Increase the Number of Ships Per Server

If the option to opt out of cross play becomes an issue we might actually see this implemented. Fewer, larger, servers.

@xxcaptmichaelxx This has been brought up many times. For me, I think tying the total number of ships on a server to the total number of outposts makes sense, as that seemed to play a part in the reason for 6 per server during launch. But we did add an entire section of map and another outpost. So adding another ship per server should have been done.

I do believe I have seen comments that each ship costs x amount of resources on the server. And that a reason for not adding another ship is as much dependent on available resources as anything else. However, with the new install size coming out next week, maybe that will also address resources used on the servers in a way that paves the future for this and other additions.

As I said, for me, 7 ships per server make sense.

@they-sank I don't understand, why is it an issue of what the servers can handle? Is there seriously a performance issue with the game that's stopping more ships from joining on a server, or is it a balancing decision.

If is a balancing decision then I'm asking that it be reviewed and have considerations made for larger server sizes. Is the world at its current state just too small to add even two extra ships per server?

Why not?
Because the developers have intentionally designed and balanced this game to only have other ship interactions average every 20 minutes or so. And that's just an average, so, we all know that can mean seeing no ships for two hours, or four ships in half an hour.
And those "interactions" can be of any sort - including just seeing another ship on the horizon.
The game is not designed to be a PvP-fest, even though some players would love to see that. Just as some players would love to see no PvP - both groups are exactly the same in how they desire a different design than what we have.

Part of the math is also the amount of outposts compared to the amount of ships.

Sure, it'd be interesting to have a larger world, but it would also be crowded and greatly change the pace and dynamics of the game. In the end, this game is truly intended to be a PvE journey of a crew with PvP possibilities and much chaos abound.

Personal opinion :

Six ships per server seems to be about the right amount when it comes to encounter frequency.
The game is about the balance between PVP and PVE; and if you put yourself in a PVE player's shoes, any sails on the horizon is a potential threat. Currently with 6 ships per server you can spawn in a location where your horizon can be clear an you can plan you missions. If the number of crews per server were higher, PVE players would most likely need a dedicated person constantly on the boat keeping an eye on every other sails in the distance, which sounds like a very boring role.
(Not to mention that even though the game was not designed to be played solo, it seems that a few people are still able to enjoy the game that way and increasing the amount of crews per server would make it impossible to achieve anything solo)

If you feel like you should see players more often, keep in mind that the game already have clouds that are supposed to indicate areas of interest which should have people near them (if these areas / events are not considered interesting enough to have people around them, then the event should be made more interesting rather than throwing the balance of the servers away).

On top of that, for people interested in PVP (which are most of the time the people that complain about the server population being too low) the game is going to have a whole new game mode (Arena) that will satisfy their need to see more people.

Finally, as other people have mentioned, the feeling of being part of a more massive world is to me an important part of the game.

I know this is an old post, but it is relevant to a discussion I've had with several other people I've met across the SoT world.
Why not have different options for gameplay? Ei: an option for strictly PvE and one encouraging PvP in addition to the standard style of 'you get what you get'.

@ssx1300 you should go here - https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/126843/mega-thread-pvp-and-pve-playstyle-discussion

also, it's kinda against the rules to bring up dead threads.

The map needs to be bigger before we boost numbers.