@guybrush3pwood2 I like this idea, however what I would change is that the escort ship shouldn't be able to damage or kill the escorted purely because it will just not work as people would abuse it and others wouldn't use it because it's abused, I think also they should have to stick with them and not just the escort carrying on with their own business. As you know what you're signing up for I think it would be cool to almost make it a mandatory thing to have to stay with your escorted ship, then maybe you can choose to help them or not with missions or stay on their ship, I'd imagine a lot of people would help as it would be quite boring otherwise....

I also believe the escorting ship shouldn't be able to interact with the loot of the escorted ship

I'm not against betrayal but I think making it an in game feature to hire another person to help you out would be epic, maybe you're new, maybe you're disabled? Not a safe zone but more of a tutor experienced in PVP or at least can be a distraction whilst you run away 😂
There are loads of examples where something has been added to make it easier (match making, tutorials, alliances etc) I can't see why being able to hire someone to help you out couldn't be a thing, maybe they could bring out a store witg a currency earned from this feature, maybe Dabloons but who isn't just sitting on 500+anyway lol

No i don't think they should implement those things either. Without the threat of being sunk the game would loose some excitement in my opinion.
Back when forts were highly contested, it was really exciting making the trip to the outpost, brimming with loot and scanning the horizons for incoming masts. Without that threat, I think SOT would loose something.

@guybrush3pwood2 said in Mercs for Hire and Quest Escorts:

I hate the idea of PvE only servers and safe zones.

I don't think Rare could or should incorporate safe zones or bother implementing PvE only rulesets into the game because that will be a complicated mess filled with exploits and a huge waste of dev time but if people want to have private servers, and pay for the associated Azure hosting for that (not cheap), then they can do whatever floats their boat IMO.

@d3adst1ck Yeah, I guess any large, new development would be at the bottom of the pile. After the Anniversary update I'm sure they've got their hands full with bug fixes.
I guess if alliances survive server transfers then this could too. You'd only be passing through a number of variables connecting the escort and the escorted.
Yep, I guess there would be contract timings and on-going missions to think about too, but I guess if someone is really dying to do a Tall Tale or just PvE for a bit then they would have to take out the protection first.
Haven't Rare got a 10 year plan for SOT? They'll get through their very long list eventually. Just see soooooo many comments from salty PvE'ers that it would be nice to do something for them and I hate the idea of PvE only servers and safe zones.

@guybrush3pwood2 I mean yeah you could pile on a new faction and commendations for this new system, but most of those commendations can be done without ever seeing the ship you are protecting as long as they don't sink - and some of them, if they operate the same way that other commendations of that sort work, would only trigger if you happened to enable the protection before the started a Tall Tale, Gold Hoarder, or other voyage which in general is not going to happen because they are likely going to be getting attacked while in the middle of something already. You'd need quite a time investment on the same server (and merges would likely create big problems) in order to complete most of them.

It would be interesting to have more ships on the server, but the servers are already terribly laggy with the current capacity and it gets worse when ships get closer together.

I mean I guess if they see value in an idea like this then they will do it, but right now its at the very bottom of an incredibly long list of other things they need to deal with.

We did this when alliances where new. Our allienced galleon cleared raids, our sloop chased attackers. Worked like charm...

Yep, thanks for your thoughts. It's better to have reasons for negative feedback. That's the difference between criticism and constructive criticism.

@D3ADST1CK Perhaps if you had escort ships you could actually increase the number of crews per server, making it more enjoyable for people who'd like to see busier seas too?

You'd also want to introduce a new faction to support this with associated achievements and progression levels to increase interest and participation. So yeah, once you've maxed out on the other areas I could see people taking part in this new progression type. At the moment I'm solo-slooping around looking for Megs and Krakens. I may as well be doing that but protecting someone at the same time.

Achievements could be;
Protect a ship through a Tall Tale without it sinking once,
Protect a ship from 5 threats
Protect a ship through a Gold hoarding mission without it sinking once
Protect a ship through a Order of souls mission without it sinking once
Protect a ship through a Merchant mission without it sinking once
and on and on.

So yeah, I see you point, but things could be introduced to the idea to drum up interest and participation in it. That's what constructive criticism is for. It helps you see problems or challenges you may have missed.

Thanks for you post

@guybrush3pwood2 said in Mercs for Hire and Quest Escorts:

@d3adst1ck you still didn't give a reason to why you think minimal people wouod use it?

You are asking for a system that would fit better with a MMO, where there could be 100 other players, than on a server at which there will be at most 6 ships. One ship is requesting the escort, which means there are 5 ships that could take up the mission. At a minimum one of those 5 ships is the reason for the escort request in the first place, which means 4 or less available ships to take up the mission.

