What tweaks/additions would make SoT more Immersive for you?

@xcalypt0x upvoted

@gloog said in What tweaks/additions would make SoT more Immersive for you?:

You mentioned more random encounters which I don't think is just a tweak but yeah this game needs more depth in all areas. The world needs to be more alive and spontaneous.

Also, would like more weather effects. Whirlpool, rogue wave, fog, fire etc

Would also like a more intuitive resource gathering/crafting mechanic thar involves the world. Barrels are boring.

The game doesn't really need too many immersion tweaks. They did a good job there. It needs major additions:p

These are great ideas. I love this.

More wildlife.

LAND
Dangerous - Boars and komodo Lizards on land.
Non Dangerous - Monkeys on land.
SEA
Dangerous - Salt water crocodiles around Islands. Tiger shark off shore, bit smaller and faster than the current Great White.
Non Dangerous - More fish, Octopus and crabs.

More environmental effects.

Dangerous - Water Spout and Whirpool.
Semi Dangerous - Fog bank.

Another melee weapon - Hand Axe

@xcalypt0x said in What tweaks/additions would make SoT more Immersive for you?:

It's been a little difficult seeing this awesome pirate world without a large port city. I'm definitely not saying it should be a safe zone, but I would like to see at least one large hub that looks like an important maritime destination. It would bring lot's of NPCs along with it and cool architecture to admire.

I would also like scabbards and holsters. Pirates didn't pull guns out of their butts :) This would give us more clothing pieces to customize and would allow us to see what weapons our enemies have on them.

Great idea, a town or small city would really add some fun. I do like the idea of it being a safe zone, maybe a couple of none safe zone taverns. At least the harbor area should be safe.

Not everything has to come from purchasing. Why do the main factions of the game harbor every item upgrade(In terms of cosmetics) in the known world? Make drops, give people a reason for doing things. Let someone set sail and find a hidden shipwreck with sails still intact and let them be able to take them down to adorn them on their own vessel. Make skeletons drop pieces of clothing/weapons, show people the dedication someone has taken into farming specific things or just getting lucky.

Roguewaves as stated above would add quite an impact to the game. PvPing wouldn't be the same, as the waves could strike at anytime and seemingly topple your vessel(Assuming they ever added physics for this)

I'd love for an option to turn the visual wind effects off, leaving you with nothing but the flags atop the masts to determine wind direction. My friend and I experienced a bug during the beta where this happened, and we loved it.

More of everything! More variety.

Fishing!!

Alot of good ideas in this thread. Rare take notice!

@knifelife

I'd like to see a system implemented that support roleplaying more than now. It's too random, which is okay, but when I see another ship I'll just think "that's another player who'll be passive or aggressive".
I'd like to spot a merchantman from some distance and know that he/she will not randomly attack me because the game places restrictions that make it non-profitable for them to do so (like loosing rep with merchants).

One thing that makes the worlds of Elderscrolls and Fallout games feel alive is the multiplicy of agendas.
There are traders, raiders, farmers, mercenaries, police/military, brotherhoods/guilds etc. and then all the people who fall between such categories.
All those roles have their own logic and ethics and they interact with each other and by doing that they create some logic in the world and thereby let the player make sense of the world and navigate between the good guys, bad guys and all in between.
The player can choose to "be someone" in relation to the sets of roles in the game world! And "being someone" is being a part of the world itself.
Choosing a role means restraining yourself to act in accordance with that role, so the game would need to place those restraints on players who want to actively take on the role as merchants, pirates, mercenaries, The Royal Fleet(police) etc.

Having those roles should be additional options along with the opportunity to play outside a clear role (as we do now) to do just do fetch-tasks for (for example) Merchant Alliance without being a merchant with its advantages and restrictions, while being able to do some piracy on the way etc.
Advantages for playing as a (formal) merchant could be things like being able to buy and sell special trading goods at the outposts with different prices and being able to sell some items to other non-merchant players.
Restraints would include being unable to sell stolen goods, being punished for attacking merchant ships or Royal Navy ships.

