Hey,
I wanted to share this recommendation from the Steam Shop for Sea of Thieves 2023 Edition as I think it deserves more visibility. The review resembles a very well written summary of what me, the group of people I played Sea of Thieves with, and, gembbaa, would love to see happen: An overhaul of career progress and a vast improvement of PvP combat.
Gembbaa's review: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gembbaa/recommended/1172620/
In summary, he's saying "Sea of Thieves bad because it's not an RPG!"
I agree with what he says about PVP: the boarding meta creates monotonous experiences that favor a playstyle not at all unique to the game. Where Sea of Thieves shines is in naval combat, not buggy minutia of close quarters combat akin to Mount and Blade or Elder Scrolls Online or Valheim. Sea of Thieves needs to embrace what makes it unique, players sailing the ship instead of an AI crew like Skull and Bones, and nerf the heck out of boarding.
But otherwise, he's just asking for RPG elements. There is no "lack of progression," there are six trading companies with a combined 380 levels to progress through, each with cosmetic rewards, and two PVP factions with 1000 levels each with (admittedly many fewer) rewards as well. The only progression I see the game missing is a skill tree, or a reputation system, or other RPG elements that don't belong in an adventure game. The game is about the adventure, the stories you share with your friends and tell each other over and again. He complains about how the currency is worthless because there is nothing to spend it on, which is because he's likely hoping to "upgrade" his equipment or ship in some way to make them better, which are just more RPG elements.
What I find more interesting is self-purporting 1200+ hours in game, he does not recommend it. LOL. "I dislike this game so much I've spent two month's time in it." What a laugh riot. Listen, I'm not sorry a shared-world pirate adventure game doesn't have RPG elements for you. Maybe you should read the description or watch some videos online before spending 1200+ hours in a game you don't like. Think of it like DotA2, LoL, and OW2: do you really want the players with more time in game to get more advantages? Doing so would just widen the skill gap even further and scare away new players.
I'm not sure what they mean by the "Boarding meta" when they pit it against naval tactic. You won't often bruteforce a meaningful board against a decent crew without proper naval pressure (or lucky hitreg). Boarding is useful on top of a clear naval advantage to seal the deal. As a main strategy, I find it lacking and often disadvantageous. The PvP is not perfect, but it's not as shallow as described here.
The lack of progression is a matter of approach. After 1200+ hours of play I still learn things about the game and I still feel like I progress as a pirate. But if you'd want more of a RPG kind of progression with built-in systems and stuff then yeah SoT doesn't reward you like that much.
Regarding the gold economy though they definitely have a point. It feels a bit silly. I don't see really what could be done without scraping it altogether.
