[Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles

  • Following a number of posts which have highlighted the timings of the battles and how they correspond with real world times, there have been a great many concerns raised around how these timings might cause difficulties for some pirates in conquering all 3 fleets.

    This megathread has been created so that these concerns can have a central place and I've linked the existing discussions below.

    Please keep discussion on topic and in line with the forum rules so Rare can gauge the extent of all feedback around this -
    FORUM RULES


    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69262/not-liking-the-dated-commendations

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69260/battle-times

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69252/limited-time-campaign-oh-no-not-again

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69209/cursed-sails-battle-timings-issues

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69241/please-stop-asking-rare-to-cater-to-you

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69237/sot-dates-cursed-sails

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69240/new-event-not-feasible-for-people-for-people-with-jobs-r-l-commitments

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69234/cursed-sails-world-time-gating

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69124/cursed-sail-crew-rotation

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69213/skelly-ship-attack-times

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69130/cursed-sails-in-game-dates

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/69172/rare-don-t-do-these-real-world-timed-events-anymore


    Thank you all for your feedback.

    Senior Producer Drew made this update to let you know what our plans are -

    @sonicbobjr said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    Hey Everyone,

    A further update following on from my post earlier [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles - SonicbobJr's Post.

    We've discussed as a team and have gone through the various suggestions and solutions provided, assessing what we can do here to improve the experience for as many players as possible.

    As i talked to earlier, given the time window between builds we are not able to making any sweeping changes like the suggestions around repeating the battles more frequently for example - as this has knock in impacts on the Outpost Banners, Localisation and potential for further player confusion given the size of the changes.

    However, with our goal of giving more opportunities for players to progress in the campaign, to encounter a variety of ship crew encounters in the different regions and ultimately aspire to unlock the Bone Crusher Ship cosmetics we have made some changes.

    • For Week2's set of battles we are offsetting the IRL time these will be available. This effectively means that for Week2's encounters you will be tackling a different crew in a different sea region. The battle will still be available for the same Game and IRL length of time and the Outpost Banners/Pocket Watch will still point you to the right place.
    • We will then do the same offset for Week3's set of battles so that players who have a fixed play time slot will organically encounter the 3 regions battles over the course of the campaign.
    • We know this doesn't solve all of the feedback around the time locked nature of the campaign, however will maximise the ability for players to engage with different battles and crews and acquire the awesome rewards over the course of the campaign.

    We hear your feedback here on the IRL time-locked nature of this event and will be reviewing this carefully and learning for how we schedule upcoming campaigns & adventures. I'm confident we can improve on this for our future campaigns.

    Thanks for being patient as we assessed our options here, looking forward to see how you all tackle the new crews coming next week!


    Got feedback on the Alliance feature introduced in Release 1.2.0? Let us know in this thread!


    As you participate in this thread, keep to the Pirate Code and the Forum Rules!

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  • Cheers for this Katttruewalker!

  • Better a mega thread then many little ones

  • @weststormborn

    Exactly. :D

  • I love Rare, I've rarely had problems with mechanics in the game or errors so I'm all love for them. But this just ruffles my jimmies having to fight the same crew over and over again, while the achievement asks me to fight one more crew for the event that I can't fight because of the day system.

    Please please please Rare give me a chanse too. I've played nice with others for the Meg fight, I've helped people reach thrones, let skeletons go boom and destroy mermaids. But the one thing I cant change is my gaming schedule.

    Thanks for making a megathread @KattTruewalker

  • @daantjebnl said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    Yay! Let's make a huge whiny thread about how we don't want to put time into a RPG and we want every event to be a wrapped present under a big shiny tree!
    We don't have time boohoo, but we do have time to make whiny threads about how busy we are...so very very busy......

    Thanks for your input...

  • @katttruewalker I kind of got tired suggesting the same things too different people to XD

  • @daantjebnl

    Ahoy mate, constructive comments and discussion are welcome in this thread and as it is a valid concern raised by many, this thread was created, if you're not finding this an issue yourself, please feel free to ignore the thread and sail on to other parts of the forums.
    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/45966/sea-of-thieves-official-forum-rules

  • Real world timed events simply cannot work for everyone.

    It’s up to Rare to decide if that is acceptable.

    Imo it’s a bad design. Always has been.

