Is SOT losing players?

  • About 2 weeeks ago I have noticed more and more skull forts staying active a lot longer than before. Even after the update on Thursday. I know the new skeletons have change the game play and strategy of a skull fort. Which can make a fort take longer to complete. In saying that I’ve seen them active for well over an hour if not longer.
    Has SOT lost players?
    Have skull forts lost there appeal?
    Are they just to time consuming while you are trying to grind?

    What are your thoughts?

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  • More pirate legends now = more athena runs = less skull forts being taken? Idk for me since Thursday its been harder to find active forts cuz of achievement hunters

  • @simplybutta
    For me the second I notice a skull cloud form every ship I see is heading that way.

    Now before this event I had noticed a slack in skull fort activity(depending on server of course). I'm not complaining. I always avoided the things but a friend and I were able to leisurely tackle our first without anyone in sight. Made for a fun time where we could be stupid about it and make entertaining mistakes. I hope it goes back to that.

    I don't know if I would say players were leaving...could be...I imagine more people are growing tired of the self inflicted grind and are either playing less frequently or tackling things more at a 'meh whatever' pace.

  • @SimplyButta
    I understand the Athena taking priority of the forts. We do not go to forts while in the middle of those missions.
    Looks like the grind to be Legends is finally paying off for a lot of players. YAY
    It’s just kind of strange and sad to see that significant part of the game losing it’s appeal.

  • @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3 i think thats why a part of this event has to do with skull forts lol

  • @John-Hatter
    Congrats on your first fort completion.

  • @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3

    Thanks~ It was a blast but I couldn't imagine doing it while fighting off others. Too much chaos for my blood. Was fun to just be bad at it in peace...sometimes pieces...we were pretty bad...I think the kegs were playing for the other team...

  • @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3 said in Is SOT losing players?:

    About 2 weeeks ago I have noticed more and more skull forts staying active a lot longer than before. Even after the update on Thursday. I know the new skeletons have change the game play and strategy of a skull fort. Which can make a fort take longer to complete. In saying that I’ve seen them active for well over an hour if not longer.
    Has SOT lost players?
    Have skull forts lost there appeal?
    Are they just to time consuming while you are trying to grind?

    What are your thoughts?

    More an more players don't want to fight over something that keeps getting stolen? Toxic atmosphere surrounding forts? Boredom, better ways to earn money? None of the above. I'm sure there are many reasons.

  • @john-hatter said in Is SOT losing players?:

    @simplybutta
    For me the second I notice a skull cloud form every ship I see is heading that way.

    Same goes for me. Not to mention I still get into servers with mostly Galleons. Whether I'm on a Sloop or on a Galleon myself!

    I don't know if I would say players were leaving...could be...I imagine more people are growing tired of the self inflicted grind and are either playing less frequently or tackling things more at a 'meh whatever' pace.

    I honestly believe this is the case. People have self inflicted the 'grind' and are growing tired of it. Which is understandable, a grind simply isn't fun. I hit Pirate Legend the other day and I had so much fun these three months. Right after launch I committed to getting there as fast as possible, got upset if we lost loot and eventually annoyed with myself. I changed my way of play and decided that I just need to have fun and I will eventually hit Pirate Legend as if by accident. It's worked out so far and, despite being Legend now, still log on daily to have fun.

  • @dragonsire2016
    Better ways to earn money is usually my go to. My friend and I discussed it after we managed to do one in peace. We never expected to finish it but were close to the end of our night and no one seemed to be in the wilds so...why not.

    It was entertaining and was cool to get all the loot but had we had to fight others over it? Meh...they can have it. We make more doing our own thing with less hassle.

    @Murkrage
    I have always felt like this game attracted a wide range of playstyles but in reality could only hold a very specific crossover of all of them. This game isn't like any other in how it plays, how you can play it, or how they want you to play it. People early on tackled it like you would any other game(the grind) but found none of the rewards they are used to getting for the work and became angry about it.

    People still want that satisfaction they are used to which is understandable to an extent but for the most part I feel like the playerbase is settling down into the people who 'get it'. The ones who have adapted to a 'rewarding journey' versus 'a rewarding end'.

  • @john-hatter said in Is SOT losing players?:

    @Murkrage
    I have always felt like this game attracted a wide range of playstyles but in reality could only hold a very specific crossover of all of them. This game isn't like any other in how it plays, how you can play it, or how they want you to play it. People early on tackled it like you would any other game(the grind) but found none of the rewards they are used to getting for the work and became angry about it.

    Humans are creatures of habit and this game showed it. I quickly understood that this game wasn't and never is going to be about any type of endgame and frankly, I'm very happy about that. I have enough games that make me frustrated over reaching endgame as it is (looking at you WoW). This is a nice change of pace.

    People still want that satisfaction they are used to which is understandable to an extent but for the most part I feel like the playerbase is settling down into the people who 'get it'. The ones who have adapted to a 'rewarding journey' versus 'a rewarding end'.

    Aye, I'm also noticing the change / settling down of the playerbase. It's a great time for Pirates haha.

  • @john-hatter I think the game has an identity problem. It doesn't know what it wants to be. That's a problem. If you remove the PVP part, the possibilities are endless. More ships, more people on ships, item improvements, progression systems, ship improvements. Reasons for people to invest in the game. PVP means balance balance balance. It limits where you can take things. I think the devs are attracted to the idea that if given the choice people will come together etc...but allow for people to be bad...games don't reflect real world...people can be bad they will more often than not. GTA is a prime example.

  • @dragonsire2016 said in Is SOT losing players?:

    @john-hatter I think the game has an identity problem. It doesn't know what it wants to be. That's a problem.

    I don't necessarily agree, because.....

