I see many players (incl. game reviewers) complaining about not seeing any ship around, calling the game a No Man Sea and the like.
but, funnily enough
I also see many players complaining that they are constantly being attacked by ships wherever they go, some even can't sail away from the starting Outpost without getting their parked ship sunk as a starter.
So... everyone's complaining, everyone's right and everyone's wrong at the same time!?
One partial solution to this would be to let us choose a ship AND a map (size).
Those complaining about not seeing enough ships to battle with would choose the smaller map.
Those complaining that there's too many ships around, most just chasing anything that moves would most likely choose the bigger map.
Is this a "PvE" map vs a "PvP" map in disguise? Maybe, but it would still be Sea of Thieves with no exception to the existing PvX rules. The only change/choice would be the maps size and the game would hand that choice to the player.
Not happy with the ship encounter frequency? Try the other map size.
If RARE peddled back from doing a 4x the current map size because it would mess up the ship encounter chances, then I'm guessing that is should use that to the game advantage and let players decide.
After all, isn't the game supposed to be welcoming to all play styles? Let us choose it then.
PS/Edit: To clarify, I'm suggesting just map area size (amount of empty sea vs islands, though I'm ok with bigger map with more islands but same number of ships) choice as a way to influence ship encounter positively (those eager to see more ships) or negatively (those complaining that the sea is too crowded already).
I'm not suggesting an increase of players/ships. That's another more technical than game balance issue.
Sure, if technically possible, I'm game for more ships in an instance, but then maps sizes have to be adjusted accordingly, to keep this original "map choice" suggestion valid.
