This game really needs some minor distractions while sailing.

@pellahh

Hhmmm been sailing the seas for 3 years, often enough by myself and have no issues keeping myself busy. Gather supplies, defeat a meg or skeleton ship or you can make a quick stop at islands, ship wrecks.... there are additional distractions if that is what you seek, you can even fish while on the go and just general sailing, keeping sails aligned... from open crew experience I can tell you not enough pirates actually help out on this aspect.

There is enough to do if you want to do it.

@cotu42 I've been sailing the seas for more than 1600 hours, I used to play a lot solo but now I have an experienced crew and we tend to be very efficient, not sure why you gave me that "been playing for 3 years" information, here you have my story, does this give more value to our opinion? I dont believe in ipse dixit, wether I'm the person with more experience or not I think our opinions should talk for themselves (sorry for the digression and the passive aggressive tone, maybe you didn't intended to say that this way but it is just something that kind of triggers me).

This said, "keeping yourself busy" isn't a solution to the problem for me, it's just a way around. Also I already do this, as I said: I and my crew try to be efficient: if we need to go from point A to point B (like when a FoF o FoTD is up with someone doing it, or we are reapers looking for emissaries) we want to do that the fastest way possible: we don't stop on islands or shipwrecks, we just shoot 1 or 2 crewmember there to get resources, no need to stop. We tend to ignore megs, usually a waste of resources on bigger ships compared to the loot you get, can also make you lose the opportunity to catch a ship at an island or to get to a world event in time if you stop there to kill it, this regardless of the crew size. We can fish while sailing but doesn't feel really engaging as random encounter could be. This is why we usually end up chit chatting to keep us engaged because the game itself isn't very interesting while sailing, and that's why I am asking for small random encounters. Probably these encounters are less impactful to a solo player (since you have more stuff to do) but should still feel like a welcomed addition even tho you are not looking for more little distractions. These small additions would also make the world feel more alive for everyone, and new players would surely appreciate these as much as veterans (even tho this is not the big update we are looking for).

I solo sloop most of the time I am in game so I am full occupied.
I do have a friend that joins me upon occasion and sometimes I open crew.
When duo slooping, we still find much to occupy.
When in open crew, most of the time it is so dysfunctional there is more to deal with than when I am solo slooping!
I wonder if you need the distractions because your crew is more efficient and has time to spare due to it?

However, I really do like these ideas. Especially the first. Rescuing a fellow sailor. He needn't even drop a reward, perhaps a commendation for the rescue?
The second I concur with your thoughts and I know some of us have wanted porpoise to follow our ships as well.
The third? Might be an excellent mechanic to introduce in some event, then it hangs around as a permanent addition in the world.

@pellahh

I mentioned my time on the sea to indicate that I have been around the pond when there was little to do and that what you indicate to want is within the game.

Small RNG element to occupy you with a quick response: seagulls in the sky indicating barrels you can shoot with harpoons.

Consistent activity to provide you with good quality food: Fishing.

Consistent active distraction of shooting yourself off and supplying.

Larger distractions with Megs, Skeleton ships and Ship wrecks (non hostile one)

Open crews and new ones are already inefficient and should focus more on sailing usually. Veterans should know how to engage with the distractions within the game. Maybe you should swap roles with one of the supplying crewmates at times... on the one hand you want to he distracted, but refuse to engage with the activities provided. Your claim is that the game needs minor distractions while sailing, we have them and it is on you to engage with them, they are optional. Keep yourself busy is engaging with the elements you claim to want... that are in the game, but if you want to be uber efficient.... distractions is not something you actually seek, as guess what it distracts from the goal you have.

sailing for a long time without player interaction it can get quite boring

haha....I can show you a few posts where players hate interacting with players "All the time" and rather sail in peace and quiet. But yeah, sometimes it gets dull when nobody is around.

even with friends you can't just talk all the time to compensate the lack of stuff to do while sailing

Me and my sloop bud talked for 2 hours while fishing. About? Halo Infinite and family outside SoT So i cant see why not?
Even solo....Im listening to music or messing around in the Pirate Log to see "what needs to be done" and how to do them.

