Enjoy playing with my kids (I've bought numerous copies), but we keep getting sunk - Safer Seas feels like Nerfed Seas

  • coloradotech486
    Seafarer

    Bottom line up front: other games let me change the difficulty and I can still experience the full content of the game. Sea of Thieves has "Safer Seas", but that play mode doesn't have the full content of the game.

    Details:

    I've loved Sea of Thieves for years and bought enough copies that I can now play with my kids.

    Since I've purchased numerous copies of the game (4 of us play at the same time), that I feel I would like to be able to play with all the awesome content available to us.

    Unfortunately, despite trying to avoid other players and beg them not to sink us ("Please, take our treasure, but don't sink us, I'm playing with my kids"), alas, our pleas our ignored and the aspect of this being an online game with better players on the map games shines through and we're sent to the ferry, lose our ship, and my kids decide they'd rather play something else (I wish it were as calm as I'm describing ;-) ).

    I know that this is a hard thing: teaching kids resilience, and the developers have made the game this way on purpose (high risk high reward!). I recognize that many folks may disagree with me when I ask the following, however, I hope that this post be treated as another source of feedback:

    As someone who has paid just as much as everyone else, I'd really love the ability to experience the full, developer created content of the game. "Safer seas" doesn't have the full content. As mentioned, with many other games we own as a family, we can change the difficulty rating of the game and still get access to all the content, all the bosses, all the rewards. We try to play games on their normal difficulty, and many times we try, try again to beat bosses. Eventually we're able to do it. SoT, despite guides, practicing, and recommendations, has the unknown aspect of other players who always seem to be better than us. My family doesn't have the time to put in the hours of work to be the best pirate ship on the seas. I'm just a dad with limited time trying to play a game with his kids.

    I bought Sea of Thieves because it was an awesome game (it still is). The content is amazing, the world feels endless. There are so many amazing and beautiful things about this game that I really want to experience it with my children.

    And that is why we'd love to be able to access all the content. We paid just as much as everyone else, we'd love to have access to everything, too, in a way where it feels that, yes, we won't "beat a boss" on the first or second, or third try, but that we'll be able to do so or change the difficulty. High Seas, as currently configured, makes it feel like there is always another "boss" out there (another ship) that will find us an sink us and no manner of practice will let us overcome. Playing a game where you can get insta-killed by an unbeatable character quickly becomes a game that we'll dislike playing because of the randomness because it doesn't feel like you have enough control to be able to survive.

    Hence: please let full paying owners of the game experience the full content of the game.

    Thank you for the consideration and thank you for making such a content-rich game.

    --
    Nathan

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  • MR SPX SS
    Marauder

    Remember, your feedback will only receive responses like 'Hey, this is a PVPVE game', and even some people on the forum may not support you.
    A safer ocean, in the minds of developers, is a mode that provides you with knowledge of game operation and how to play, and it will not become a PVE mode.
    If you and your children cannot accept the public ocean.
    I'll give you a keyword: alliance server.
    You need to search the Internet for what it is.
    Get to know him, maybe this is what you are looking for.

  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    other games let me change the difficulty

    Those games are designed for such. Online play isn't

    Sea of Thieves has "Safer Seas", but that play mode doesn't have the full content of the game.

    What exactly is SS missing though? You can sail, do voyages, Tall Tales, fight skeletons, forts, fortresses, fight skeleton ships....what else is missing?

    despite trying to avoid other players and beg them not to sink us

    Im sorry, but thanks to Rare adding said feature. Sinking ships now gives us your resources easier....

    we're sent to the ferry, lose our ship, and my kids decide they'd rather play something else

    Sounds more like they dont even like the game to begin with, because they "Lose" it part of life. Learn from it, its a good practice and lesson.

    with many other games we own as a family, we can change the difficulty rating of the game and still get access to all the content, all the bosses, all the rewards.

    You do know, when you lower the difficulty, certain achievements are disabled, loot is blocked and other aspects are not available to you. Making it easier, same as SS

    My family doesn't have the time to put in the hours of work to be the best pirate ship on the seas. I'm just a dad with limited time trying to play a game with his kids.

    Yup. and were all on the same boat. That why we have Diving to voyages and SS

    Best places to sail without other players: Devils Roar. Why? Because the reason you I am sure dont, it is dangerous...

  • coloradotech486
    Seafarer

    Thank you, @BurnBacon

    What exactly is SS missing though? You can sail, do voyages, Tall Tales, fight skeletons, forts, fortresses, fight skeleton ships....what else is missing?

    What I've noticed more recently is the inability to find the two new megalodons (Redmaw and the Barnacle one). You probably guessed that we are definitely PVE focused, and these new megalodons feel like PVE content that is only available on High Seas (yes, I know, they are "on Safer Seas", but you can't use emissaries on Safer Seas, so you can use the map to find them on SS. We are wanting to do this PVE content but feel forced to do HS to get emissary grade 5 to see where these PVE megs are located).

    Im sorry, but thanks to Rare adding said feature. Sinking ships now gives us your resources easier....

