 crew sloop is probably the best thing to do. However you are right, the game is very unwelcoming to new players at the moment. My first play through was a lot like yours. Started solo to just figure out the controls. Except I sailed to 6 island before figuring out I had to buy maps, and that all outpost were cities.

  • itsMCpeepants
    Founder

    I agree that the game is currently not friendly towards solo players. Honestly I feel that the best action that can be taken to make sure that this isn't a continuous issue is to have the single payer ship be faster than both the duo and the Galleon. There is just no way a single player can both out gun and out maneuver a group, so at least give them an option to out maneuver.

    I wouldn't worry too much about grief right now however. This is the beta and there is only a fraction of things to do in the game. During full release with all the different factions and activities I feel like most players will have too much to lose on a risk reward basis to openly attack crews that have nothing to offer in terms of reward.

  • stem589

    @rich44man

    The griefing for new players will only get worse with time if the mechanics/rules aren't changed.

    There seems to be a vocal minority of ppl who claim to be PvP players and think that spawn camping is legit PvP........ it's not. If anything, it's an exploit that's yet to be fixed.

    Most players won't suffer this for long before they stop playing. Sure hope this gets fixed before launch and the reviews come out.

    Just takes a couple bad apples to spoil the bunch.

  • Zulkai X
    Ship Mate
    Founder

    I agree with posts in other threads that there should be an area where PvP is disabled such as the Tavern. I've lost count the number of times I've had to step away from the game for a moment only to return and find myself on the ghost ship.
    Sea of Grief is pretty apt.

  • AstuteCheese
    Marauder
    Founder

    You should check out my 9 hour video of me playing Sea of Thieves solo. I'm not expecting you to watch the entire thing. You can skim through until you reach the parts where I encounter another player. Things aren't always black and white like one may believe. With games like these, a lot of caution Is necessary for survival. There may be many trolls, but If you have enough perception, you can find a way to outwit them or completely avoid them. If you decide to check It out, I hope you enjoy.

  • Draxind89
    Ship Mate

    this felt like i was saying it lol had the exact same thing happen to me except i had just reached my very first island and they came out of nowhere lol

  • Ghostfacex3948
    Marauder
    Founder

    IMO you are actually wrong OP. As a solo player, I have been able to capture a few 4 man vessels, take their loot kill them or leave them stranded and run off with more loot than I started with. You just need to actually be decent at combat. Just my two cents.

  • Ctl x Alt x Del
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @killerkan69 said in Sea of Grief:

    IMO you are actually wrong OP. As a solo player, I have been able to capture a few 4 man vessels, take their loot kill them or leave them stranded and run off with more loot than I started with. You just need to actually be decent at combat. Just my two cents.

    You did all that on your first sailing? Impressive.

  • NeburDZerep
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    I do have to agree with you that it's a tad bit annoying how people see another player and automatically start swinging. Even if you are friendly, they will shoot you. I like to consider myself pretty proficient on the slopes by myself, and I approached a galleon flashing my lights, ringing the bell, and playing my songs. I saw a glint from their spyglass, they SAW me with my instrument out, they saw my messages greeting myself, but they insisted on sinking me and shooting at me. I don't see what the fun is in killing someone when they aren't going to put up a fight but so be it. Killed two of their crew members and sailed away.

  • DJM XR07
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @rich44man ive found that using different tactics works well as a solo player. the gun powder barrels are very very usefull if you know what your doing

  • SignusM
    Founder

    @terrasleet No.

    We don't need yet another multiplayer MMO that makes soloing more appealing than grouping.

    Grouping takes coordination, trust, and is generally harder.

    THAT'S WHY IT NEEDS MORE REWARDS.

    If you make soloing the best thing to do, goodbye 4 man ships

  • FervantSphere1

    i loved TerraSleet's idea
    " IMO solo matchmaking should be limited to solo only, duo to duo only, etc"

    if u wanna be a bad ars m**o u can still que up for 4 man crew games as solo if u want or 2 man crew in a 4 man server. perhaps servers by crew size, max 4 man crew server, max 2 man crew server and solo server

  • KgmsHylian
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @killerkan69 said in Sea of Grief:

    IMO you are actually wrong OP. As a solo player, I have been able to capture a few 4 man vessels, take their loot kill them or leave them stranded and run off with more loot than I started with. You just need to actually be decent at combat. Just my two cents.

    OP was talking about new players here, so was he one as well. What is even this?..

  • Vaca Hombre
    Champion
    Boatswain
    Founder

    I definitely had the experience of other boats shooting at first sight, and I certainly wouldn't say no to a strict PvE server.

    However, I will say that it wasn't all bad either. I think I only ever lost a couple treasure chests, my ship being empty the other times it was sunk. And I did have a proud moment when I weaved through the rocks surrounding Old Faithful island, luring a perusing gallon into skeleton cannon fire and then making good my escape.

    I also decided early on that I was going to be a pacifist pirate. If I had treasure and was attacked, I would try to escape. Otherwise, I actually pulled out my accordion and ran up to my attackers, playing and running circles around them until I was killed.

    This tactic actually led to one of my more recent favorite moments in the game. I'd just dropped off my chests and was heading back to the dock when a two person sloop came up and immediately sunk my boat. I quickly jumped on board and played a shanty until my craft disappeared below the waves.

    I then proceeded to follow the two pirates about as they unloaded quite a few chests from their ship, playing all the while. They'd shoot at me every now and then, but didn't try to hunt me down. In the end one of them actually walked up and set a castaway's chest in front of me before departing.

    I guess my point is that, while I'm probably as worried about griefing as anyone, my experiences thus far have been good enough that I'm willing to stick with it.

  • Sandman929

    @kgmshylian said in Sea of Grief:

    @killerkan69 said in Sea of Grief:

    IMO you are actually wrong OP. As a solo player, I have been able to capture a few 4 man vessels, take their loot kill them or leave them stranded and run off with more loot than I started with. You just need to actually be decent at combat. Just my two cents.

    OP was talking about new players here, so was he one as well. What is even this?..

    This is clearly someone who delights in sending "git gud" messages and will request that Rare adds t*********g to the game

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