Distractions while Sailing:

• Fishing
• Organizing barrels (if not already)
• Cannon Practice while moving
• Mess with Pet names
• Shoot Pets
• ShipWrecks that appear..everywhere
• Learn to harpoon turn
• Random Meg
• random Skeleton Ship
• Check out the Ferry for any dead pirates/Talk with them
• Shoot off to an island and resource collect.
• Test yourself. Can you pass an island on foot before your ship?
• See a captain on land? Shoot off but dont stop ship.
• Talk about the Lore. Story. Where it could go and to expect.

Just gave you a list of "Distractions" while out on the sea. Then again...if your distracted while sailing things happen where you wish you were paying attention.

I like the chasing off seagulls. Especially if your pet could do it too,
But I would put that in a "add more life " thread

@wolfmanbush Same ahaha, when there's nothing to do I always end up running on the edge of the ship too :)

@burnbacon ha detto in This game really needs some minor distractions while sailing.:

Me and my sloop bud talked for 2 hours while fishing. About? Halo Infinite and family outside SoT So i cant see why not?
Even solo....Im listening to music or messing around in the Pirate Log to see "what needs to be done" and how to do them.

I have an opinion on this, it is not true for every single game but, most of the time if while playing a game you feel like you need to add something else to do while playing (like talking a lot, listening to music or maybe videos online) to me it means that you are not fully engaged, focused or immersed in the game. Imagine your brain has RAM and, wanting to be efficient, the brain try to use always at least 60%+ of its RAM, if an activity requires too little RAM, your brain will seek for more stuff to keep itself busy and when this happen while playing a game or watching a movie/anime 90% of the time think this is a bad thing. Not because I do not like talking more with my friends or listening to music, but because, as said before, to me it means the game has failed to keep me engaged or immersed. This for me is bad, unless you play the game to "keep your hands busy" while talking on purpose. Like I used to listen to music a lot while playing Warframe and just chill while killing waves of NPCs, or I usally play TFT to keep my hands busy while I watch youtube videos.

Maybe you appreciate more that relaxed way of playing the game, but I still think that, even if you don't feel like it's needed, these little random encounters could still add something to your experience and wouldn't harm your way of playing the game. Correct me if I'm wrong here, because I really put some thought into thinking how these could not be an annoyance for players that do not care about this addition or not to overwhelm a solo player, specially category 1 and 2.

[also I don't want to go too deep into answering why your distractions do not work for me, but let's just say half of them are just jerking around (which I do when there's no more stuff to do aboard, I usually run on the edge of the ship. But this is the reason why I want more random encounters keeping me engaged, I don't want to end up running around the ship because there's nothing to do). I don't count Skelly and Megs because 1) these are not realiable distractions, I had 3 hours sessions with 0, and 2) the commitment is too big if you want to go from point A to point B asap. Wasting time doing these may give a ship you are going for the time to notice you and flee. The random encounters I was thinking off require less commitment and should happen more reliably].

@cotu42 ha detto in This game really needs some minor distractions while sailing.:

Small RNG element to occupy you with a quick response: seagulls in the sky indicating barrels you can shoot with harpoons.

I do agree with this one, but I'd want more

Consistent activity to provide you with good quality food: Fishing.

I do this if we are low on food, it's usually not needed if you take everything you can and fishing actually takes a lot of time.

Consistent active distraction of shooting yourself off and supplying.

We do this at the start of the session, but the time it takes to fill your inventory usually is way less than the time it takes to get to the next island. Doing this after 1 hour of session (max 2) usually becomes pointless (unless you sunk) and we stop doing it, I think I maybe sunk once for the lack of resources in the last year, it just doesn't happen. Specially for players like me who enjoys getting my reaper flag to grade 5 by doing world event before going for emissaries, which means mostly doing flameheart or skelly raid and both provide you with tons of resources.

Larger distractions with Megs, Skeleton ships and Ship wrecks (non hostile one)

These are not the small distraction I'm thinking of, these require quite some time commitment, on ship wrecks we just drop a guy or two, stopping there is a waste of time. We ignore megs 90% of the time, the time and resources it takes compare to the reward is not worth if I'm going for World Event/Emissaries, specially for big crews.

Open crews and new ones are already inefficient and should focus more on sailing usually.

Never play on open crews.

Your claim is that the game needs minor distractions while sailing, we have them and it is on you to engage with them, they are optional.

