Invited to Closed Beta? What features should we see?

I'd love a ferret as a pet, dunno why but they feel like a piratey animal.

I'm just hyped the spyglass is finally coming.

I can feel you near, my dear ;__; lemme look through you!

@blossomylion

@blossomylion I just be looking forward to seein' the beauty of the sea an' breathin' that air 'gen.

@Its-s**** I gotta agree with you there matey! Been away far too long!

I'm hoping they put the Merchant Quest line in the Beta, but have a sneaky suspicion we won't get Pigs & Chickens on board until the full release.

@its-s****. I really do not mean to take away from your experience, but if the only thing this game has going for it as far as content is the feeling you get from sailing....then it's going to crash and burn so hard. By that I mean funding wise and in the eyes of the critics/general public.

SoT needs to start showing what you do. For years interviewers and the community have asked; "What do you do in Sea of Thieves?" and thus far the answers haven't been all that good. Quest grinding seems paramount, reputation grinding is also highly involved. Cosmetics seem like the only form of visual progression or rewards, and your ship is about as meaningless to you as those different colored shoes you spent 3 hours grinding to purchase....

All I can say is, No Mans Sky....I have the same feeling with SoT as I did that game, and that isn't an encouraging feeling. I am watching closely, I am hoping for the best. But the simple fact we've not seen any variety of ships, we've not seen true ship customization or ownership, we've not seen base building or pet ownership, we've not seen fishing or any diverse in-depth pirate gear, we've not seen true progression, and we've not seen any real kind of endgame content. all this tells me that either Rare is holding back a lot of content for launch, or its simply not going to make it in at launch. Hence the No Mans Sky Effect.

@ethnine said in Invited to Closed Beta? What features should we see?:

All I can say is, No Mans Sky....I have the same feeling with SoT as I did that game, and that isn't an encouraging feeling. I am watching closely, I am hoping for the best. But the simple fact we've not seen any variety of ships, we've not seen true ship customization or ownership, we've not seen base building or pet ownership, we've not seen fishing or any diverse in-depth pirate gear, we've not seen true progression, and we've not seen any real kind of endgame content. all this tells me that either Rare is holding back a lot of content for launch, or its simply not going to make it in at launch. Hence the No Mans Sky Effect.

As someone that was on the NMS train and gave it a few dozen hours of my time post-release, then got to play in the alpha for this, let me at least offer you this key difference between my experiences of the two;

NMS was extremely scripted. When a thing happened, it happened in the same way every time, with a pretty basic gameplay loop that grew tiring quickly. Didn't matter if I did this loop on a new planet that was redder, or had bigger wildlife, or more aggressive sentries, it was the same every time.

SoT, with the dynamically forming storms and the ever-present threat of other crews, can REALLY tweak with the basic gameplay loop. Yes, sometimes you'll go out to complete a mission, and turn it in, and that's that; but you'll often find the loop interrupted by a mast on the horizon, or seeing a ship anchored already at your destination, causing you to improvise. Having to engage or flee from battle; against who, where, with what wind direction, and with what loot; all of those variables impact this improvisation.

Those deviations and improvisations keep the game fresh. I've already put more time into the technical alpha for this game than I did into NMS before I got bored of it, and I'm so excited to keep playing this that I hang out on it's forums. That's got to at least suggest something to you.

I suppose the TL;DR is this; the "customization" in SoT as it stands now comes more through how different every adventure can be, and that alone puts it's ability to hold (at least my) interest far longer. I would like to see the customization features you mention, but they won't be make or break for me.

@lepepperpk I know right? We’ve been waiting on that thing since I started the alpha about a year ago.

