Fixing the Player Schism, aka An End to Saltyness

  • xIx ZeNo xIx
    Master
    Insider

    Sea of Friends
    Sea of Chums
    Sea of why cant I have an open world game where I can do what I want, when I want and where I want but not be bothered by other aggressive players that steal my loot

    It always turns into this lol.

    Just play the game if you like it. The game is easier when you have teammates that you can rely on through LFG posts, playing with others in hopes to have cooperation with randoms in an open crew will subtract from the easiness that you should get otherwise. As long as everyone is on their toes and stays calm when enemy ships are in view or are close by, you should have a better time counter attacking/defending.

    I'm not successful EVERY time, but I love all the experiences I get, besides all the jerks I've run into before.

  • Arsigi
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    A very interesting concept. It may not be the perfect solution but I would definitely be in favor of some sort of compromise along these lines. The key word there is compromise.

  • LockFreak
    Insider
    Founder

    @the-minion-256 said in Fixing the Player Schism, aka An End to Saltyness:

    I was unable to unearth an email with which to contact devs. I hope this finds the right people:

    Dear Devs,

    I am a Gamedev from Germany. Mostly indie stuff, so I don't presume to be in a position to give Rare of all people advice. I mean, I grew up on games like Conker's Bad Fur Day, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, and Donkey Kong Country. You guys are legends! But I have been kicking around an idea and have been running it past other players to a lot of positive feedback.

    I am an avid Sea of Thieves player. As Devs in touch with your community, you are aware of the schism. The PVE players interested in forming alliances and immersing themselves in the quest and story content of the game are "salty" about the more PVP-inclined players. Clearly, you are aware of this problem, as you have been considering allowing XBOX players to opt out of cross-play with PC players, as most of the more hostile players tend to be a part of the PC community. Separating the two communities might help towards resolving the issue, but may also isolate the more peace-seeking PC players, dooming them to a sea of trolls, while the more PVP-loving XBOX players will find no one to pick a decent fight with. Adding the arena was a brilliant stroke. I'm happy to report that since its implementation, my own game experience has improved significantly.

    I propose an elegant solution that should allow both types of players to get the most out of their in-game experience.

    You have an algorithm that places players onto servers and shuffles those players around as servers get too full or empty. Why not give each pirate a hidden variable that increments every time they kill another player or sink a player ship, then tell your algorithm to place players with high kill aggression values onto servers with other high-aggression players, and likewise for players with low scores? Players would then be increasingly likely to encounter like-minded players. Peace-loving pirates would meet more pirates to form alliances with or give a friendly wave to when they run into each other at outposts. Aggressive pirates are more likely to run into others with the same style, offering more chance at epic battles on the high seas. Players who would rather play "Sea of Friends" can, and the part of a community that finds that style ridiculous are now able to play together. The more you kill other players, the more you will run into other players who want to kill you. The more you let other players live, the more pirates you will meet that have no interest in killing you. Everybody wins.

    I love your game, and immensely enjoy experiencing it as it grows and improves. I do hope you will consider my idea and look forward to watching Sea of Thieves develop.

    Sincerely,
    "M!nion"
    Dev

    a very good solution for those who do not want to implement a server full pve

  • WinsterZ
    Commander
    Insider

    Sorry, haven't read all your post as it's getting pretty late and wanted to just see recent anniversary topics. But from what i've read about the "pvp-mindset" reputation server distribution it doesn't seem to me like this would solve any problem. The guys that would get fast to the pvp-only server where they doesn't have anything to steal would simply log out and get back after their rep would decrease. And this also applies to the guys, who would start their session by playing pve and after doing some voyage (and being already marked as pve players) if they would like to do some pvp they would have to start sinking everyone on the server to gain pvp rep.

    This solution would still have majority of mixed server, just like it is now, with some added extremes at both sides that probably also exist now too by random distribution.