The one I'm thinking of are like barrels, stuff that happens on or close to your ship and require little commitment to keep yourself engaged. The "distractions" that work for me are not enough, the other stuff you talk about is optional stuff that is usually not worth the time unless you are just chilling around. There could be more small encounters in my opinion and I really spent time into thinking how not to overwhelm players nor annoying the ones that do need this kind of change (specially with categories 1 and 2). I also think this kind of small random encounters would make the world feel more alive which would be a positive note for most players. I can see how players like you would not need this, but I don't think it would do any harm to you. At the end of the day there's no content update or change that everyone would like, and even less people would think they needed a specific update.

but if you want to be uber efficient.... distractions is not something you actually seek, as guess what it distracts from the goal you have.

Absolutely disagree with this: Let's say I just spawned at an outpost and saw Flameheart in the sky, I'd get resources, put on reaper and quickly sail towards the raid. I see some barrels in the water and harpoon one or two while passing by, I see a rat so I kill it and get my meat. How does this stuff distract me from the goal? I am not going to forget I'm going for Flameheart for killing a rat which would probably take 5 seconds.

@pellahh

All I hear is, I don't want to engage with the things provided apart from the barrels.. because they take to long! The rewards are not worth it! I don't need it... yet your own rewards are give me a piece of meat. Get into fishing, that is literally added to give you a distraction and provides you with the "meat" that each of your own suggestions boils down to.

The game already has the distractions in it, it is literally a you issue. You seek instant gratification actions to constantly pop up, because throwing out a line while being so called bored... takes to much time and is to much commitment. Shoot yourself off, kill a pig, snake or chicken... voila!

@cotu42 I could reverse the argument and say that you are the one that has no problem wasting time doing megs and stopping at ship wrecks when there are more fun and efficient ways of getting resources, fishing when you have already plenty of resources making it an overkill. You say it's a "me issue" just because your experience with the game is different, why it needs to be me wanting more than I need and not you being satisfied with less? I've discussed this with friends and they are on my side, as you could discuss with your friends and find people that stand by your side, as well as having people on the internet having a million different ideas on this topic. The point is no addition to the game will be either a real need for 100% of the player base (but bugfixes and balance changes), nor all the players will feel the need for that change, nor everyone will like it. What is a significant % of the player base that needs to like an idea in order not be a "my problem"? 80%? 70%?Go on, get all the player base to vote on a poll ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Jokes aside, even then... wether 70%+ likes it or no, their thought on a mechanic that they haven't tested will be biased too, they may like the idea but not how it got implemented or viceversa.

I think there's no point discussing about this, I do understand that this is not a need for you as it is for me, but wether it is a subjective problem to me/other players who feel like this is a problem or not, it is hard to define objectively, wether a small % of player thinks this is a problem or a big one is impossible to define, we obvoiusly don't have the means to make a poll for all the player base in its entirety. Also, people discussing on this thread (as in others) are a meaningless % compared to the whole player base, so wheter the comments go in my favor or against me, they are statistically irrelevant. One thing we can define for sure is simple: is it a problem for a part of the player base, wether it is big or small? Yes. Would this harm the rest of the player base? There will always be at least 1 person complaining, but I think there's little to complain here so it's probably gonna be a very small part of the player base. And most importantly: even if not needed, could this add something positive for the rest of the players? Do you think this is just not needed or that would be a bad addition? I think most people would still find it a positive addition even if they do not feel the need, as said: I don't think it would overwhelm players who already think there's a lot to do on the ship, I think it would make most of the players feel more engaged and have a more interesting experience overall through small commitment/small reward reliable encounters, and most importantly it would give the world more depth, making it feel more alive and so boosting the immersiveness of the game.

I doubt we'll find a meeting point on the "it's needed" topic, and I know this not a need for 100% players, but the "absolute needs" are mostly bugfixes, balance changes and the lack of content itself not the content updates in general.

@pellahh said in This game really needs some minor distractions while sailing.:

I doubt we'll find a meeting point on the "it's needed" topic, and I know this not a need for 100% players, but the "absolute needs" are mostly bugfixes, balance changes and the lack of content itself not the content updates in general.

With that single, final statement, we can pretty safely ignore your entire argument. Sea of Thieves hasn't wanted for a "lack of content" for years, now. Anyone who still uses that """argument""" has no idea what defines "content," or is expecting Sea of Thieves to add stuff that would be anathema to the idea of the game as a whole.

