Hi, returning player since many years ago... at first glance the Pirates Life mode really got me back into the SoT feeling, its a fresh, exciting and joyful adventure for a solo player like myself. After a few days I decided to go on the normal Adventure mode, had a nice time just solo-exploring, enjoying my little ship and collecting a few harmless treasures.
Then I came across other players, 2 ships that had been fighting it seemed, I tried using VOIP with and without the megaphone, and I did not engage at all just went past them. Being SoT players they immediately started blasting they canons against me. I tried to get away but one of the ships were chasing me, at first I felt decent, like this was an invasion of enemy pirates on open sea. I did feel a bit run over when I noticed they were 3 against me (3v1). They were obviously used to pvping and so I got rekt instantly.
I admit defeat and just wanted to get back to solo adventuring, but to my surprise they had not sunk my ship (yet)... instead I became victim to multiple deaths by spawncamping, no matter what I tried to do they always had the upper-hand. I am not totally new to the aspect of pvping but this was just plain absurdity, my screen is dark in loading before entering an unavoidable death by spawncamp followed by laughter-spam in pirate chat and such. (Not to mention that when you actually hit someone in close range with blunderbuss they dont even get "1-shot" like I did so many times before)
In the heat of the moment I read something from the ferryman about scuttling my ship.. but I mean is that really what I have to do in a situation like this? But after I tried to change the outcome after multiple deaths there was nothing left to do than sink the ship. What happens next is that of course the players were roaming the sea and close to the Fortress I wanted to visit next, so my next alternative is to remake a game? Will I come across these players again or is the answer "take a break"... horrifying.
To my surprise I saw a post from 5 years ago mentioning the issue with spawncamping... I mean new seasons are great, but the gameplay is horrible against other players. I have given this game a few more days but as always players are only interested in being toxic and ruining the experience for others. Make private servers a choice? optional pvp with pvp-zones? or just let me report people in game... if not, if you truly think this is the way to play the game, then go ahead. I won't be a part of it though /salute.