Preface: I am a long time fan of co-op and PvP / PvE in SoT with my friends. I enjoy other games on the side but every New Season I come back supporting Rare and grouping with my buds for some high sea shenanigans.
1st Impression / Experience: I load in to inspect the S11 Plunder Pass for rewards and to customize my pirate for the new season (cuz fashion pirate)
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Game freezes and hard quits - Reload and Verify Files for 2nd attempt
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Load up (shrug off fluke crash) & inspect the new "Pass"
I scroll through and nothing really strikes me as "I'd pay for this" Maybe these cosmetics just aren't my taste, but I genuinely feel like the FREE rewards look better and the few things that are paid are just not desirable or of quality of my money. -
Close the pass and read up on fixes and QoL
I'm happy that Rare is making things more accessible with Dives, but... Your primary Season feature is "Revamp of the Traditional Voyage Loop"
Im sure you put a lot of work into this feature, it's a great QoL , but I want content not newer better ways to get to old content
*** Watch S11 Trailer** (Maybe I missed something)
Your season Trailer was so basic and didn't give me hope or awe inspiring excitement of "What's around the corner" Just a new QoL feature debute and "go buy cosmetics" tagline. This feels very light and drives me to ask "why should I invest in this"
Load up a Brig with Friends for Coop Fun AH! here we go! I say jumping in with my buddies is exactly what I love most in this game.
I hop into my shipmates vessel and IMEDIATLY notice the oppressive FPS and Ping issues. Upon waiting for things to smooth out (i'm no stranger to new updates and flukes loading in) I mention it to my friends and they reply. "Yeh, they broke hitreg and stability again" (paraphrasing) as I watch my buddy swing at a pig 20 times with a sword before it registers a kill. It's been a problem of the past so we shrug this off as well, but it never feels great to have the core combat feel like it works against you. We avoided PvP because of this persistent issue, we knew it wouldn't be fun. - The night presses on and after a few hours of content we sell and head off for the night.
Final Thoughts coming back to S11
Honestly, "Underwhelming" & a bit of "Disappointment" is how I would sum this up. I can goof off and have fun with my friends in any game, but SoT has always made me feel at home in a special world of pirates and adventure. I can laugh and look at the Screenshots my buddies take and remember glorious adventures and funny moments shared. That being said, it feels like the game is working against us more and more. I want to support the team and be lenient with issues that arise (I get it, making a game is Hard) but, I have to be honest with you. I'm not going to buy the Plunder Pass or new Cosmetics. I find each season slowly getting harder to come back to SoT and I feel like that doesn't have to be the case. I'd love to see a must more Solid and Stable Core gameplay (Server & Combat responsiveness) and more ways to engage with friends and fellow pirates on servers - Missions - Modes - Dives - Instances - Etc. This just feels like a "Filler" season for something better on the horizon and not worth much time/ effort let alone my money for "premium content" when I find it lacking.
Honestly RARE, I love you all and wish you the best. I hope things get better and my input has some if any value to someone there or on the web. Much love and Happy Sailing
-Kryzael-