@labarge28 So just as an example, me and my friends put in around 20 hours of game time. We did over 50 missions, and we had some interesting adventures. We had some encounters with other players, some of the crew were eaten by sharks, gold was abundant, and there was enjoyment in what we were doing....for a little while. But after about 30 missions in we all kind of sighed and became bored because we were doing the same things. And after it was all said and done we really didn't have anything to show for our time invested. And there in-lies the issue. Sure, we mixed it up and tried different things, all of which were just as minimally rewarding. In the end none of us cared two flying ducks about our ship, none of us cared what we looked like, none of us cared that we had achieved a golden shovel, and all of us were frustrated that we spent 20 hours basically achieving nothing. Sure, about 10 of those hours were fun. After that it just became repetitive and grindy. You can only patch so many holes, eat so many bananas, shoot yourself out of so many cannons, before you quickly realize the glam of it all is quickly wearing off.

EDIT: these hours were not all spent at once, it was spread out over days or weeks.

Now Rare says there is more coming. There will be ship customization, there will be more content, there will be an end-game, and there will be more gear. I've heard them push around ideas like base building and pets, as well as fishing and other activities. But I've not seen any of these, nor have they been discussed in any real detail. And that is the NMS effect I am worried about. Just like Sean Murray saying "sure you will be able to join NPCs" "sure you will be able to make a planet home" "sure you will be able to decide the fate of a faction with your choices.." you can say a lot of things are coming, but if you don't actually show them I will remain skeptical.

@ethnine said in Invited to Closed Beta? What features should we see?:

@labarge28 So just as an example, me and my friends put in around 20 hours of game time. We did over 50 missions, and we had some interesting adventures. We had some encounters with other players, some of the crew were eaten by sharks, gold was abundant, and there was enjoyment in what we were doing....for a little while. But after about 30 missions in we all kind of sighed and became bored because we were doing the same things. And after it was all said and done we really didn't have anything to show for our time invested. And there in-lies the issue. Sure, we mixed it up and tried different things, all of which were just as minimally rewarding. In the end none of us cared two flying ducks about our ship, none of us cared what we looked like, none of us cared that we had achieved a golden shovel, and all of us were frustrated that we spent 20 hours basically achieving nothing. Sure, about 10 of those hours were fun. After that it just became repetitive and grindy. You can only patch so many holes, eat so many bananas, shoot yourself out of so many cannons, before you quickly realize the glam of it all is quickly wearing off.

Now Rare says there more coming. There will be ship customization, there will be more content, there will be an end-game, and there will be more gear. I've heard them push around ideas like base building and pets, as well as fishing and other activities. But I've not seen any of these, nor have they been discussed in any real detail. And that is the NMS effect I am worried about. Just like Sean Murray saying "sure you will be able to join NPCs" "sure you will be able to make a planet home" "sure you will be able to decide the fate of a faction with your choices.." you can say a lot of things are coming, but if you don't actually show them I will remain skeptical.

Gotcha. Hopefully they do add a good more variety and content, it always stinks when a game you genuinely enjoyed becomes stale. I won't fault you for being skeptical, we shall see.

I know something that allows me to squeeze out more enjoyment is to set my own weird goals. "Let's see how many treasure chests I can collect on my ship at one time," or "Let's see if I can (as a sloop), lure a galleon into a storm and sink them in the chaos". Stuff like that.

@labarge28 said in Invited to Closed Beta? What features should we see?:

@labarge28 "Let's see if I can (as a sloop), lure a galleon into a storm and sink them in the chaos". Stuff like that.

Me and a buddy did that once! That was indeed enjoyable. But we didn't really gain anything from it. I wish we would have though. It would have been interesting if that ship was a trade ship, and was loaded down with trade goods. Then we would have spent the remainder of that storm trying to keep our ship afloat and collecting supplies to be sold.

My hope is we start seeing ship variety, we start seeing real progression, and we start seeing an in-depth end game. Like I said, we are waiting and seeing. Its not worth our money just yet, but we are hopeful.

I'd like to see at least a mini raid or strike type mission.

@ethnine said in Invited to Closed Beta? What features should we see?:

@its-s****. I really do not mean to take away from your experience, but if the only thing this game has going for it as far as content is the feeling you get from sailing....then it's going to crash and burn so hard.