Furthermore you could have different ships only be available for the different factions.

Just knowing all these agendas are playing out in the world makes it feel alive. And taking part by playing a formal role would be immersive in itself because as it would let you be 'someone' in the Sea of Thieves, other than another random pirate/fetch crew.

@d-cadovius said in What tweaks/additions would make SoT more Immersive for you?:

@knifelife

I'd like to see a system implemented that support roleplaying more than now. It's too random, which is okay, but when I see another ship I'll just think "that's another player who'll be passive or aggressive".
I'd like to spot a merchantman from some distance and know that he/she will not randomly attack me because the game places restrictions that make it non-profitable for them to do so (like loosing rep with merchants).

One thing that makes the worlds of Elderscrolls and Fallout games feel alive is the multiplicy of agendas.
There are traders, raiders, farmers, mercenaries, police/military, brotherhoods/guilds etc. and then all the people who fall between such categories.
All those roles have their own logic and ethics and they interact with each other and by doing that they create some logic in the world and thereby let the player make sense of the world and navigate between the good guys, bad guys and all in between.
The player can choose to "be someone" in relation to the sets of roles in the game world! And "being someone" is being a part of the world itself.
Choosing a role means restraining yourself to act in accordance with that role, so the game would need to place those restraints on players who want to actively take on the role as merchants, pirates, mercenaries, The Royal Fleet(police) etc.

Having those roles should be additional options along with the opportunity to play outside a clear role (as we do now) to do just do fetch-tasks for (for example) Merchant Alliance without being a merchant with its advantages and restrictions, while being able to do some piracy on the way etc.
Advantages for playing as a (formal) merchant could be things like being able to buy and sell special trading goods at the outposts with different prices and being able to sell some items to other non-merchant players.
Restraints would include being unable to sell stolen goods, being punished for attacking merchant ships or Royal Navy ships.

Furthermore you could have different ships only be available for the different factions.

Just knowing all these agendas are playing out in the world makes it feel alive. And taking part by playing a formal role would be immersive in itself because as it would let you be 'someone' in the Sea of Thieves, other than another random pirate/fetch crew.

This! Totally! Although it does push the game into MMORPG territory. Not that that is a particularly bad thing and not that having a label is necessary.

@DeliciousPack I would like the wind effects to become optional too, I loved that bug!
Put it into a thread once but didn't catch much attention.

@KnifeLife I would like to see fishing, some good old relaxation along with a possible food source or certain faction reputation.

Weather effects such as whirlpools, a tsunami, monster storm that could capsize a ship if the sails are used wrong and maybe even a tornado...

Ingame minigames such as cardgames, knifethrowing/darting, cannonball bowling or jeu de boule, memory, heck why not throw in russian roulette while changing it a bit and calling it pirate roulette, all with or without gambling options.

More wildlife for sure!
Tons and tons of idea's for that one, but "wildlife" should say enough for now.

Pirate rock-paper-scissors, or in other words, a duel to the death! (Or till 1 hp, as long as there is a winner)
Would be plain fun but could also be used to settle disputes.

Surrender+brig possibilities.
A player could surrender, 1 idea I had was by form of waving a white flag, and then it could be possible to brig that player by getting close and pressing/holding a button.
Could be a fun mechanic for people who want to surrender and show they don't want a fight or give up the fight, and for attackers to take their time to see what's on board and what they want to take.
Some would leave merchantwares for the player, some would take everything, some would troll, but mostly it would be fun to actually take over a ship without sinking it and taking the booty and materials like a true pirate.
Also, you have a prisoner! (Max 10 minutes, could be voted out through normal means or be auto-released after the time expired or the prisoner dies somehow)
How fun are prisoners, you could talk to them, you could play music with them, you could throw buckets of water on them, puke on them, execute them, etc. (Ofcourse there'd be trolling, but that will always be there... Please Rare, don't hold back on fun mechanics to try to prevent trolling...)

