[Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores
-
I have many problems with Forsaken Shores but 1 of them makes the top of the list:
Volcano AIMBOT.
I'm not talking about frequency here.
It's just incredibly infuriating to be personally targeted by volcanoes. I've stopped counting the number of times I got headshotted AND one-shotted by them aboard my own ship while I was getting away or just passing through. Sometimes, on a brig, the whole crew died in a matter of seconds because of 3 well placed rocks coming from the volcano. I understand the need for this area to be difficult but this is ridiculous. It's skeleton aimbot all over again !
Just try looking at a ship not far from an island with an active volcano. It's clearly obvious that the volcano IS targetting the ship. Above all, the rawboat isn't a safe option either as the volcano still targets you while you're on it. It happened to me resulting in my death and the rawboat lost. Great. -
@most-dubious said in [Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores:
Love the update, only question is, why is nobody talking about the bat cage and crab pot at the merchant dock in FS?!
Ssssssh
-
I do find the volcanoes on Flintlock and Thirst re-erupt too quickly. Whether the times between eruptions vary, I'm not sure; or if the order of events is randomized but I'm sure it is less than 2mins. Not enough time to get across an island and back.
It's particularly harsh soloing because you don't know when an earthquake is just that, or imminent eruption so it's a quick dash back to the ship. From there you either don't risk it and leave or watch for that plume, where you will have 5secs to get to safety. Alternatively hide in a cave to wait it out while your ship sinks then carry on with your quest.It is possible to complete your voyages but will naturally take longer, you have to be patient. Place your ship ready for a quick escape. Either with sails/anchor up (watch for earthquake drift) or sails/anchor down (watch out for lava anchor bot)
I'm now starting to see framerate lag in the eruptions.
-
While i love a challenge, and understand that the devils roar is exactly that, the area is entirely too OP.
Problems:
- Range of volcano fire.
- Range of respawn/time use.
- Outpost eruptions
Situations:
- Starting out on the western side of the map it takes upwards of 20-30 minutes just to reach the devils roar. Once there i have repeatedly been one shotted and my ship has sunk (before i could even exit the ferry of the damned, and yes utilizing rowboats and maintaining distance) only to respawn back on the western side of the map. Effectively wasting an hour of my limited play time just to travel to the new content.
- Only twice i have actually spawned a new ship, after sinking, in the devils roar. On both occasions to have a neighboring island erupting, and sinking/killing me before i can even climb aboard.
- The outpost having a volcano: Awful. Several times i have spent anywhere from an hour to 2 hours voyaging only to have the outpost erupt and sink my ship/one shot me with all my loot aboard as i try to load/unload my dingy. Each time i spawned in the shores of plenty, spent 20+ minutes trying to get back and save my loot, only to have it despawn right as i get there. Effectively wasting 2 hours of voyaging.
I appreciate a good challenge, but this goes beyond challenging to purely frustrating. I love the new content and area, and want to enjoy it.
Solutions:
- Volcanoes need a much smaller radius of fire, they'll still be challenging when you need to approach them, but neighboring islands shouldn't be able to hit each other.
- No one shot kills with such high accuracy from volcanoes: Perhaps instead they should cause 50% damage and a "burning" DOT effect that can be stopped by getting wet (jumping in water/crew mate throwing a bucket of water on you)
- Sinking while in the devils roar should always respawn you in the Devils Roar.
- Outpost: lose the eruption, keep the earthquakes/geysers/boiling waters. The only outpost in the area shouldn't be able to one shot you and sink your ship given how challenging the area already is as a whole.
- closer ship spawns/shorter ferry of the damned lockouts when sunk/killed by the environment. The current system was balanced for PVP. Keep one set of parameters for PVP deaths/sinkings, and one for environmental causes.
All that being said, thank you to all the Rare Devs for your hard work. It is truly appreciated!
-
@chiefy-31 said in [Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores:
I made an account just to complain about volcanoes. They make the game unplayable a majority of the time because of their range and CONSISTENT accuracy. They are only a frustration and in no way benefit players. I'm not playing this game again until volcanoes are changed.
