"Larinna's commemorative doubloon-themed item store is disappointing and fails to recognise the dedication of your players, new and old."
This sentiment can be seen echoed both here and on other platforms, in regard to the execution of your proposed doubloon reset, and understandably so.
For years the doubloon currency had been left neglected, Mike too acknowledged this in your most recent podcast, even noting that it had gotten out of hand. Players had been left with a limited catalogue of items to spend their doubloons on. Many would therefore naturally convert their excess doubloons to gold or trade them for letters of recommendation via Larinna, as these were the options they had been presented with.
Then suddenly, on January 21st via a video on YouTube, you cryptically announce plans for a big doubloon reset and tease the upcoming time-limited commemorative item store while refraining from disclosing the expected cost of said items. This sudden revelation within the community obviously led many to speculate and worry just how this would unfold and whether they would have enough doubloons to afford it all. Their concerns were clearly expressed across all of your channels, as players sought answers and reassurance. I thought this would have been an opportune time to engage with the community, gauge where it stands on the proposed change, and together come to a more satisfactory resolution for all parties. You instead opted to keep the cards close until now.
Notably, in the very same video you also stress how the team, with the return of the Black Market, has taken real care in selecting items previously available in the game to return while still preserving those mementos for players who participated at the time. The example you gave was enabling players to purchase the original Bone Crusher items from year one and finally complete their set, while preserving the legacy of items like the Drum of the Deep for those players who took part in The Hungering Deep. You further added that you are treading a very careful line in preserving those old memories. The irony here lies in the fact that this apparent care was absent in 2020, two years after The Hungering Deep had taken place, when the Drum of the Deep could be earned as a reward for defeating three megalodons during The Hungering Deep Anniversary Event.
This leads me to reflect upon previous instances, where the studio similarly wavered on its original philosophy of transparent communication with the community. Why has communication surrounding such time-sensitive rewards, over the years, so often felt as though it was handled with little care or foresight? And why has the team seemed largely unreceptive to the feedback that arose in the wake of such news?
An example of this would be in 2022, during the 2022 Preview Event, when the studio announced the closure of The Arena, stating that only those players who had already reached rank 50 with the Sea Dogs prior to this announcement would be eligible to receive the exclusive Good Boy ship set. This decision naturally left many players disappointed, particularly those who were already close to this milestone. They were left wondering why this announcement could not instead have served as a timely heads-up - and an incentive for them to push their Sea Dogs rank to 50 - thus qualifying for the reward before The Arena would come to a close.
For a game on the scale of Sea of Thieves and with its multitude of time-consuming activities to embark upon, I believe it exceedingly vital that your team diligently considers what reworking or vaulting systems means for the player, and delicately communicates it to them in a timely fashion. Not only because they deserve it, but also because failing to do so will leave them losing their faith and trust in your studio to steer the course.
In light of this, with the proposed reset of doubloons, I think the most sensible and fair approach would be to distribute these commemorative rewards based on a player’s lifetime doubloon balance. So in place of Larinna's commemorative store, I would encourage you to consider implementing a tiered reward system, using incremental lifetime doubloon balance thresholds that you deem appropriate in your mission to truly recognise the dedication of your players.
Should this not be feasible due to how your backend is structured, you could perhaps alternatively tally the total value of items currently priced in doubloons that a player already owns, add that value to their current doubloon balance, thereby estimating their approximate lifetime total, and distribute rewards accordingly.