    If you remove the PVP part, the possibilities are endless. More ships, more people on ships, item improvements, progression systems, ship improvements. Reasons for people to invest in the game.

    Progression systems like that are never going to happen. So they clearly know that this isn't the way they want to go in. It's not what this game is.

  • @dragonsire2016
    eeeeehhhh....I agree...mostly...kinda. I wouldn't call it an identity problem. I feel like it knows exactly what it wants to be the problem comes in that what it wants to be is whatever we make of it which leads to...friction at times. As far as removing pvp for endless possibilities the same could be said by removing either side of the fence.

    I have said since the day I started playing I do not envy the balancing act they have created for themselves with this game. At face value pvp and pve (as far as extremes go) should never mix in this fashion and they have created a game that has adopted political grade line in the sand stuff because both exist. At the end of the day the flexible go with the flow types are fine leaving the two extremes to battle it out till the end of time trying to tip the scales in their own favor all while the devs insist on balance.

    Now I do agree that they are running on faith/luck that people will work together which I have mixed feelings over depending on which issue you want to attach that to.

  • @murkrage said in Is SOT losing players?:

    @dragonsire2016 said in Is SOT losing players?:

    @john-hatter I think the game has an identity problem. It doesn't know what it wants to be. That's a problem.

    I don't necessarily agree, because.....

    If you remove the PVP part, the possibilities are endless. More ships, more people on ships, item improvements, progression systems, ship improvements. Reasons for people to invest in the game.

    Progression systems like that are never going to happen. So they clearly know that this isn't the way they want to go in. It's not what this game is.

    True, maybe. Game is steal early. But my point isn't that they should..only that they could.

  • I still go to skull forts, up until the new event I would definitely say I'd noticed a drop in contested forts, usually we'd get there, smash it in 10-20 mins and be selling up before we'd even seen a ship. I think Athena's is definitely a reason people don't go, for others they're nearing grind end and would rather keep working in relative peace, others are solo and know how risky that can be, others just don't like pvp, either way they've not been coming to play with us lol. After the event started though it seemed like every ship in the server would end up there sooner or later. I think the keg skellies actually make it quicker and easier, especially on the rare occasion we got a few waves in just us two on a sloop, kite them out then hop over a fence or something they can't easily navigate then blow the whole lot up, usually only miss the odd straggler. Waves only take about 30 seconds or so, so you should be able to do the fort in about 5 mins atm, we never do though due to interruptions, negotiations, then once other crews are involved miscommunication, skellies getting split up and chasing off after the wrong guy etc. I'm happy either way, I like the PvE of a fort, OoS is my favorite, but I also enjoy the pvp and/or cooperative aspects, fewer people at forts, more freedom for pve, more people at forts, more betrayal and pvp lol

  • Three skull forts last night without a ship in sight. Allowed for commendation unlocks for the new event and easy loot.
    hours of playing and never saw a sloop or galleon. Finished an Athena with relative ease. The seas were pretty empty on a Friday night...

  • @john-hatter I think you will see the cursed sails bring in a lot of players, and more active players taking part in the ship battles. The Devs are hoping I am sure, this leads to players mostly wanting to do the pve, and still have the danger of less pvp players making it interesting...or at least how they see it.

  • Every game loses population. But then a game gets more population. You just have to think if there are holidays etc.

  • I’m guessing it has something to do with events but I’ve also noticed less players since meg update.
    Comes across a lot of newer/ low level players tho.
    I’ve joined a lot of random games, even more so since getting to legendary. Barely notices any one with the decent levels. Feels as if people gotten bored of the game. Also notices a lot of my higher level friends playing other games lately.

  • I don’t even bother with skull forts much anymore since it’s lost its value. Used to get 23k+ but now about half of that. @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3

  • @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3 Your post reminds me of this excellent article from Polygon! Maybe it can give you some insights?

  • Couple weeks ago a lot of ppl were trying to do thrones event I imagine.

    New event makes forts faster if you can do it right, not longer in my experience.

    Still haven’t gotten a fort pop without at least one other ship there yet in my experience. Think it really just depends on what your server is like, how long it’s been up and what the others are more focused on.

  • @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3

    Something to keep in mind as well, every game has peak players at launch, then they leave.

    A few don’t like it so they leave as well.

    No game keeps its entire player base, but doesn’t mean it’s dead or dying cause a couple hundred or even a thousand out of 4 million stop playing or don’t like it.

  • @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3 I dont think so. It's total chaos around the forts with this new event. The other day I think the entire server population was there. Ships all over the place with all of the sloops and a galleon joining forces against one galleon that thought going against the entire server was a good idea.....it was not... :D

  • Athena missions might be one reason as someone already said.

    But i think people have realized that its faster to farm exp, doing voyages than to do skull forts. High level voyages give more gold (exp) than forts if you calculate time spent to achieve the same amount of progress.

    Thats just my observation.

  • @apollolegacy01 iteresting article. Also the article about the rules referenced is interesting.

  • @w4r34gl3-4-l1f3 this game has totally lost players. All my high level peeps are off to different games, and I can't even put a crew together to run an Athena's. Bosses despawn, causing frustration, can't feed pigs, etc, missions glitch after five hours, and then rare refises to compensate people for their time...not to mention they censor opinions and make it so most of the information out there about the game is skewed, probably so their bosses can't see how irritated people are with their nightmare of a game.

  • @CursedGoldenPig

  • @cursedgoldenpig

    Ahoy there, we try and discourage bringing back threads which are over a month old as the information isn't always current and issues might have been resolved.

    Bumping Threads
    Resurrecting threads over one month old is also not permitted.

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/45966/sea-of-thieves-official-forum-rules

    I'll close this one now.

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