@pellahh

Your rebuttal is that engaging with distractions is not efficient enough... therefore I am wasting time. While you are complaining to be bored and seeking distractions while unwilling to engage with the emergent environment around you or opting to use the tool provided. Fishing is overkill, but slaughtering animals for meat on your ship... is not? Needing 45 seconds instead of 2 seconds to relieve you from your boredom, are you seeking a distraction or just instant gratification? Your own counter argument against the current distractions can be applied to all your additions!

Yet sure I have an issue... you should give fishing a try, because unlike megalodons, ship wrecks and such it literally can be done on the go! Surprising that you go for the aggressive approach here, I am simply pointing out the fact that you have small time sensitive distractions, constant ones and large ones. Guess you cannot handle a different opinion? What you request has already been added over the years... it is you who refuses to engage with them! They are optional... but you know remain bored, I will be immersed in the game instead!

Let me add a rebuttal against how it does harm the game, if you get meat quality food from a quick instant distraction that is quicker than fishing... why fish? It creates a conflict between game elements where you simply created a superior version of the current one. Therefore what incentive is there to do the lesser version, if the better versions keep popping up?

@blam320 I was just saying some kind of issues in a game that are 100% a need for players, not saying SoT is lacking content right now. I actually do believe SoT has a lot of content and that the reason why a lot of people say the game is empty is related to the content's replayability, which is can be a major issue in a game as a service: it doesn't matter how many different things you can do in a game, if people get bored after doing these thing one time they'll feel like there's nothing to do.

@cotu42 ha detto in This game really needs some minor distractions while sailing.:

Fishing is overkill, but slaughtering animals for meat on your ship... is not? Needing 45 seconds instead of 2 seconds to relieve you from your boredom, are you seeking a distraction or just instant gratification?

Yeah that's the point, I think the ideal experience is being on my ship and while I sail and keep an eye on the horizon something happens, you resolve that quick event in those 5-10 seconds and you get back at doing what you want. Reacting to something is more engaging than keeping yourself busy by yourself in my opinion.

What you request has already been added over the years... it is you who refuses to engage with them! They are optional... but you know remain bored, I will be immersed in the game instead!

Then either you didn't understand or I expressed myself poorly when explaining what kind of small encounters I seek.

Let me add a rebuttal against how it does harm the game, if you get meat quality food from a quick instant distraction that is quicker than fishing... why fish? It creates a conflict between game elements where you simply created a superior version of the current one. Therefore what incentive is there to do the lesser version, if the better versions keep popping up?

1. Those are meant to be random encounters, which means you have no control over it, making it not a reliable source of meat.

2. In my mind these encounters a) shouldn't happens every minute b) the same encounter shouldn't repeat too quickly c) there should be a wider variant of small encounters, mine were just an example. Each encounter would give different rewards obviously.

3. Fishing wasn't designed as a distraction, people requested it and genuinely wanted to fish. Fishing isn't harmed at all, if you want to fish you go fishing, if you fish just for food then you are gonna get extra food while still having time for fishing. Also, seagull and rat meat would be probably worth 45 like the other types, good luck leveling the Hunter's Call with that while getting these pieces of meat at random times.

For these reasons I don't think this system could harm fishing in any way. The only flaw that concerns me is how many different kind of small encounters and how frequent should these be to not feel repetitive and lose their power as distractions to make the player more engaged?

@clumsyjacob wow I didn't think about something like this, having random encounters with pirate NPCs on your ship would be really cool.

@pellahh

You want random encounters that aren't frequent enough, but at the same time keep you engaged throughout the entire journey. The game already has barrels, shipwrecks, you can go to islands or engage with larger distractions that ask for some time if you please, that happen at irregular periods throughout your voyages. If that isn't enough, then you can fish. That is my whole point! It is already in the game and no that was not always the case!

You want it to increase in frequency because you don't want to be bored and that is part of why you can fish while on the move! Yet you refuse to do that. Increasing and adding more and more RNG elements would make it a consistent and reliable supply source... that is the whole counter argument. The game has these random elements already, barrels for harpoon interaction, ship wrecks to go for a dive, islands to shoot yourself to, megs, skeleton ships and even a kraken for more time consuming options with higher payouts. An extension of fishing for those that want more frequent activities to keep then occupied, it wasn't solely added to fish... they added the ability to do so while sailing to address those that wanted an activity to do there as well.

