Feedback From a Deaf Player

@pir8life4meva

Sound in this game is an EXTREMELY crucial mechanism for information delivery. Deaf players would have a yuge disadvantage.

The audio is directional, so the stereo blend of Left/Right signal is indicating things like:
-where is the mermaid statue underwater
-where are the skeletons approaching from
-which ladder is being boarded

Hope they accommodate accessibilty.

The idea of the closed captioning indicating stereo direction is a great one.

(it would also let players play with the sound off or very quiet, when they have no headphones, everyone's sleeping and they have to keep the noise down)

Cheers to you @Pir8life4MeVA for not letting a disability prevent you from enjoying playing a game you love! This game has so many audio cues in all kind of situations, it's quite a feat to be able to play without those, you must have developed a 6th sense by the time you got to legend :)

As for skeleton commendation, what prevents you from still doing them with an alliance though? I'm sure people on the various discord channels would love to help, I mean, by explaining your situation and the context first :) reach out to me on the xbox app if you want, I'd love to give a hand if you need.

@urihamrayne said in Feedback From a Deaf Player:

Have you tried downloading a new pair of ears?

Joking aside, I think that it's possible to add Closed Captions to SoT, like other games that have ambient sounds written as subtitles. The biggest counter argument is that people would just use them to have an on screen confirmation of sound effects of pirates sneaking up aboard the ship, and that would ruin """"""""""""stealth"""""""""""". This game has no stealth mechanics, I don't think we are at a loss here.

Maybe caption for PVE elements like skeletons, but I'm sorry, this game totally has a big stealth component to it and it shouldn't be tossed out. IMO it's a vital part of the gameplay. As a pirate, using trickery and deceit to achieve your goals is pretty much staple.

I believe that acessibility is paramount, it's not something we should dismiss with impunity because it may break immersion a bit, but honestly that is just flavour trying to dictate whats better for the game, and as I always say, flavour comes second to gameplay. If subtitles would help players, like OP, play better, flavour shouldn't get in the way of that.

I agree, accessibility is great however I don't think a whole aspect of the game (stealth) should be removed for it. I think @Pir8life4MeVA seems to be doing great in the game and his issue seems to be mostly about gunpowder skellies. Maybe they could be slightly less frequent or be a bit slower/not sprint as much?

Using the chatwheel works ok i sometimes play using only the chatwheel its funny to communicate :")

I agree about the gunpowder. There is no need for so many skeletons with gun powder barrels. During the event, sure, but now that the event is over, I wish they would tone it down. Tone it down A LOT. It used to be fun getting your crew to work together to get gunpowder. Not everyone did. You never knew if someone had 4 barrels. 1? 0? Now, everyone has 11tymillion. It changed fighting. Now, when fighting skeletons, you don't even have to work together much, as a crew, as all you have to do is shoot gunpowder barrels, to kill 10 skeletons at once.

Congratulations on Pirate Legend and keep up the hard work! If you ever want to play with a crew, hit me up.

@dislex-fx I personally like the gun powder skellies. I can breeze through OoS of Athena voyages 30sec a wave Solo. Think about it. I just suicide by gunpowder skelly with the whole hoard around me, respawn in 30 seconds, do it again for the next wave. It's faster than actually fighting them! LOL

@boomtownboss said in Feedback From a Deaf Player:

@dislex-fx I personally like the gun powder skellies. I can breeze through OoS of Athena voyages 30sec a wave Solo. Think about it. I just suicide by gunpowder skelly with the whole hoard around me, respawn in 30 seconds, do it again for the next wave. It's faster than actually fighting them! LOL

I know. That's why I hate having so many of them. I like a challenge. I have posted about this before and I mentioned that they need to tone them down, so the game can get back to being harder.

It's almost like they keep making SoT easier and easier. I dislike that.

@dislex-fx Except the game is very easy by nature. They will only make completing tasks take longer, not be more difficult.
Athena Voyages should be difficult. Well, they're easy enough for a day 1 player to complete. It just might take 5-6 hours where it takes me 1 and half to 2 hours.

