Season 9 and the solo lie

If they put the chest in a fleet or an ashen winds at some point it's not a big deal as it'll give inexperienced fighters a better chance at getting chests turned in (which is what they should do imo)

they slightly changed how they are approaching this new chest and the new cosmetics so it's too early to tell how it's going, if next season the requirement is 60 and the chest is in a less intense event everything will largely be fine for solo.

Fights aren't fair, they've never been fair

it's always been about steady and efficient approaches to goals for pvers and fighters with less experience. Nobody has to be an awesome fighter in the game, great fighters aren't necessarily efficient in pve. Often times in this game being a skilled fighter isn't efficient at all if the fight is competitive.

@el-cute said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

@wolfmanbush

Nobody has to be an awesome fighter in the game, great fighters aren't necessarily efficient in pve. Often times in this game being a skilled fighter isn't efficient at all if the fight is competitive.

Exactly ! Good pvpers don't need to be good at pve and that's not punitive to them, they can continue stealing and outnumbering invested players with no repercussion.

But that's not my point and my point NEVER was about fofs. It's about dueling a larger crew, on a same ship.

I know what it's about but it's not going to change any time soon, probably never in reality going off what what they have repeatedly said over time.

That leaves you and your goals and figuring out an efficient strategy for you and others going through similar experiences.

There are ways to approach the rewards as a solo but it will take time, effort, and patience.

Maybe the strategy is to wait it out and see where the chest ends up, perhaps in a more efficient event. There are lots of ways to make gold and get commendations done outside of higher risk activity.

The actual issue at hand is the intent versus the impact.

If you haven't already, you should absolutely watch the documentary. I came to understand that the intended experience of the game is to play on a galleon. I feel that solo sloop sailing is the impact of a game that focuses on longer adventures when an aging player base sees their #adulting responsibilities increasing. I too am in my late thirties with a family, and I definitely have felt the pains of finding a crew on the Discord, and going to bed before they wanted to turn in loot.

This is something I've been really struggling with since watching the documentary: despite wanting to "respect every pirate and their adventure," I really feel as though many of us pirates are playing Sea of Thieves "wrong," if that is even possible. You can listen to the developers in Podcast 11 talk about how they play the game in their off time, and it is vastly different than many of the play styles we hear about in the forums.

Hourglass was not designed to be played by repeatedly diving in quick succession, that's why pirates complain when you can't immediately buy supplies and dive again when their galleon sinks. They're supposed to go raid that sea fort for the supplies before they dive again. Gasp, the developers want you to play adventure mode and not exclusively hourglass!?

I don't really believe adventure mode was designed or intended to be played alone; you don't add features like emotes and voice chat and text chat and big heavy anchors that require four pirates and massive galleons because you're meant to play the game alone. It was a concession for the pirates who can't find a crew. It's like the solo play rules in a board game for 3-5 players. Sure, it's there in case you can't find anyone to play with, but let's be honest you're supposed to play with four people...

@el-cute said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

@wolfmanbush

I know what it's about but it's not going to change any time soon, probably never in reality going off what what they have repeatedly said over time.

I understand. Their speech regarding solo players changed/evolved over time though, videos and publications testify of that. And as a customer buying a game and having access to a feedback thread, I'm alowed to point out some issues that, adressed, could benefit other players, (maybe not you, perfectly fine by that) and possibly make the game more popular because it is fun for everyone. You don't need to mention approaches/strategies as a solution, as I've been here for a long, long time and used them all :D. Furthemore, if you mention approaches/strategies as a solution, a larger crew using them will outplay you, because of the number of people, the ground covered, etc.
There is an issue with the balance, it doesn't jeopardize your situation though. Peace.

If you've been here a long time then you have sufficient experience and environmental knowledge to use as a resource to implement a strategy that will lead to wins against larger crews, sometimes.

Nobody wins all the time.

@el-cute said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

@wolfmanbush Thank you, I think this is exactly the conclusion to every feedback we could get. Tell that to everyone having an issue and job done! Thank you, good evening.

I specifically exist on the forums to support the organic environment and the players within it that are struggling but enabling defeatist narratives is not something I do.

Struggle does not justify discouragement. There are realistic paths for solos to achieve their realistic goals. Getting people on a productive path should be a priority.

@el-cute said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

For the sake of the story, I teach, among other subjects, game design and accessibility at a university. I've never mentioned it before and probably never will again. I strongly believe in the power of feedback as it helps a game grow and adapt over time. That was the original intent of this topic. It's amusing to see how passionate people become, to the extent that they transform themselves into self-appointed instructors, taking constructive feedback and turning it against well-articulated arguments, likely because it threatens some in-game privilege they currently enjoy? No matter what occurs, if you have an issue, it's considered your fault, and you're deemed ignorant, even rude at some point. Change ? We don't want that, it's scary having to adapt. This is demonstrating the unfortunate "toxicity" that the SoT community is often associated with. I dare say that if there were no issues, nobody would respond. By the number of answers, I'm presuming there's something to be found. So, thank you for making this thread prominent enough to potentially be noticed by qualified individuals. And goodnight :)

There is no fault, it's a personal experience based on compatible and incompatible approaches.

We all start out with a lot of incompatibility and over time we figure out what we like and don't like and we pursue individual goals.