  • The Minion 256
    Seafarer

    @bugaboo-bill I imagine that on the off-chance that you get attacked all the time and kill everything that comes your way, then you can handle yourself very well and having a higher frequency of pvp encounters shouldn't be a bother and, in fact, be in line with your style of play.
    Realistically, being the kind of player who attacks intentionally would kill much more often than someone who kills out of defense. The ratings would still differ quite a bit

  • The Minion 256
    Seafarer

    @winsterz The idea isn't to segregate the 2 type of player extremes. If that was the goal, a PVE server would be the best solution. Grouping players with others within their kill rating range would only decrease or inrease the frequency of pvp encounters based on their personal style of play. More PVE-inclined players would get attacked less, more PVP-inclined players would get into more fights and everyone is generally less frustrated with each other.

  • Kukkakukko
    Seafarer

    But what about me? I do PVE stuff, alone and with crews, and when I see a ship in the horizon I wave at them. But immediately after 1st cannon ball shot at my vessel I'm on their board ripping them and stealing their loot. You see, I'm not afraid of PVP but I'm not out there just to look for ships to sink.

    After reading this thread I am thinking if I'm playing this game somehow wrong.

  • Lem0n Curry
    Champion
    Insider

    @kukkakukko said in Fixing the Player Schism, aka An End to Saltyness:

    But what about me? I do PVE stuff, alone and with crews, and when I see a ship in the horizon I wave at them. But immediately after 1st cannon ball shot at my vessel I'm on their board ripping them and stealing their loot. You see, I'm not afraid of PVP but I'm not out there just to look for ships to sink.

    After reading this thread I am thinking if I'm playing this game somehow wrong.

    IMHO you're not playing this game wrong.

  • WinsterZ
    Commander
    Insider

    @the-minion-256 My point was that the frustration would rise up if one would want to change his playstyle often, which is also my way of playing. To me, SOT without PvP is not complete. Most of the times I start game with PvE and end up with PvP. This ratio often changes with events. At some events it's like 90% PvP and only 10 PvE and vice-versa. I just have a feeling that this reputation would join me into PvP servers for example and it would be very hard to get back to PvE. Vice-versa, getting from PvE to PvP servers probably wouldn't be hard, but would result in full server of upset people, coz I would need to start killing everybody on sight if I would like to be brought to PvP servers.

  • The Minion 256
    Seafarer

    @winsterz The system would adjust to your change of style, it just wouldn't be instant. Again, the point isn't to split the players into PVP and PVP server groups, just to regulate the frequency of pvp encounters based on your personal play stale. It's still a game about pirates. Sooner or later, someone is going to sink you.

    @kukkakukko That's how I play too. Honestly this system would probably place me somewhere in the lower-middle ranks

  • JC Yukaze
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @jc-yukaze said in Fixing the Player Schism, aka An End to Saltyness:

    How do you prevent me from getting someone "new" to the game to open a closed crew galleon, invite hardcore pvpers, and then have the new person switch off to their main account back into the server. It would still read like a brand new person in those rules.

    What if we never anchor, therefore we never server switch or merge?

    It seems like an easy way to shoot fish in a barrel.

    Hi, I was just wondering how you would prevent someone from doing the above senario

  • The Minion 256
    Seafarer

    @jc-yukaze I would think that the average kill rating of all crew members would determine server placement. That way it doesn't matter who the host is.

  • JC Yukaze
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @the-minion-256 Yes but you can enter the game as a solo and then invite people to your crew.

  • The Minion 256
    Seafarer

    @jc-yukaze Ah good point. I guess that would one of the things to work out in playtesting. I've been subject to server change whether or not my anchor was dropped, so I don't think that's an actual exploit, so the situation would be short lived.
    Alternately, new players could start with a medium kill-rating and not at 0. That would place this hypothetical group on a server filled with both easy targets and people who can fight back.
    Also, as this system wouldn't create strict pve and pvp servers, even pirates with low kill-ratings would always be wise to respond to other ships with caution. People are still going to get sunk. The object isn't player segregation, its frequency of hostile encounters.

  • The Minion 256
    Seafarer

    @jc-yukaze You could. A way to prevent that workaround would be to an automated response to new crew members joining that checks the crew's new average kill rank again and shifts servers if the new ranking is much higher or lower than before. But I don't think that would be necessary. Even with people doing their best to circumvent or take advantage of the system, the general effect should still be positive for both pve- and pvp-style players

  • KillerWhaley210
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @the-minion-256

    Guten Tag Matey!

    Just wanted to say thanks for the suggestion, it's always appreciated!

    Danke

    Killer-Whaley

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