@urihamrayne said in Feedback From a Deaf Player:

Have you tried downloading a new pair of ears?

Joking aside, I think that it's possible to add Closed Captions to SoT, like other games that have ambient sounds written as subtitles. The biggest counter argument is that people would just use them to have an on screen confirmation of sound effects of pirates sneaking up aboard the ship, and that would ruin """"""""""""stealth"""""""""""". This game has no stealth mechanics, I don't think we are at a loss here.

I believe that acessibility is paramount, it's not something we should dismiss with impunity because it may break immersion a bit, but honestly that is just flavour trying to dictate whats better for the game, and as I always say, flavour comes second to gameplay. If subtitles would help players, like OP, play better, flavour shouldn't get in the way of that.

Having this as a toggle option would be an excellent solution. Maybe leave it to only environment sounds and not other pirates. Skeletons, snakes, pigs, chickens, megalodon, etc.

@pir8life4meva

Congratulations on your first post and achievement mate! You definitely have earned being a legend. I am all for making the Sea of Thieves more accessible to everyone, how they want to play and how they are able to play. There is a lot to love and should be open to be loved by all.

Thank you for sharing your experience and story. You have definitely played the game in a lot harder way and still have prevailed. Bravo! Cheers to your courage, commitment, and passion!

@ruigtand-nl said in Feedback From a Deaf Player:

Using the chatwheel works ok i sometimes play using only the chatwheel its funny to communicate :")

Yes he does. He has gotten the rest of us doing it.

Hopefully keyboard and mouse support on the XBOX will bring the free text chat like on the PC.

@urihamrayne Ehhh. A moving ship has splashing sounds naturally. The splashing sound from players is different, but sometimes can be hard to distinguish. You can also mask your sound by using other sounds (cannons, explosions). It's a little different from nothing being on screen versus text being on the screen, which is easily distinguishable.

@urihamrayne said in Feedback From a Deaf Player:

@bloodybil Name one stealth mechanic in Sea of Thieves that would be ruined if there were subtitles of the things people can hear normally like water splashing from swimming, water splashing from climbing a ladder from the water and pirate footsteps. There is no stealth in SoT, what most people manage to do by climbing aboard a ship and staying hidden mostly hangs on the crew paying absolutely no attention to their treasure or for stowaways.

Sure I'm not saying to put subtitles that especifically say from which player the footsteps/swimming/ladder climbing are coming from, but there are no systems being lost if these things get subtitled.

I don't know, either you don't PVP much, or you go guns blazing all the time without discretion, everyone has their play style. But to deny stealth being a tactic in the game is silly.

If I swim up under a ship, then move quietly around, then climb up on a ship, without being seen or heard, isn't that stealth?

If I ambush my enemy and surprise them because they did not notice me, whether it be on their ship, or on an island, or even an outpost, isn't that stealth?

If I manage to bomb a ship (whether they are pursuing me, or stationary) without them expecting me, isn't that stealth?

Devs intended to allow sneaky strategies, as shown in their change to hide player's name tag underwater.

Joe: "Something that has been requested by quite a lot of people, from a kind of sneakiness perspective, we want to hide nameplates when you are underwater, so if you are swimming towards an other ship, you won't be able to see their gamer tag through the water itself. Enabling a bit more of that kind of stealthy gameplay when you are swimming up maybe with an explosive barrel and stuff."

So there, Joe Neate himself said that they wanted to encourage that kind of gameplay.
To have subtitles betraying your actions is totally going against that concept.

If no matter how careful I have been to not get spotted while sneaking, and then an enemy players simply reads:

"Gasp of air" or "sword unsheating" or "gun cocking" or "banana burp" or "water paddling" or "gunpowder hissing"

well there goes my move. People would totally use it as a crutch and advantage, just in case they might miss a sound. Why rely on your ears and eyes when you can look at your chat window or whatever and wait for a suspicious caption.

Sound in this game is amazing (I'm very sorry for those who unfortunately can't enjoy it) and different sounds have intricate subtleties, which is part of the sneakiness you try to blend in the ambient sound. Unless every single sound in the game, every splish, every splash, every bird, monkey, far away kraken sound would be captioned to help cover and blend enemy captions as well, I don't think it would work out.