Flags to indicate types of seafarers, like the jolly roger or the red flag.
In a pirateworld the flags are so important, it's minor for immersion and roleplaying but it would still make the game feel more real compared to everyone just having white flags.

Many more things I could try to think of... But I'll stop here... =þ
Fun topic @KnifeLife!

@knifelife said in What tweaks/additions would make SoT more Immersive for you?:

@biter-wylie I like it, i 100% agree that he wildlife ecosystem could be expanded on! With all the different biomes in the game its basically begging for more animal diversity!

And i can just see myself being eaten by a Komado Dragon, i believe they have something in there saliva which poisons or paralyses don't they? Would be a great mechanic to have in game, would be horrible! Aha

It's not actually a poison, it's somewhat worse...
It's a bunch of bacteria containing a cesspool of deseases, indeed in their saliva.
They bite their prey to get their bacteria in the wound, which I believe also prevents the blood from stolling, and they slowly die out from either bloodloss or infections.
This can take days and maybe even weeks, all while the komodo dragon is hobbling behind it's pray, waiting patiently.

If implemented it could give only minor damage from the bite, lets say 5 - 10% health, and after the bite it will slowly drain 1 hp at a time, every 3 seconds, untill the player dies.
If there should be a cure besides dying... Not sure... But definitly shouldn't be cured by eating a banana... =þ
Maybe that you can cure it at an outpost at a certain npc or something.

That would be awesome! XD

Edit: Maybe they could be like snakes, passive until approached, and maybe even be for the merchant.
And maybe after it bites it should stalk the player that has been bit, just follow the player around without attacking till the player is really low health so it can give the finishing blow, until he died or leaves the island. XD

Simple, make cross play optional!

Nuff Said...

@x-riddler-x Don't ruin this thread by bringing up crossplay...
That has nothing to do with immersion...

My number one issue with immersion is actually the render distance nerf of meaningful objects - but I’ve beaten this topic to death - and no more howling at the moon is going to change this sad occurrence.

More ships, more weapons, a large port or two, diseases, fishing, more fruit, more reasons to explore the vast underwater ocean, trading, an economy, a reason to PvP, talking npcs, different trash mobs, more animals.

More variety.

They have built a beutiful world, now they just need to breathe life in it.

More interactive nature/islands/everything
as you swim next to a school of fish, they swim away etc

I think more reasons for player interaction would go a LONG way. I get the vibe that they want the players to fill the roll of inhabitants of the world but outside of killing each other or grouping up to kill each other...there isn't really any reason to get together. Random friendlies are always a treat but...most of the time I just sail around with them and... kill/rob others.

Really any of the varying suggestions would work. Some form of an actual economy, some form of capturing players in combat, some form gambling/minigame, some sort of social area, some form of dueling. As I said: I get the vibe they want us to be the inhabitants so they need to add anything that allows us to inhabit whether peaceful or violent but preferably both.

As far as little specifics that would help me I'd say with some randomly spawned tavern patrons just to add an air of 'functioning' to the place, being able to interact with furniture instead of trying to emote my way into it kinda sorta working. I also want the ability to set up a temporary campfire (and maybe a hammock) so I can camp out on islands/wait out storms landlocked. I solo mainly so even a cosmetic hammock on the sloop would make it feel more 'lived in'. Right now I guess...I sleep on...a rug? Under the table? Maybe in one of those unused barrels...yeah that must be it.

@mindarchitect said in What tweaks/additions would make SoT more Immersive for you?:

@x-riddler-x Don't ruin this thread by bringing up crossplay...
That has nothing to do with immersion...

I strongly disagree! Because of forced crossplay to PC players I cannot fully enjoy this game. Want to know more feel free to follow the [Mega Thread] Play Anywhere and Cross Play - Part 4. On that mega thread you can see how cross play is in fact ruining players immersive experience.