  • Thanks!

    In general, it seems like a nice idea and is probably very practical to have all servers running the same time and date. However, as has been stated, it's a big problem for this otherwise awesome event.

    Possible solutions:

    1. Make servers have different times and dates. Idk how difficult this would be to setup, and it would sometimes require for people to server hop until they find a server with the right date, which isn't that elegant. However, it seems like the fix with no changes needed to other aspects of the game.

    2. Speed up ingame time. Probably not a feasible solution because a ton of systems must be connected to this. Merchant voyages, day and night cycle etc..

    3. Change the skeleton shedules so they appear more frequent. Instead of 10 days, have them spawn every 3 days or something. Make it so commendations will still be received even if the crew is defeated after their shedules end.

    4. Just make skeleton ships available independent of date. They're the scourge of the seas. Why do they only open on business hours?

  • @daantjebnl This mega thread is for suggestions and discussion of the timings of the Cursed Sails battles, not wider content of the game or perceived lack thereof.

  • Timed events
    Cursed Sails is timed for 3 weeks, but with an added special timed commendation which limits each of the three battles to 1 week. Up to this point everyone will probably agree that this is all fine and by doing this chances are higher that people will still be doing the battles at week 3.

    The problem some people have is that this timed event isn't only timed to 1 week, but also to 6 specific timeslots within that week. Which means that if you want to finish all commendations, or if you even want to experience all battles, you HAVE to play at different real world times.

    Current timeslots (GMT) for battles (thnx @Hynieth & @Ever-Reddy):
    00:00 to 04:00: The Shores of Plenty
    04:00 to 08:00: The Ancient Isles
    08:00 to 12:00: The Wilds
    12:00 to 16:00: The Shores of Plenty
    16:00 to 20:00: The Ancient Isles
    20:00 to 00:00: The Wilds

    Investing time isn't the problem, forcing timeslots is
    People here aren't asking Rare to make the fights easier or change anything about them, the only thing they want is to experience them at the only time they can spend on the game. At the moment if I could only play for 40 hours a week, I might still only be able to see 1 or 2 battles if I play at the same time each day.
    It's almost like Rare is saying "Thanks for playing our game, but you're playing it at the wrong times" (As mentioned by @Sshteeve).


    Possible solutions:

    • Rotate the locations on a daily (ingame month) basis (Suggested by the marvellous, handsome and oh so modest Captain @FishSt1ck and @Riareth)

    Pro: Rotating the ingame dates, would make sure that people that play on the same time would actually be able to see all three battles.
    Con: Reduced predictability because of chaning slots, would mean checking the post often.

    Pro: By either lengthening or shortening the ingame days, the dates will no longer be tied to real time and the battles will slowly move.
    Con: Changing gametime affects all timed systems, like Merchant Alliance voyages and the day/night cycle.

    • Shorten the battles to less than 10 days (Suggested by @Nebenkuh, @DemonStrife1, @Aarghmaargho)

    Pro: By shortening the battles to 5 or even 3 days, the battles will happen much more other.
    Con: Much more dates on each of the regional skeleton posts.

    • Keep ships active at all three locations (Suggested by @Nebenkuh)

    Pro: Everyone can always do the ships they need.
    Con: No focus, so it'll be harder to find other players if they are spread over three locations. Possible performance issues of having all ships active at once.

    • Have different dates on each server (Suggested by @Nebenkuh)

    Pro: If you're on a server that doesn't have the skeleton ship active you need, you can switch servers until you find one.
    Con: Actively promotes server hopping.

    • Stick to one location a week, but randomize the skeleton crews that spawn (Suggested by @bran-the-ent)

    Pro: Very predictable
    Con: Random spawns will mean that you can't plan your battles

  • @daantjebnl said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    @katttruewalker ahoy ,
    This is the most constructive comment on this page.
    These people whing about everything are toxic to the game and the community,there is nothing offensive or non-constructive in the comment,you just don't like it,wich is censorship not moderation.

    People first echo the opinion of youtubers saying how the game is boring and need more stuff.

    Then they create giant whiny threads how they need to put time into you know, A RPG.

    This thread is unconstructive by default because of the subject.

    Your comment was completely unconstructive (as are most of yours). This isn’t whinning. It’s commenting on a game mechanic that needs more thought.

