Myself and a group of friends were Beta and Day one players and have had our fair share of fun in Sea of Thieves. The problem is that most of that fun came from our own camaraderie, banter and ability to create our own content and enjoyment.
Rare have created a beautiful world however since day one it has felt a mile wide but only an inch deep. There is very little game here. What little to do is so repetitive that it very quickly becomes boring. Grinding for Rep and grinding for cosmetic reward slowly becomes a bit pointless.
The PvP can be fun, but it can also be very much not-fun for numerous reasons as countless posts on this forum will prove.
Some of the best moments I've had on this game, no, all of the best moments I've had in the Sea of Thieves have been instances where multiple ships and crews have come together with a common goal and with voice communication have managed to organize themselves to raid islands, kill "the" megalodon, ghost ships, forts, co-ordinated and agreed PvP or just larking around and having fun on a boat.
One year later and the game still doesn't have an in game "player hub" like an island where PvP is restricted and players can round up a crew if they want to or just show off their sweet cosmetics. A safe haven where combat or alliances can be organised, and solo players may get a chance to group up with other willing players rather than feeling alone in a world full of frustrating peril.
I will list some improvements that I would like to see. some may agree and some may not but this is my feedback and take it as you will.
The game would be much improved if there was more depth and clarity to the following points:
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Lore: Why am I a pirate? Who am I and how did I get here? What’s the story?
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Motivation: What should I do? Why should I do these things?
A: for monetary and cosmetic reward
B: To learn and open up more story! -
Reward: What tangible benefit will I get for doing the things? How have I improved for having done the things?
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Player Hubs: If all I get is cosmetics and my own personal experience then let me show it off. Or let me offer help to others or request help from others and form in-game community without risk. ie. An island with no PvP for those who want it where quest chains can start or Arena events can be posted.
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Arena: This will be fun for a while I'm sure, but it shouldn't be accessed from the title screen as if it were a different game inside a game. It should be somewhere I have to sail to reach. Even if I must then "teleport" to the Arena servers at that point.
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World Creatures: The Kraken, Megalodon's, Ghost Ship's - All of this needs to be less frequent or confined to area's of the map that a player can choose to venture out too/summon. The past few times i've attempted to play, I've encountered almost all of these, in the space of 1-2 hours play. It slows the game down, there's no real feeling of surprise, danger or fun to it anymore, the frequency has really taken the shine off.
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PvE story, Proper quests and questing with Voice acting!
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NPC's that are NOT pirates.
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Island towns with law’s and rules etc.
All these things should be self-explanatory but would improve this world and add the much-needed depth that is sorely lacking.
To conclude. SoT is a beautiful game with lovely water, ships, physics etc but it misses so much of it’s potential. Sandbox is boring. Give me structure, give me purpose. Give me goals and achievements that I can enjoy and be proud of. Add more depth to this world and it could be great, but these small bolt-on expansions are just to a shallow and are simply not the answer. Please Rare, give us a game.