You mentioned adapting, that's what we all have to do on a regular basis, some of the foundational design is unlikely to change, this topic likely being something that is here to stay.

@mrestiercol said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

Season 9 meta :

Larger crews let solo sloopers do content (If you already have all commendations or you don´t care about it) they tuck the slooper and then they crush him/her and steal the loot 80% of times, unless they fight a solo god sweatlord.

So yeah, the S9 promise to make solo sloop life easier is 50% lie. Of course, you can make events really fast, but you can´t cash it because everyone will try to sink you, you are the weakest spot in the vast majority of situations.

I´ve managed myself to get 9 fortune chests, only 1 finishing FoF and cashing it, the rest are sneaky steals during a fight between two or more ships and using rowboat or a lucky bulwark barrel on a ship with a newbie protecting it. But I´ve tried the fort like 20+ times and every time is the same, tuckers or larger crews arriving in the last moment, destroying me because I do not run, I fight because is the only way to improve... but this always ends bad for solo players.

I will cash it, one of these days.. but the point is, S9 only benefit larger crews, solo sloopers make the hard works and they get the reward.

9 chests is awesome for how you play. The game has a bunch of cheesing so it sets perceived bars where they never should have been. 9 is great for organic play especially for a solo.

@mrestiercol said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

Season 9 meta :

Larger crews let solo sloopers do content (If you already have all commendations or you don´t care about it) they tuck the slooper and then they crush him/her and steal the loot 80% of times, unless they fight a solo god sweatlord.

So yeah, the S9 promise to make solo sloop life easier is 50% lie. Of course, you can make events really fast, but you can´t cash it because everyone will try to sink you, you are the weakest spot in the vast majority of situations.

I´ve managed myself to get 9 fortune chests, only 1 finishing FoF and cashing it, the rest are sneaky steals during a fight between two or more ships and using rowboat or a lucky bulwark barrel on a ship with a newbie protecting it. But I´ve tried the fort like 20+ times and every time is the same, tuckers or larger crews arriving in the last moment, destroying me because I do not run, I fight because is the only way to improve... but this always ends bad for solo players.

I will cash it, one of these days.. but the point is, S9 only benefit larger crews, solo sloopers make the hard works and they get the reward.

100%.

Like I said above, Sea of Thieves is two games in one. S9 made the PVE game easier for the solo sloop, but it did not make the impending "PVP over the loot" any easier for them.

Pirates really need to understand the concept of the action economy, that explains why sailing a solo sloop is hard mode and really not intended in this game at all.

@sairdontis4317 There is a lot of "head in sand" going on.

For example, everyone will tell you solo is hardmode.

Ok fine, what are the group options?

Open? Just lol.

Discord/Xbox, a little better but if you are a new player not so much, make a mistake and it will get toxic fast.

Even if you get a group, the content is so open ended that the group may play for an hour, or may not sell loot for 6 hours. For new players who in need of gold, this blows.

So in the end most new players play solo.

I bet the new player retention numbers for this game are a horrific joke.

@sairdontis4317 said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

I am seeing that. Yeah, I see the "hardmode" mantra to be dodge at best and an excuse at worst. New players are seen as prey for most of the playerbase I have talked to and played with. I would be nice to have more quick profit sells to even out the treasure galleys many think they need to be sailing with a large crosshairs painted on the sails, sides, and flags of their ships. By and large new players do need more tools to work with not against and the "meta" needs a major shake up or interest will continue to wain with new crews especially ones with the bad luck to be drown in sweat after they leave port .

Is it too much to ask for more profitable and (gasp) fun content for solo players that could again tie into the multiplayer style so as to not forget any styles of play. More loot more chances to steal it and more loot means some of it might actually be allowed to sold to merchants by new players more often instead of sinking to the bottom (sweats don't actually need the gold at this point and will ignore much if not all of after sinking the ship and/or killing the ships' crew they are just out to sink ships after all) be taken by a larger crewed ship .

This is what I hope guilds are.

Ideally, what I really want is an in-game LFC akin to Deep Rock Galactic. Host a captained ship, post what you want to do, find a crew, and do it. The adventure is when the plan goes wrong (not if 😉).

But for new players? Open crew is a roll of the dice as to whether you're getting a seasoned captain or a firebombing troll. That is no good. You are right, bad experiences make new players quit. The game needs a better way to teach swabbies the ropes, because "aren't you on Discord?" just doesn't cut it.

@sairdontis4317 said in Season 9 and the solo lie:

Is it too much to ask for more profitable and (gasp) fun content for solo players that could again tie into the multiplayer style so as to not forget any styles of play.

The issue with this is that many will not pursue the opportunities in front of them.

I've made hundreds of specific posts to pvers that were struggling, sharing specifics of how to maximize profits while minimizing risk, I offer to personally help them with strategy as they progress. They rant, they leave, the end.

Whether it's someone like me on the forums or others on other platforms or tip videos on youtube, whatever it may be, there are resources that people refuse to use to their advantage.

People gotta try to succeed, they will succeed if they put in the effort. They may not do everything and unlock everything but there is a lot that everyone can unlock, a lot everyone can earn. Gotta get up and move forward though, if they aren't willing to do that nothing will be what it can be.