@ghostpaw said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
The ease we feel in dealing with a threat is not a justification to weaken it further. Why even have them then?
Well, I'd say cause they're still fun, but it seems that might be a personal opinion.
And I do like to play SoT to relax, so maybe I'm in the Bob Ross crowd. Then again, I found it relaxing from the beginning before it became "easy mode", so maybe my point of reference is just skewed. =P
I played some duo sloop SoT last night. Did not encounter the Kraken. Had one Meg appear and tail the ship, and then leave, which happened before anyway.
There was a sloop, and a Reaper's run Brig crew doing their thing. We went to Mermaid's Hideaway for one of the new voyages, and was fired upon by 2 island cannons. Got hit a couple times. It's still the same SoT to me.
I guess the only weird change is finding bait in the sand, as well as the other treasures not typically associated with 'digging', like crates and gp barrels. And the new window hatches. Other than that, the game feels the same.
@wildbloodoz So, getting hit with skellie cannons in one game is what constitutes making it feel the same?
Have you encountered EoR skellies? Or been to Devils Roar? Or actually fought the Megalodon? Because before, it would come back to haunt you as you were leaving the island, and it now takes less shots to kill if encountered on a sloop and IT does less holes on yours.
What about cursed cannonballs, get hit by those yet? So not only did they Nerf the Cursed effects, they also nerfed Skellie ships frequency of shooting them at you. Both of those changes are noticable.
dosent did a skelliship since the update,but im happy about they reduced i did a lot skelliships raids alone im on 312 ships(legendary commendation) i just want get this job done.and cannons on isles they where never hard;) even the thoughest first ones;),sure a game should be a challenge but sot can be also a game to relax and i like it
@crafek skellies on islands no can not even hit a barn even if they where in it, volcanoes are a joke and you can simply stay at an erupting island and maybe 1 or 2 rocks hit you.
Kraken and meggies where always a joke since they came into the game and you got used to their attacks.
Roaming skellie ships are easier then ever to take down.
Becoming pirate legend is easier then ever, and now becoming athena 10 is easier then ever.
Gold has become worthless, and basicly since their introduction doubloons became worthless as well ( i have 1.4 million gold and bought all the cosmetics available so nothing to spend it on and have 1022 doubloons and also nothing to spend them on anymore and still need to complete a few of the new commendations so i will have even more in the end)
RARE has devalued everything recently, captains chests became worthless with the initial mercenary voyages and with the newest batch they made merchant crates worthless since they removed all rarity.
A kraken (in combat with galleon) drops about 4~5 mermaid gems, every shipwreck has at least one, forts have 2~3 mermaid gems and there are usually 2 statues at islands you visit.
In about 2 evenings of sailing i have delivered about 50 mermaid gems, all the required small gp barrels and only need 3 more stronghold barrels and 10 more mermaid gems and then im completely done with the new event... its insane, the pandering has to stop
@surveyorpete Difficulty and rarity are two different things though. I cant enjoy fighting a shrouded ghost when I have nevr seen it in 20mil meters sailed. Then when I do fight it I know it wont be enjoyable as its just another unchallenging meg.
@surveyorpete said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
@ghostpaw wrote:
This is an interesting point. Perhaps, we who love the game as it is should say what we love more often. Let me start:
- I have never encountered the Shrouded Ghost; nor the Ashen Box of Secrets. I love that! Keep them rare, even mythical. They should never be made more common,
Well at the rate RARE is going they will be made more common
- I like that gunpowder explosions will take down masts.
Me too
- I like that it is almost impossible for a crew of two to destroy a Ruby Mermaid Statue when it is deep in the water. (There are tactics that work, when it is poking out the water)
No matter how deep, 2 players each with blunderbusses take down a ruby statue with ease, with 3 or more it becomes a joke
- I like that sailing against the wind is slow. It should be!
Jep
@mr-dragon-raaar I do think the very first rework was needed when you couldnt be on the island for more than a minute and it would erupt again. After the first rework all the other nerfs dumbed the game down.
@ghostpaw there were better answers to this though. One allow ship cannons to do realistic damage to mermaid statues on the shore bam solo sloops have a chance at a gem from time to time.
The skeleton ship combat system wasnt the issue it was the bizarre manuvering system it just doesnt match a galleon which is what the ships are. The curse ball nerf I havent noticed its effects yet but I was against the curse balls since they were announce it doesnt feel right in the game more wizardy than piratey. I would prefer the damage system with the anchor drop on direct hits over the curse balls also we should have been able to drop a skeleton ship anchor by boarding.
