Hello Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Coast , oh i love that saying...No , i can't drift off already...For the Pirates that don't have much time : this will be TOO LONG TO READ!!!! .Am i going to bore you with one of my toecurling stories? Well...No. A thought has crossed my mind and has been growing the last week , but before i start i want to add one more thing, i will try to explain as good as possible what i mean, this week has proven to me that i have to do more my best into coming over as clear as possible, yes i'm a foreigner that hasn't got English under his arm but i really gonna try to make sure i ,hopefully ( * You wished , moron), can't be missunderstood...Sea Gods , i will need yer help...So let me begin ( * Yaaaaaawn, okay , you there , that one loyal reader , make yourself comfortable , take a pillow , because the nag is going to start his verbal chainsaw so..." Enjoy" this ....Poor soul, i don't envy you...)
SOT has had a fantastic week thanks to the release of Schrouded Spoils.Schrouded Spoils offered so many new things , thrills and commandations and so on...This made that many Pirate Legends 10 came back since they could gather new Commandations, other Pirates came back because their road to the Legendary Status will be shortened quite a lot with all the new earnings and rewards dropped by killing Krakki, Meggi, Skeleton Ships, Skeleton Fleets , Fortresses , Mermaid statues and so on and on...For some the " grind " will feel not so heavy . Oh , many of you ( * Like many will read this written rubbish , moron - And ooh, it's Sunday and our little lovely Sunshine is cranky again...* Little ? LITTLE!!!??? keep yer tears inside , Captain crybaby ...moron) know how i feel about " grinding" but no, i won't crawl in my frontline trench...for once...Other Pirates came back after sailing " foreign shores " , other games i mean , and heard that SOT has a lot more content then at the day they gave up on this game...
All of them are welcomed back...
Many New Pirates also found their way to SOT, and that is very ,very good...
Now , we go to the Geniuses behind this game , Rare ...Rare has been working on this for so many years , and are planning to add at least one more year to that development and enriching of this game . In secret i hope that Mr Spencer orders them to keep developing this game for many years , but ssssstttt, that's the egocentric illegal son in me ( * Huh, what , this has nothing to do with me , moron - " He ,who fits the shoe, has to ware it too" * Did someone asked you to open yer drafthole Captain ? No? Then close it , it stinks). But along the way , i fear that Rare has forgotten just how rich this game has become...Hold on...i will try to explain better...
Rare decided ,from the very beginning , to only give a tiny little tutorial ,wich is woven in the game , the rest would have to be discovered while playing...That's great and i admire that tactic , and it's a gift to the PvE players but....Since SOT has grown exponentially in content ,mechanics and so on, the new Pirate may feel that he or she got struck with an avalanche. i have met many Solo Sloopers this week , and very many of them are New , they don't have Friends that want to play Pirates or ...Don't have Friends at all.But Solo Slooping is already very hard for the hardest, battle experienced knucklehead Pirate around, what will it do to the playing joy of a New Pirate?. New People are too much unaware that Solo Slooping is the " Nightmare "mode of this game.Only the strongest and most experienced of us can pull this off and many lose ships or die trying...Nothing good can come from this if this continues to the unaware New Pirate...
i am a lucky fool ( * Oh wait, the last time i saw the mirror , i more thought of you as an ugly fool...hihihihi) , i was part of the first 1000 Alpha Players , way back at the end of 2016. In other words , i have grown along the game and i too, have forgotten how hard it may be for the New Pirate...Since i play every time i can , i seem to not realize anymore that player who don't play that much may struggle with , what i feel ,so" easy" things to do on the ship...
Is the Tutorial , once made at the beginning, the release of this game i mean, still adequate enough to actually let the New Pirate grow , or is it just a little tiny flame that ,in some cases , can't ignite the Big Gutfire it supposed to ignite?
Another thing that i read on these very Forums , and since it's so massive , i cannot read alot anymore, was : A guy and his wife decided to tackle a Skeleton Fleet , in the hope that the man could convince his wife to play together .They used the sloop but forgot or didn't realize to stock up as much as possible . Result , losing of the ship, discouraged feelings and a possible farewell...wich...is a shame.
Is there no possible mechanic , warning , or line of text that could warn people ...i know it could break the immerment of the moment , but seeing people leave upset, frustrated ,angry and so on , on this beautiful game hurst me in a way too...
Many people seem to have given up on communications, please don't shoot me , i'm not aiming to people that don't use the microphone for many reasons, there is the Non Verbal mechanism and PC players can type whole letters if they feel the need ...But...i am talking about the Pirate that doesn't talk at all...He / She mostly runs along like a fifth wheel on the wagon, doing things without knowing that it could hurt the crew ...They are not "in " the game ...And many of them don't really know very well what is expected or what they are doing?
What has happened in so many other games that made people so quiet? Is it shyness, fear of talking, fear of talking to randoms for a posiible verbal beating?
