Right now you can kinda tell by the emissary table how many other ships there are, but there is no indication how full the server is. People have no indication of the amount of chance you will be attacked by a other crew. Or for the crews who like to attack other players how big the chance is to encounter another crew.
This makes the game boring, as you're forced to walk around the outpost gathering resources for basically not knowing if you need it or not.
Been able to buy resources like cannonballs, planks and food with the gold you grinded makes the game less a chore and more relieving. As the gold you grinded/farmed is useless anyway. except you like skins, but I dont care at all. But with this you can start sailing right away looking for other crews.
you know what I mean,
