One Week Into Game. Good and Bad

@kobra4killz
If you look around the forum, there are plenty of posts like this. There are also posts from pure pvpers asking for more pvp rewards.
Either one of these things would unbalance the game. This game is meant to be played as a mix between both styles. If you only like one, you're not going to have as much fun because youre only doing half of the game.

Also, it's fine to have different types of ships. Anyone can go on any ship, so its not an imbalance. That's like calling the armory unbalanced because not everyone has your loadout. And for your port respawn idea, just no. Just imagine you died while fighting the fort and had to have your crew pick you up to keep fighting.

Finally, some things you can do to mitigate pvp are to sell often, and keep an eye on the horizon.

You have a lot of points here to answer....

The game isn't meant to be fair, it's meant to be level. A 4 man crew always has an advantage over a 2 man crew. If you decide to play Solo then you are at a huge unfair disadvantage. But's that's your choice.

The 3 ships should NOT share the same mechanics (speed, manoeuvrability, anchor and sail mechanics...etc.) They are catered/balanced to the amount of players in a crew, but you can sail them all Solo should you wish. They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Re-spawning on your Ship is the logical option looking at over-all game play. Where else would be better? Everybody respawns on (or near) their Ship. This is just an aspect of the game. You have to develop your tactics around this mechanic.

Players that wait for you to finish a fort and then attack are actually doing some pretty smart "Pirating". Why do all the work when someone else will do it for free. Remember that Treasure isn't "yours" until you manage to sell it. Just because you did the Fort and loaded up the treasure on your ship doesn't make it "yours". Until you sell it it's up for grabs.

@kobra4killz This game brings up a variety of emotions that may be unfamiliar to some gamers. Anxiety as you spot a ship a couple of squares away approaching your area. The tension as you navigate your sloop around a set of boulders while a galleon is chasing you, while thinking about how best to hit them with a gunpowder keg. These saturated feelings may be uncomfortable, but they are not an indication that the game is broken. The whole point of digging up chests, collecting skulls, and gathering packages is to instill a sense of value into the items. You invested time and effort into it and you want to be rewarded for it. They built a game focused on thievery, and the loot actually has meaning (or you wouldn’t be here complaining). It seems that you, not Rare, are misunderstanding the core concept of the game. You felt a deep disappointment in the loss. You felt something real. Just imagine the highs you will feel after a hard won victory. If you thought this was just some sailing simulator with some archeology and package delivery built in, then you didn’t do much research. The title alone should have tipped you off.

You might be thinking “some people just play to relax and do not want to spend their few moments of game time paranoid” I agree, but there are plenty of other games for that. You also don’t pick up Friday the 13th or State of Decay for a camping simulator to enjoy with the kids. This one would actually be broken by a PvE only mode. At least once a week someone new to the game comes here proclaiming the game needs to do this or die. We also have players screaming for more focus on PvP or the game will die. Recently we had a new player actually promise to write an essay detailing how to accomplish PvE mode without breaking the game, though I believe they realized their error once they researched the issue. So far we have not heard from them since then. It is much more complex than it seems on the surface.

Most players gain some perspective once they have played a little while. The threat of other players is usually easy to avoid. Also, if you play for hours in peace before you are attacked once, does that really sound like a free-for-all bloodbath? Forts were designed to inspire PvP. There is a massive skull advertising the location, the game makes it very apparent to everyone on the server when the key to the vault drops, and it takes several trips to your ship to carry all the loot. The vault even contains a mega-keg of gunpowder specifically designed to sink any ship. If you want to avoid PvP, then avoid forts. There are faster ways to make money unless you are sure your crew can hold off other crews trying to challenge you.

As others have pointed out, ship speed is only one trait. Think of it like gun balance where a sniper rifle is more accurate at a distance than a shotgun, but loads slower and does less damage at close range. The sloop is a highly maneuverable tank in competent hands, but will usually lose if they try to trade broadsides with a galleon. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of each ship type. They are pretty well balanced.

Hey, I have been on both ends of that situation. That is the game. We took a skeleton fort, loaded the boat with 7 explosive barrels, and a guy shot me while carrying the last one up the ladder. Our boat looked like a fireworks show and we sank. They got our loot and took off. I congratulated them on a well played heist. There are numerous ways to tell if someone is nearby such as mermaids. It's the pirate life friend.

Welcome to Sea of Thieves.

You will be losing more loot. Guaranteed.

The entire notion the toxic element of this community promotes is laughable. It's a pirate game so that some how excuses behaving like a total real world jerks.