No, i'm not mocking the silent Pirate , i was once silent too, for a very long time and it almost killed me mentally because if i wanted to talk i simply couldn't anymore...That may sound funny but i can assure you that these kinds of reality checks really give you a mental punch...
i do understand that people are cautious but if you play an hour with a crew that Friendly tries to make contact with you , then please give a sign of life out there , write something , listen to what others ask and please ,if you have a microphone , and would love to talk, then please take the jump...After an hour, the chance that people would still verbally attack you is very tiny...Many , not all unfortunately i know that too, Pirates try to learn from each other , enrich themselves and others by meeting, bounding and talking...You ,too, can be part of this if you take the jump...
Now , this game is made by people ( * Wow, get the Nobel Price ready , because Old George has just invented warm water...moron)...but ...it is people who "make " yer game ...Confused ( * Who wouldn't?, if they read yer garbage...dufus)...Let me tell you a little story of two days ago from the Seas, no i promise ,it won't be a long one ( * We all hope...).
It was around 5.30 am my time , when Mr Xbox Geek and Mr Jay4dio, Boatswain of the Forum and one of the only two Crewbinders i have ever met in this game ,came to our " last " Island...
We had been doing a lot of stuff, Skeleton Ships, fortresses , Meggi's and so on and on, while doing an Athena voyage. We finally came to our last place, Snake Island and our treasure was completely West.On the other side , however , was a mast ...The Plan was simple ( * yes , of course , otherwise you couldn't understand it , baboon), i was guarding the ship, Mr Xbox geek was digging and Mr Jay4dio would spy upon them...
The treasure was fetched and we took off and left Mr Jay4dio on the island, he could take a Mermaid ....But ...Mr Jay4dio is Mr Jay4dio so he sneaked on board entered their crowsnest and observed the Pirate ...We will call her a she as it was a female Pirate character because it could had been a guy that just like a female character to play with....It didn't took Mr Ja4dio long to recognize a new Pirate .No shipcostumization, default sailor dress and the Sailor title above her head ...She didn't use a microphone but that doesn't hold Mr Jay4dio back...He talked pointed her to a few points in wich she needed to be more on her guard for and while we were cashing in he took her to our Outpost...He promised her to not ambush ,betray and steal from her...She made it to the shore , we said hello , helped her taking her stuff to shorten the time to the Factions members ...
Mr Geek gave her a Fine Sugar box and i quickly gathered 50 bananas from our barrels and the islands and gave that to her to add to her Merchant Ranks...She thanked us and i went to sleep...
i think , in total humbleness , that our approach to her , although you could feel that she was totally new and not comprehended what was going on , made her to come back the next day for a new adventure ...
Now pretend , we didn't repected her "newness" ...Oh , we wouldn't had any problem of killing, her robbing her , sinking the ship and so on...But ...Ask yourself this question...Would she have come back to this game the next day?...Would she have felt this game was "fair " to her?...
What i am trying to ask is that all of us , experienced players , that don't get attacked ,first take a little look to who is standing before you...Somebody wrote this week " The Game is dead" ...No ,this game isn't dead but we have the potential to kill it , or...not...and make it so that we first spend some of our time to train a new Pirate , it doesn't have to take much time...
Give some tips and tricks , help with a ridlle ,or search for the place of the X on a map for him or her....There is no doubt that the next day , this person starts Sea of Thieves again...
Do i ask you to become a " hippie Pirate " ...No...i just ask you to not destroy the new Pirate ...Is it really that fun? Is there any honor or pride to take down and destroy a person that isn't even aware of it's surroundings...Come on Pirates , we all learned this game by falling and getting up but we all have recieved help when it was needed or when we didn't expect it...
Play sometimes with yer Heart ...And give a New Pirate a chance to find him/herself in this game .In time you have helped to create a player that can take a dissapointment and comes back because he/she has recieved a bit of kindness in the past from a total unexpected corner...
New Pirates have a lot more to learn then the New Pirate from the release ...Most people of our Forum grant sunlight in other persons eyes , but we are 300.000 at the maximum while there are five or more millions of Pirates out there....
A game can die because of many reasons, Server shutdown and so on , but we too have a responsibility to keep it alive ...i don't ask much, just try to lend a hand or be mild on a New Pirate, that you may have recognized from afar and who hasn't attacked you first , share a bit of yer knowledge , make them feel welcome and wanted in this game...And yer reward ? ...Well, if you feel the same Warm Glow in yer Heart as i do then i bet you will become addicted in helping new People . And you too will have contributed on the fact that this game will simply live longer because you gave a New Pirate a chance to learn and adapt to this world...
Sure , the chance that they become frustrated ,angry , fed up after meeting stronger players will always be there but the first impression of a game is sometimes so strong and good that they learn that gaming is like life: Get downed , but get up again...Tomorrow , is after all , a new day and a new oppertunity for a new Grand Adventure...
i'm sorry for this long text ( * No you don't...beanstake) but i hope you realize what power each and everyone has at his or her disposal to "make or break" a New Pirate's first day at the Sea ...Please be gentle because players are the LIFEBLOOD of a Game...Any game ...Thank you for reading...