This season has definitely missed the mark... I think it was a long time coming and it was too late to change it maybe? Slamming the breaks, doing a U-turn and doing something entirely different and having us players wait would have probably been better than releasing what's here.
As a Beta / Day 1 player and speaking for a few others that I've played the game with since the very start, we are not bothering with this seasonal content. It's not about what you can get from the Bilge Rat black markets in exchange for doubloons after the reset or what can now be bought with gold in stores, as far as we can tell, the items being regurgitated on the black markets are just old free seasonal cosmetics so we don't care, some of us have most if not all of it already and none of those items have been hard earned or anything, we also have more hats and sails than we could ever want at this stage, for us the problem is there is nothing different or new to chase in terms of cosmetics, it's just an abundance of the same stuff but it isn't even about the cosmetics, the activities on offer feel really really samey, so for us it's not about what we can unlock from doing something, it's whether the doing of a thing is different or more of the same dressed in a different way...
These forums are a veritable gold mine for interesting creative ideas for SOT and it's all coming straight from the players who play the game and care enough about the game to be here in the first place to offer feedback and suggestions. Players have been offering up amazing ideas for years here, most of which seem to slip through the net and under the radar.
Sea Of Thieves really NEEDS to trim off the fat and filler and introduce some truly new experiences or interest in the game will continue to wilt and for veteran players, I predict a huge drop off for Windrose.
Suggestions, some of which have been pervasive on these forums for years:
New region?
New Monster(s)?
More story progression through Tall Tales and activities? (not time limited events)
Jewellery? Earrings?
The ability to merge curses?
Player homes?
The ability to save cosmetic combinations on your Pirate?
A survival game mode?
A rifle (musket) without a scope?
A true single player boat?
Open Seas isn't something many people will likely make a whole lot of use of but I am excited to see what creative potential comes from it. I think a Golden Age of lore videos and Machinema movies could arrive with open seas and it will be interesting to witness what people create. We may try to make something using the creative freedom open seas offers too, it will also be a great way to have friendly training days with friends and acquaintances as well, setting up a Sea Of Thieves Dojo to sharpen our PVP, TDM and Naval combat skills! Open Seas is a great 'minor' addition to offer players a new and different way of engaging with the game and I think it's better to have access to it than not to have access to it BUT it won't help the state of the game as it's not 'really' the game...
I have my fingers and toes crossed that the Sea Of Thieves has a mighty come back with the updates that follow after open seas 🤞 and I'm looking forward to getting creative and seeing what is made with open seas.
Speaking only for myself and some of the friends I play Sea Of Thieves with, for the time being, we are not feeling drawn to play as often as we would like to be. Hopping on for the occasional quick voyage and doing a short session of Hourglass seems to be all that's waiting on that gorgeous blue horizon for us for a good while...