WoW had PVP servers a decade before Rare came up with the concept. Two waring factions bent on destroying each other. Nothing more PVP than that. Yet there was, and still is, a difference between someone PVPing and having fun with the game and someone who is a straight up griefer who is only playing to troll and lacks any respect for their fellow gamers.

At least in WoW you could call on your alliance for help when getting bullied....say long me a lvl 50 just repeatedly killing and camping low level players. In Seas your recourse is to quit - it's even the suggestion Rate gives you on the death ship. Solo getting griefed by a 4an crew, tuff, we are told It's the game.

Without a bounty system and without any sort of mechanic to discourage griefers, note this is different from PVPers, then this game will continue to tell it's player base their option is to just quit until all that's left are the trolls.

@lnin0 said in One Week Into Game. Good and Bad:

The entire notion the toxic element of this community promotes is laughable. It's a pirate game so that some how excuses behaving like a total real world jerks.

WoW had PVP servers a decade before Rare came up with the concept. Two waring factions bent on destroying each other. Nothing more PVP than that. Yet there was, and still is, a difference between someone PVPing and having fun with the game and someone who is a straight up griefer who is only playing to troll and lacks any respect for their fellow gamers.

At least in WoW you could call on your alliance for help when getting bullied....say long me a lvl 50 just repeatedly killing and camping low level players. In Seas your recourse is to quit - it's even the suggestion Rate gives you on the death ship. Solo getting griefed by a 4an crew, tuff, we are told It's the game.

Without a bounty system and without any sort of mechanic to discourage griefers, note this is different from PVPers, then this game will continue to tell it's player base their option is to just quit until all that's left are the trolls.

Nonsense. There is no LVL50 super powered player in this game to bully anyone. We all have the same abilities and tools regardless of whether we started today or are Pirate legends with Athena level 10. The only thing separating one player from another is experience and knowledge. Someone is repeatedly killing you? Scuttle. It gets you out of the situation and onto a pristine new boat, and you lose zero wealth or reputation as a result. Just switch servers if you never want to see them again. And next time keep your head on a swivel to avoid other ships unless you are willing to chance a fight.

The OP described hanging out with friends at a fort. Forts were designed specifically to lead to interactions between crews (good or bad). They have 20,000 - 40,000 worth of loot inside, the skull in the sky tells everyone on the server where you are, and anyone paying attention can see when the key to the vault drops. Sorry, but none of that indicates the developers intended that other crews should just drive by to offer congratulations without trying to grab the loot for themselves. It would have been easier to code granting us wealth when we kill the fort captain rather than creating a vault with a key, and items with very specific places to turn in. The developers wanted to us to haul it somewhere else, risking losing it until we turn in.

Getting back to the OP, the SMALLER boat (not some uber-leveled player with impossible to defeat gear) took the fort away from the OP’s crew. That was not bullying or griefing. Those terms are being misused by you. The attacking crew was playing a game based on thievery set during the golden age of piracy. Stealing. Taking stuff from one another. Note the third word in the title...

@lnin0 said in One Week Into Game. Good and Bad:

The entire notion the toxic element of this community promotes is laughable. It's a pirate game so that some how excuses behaving like a total real world jerks.

Its not toxic. You only believe its toxic because you think everything should be rainbows and sunshine. Not all games need to be like that. Games that are mean and punishing to players are usually the most regarded games on the market.

WoW had PVP servers a decade before Rare came up with the concept. Two waring factions bent on destroying each other. Nothing more PVP than that. Yet there was, and still is, a difference between someone PVPing and having fun with the game and someone who is a straight up griefer who is only playing to troll and lacks any respect for their fellow gamers.

Everyones fun is subjective. You shouldn't dictate how everyone should or shouldn't have fun.

At least in WoW you could call on your alliance for help when getting bullied....say long me a lvl 50 just repeatedly killing and camping low level players. In Seas your recourse is to quit - it's even the suggestion Rate gives you on the death ship. Solo getting griefed by a 4an crew, tuff, we are told It's the game.

You can always ask for help online. Make friends and fly a Galleon. You can even 2 man sloop and if you know what you are doing, you'll have Galleons running away from you.

If you are good enough at the game, then you can run away from a Galleon solo and might even sink it solo.

Reputations mean nothing in this game. Less now even after they made it so easy to level. Every player has the same capabilities and opportunities.

Without a bounty system and without any sort of mechanic to discourage griefers, note this is different from PVPers, then this game will continue to tell it's player base their option is to just quit until all that's left are the trolls.