The meg attacks are more frequent I noticed which seems to counter the health nerf some but I never felt the fear of encountering a meg like I should or the kraken. All of these are avoidable avoidable and always have been besides the skeleton ships spawning on you awhile back.
The stronghold barrel thing doesnt feel right either "let me sell kegs to the mysterious stranger" this just doesnt fit well to me
@el-dth-taco why have we gotten 3 reaper sails btw? No figure head? No cannons, wheel, or capstan? This event was also a chance to see a gunpowder barrel figure head but nope
@blatantwalk4260 said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
@surveyorpete Difficulty and rarity are two different things though. I cant enjoy fighting a shrouded ghost when I have nevr seen it in 20mil meters sailed. Then when I do fight it I know it wont be enjoyable as its just another unchallenging meg.
It's not supposed to be difficult, but an extremely rare and exciting thing to see.
@ghostpaw @BadRobott
I would hope that Rare isn't making these changes solely based on user feedback on the forums and elsewhere.
It is likely that feedback is prompting them to look at data of successful completion/survival of encounters, tales, voyages, etc. Then they can use that data to meet self-prescribed metrics for the game. Apparently, Rare wants more aspects of the game to be more accessible to more people.
Now obviously making the game easier makes it more accessible. But making it easier does not always equal making it more fun, especially for those of us who enjoy a challenge.
Yep devalued their own game. More and more.
Pirate Legend = worthless
Dabloons = worthless
Gold = worthless
More and more playing the game = pointless
PS Why not just make the game single player and make the game rated for kindergarten kids.
PPS Pirate Legend is the beginning of the Adventure... Clearly this was not true when Rare stated that.
Maybe the plan is to make the NPC so weak you don’t notice how bad the AI is?
End of pointless Rant.
@little-squash I never suggested they are basing their decisions solely on posts across various forums. I am certain they look at numbers as well. But numbers on their own do not tell a story. Interpreting the meaning is the trick. Someone has to set (or shift) thresholds, and those thresholds can be based on an incomplete model and/or bad assumptions. I am also not saying this last update made a dramatic difference in the world, but it has been a “death of 1000 cuts” over the last several months. I doubt people would notice a lot of difference. Over time though, the feeling that nothing is much of a challenge, that you are fairly sure you will succeed without much resistance before you even begin, will mean your time begins to feel like grinding through to the goal, rather than a dangerous journey with the real risk of failure along the way.
@ghostpaw said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
@little-squash
Over time though, the feeling that nothing is much of a challenge, that you are fairly sure you will succeed without much resistance before you even begin, will mean your time begins to feel like grinding through to the goal, rather than a dangerous journey with the risk of failure.
I do agree but I would add the caveat that nothing is much of a challenge on its own...
I think some reduction of difficulty was to be expected as more and more threats were introduced that could combine into a much larger threat. For this reason Rare should never prevent multiple threats at a time. Fighting a skeleton ship and megalodon at the same time is fun. Throw a kraken and player ship into the mix and things definitely get interesting.
I guess one could also argue that most things were never much of a challenge on their own once you knew how to deal with them. And your increasing knowledge and skill at dealing with the various threats also plays a role in your perception of the increasing ease of the game.
Still, I get the impression that Rare is attempting to make the game as fun as possible for as many people as possible and that appears to mean that they want to water down the various threats. It's almost like they want to make them look as impressive and threatening as possible without actually being much of a threat... on their own.
@mr-dragon-raaar I get randomizing the shots instead of them being aimed but up the rock toss at the same time so you still have to dodge
@crafek said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
Or actually fought the Megalodon?
Oh, I actually did this just today. Didn't notice much of a difference, but I never paid attention to how many times I shot it anyway.
Biggest difference I noticed was on some hits she seemed to leave one less hole than on the others. So I probably ended up saving.... maybe 5 planks or so?
Sorry I can't be more technical, I just don't keep track of that kinda stuff.
Ooo, I kinda like that. Less downtime, more action. Also gives me more chances to fire cannonballs down the beast's throat to halt it's charges. Something I only recently learned I could do, embarrassingly enough. =P
@wildbloodoz said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
This suggests to me that the game auto-targets your ship, which is stupid anyway. It should always be completely random. If they auto-aim but with a bit less frequency, it isn't so bad, so long as they keep the eruption frequency the same.