Just go back to the old zones if FS is too difficult for u.
-
@treefittymonsta said in [Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores:
Just go back to the old zones if FS is too difficult for u.
I feel this is the type of response that I see is all too common but completely out of touch with the concept of "difficult." Specifically concerning Volcanoes. Every other aspect of Forsaken Shores is great but the tuning of volcanoes completely missed the mark. One must not confuse "difficult" with "tedious".
Volcanoes are not difficult. Difficult would presume that there was a way to counter the volcano. Survive it by skill. Currently thats not the case because volcanoes are so lethal that sticking around during an eruption is not possible. So its actually the opposite volcanoes are completely marginalized and EASY because the only strategy is to avoid the eruption altogether until it is over.
This creates an engagement problem. The volcanoes are not compelling. If it erupts or is erupting on the island you need? You just wait in the water for however long it takes.. doing nothing until its over. Thats not engaging and fun gameplay.
Anybody who considers them difficult and as such a wanted aspect of the game in their current state must like idling about in their ship and avoiding actually playing the game. Rare has offered no counter to volcanoes, be it row boat or ability to dodge aimbot lava rocks.
As such volcanoes need 1 of 2 things to happen:
I firmly believe volcanoes need to be lethal and contain that excitement and panic of destruction but in their current iteration its not engaging. You just leave till its over. (1) Either Volcanoes need to erupt less frequently(which doesnt solve the problem of engaging gameplay) or (2) they need to be more randomized as to offer the incentive to risk your time going ashore to combat the volcano and its dangers.
Tldr: Volcano's are not difficult. They just arent engaging due to the sheer lethality of aimbot lava rocks that require you to abandon the islands vicinity. Theres no other choice. That must change. I know its anecdotal but I find myself completely bored as sigh another eruption in less than 2 minutes that forces me to anchor away until its over. I know adjusting time of eruption is the simple fix however that makes volcanoes still not engaging. There should be a way to tone them in a way that you can risk forging the island during an eruption. Currently its only a matter of time before the AI lava rocks kill the player or ship due to their accuracy.
-
@jakxtv I think the volcanos are fine the way they are. I've finished multiple Athena's missions and oos/gh missions in the area. I haven't been sunk once by the volcanos. If anything I wish the area was more difficult, with maybe a different type of skeleton, ie lava puking skellies, some other ai threat similar to skellies.
-
Echoing what the majority seem to be typing - Volcanoes and Rowboats.
Volcano range accuracy is a death sentence for sloops and brigs that can't find a rowboat.
Rowboats are too fragile for the environment and is often destroyed either before use or when it will have you stranded on an erupted island. I feel it should be invincible so players can steal it from each other; a cannonball or a lava rock will one shot and anyone on the boat.
-
@treefittymonsta said in [Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores:
@jakxtv I think the volcanos are fine the way they are. I've finished multiple Athena's missions and oos/gh missions in the area. I haven't been sunk once by the volcanos. If anything I wish the area was more difficult, with maybe a different type of skeleton, ie lava puking skellies, some other ai threat similar to skellies.
That's all well and good. If you read my post nowhere did I claim any of this wasn't possible. Try to digest the substance of my argument and respond to that next time.
Volcanoes aren't difficult. I said that. I pointed to the fact that they are not engaging content because you merely avoid them instead of taking them on because they are too lethal with their inherent accuracy. So yea, you can complete athena's voyages easy. As you sit outside the radius and await the volcano to end. What's engaging about afking until eruptions are over? Simple concept.
A new AI threat or something along those lines is definitely always welcome. Agree with you there.
-
@jakxtv I read ur post. Ur whining about volcanos. I said volcanos were fine. And that needed a new type of skellies to fight on islands.
-
@personalc0ffee I agree with this to some degree yes I want this area to be difficult and to be able to play it in the way that you were saying but trying to get the campaign done is just a joke.
trying to search around an Island might take half an hour to an hour to find one skeleton without all these new conditions. Throw into the mix gunpowder skellies, volcanoes that literally aim at you, geisers that pop up everywhere and earthquakes that throw you off and it becomes impossible.