    Also Sea of Thieves is NOT an rpg.

    Please detail why you love this timed event so much, how it’s practical for all and what needs to happen to make it less elitist.

  • @katttruewalker said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    @daantjebnl

    Ahoy mate, constructive comments and discussion are welcome in this thread and as it is a valid concern raised by many, this thread was created, if you're not finding this an issue yourself, please feel free to ignore the thread and sail on to other parts of the forums.
    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/45966/sea-of-thieves-official-forum-rules

    This... Oh so much this.

  • @daantjebnl said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    @katttruewalker ahoy ,
    This is the most constructive comment on this page.
    These people whining about everything are toxic to the game and the community,there is nothing offensive or non-constructive in the comment,you just don't like it,wich is censorship not moderation.

    People first echo the opinion of youtubers saying how the game is boring and need more stuff.

    Then they create giant whiny threads how they need to put time into you know, A RPG.

    This thread is unconstructive by default because of the subject.

    You don't even know what you're talking about.
    It's not about people not wanting to put time in the game, it's about people not being able to do a battle for the commendation because of the spawn time.

    I've already been playing the past two evenings because I enjoy the Cursed Sails and love what they added. But I still need to do the battle for Seas of Plenty and that is not because I don't want to invest time into this game. That's because I can't play at the time they spawn, which is between 2PM-6PM(worktime) and 0AM-4AM(sleeptime). Rare's spawn times are keeping people from doing stuff in game when they want to.

    And that's what this thread is for, not some kind of forum troll like you.

    TLDLR; People would love to spend time in the game and do all battles, but can't due to the spawntimes.

  • I'd like to remind players that it's harder than you think to complete, not just because it's on a strict schedule, but because it's predicated on success (obviously) as well as other factors too (specific commendations). This means that all of a sudden, that 4 hours where you failed has to be done over again. While it may not actually take that long, the additional time adds up, which makes it that much harder for those who have busier schedules or more important priorities (and I sincerely hope most players here do have that).

    A good example are the sail commendations that specifically state that all allied ships must be using the regional sail during the battle - getting these specific commendations might take a few tries. Just yesterday, my allied fleet of 3 ships randomly became 4 as a non-regional sail-carrying galleon joined in and inadvertantly risked losing said commendation for the other 3 sets of players. I had to spend well over 15 minutes mid-battle just to call out to them, get their attention, and convince them to either leave the alliance or the battle itself to equip the proper sail. Thankfully, they (begrudgingly) complied.

    Still, having to do that while also firing cannons, steering to not hit other ships and to avoid cursed cannonballs, making hole repairs and bailing water, boarding the enemy for treasure or with a gunpowder barrel, treading water for supplies or a pick-me up, coordinating with your crew and other allied ships... It isn't easy. So, why make it that much harder?

  • @daantjebnl
    You missunderstand the issue.

    It's not about putting time into the game. It's about the devs for some reason setting time windows to get something done, and having those windows be the same time every single day for everyone, therefore exluding some people by default. It's a weird and unnecessary decision.
    It's like WoW making raids only available from 8 to 12pm for everyone. What's the point?

  • @nebenkuh said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    @daantjebnl
    You missunderstand the issue.

    It's not about putting time into the game. It's about the devs for some reason setting time windows to get something done, and having those windows be the same time every single day for everyone, therefore exluding some people by default. It's a weird and unnecessary decision.
    It's like WoW making raids only available from 8 to 12pm for everyone. What's the point?

    Exactly!

  • A buddy of mine has just posted the times for the Central European +1 Region where I live.

    Ancient Isles: 06:00 tot 10:00 & 18:00 tot 22:00
    The Wilds: 10:00 tot 14:00 & 22:00 tot 02:00
    The Shoresof Plenty: 14:00 tot 18:00 & 02:00 tot 06:00

    With a job and 2 kids the shores of plenty one is impossible for me.

    Maybe rare can switch up the crews on a daily basis but that might tick off other people who are planning these in advance, and I'm guessing the server can't handle all the crews at the same time.

  • I would like to see the times of the ships more frequent, Since the release I have only been able to do the same battle due to the times the battles occur.

    This is due to real world commitments and I am worried that by the weekend when I may have the opportunity for a different timed battle, there will be no ships to help me.