They do, just like the cannon skellies. But if you have time to turn AFTER the rock/cannon ball has started its trajectory, it'll still miss.
@crafek said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
With the recent patch, almost everything has become... Easy.
For a lot of the elements, I can understand why, but I dont understand why decide to follow through with it. Megalodons are now easier to avoid, no more EoR skellies, Skellie island cannons are now Stormtrooper levels of bad, and maybe so do the Volcanic rocks. (I just wanna throw in a quick JAB at sword combat being made easier and thus worse sincemayFebruary 6th [removal of Sword swinging slowdown])I dont know what to make of this, is this to prepare for new dangers in the future patches? Everything has been more nerfed than anything.
The best "easy" decisions Imo is the mermaid gems being found all over and Hunters Call changes. I honestly started feeling a bit bored. Im here suggesting that we add Megos and Krakos and all ships to the same Arena server with cursed cannonballs and maelstroms, and all im getting is easier to use and fight EVERYTHING.
[I just want to eliminate the argument of Powder Kegs and players. Players will always make things "harder" no matter how little or much threats there are in the sea]
yeah this looks bad i think they're taking advise from summit1g which if they are that's stupid
@dislex-fx said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
Everything in the game has become easy. It's ridiculous and I'm watching one of my favorite games become less and less of what it was.
Heck, our clan got someone to Pirate Legend in 8 days.
Also, after the "double gunning" "fix", swords are pathetic and almost ALL actual cutlass duels are gone. Sea of Thieves is basically a First Person Shooter now.
Do you think that has less to do with the game being "easy" and the fact that your clan, who are probaly mostly pirate legends helped him rank up?
@kiniko said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
@dislex-fx said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
Everything in the game has become easy. It's ridiculous and I'm watching one of my favorite games become less and less of what it was.
Heck, our clan got someone to Pirate Legend in 8 days.
Also, after the "double gunning" "fix", swords are pathetic and almost ALL actual cutlass duels are gone. Sea of Thieves is basically a First Person Shooter now.
Do you think that has less to do with the game being "easy" and the fact that your clan, who are probaly mostly pirate legends helped him rank up?
Well, both, but I honestly believe it's mostly due to how easily players can rank up. As well, how players can now buy reputation too.
Played a bit more over the weekend. I admit, the skelly ship I took down was easier for sure. Less cursed cannonballs fired etc. I'd already achieved my 50 skelly ship commendation so I didn't feel like taking them on anymore. This change motivates me to battle them again.
Went to the Devil's Roar, and sailed right through an eruption because I knew they'd be safer. But had I not known about the volcano nerf, I wouldn't have realized. My ship was still hit a couple times. That's about as much as I'd get hit before. Before the nerf I would often sail through eruptions because I was too lazy to sail away and wait it out for 5 minutes. That's boring to me. I've even sunk skelly ship crews in the Roar a few times, with volcanoes erupting around me, and still survived. This nerf doesn't change anything for me.
I realized that I don't really care about these changes because I'm not fussed about the PvE anymore. Once I had killed 20 Megs, and 30 Kraken's, and sunk 50+ skelly ships etc, the PvE just became an annoyance to me. That's my personal opinion. I play the game for the PvP. Even just interaction with other players and seeing what happens. That is more interesting to me.
@surveyorpete said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
@ghostpaw wrote:
Rare is reacting to the repeated posts from players complaining about one thing or another. But like reviews of products, people usually are not motivated to share when they are content or pleased with something.
This is an interesting point. Perhaps, we who love the game as it is should say what we love more often. Let me start:
- I have never encountered the Shrouded Ghost; nor the Ashen Box of Secrets. I love that! Keep them rare, even mythical. They should never be made more common,
- I like that gunpowder explosions will take down masts.
- I like that it is almost impossible for a crew of two to destroy a Ruby Mermaid Statue when it is deep in the water. (There are tactics that work, when it is poking out the water)
- I like that sailing against the wind is slow. It should be!
Exactly.
This is an important part of the feedback collection process for Rare. It is important that those of us who like things the way they are speak out and talk about it. Otherwise, we become the silent majority, and the loud minority sound like the majority.