Of those 4 possible ships (assuming the server is actually full and not half-empty) - how many are going to be busy doing a fort, a tall tale, their own voyages, fishing, etc... Are those ships going to bother sailing across the entire map? Are they even going to do the escort properly, or will they just sink the requestee because they are pinpointed on the map like they're flying a Reaper?

The forts are already ignored for the most part, and they have valuable loot as a reward. Wasting your time following another ship around, while not accomplishing any of your own activities beyond fishing (because you need to stay within reasonable distance of your employer), as that ship does their own voyages (dig chests, deliver merchant items, kill skeletons, etc...) doesn't really sound like something most players are going to want to waste their time with. You will be lucky to get even 1 ship that will bother spending time doing this when they could be doing anything else that would net them more gold, rep or fun.

I guess as a bonus, they could just sink those ships before they turn in - but that kind of defeats the entire reason for spending development time building this system, doesn't it?

Is that a good enough reason to satisfy you?

LOL, just thought... Knowing us pirates, this idea would lead to the first Pirate Protection Rackets.
You'd find Galleons, spam sinking others until their targets agreed to hire them for their protection.
Perhaps if a crews rating sank below a threshold they wouldn't be able to sign up as a Protector for an hour or so. Therefore making this scenario unlikely
:D
oooooor you just let that happen, after all it is a piratey, scoundrelous and meanie thing to do. Just see what happens and put in controls if they are needed

@nwo-azcrack its not just this idea as im sure youve seen lol.

The rating system could be affected by things like do you betray the crew or not, how many ships attaked that ship and then were sunk by you, etc, rather than people,

As to your boredom problem, thats why it would be nice if there were things in the vein of cooking and fishing but more, and on islands (nodes, minigames for turning tea leavea into crates, making sugar and harvesting fruit then brewing grog)

The game is just empty and dosnt allow good social interaction, if the game has the proper amount of activity all players could stay busy doing escorts.

The fact that the game is already lacking isnt a very good reason to continue the trend by not expanding alliances.

@nwo-azcrack there wouldn't be anything to stop the escort fron getting bored except for the environment. One thing I really loved from The Hungering Deep DLC was the journey from sharkbait cove to the Meg spawn point. The main reason i liked this part was just having 3 or 4 boats all together with pirates swapping from one ship to another was really cool. Felt good to be a part of something.
There's nothing stopping thr escort sinking their charge. I would expect the requesting group to still turn in their loot on regular intervals. Having an escort doesn't mean you can't still sink.
When a rating is given the score couod appear on your screen like a new commendation. If you think the score is low and unfair you may seek revenge if you want.
It would be interesting to see how pirates would use this during testing. The wider world does surprise. Remember when they launched the shouting trumpet? You had pirates following others playing music through it. I had one galleon come up on me playing Belinda Carlisle. You never know what pirate's will do when you give them a new tool

@d3adst1ck you still didn't give a reason to why you think minimal people wouod use it?

@guybrush3pwood2 said in Mercs for Hire and Quest Escorts:

if you think sitting on a jetty with a fishing rod is more appealing then... yawn perhaps the fast paced game of pirate's, villains and thieves isn't for you

The irony of stating that a fast paced game of "pirate's, villains and thieves" isn't for you in the same thread in which you suggest a system to protect you from pirates, villains and thieves is off the charts.

@guybrush3pwood2
I really dont feel like something should be done. Things are ok how they are now.
I do like your idea tho. One thing i wondered about this escort idea of yours is how to keep the other ship from being bored? If i follow u around for an hour and nothing happens. Ima be bored out my mind and start doin stupid stuff. I mean ya i can get a little rep and gold, but isnt that the same as forming an alliance now and protecting eachother? This just makes it easier to find an alliance? And my other question is about your rating system. Whats gonna stop ppl from giving you a bad rating after you helped them?
What about if you agree to help someone, spend hours watching them collect treasure, then just take the flag down at the end and sink em for all the loot.
These are just a few concerns i have. And as passionate as @A-Cranky-Eskimo is about us putting info for this idea, i say its ur idea, so ima just point out the flaws and let u work out the kinks

The hunters guild couod ask for protection whist they fish... yawn
Just look at all the suggestions in this feed! Jist the number of comments on this provide overwhelming proof that something should be done and I for one would hate to see PvE only servers, they would absolutely ruin this game in my eyes

@d3adst1ck why do you think a minimal number of people would use it??? Please expand upon your reasons... right now, loads of pirate's are fishing, shooting pigs and cooking snakes because of a huge anniversary release which includes a whole new hunters guild... please tell me how hunting and cooking chickens is more exciting than providing an escorts service against pillaging and looting pirates bent on sinking the ship you're protecting and stealing it's cargo?... if you think sitting on a jetty with a fishing rod is more appealing then... yawn perhaps the fast paced game of pirate's, villains and thieves isn't for you

Seems like a waste of resources creating assets and code that would be used by a minimal number of players. The return on investment is pretty low; that's a pretty big negative to me.