Bounty systems at the moment can't be implemented successfully on any platform at the moment, so nope to this. PvP'ers don't need to be punished for playing the game.

First off lets get a better understanding of greifing.

PvP in this game in any form is not greifing. Solo sloop vs galleon not greifing. Spawn camping for 2000000 hours not greifing. Taking your loot and dumping it overboard just cause? Not greifing, a waste of loot, but not greifing.

Greifing when it was created talked about high level players circumventing the games mechanics to go into low level areas avoiding the in game policing system to gank and spawn camp low level players. Camping quest areas where low levels had no recourse. Other games, greifing was where a player found a way to damage players in a safe zone and kept killing them as they were spawning in.

You had no actual way to avoid this and could not actually PLAY the game past your spawn point. THAT is greifing. You CAN NOT be greifed in this game from PvP, only by players in your own crew.

What happens is this game is completely avoidable, preventable, and stops when the player decides it stops.

Yes this is one of those instances where we pretty much blame the victim because its their fault. Its by their choice. Keep fighting or scuttle. Respawning to keep up the losing fight or just accept defeat and scuttle.

Not every game that has PvP has PvE servers or a perfect way to protect PvE players.

Also why is it so hard to believe that there are players out there that enjoy how the game is? Too many games out right now where PvE players are put into a protective bubble. Not enough blood thirsty games out there where a player can really just let loose and run wild.

You can literally feel like a Pirate King in this game by turning the whole server in on its head. Striking fear into a ship when they see your colors coming over the horizon.

My crew mate and I terrorized a whole server alliance in our 2 man sloop. 1 sloop vs 2 Galleons, a brig, and a sloop. We sank them over and over and took over the server.

"Well this game will die because they won't protect PvE players" - That is false. This community really underestimates a persons need to cut loose sometimes. EvE Online which is arguably the most brutal and unforgiving game on the market is still going strong. Almost 20 years and that game still has a large and loyal fan base. It's a game where you have to pay a monthly subscription to play. Players are willingly paying to play a game where they can lose a years progression in less than 30minutes. I played it for 8 years and only stopped because I was getting too sucked into it.

If you get out of your shell where you believe that every negative circumstance is greifing you'll grow in this game.

This game is pretty balanced. Every ship has its own capabilities. Strengths and weaknesses. Only problem is that players are too used to a game style where they are allowed to make multiple upon multiple mistakes and it not affect the outcome of their game play. This is not that type of game. Sometimes you can even make a simple mistake and thats when everything hits the fan.

Contrary to popular rookie belief. There is a lot to learn about this game. A LOT.

@kobra4killz

This game isn't for kids. Its Rated T. It might look cartoony but its not marketed towards children under 13.

Forts are contested PvP events. You were at a contested event and you got attacked. You lost. No greifing was done.

Sorry man. Hopefully better luck next time? Maybe you can parley or try to get onto one of those discord servers with the players take over the server and PvE??

Which ever man good luck next time.

This game is about being a pirate and it does a good job of that. Just join a guild that runs alliance servers problem solved. Plenty of them on discord.

@kobra4killz Im gonna have to agree, i bought thos when it came out. Launched the game, got a chest got killed and sunk, didnt touch the game until 2 days ago. Tried again, same thing. Its insane that after all this time, they havent figured out theres a MASSIVE hole in the market for pirate games. My nephew would love this game if he didnt have to worry about getting killed by outright trolls who would literally camp his empty ship just to kill him a couple times for no reason.

@darkcobrabws
The 'trolls' might have been stealing supplies. Rare has their vision for the game, and the freedom to do whatever you want, including pvp, without consequence is part of it.

@lethality1
But the freedom to pvp or pve is one of the pillars of this game. Some things can be changed, but not that or being progression free. That's like saying a strategy game will never grow because it doesn't have twitch combat

@blazedrake100 You see MOST PvP forced games end up killing themselves with its own playerbase. The thing about people going "But this is how it is and that how it will remains!" issue is that most people say that in fear that the PvP "servers" would lose players to the PvE ones and to be fair, it actually probably would bring more people.
As i said, i played twice since its release and both times, i got griefed. Needless to say, the game failed to keep me again.
Meaning ill probably stop playing again until some other big change is coming. With a PvE server or even on a server where griefing was limited would keep me playing. As i said, i know at least 6 people who love the pirate theme and would play this if the risk of being griefed was lower. Its not even about the PvP to be honest its about people going out of their way to make new player's experience miserable by killing them, stealing their loot and THEN camping their boat to keep killing them when their ship and hard work has ALREADY been cleaned. The least you can do is just loot and move on so that the new player can AT LEAST finish their mission they got caught at. Again, this game as gone a long way content wise but it keeps having a limited success due to the player base it MOSTLY cater's to.
Im not saying everyone that plays and love this game are all griefers because i know theres plenty of people who just hunt treasures for fun but having Open PvP has the side effect to draw the absolute worst in people.