    Understood. I think HS is exactly the place to sink other ships. We don't want to get sunk, but we want to benefit from all the PVE content (namely: the latest megalodons).

    Sounds more like they dont even like the game to begin with, because they "Lose" it part of life. Learn from it, its a good practice and lesson.

    I agree about practice and lessons, for sure. There comes a point, though, where people just won't do something they keep "losing" at. Perhaps I'm a little sad that I've bought so many copies of the game with the idea of focusing on PVE but feel like we're forced to do HS to benefit from the full expenditure of funds.

    You do know, when you lower the difficulty, certain achievements are disabled, loot is blocked and other aspects are not available to you. Making it easier, same as SS

    We're totally good with that. What I'm concerned about is limiting content.

    Best places to sail without other players: Devils Roar. Why? Because the reason you I am sure dont, it is dangerous...

    We don't get to decide where the new megalodons are located.

    --

    Anyhow, you are right that most of the content is available on SS (which is great and appreciated. I should have conveyed that in my feedback more). Rather than focusing on what isn't in Safer Seas (the new megalodons showing up on a map), I'll focus on the other content and play through the tall tales with them instead.

    Again, the game is awesome, and appreciate your time in responding to my post.

  • coloradotech486
    Seafarer

    @mr-spx-ss - thank you for the response.

    Yes, I figured that many people will likely have differing opinions and not agree. I hope, though, that anyone responding (or frankly, reading) to my post would seek to understand my point of view and the reason for the feedback. (I think that is the point of Rare asking for feedback :-) ).

    After pondering your response and @BurnBacon 's response, I realized that the root of my reason for responding is likely feeling that I've spent a bunch of money and wanting to access all the PvE content, but feeling like I have to do High Seas to find the new Megalodon's.

    And me and my kids set out to do that, and had a super fun experience finding and killing the Redmaw megalodon, but upon trying to do the barnacle megalodon we were sunk by another ship.

    Of course we know that this is part of the game, and "losing" isn't any fun, but it got me thinking about feeling forced to do High Seas to participate in this new PvE content.

    Going forward, I'll probably go through all the tall tales with my kids on SS and maybe in a year or so any content that is exclusive to High Seas will be on Safter Seas (I know: the new megalodon's are on Safer Seas... but they only show up on the map with Hunter's Call Emissary Grade 5, which is a High Seas only feature).

    Thank you again for responding. Perhaps my feedback should have just been, "Hey, love the new megalodons. It'd be awesome to let us hunt them on Safer Seas in the future just like we can now hunt them on High Seas" :-)

    Happy sailing!

  • Lleorb
    Champion
    Insider
    Founder

    @coloradotech486

    Bottom line up front: other games let me change the difficulty and I can still experience the full content of the game. Sea of Thieves has "Safer Seas", but that play mode doesn't have the full content of the game.

    Sea of ​​Thieves is an online game, the vast majority of online games along the lines of SOT have the risk and reward factor linked to interaction between players, so that even when there is a "peaceful mode" or 100% PVE, part of the content is restricted.

    Since I've purchased numerous copies of the game (4 of us play at the same time), that I feel I would like to be able to play with all the awesome content available to us.

    You can have that opinion, you can express it, but the fact is that Rare has no obligation to make the game enjoyable for everyone, it is the player who must find out whether the game they are going to buy is to their liking or not, so it makes no sense to mention that you bought several copies of the game as a complaint or as if that gave more weight to the issue of your request...

    As someone who has paid just as much as everyone else, I'd really love the ability to experience the full, developer created content of the game

    You are asking for something to make your experience easier without thinking about the consequences of this for all the other players... In the injustice and even disrespect towards those who have made their journey in High Seas during all these years, in how this can decrease the flow of players in the PVPVE servers, in the complete distortion of the developers' idea and what the game has been since 2018.

    We paid just as much as everyone else, we'd love to have access to everything, too, in a way where it feels that, yes, we won't "beat a boss" on the first or second, or third try, but that we'll be able to do so or change the difficulty.

    This is a more subjective question, but once you learn how to kill bosses easily, what's the point in repeating the same activities over and over again in a game with horizontal progression?

    What fun will there be when there is no difficulty at all in the game? I say this from my experience, the PVE of this game is extremely easy, it always has been, but since season 9 everything has become even easier... it may seem like an arrogant or boastful statement, but what I mean is that it takes very little time to learn to be good at PVE, there are few things that offer any level of challenge like the new megalodons or skeleton and ghost fleets, the rest besides being easy are risk-free activities, you will not sink in any way without the external element of PVP

    And one last point, the SOT rating is 12+, I don't know the age of your children and once again I don't want to seem arrogant, but maybe this game wasn't designed for their age and they can't yet enjoy what the game has to offer.

    Again, I hope I didn't sound aggressive, I understand your vision and desire to enjoy the game.