It wasn't fun anymore it was just irritating. I had to play with people who knew where they were. I went straight there I didn't even have time to read their little anecdotes or story features before something else killed me.
-
Volcanoes would have been more interesting if they provided a new gameplay mechanic over just another way to damage your ship.
For example if the volcano started erupting, the air in the volcano area would begin to fill with ash and visibility would begin to decrease over time. Maybe nametags would disappear completely as you are no longer able to identify friend or foe. This would hinder the ability to sail around the islands as you wouldn't be able to see clearly; debris/obstacles in the water, other ships or people. Add a few more protruding stones or old lava flows in the waters surrounding the islands.
Maybe activating your ship lanterns to get a bit of visibility in the water around your ship or to be able to see/locate your ship from farther away. The intensity of the ash and the geysers would increase over time, so the longer you are on the island the more hazards you have to deal with. Lava flows could begin to cut off paths forcing you to go around. Eventually there would be earthquakes signalling the finale of the eruption, which would be a large explosion that would then throw the rocks all over (preferably more than it currently does but all at once, and preferably non-targeted and somewhat randomized) and the volcano would go dormant again.
At least this way, you have a mini 'event' occurring on the island without outright denying you from doing anything there. You can still be engaged in your voyage or whatever you are doing, but with the tension of being on a timer counting down in the background.
-
@d3adst1ck I like ur ideas but this is rare developing this game, not rockstar. These ideas would take to much work to implement, rare just doesn't have that type of approach. They built the islands with the current game mechanics. The volcanos are a glorified rapid fire cannon. The earthquake is simply the drunken affect with rumbling noise. Quests are the exact same quests we've been doing in the old map but on the new islands.
Rare isn't trying to be innovative. Theyre trying implement content with the least amount of effort possible into a shell of a game.
Don't get me wrong, I like the game but don't expect any new ground breaking experience in this game for awhile.
-
@personalc0ffee The only possible performance impacting thing there would be the ending crescendo explosion, which would be negated by the impaired vision reducing the need to render all of the rocks at the same time. Players outside of the zone would just see a clouded area that gets lit up during the explosion, similar to how the volcanoes already look from far away but on a much bigger scale.
-
The Devil's Roar is not hard, it is poorly tuned and annoying. I make more money in this region than the rest of the world and I am mainly a solo and 2-man slooper. Order of Souls is ridiculously easy in this area. To be honest, the rewards in this region should probably be nerfed to 1.5x instead of 2x so the devs can achieve a tighter balance.
- Staring at a volcano for 5 minutes = not hard and not fun
- Sword dashing to my boat and leaving an island to watch a volcano erupt again for 5 minutes = not hard and not fun
- Sailing from the other side of the world back to the Roar if you happen to sink = not hard and not fun
- Being auto-tracked and 1-shot from 2 miles away = just feels cheesy and too gamey
They can make it twice as hard and it wouldn't bother me. They just need to make it fun (not waste players' time), and not feel cheap/unfair.
-
@gonnableedya said in [Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores:
The Devil's Roar is not hard, it is poorly tuned and annoying. I make more money in this region than the rest of the world and I am mainly a solo and 2-man slooper. Order of Souls is ridiculously easy in this area. To be honest, the rewards in this region should probably be nerfed to 1.5x instead of 2x so the devs can achieve a tighter balance.
- Staring at a volcano for 5 minutes = not hard and not fun
- Sword dashing to my boat and leaving an island to watch a volcano erupt again for 5 minutes = not hard and not fun
- Sailing from the other side of the world back to the Roar if you happen to sink = not hard and not fun
- Being auto-tracked and 1-shot from 2 miles away = just feels cheesy and too gamey
They can make it twice as hard and it wouldn't bother me. They just need to make it fun (not waste players' time), and not feel cheap/unfair.
