I haven't played much of Sea of Thieves ever since I had to discover that Hourglass turned into yet another mode where Sweats and Cheaters battle each other and the occasional unfortunate Newcomer who wandered into this hell. That was about three years ago.
I peeked in a couple weeks ago and followed some recent developments and I really don't like where this Game is headed. I'll try not to be overly negative about this. Honestly I'm just Sad.
Here's some of my grievances and my Dreams of what the game could really be. Feedback appreciated. Be reasonable about it tho.
1. Diving: Objectively the worst thing this game ever did. The best part of Sea of Thieves was always the sailing and the infinite organic stories a long voyage can create. Making it optional was a mistake.
This comes with the additional effect of removing Captains voyages, by far one of the best updates the game ever had.
Fix: Either remove Diving completely and bring back Captains Voyages, or penalize it harshly, my suggestion would be to wipe the ship back to a fresh Spawn.
2. Menu-i-fication: "But we still have Captains Voyages, you just open your Menu and accept the Voyage you want to do." At the cost of my Immersion. Buying and Accepting voyages was a fun ritual at the beginning of every session, and it gave you something to spend some gold on. It was an investment. Now its just gone, replaced by yet another Menu. Can't wait for Season 20 where Emissary Voyages are just dumped into your Inventory once you reach Emissary 5.
Fix: Bring back Buying Voyages. Jack up the Prices and rewards for dangerous Voyages. Make certain voyages limited to certain regions.
3. An empty world: The Outposts are empty, the Seas are barren. Still no NPC ships representing the Trading Companies, still no roaming NPCs. It's been 8 years.
Fix: Add that. All I really want are some reskinned Skeleton Ships that travel along set routes to mimic Merchant travel (And you can raid them), and some roaming NPCs around some of the Islands.
Some of the NPCs could also fight Skeletons or Dig for Gold. The AI is already in the Game!
4. An toothless world: The only area in the game that feels mechanically different is the Devils Roar, because Volcano. That's why its my favorite area. Everybody wants a new region, and I get why. Not necessarily because we like Ice, its because we just want something mechanically fresh. An Ice region would introduce new hazards and challenges that test your skills. But it won't ever happen.
Fix: Introduce some of the existing hazards to existing Islands. Make one island perpetually shrouded in Fog, give Shark Tooth Bay a constant Megalodon Guardian, surround one island with a storm, etc. You can even make adventures about each and every one of those.
5. Fashion Disaster: I've worn the same outfit for 6 years. Not just because the clothes they added since then all look worse (but thats also kinda true) but also because there's no easy way to swap clothing on the go. I would have loved to cosplay for Flameheart when the hourglass came out but...
Fix: Just give us Clothing and Ship presets. It can't be that hard to code. Or to store. You can even monetize those like in other more successful games (not that you should you greedy...)
6. An unfinished Story: Stop Introducing more factions! Finish some of the old faction stories for once!
Fix: Do literally anything with the Main Trading Companies, Athena, Bilge Rats, Hunters Call. Stop giving every new story some Smuggler Tie-In. And most of all, Do ANYTHING with Flameheart. Him fondling Bal i mean Orbs for two seasons is NOT WHAT WE WANTED!
7. Time's run out: Nobody likes time limited Stuff in a game that most people grind for months in their time off.
Fix: Just stop doing time limited events unless there is some VERY good reason for them being time limited IN UNIVERSE. And if there is, find a way to bring it back in another context.
8. An Actual reason to fish that isn't just commendations and clothes.
Fix: An actual reason to fish that isn't just commendations and clothes. What if you could craft some cursed cannonballs with them? I don't care if it doesn't make sense, we have floating ghost captains caressing orbs in this game.
9. A Road to nowhere: I appreciate that you want no progression in the game to keep the Newcomers and Veterans on an equal playing field. That's obviously not true due to the cavernous skill gap, but there was an attempt. But once you rank up all the factions (like me) and buy all the Cosmetics you want (like me), then what even is there to do? Real pirates wanted Gold to spend it on stuff yknow?
Fix: Player owned Housing, Gold based Community Markets (Not sure for what though), Resource Vendors, Faction priviliges through donations, whatever. I'm not a game dev, that's just stuff other games do to get some gold out of the economy.
10. Unjolly Uncooperation: It recently appeared to me that the PvP interactions are incredibly lopsided. As in, the only real thing you can do when you meet a friendly player is to form an alliance. PvP gets a lot more interactions, Chasing, Stealing, Tucking, Sinking, Killing. There are no real reasons to be nice to another Ship unless you want some of their gold through an alliance.
Fix: Add some world events that scale beyond one ship, and are so challenging, that they are basically impossible with just one ship. Suddenly we have Raid Content (that isn't just Door unlocking simulator) and a reason to at least consider talking to another human being besides trashtalk.
This is still not all I can come up with, but I think thats enough for now. I know full well that we will never see 99% of the suggestions made here and It is possible the game will enter maintenance mode or something similar after season 19.
Still, one can dream.
