[Suggestion] How about a 'real' outpost and isles that are more than 'sandbanks'?

  • McAnus66
    Founder

    Dear Forum,
    dear sea of thieves team,

    First of all, sorry if this has come up b4 and I end up double posting but I couldn't find anything like it on the forum so far.

    When Sea of Thieves was announced I envisiouned something like a Pirates-of-the-Carribean-MMO. And visually I havent been disappointed. When you're on the Sea it really feels very immersive, maybe the most immersive game I played in roughly 20 years of playing games. Although once I check with the map or reach an outpost/isle the immersion fades a bit.

    I dont really want to adress the already existing isles but for the future I just HOPE for some more realistic isles because even the 'big ones' are explored within 5-10mins max. Sure I can get all the materials on the island and in that way spent more time on it but thats not the point Im trying to make. Also am unsure whether its only about size in that case but I think it would help to have some really big ones which arent 'just another isle' after you spent roughly 15mins (thats even too much maybe) on it. In the end you gonna have them explored aswell, sure, but I think it could break monotony within the game.

    My most precious point though is the missing of an Port-Royale-aesk outpost. I asked other players for opinions about a real harbour and the main 'counter-argument' I got was that a 'capital outpost' like that would probably be filled with griefers/gankers - which indeed is a good point. Still in my imagination it 'should' be very easy to create a (or maybe 2 or 3) big hub(s) and fill them with hyper-aggressive and overpowered AI (Guards) which will react to every kind of aggression by players in the area. Im not sure whether that would make visiting those places dull, since we have no way of finding out atm. Im thinking of a Booty-Bay (vanilla WoW not bfa booty bay) Sea of Thieves 'city' where your employers in example the gold hoarders have a bank-like building to show off their wealth and some pointless NPCs are walking around (reparing/carrying stuff for example) to let this world feel somewhat real atleast. Thats why I brought up the map in the first place, every time I check in with it Im kinda sad how arbitrarily islands seem to be placed and am also missing the try to make it feel like a real ocean/sea and not just clumped-up-pretty-much-same-seized-islands-with-the-occaisonal(which appear way to often from my PoV)-stone-formation-between.

    I apologize if this sound negative to you because it really shouldnt. I had and still have high hopes for this game as the art-style is simply unmatched and from what I can tell the team is open-minded + clever enough to have thought about things like this already.

    Let me know what you think!

    Also sorry if I trigger someone with my Gamertag. Its very old and was created by a friend of mine to troll me - its not meant to be provocative.

    /salute

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  • FishSt1ck
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain
    Founder

    Ahoy there @mcanus66 !

    When you look at the state of the outposts, it's very clear that we've arrived on the Sea of Thieves not very long after it's been discovered. The factions are just small time profeteers that are still operating from tents and apart from a few traders there's not much going on at these outposts.

    As for guards dealing with agression, I doubt the people on the islands will bother. They don't seem to care who brings them the objects they seek, just that someone brings them the objects. Which means that every pirate skirmish will end in their favour anyway and ends as soon as either party ends up on the ferry. Another thing is that the Pirate life is a free life, they tend to dislike any form of authority so it's very unlikely turning outposts in police states would be something that'll be accepted.

    I'm sure that as time passes, we'll see the people that earned a fair bit of money on the Sea of Thieves expand their shops or find more lucurative get rich quick schemes. As more people venture through the Devil's Shroud and manage to return with a ship full of gold, more people will take the risk of venturing through the shroud themselves. This will most likely result in more vendors and factions setting up shop on the islands or if it doesn't end well for them some of their resources floating ashore.

    You might have heard already that the Merchant Alliance have noticed an influx of people setting up small shops on different islands on the seas. They've already talked about their plans of taking care of all the clothing, plant and rum needs of these new residents. So in a few weeks you can make a quick buck by delivering cargo to these new people.

    The seas be ever changing and these are interesting times. I'd suggest to keep that spyglass of yours on the horizon as there's opportunity for adventure and treasure all around us.

    Signed,

    Captain FishSt1ck

  • McAnus66
    Founder

    Ahoy FishleRick,

    first and foremost; thank you for your well written reply.

    I like how you view the state of the game as a journey, not gonna lie. But it seems you missed my point. It wasnt about changing/recreating the existing isles, especially with the 'guard-matter'. Sure I really hate getting ganked at those small outposts but since I feel that this is part of the experience I would not like to miss it. Rather I meant that, IF, there was a Port-Royale-aesk harbour to be founded (to keep it in your consens), Id like to see guards there to have a bit more room for creativity/roleplay besides what many people seem to understand as the only pirate activity ever: Killing/scavenging others. Otherwise there wouldnt be much of a point to create this kind of 'island' in the first place, if ppl only used it as gank-city, which they probably would.

    I understand your argument that pirates 'want to be free' (god, now I got this song in my head), but still I dont see why Pirates wouldnt want to put down the Pirate flag for some time if they want to visit the/a capital city. I would consider the act of sneakily walking amongst the peasants and only whispering your 'true nature' to others as much as an act of piracy as ganking the heck out of some sloop. Not forever and every outpost of course but Id imaging a Pirateship just getting bombed away by the guards of the port if they near the capital with a skull flag hissed. And lets be honest, the Sea of Thieves might be very adventurous but some of us might want to visit Mommy on the 'main land', if you know what I mean.

  • JetOrchidee97
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    @mcanus66 I'm sure that with all the threads that are created weekly suggesting a hub, tortuga or port royal, that Rare probably noticed that's it's a HUGELY resquested feature. Needless to say (but I'll do it anyway) that I strongly support this idea!

  • Admiral RRRSole

    @mcanus66 said

    Ahoy FishleRick,

    LOL classic.
    And from that day forth he was known throughout the seas as FishleRick. :o)

    Well despite all of the negatives around safe zones etc, outposts were policed so it would make sense for a much larger main outpost to be patrolled & controlled.

    @McAnus66
    Love the name. Are we related?

    That would be so cool to see NPCs walking around carrying crates and stuff and someone on his knees hammering the planks of dock. Perhaps another NPC chasing an escaped chicken around. lol

  • OttersTeeth

    Another thing to add to the 'city' might be a place where you can have your ship repaired. Not as in fixing the holes, but neatening up the inside and outside of the hull after you've been in a cannon fight or (haven't we all been there?) spotted those sandbanks too late.

    Oh, or even better: being able to leave a notice if you are looking to recruit a new crew member! So that they can apply to join your crew, and you can accept or deny their application. Something like a closed crew, but without being Xbox live friends.

    p.s. I wholly agree to your point about the distribution/size of islands. I feel the same. Not when sailing per se, but the map does look off.

  • Captain N30
    Ship Mate

    This is kind of what I was trying to say in a post of my own, I completely agree this would be awesome. I think you should be able to be thrown in the brig, build up a bounty on yourself and everything.

  • JetOrchidee97
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    @fishst1ck It's a very seductive explanation, I think Mike Chapman said something a bit like that lately but I hope we don't take this lore explanation as a reason for doing or not doing things.

    Where were the rocks that support the sea posts before the update? Why couldn't we see the devil's roar on the horizon before? There's quite some holes already in the main story and players don't seem to mind it so a massive island popping up somewhere wouln't matter that much I believe, as long as it brings something useful and enjoyable to the world.
    Nonetheless, I agree that if it is brought to the players AND related in meaningful way to the lore, that's even better!

  • Captain N30
    Ship Mate

    @jetorchidee97 well said.

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