Sailing be not the only thing going, This be just what I look forward to most.

I'm not an advocate to the idea of a safe zone as i feel the current taverns are suitable enought to this effect. Alternatively if a safe place is needed make it the upper part of the tavern sort of a vip section where the aforementioned minigames (throwing knives/darts, arm wrestle, gambling games, etc.) and crewing up can take place. This would stop people from hiding from ships or trying to escape with treasure (make it so you can't take anything in or out except cosmetics.) and maintains a social point whilst not on the seas.

@leragan same, my email said i would have the badge but i loged in and i don't have one.

@blossomylion closed beta i honestly just want to play the game more and crate more memories.
I do think a "safe space" would be great, but i want the experience of getting punched by some drunkerd and my me and my crew immediately start kicking a*s getting his crew involved and having a whole bar fight. Maybe once you die you could just get kicked out of the bar till the fights over.
I understand having a peaceful place to relax, drink and maybe play mini games or bet would be great in my mind these would be different non pvp locations from the before mentioned bar.
Long term i'd love to see a Kracken, maybe having to work with other ships to take down this massive beast for a whole ton of loot, would be awesome. Otherwise more big sea life in general such as whales; just fell it would remind us of how dangerous the sea really is.

@blossomylion Enjoying the feedback!

So since the people have spoken first I will now speak.

I. I wish to see an overhaul of customization and progression. As one commenter posted, after about 10 hours, the game became stale. This could make, or break SoT, and this is a true test to the Rare team. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe they have everything planned and set, and they love it when we question them, because it makes us that much happier when they follow suit.

II. If there is an Open beta, (Hoping there is, I've been the one selling this game to my friends hoping they will get it. So I'd love a chance for them to play and get a glimpse.) I would like to see something new. Something that spices the game up, we have factions and things like that but I would love to see a 3rd party aspect. Say at this certain part of the map, a skeleton crew with a powerful huge ship will appear at night with an ominous fog. Taking one of those down will get you some Legendary pirate gear, but it has to be difficult. (I'm talking Cuphead, Dark Souls, Getting Over It difficult.)

III. I want the Rare team to give us a load of stuff at release. I really hope they DO NOT show us/give us everything there is in the game prior to release. I want them to blow us away with that full game, making us realize why we paid 60$ (US) for this game. Features I would love to see, big, massive, GALLEONS. Look, I love me a big ship, my goal is to be the highest tier Order of Souls captain in the sea. I want a big slow Galleon with 10 total crew members! I want to be feared! I want to have my own Armada that serves me under the Order of Souls! I'd love to have a council of pirates that would meet on my flag ship, infamously named, "God's Damnation". For this to happen we need to be allowed to have sandbox tools to edit the interior of our ship! I'd love to have a roundtable of sorts in the Commodores' cabin, where captains under my command would meet and strategically war with other factions to gain supremacy! I wish to have my Galleon look the part of "God's Damnation" and force others to fear to even say the name!

I'd play this game for decades.

Oh, "God's Damnation" to balance it for being a galleon, would be slow. But I would have that monster be a bringer of WAR whenever I showed up. Being a part of the Order Souls, I got to be good at raiding and war!

@archeuscross we will see. Like I said, my skepticism protects me either way. :)

@killingcurse1 I remember a hardcore fan of NMS saying that to me once. He said..."you make your own adventure out of it!" SoT has a lot of potential, I am very hopeful for its success, and watching it closely. But I ask myself this question: Will sailing to an island 60+ times to dig up some treasure feel just as cool then as it does now? Most likely it won't. At least not to me. But I am desperately hoping it goes well, and I look forward to seeing a lot of you cool people with your cool black pirate gear from the pre-order packs, I just won't be one of them :).

Just because this is a closed beta, doesn't mean there will be an open one. Especially considering we are already close to the release. It doesn't imply that there will be an open one, it means that not everyone can join it.