There's going to be times when no one is providing an escort service... that's just hard luck. You either wait for someone to sign up to be an escort or take your chances.
You could have this functionality provided through the merchant alliance. A Merchant Navy if you like. But it would be cool if they had another reputation area and legends now need 4 maxed areas.
That may make the pirate legends of old less salty. You know, the ones that think legends now have it easy

@a-cranky-eskimo if escort ships sign up at an outpost. The name of their vessel could be displayed at the outpost. They could recieve recommendation points from the people using them. So if someone has a low score they're either not very good or are being sneaky pirates.
The escort duty can be ended by either party by changing their flag say at the end of the mission or before. But even after a job finishes a bad rating can still be given.
The rating can only apply to the one server session, or carry across during a server merge and only participating escorts can recieve ratings

@guybrush3pwood2 right, so basically no negatives at all just them improving and adding to their game.

Now that we have that obvious sentiment out of the way, anyone want to respond with actionable feedback to improve the idea? Instead of being pointlessly contrarian and against progress of the game...

A solution i thought of is escort ships have to signup first at any outpost to get the request ping when another crew wants an escort, and yea ppl could still abuse this (preserving all previous gameplay and freedom) but it would have rep or privilege based repercussions for the “navy/escort” trading company/faction.

You cant sell items for an hour or half hour if you sink the requesting crew, and crews would just have to learn to request early on befite they get loot, obviously.

Solutions and additions, not excuses and “its good enough” would go a long way.

They have been stepping up their game slowly, we need a leap.

So.... what would be the downside to one crew being able to request an escort and another crew being able to assist and obtain in-game recognition and financial gain?

1. alliances already exist - yeah, but they obviously are not working well enough. The number of threads on this topic is proof enough
2. you can join Xbox parties, forums etc - again see point above, also many people don't want to go this extra mile, why should they? I wouldn't want my kids browsing some forum's without my parent supervision.
3. you can always escape conflict if you want to - yeah, you can run away and wait for your attackers to die of old age, or skuttle your ship and potentially loose all Tall Tale progression made so far.
4. it can be taken advantage of - yep this is sea of thieves not sea of friend's. Having something which provided 100% safety guaranteed would ruin thr game.

On the up side. This idea would provide new functionality, new progression potential, new dynamic promoting social interaction, added support of the PvE people currently feeling disenchanted, new challenges to sink escorting ships and new activities for pirate legends and advanced players to feel like they are helping the next generation of pirate's.

@bugaboo-bill said in Mercs for Hire and Quest Escorts:

Everybody not in your crew is able to betray and kill you.
The point is still, get a crew, organize yourself and head for the most firepower if you want protect yourself.
Or create an Adventure Lobby /Tavern for random to find each other ingame.
Or makesome sort of crewbrowser where you can search for players what want to do what you want to do.
Player x want to do Forts...
Lf G crew
Lf B crew
Lf S crew
....

Yeah let me just create an entire system and then get the community to accept it instrad of rare just adding things to their game.

People know crew sizes and can count to 4 buddy. Stop derailing or attempt to make a point on topic.

Everybody not in your crew is able to betray and kill you.
The point is still, get a crew, organize yourself and head for the most firepower if you want protect yourself.
Or create an Adventure Lobby /Tavern for random to find each other ingame.
Or makesome sort of crewbrowser where you can search for players what want to do what you want to do.
Player x want to do Forts...
Lf G crew
Lf B crew
Lf S crew
....

still no good points against this type of idea just lazy hypotheticals and excuses.

One guy literally just explained how getting a crew together works, as if the topic went right over their head.

Alliances are poorly designed.

If you dont have any feedback worth anything then why post shooting down an idea? “Because salt with this = success just because!” Or “find a crew!”

Loool...

The effort and enthusiasm and want for this game to grow and improve on any level has never even been here apparently.

This whole thing is a failed social experiment and they need to just realize that and start adding more variables and incentives for certain behaviors like escorting a ship, without leaving it all up to us with nothing to encourage gameplay, this wont somehow remove social interaction, it makes it more purposeful and more likely to happen if anything.

Why do i constantly see the same group with this good enough attitude shooting down 90% of the things you post on instead of just helping flesh out ideas and stating concerns.

The posts above are mostly nonsensical concerns, but they clog up the thread and are pointless.