Player Interactions a Top Priority

@el-c4pitano said in Player Interactions a Top Priority:

Streams and memes are made of encountering other pirates. This is the life blood of the game.

Not only has this never been the case but it's a major part of why organic participation has been dwindling for years, and why damaging metas and exploits are so common now.

What has been the most common content approach in SoT the entire time? Messing with inexperienced players like they are pawns and overindulging in pvp cheese metas through hopping and server sharing. Both of these are not good for the game long term or even content, which is why SoT gets way less interest than it should in the streaming/content world.

Most of the people that play a game like sot have no idea who the streamers/content creators are and don't follow the memes or content.

Encounters and interactions are the lifeblood of the game but only from the organic experience side of things. In SoT there has always been a minority of players that see themselves as the majority. Those that just play the game to play the game, without all the side content and feedback stuff are the majority.

The reason that so many people avoid interactions and encounters is because the metas have been unfun for years at a time, it's not fun to encounter streamers (or their regs/hoppers) when you aren't in that bubble, combat in SoT has only worsened for the underdog in SoT, and SoT is filled with ego, so rather than just random encounters to see what happens, people often are out to flex and/or rush to spite/cheesy plays.

@el-c4pitano

So you want a bigger map, but want the areas between zones to be smaller (two conflicting ideas), and want a higher population per server?

I think the server population is fine; I can get stretches where no one bothers me, so I can enjoy PvE, but it's also not so dead that I can relax my vigil. The moment I stop looking for other pirates; I will be jumped.
It makes the server pop just fine, in my book. Any larger (Or if the maps were smaller) & PvE content would suffer horribly, as no one would be able to do anything without being interrupted.

@el-c4pitano said in Player Interactions a Top Priority:

@wolfmanbush Shame we can’t update human decency, isn’t it?

I’m not sure what you’re saying here. Do you disagree that SoT is an open world sandbox built around shared experiences with other players?

If I am interpreting this correctly, you do not think there should be a focus on increased player interactions because there are ill intended people out there?

You brought up streams and memes being the lifeblood of the experience and I explained why I do not think that is accurate.

At 6+ years into a live service game there is very little they could do about it.

On the content side they have very little control these days, partner doesn't mean much in the SoT content world anymore. Doesn't have the pull it once did. They have very little leverage to shift the culture of SoT at this point. As far as player content goes.

Can't force pleasant encounters or compatibility. SoT is always going to have a lot of clashing when you have a mix of people that wanna vibe, and people that wanna cause chaos, and people that wanna create some form of content for attention.

People are often going to make the decisions that they see as best for them, and often in SoT that is avoiding a lot of the encounters and interactions, for better or worse.

@el-c4pitano said in Player Interactions a Top Priority:

@wolfmanbush fair point my friend. Perhaps I could have said that better. Interactions are the life blood of the game as I understand it.

I hear you on the other items; I’m trying to not get salty about game state, having played for so long. If anything, continue to remain optimistic and toss ideas such as the above. I may very well be wrong, but we need more players that appreciate the game long term and I will try and provide any idea I can to help the game.

Non-Competitive play at higher experience levels in adventure took a big toll.

This is one of the few games where most of the experienced players never take on more challenging ways to play. Unless someone plays solo this game only gets easier and easier. Especially brig and galleon play. This creates a LOT of ego in the player base in non-competitive fights.

It's not good for interactions or encounters when the most experienced players in the game so often avoid getting humbled. That's one of the negatives of the "this isn't an esports game" thing. It having so little true competition and quality matchups created a lot of issues in the community, for all skill types.

In most other games with pvp there is either higher risk or regular losses for experienced players. The drama and conflict are still there but regular risk and loss is experienced. It keeps everyone more on the same page.

@el-c4pitano said in Player Interactions a Top Priority:

@wolfmanbush for fun, let’s play a would you rather.

Would you rather:

A. Be solo on a sloop versus a god-tier hourglass solo player on another sloop

Or

B. Be a solo on a sloop versus a galleon comprised of 1 god-tier hourglass player and 3 brand new swabbies?

I don't play to win, I play for rewarding experiences.

I'd rather lose to a galleon that tries to have a fun fight with a solo than win every fight against board spammers and ram rodl'ers.

I gain nothing substantive by winning a fight and I lose nothing substantive by losing a fight.

Nobody is making people board spam without pressure, nobody is making people use exploits or bugs to their advantage in combat, nobody is is making people stay in metas that aren't fun for opponents.

People choose to make encounters less fun for others and then judge others for not wanting to be around them and not wanting to take chances and risks in the future.

Whenever I fight and it's clear that I'm not the underdog of that fight I only aim for fun. Nobody cares if I sink them, nobody cares about my skills, but the other crew cares about having an exciting fight where they aren't just constantly under pressure.

The game is supposed to be about adventure and fun and rewarding experiences. Everyone has to contribute for that to work out.