To give you an idea, i have met 1 guy who was not trying to outright kill me even in towns, 1 guy out of everyone i have encountered was actually a fun guy. That isnt a great average

Just now i tried playing again, log in, look around the shops in town to see what i can buy with the little gold i got. Less than 10 minutes later i head to my ship, i see a guy jump on it with a barrel and blows up my ship and sink it. I hadnt even had time to take it out for a run, there was NOTHING on the ship. they just sunk it then the 4 of them chased me around town to kill me.

My ship has 0 cosmetic on it because i dont have gold for it so they can clearly see im a new player and they just dont care, they just want to grief people repeatedly. That is a good example on how to permanently alienate new players.

I tried to get a friend to try it and he played a massive 10 minutes before uninstalling (was trying it for free with his gamepass trial). We started in town and he looked around town a little to see everything and we got killed by 2 guys and a gal who spent 5 minutes trash talking us before killing us while we were just browsing town. I didnt even try to justify that to try and keep him playing after this horrible first 10 minutes experience i cant even blame the guy for spending more time downloading the game than playing it before some jerks just came in and literally spat at him in voice before killing him

@darkcobrabws
You were not griefed. You got sunk by players. Its no big deal really. How do you know they didnt have a big haul they wanted to turn in, and u were takin your sweet time at the outpost.

Btw the pvp in this game is not forced. Yoy agreed to it when u set sail. Also you can avoid all pvp if u learn how to play.

If the games not for u then its not for you.

In one sentence you say you played twice.
Then the next u go on about only meeting 1 nice pirate. I dont think u play enough to judge the games players really

@nwo-azcrack I got sunk, in port with an empty ship. The 4 of them saw a new player ship, jumped on it with a powder keg and just sunk it at an outpost then chased me around town trying to kill me. They had nothing to gain by killing me.

You say i agree to pvp when i set sail, yet my ship was at an outpost anchored before even leaving that port once. Id say thats pretty forced

An can I just say BUHUUU, whatever if you sink/get killed under 10 min of logging in.

Yea, thats the player base i was talking about, the one who will just keep pretending theyre the norm until theres 3 players left playing then complain when they dont have enough of a new player income to the game to warrant keeping it up.

Glad to know i didnt misjudge the population.

@darkcobrabws Your ship’s livery and your outfit is not an indication of level. I run around with a basic ship, basic clothes, and no title though I have been Pirate Legend/Athena 10 since last year. I know that many others on here do the same thing. There have been times I have waited to turn in loot at an outpost while another ship seems to take their time. I am faced with some decisions. Do I wait and risk a fight over my loot when they get around to launching, or should I handle the problem? Are they new, just bouncing around, or are they pretending to be new players? People say and do a lot of social engineering in this game. We could pull up and start unloading, assuming it is a new, lone player and end up with a second player hitting our ship with gun powder. You are only seeing this from your perspective. You know you are new, and that you do not pose a threat, but they CAN’T know that. You can dress, decorate your boat, and sport any title you like, say you are new and friendly, and you might be lying. If you just want to look around, just scuttle your ship, check out the shops, buy your voyages, then take a mermaid to your boat in exactly the same condition it was when you first spawned in. It is beyond me why anyone would make a big deal out of dying and their ship sinking before they had done anything at all during the session. You lost absolutely nothing.

@ghostpaw Oh ive lost a full 2 hours of work ship yesterday the issue is not about losing a docked ship, its the reason why. I was using today as a blatant example of the issue. As my previous post mentions i got killed yesterday with full ships. I had little issue with that. But out of the 5 times ive been sunk yesterday and today, 4 out of those i was griefed or sunk in port. First time they stole my loot then stayed on my boat for 5 minutes, i figured id wait until they stole everything and left and id just respawn back on my ship and finish my job. I respawn on my ship and they were literally standing there waiting for me to come back and kill me.

The problem is people going out of their way to have fun by griefing other players including new players trying this for the first time because of the new gamepass for pc