For those that want to really fish, they go for bait, special fish and all that... it isn't my cup of tea to sit at a fort to fish or in a storm.

You claim to want very different things, to get rid of boredom with ingame actions... but not frequent enough to be to reliable, while the current activities are already creating an overwhelming amount of supplies and reliant. To the point that the one to add something extra to do is according to you pointless and to time consuming! Your argument is counterintuitive... the activities to do on the ship already stock you up to quickly, but let's add even more thing that bring it to the ship for you for minimal effort.

@cotu42 I kind of feel like I've already answered to stuff you are saying in the last comment. Like for example: megs, skelly and kraken are more time consuming options with higher payouts? no, they are a straight up waste of time, on a gelleon you can do an ashen lord in half the time of a kraken or meg and get like 4 times the loot, there's literally no reason to defeat a meg or kraken unless you're doing it for commendation, it's not "an optional distraction that I refuse to engage" is a straight up waste of time: they are not fun to fight, the time/resources you use are not worth the loot; it's just not worth to stop and do them as long as whatever World Event is up.

Btw I just think we are not understanding each other, as said I feel like you are bringing back stuff I've already answered to, you probably feel the same and I doubt we are getting close to a meeting point. Our thoughts on some of the game mechanics are drastically different and it really is creating a barrier between us.

@pellahh

Any activity is good in SoT if you enjoy it, I have long since stopped bothering about how much I am going to make and concentrate on having a fun session instead. That may mean 250K or it may just be covering the cost of the storage crate.

I did an ashen winds event with my youngest the other day and we got to the final wave and saw some other pirates, we thought they were gonna help and we would split the loot but no, they sent us both to the ferry having sunk our ship. Had I been with my other son we would have gone back to contest (or maybe wouldn't even have had to) but I decided it wasn't worth it this time, they were quite sweaty and it would have just frustrated my boy. We went for a reapers bounty instead, looted some shipwrecks, sunk a skelly ship and killed a meg. We had a brilliant session.

It is very possible to enjoy the game without doing world events and high value stuff, we still made 30-40K and hadn't bought a storage crate at the beginning either to boot..

@wagstr Yeah don't misunderstand me, sometimes we have fun doing weird stuff with other people too.

About a month ago we started going for ships but like, when we sunk the first the guy just wanted to join us. When we got to the second ship then we started roleplaying, we'd reach a ship and claimed we were some kind of immortal beings claiming their soul to work on our ship for 1000 years. Then they had to get on our ship and burn their ship down. We actually had a fight with one of these ship and spawnkilled them until they decided to join us. We somehow managed to get EVERY SINGLE CREW of the server on our ship, we got quite lucky they all were kind of ok with all our roleplay stuff from the start. We had a great session ended up with one of the crew betraying us while doing an ashen lord all together, it all ended with a great battle which was quite appropriate, tbh we thought someone was going to munity way before getting the whole server on our brig.

I also have different playstyles based on what I want do: Full World Event/Emissary hunting sessions (which is where I have the most fun while farming for the dark advetnurer set), full farm for top 25% on all ledgers, usually a 4-5 hours session per company is enough (I do not have a lot of fun here but I'm kind of a completist and so I enjoy having the cosmetics), then there's a small % of my session where something weird happens while interacting with other crews and I roll with it, these are quite rare sessions and usually the most memorable. Once we found a guy in the water that was sunk like 1 min ago by a nearby ship, we welcomed him aboard and avenged him.

I just thought these small random encounters could make the seas feel more alive and help people like me to feel more engaged while sailing :)

@pellahh the difference between us is that I am not bored immersed in the game. I can play ultra efficient when I have a crew or in the mood to do so... but I am not the one complaining that me engaging with the distractions of the seas are inefficient and not worth it but at the same time complain there aren't enough of them for my ultra skip everything for efficiency tactics.

@pellahh

I like all of your ideas, I think they would be great but I don't agree that the game is boring as it is, like I said I could just sail round and round the map doing the emergent content and enjoy myself, that's just the way the game is. Anything that adds to the experience without taking anything away is fine by me. Break a leg as they say!