Or, as I think we agree, PVE only, that I could accept as well as compromise.

@urihamrayne you are the one hammering the word mechanic buddy, I am talking about gameplay and tactics. One can play in a sneaky fashion, without having to rely on invisibility or camouflage abilities. That seems to be quite the ordeal to understand :) You can play in a certain way, without having a big "Stealth" button to press. Note that by stealth I never talked about invisibility, to me it's simply a synonym to sneakiness, furtiveness.

Pirates don't have any mechanic that silences the sounds they make at the cost of mobility.

They don't indeed, but you can time your footsteps and stop moving/swimming, thus stop making noise, when you think you have been heard for example. Use your imagination my friend.

Majority of things in this game produces a sound that is deliberately meant to be heard.

Yeah that does not mean you do not try to not be heard.
Our characters are meant to be visible, doesn't mean I won't try to hide behind cover.

This is what I mean by SoT having no stealth mechanics, it was not designed as such.

Again, not having active abilities does not mean you can't plan your actions and movements to try to be seen or heard as little as possible.

You can try to use deceptive strategies, but they hinge on players not paying attention or being distracted

... Thats pretty much what I have been saying the whole time.

If you don't pay attention, it's your fault if someone sneaks on you, it never meant that you couldn't catch someone sneaking up on you.

If there are clues that are meant to be heard/seen to prevent an attack, you should hear/see them yourself, not have to rely on an indicator that alerts you that there is a clue around, making things too easy.

Of course that's in the context where anyone would turn the caption to get an edge over others, not in the case were someone would legitimately need/benefit from that function. But such things are hard to balance to prevent exploit at the same time as helping people.

If someone has real bad sight, should they get an option to highlight and outline enemies, pirates, ships, loot? What would prevent everyone from using it to scan the horizon and water, terminator-style? There is no stealth in the game, you are meant to be seen anyways right?

Anyways, straying far from the subject of the thread now. Some PVE alerts in caption form would help out I'm sure :)

@urihamrayne said in Feedback From a Deaf Player:

The fact of the matter is that no matter how you spin it, arguing that stealth is important in SoT is an uphill battle

Yeah that's pretty obvious. Your are certainly entitled to your opinion though :)

Best of luck to OP!

@x-crowheart-x said in Feedback From a Deaf Player:

@pir8life4meva

Congratulations on your first post and achievement mate! You definitely have earned being a legend. I am all for making the Sea of Thieves more accessible to everyone, how they want to play and how they are able to play. There is a lot to love and should be open to be loved by all.

Thank you for sharing your experience and story. You have definitely played the game in a lot harder way and still have prevailed. Bravo! Cheers to your courage, commitment, and passion!

Thank you, everyone, for your support, comments, and suggestions! I especially appreciate the invitations to join your crew, I may very well take you up on that. I'm not looking for a complete revamp of the game to support the deaf, just mentioning what makes my gameplay experience extremely difficult and if something can be done about it that doesn't upset the balance of the sea, then I'm all for it. I'm a firm believer that you can't teach experience. Every PvP, PvE, Kraken, skeleton, keg, meg, storm, volcano, snake, shark and curse has been an experience. That's how you get to Pirate Legend!

Cheers Shipmates!

@pir8life4meva it brings tears to me eyes how wonderful you said that. And many a pirate can take a lesson from you. A few accomendations to the deaf should not be too bad as long as they find a fair way to implement it.

A true legend! And thank you for sharing your experiences and perspective.
Cheers to you, captain!

If I can ever help by crewing up or getting another crew to assist in a commendation of some sort, I'd be honoured to.

@urihamrayne I wouldn't call this a mechanic but the lighting does in fact work in such a way that you can be in a corner that is harder to see. I've seen it on crooks hollow when trying to hide some treasure.

The corner looks very dark until you get closer to it. Might only work on higher graphical settings though. Like I said, I don't think it's as much a mechanic as a side effect of the lighting.