People accuse us of trying to silence others when we bring our rebuttals to their suggestions, when all we're doing is adding to the feedback and jumping into the discussion to say why we don't want the nerfs and changes. I think this helps Rare get a more accurate picture of how people actually feel.
I agree with all the points you have listed. Enough with the nerfs!
@chronodusk the first one is terrible confusing rarity with difficulty is absurd putting content in the game with completion expectations in the form of commendations and dubloons is messed up considering only a rare select few seem to ever get it. There is a difference between something being rare and making completion of a games commendation section nearly impossible because of a luck factor has nothing to due with easy but a stupid rng system designed to make people waste months trying to complete a task especially when the shark is no more difficult or easy than all the others.
@shanickredbeard said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
After hours of gameplay: no not easy, but less annoying.
Rare should now create real threats and not annoying threats
Many of the current threats used to be real threats back when they were introduced. Players complained so they were toned down until they were just annoying. For example, I miss dreading the moment a skeleton ship popped up out of the water next to us. Now they are about as dangerous as a carnival ride.
Were they THAT different though?
Genuinely asking. The Megs were the only thing I engaged with from the beginning since Karen didn't attack sloops at all and skellie ships I usually just hung them up on an island and ran away.
So my only real frame of reference IS the Megs. And for all the talk of toning down the threats, really all it seems is being toned down is time spent.
The Meg still moves and attacks exactly the same. The strategy to defeat it is basically the same since we first called the Hungering One from the depths.
The main difference is just how much time we have to commit to the encounter. And, personally, I find that more annoying than anything. I'd rather have shorter encounters more often than long, drawn out bullet-sponge battles.
But as I said, that's just how I feel based on the Meg. Karen seems like the same thing, but I couldn't fight her initially, so I can't speak conclusively on that.
The biggest change seems like it would be the skellie ships with the reduced pursuit and Cursed Cannonball durations. But I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes since I never had too much trouble keeping away from them.
Even when they used to pop out of the water; as soon as I heard the music, I'd just head for the nearest island. Could usually beach them long enough to slip away.
So all in all, I guess I'm just wondering if Rare has made the random encounters easier or just shorter. Cause while a longer encounter is harder, it's about the cheapest form of challenge there is and I would feel no remorse in seeing it go.
@vac(a)-hombre Yes. The Kraken was not as difficult in the beginning but was beefed up for a short time before being dialed back again and made much more predictable. Skeleton ships were a lot more aggressive and accurate. They would pop out of the water and engage us without warning. Losing them was unlikely unless we could beach because they would stay forever and they have unnatural abilities on the water. They also had much better aim. Based on your post, are you saying they disengage when we get near islands like megs, because that is new if it is the case? The last I knew they would keep circling the island and taking shots at us when possible. I would agree that most recently these elements were not much of a challenge unless you could manufacture a situation where you take on several at once. This is why I am disturbed to see them taken down another notch. Island and fort cannon used to be very accurate but they were already nerfed to be just annoying rather than meaningful. Same with volcanoes.
It seems like I am protesting because my favorite restaurant has announced again that they are making their food even more bland, and the other patrons are telling me it is no big deal since the food was already tasteless to begin with.
@mr-dragon-raaar said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
@ghostpaw with regards to skelly ships. if you sailed close to islands or big rocks if you were lucky they could crash into them which gave you enough time to get away (if of course you hadnt already been jig-balled to death!!)
I knew about that. I was disappointed early on to discover they could not recover from being beached or stuck in a group of rocks.
@ghostpaw said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
Based on your post, are you saying they disengage when we get near islands like megs, because that is new if it is the case?
No, I'm saying what you said. When they popped out of the water I'd head for an island and beach them. Sorry, I thought I said that in my post. I haven't had a close encounter with a skellie ship since they stopped spawning right beside you.
And I kinda get what you're saying; I mean, I was fine with how things were (though I am glad the Kraken can attack sloops now). I didn't feel any "nerfs" were necessary, but I also don't feel like they were all that big a change either.
@blazedrake100 said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
If there goal is to make it shorter but just as hard, they should have given stronger attacks and challenging abilities with the reduction in health.
That would at least be more interesting. Just upping the health doesn't really do anything for me. Though, to be honest, I've killed two Megs since the change and haven't really noticed a difference.
@mr-dragon-raaar said in Has Adventure mode Switched to Easy Mode?:
edit: i assume thats what hombre meant rather than that they disengage.
Indeed!
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