i can only speak for myself, but over time it became evident to me that 90% of people just cant resist the urge to initiate hostilities, either immediately or after forming an alliance.
so while i wont typically hunt for ships to attack, i will attack any ship that approaches me, particularly while i am at an outpost or a fort.
when you spam 'WE'RE FRIENDLY!!" "LET'S FORM AN ALLIANCE!!1!" all i hear is 'i am a liar and a thief, just let me get a bit closer.'
Why is nobody friendly anymore?
Some reasons why things may have changed over the last year.
There are absolutely no consequences to having a "shoot on sight" attitude. Getting killed or sinking are irrelevant. And sometimes work to your advantage. Players have realised this.
For many players gold is no longer much of an incentive. So alliances and working together are not that attractive.
...ditto cosmetics. After a week of playing you've got most of the one's that you really want. So gold loses it's value.
PL's are bored.
Arena isn't that great.
The reliance on the Xbox Game Pass to draw new players brings in a lot of teenagers looking for some quick action.
There are still friendlies. But far less than in the early days.
I am a solo slooper pve player and because of that I either avoid confrontaitons completely or attack immedeately. If I get caught off guard and get killed they litterally have all the time in the world to sink my ship and steal my loot so I'm trying the best i can to avoid it. I saw someone yersterday as I returned from afking while he was turnig in loot. He didn't sink my ship so i greeted him and went on my way. But I would never be nice to another ship if i had loot just because you are so easily defeated as a solo player and seemingly everyone will take the opportunity to get easy loot if it's presented on a golden plate and i can't fault them for it because that's the game. If you want to make aquaintances do it without loot and avoid everything as best as you can if you have loot. I couldn't enjoy the game without looking up escape and battle tactics online because i would just lose every fight and eventually every last bit of fun this game provides.
I'm a solo sloop player who has learned from the past that being nice means people take advantage of you. I'm still a nice player but I now am very cautious and also very aware of my surroundings. If I see a ship close to an island that I need to be I tend to just avoid that island altogether. I also tend to try not to keep so much loot in my ship since lately people have been very quick to attack. I've even had a brig attack me, kill me and go on my ship while I had no loot.
Above stated about Xbox Game Pass too. A lot of teenagers are on summer vacation now and with Xbox having a deal (I think it's close to being done) of spending a dollar to upgrade to ultimate status, they now get a year subscription with Game Pass with their Xbox Live Gold account. It's a perfect storm for getting a lot of aggressive players.
My advice is to keep your wits about you, if they don't respond when you use chat or a mic leave immediately. If they chase you just keep ahead of them and don't try to take them on if you have loot. Watch out for them harpooning your ship. It gives them a sure fire way to catch up.
There are still friendly players around, including myself but we're forced to be more on guard because we've been betrayed too many times.
I have a feeling that once the summer comes to a close aggressive players might slow down. Cheers and safe sailing!
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