    My suggestion is to make them occur every 5 in-game days. 1-5 golden sands area, 6-10 plunders area, 11-15 daggertooth. Then repeat, 16-20 golden sands, 21-25 plunders area, 26-30 daggertooth area

    Thanks

  • My suggestion towards this issue would be having smaller time gaps.
    Instead of having:
    Battle 1: 1-10 (ingame)
    Battle 2: 11-20
    Battle 3: 21-31

    Make it like this:
    Battle 1: 1-5 & 15-20
    Battle 2: 6-10 & 21-25
    Battle 3: 11-15 & 26-31

    This would spread the spawntimes and give all players a chance of completing them.
    Would need to make sure that once a battle has started it doesn't end once the date has been reached though.

  • @aarghmaargho said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    Would need to make sure that once a battle has started it doesn't end once the date has been reached though.

    I was about to suggest the same thing myself, although that could mean a server ends up with 2 battles going on simultaneously which may cause performance issues.

  • @ever-reddy this happened to us on launch night - last wave was due... date changed... we missed out.

  • @ever-reddy said in [Mega Thread] Real world timings of Cursed Sails Battles:

    I was about to suggest the same thing myself, although that could mean a server ends up with 2 battles going on simultaneously which may cause performance issues.

    I don't think that would be an issue since that can happen now as well, even now there could be overlapping battles happening. But I don't know if raids despawn when the enddate is reached.

  • @demonstrife1 Another alternative is to run them for longer with some overlap - so 1 will start earlier while another is still in its last legs - this may have the drawback of splitting the players on the server between the 2 by forcing them to choose 1 event over the other, but it gives players more overall time to complete them and more opportunities to complete the ones that they may not be able to do. Unlike your idea, it also won't shorten the time-frames by offering them more frequently.

  • @aarghmaargho I don't see how they could be overlapping at the moment as any active battles finish with the ships returning to the deep as soon as it gets to the end of the last day for that area.

  • @ever-reddy
    As I said:
    But I don't know if raids despawn when the enddate is reached. ;)

  • I would suggest 2 hour delay between these battles, it would be alot better for 90% of the player base this will give the oppertunity to do the battles for every fleet 4 times a day. Making it that you get 28 attempts in the whole week to get the fleet you need so all in all there will be 84 skelleton ship battles per week instead of 42 total.

    As it stands now everyone gets 14 oppertunity's this week to complete them all so 42 in total.

  • So days in game depends on irl hour system? Wow, I was about to report that I cant find day 1 session... nvm. So yeah I dont like to play before 6pm because of weather, Id rather sail IRL. So please make days random in session or something like this.

  • Yea somehow something should change, because last night i had to stay up until 2AM so i could do the Smugglers Bay battle. That's way to late for me, because I have to work.... but I still did it.

    Wouldn't it be an idea to make the battles 1-5 (1) 6-10 (2) 11-15 (3) 16-20 (1) 21-25 (2) 26-30 (3)

  • Copying my topic about this in here. And I must say I'm so glad to see I'm not alone!

    I've done all the commendations in the game so far. But I have to say that this time I'm not sure I will do them. All these dates and timeframes we have to play feels more like a chore and work then me logging on and having fun completing these commendations.

    It gives me bad memories from my World of Warcraft raiding days when the game suddenly went from fun to work. And basically when I just stopped raiding with my guild.

    I dont know about the rest of you but as a parent the time I get to play is sporadic but I play when I got the time. Often to do these commendations. But this time it gives a bad taste in my mouth with all these dates....

    Try to keep Sea of Thieves as much as possible about having fun and dont turn it into chores and work that we have to mark on our calendars....please...

  • @szawel123 Yeah, each battle lasts for ~10 in-game days. IRL, that translates to ~4 hours. So, you get 2 chances each IRL day to battle against and defeat each fleet, as well as earn specific commendations. To further complicate matters, there are specific commendations that can only be earned for 1 week out of each of the 3 total-week event. This means that you have to find time each week for ~12 hours (to defeat each of the 3 fleets), AND allow for additional time if you fail for whatever reason, over the course of the next 3 weeks.

    12-15 hours per week is unreasonable, IMO. 6? Sure! 12+, though? No... Just no.

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