This is exactly the point I've been making. People going on about volcanoes are difficult and they should leave them be because theyre "difficult". No volcanoes aren't difficult, theyre a time waste. You just AFK out at sea while they erupt. That's not compelling gameplay. Not sure why so many cant understand this easy concept and we talk past one another. Great to see somebody else get it.
Make it harder for all I care, don't make it a dumb time sink that forces you to afk the volcano eruption. Allow me to use my skill to overcome an eruption.
-
@personalc0ffee said in [Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores:
Going to have to agree to disagree then. The Devil's Roar is fine.
So you have no actual reasons then.
Everything I outlined is more or less already in the game to some degree. There is very little there that would cause any difference in performance than is already allowable.
Ash causing reduced visibility - use of shaders, post processing effects and fog effects for long distance. Similar to other statuses that cause distorted or obstructed vision: snake poison, grog, storms
Earthquakes - client based effect, already in the game
Lava flows - apply damage similar to the current glowing cracks that are already there, make them larger or apply more damage so that you can't jump over or cross them and/or possibly have terrain geometry modification or possibly just raise a sunken mesh out of the ground as a physical obstruction
Level of Detail (LOD) and changing occlusion distance can lessen the rendering load on clients within the storm area during the eruption.
-
@personalc0ffee said in [Mega Thread] Forsaken Shores:
As I said before, I feel Forsaken shores is the hostile, perilous, dangerous expansion zone and it is working as intended.
Not at all related to what I was talking about, but cool I guess.
-
@personalc0ffee Yeah, totally related to an idea for a different implementation of volcanoes or about performance of the rendering pipeline. Spot on.
-
There is a volcanic eruption in the live stream recording linked above that starts at around 1:27:30 and ends at around 1:34:30. This is 7 minutes. That is a crazy amount of time to be waiting for a volcano to finish (as the devs do in the video). What others games ask you to sit around waiting like this?
Here are some suggested balance changes to Devil’s Roar to make it more fun (less waiting around) and more skill-based:
Nerf Volcanoes
- Reduce volcanic eruption duration by 50%. Instead of waiting 7 minutes, players will wait 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
- Once a volcano has erupted, make it so another eruption cannot occur on the same island until at least 5 minutes have passed
- Slightly reduce the accuracy and range of volcanic rocks and provide more audio feedback when they are about to hit you (this will lead to less cheap deaths and encourage more row boat usage and daring attempts to dodge the rocks)
Buff other Environmental Hazards
- Slightly increase the damage of super-heated water and lava
- Increase the duration super-heated water and lava lasts on islands after an eruption (this will encourage more row boat usage)
- There are small, steamy pools on some islands. I'm not sure if these become super-heated, but it would be cool if they did.
- Telegraph geyser blasts better, and slightly increase the time between blasts. This makes them less annoying and more skill-based, and would also indirectly buff skeletons by giving players less opportunities to quickly destroy them.
- Reduce the damage of geyser blasts vs. skeletons so Order of Souls isn’t so easy
Rewards
- Reduce Ashen Treasure value from 2x to 1.5x. The rewards in this region are honestly too good. I feel like I HAVE to play in the Roar if I want to make the most gold per minute.
-
@gonnableedya please stop asking for nerfs, [Mod edited]
devil's roar is supposed to be challenging. don't like it?
SAIL WEST, were everything calm and peacefull. you are not obligated to the area if it is to hard and mean for you.
the payoff isn't better because you won't have to put in extra effort.
next! -
@daantjebnl It's not hard, read my other posts. I also suggested several things to make it harder, just in different ways. Orders of Souls should not be easier in the "hard" area of the game.
-
@personalc0ffee I play the Roar and I don't find it particularly hard.
I am mostly miffed that, like the rest of the game, the expansion is not what it could and should be mainly due to a number of questionable design choices revolving around just wasting player time rather than creating an engaging experience.
You can claim that you don't care, but you cared enough to comment in the first place.
-
PLEASE reduce the frequency of volcanic eruptions per island. It is very annoying to have the volcano erupt every 2-3 minutes, which is about the time it takes to row from a safe place to the island. This leaves no time to explore the island because by the time you get to it you have to leave again, or die.
