Regarding Search for Ancient Pillar adjustment / commendations

So now those players who have NOT YET grinded 270 voyages will have an increased voyage difficulty with new pillar locations. Meaning that the players that did grind early get them

I don’t see how that makes it harder for me to grind. I rather them be more open and random locations instead of it became “I know the islands spawn points” which isn’t fun.

while a constant mob of ghosts spawn that CAN combo 1 shot.. And using tools like firebombs/blowdart often cause the demise of your own skeleton army

Yeah don’t do that. Use a sword, line up and dash. Kill about 3 and let your skeletons do the rest. You could also find 2-3 extra skeletons to help (which seem to be stronger) to increase your mobs.

[mod edit]

@burnbacon said:

I rather them be more open and random locations instead of it became “I know the islands spawn points” which isn’t fun. >

Oh yeah I totally understand that point from a variety standpoint. But it does add an additional layer of complexity that didn’t exist for those that have completed 270 voyages.

Knowing the spawns by island is significantly easier than having to actually look for them each time. Which brings the paradox of, “we respect players time” by not nerfing the comm (understandable) but then simultaneously buffing the voyage making SLIGHTLY more time for players who not yet have 270 completed. (??)

Which is why I’d suggested possibly buffing spawns, but reducing pillar count from 3 to 2. To balance the increased difficulty with a slight decrease in difficulty. Or keep 3 pillars, but reduce ghost spawn rate.

After the announcement, I get the feeling that I should grind as many as I can before they patch and add more spawns. The clues given to find the pillar are quite difficult. They often look like it can be literally ANY location of ANY island. Trees, grass and maybe a rock. There are not many landmark features. Kid you not- doing the new voyage actually makes me feel less intelligent as a human.

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Forced sword only combat. Nice.

@look-behind-you said in Regarding Search for Ancient Pillar adjustment / commendations:

@BurnBacon @Core1516
Please be careful where you post in relation to the Insider build. Any Insider Feedback or information is under NDA and should only be posted in the Insider section of the Forums.

https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/171256/insider-tavern-chit-chat-and-speculation/ is an open Thread for General Insider discussion, otherwise use the specific Feedback Threads.

Thanks.

Hmm I figured the last dev update video revealed enough and the trailer showed enough.

Oh well.

For me I'm in stuck in "Reaper Rivals" limbo, because I have to sell stolen Skulls of the Banished and I can't find anyone doing the voyage so I get my last few. Which is why I'm not a fan of cosmetics being locked behind commendations that needs other players to do something first so you could attempt to complete them and then do it ten more times, and why was hoping they would cut back on that one because it seems like most people are done do that voyage for now and it looks like it might end up like the skull of siren song or the burning blade.

The only logical reason I can see for not to pull back on the requirements for the new reaper's loot turn in commendations would be them adding more ways to get those loot items outside of the one voyage. I just feel like Rare is trying to play their cards way to close to their chest when they really don't need to. Giving the reason "we don't want to devalue the time of the players that already done them",isn't really great because it does feel like throwing those types of players under the bus for the mistake I feel Rare makes a lot with their super grindy commendations.

@bigbadshadowman At this point I already do not see people doing the reaper voyage. I do not know how I will ever be able to get those bone parts when I have to steal something from players who aren't doing it. Like Rag and Bone crates. No one cares about rag and bone crates enough to try to deliver them, so I will never be able to get the commendations for selling 5 stolen rag and bone crates to each sea post. I can honestly say, that going forward, ZERO people will be getting the "Deliver 5 stolen rag and bone crates to each of the 6 sea posts" because of the requirement for another player to care enough to put it on their boat in the first place.

@th3r0ck3tt I was going to wait until after fight nights to try the new voyage but I really do not think it's worth it, and also I do not think I will be able to get the "sell 15 stolen skulls" comm because I haven't even seen 15 total people doing the voyage in the last 2 weeks.

While I think the idea is to make voyages and content once in a while that attracts pvp, it just doesn't work the way they want it to in reality. Most players I run across HATE pvp, and things like that ruin their experience and make them not want to play. Ancient Pillar and Siren Song are two great examples of this.

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Maybe making the voyage intentionally stackable through the means of being able to revote the voyage at the current island, so it will become similar to FOTD - people will stack them for the higher risk/reward. With players sitting at an island completing voyages for longer- stacking leaves them open to people coming to attack; but at the same time allowing them to stack and sell MORE if they successfully defend or make it to the hideout unbothered. Perhaps there should be 1 extra hideout on the map that you can sell at to prevent hideout campers and encourage pvp in a less bothersome & annoying way. This would also allow people to make more sneak plays on ships stacking for long periods of time, which is an interest to some subcommunities playstyles.

Currently I've had a single voyage take upwards of 40 minutes start to sell. With changes to stacking you may finish 3 voyages and sell in 1 hour; which becomes much more worth it for players to keep pursuing the voyage rather than getting frustrated when it takes so long to complete and sell 1 voyage (if they make it that far).

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Another idea is to make it where if you obtain several skulls (say 3) you can activate another event that gives even greater reward. Again similar to FOTD, there would be prep work involved to activate a new event, encouraging stacking to seek greater value. Perhaps more gilded & shadow chests / urns are rewarded with the new event to help progress the oversighted commendations in season 16 rather than having to complete 270 voyages.

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FOTD was THE event back in the day.. When it actually felt like it meant something. Now COL is handed out like candy and means nothing.

Maybe we need a weapon/top flag that can track steals, so instead of a commendation that stops tracking after X steals, or makes people feel like they HAVE to finish it, they get rewarded with tallies/numbers carved into their weapons/top flag for their lifetime big steals (COL, COF, Skull of the Banished) similar to the Grogmanay tankard. The idea is to make LONG term progress (their idea behind commendations) without it feel like a grind to achieve. This is a passive way to track steals and feel accomplished as number goes up, but no pressure to do so.

The idea for a top flag that tracks steals comes from submarines that would track their sinks during wars by displaying their enemy's flags for # of sinks.. Or perhaps the weapon can track steals, and the top flag could track sinks.

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Just a few ideas because I'm sick of seeing updates that miss the mark on what developers expect will happen (think ancient pillar & siren song), versus what actually happens in their game.