  • Lleorb
    Champion
    Insider
    Founder

    @coloradotech486 Since I just saw your answer... If your desire is to hunt the new megalodons and have more PVE aspects included in Safer Seas, I think a topic asking for this instead of removing all SS restrictions would have more support from the community, I myself believe that content like Megs should be accessible in SS.

    And a tip if you really want to go after them while they don't add SS, if you can level up the flag quickly it will decrease your PVP chances, dive into a Hunter's Call event like a fort or fleet, it will level up most of the flag... buy meat at Shipwright and when you fry some you will already be lv 5, this can make the meg hunting experience less frustrating. When you spot a player coming during the hunt it is best to run away and use a mission to change servers, the megs are always active so there will be one to be hunted there too.

  • iTz Majman
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    Master the way of sailing and you will not have too much of a problem in High Seas. Rarely I get attacked and if you get chased, use the wind to your advantage and try to sell more often, in case you do get sunk. Supplies is something you find everywhere so don't feel bad if you go down.

    Rarely any player interaction by the new megs, killed prob 50+ of them and twice have someone else tried to steal it. Keep an eye out and avoid doing the meg-spawns that's close to the center of the map, focus on the corner/side ones. Remember to bring 200+ cannonballs too!

  • Lem0n Curry
    Vanguard
    Insider

    @coloradotech486 said in Enjoy playing with my kids (I've bought numerous copies), but we keep getting sunk - Safer Seas feels like Nerfed Seas:

    Going forward, I'll probably go through all the tall tales with my kids on SS and maybe in a year or so any content that is exclusive to High Seas will be on Safter Seas (I know: the new megalodon's are on Safer Seas... but they only show up on the map with Hunter's Call Emissary Grade 5, which is a High Seas only feature).

    While they won't show up on the map like when you're Hunter's Call grade 5, you should be able to spot and fight them when sailing around. It may take some time, but so would getting to grade 5 and then sailing to its location on the High Seas.

    If you instead (or as well) take the tips from @Lleorb , buy two bait crates at the starting outpost, put them on your ship and you're level 2 already. Cooking the meat from the shipwright should get you to level 3. Try to find all the merfruit and cook them as well. It goes slower each grade, but it helps getting to grade 5 while doing HC voyages/fishing/raids.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    When I started it took me a while to separate the more serious side of my personality from the game.

    My serious side is a lot of self disciple, goal focused, "get something done", stubborn. Get up and dust off and move forward kind of approach.

    That led me to carry more than I needed to carry when I was playing with others. I created obligations that didn't exist and let it bug me if I didn't get things done for others. I felt responsible for their experience and their goals and it frustrated me when I didn't get done the illusion I created that suggested that I needed to get something done.

    Point being, your kids likely don't really care about getting stuff done, you likely are the one that does. They likely just wanna game and have fun, you have the power to make that happen, no matter the outcome.

    You are the leader and you probably feel some responsibility about that, even in a silly game. Focus on the fun no matter the outcome and then you are really creating the experiences that they will enjoy. You only have so much time to play, you'll never get it all done anyway, there is a bajillion hours of organic commendation grinding in the game.

    Keep it in perspective and then it'll be alright.

  • GoldsMen
    Captain
    Insider

    Many other games will let you change the difficulty and get the full content. But not all games work that way, this is a pvpve game at its core and that is an intended part of the experience and gameplay. Thinking that avoiding that is going to always work out or that there should be a simple difficulty change is contrary understanding of what the game is about, and would not be unlike expecting something such as tf2, pubg or fortnite to change because you dont like the pvp aspects of the games.

    When pvpve sandbox is the core principal of the game you cant expect that principal to be simply changed. I get where people come from on this subject, but when the request is to change the core principals that a game is based on, it is generally an unreasonable request based on misunderstanding of the game its self. Much like people who have asked for souls games to add an easy mode for years but not understanding that the challenge is the core intent of the game and wont change to suit the desire of those who arnt the target audience.

    Its just a matter of intent of the game, target demographic, and maintaining the game to fit what the target audience wants, not what the broader audience wants. In the case of sot, the target audience being pvpve players means trying to appeal to other demographics in a more focused manner than they should will result in a loss of their target audience.

  • coloradotech486
    Seafarer

    Thank you, @Lleorb @WolfManbush @GoldsMen @Lem0n-Curry @iTz-Majman for the suggestions and perspective!

    I now have a better view of things and appreciate the feedback.

    I've created a simpler suggestion that I think gets at the root of what I think would be a great option in the future: https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/177090/consider-adding-high-seas-megalodon-hunting-to-safer-seas

    I also recognize that this is just an idea, and only ask for the consideration. I'll definitely keep an eye out for these new megalodons on Safer Seas for now!

  • Fysics3037
    Marauder
    Insider

    If they unlocked safe seas, I would not care at all. It's simply not that deep. I'd honestly like it more if everything was available but comm progress was locked, so you could still do everything and enjoy it all, just without the rare rewards for completing stuff like 100s of times.

  • MopWieldingHedgehog
    Champion
    Insider
    Moderator

    As OP has decided to reframe their suggestion in a new thread, I'm dropping anchor here.

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