-
hello there. It's been a long time since the last time I played Sea of thieves.
I've played almost all week end, something like 15 hours and I enjoyed this DLC, way more than any other dlc/event in this game. A new map with seismic and volcanic activity was cool and cooler was the map extension, a bigger map for a bigger fun. I was also happy to see that the chest in this new region worst almost as much as the classic ones in the beginning of the game (don't lie Rare, we know it's true).
But, alas, the game reminded me why I don't play with it more often. First, the volcano accuracy is total non sense. In a 15h play, neither my boat nor me survived to an active volcano. Even hidden behind rocks or in a house, I was killed. It's a pretty cool idea to fight skeleton while a volcano spit fire everywhere, but it mades me rage to be killed everytime. Even more when I need to get 6 chest on a island and the volcano activates again in less than 10 minute.
The burst of vapor could also be a cool idea if it doesn't through my character way too high. I took so many damage from it. The worst part is when you need to dig a chest near a burst of vapor. I've fly away something like 4 time with this (and took so many damage). Less burst of vapor or a lesser jump (with almost no damage) would transform it to a cooler game idea.
Alas, as always, it's not this game mechanism which made me quit but the community. I thought the alliance idea would calm every player but it's a big no. I've meet a 4 players (i was playing as solo), the had every legend stuff and, even if I told them I was friendly, they kill me to steal me 2 small chest. I don't see the point of this, they must be proud to be able to kill a solo player while being 4... With Skull & bones coming (and his pvp system of "you kill players = there is a reward on you), I don't get why Sea of thieves players are just so aggressive for nothing.
Well, I hope you will continu to improve the game and find a way to make it playable, I'm tired of raging on this game because of it's community.
May the force be with you
-
I don’t think FS needs any change what so ever. I fear most pirates challenge comes from going in solo or like many have stated sailing it like the rest of the sea of thieves. Don’t get me wrong I have tackled it solo my self. But after going in a couple of nights with random galley crews I had no trouble what so ever. To be fair I was the one that stayed on board preparing and keeping her out of harms way. Boring I’m sure for most but I had a blast making it my sole job keeping her afloat while helping others achieve their goals in the Forsaken shores. Good luck to all that are having troubles out there. Just remember You win some you lose some in the Sea of Thieves. Just don’t give up.
-
The new area is great, incredible atmosphere... but the volcanic activity most of the time it's out of control.
I mean, the eruptions happen every 5 minutes, time in which you can not do anything because you will surely die (what is the fun of standing 5 minutes in a cave...and do the same 5 minutes later?).The burst of steam is great too, but it's too damaging...even if it did less damage it could be used to jump and reach higher places quickly.
They are also a big problem when you need to dig in that place, it's impossible, you have to stand waiting for it to calm down at some point.
For this, maybe give the option of throwing water with the bucket to close and you can digThis turns an experience that should be challenging and take you by surprise... in something repetitive, meaningless and frustrating.
-
The Order of Souls voyages last too long. I only have about 1-2 hours of game time, and normally it takes me about 30 mins to get to the Devil's Roar. The problem here is that I've been consistently getting voyages over 3 chapters long, with around 2-3 captains per chapter. And I'm only at around swabbie rank in the OoS. Considering it takes a good amount of time to sail around and fight the skeletons as a solo slooper, the game seems like it's trying to alienate me for wanting the cool new cosmetics. I know a lot of people have been complaining about this, but the volcanoes are way too 'un-random'. I've been sailing ~2 tiles away from a volcano, going max speed in a sloop, and getting sniped multiple times by boulders. Realistically, what are the odds that multiple flying rocks would hit the same ship multiple times?
-
I've recorded a volcano eruption that lasted seven minutes. This is way too long to wait in a game and be expected to call it "fun".
Some approaches to these volcanic islands require three attempts.
I didn't pay AUSD$100 to pause game play and wait. I'll do that when I'm dead.This seriously needs to be tweaked.
7 minute eruption (video link)
